I have a friend that had the same surgery that i did, the 2 level fusion.
he had his surgery 7 months ago, & he is now highly addicted to the pain meds. bad part is that he is a doctor, & he has many friends in the fleld.
so he doeasnt have a hard time getting a script 4 himself & when i just saw him a few days ago, he was a totaly different person. at beginning he was taking 16 percocets a day. now all he is doing is going through withdrawl.
climbing walls & just losing it. any suggestions will help me, thanks bill

Why do you say he's addicted, we who have real back problems and rely on meds to live call it dependent. We depend on the meds so we can walk, and survive etc.

i am six months post op and still on all kinds of meds, is this your diagnosis? Maybe the meds are needed and its possibly your outlook, I don't know I'm just guessing. Maybe he needs to go to pain managment.

Yvette I totally agree with you, I'm 3 months post op ALIF and still on meds, oxycotton, vicodin, and vallium. The sad part is with taking all of those meds I'm still in excrutiating pain. But I'm sure if I didn't take my meds the pain would be so much worse. We do need to control our level of pain and to do that we have to take the medications, I don't consider myself an addict.

mew

Why do you say he's addicted, we who have real back problems and rely on meds to live call it dependent. We depend on the meds so we can walk, and survive etc.

i am six months post op and still on all kinds of meds, is this your diagnosis? Maybe the meds are needed and its possibly your outlook, I don't know I'm just guessing. Maybe he needs to go to pain managment.

he was the person who told me the only problem he has is the withdrarl. he has no pain what so ever. when i saw him, he was up & down stairs, walking in circles, hands shaking very bad. he told me that he needs the meds to cope with his day, not the pain.
plus i understand what you are going through, i just had the 2 level fusion.
& i'm on 3 different meds.

This is a tough question. Addiction, dependent, what ever to our bodies it is the same thing. I have been on narcotics for about two years now, lately much stronger than Percocet. My first prayer is to just ease my back pain to the point where I can answer my second prayer and that is to get off narcotics. After you have been on them for months or years there is nothing pleasurable about taking them unless you like constipation, decreased hormones and all the problems that causes. O'Yes, there is that lovely sensation called withdrawal you get when our pharmacist runs out of your meds and it takes 3-4 days to get them. If your friend has been on narcotics for 7 months he is probably in serious pain and needs a friend. He needs support at this time so be there for him.

I posted this here a couple months ago but it might be time for a repeat:

I posted this on a forum designed for chronic pain people. The person with the handle/name Dragoodle, was implying narcotics were only needed for short term pain, or terminal cancer pain.
My response
Dragoodle,
I think your heart is in the right place, as is most caring people who have never had dehabilitating chronic pain. Trouble is some just don't have any other choice except narcotics or to eat their gun. There is chronic pain and there is chronic PAIN. You have to be there to know the difference.
If you constantly search the internet for a cure for yourself as your doctors can't find one, you might be there. If the pain level is equal to a 10 year old standing on your big toe and he has been there 24 hours a day for the last 2+ years you might be there. If you think about your pain every minute of every waking hour you might be there.
Example, about a month ago I went into Basken-Robbins to get an ice cream cone. The girl giving me change was in a big rush and pushed my change on the floor in front of me. I was not able to bend over to pick it up and walked away but a little girl saw what happened and came over and picked it up for me. It was about 75 cents. I let her keep it.
It isn't about addiction dragging you down, it is about a med that lets you live a small portion of your previous life that others take for granted. Like getting the fork to your mouth, or putting your shoes on without help or wiping your own butt.
I’m not talking about the soccer moms who need a pick-me-up to get the kids to school but the seriously in pain person who can't live without there meds to control their pain. It is not just about controlling their withdrawal.
After 11 failed procedures both with and without conscious sedation to relieve my pain, or diagnose my pain, each a big disappointment when you want something so badly, I'm getting to know where “there“ is.
“There” being narcotics are die. I’m not suicidal, or at least I don’t think I am right now. I still have my wife and my son who need me. I do admit to being in a deep funk about wondering if this is the way the rest of my life will be. My Family Practice doc wanted me to get a colonoscopy as part of an annual physical. I declined. To coin a movie line from “Gone with the Wind“, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a dam”. If the grim reaper wants to camp on my doorstep he would not necessarily be an invited guest but I wouldn‘t run him off either. If I do happened to be conscious when death came it would be with a smile on my face. I would then say what another great man said “Free at last, free at last. Great God almighty, I’m free at last”.
Myers

Jack,

I think most of us on this board know only too well about pain. With that being said there is also the fact of addiction and it does happen. Pokerplayer has explained that his friend is only too aware of the fact that he is not taking the drugs for pain but to help him get through his day due to withdrawal symptoms.

I think that perhaps chronic pain patients get defensive when the subject of addiction is brought up because they feel challenged everytime they have to explain why they need their script filled.

For myself I never really got any good relief with narcotics other than a shot in the butt while in hospital and even that was shortlived. The only good "nerve pain" relief I have gotten is with the seizure meds. Not perfect but best to date.

Jack, thinking about your pain 24 hours a day is stealing your life away. There ways of dealing with chronic pain and obsessing over it 24/7 is a defeatist way of dealing with it. In the end it drives your friends and family away and makes your life a dark dank cave to live in.

Pokerplayer, I think your friend needs to set his pride aside and get himself some help. He knows he is in trouble. With all his connections he must know of someone that can help him. Right now he is the patient not the doctor and obviously he is desperately in need of care. He has got to get off these drugs. It is only going to get worse if he continues down this road, perhaps ending with the loss of his licence. So please try to talk some sense into him as a friend.

Hugs
Pooby

If he is trying to get off meds and doens't need them, then he needs to slowy decrease not go cold turkey.

I think he pretty much knows he is in trouble and it is him that needs to do something about it...that is IF he is no longer in pain and just taking them. But...To help him you need to tell him what you have said here and then just let it go. You also might need to stop visiting until he is clean and sober. However, if he is still in pain then he would need a pain clinic to put him on something to help rather than keep taking more and more of something that isn't going to help.

Pooby,

I don't obsess over my pain. But you can't help but think about it when it hurts. After 2+ years, I pretty much don't talk to people about my pain. Unless a person is my doctor or spouse or very close friend, you wouldn't even know anything was wrong. I still work (have to to provide).

I did make an presumption that this doc is still in pain but like me hiding it. Only way to know is ask.