[dwatson308]

Hello I am a new member as of today. I hope this is the way to post to the group. I am 58 years old and when I was almost 50 by a couple of months I had a disc "explode" on me at L4-L5 and left me with what is called Cauda Equina Syndrome. It left me numb in the gential area and then if you sliced me say in half from front of my body to what you would call my back side I am left numb from the waist down on my complete back side. I died that day more or less and was left with a new me. I had to learn to walk all over again and now I can walk with a cane only. Sorry for rambling it seems. It also left me with alot of nerve pain and the worst being in the rectal pain. It is almost like someone having a hot piece of charcoal stuck inside them. So now I have been on oxycontin for the pain and as many in this group am now addicted to it and has taken over my life. I want off of it and really don't know how other than like many of you to taper off. I am on 40 mgx3 a day and also 20 mg x2 a day. It has taken my life as I once knew it and now I almost live from pill to pill. I also take other drugs but for other problems and none I know of are addictive. I guess the only other one I would call maybe a pain medication would be Lycria which is for the burning pain in my feet and also to help with the "electrical shock pain" I get from time to time...Any advice or recomendations or comments I would truly appreciate. Sorry for such a long post. Oh and also I am a member of an online support group called Cauda Equina Support Group. This is a rare condition and there are about 600 member of this group and a large part are from the U.K. for some reason. Anyway Thanks Again
Carlos

[vduda]

Yo D,

That sounds horrible. I have a ruptured disc at L4 and L5 and never suffered any symptoms like that. Thank God. I've had the pain and numbness in the leg, but not my genitals or anus. It hurts just thinking about it. It seems to me that you need pain medication, if your going to have any type of quality of life. There are better opiate based pain meds out there than oxy's. Sure they have time released versions, but it sounds like you need round the clock pain management. If you get off the meds how are you going to handle the pain. In other words, if it is almost intolerable with pain meds how are you going to function. I just broke my neck in april and in july they reconstructed my neck with cadaveur bones, titanium plates and screws. They had to remove the bone and disc fragments from my spinal cord. Doctors marvel that I was not a quadraplegic. The pain was almost unbearable and without all the pain meds I would not of been able to handle it. The surgery was a success and I have been off the opiates for 6 and half months. Literally, I was doing 1000x more opiates than you even before the broken neck for chronic Kidney stones and various other injuries from professional sports and car accidents for over a decade. So I can relate to your pain. And it is weird that you mention the "electric shock syndrome". I coined that phrase sometime ago. I had that from detoxing off huge amounts of benzos. It is hard to give advice in these situations. Long acting opiates like Fentanyl patches and lollipops for break through pain work great. Talk to your doctor and see what your options are, but it sounds like you would be worse off without the medication. I am just trying to be compassionate. Perhaps, others would say you have to get off everything or your an addict. Find a middle ground. God Bless

[Annie I]

My heart goes out to you. I too was prescribed this poison for my pain. In the beginning, like others, I raved about it. But eventually it was doing more than just taking pain away. It took over my life. And NO, I did not take it incorrectly. The horror of a nightmare I suffered just to come off this drug was something I honestly wouldn't hope for my worst enemy. I am just grateful that I was able to get off it. It took me 3 years, just to get back to normal and use a different prescribed opiate. If it was the last drug on the shelf in the world, I would never take that pill again. There are many, many other drugs in that category/strength to choose from anyway. Anybody taking it becomes addicted, period. Not "dependant", like the manufacturer likes to think of it. I've been taking an opiate of one kind or another for many years for constant pain, and have never had the problem I had on this one. Please, please get professional, medical help, if you are serious about coming off it. It is not something to fool around with injesting OR withdrawing from. If need be, get hospitalized. But definately don't use these unsupervised "recipe's". It will only dig you in deeper. I know, I went that route first. I'm sorry you have been put in this situation. I can't believe doctors are still prescribing this stuff. They should know better by now that it should be reserved for the dying. Not the living. I will pray for all the strength you can recieve, and hope with my heart that you are successful. Take care,
Annie Ilene

[Lawstudentstruggling]

Welcome...I'm new too. I just want to say - my heart goes out to you. Peace and God bless.

[dwatson308]

I just want to thank the people who replied to my post about getting off of the oxy. I will try and come up with a plan. I might have to get my Doctor involved also. Again Thanks to you Guys and Gal