Is this a problem with my doctors, or what? I had lumbar fusion in May and was on narcotics for 3 months. When my doctor saw me, he said he wanted me off of them immediately, so I quit the clorazepate and the oxycodone without looking back, but I had to continue 15 mg of vicodin a day for residual leg pain. The day after I quit the narcotics, I developed a debilitating case of anxiety that I thought was drug withdrawal, but it kept on for weeks. Xanax didn't touch it until I started taking 37.5 mg of Effexor each day.
I have a physical therapist, a doctor, a psychiatrist, and psychologist all trying to help me. The psychiatrist gave me Xanax 0.5 3x daily and wanted me to take Effexor 3x daily, but when I increased my dosage, I immediately went back to wanting to check into the psych ward at the hospital, so I backed off with her blessing. She also gave me Ambien to sleep.
I feel like a walking drug cabinet and still not getting what I need in spite of all the doctor visits every few weeks. My doctor and psychiatrist keep insisting that my pain is caused by my anxiety. Hello, I've been anxious all my life and had major surgery 5 months ago. I don't know what to do. I stay active, do my physical therapy exercises, take Ultram twice a day for pain, Xanax 1-3 times a day, Effexor in the morning, and Robaxin and Ambien at night to sleep and let my muscles rest. Today my doctor insisted that I take more Effexor, so I took a second dose this afternoon and was cleaning house like Samantha Stevens when she casts a hurry-up spell on herself. I still have lots of spasms and pain that is worse when I am feeling "normal" and better when I am whacked out on too much Effexor, just because I'm so distracted by the anxiety. Because of the inability to progress, I've recently quit working with the physical therapist. Just last week my surgeon told me I should be taking muscle relaxers, and my doctor was being stingy with them. I am not feeling cared for at all.
I am going to talk to my psychiatrst again next week, but I feel like they have it in their heads that I'm just an anxious person. The fact that they are messing me up is actually feeding my anxiety. I have a really good life that I would very much like to get back to.
I'm just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and how it turned out. I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, but all I can do is keep trying.