Dealing with the pressure of coming off pain pills

[mommyandwife]

Hey everyone.  I have posted a few times but I don't come back as often as I would like since I work full time and have two little ones and a husband that craves attention on top of it all =)
Well, I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia about two months ago.  Just last week I started seeing a new doctor who actually has the experience of a 15 year clinical study of Fibromyalgia patients.  I thought this would be a great change for me.

She has since started me on several anti-depressants:  Depakote (mood stabilizer), Sarafem (anti-depressant), she has also kept me on my Norco, Soma, Clonopin, and Savella.  

I am praying that the mood enhancers give me a better outlook on life and hopefully that reduces my pain.  I have several mental illnesses that run in my: family bipolar disorder, paranoia, etc.
Here's the issue:  I have a very physical job and the Norco helps quite a bit with getting through my daily life.  I have tried taking my other medications without it and they don't seem to work, which leads me to believe that the Norco intensifies the effects of the other medications.  

There are several reasons why I am even considering going off of the Norco, the first being that I have recently found out that my husband has been abusing this drug off the street and stealing them from me.  Now he is trying to quit but he feels that he cannot do it if he knows I am taking this medication, especially if it is in the house.  The second reason I want to try to go off of it is that I am starting to build a tolerance to it to the point where it takes the edge off, and I fear there is never going to be a medication that will keep me pain free.  I have ran short on my Norco a few times due to taking a few more than directed and also my husband taking them!  Without the medication, my anxiety and emotions run wild trying to fathom how I am going to make it through work, support my family, etc, with this debilitating pain that I can barely function with.
The third reason I was pondering coming off of it is that my new doctor said that in her experience Norco doesn't do any good for Fibro patients.

What am I going to do??  My husband says he wants me to be strong and work through the pain because that's what I need to do to support our girls.  The doctor did not want to switch me to Ultram because she feels it will not work well since I have tried Lyrica before and that did not work.

I am at a loss of what to do.  I worry so much about how I am going to function on the long term rather than making day by day.  I don't know if I should continue the Norco or try to come off of it to see what happens.  I have a week off next week which would be the ideal time to detox if I am going to do it.
Any helpful or encouraging comments on the subject??

[Jax1964]

Hi babes,
I really feel for u, especially with everythin uve got on ur plate with hubby!!! I dont know if this would help or not but, I suffer badly too with FMA and my doc givs me the same high dosage in narcotics but changes them every 3mnths so i dont get tolerant towards them and they keep there strenght more than they do if on them along time. just a thought for you to try.
Im still in far too much pain to bear, I think my narcs are too low so im going to ask next time i see my Dr for stronger ones. staying on the same drug for along period of time is bound to not work as good in time so why not have a go hey:)
Good Luck Babes
Jax

[maky158]

I agree fully with you!!! I'm just now seeing a neurologist. He had me on Lyrica, which didn't work and it had scarey side effects for me. So what does he do? HA! He switches me to Tramadol! It doesn't work at all!! Not even a little. So I agree she needs the med that works for her and deserves to be able to take her med without interferance!!

[maky158]

What about just switching to something milder? Also can you hide your meds from your husband? If you really need a narcotic to function, I don't blame you and you shouldn't have be in so much pain! You will probably never completely get rid of your pain anyway, but taking the edge off most certainly is better than being in complete pain! I think I would just try a step down from Norco and so on until I reached the med. that I can use to manage the pain. If your Dr will go for that, but I'm sure she would since you are trying to get off a strong narcotic to a weaker one. Best of Luck to you!

[justmejen]

omg you poor dear! I'm so sorry :( PLEASE don't take this the wrong way but I would tell your hubby that you take these meds to be able to function & have some quality of life! You have a medical problem sweetie! You are not taking these meds for recreational purposes like he is. If you had diabetes, would you stop taking your insulin simply becuz he abuses it? Of course it's always better if you can take less but you need to have them on hand for when YOU need them....don't put yourself thru hell just becuz he can't help himself. If he truly cares about you, he will do whatever he has to to keep his hands off of your meds. Tell him to get help if he has an addiction & you can help him get help but I think that he is being selfish by asking you to stop just becuz he has a problem.....my suggestion, hide your meds from him. Afterall, your dr is prescribing them to you, not him. Fibro is a very difficult thing to live with. Would you ask him to stop taking something that helped him manage pain if he had the same illness? I don't mean to sound harsh but if he truly understood what you have to deal with everyday, especially since your job is so physically demanding, he would never ask you to stop taking your prescribed meds.  If you've just been diagnosed & you are only taking norco for pain right now then I think you are very lucky that it is working for you. I've had FM for 17 years & have been on & off very strong pain meds & other meds since then. It's my personal opinion that HE is the one who needs to be strong for you....he may be battling addiction but you are battling a debilitating illness! He can get help but unfortunately there is no cure for fm. I agree with your dr that ultram won't work. It didn't work for me & I know many other ppl that it didn't work for. It you are at the point where the norco isn't giving you adequate relief, please talk to your dr about possibly putting you on something stronger. PLEASE remember, FM patients don't take pain meds to get "high", we take them to TRY to manage our pain & have some quality of life. That is what it boils down to for me. Again, PLEASE don't take this the wrong way but I get really annoyed with ppl who tell us to be strong & deal with it when THEY don't know exactly what it is that we have to deal with. I wish you the best of luck.

Jen