Help! I feel like calling my dr. tomarrow for a refill!

[againnot]

I'm on day 27, no vicodin.  It's been a bad "pain" weekend.  I've pulled out all the remedies I know...ice, lidoderm patch, muscle relaxer...not helping.  It's been over 1.5 years now of this back problem.  I am so sick of it I could scream.  Can't shop for more than 15 minutes without pain...no gardening, no vacations, no taking walks with my husband....my life is nothing like it used to be.  Can't take advil, or even tylenol pr my dr. because of suspected ulcer.  I do not crave the vicodin, not at all.  I am just tired of the chronic pain.  Thanks for listening to me WHAH WHAH WHAH.

[liscamdave]

27 days is a great amount of time. You have come so far, much past the point of the physical w.d. Why turn back now and do it again? Keep going. As far as the pain, were you seeing a pain management dr. or a regular family dr.? Have you tried pain management? You should try and see what non-narcotic pain meds are out there? WHy did you quit, because you are an addict? I don't know your story. But anyway, I am pulling for you and you should be proud of that 27 days. I hope your pain subsides. I am sure a pain management dr. can help you with someone non-narc. Good Luck.

Lisa

[mtgoat911]

Introduction to Steps on Chronic Pain

During the next 12 weeks, I hope to take a journey through the 12 steps , and relate them to dealing with fibromyalgia, chronic pain, mental illness or physical illness.. Many 12-step programs are available for support for many different types of physical, emotional, or spiritual problems, and my belief is that a 12-step Program can be used for any condition.
Most of this information was written by a women named Cynthia Webber. Last week I was at my parents house, I had been sleeping on their guest bed for 3 days, I was in an unbelievable amount of pain and did what any member of Narcotics Anonymous Would do in this situation, I prayed.
I was laying in the bed unable to get up, so I turned on the TV. I was astonished to what I saw. It was truly my higher powers way of saying, “Get of your butt and do something about this!”
There was a tiny Asian women who was going on and on about non-medicinal ways to fight fibermyalgia. She talked about specific exercises, and nutritional needs of those with this illness. Then the camera would cut to a panel of doctors who all agreed that opiates, narcotic pain medicine are not respectable treatments for fibermyalgia, this is a “life-long” illness. They do not wish for their patients to be on opiates for life. As a member of NA I know that pain medicine can cause me to loose everything I have worked so hard for. Its not easy to rebuild our lives after years of drug addiction.
I have worked the steps on drug addiction, smoking, and parenting. At the present time I am working the steps with my sponsor on some autistic behavior I wish to get rid off. I plan to continue working the steps on my heath as many ways as I can. Remember that we are becoming spiritually, emotionally and physically well. One of the main issues I deal with today is the physical aspects of disease, not just the disease of addiction. I have Hepatitis C. I do not have fybermyalgia, however fibermyalgia is an auto-immune disease. Hep C patients experience several symptoms of all kinds of auto immune diseases. Its no walk in the park to live with chronic illness or depression. Last night my friend and I were talking she said “having this disease *****, and its all tied together, I am depressed because I am over-weight, I am over-weight because I have this disease.”

[mtgoat911]

i have used the steps to help with areas in my life that were causing my emotional and physical pain
i am in the process of using the steps for my mediacl problems
the guide that i use came from a women who was feed up with living with auto immune disorder (fybermyaligia) i do not have fyber. but i do suffer from chronic fatigue and pain, i found the stuff she had written, combined it with na lituratre and my personal experience with illness in recovery
i can send it to anyone who wants a copy via pm, the posting board here does not allow such lenghty post
It is a simple concept, just add what ever injury/illness you have to the steps
step one...admitted that i was powerless over hep c and that my life had become unmanageable
and further along in the steps i looked at the exact nature of my illness, what i could do to help myself and what i had to accept
sorry it wont let me post it here, it may not help everyone but there is always a chance
since i have been clean i have turned to the steps to help me quit smoking, deal with emotional pain and i also did a parenting in recovery work book
i do see results when i do a daily 10th step with chronic pain, latley i have been slack so everything is coming back and hitting me hard
xoxo
sah

[twild]

My problem is the neck C4 & C5 ten years ago.  The doctor's eyes got huge when he saw the x-ray.  I knew there was something wrong.  I have a constant burning sensation   I had the shots and pysical therapy, and it never helped.  I finally stopped going to the doctor because they never seem to "truly" understand the nature of the pain.  They tend to look at symptoms as a textbook case or call you drepressed.  You are the the only person who can determine if you are going to become addicted.  And more importantly, can you handle an addiction and what needs to be done to get off them?  It's a terrible process and I wish it upon no one.
We live in Illinois...love the seasons, but hate the pain they bring.

I go to a gym that focuses around physical therapy.  Some of the people have the 4 year college degrees.  These are saved for injured clients.  They also have a pool, sauna, etc.  All of those things have proven to help me more than the pills.  

Good luck and hopefully you can find something that can stregthen your back instead of pills.  In either case, take it slow and try to get stronger.  I'm at that point, and it hurts, but my hope is that it will get better.....

Best Wishes

[broknbck]

oh i am so sorry for your pain. i know it *****. i had chronic back pain also.

it was a drastic thing to move accross country to a hot,dry climate but it worked!! i do not have pain everyday anymore and only when the humidity is high and it is rainy.

[againnot]

Yes, I also would like to know about the 12 step of chronic pain.
Thanks for all your input.  I am not going to call the dr. today.  
SuzieQ....I totally know what you mean when you say you feel worthless.  
And worried...you are further testemonial to me that a fusion is not the answer.  I'm sure there are successful fusions out there, but I see people every week in physical therapy learning to deal with the pain after the fusion.
I have been to a pain mgmt dr. who gave me all the injections.  He then referred me to the surgeon.  He specialized in the spine.  I went to him in the first place because he tells you up front that he will NOT prescribe narcotics.
I did join the pain mgmt community on Medhelp.  Have you done that, worried?  Maybe we can learn things from there also.

[pinkhelp]

I would like to know what the 12 steps of chronic pain are?

[worried878]

I had a fusion and it was not the answer for me...but we are all different..get a few opinions on that..i am now in the process of finding a doctor to take the plate out of my neck/the metal plate serves no purpose after the bones are fused/my surgeon who did my fusion is not on my insurance!  wouldnt u know...anyway....have u tried chiropractic?  it is the only thing that helped me and i have been thru the mill...if i had found my chiropractor in the beginning 22 years ago i feel i would not be in the shape i am in now...massage, ice and het..yoga as well is how i handle it..i have bad spells but have always pulled out of it in a week or 2..this time it has been over 4 months..i feel ur pain..i just know astronomical doses of narcs is not the answer...i am still searching for the answer tho....if u find out or i find out...lets let each other know (:

[GoingToMakeIt]

This is a hard place to be in. I would recommend that you discuss the pain management with your Dr or a pain management Dr. See if there are non narcotic ways to go for you.

[mtgoat911]

goto an na meeting, find some people there who have been pain clinic patients
ask them what they do
i have back problems, liver disease, went through a round of chemo at the beginning of summer
i leaned on na for support getting through it without narcotics
and when i did need something for pain, it was for a short time, my sponsor held me accountable for the pills and i read this book everyday
http://www.na.org/pdf/litfiles/us_english/Booklet/In%20Times%20of%20Illness.pdf
it sounds like you pain is there for life, i suggest that you work the 12steps on chronic pain
i can get you a copy, most people so not follow up when they post a question, so i will wait and see if you are interested
i hope you feel better, please read that book before you call your doctor, its short, i promise
xoxo
sah

[SuzieeQ]

Did you feel you were abusing them?  Or were you taking as the Doctor prescribed? If you were taking them as prescribed why do you want to be off of them? Or couldn't the doctor prescribe a different pain med for you that would help your pain?

I don't mean to encourage you because  it shows great courage  that you have stopped taking them, but being in horrible back pain myself I don't think I could turn down a prescription from my doctor if offered.

[SuzieeQ]

I feel your pain!!!!  I have been dealing with chronic back pain for almost a year now. MRI shows nothing except for 2 mild bulging discs.

I was on hydrocodone for around 7 months 1-2 per day 500/5 as presecribed. Doctor wouldn't let me take any more than that. He took me off of it over a month ago and I hurt so freaking bad that I would give anything for a pain pill...doctor said I had been on them long enough.

I start physical therapy this week and I honestly don't know how I am going to do it. Like you I can't hardly grocery shop anymore, by the time I get out of the store my pain is 8 or 9 and I can't wait to get home so I can lay down and recover.

I am also coming off of Valium and I am down to 7mg a day right now and could probably just stop but it does take a slight edge off of the pain briefly.



I feel absoultley worthless...  I don't know if the pain is worth not taking the pain meds.

[againnot]

The problem is...my back isn't going to get better unless (so they say) I have a fusion.  Even then, as I bet many of you back sufferers know...a fusion is no guarentee of relief from the problem, and can sometimes make it worse. Thus the physical therapy.  It's like a last ditch effort for me.

[gizzy32]

I'm sorry to hear about your pain and i don't know your situation, but if the injections did not help, would the pills really? You are on 27 days, that is fantasic so i think you should hang in there, almost a month clean, woo hoo. now keep being a good girl and NO PILLS. hope your back gets better soon. you are lucky not to crave.

[againnot]

and ps....I've done 4 injections in my back...no help.  I've been in physical therapy for 3 months.  (after going to 2 bad physical therapists!)  The one I'm going to now is really good.  I do all my excercises like a good girl everyday.