Chronic Pain That Isn’t Expected to Change, Is There a Different Way of Thinking About Stronger Meds?
Question by someoneoutthereishere: Chronic pain that isn’t expected to change, is there a different way of thinking about stronger meds?
I’m sorry to all who have to see all of my separate questions over the past few days, I wish I could combine them, and thank you all for your really-helpful answers!
A quick background (again): I have Lupus, which there is no cure for. I’m taking immunosuppressants and other meds to help keep it somewhat in check, but there is still a lot of continuous muscle-type pain. The best I can describe it is neverending extra-bad growing pains….not shooting pain, but pain that just aches very badly and doesn’t stop, very uncomfortable.
Since this isn’t something like a broken leg that would be treated short term with pain meds until it heals, I was wondering if the medical community looks at these situations differently in regards to pain meds. For pain, I’m on darvocet and soma, which are starting to not help much….
But “addiction” obviously scares the heck out of me.
[I’m going to add a tiny bit more in the extended question box below…..]
While I can always hope that there may one day be a cure, there isn’t one in the foreseeable future. So, I have to face up to the fact that I will be on pain meds most likely for the rest of my life (I’m only 30).
So…it’s obviously best to stay on the mildest, lowest dosage of a pain med as long as possible. But I think I need to move up to the next one, as darvocet isn’t working much anymore (after 2 years).
What I’m trying to get at is, do I need to be as worried/scared of moving up to something like vicodin or tylenol+codeine (the next step my dr. mentioned) as I am? Or since this is a lifelong disease, is it just something to live with and that will eventually happen. I guess I feel that I won’t have to deal with withdrawal, because unfortunately I probably won’t ever be able to stop…..does this sound logical or am I missing something very important? (again, scared of becoming addicted to anything I don’t “need” if that makes sense)
Best answer:
Answer by Skyhawk
It makes perfect sense. If there are medications that will alleviate your pain, you should take them.
Suppose the worst case scenario. A cure is never found in your lifetime. You will have endured the pain, for fear of addiction, in hopes of a cure.
Deal with that when it happens. Take the medicines so you can enjoy a better quality of life NOW, and be glad if you have to withdraw from the meds, for that will mean you don’t need them anymore when a cure is found.
Good luck!:)
Answer by Ratchet1957
I have Chronic Pain also , I busted my back up and also broke my neck in 1983 , I also have Arthritis, Nerve Damage, Degenerative Disc Disease , Scar Tissue and Trapped Nerves
and know what you are going through , I am now taking Morphine and Percocet along with nerve blockers and muscle relaxers .
I too did not want to get “hooked” on drugs and suffered to the point I was bedridden for a few years until I had a “sit down”
heart to heart chat with my doctor about my medications
He told me that if I truly was concerned about becoming addicted that I would not fit the addicted category, He said there is a difference between needing the drugs to alleviate the pain and taking them as prescribed as opposed to being addicted and taking them for fun or to get “high” and stealing to get more !
The reason I am taking as potent meds as I do is because that over all these years I have taken everything up until the point that that medication no longer works because I have developed a tolerance level and no matter the dosage it no longer works for me like it used to and I have needed to step up to a drug that once again alleviates my pain.
He said that there was no point for me to sit and suffer in silence when there was help available !
Good Luck and God Bless
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