What do I do? Tired of taking pain meds to get by

[Jiggs72]

I had surgery over a year ago to remove a tumor. I now have a permanent colostomy bag. Because of where my tumor was they had ...seal up the emergency exit...so to speak. I have not been able to sleep a full night since my surgery and have been through numerous types of pain meds. I was on tramoset , morphine, Percocet, hydromorph oxyneo and now finally Targin. I can't sit for more than a half hour then I have to stand up. I have swelling and pain where my anus used to be and have been in constant pain for over a year. Is this normal? I have been back to my surgeon many times and she says there is nothing wrong. My CEA levels keep rising but because they can't see any obvious signs of cancer they say I am cancer free. I know my body and I know something is not right. Should I demand a second opinion or just deal with the pain.  I am tired of taking pain meds and I fear I am developing an immunity to them.  What should I do? As I am at the end of my rope. I don't want to live this way anymore. Please help...

[remar]

FNTN gave you great advice.
Yes, get a second opinion. If they find nothing then see a third specialist. You know your body and you feel that something isn't right. Maybe there are tests your current Dr has not done?
Try not to worry about needing pain medication right now. Hopefully when you get this all figured out you won't need them any more. Are you working with a pain specialist? Sometimes people take a combination of meds. Or, they make take a long acting one and a short acting one for breakthrough pain.
I really recommend you get a second opinion. I'm not an expert by no means about the kind of surgery you had but I'm wondering if the problem is scar tissue? Has your Dr checked to see if this is what it might be?  

[fntn]

Tuck will fill you in on the pain management end of things. I get my CEA along with other tumors markers tested every couple of months or so. Certainly colon cancer can cause an elevation. But there are a number of benign reasons for the elevations as well. I hope you continue to improve. You have difficult conditions for sure, and just powering through them is the only answer it seems. I wish our doctors had more tricks up their sleeves, if only ...