| Re: Coming Off Pain Killers
Hello,
Can you say a bit more exactly what your pain is? I was on narcotics for much of 3 years and through 2 fusion surgeries. I had a very rough time of it with back/joint/muscle pain and nerve pain after the second surgery. The pain killers really saved my life and yet I didn't have any trouble coming off of them WHEN my pain levels decreased. Along the way, I was given Cymbalta and Ultram and those meds were quite awful to stop taking. Neither really did much for my pain and I only took them for 6- 8 weeks. But tapering off of them was a nightmare- not painful but very sickening (shakes, sweats, nausea, headaches).
If you are in pain without the morphine, I'd say you need a pain killer! If you're in withdrawals, I'd say you need to do a slower taper and let your doc know so they can maybe help you with some supportive meds. There's nothing mysterious about physical dependence to medications - it happens after even short periods of time. But it matters why you've stopped the med (ought to stop taking pain meds cuz you're not in pain anymore) and it matters how (slowly and with support).
And if your in pain maybe it matters to see what kind of pain (muscle vs nerve). I found neurontin to be the best for my nerve pain. It isn't a narcotic so I was able to stay on it for longer and stopped taking it only recently (so I took it for about 9 months post-op) and because I don't need it anymore. Best of luck - Suzy-Q
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