Any other yahoo users with chronic pain and are you getting the treatment you need?

Question

I would like to hear from other people that are currently in or have been in a test program for the drug PTI-821 or Remoxy or hear from others that have been on pain killers for chronic pain for a long time.

My question really is, what has made you deal with chronic pain in a successful way, even if it is something other than drugs.

I have chronic lower back pain and of course the nerve pain that comes with it.

I see a pain specialist and I am in an experimental drug program as well. The meds I am on are making me feel better than I have in years. Remoxy is like oxycontin but cannot be crushed or brokedown in any way... now I am at 80mg per day and level 5 pain..... Had steriods, shots, stretching, all sorts of things.

Answer 1

I am a chronic pain patient. I have pelvic congestion syndrome. I'm on 40 mgs of Oxycontin and 10 mgs of Oxy IR for breakthrough pain. I'm a whole new person. I have gone from being unable to get out of bed and function to being at no higher than level 1 pain. The doctors up until now have just put me on painkillers for a short time and then snatched them away and told me I was adicted because they worked and helped me. I finally got a gyn who was willing to find out what was really wrong and refer me to pain management. I've had medical problems for the past 5 years related to this. Only now that I am in pain management am I better.

I'm interested in Remoxy. I've heard about it and read about it. I'd like to get involved in the clinical trials. How does one go about it? I live in the DC area, so I would thik that NIH would have a program for it.

Answer 2

Have you been seeing a pain specialist? I have worked with doctors whose specialty was pain. One treated it with medications and the other with medications and procedures/treatments. The one thing you must remember is with medications, the dosage you are taking may increase over time. This is secondary to the fact that your body will develop tolerance to the drug. This is not addiction!

Treatments/procedures that can help chronic pain suffers includes steroid injections into the area of the nerve causing the pain, "burning" (Radio Frequency Neurotomy - 2) the nerve, or the placement of internal neurostimulators (3) (similar to an internal TENS unit). The pain specialist can diagnose your pain and then discuss with you your options for treatment.

In my case, I had neck pain at the C3 level in the facet joints and the 3rd Occipital nerve. Instead of going in every 3 months and receiving a steroid injection, I opted for the "burning" of the nerve. This will give me app. 2 years of almost no pain in that area. However, this will not work for all people and that is why you see the pain specialist. This procedure creates a lesion on the nerve that interferes with the transmission of the pain impulses. I had mine done in March and have had almost no pain since that time in that area.

I have included a couple of links for you with more information.