Casper,
It truly is, and the time I spend at CP gives me a greater appreciation of my fellow sufferers. As bad as it is for me, there are those in much worse shape for even longer periods of time.
What those without CP rarely understand, that the goal is not to eliminate all pain, that is practically impossible with the goal of still being somewhat functional. It's controlling the pain, and learning to live with it. It's a fine balancing act, to be honest with you.
My fentanyl patches give me the most relief, its a powerful and potentially dangerous med, up to 100x stronger than heroin, some sources claim. I am very careful, and have many checks and balances in place so that I don't accidently overdose. I cross check several calendars on my every other switch out days. The Lortabs I am on, are designed to control break through pain. To be on Fentanyl, you have to be ruled to be very well opiate tolerant in the first place, its not designed for short term pain situations.
Glad your pain meds are working for you. What makes it hard with me, is that the area/scope of my pain is still increasing on a regular basis, and this is what makes it difficult for my oncologist/PM to control. I will be talking to him again next week, and see if any other changes are needed.
Despite the level of meds I am on, those around are amazed that I never seem remotely drugged. Fully functional, my brain works well (so I am told), still have all my analytical skills like when I was working. Its amazing what the body can adjust to. But the real test, is if the body is in deep pain, the pain meds are not going to make one high or elated, they will simply work on the pain, this is something that pain doctors know well with their patients.
david