HikingFan

Hi Cowboy!

Thanks for sharing your story. Sounds like you have been through hell.

Here is my story...

I had a couple minor injuries over the years which caused some intial pain and trauma...a roller coaster that caused horrible problems which weren't initally diagnosed, and then 2 BAD car accidents. But the worst was a year ago, I was working with severely emotionally disturbed kids in a residential group home and one of them threw a basketball at my head, which accelerated the degenerative disk disease, the arthritis, and gave me a bone spur, and three bulging disks. Major compressed nerves, major pain and numbness, etc.

I spent 8 months going through the process of trying to be referred to pain management. I begged for MRI's (I am with an HMO that has made my life hell). It took 8 months to get from my PCP to pain management. I won't go into the long, horrible drama of fighting with docs, begging for someone to help me, begging to not have to go to Physical therapy anymore because it was hurting, and MOST of all, convincing people that just because I am 25, doesn't mean that I am better able to deal with this crap. They thought that because I looked young and healthy, I must be a "hypochondriac."

I started on 5/500 vicodin, and was upped to percocets, then SR morphine, then to methadone, and now I am on methadone (15mg, 3X's a day) with Norco (10mg hydrocodone/325APAP) for BT.

I had trigger point injections, which were useless. Then they wanted to do epidurals, and I demanded they try something less invasive first. They told me about facet joint injections, which sounded like the perfect solution. Those turned out to be painful, but seemed to help for the first 1 and a half weeks after the procedure. After they wore off, I was worse than when I started.

So until I have surgery, which I will have to do eventually, I am on the methadone. It is the only thing that keeps me from having the highs and lows which I hate. It had terrible side effects with my stomach, but it did a good job of giving pretty steady pain control. I was lucky to have access to an anti-nausea, which unfortunatly took 2 weeks to get after I started the methadone. If I had it from square one, it would've made things much better. I have a stomach of steel, and the methadone still tore me from head to toe, and it probably took much longer than neccessary to repair the damage with the anti-nausea once the med was introduced.

Where am I now??? Good question. I need surgery, I have accepted that. I cannot stay on all these meds. They make me too much 'not myself.' At one time I thought I could, and now I have accepted, I cannot live like this. I am in the process of trying to find a good surgeon. I know this might not be the best decision, but I can't keep living by downing pills every 6 hours and not being able to do the things I love...hiking, biking, etc. It is depressing, and I am scared. But I have learned a hell of a lot during all of the this, thats for sure!!!!!!

I don't know if any of this will help you, but if there is anything in here that I can expand on that might help you, please let me know. I think your inital response came from my interest in trying to detox from all this medication to see if I can live with the pain and without medications, which I definitely cannot. I realized that in the last few days.

Seriously, if there is ANYTHING I can do to help, please feel free to ask.

Take care!



Sara