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Low-dose Naltrexone for lower back pain
Chronic Pain | Last Active: Feb 14 6:39am | Replies (25)Comment receiving replies
I have osteoarthritis all along my spine. I've used tramadol, oxycontin and oxycodone but the side effects were pretty bad. 5 years ago, I was put on buprenorphine patches (generic BuTrans) at a dose of 10μg/hour, 1 patch every 7 days. What a WONDERFUL change! I'm mostly pain free (no more than 5 on the pain scale) and NO NAUSEA! At such a low dose, you may be able to use the patches despite your allergies, so talk to your doctor. Every 6-12 months, I get bilateral radiofrequency ablations at L1-L2 through L5-S1. This is the true pain relief and allows me to stay on such a low opioid dose. I stopped getting them in my neck because my muscles got so stiff and painful that it was defeating the purpose. When I lived in Indiana, I received lidocaine infusions with some effect and later ketamine infusions that helped tremendously. I hope you find the solution that works for you.
Replies to "I have osteoarthritis all along my spine. I've used tramadol, oxycontin and oxycodone but the side..."
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tootire - I'm glad you found some relief. I take Suboxone, a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone to keep from using opiates. I've been sober about 12 years now.
Buprenorphine is an opiate. For anyone considering this, stopping it usually involves withdrawal. I'm at a very low dose, 2mg 2x day but can't stop completely without going into withdrawal. Had I known this 12 years ago, I might have just roughed out withdrawal from opiates.
All that said, physicians will use buprenorphine for pain management. I would just ask a lotto questions of the Dr first.
Another side effect, opiates don't work for me while I'm on buprenorphine. That's kind of the idea. So when I have surgery, I'm pretty much limited to non-narcotic pain management. It's possible, just not always easy.