I have been on heavy narcotics for the past 10 years because of a painful bone disease and neurological degeneration. I have avascular necrosis from having to take large amounts of solu medrol a steroid after a serious head injury.This caused the blood flow to my knees, hip and ankle joints to stop and the bones to die, My knees no longer bend at all any more. Because of that I walk with my hips and my back has been deformed into a major sway back causing pressure on my discs and nerves causing neuropathy in my right knee, leg and foot. It feels like there is barbed wire wrapped around my knee and ankle and like my foot is being tortured by electric shocks. Now I have a pinched nerve in my left arm causing pain in my left shoulder, upper arm, elbow and wrist. I am now confined to a wheelchair or electric scooter. I am not a cry baby and have done everything, steroid injections, physical therapy, surgery, everything any doctor has ever asked me to do. The doctors all admit the pain must be severe but if someone has never had to depend on morphine, methadone or hydrocodone to get though the day they have no clue what what I am living with. I have a pain specialist and have never had to ask for more then I am allowed a month, gone to the ER for extra, seen more then one doctor at a time to get my medicine but I still get treated like a criminal. Because I have weak legs I fell and knocked myself out. My husband called the ambulance and at the hospital they treated me like an overdose patient even after they found no excess of medication in my blood and counted all my pills and found I was to the day with my medication. I am not am addict. I am dependent on the narcotics for any quality of life but without them I would be bedridden and most likely suicidal. I just want people to understand. Even doctors and nurses. I am not getting stoned or high. I am not pain free nor do I expect to be.I do not drive under the influence. I just want some quality of life. Invent something that removes pain other then a narcotic and I will take it gladly.
Posts Tagged Killers
I have been suffering from back pain since 1993, when my ex husband and i, along with 2 of our friends and their baby were in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. I was young and dumb and continued to do things as if there were no injury to my back, after going periodically to see a doctor or chiropractor, which made me re-injure it several times. About 7 years ago, they diagnosed me with having arthritis in three different areas of my spine, and it has steadily gotten worse and worse since then.
I have been through physical therapy a number of times, and it never seems to help anything, just makes the pain worse. I am on 1000mg of Alieve a day, along with Flexeril, which is a muscle relaxer, up to 3x a day. While it helps reduce the swelling, inflammation, and muscle spasms in my back, it does nothing for the pain levels i am experiencing on a day to day basis.
I know that narcotics are hard on your liver, and it’s not good to take them for a long period of time, but i need to find something that has the strength of a narcotic that i can take regularly that will help the pain in my spine, without being to rough on my liver.
Ultram does nothing for me, hydros make me sick from all the tylenol, i can’t take a lot of tylenol because it makes me sick as well, and i just don’t know of any others that would be beneficial that are non-narcotic.
Right now i’m on percocet for an infected tooth, and let me say my back pain is way less than it has been over the last year, but i know i can’t take it a real long time because it’s another one that’s hard on your liver. Does anyone know of any kind of pain medication that doesn’t destroy your liver?
I have severe nerve pain caused by a brain herniation at the base of my skull that I am told may be too risky to operate on due to its exact location and other issues with my health. These nerve pains come in ‘episodes,’ short periods of time (short meaning as little as ten minutes) or longer periods of time (the longest period of time was a full week when I could barely get up out of bed and was unable to lift anything or really move much at all (I couldn’t even eat…I had to drink very slowly through a straw because my throat hurt so much that it would close up as I swallowed and choke me if I was not very careful). I am on Vicodin and am very worried that I may become addicted to it, as it is very addictive and lately I am finding myself using the Vicodin every day at least once (this last weekend, I had to take five of the pills within a three day period just to be able to function on a semi-normality. I have also been on Oxycodone in the past, but was switched to Vicodin as it is not as addictive, though still very addictive.
I would like to cut back on the amount of vicodin I use as much as possible, but if I don’t take the Vicodin, then I cannot function enough to do anything at all, really. Are there any natural herbs or alternative medicines or therapies that might help me? I have had physical therapy in the past, and it did not help at all, even making the pain worse on some days…I am just so worried that I am becoming addicted to Vicodin.
My symptoms include numbing of the hands and feet, severe pain in the joints and muscles, especially the jaw, back, and knees, fatigue, and depression. I would be happy with anything that can help me even just a little…it would mean using the Vicodin that much less, even if it’s only one day less a week or something.
Anyone know? My doctor doesn’t know about alternative medicine and told me that the Vicodin is the best way to go if it makes it so I can function on a daily basis. I need help…I don’t want to be dependent on vicodin all my life.
I am only 24 and I am so worried of the long term effects of being on Vicodin.
Plese forgive if this question doesn’t make much sense. I am on Vicodin currently, and feeling a little light-headed and having trouble thinking today, so I don’t know if I’m making sense, but I want to ask about it now, while I am still able to think at all without pain.
Any suggestions or ideas?
Surgery And Pain Killers??
Jan 19
I had surgery on my shoulder a few mos. ago, but it is still very sore. The doc. started me on physical therapy 2 weeks after. Therapy didn’t help, but made it more sore. The doc. has givin me steroid shots and pills, but to no avail.. He’s been prescribing me percocets since the surg. I rarely take them, because they keep me up at night. The doc. finally gave up and referred me to another doc. Now heres my dillemma. The first doc. said that my shoulder should have been doing much better by now than it is, but the new doc. says that its doing very well considering that surg. was only 2 mos. ago.. So I told the doc. that the damn percocets keep me up all night and its starting to frustrate me.. So what does he do but give me a huge script of vicoden and zanaflex(muscle relaxer). What should my doc. be doing other than feeding me drugs? The new one doesn’t want to do phys. therapy, but just take pain killers…. I’m getting very frustrated. I was a mover before surg.
I was in an car accident a year ago and I have had back pains after that, long story short, I saw a chiropractor, he x-rayed my body and my back was croaked and was in pain. I was in physical therapy for over 3 weeks and he had to straighten out my back. Well today I still suffer back pains sometimes. Because chiropractors are not able to prescribe pain medications, is it possible for me to take my paperwork to a family doctor and them give me medicine for the pain? I also called in to a private physicians clinic where I’ve never been to and they said that the visit would be 25 dollars, well would they have to x-ray my body again add more fees since if I’m bringing medical history of my certified chiropractor? I ask this because a friend gave me a lortabs once and it helped my back pains significantly compared to tylenol and advil, what the chances that he will prescribe me pain killers? Sorry If i sound cheap but I’m a college student. Thanks for the help
, instead she prescribed me physical therapy without taking any x-rays or anything. The exercises will temporarily numb the pain but the overall symptoms remain the same. Should I get a second opinion from another physician?