Shoreline

Hi Tracer, Thereis no gaurenteed med that will relieve all your pain. PArticularly neurontin. Tey usually start you with a dose at bed time thne add one in the morning then one in the afternoon. You slowly keep increasing the dose untill you get max reief with tolerabl side effects. Some folks take up to 3600 mgs of Neurontin a day. But if the side effect of that one are too unbearable, there are at least a dozen others you can try and play with the dose and hopefully they will add in some other meds that will also help.

Nerve pain, like the leg pain your experiencing is the hardest to manage. No pill will unimpinge a nerve. So even with morphine laying in your lazyboy, that nerve is still being crushed and a pill won't do it all. At best expect relief tha allows you to function and think about something other than how much you hurt. Neurontin not working after one or 2 dose increases is very common. The concerning thingis the opposte effect it seems to have, rather than being sedated, agitiation sounds like it's not the right med for ya.

When they start using other meds for off label purposes, testing, clinical trials, it's effect on soeone without seizures is very questionable. But PM means you are a guinea pig untill they find the right med, the right dose, the right way to get it in you and the right interval between doses. There is just so much more to it than you knw morphine kills pain so give me some. 30 mgs of morphne may not touch the leg pain without the help of meds like neurontin or Toppamax or on eof the antidepressants or you simply mght need surgery. I have had 3 surgeries fail, broke 2 sets of hardware and had 2 fusions fail, but I idd wake up from each surgery with the nerves unimpinged and that leg pain gone. It ruined my back to the point of not being able to stand more than 20 minutes, but at least my legs aren't on fire or in buckets of freezing water.

Unfortunately without significant neurological damage, loss of bowel, bladde, reflexes, or foot drop, The general concensus is that nobody every died from pain. Plenty killl themself and have heart atacks, but even the road to surgery when it's obvious through an MRI doesn't mean they won't try other things first and it's all trial and error. Epidural strids, PT, trigger point injections, nerve blocks, etc. Your age, our level of incapacity, loss of muscle and reflexes are all part of the decision to operate or even treat pain.

If it was as easy to get pain meds and have insurance pay for them, there wouldn't be a need for illegal drugs. Drug testing, Pain management contracts, psych testing, mandatory counseling are all part of pain managemnt. Being unwilling to comply at any step could potentially end the relationship with a doc that would have gotten around to prescribing or finding something that works. If someone hurts bad enogh they will try anything. If someone simply wants drugs, they will simply move on to the next doc looking for that soft touch that will give you morphine simply because you say your in pain.

I have no reason to doubt your pain, but a docs licence and livelyhood and the pressure from the DEA and those few patients that really have legit pain complaints but can't comply with instructions and the ones that simply abuse meds make it tough on everyone. In the pain management world, a 30 day supply means a 30 day supply, not a 28 or 26, It's 30 or you don't pick up another script.

Last fall and winter the DEA manadated that all PM docs do random UA's, Not just to look for illegal drugs, but moreso to ensure the drugs preescribed are being taken and not sold for 10 or 20 bucks a pill.

They manadated docs see each patient on a monthly basis even if they have jumped through every hoop over 7 years and finally found something that works. Each patient must still be seen monthly.I have a pump that goes 85 days between refills and still must be seen monthly.

If the docs don't comply , a simple investigation, no charges, no warrents, no probable cause, can shut a doc down for months and send every patient into withdrawal looking for someone else to treat them or having to turn to meth clinics or rehab where they are told an addict is an addict and there is no difference betwen simple physical dependence and addiction.

If someone finds a fast track to pain meds without all the other crap involved, it's lkely that doc won't be in practice long. So in one aspect, the more crap your doc puts you through, the safer he is and the less likely you are to show up for an apt an find yellow tape across his door.

For many people the only option is pain meds or long acting pain meds so physical dependence is inevatable. If you take pain meds every day for months, you become physically dependent, you will experience withdrawal if you discontinue abruptly, but when this dependnece improves the quality of someones life it's hard to call it addiction. I've yet to meet an addict whose drug of choice improved their quality of life.

Medcine is a practice, and your the one they are practicing on. :yikes:

Good luck, Dave