@jdiakiw Is there a part 2 of your opioid story? What is your pain level now? About the same as before your first painkiller?

Maybe someday I'll be writing a similar story. But for now, I take 15mg of morphine sulfate contin 2 or 3 times a day. A year or so ago, I tapered off it to ascertain how much it was helping. At that time I was taking 30mg 3 times a day. After 2 weeks without it, it was clear that it was making a difference in my pain. I've tried every medication my gp, neurologist and pain specialist could prescribe. I'm now taking imipramine, which is the last medication on my pain specialist's list. It helped for a few months, but by now I'm not sure how much it's helping. I'm going to taper off it to test that question. In 2017 I had a spinal cord stimulator implant, which reduced my neuropathy pain in my feet by 75%. It was wonderful! But - there always seems to be a but - it began needing to be recalibrated every 3 months, up to the beginning of this year. In March, I turned the scs off, and over that month period, I couldn't feel any change oin my pain level, nor was there any change when I turned it back on in April. I do use lidocaine cream, only to numb the pain so I can get to sleep, and it doesn't last more than a couple of hours.

Morphine sulfate contin is the only medication that's had long term effectiveness. I don't consider myself dependent, and certainly not addicted. Yes, my pain is less - 4-7 - but having gone off it in the past, I don't think it would be any different now. Even with msc, I have days when I rate the pain up to 7-9. I can't imagine living with that level of pain all the time. Like you, I've never sensed a high from the use of msc. I continue to take it because it does take the edge off my neuropathy pain. It doesn't have an effect on my arthritis, unfortunately. I take tylenol and meloxicam for that.

I haven't given marijuana or cbd oil products a try, but it may come down to that. I put off using those things, even though the use of marijuana is legal in my state, because of the high cost. Have you tried any of those products? If so, did they have any effect on your pain?

I think that everyone with neuropathy pain and other related problems is hoping that a definitive treatment will be discovered. Until that happens, we do what we can to manage the symptoms.

I've found that many people have other conditions in addition to the various forms of neuropathy. Those things create a challenge in finding treatments. I hope that you'll be able to continue managing your symptoms.

Jim