[CD1287]

Hi... I live in Florida and had a couple questions. First i'll give some backround. When i was 7 i was diagnosed with ewings sarcoma which is a cancer of the bone in my shoulder. I had a bone transplant which they put a cadaver bone in as a replacement along with a metal plate and 2 metal screws thru my ball and socket joint. Also a few years later I cracked the cadaver bone and they had to remove about an 8 inch piece of my fibula out of my left leg in which they did not replace with anything and put a screw thru my ankle... they took that bone and fused it together with the bone in my shoulder to make one strong bone.. My doctor also told me that wen I was older... which would be around this time because I am no almost 22 that I would be getting bad arthritis because of all this. I finally am starting to feel this pretty much on a daily basis and was wandering if i went to the doctor and was refered to a pain management doctor would I be able to be prescribed pain medications because I am so young? I know a few people in my area that get 180 30mg oxycodones every month and they seem to have less than half the problems that I do... but they are older and in their 30's. So what could I be prescribed if anything at this age? PLEASE any input is grateful...

[petiej]

CD1287, I bet that's your initials and a birth date reference?! Almost 22; will that be in December?!

Anyway, you made mention of "if i went to the doctor"; so you haven't seen any doctor yet, right? I get the impression you 'want' to be referred to a pain specialist. Yes? No? It's about your pain, not your age, which is not too young to prescribe anything to, even narcotics. Some GP's will have nothing to do with narcotics anymore...too much being checked on, too much paperwork to keep track of, not wanting to be involved in someone's addiction/abuse situation. My own doc had discovered some abusive situations among some patients so they stopped writing those scripts for anyone, even tho' they decided they would keep writing mine for Avinza, MSIR and Metadate; they knew I wasn't abusing.

I no longer take the first two because after I had my 4th back surgery in May, my ortho sent me to a pain clinic...a group of anesthesiologists specializing in chronic pain control. I started going in mid-July, stopped Avinza and started Opana ER. Two weeks later the dose was raised from 30mg 2xday to 40mg 2xd, by a different doctor. 4wks later, saw a P.A. who stopped the Opana and started Oxycontin 40mg 3xd. She said come back in 2mths. There was no way I was going to start a new med and not be seen for 2 months! I was calling in 3days because I was having problems...''you need to be on it for at least a week to know if it's working or not''. After that week I called back and made an appt. and a week later saw the doc I saw the first time I went! He stopped the oxy and put me back on the Opana at 60mg. I go back next Tues. and will get to see him again! What a coup!! Such is the way of a satellite office vs their main office in the biggest hospital in a big city an hours drive one way. In the main office you would see the same doc every time.

Since you are in what you believe the 'beginning' stages of arthritis, you may end up in a completely different scenario than what you envision now. What if your doctor decides to deal with your situation himself or sends you to an arthritis specialist? Be prepared for anything, but also speak up if you don't understand something, don't agree, or if you want to offer options of your own or opinions.

I really would like to know how it goes for you, CD, so keep us all posted. And God bless you on your journey!

[CD1287]

Hey PetieJ,

Thanks for all your input I really appreciate it. I have been going to the doctors every year because like i said i have had cancer when I was younger so I had follow ups every year since then to be checked if it came back. I havent gone in about a year or so because I just recently moved to Florida from massachusetts and I dont have a doctor yet. Also about the being in the beginning stages of arthritis. I think that they does have something to do with it, but I do think the pain I have been experiencing is not just arthritis. I spoke to a few people I have met in florida and they said I need to see a pain management center. I am looking for a doctor right now so I can make an appointment immediately because this is becoming so bad at this point that its hard for me to sleep at night and also just sitting at my desk at work it continues to throb. Now I do have a high tolerance for pain that I have acquired through the years from being younger and going through all these surgeries and and years of chemo and radiation and such. Before when i had my fibula transplanted from the my leg to my arm it was because I cracked the cadaver bone they put in my arm in the first place, and that was painful but it was a different kind of pain than I am having now. Hopefully I can find a doctor that will prescribe me something to atleast just take the edge off so I can be comfortable enough to get through the day and sleep at night. Once again I appreciate your input and I will let you know what happens. And if you dont mind me asking, what do you have that you are prescribed those dosages which seem somewhat high to me and also I know what oxycontin is and how strong it is but what is opana exactly compared to that? Is it something that is stronger than oxy or less?