need advice if anyone has attempted this

 Hi, i am new to HW. Nice to meet you.

   I have had chronic neck and back pain that was in part due to car wrecks and head injuries then, sleep got worse and then pain became  localized and fibro pain, joint pain and muscle pain. I have other health problems that add to pain but unfortunatly, the years treating those has not helped with my pain level.

   I am now giving up on my focus on the "cause" and looking  more at how to improve my quality of life, here and now.

    I am on norco 5 a day and oxy 20mg 3 a day. Ive been on pain meds for at least 10 years and this dose  with these meds for 3 years. I have done a zillion treatments that I shant bore you with but I could really use some advice for the next thing I am considering.

   I have found a pain doc who uses nasal ketamine, low dose naltraxone and a few other medications that few docs are using.  She feels that I might be better with these meds and they are showing some neuro protective and anti-inflamatory properties with less side affects.

 

  More about treating the brain and the damage that is caused from chronic pain.

  The problem is I have to get off the the norco and the oxy completly for at least 2 weeks and best a month. I have tried soooo many pain meds and while they don't get me out of pain completly ... more like down to a 5 or so they do keep me from cashing my chips with the least amount of sides.

   I can't imagine how I can make it that long with out pain meds when most days I am counting hours to my next med.  I have to travel to see her which is really hard and staying anywhere but my home is even harder. sleep is a big issue for me so i would rather do the detox at home then treatment with her so i can be home and save money. I will be homeless in a year so money matters.

   

   she suggusted I try cannabis but if that even helped it wouldn't be the help I need with the level of pain I am at. I don't think she wants to suggust to much if she is not the doctor supervising me while its happening which is really her being careful which you want in a doc.

     I am wondering if anyone has attempted this and if they had any luck with medications that aren't opioids (other then anti depressents) my brain and body hates them.  

      I am scared out of my mind at being in even more pain. I have not lived a single day without pain for ten years. I have learned how to manage my day good or bad to make it as bareable as possible but it is really hard, hard like only you folks can know.

  Once I had it so bad that I could not sit or lay down or stand in one place for too long..after three days I was a train wreck, ended up in the ER where they had to tranquilze me to get me "down". I had a Torodal shot, slept that night which got me back to "normal"  

   My GP has no decent advice he detoxs addicts not pain people so his understanding is very limited. so, any advice about medications or personel experiences getting off your pain meds or  being with out them competley,  would be deeply appreciated.

   I do all the alternative/natural supportive therapies I can afford already but if you have used somthing while getting off your pain meds  that would be great to know.

  ( i am very tired and i couldn't find the spell check on this so please forgive my spelling mistakes)

  thanks so much, wishing everyone well

Tina said it well, wish we could talk about this subject, but as States do approve of its use medically there are still Federal laws against it, so even in states where it is okay for use, you have to be careful cause you can still get arrested. It's like that double edge sword and I hope this makes sense.
So we cant tell you to try it, I would urge caution should you want to try it and if you don't have a prescription for it, then no,. It would not be worth it.
I would urge caution in its use and get help coming off your medication, work with your current doctors on that.

Hi there...Welcome to the boards...It's definitely a wonderful place for support and empathy!

I don't have any personal experience with the ketamine or naltraxone but I think a few of our members have with them individually so hopefully they will come along to post. It can be a bit more quiet on here around the holidays and/or weekends. So it may take a bit to get some more posts.

If I may ask a few questions...

Is the Norco and the Oxycontin the only meds that you are on now?

I was curious as with Fibro and muscle pain, an actual muscle relaxer is extremely helpful in addition to any opiate. There is Flexeril or Amrix, Robaxin, Skelaxin, Baclofen, or Zanaflex. I have had Fibro since '95 and found that this does more than anything else to help.

Other meds for Fibro are more nerve pain related like Lyrica, Neurontin, Cymbalta or Savella. We have a Fibromyalgia board on here as well that I encourage you to go over and take a peek. You are more than welcome to post on more than one board as many of us have multiple issues.

It also sounds like you have a great deal of inflammation as you mention the ER trip and then doing better when they gave you Toradol. That is a Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory (NSAID)....So are you on a daily NSAID like Advil or have you tried Flector patches?

I know that you mention that you've had many other treatments....so just trying to get a feel for what modalities you are using right now besides the opiates. Or what other opiates you have tried recently like Nucynta or Opana? There have been some members here who have had some good responses with these newer meds.

Are you able to get out and walk each day? I do a walk with my dog (1.4 miles) and find that I am incredibly stiff and sore if I skip a day. With Fibro...it's so important to stay moving each day. I also do yoga/stretching each am/pm to help keep my muscles limber.

Many of us find that the more things we can do both medicinally and non medicinally each day helps keep our pain levels to a decent level.

Just trying to make sure that all the combinations have been tried before going on something as extreme as the Ketamine. That is much more nerve wracking to me than the low dose naltraxone.

As Tina mentioned, I definitely wouldn't go cold turkey off of the medications. Has the new PM given you a slow taper plan?

What my PM and I have done over the years is rotate medications to try and keep my tolerance level down. As I do agree that trying to "reset" those receptors can be very helpful.

All I can say that is if you don't feel this new PM is someone who is going to work with you tapering down slowly and make sure that you aren't in excruciating pain, then I would look elsewhere. I think it's critical to have 100% confidence in our Drs. we have chosen for our care.

Hope you will continue to post here and let us know how you are doing.

Flowers, and clonidine or Inderal will help you sleep, would help even better if u could get some Xanax or valium instead but clonidine is next best thing, but make sure to monitor for signs of low bp or slow Hr as it is a beta blocker anti hypertension med.

noticed im in a similar boat as you, im on oxy 20s tid and it hardly helps maybe 4-6  , maybe switching to

opana ER or fentanyl if your doctor is willing to work with you..  my dr is ok but im usually forced to see his pa who is a  ... well lets say less ... understanding and compassionate twards pain , basically everyone is a drug addict to this pa who thinks my dose of oxycodone of  60mg + upto 75mg instant release oxy a day is high... and refused to talk about raising it, my pm on other hand one of the few times he actually saw me himself he was willing to up the oxycontin to 30 tid but would lower my bt 15mg oxycodone irs which if u think about it isn't raising my dose its keeping it the same and making me think im on a higher amount, luckily im not stupid. Next month when I go I will ask hat he has the dr come in maybe talk about switching to opana also or leaving the amount of daily bt meds the same and still upping the oxycontin.  anyway hope your able to find a med combo that works.

Post Edited (Luie) : 12/17/2012 8:52:18 AM (GMT-7)

Hope you found some answers.