[lil_freeze]

I had back surgery a year ago this past July. I have had severeal other types pf surgerys, and never needed pain killers. This last one was different, the pain was totaly unbearable. So I listened to my doctor a who would fuss at me for not taking the Lortabs he was prescribing me. It started with me taking maybe three or four a day, and now it's out of control. I feel like my life revolves around this medicine. I know that sounds crazy.

I have 30 of my Lortabs 7.5 left, and I should more than that, a lot more. I want to try and ween myself off these, but I have tried going cold turkey before and it was unbearable. The withdrawl sypmtom were I mean, I felt like I was dying. Does anyone have any advice, or has been through this or something similar?

I would ask my doctor, but I live in a small town that doesn't offer much in the way of new treatments for situations like this. He wouls just cut me off all together, and my back pain is real. I want to get back to the point where I can take one, and that will help. Not like now, where two or three will only help.

Thanks,
Lillian

[mpvt]

Hi Lillian: Unfortunetly we develop tolerances to opiates quite quickly and this is what your experiencing.There is a couple ways you can go about this.One is to go on a sustain release opiate like ms contin,avanza(sp)(these two are both morphine,the 1st one is take 2-3 times a day,the other is once a day) oxycontin (oxycodone) I don't suggest this one to people because it seems to have a very high abuse factor.There is patches called duragesic (fentanyl) they come in 25,50 75 and 100 mcg and are good for up to 72 hours.The other option you have is to go on methadone,if this is a chronic condition that requires a narcotic pain killer for the rest of your life then methadone is definately the one to use.It's 4 times the strength of morphine and it is difficult to build a tolerance to it.I know people who have taken the same dose of methadone for years and haven't had to change their dose.I guess the other thing you could do if your experiencing just post op pain that will fade in time is suboxone.It is an exellent pain killer and you can detox with the help of your doctor with little or no problems.So there's some things to think about.The stuff your taking now is only usefull for a couple of weeks then you get tolerant to it and it loses it's usefullness that's why for long term pain doctors order sustained release pain killers.....Dave

[lil_freeze]

Dave,

thanks a bunch for all your advice and information. I have tried talking to my doctor about this before, and he will not prescribe most of the medications you listed above, but I know he does prescribe methadone. I have actualy been on the Lortabs for over a year now. I was praying there is a way for me to ween myself off them without going through the agony of withdrawls. I know that almost sounds lazy, lol, or pathetic even, but I really miss the days when if my back was hurting, I could take one Lortab and be ok. I am sure I have built an extremely high tolerance to them. I am really scared to try and go off them cold turkey.

I gave my boyfirend my bottle to hold, and told him no matter what I said or did, to not give me any mroe than 3 a day, which is what I am supposed to take. I told him it would most likely be a rough week, i have heard it takes 3 to 5 days for most of it to get out of your system. What i want to try and do is see if i can get myself off these long enough to know if my pain is coming from being addicted to the pills, or the problems i have had since back surgery, such as scar tissue that built up around the root of my S1 nerve. not to mention, I still have two other discs that are bulging and pitruding (sp?). The L5 disc is the one that ruptered and i had to have surgery to fix it. I know a girl that had the same surgery, and NEVER took one pain killer after it. My cousing had the exact surgery and never took pain killers after his.

I guess this next week I am going to just take the 3 a day. I know that amount won't help with the pain, but it might help me from going into major withdrawls. Then, when I am out, i will have to take it from there. If you knew my doctor, you would know the delima I am having with getting help from him on this. He is very likely to cut me off all pain meds if I tell him I have become this way, and I am scared that my back will still hurt...when I say hurt, it feels like someone is slamming the area of my back where I had surgery with a sledge hammer. It can get horrible. And the epidurals they keep having me do are not helping at all.

Again, thanks for listening!

[lil_freeze]

BTW Dave, I forgot to mention, I did try methadone, but only once, and it didn't do anything at all for the back pain. However, like I said, I only tried it once, and it was a low dosage.

Thanks,
Lillian