Legally, I cannot be prescribed Methadone for the chronic pain of degenerative disk disease and upper neck problems, @ least not in Mass.-the state where I NEED 2 move for inheritence reasons-and I need to find a pain manager drug from Mt. where I have been on that Methadone therapy combined with Lyrica for a bothched right arm nerve surgery done in March 08 to top it all off. So...any ideas on other drugs/medications which WOULD be allowed in both states for all of the above conditions? Oh, and last but not least- I am a recovering alchoholic wih 5 yrs sobriety other than the little jaunt out of a Mass. Mental Hospital from which I left A.M.A. for legal reasons again-the Drs. could not let me stay in a "freecare Hospital" if I was not considered mentally ill. Once they had forced me into and thru a full out no-help withdrawal from several psychiatric drugs(Benzodiazapenes) as well as the not legal as pain management in the state of Mass. opiat-Methadone-I had to go--back to Montana was the ONLY available option-in the interrum I DID drink alchohol for the pain relief only...thank God I HATE the stuff-but I NEVER AGAIN want to even attempt such a thing!!! IT DID NOT GO WELL AT ALL EITHER...So is oxycontin the next strongest or type of drug I would need??? PLEASE HELP ME!!!
Q: would Oxycontin alleviate MOSTof my severe chronic pain the same way Methadone does? Y drs don't use
Oxycontin would be better than methadone, but fentanyl transdermal would be better for the pain and may make the doctor feel more secure since it would be more obvious if you were to abuse of divert it. I'm not saying you would--I'm saying your history makes a doctor worry about this and a patch you change every 3 days and get only 10 of a month seems harder to abuse or divert. As a pain patient who has used methadone, oxycontin, and fentanyl tranasdermal I can also say it's by far the most effective for my pain and causes me the fewest side effects, esp. CNS side effects that are why people abuse opoids in the first place. Oxycodone was second and I did not find methadone to be very effective at all. This may be a good thing if you find a better pain relief with less risk.
Oxycontin would probably help you a lot more than Methadone ever would.
Hi: I am a recovered alcoholic for 22 years, I have been taking various types of opiates
for 6 years. I have been Honest with these Doctors right from the begining. I don't
know Mass. laws about drugs but methadone has worked the best for me. I have
not been on oxycotin only oxycodone. Now I'm on morphine with dilaudid for break thru
pain. I don't know what happens if you break the contract you sign with pain manage
ment doctors. That could put you in a real bind. The doctors weened me off methadone
because of the risk of CSC they tried the fentyl patch pain went to 10 for 6 days
now on morphine
Methadone lasts longer than oxycontin. I was on oxy for chronic pain. They switched me to methadone to try. I personally like the methadone better. It doesn't give me that eurphoric (spelling?) feeling like most narcotics do. I don't like that feeling. The methadone also worked better for my pain. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you ever need to get off of methadone, from what my pain doctor says; it is VERY hard to get off. He said it is harder than heroin. Keep that in mind before you decide. You also need to be very careful with methadone. Because it doesn't give you that weird feeling; for example- some people think its not working so they would take more, then more and so on. It does build up in your system. People that have done this have overdosed and even died. Also, NEVER EVER mix it with alcohol. Take it exactly like your doctor tells you. It can be dangerous if you don't. Other than that; (sorry if I scared you); it was the best choice for me. It works very well. I've been on it for over 11 years. Your body does build up a tolerance for it as well; so if you have something come up such as all of a sudden you get a kidney stone- make sure you tell the doctor you take it; ask for a pain consult. The pain consult doctor will figure out what you will need- such as making sure you still have your correct amount of methadone in your system, but figure out what else they need to give you in addition for the kidney stone pain. My pain doctor said that there is some type of formula that they figure out and he also said that if you ask for a pain consult doctor that the hospital HAS to provide you with one. I personally am very difficult for non-pain specialist doctors to figure out due to all my allergies and my high tolerance for medication. I wish my tolerance wasn't so high; I recently had intestinal surgery, was in the worse pain I ever had in my life and nothing, absolutely nothing would work for the pain. If I was able to, and had the opportunity, I probably would have killed myself; that's how bad the pain was. It was about 100 times worse than childbirth, a kidney stone, and breaking both my tib and fib in my leg all at the same time! And I'm seriously not exaggerating! Good luck to you and God Bless!
Cindy :)
Vermont
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I did not read to the bottom as to the WHY you drank after you became sober or I would not have posted above. While I very much sympathize with your pain-alcohol is a shitty pain killer and you could have gotten better pain relief with OTC naproxen (Aleve) than drinking again, and I have serious doubts about you being unsupervised with any narcotic. You could also usually have gotten a single dose of a strong pain med in an emergency room if the pain was especially bad. People on this board pretty much don't have pain that alcohol would help AT ALL in amounts that would not result in immediate death.
I don't think it is illegal for pain clinics to use methadone in Massachusetts, the controversy is over it's use to ease withdrawl. I suggest you TRY to find a pain clinic in Massechusetts that will prescribe to you if you pick up your doses daily and do random drug testing. Random drug testing is usually required at pain clinics anyway, in any state, but pain clinics often refuse to treat addicts and former addicts, which is what an alcoholic is--an alcohol addict.