when is methadone a good option

[lisaoflight]

I have had chronic low back pain for 15 yrs. no one was able to find the cause until a week ago, just when I'm trying to stop taking pain med. I've been taking them for two years straight and just recently went up from 20-30 mg of hydrocodone/oxycodone daily, to feeling better with 45-60 mgs.. I see a surgeon today for my neck which has a reversed curvature and hip displacia. One reason I want to stop is because I can't get them prescribed do to my use of THC, BUT now I feel I'm in a position where with a probability of surgery on Both neck and Hips I will need pain med.....so is methadone a good substitute or do they not prescribe either due to THC? I am so ready to do whatever I need to BE ME again, even been looking into inpatient for withdraws (Before they found the prob). I just want to Feel good physically and emotionally about myself. Not sure if my question are appropriate her grateful for any insights.

[marycarmel]

If you're  having surgery, you will likely need some pain meds.  Will you be having the surgery soon?  If so, maybe you could taper off after the surgery.  Methadone is sometimes used very effectively.  It was suggested to me but after researching it, I decided the side effects and the difficulty coming off it was not for me.  I think it's useful for extremely bad drug addiction and for certain kinds of pain.  My mother-in-law was given it for the last couple of months before she passed away from lung cancer.  They had her on high doses of oxycontin and oxycodone during most of her treatment but in the end it wasn't helping and she had terrible bone pain.  They switched her to methadone and it worked well.  But she was never going to have to come off it.

YournTHc use will likely be a problem with most doctors.  You might want to consider not using it for a while.

[ActingBrandNew]

So, do you want to stop taking pain meds altogether and have the surgery? Or are you asking if methadone is an alternative to narcotics? If it were me and I was going to have the surgery to "fix" me, Id go cold turkey so long as I didn't have an medical conditions that would become aggravated by detox. Many are on this forum trying to kick methadone and it seems it is harder than others trying to kick the basic narcotics. Id avoid switching addictions if I were you because ultimately that's all you would be doing...trading one addiction for the other.

Hope your surgery goes well. God Bless.