Methadone for pain,,,any thoughts ???

I am suffering with severe chronic lower back pain and have been for almost 6 years, but for the past year the pain has been untollerable. I have been to 19 differant doctors in 6 years and have had 4 epidural steroid injections.

I have gotten 4 differant opinions on back surgery and all of them say that I don't need surgery, but there is nothing else that can be done. I have been through 3 differant physical therapy sessions and 1 month of swimming pool therapy with no good results except for worse pain than I had when I started.

I only got around 3-4 scripts written for Lortab 5mg and out of those scripts, I didn't get no more than 150 pills in the last year. I was having to go out and buy my meds off of the street just so that I could live with another day. I had fallen into depression and felt suicidal because of all of the pain and no doctors would help me with pain meds and that was the only thing that worked for me.

One day I went to re-up on some Lortabs and my buddy gave me a 10mg Methadone. I couldn't believe how much better this one little pill worked over 10-15 Lortab 10s. I had already gotten addicted to the Lortabs but not anything that I couldn't quit.

I finally got in with a very good pain doctor at a pain clinic and she started me from day #1 taking 2-10mg Methadones a day, 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. I have been on this dosage since Sept.2002 and about 2 months ago my back pain started coming back. Just last week I went to my pain doc and she raised me up 1 more 10mg Methadone a day. I get 90 a month, but now I am getting worried about an addiction somewhere down the road. I have read a lot of info on Methadone and from what I've read, it takes a pretty large dosage and used for awhile before you could develope an addiction.
I have stopped taking my dosage in the past anywhere from 1-2 weeks and the only thing that I noticed was the pain started coming back after about a week and I have never had any withdrawals whatsoever.

If I was to quit taking Methadone, what other medications could I take in it's place. Hydrocodone don't work anymore and I can't take all of that Tylenol and I have never taken an Oxycontin + what about the addiction to Oxycontin ?

I really hope that someone can answer this question for me. I know for a fact that I can't go through the pain again, I would rather be dead than to have to go thru that again.

Thanks for any help!

God Bless!
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DragracerNpain
D@mn pain sux

[This message has been edited by DragracerNpain (edited 04-24-2003).]

[#1Texan]

Drag
How can you not be a candidate for back surgery?
Could you have pinced nerves somewhere else causing this pain?
I have 2 disc's #2&#3 fused together that cause a pinching of the nerve that I feel in my right shoulder.
I have good days and bad days.

Anyway, I just can't fathom a Dr. not finding the cause of this pain.

What about acupuncture therapy?

I really would hate for you to have to take more and more methadone.

#1Texan

[1goodgirl]

Methodone was originally intended to treat chronic pain, before it was discovered it helped addicts stay off their drugs.
There are several (at least) conditions there is no cure or treatment for. All you can do is try to cope with the pain. Remember quality of life. Hope this helps.

[1goodgirl]

Also it seems that anything that helps with the chronic pain is addictive; not fair! I don't know if Methadone is more addictive than anything else, and often it is an individual response.

[Risky Business]

Dragracer: From my experiences with a dear lady who passed away a few years back....she was like a mom to me. She was an alcohlic, attended meetings, she was also an addict. She admitted it.

The last 10 years of her life she was methadone therapy and she told me that it's main purpose as mentioned above was to curb your appetite for abuse of meds. edited- I am not suggesting you do abuse.

It sounds like you do need something to manage your pain. I hope things work out.

From what I understood methadone did help her control her addiction. But she was addicted for years. Good luck my friend,

Risky Business

[This message has been edited by Risky Business (edited 04-25-2003).]