Chronic Back Pain for Years

I at one time had access to as much opioids as I felt was neccesary. Very compassionate Doctors at a pain clinic. They were not enough to control my pain but were too much to allow me access to my ful l intelligence. 266 mgs. per day. The equivalent of about 1000 morphine mgs., the comparison pain docs and pharmacists use.

Finally, after 1 year with no infections I could have my pump put in. Chemo had destroyed one lung and I couldn't risk any surgery. Now my morphine mgs. Rate is about 100. 4mgs. plus .9mgs. gives me much better pain management than the large oral doses ever did and with none of the side effects. No constipation, clear head and my own sparkling personality back. I still live with pain and always will but at least it's manageable. I am as much of an advocate for opioid use as you will find but oral drugs are not the way to go. 1mg. of a drug delivered directly to your spinal fluid is as much as 300 times more effective as 1mg. taken by mouth. I'm getting the benefit of a much as 1500mgs. of Dilaudid per day, (Dilaudud is much more powerful than morphine and second only to Fentanyl). That dose orally would kill me. You cannot eat enough pain meds to control pain long term. I am living proof that it does not work.

The other great thing about the pump is that no one has any suspicions about your motives or your doctors practices. Oral meds work for a time but as your body adjusts you will need larger and larger amounts and eventually they won't work at all except to make you stupid. If pain is a feature of your life that you expect will not go away, look into getting an intrathecal pain pump. Find a good neurosurgeon as threading the catheter up your spinal chord is definitely a neat trick. Big pharma could care less about seniors and politicians are as useful as teats on a boar pig. Get a pump!

Gabapentin is a great drug, for controlling seizures. It is not a pain med. I took it and it was not effective as a pain med. It is very effective at putting money in the hands of big Pharma especially if they talk you into taking Lyrica instead of Gabapentin

Gabapentin is a great drug, for controlling seizures. It is not a pain med. I took it and it was not effective as a pain med. It is very effective at putting money in the hands of big Pharma especially if they talk you into taking Lyrica instead of Gabapentin

@jimhd Not many options for sciatica. I saw a neurosurgeon who said surgery would help but cognitive behavioral therapy would. I have done that. Over the past 5+ years I have tried every stretch, antidepressant, anti seizure, chiropractic, dry needling, physical therapy, acupuncture, etc. I am still in the early stages of myofascial therapy and I have hope. I saw another pain dr and because of black box warning can’t prescribe benzodiazepines with opioids. That is all that works for my conditions. My husband and I have talked at length and if it would give me some semblance of a life I wish I could make the decision of taking the meds. In the over 4 years I’ve taken a pain killer my dosage has never gone up. I am in bed again today crying because the sciatica hurts so bad. I don’t think a pain pump is an option for sciatica.

@wsh66

I was wondering if a pump is directed only to specific areas. I'm glad to hear that it relieves pain wherever it is. Maybe arthritis won't be so painful and I won't need NSAIDs. One question I have is if clonazepam will continue to be an issue. I'm getting flak for taking an opioid and a benzodiazepine together. I take Clonazepam for anxiety, and it's treating my restless leg issue, as well. Here in Oregon opioid prescriptions are monitored by a state program, and prescribing a benzodiazepine in combination with an opioid is a red flag, requiring frequent authorization approval.

I'm very hopeful that a pump will be approved and will give me some level of pain relief. Thank you for bringing it back to my attention.

Jim

Jim, every state and clinic, practice and doctor, will deal c it differently. I take a very low dose of clonazepam some days for anxiety and if I need it (for neck), I sometimes take 1/2 tab of the lowest dose Vicodin. I also have a prescription for sleep meds if needed. (Honestly, I am not a drug user, and my internist prescribes this and tells me she is not worried because I use them carefully and sparingly.) Since I got the SCS put in this past January, my use has been extremely minimal (even my daily aspirin and acetaminophen!) which I am delighted with! Been taking half doses of the clonazepam and trying to quit using it (from a problem that began years ago with a specific situation).

Gabapentin is a great drug, for controlling seizures. It is not a pain med. I took it and it was not effective as a pain med. It is very effective at putting money in the hands of big Pharma especially if they talk you into taking Lyrica instead of Gabapentin

@bustrbrwn22
My wife had spinal stenosis, which was squeezing her sciatic nerve. Surgery to clean out the spinal canal released the pressure on her sciatic nerve, and the pain stopped quite soon after surgery. I just had the same procedure, and recovery was amazingly quick. But whatever works for me might or might not work for you.

Jim

I don't know if you would consider having a pain pump put in major surgery or not. It's generally a procedure that is done in the hospital and you go home the next day or as soon as you can pay after being sedated. In your sixties and seventies and eighties any surgery is Major I suppose. The pump is inserted in your abdomen and a catheter goes up your spine. I don't recall having pain at the incision site after surgery but then the pain, filled with pain in one hundred percent of your body.

Where did you have your surgery
Lynn