HELP -another change in pain meds

In 2005, I tore 2 discs in half - L4 & L5. Since it was a worker's comp situation, it took until 2010 for surgery to be allowed. I had a spinal fusion which has been stamped failed. (I blame that on the length of time from date of injury to surgery.)

Have been told nothing else can be done surgically to fix my problem; I will be in pain management for rest of my life.

For past 13 years, I have been on many different pain meds. I suffer from constant horrendous lower back pain along with severe leg pain. (Both legs -front & back) Right thigh and groin area feel like they are inside a meat grinder!

I have a very high tolerance to pain medication. Two weeks ago I was switched from 30mg hydrocodone IR compound to 40mg OxyContin. Up until now this medicine worked great taking one every eight hours.
Now I find my pain seems to get worse within two hours of taking prescribed dosage. My entire body aches! I take one more pill and pain subsides within an hour. Of course pain is never completely gone. But majority is. Plus pain relief only lasts bout 4 to 6 hours even with taking two tablets.

Since I've been many forms of hydrocodone for past 5 years with a sudden change to OxyContin, could I possibly be going thru withdrawal?
Could that be why my pain now extends from lower back all the way up to my neck and shoulders?

Next dr appointment is end of next week. I will have to confess taking more medication than prescribed. Praying I will not be in any trouble for doing so. OxyContin scares me due to so many over-dosing on it. I did major research before I began taking 80mgs. Last thing I want to be is another statistic.

Can anyone tell me if it could be withdrawal problems from the hydrocodone? Does anyone have suggestions for me? I am in need of quick help.

Hi Connie and welcome to the chronic pain forum. I am glad that you found us but sorry you have to be here. I hate to read that you are suffering as you are, life with CP is no picnic thats for sure.

We are not here to preach or pass judgment but I will tell you as Vickie did. If you are not taking your medication as prescribed then you are at high risk to be fired by your dr.. Self medicating will lead to nothing but trouble & then the next thing you know you will be unable to get any dr willing to take you on as a patient. There are new rules & guidelines in place that pain mgt drs have to go by and they are terrified of the DEA coming in & shutting down their practice. We can thank the abusers and such for this new environment. It really hurts the legit patients. Therefore, they have a zero tolerance when it comes to us patients. Rather than taking more pills you should have called the dr & asked to come in early.

If your pain is out of control then you need to work out something with your dr and come up with a plan that will give you some quality of life. Do not look at pain meds as being the only source of containing your pain. There are no pain free days for chronic pain patient.

Keep us posted on how you are coming along, take care....Susie

Thank you for all of your opinions and advice. I did call the doctor later in the day when I posted for help. Was told we would discuss my dosage at next appt.
I also made an appointment with my general doctor for Wednesday. I had problems before with a hypo-thyroid. I had forgotten about that until now. Somehow that problem affects my tolerance with pain medication. Found that out when I had to be given 10 shots of novacain to have a tooth pulled. Dentist suggested to see dr bout thyroid blood test. I did and was put on medicine for that. I was so tired of taking so much medicine, I quit taking it. So maybe getting thyroid back under control things will get better for me.

I have been on nuerotin, lyrica, and gralise for leg pains. Only the gralise worked but after 2 months it quit working. This OxyContin is helping with the leg pains. I'm thankful for that!

Feel like a guinea pig with all the meds I have been on. I have been on hydrocodone (loratab,loracet,Vicodin) Percocet, and compound hydrocodone both immediate and slow release. Also had steroid and cortisone injections. The best relief came from a fentyl patch but as soon as length of relief got shorter my medication was changed.

I know not to split pills in half or to crush them.

One time two years ago, I was so fed up taking pills all day, I decided to just stop on my own. Yes that was huge stupid mistake I will never make again. My body hurt all over - even hurt when somebody touched my skin. Plus was throwing up and had "runs" at same time. Of course on weekend. Friends highly suggested I get back on my meds. Within a couple of hours after taking them, I was fine. So I know from experience I am already addicted to pain relievers. I knew I would need to be in detox once they fixed my back. (But my surgery failed)That is why I was worried about my latest change from hydrocodone to OxyContin may cause withdrawal symptoms. Since my entire body was in pain, I immediately thought it was happening all over again.

I am told nothing else can be done to my body to fix my back. I don't want to be on medication for rest of my life. Very depressing. I just want my life back. I want to work again. I want to go to church without having to bring pillows with me.

I have two cousins who are RNs - they confirmed the dosing info I found on line. I knew I would not o/d from taking two pills. I also realize taking more than prescribed will cause me to run out of med too soon for refill. I have only done it 3 times and that was because I could not handle the pain. Can't get help from ER they treated me like I was street dope addict.

I never wanted to be on pain medication. I was only doing my job working at Lowe's. They had me moving window air conditioners for almost 10 hours! I weighed only 100lbs moving many that weighed almost as much me and some weighing more. Because it was my department I had to do it. Makes me angry that I am in so much pain because I was doing my job. They could have made any of the men do that work!

Sorry for complaining -guess I am having a pity party today. I see so many people who are in far more worse shape than I am. It makes me feel so guilty for complaining. I do keep my faith that my time of healing will come one.

Thank you all for taking the time to listen and help me. I have been holding in my frustrations for so long. It feels good to release the pressure building in mind. I am also taking Zoloft for major depression and Xanax for anxiety attacks. Feel like a walking pharmacy.
Thanks so much once again! :)

Thank you so much Diane for pointing out difference between addicted and dependent. That made me smile and feel much better! I am so happy I found this group. You all give great advice and are such great listeners. It's true nobody really understands what a person feels or is going through unless they have been there themselves.
I am blessed you all came together and are helping people like me. I will keep all of you in my prayers. I hope you each have a great week ahead!
Connie

I do not mean to come across as rude to Mossmi. I do appreciate the concern you and the others have in helping me find answers to those questions I find myself having after office hours.
Since you all understand what having excruciating pain is, you treat me as a peer. Since I have been "stamped" with being on w/comp, I have been talked down to many. They seem to think I am one who just doesn't want to work. Some think I just want drugs for the "high".

For the record, I hate and resent the fact I have to take meds just to get out of bed. I can't even stand or sit on the counter long enough to fix a proper dinner. I miss out on so many family get-togethers. I miss my the life I had before my injury.

And, oh how the huge cut in my income has affected me and my son. I am not making even close to half the money I was. This is not the life I chose. This is not what I graduated college for!

The main statement I want to make is that taking one more pill than prescribed was not for a high or an addiction problem it was for pain relief only!!! Sometimes the 40mg OxyContin works but only lasts a few hours. My doctor said it should last for 8. It did work for 8 hours but only for about 2-3 weeks. He told me he was starting me out on 40mg to see if it would work.

The same thing happened with the ext release compound hydrocodone. When I told him the relief time was getting shorter and i was having to take it more often, he changed me to the 4 hour immediate release. He understands my pain is real. He also understands my ill feelings on having to keep getting stronger medication.

Yes I do admit I am addicted to pain killers but that is because I have been taking them for over 7 years. I can honestly say I have never felt an "high" from anything I have taken. I am only seeking relief from the pain that keeps me in tears. I am dependent on the relief from my pain.

I noticed at the bottom of everyone's entries you list your injuries and the medicine you are on. Well, here is my list:
Prozac, Effexor, Cymbalta, Paxil, Remeron, til finally Zoloft - since 1994 - from a nervous breakdown I had when my ex husband kidnapped my son, threatened and tried to kill me.
Xanax- since 1994 from same incident (still taking both)
Lunesta, desyrel, and Ambien -on and off since breakdown and presently on Dalmane for sleeping.
Fiorinal for chronic migraines I have had since my second husband cracked my skull open in 1996.
Have been thru the following Fentyl patch, Vicodin, lortab, lorcet, Percocet, tramadol, steroid and novacain injections, compound hydrocodone IR & SR, plus lyrica, nuerotin, and gralise since 2005 for two torn disc, one ruptured disc, from a failed lumbar fusion surgery which created a new problem with sciatica in 2010. On top of all this I have,burned up 7 expensive heating pads in the past 7 years, which my lower back is now black from. I have been told over and over I am cooking the insides of my back and stay off it. But again - it is hard to listen to that advice when it gives me some type of moderate relief.
I have had to change positions many many times while typing this because of the pain.
I can't sleep because I cannot stay comfortable for hardly any length of time no matter of what PRESCRIBED sleeping medication. I have a tempurpedic mattress which lifts my legs and back.

My pain is real not made up. I have had several MRIs, cat scans, emg(initials may be wrong but electrical probing tests on my legs) I have also had a trial spinal cord stimulator.

At times I would just wish I would die because my pain was so severe. If were not for my faith in God and my family, I would be dead by now.

But I do have my faith. I know when He is ready for me to be healed, I will be. I will survive this and one day I will be pain free and be off any and all medicine. But until that day I have to rely on medication to tolerate the hell I am going through now.

Again I am sorry for all the complaining for there are millions out there living with worse pain and conditions than I am. I pray for those people every day and night.

For those wondering about all the medicine I have been through, I got the names off lists out of attorney papers. So you see now why I feel like a walking pharmacy guinea pig.

I cannot say thank you enough for taking the time to read my ramblings. If you noticed the time I write - it is when most people are sleeping. I don't sleep at night. I get about 3 cat naps a day. I guess another reason for being so cranky.

Another apology for being long-winded. The one and only side effect I have ever gotten from any of my medicine beside nausea (phenergan 25 mg for that) is talking too much. Lol - something I can laugh about there)

the way things seem to be going we all need to be extra careful following Vickies advice at top of the page.

Not sure if anyone said this yet but continuing what you are doing is a slippery slope. Self-medicating on a regular basis can lead to addiction (not dependance) issues and may lead you down the wrong road. If you find that you are simply taking more by rationalizing it and thinking its okay, then you are already heading down this road and may end up behind the 8-ball sooner than later.

The meds are only lasting a few hours is not possible. While they may not last the entire 12 hours , or 72 hours in the case of fentanyl , the meds are still there, still providing pain relief. As for being bed ridden, if you don't force yourself to get up and get moving you are only feeding the loss of strength and movement making it more painful when you do move around.
You keep making excuses for self medicating.

Peter
When I first joined this forum, THE main reason that I joined was the no tolerance policies to misusing and self medicating that were the guidelines of CP forum.
Since that time the tone of this forum has been over run with posters who are clearly mis-using these medications all the while claiming their doctors don't understand/ won't treat their pain ad nauseum.
The facts are that extended release medications do provide continuous pain relief over 8/12/24 or in the case of fentanyl -48-72 pain management. Nothing that I have said was based solely on my opinion but on studies. With that being said this forum is no longer what it was and it is time for me to leave like many other long time members.

The meds only lasting a few hours? Not possible? Well yea it is entirely possible if someone has a problem metabolizing them or something is cancelling them out such as a medication she's on and the interaction isn't being picked up by anyone. A disease process. There are possibly many reasons and I hope her Dr persues the cause.

Connie thank you for your kind words I truly hope you can get to the bottom of this isssue and find something that works to relieve your pain. It sometimes for many is a long and daunting task but in the end when you and your Drs get it right you will feel so much better.

Hang in there and keep up the fight.

Ouch! Been there, still doing that except my pain issue is a 9 out of 10 24/7 chronic pain headache! I think if you do the maths that is something like 215,000 hours non stop over TWENTY FOUR YEARS! With hopefully only another ten or so years to add to my present seventy, the "final relief" is gunna be a great big party for me - bring it on!

Anyhow, I didn't read all the posts above due running short of tome, apologies, but your next step up is JURNISTA. Similar to OxyC but much more effective!

I started on 32mg (64 mg is the max you can get) per day and it works! Virtually no side effects, no ups and downs, and of course you will reach the time after about a year, when the effect wears off, though never completely!

Contrary to what the instructions say, they work better when split in half, otherwise nothing for up to three or four hours, for me anyway!

There are several ways to split them, one is a sledgehammer but hard finding the bits, two is to put them in a vice, three is a chainsaw, four is to drop a brick on them, I have heard that breaking down and sobbing can help, albeit emotionally! I use a small pair of wire cutters that do the job though a BIG carving knife on a cutting board is also quite effective.

But it's worth it though you will have the thrill of coming off those mongrel OxyC and that is sooooooo much fun! Best get your wife to handcuff you to the bed, strap you down and gag your mouth lest your screams upset the neighbours. Took me three days to come off them and the second most fun you can have in bed!

All joking aside, they WILL help you but very, very important to take the two halves, crumbs or what have you left at EXACTLY the same time every day. I take my little friend(s) at 5.00 am without fail, have a little sleep and wake up feeling pretty good til around six at night when it wears off and I start biting on my piece of broom stick!

Go get 'em!

Post Edited (cuttlefish310) : 6/12/2013 8:18:16 PM (GMT-6)

Welcome to the forum Cuttle and I truly love your sense of humor. If you would post a introduction post telling us a little about your journey in CP so everyone can welcome you that would be great.

By the way Jurnista is Exalgo in the US for those who don't know.

Thank each of you for your support and understanding. Well since the OxyContin didn't work he put me on 25mcg fentyl patches along with Norco. He recommended I go back to a neurosurgeon to see if he now thinks something surgically can be done to help. He said because of my tolerance to the medications I am now maxed out on the relief I receive. He said I have had extensive surgery already but evidently something is not right. I told him even though I do not like idea of surgery I am now at point where I even welcome an exploratory surgery. He can tell leg pain is coming from from the S-1. Not sure what that is. If he were able to complete my nerve test he would know more. My fault on that- pain was too much for me, I asked him to stop before test was complete. It's been a few days since my drug transition and I am in less pain.
Btw, I am not bed ridden all the time. Only when meds are not working. I walk to keep strength in my legs. Only response to "quit looking for excuses" is you, sir have no clue. I came here for moral support and for the most part that is what I found. It is sad to know so many others are going through such intolerable pain but at same time it is nice to know there are people who understand and truly care about others. I think this forum is a great for people like me who thought nobody could possibly understand.
Now I play the waiting game with Wkcomp to get in to another dr.
THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR INSIGHTS AND HELP. I WILL BE PRAYING FOR ALL OF YOU.
Connie