I have been living with chronic pain for over 10 years, due to a car accident back in 1993. I suffer from herniated discs in the cervical and lumbar region, sciatica, nerve damage and degenerative disc disease. After about 7 years taking Vicodin/Lortab and Fiorinol w/ Codeiene, along with anti-inflammitory meds, physcial and massage therapy, steroid injections, etc. my pain and quality of life only continued to worsen.
Since my only option left was medication management, I was treated like an addict for years. My husbands' job lead to us moving a lot and every place we moved to was hell trying to find a physician that did not consider me an "addict" and all I was prescribed was excessive amounts of Vicodin or
Lortab. Finally I was referred to pain management.
My pain management physician was surprised at the amounts of pain meds I was on and was concerned because of the amounts of
Tylenol in these meds and it's affect on the liver. After examining my past history and a physical examination he determined that
methadone would be a good choice for me. I was reluctant at first becasuse I had always associated this drug with herion addicts and then once my physician educated me on the benefits of methadone, I decided I would try it.
It has been about a year since I started taking Methadone for my pain and I have my life back. I am not constantly watching the clock to take my next dose of medicine and my pain is controlled all day long. Although I am never completly out of pain, my pain is in the background and I am living life again. I have since went back to school to work on my Master's Degree, work a full time job and my husband and son are elated that I am a wife and mother again to them.
What I went through the past few years before I started on the Methadone was pure hell. I was doped up, could not work and laid in bed all day in constant pain. I was severely depressed and thought that if this was my life how could I make my family suffer too. I never thought in a million years that any drug could ease my pain and suffering.
When I first started on Methadone, it took about 4 or 5 weeks to get to the proper dose that worked for me and with very minimal side effects. For the first few weeks I felt sleepy and sweated excessively. But all that subsided after a few weeks and my life started to change drastically. Within about 2 months I was out of severe pain, sleeping through the night, going back to school, working full time, spending quality of time with my family and living my life again without feeling doped up and taking excessive amounts of medication.
I still have pain, but it is in the background and methadone and an educated and caring pain management physician gave me my life back. I never thought that I would ever live a day again without pain being the main determining factor of everything in my life. My pain is no longer controlling me, I am in control of my pain and my life again. I encourage anyone suffering from chronic pain to discuss methadone management with an experienced pain management professional. I hope by me sharing my history of chronic pain that this will help others to at least ask medical professionals about alternatives to current pain regimines that are not helping treat your pain.
Methadone and Chronic Pain 
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