Doctor has changed my meds, need advice/experiance?

Question

I have chronic pain syndrome, degeneration disease, sciatica, nueropathy, and the kicker is I'm only 43. My doctor wants to start adding methadone to my meds? I have never really heard anything good about methadone. Just that it is addictive, or that addicts use it to kick other drugs. Is is differant when used for pain. I also take Lyrica, Tramadol, Zoloft, and Verapamil.

Answer 1

I, too, have a chronic pain condition...RSD/CRPS. I have been on Methadone for pain for the past 6 years now and it helps immensely with my daily pain. Naturally, before I started taking it I was concerned about the stigma, the addictive nature of the drug, etc, but it is a very highly controlled substance. I'm not sure how it is in other states, but at least where I live, you cannot get refills called in, you cannot get the prescription more than 2 days early, and you need to have it specified on the prescription that the medicine is for pain. These precautions are in place to help prevent abuse of the drug.

I'll tell you, methadone has helped me to keep a semi-functional lifestyle. What I've found with methadone is that it helps with the pain while giving me the least amount of side effects. In the beginning, I was sleepy quite a bit, but that went away as my tolerance level increased. The only real side effect I experience now is occasional constipation, which I'll gladly deal with to have my pain at a more tolerable level. My best suggestion to you is, try it for a few days, a week at least and make sure to take it *only* as prescribed. Trying it for a week will give you an idea of whether or not your body can handle it, if it will work for you, if you can deal with its side effects, etc without having you experience any significant physical addictions. Because it's a narcotic, taking methadone over an extended period of time will result in a physical addiction to it (in other words, you will experience physical withdrawals if you suddenly stop taking the drug), but weaning off of it slowly will ease the symptoms. For me, it truly has made a difference.

Good luck to you!

Answer 2

EXCELLENT QUESTION. I wish I had thought of posting a similar question here before I got put on Methadone.

Like you, I have a slew of problems. I have degenerative disk disease with nerve root disorder, sciatica, 2 fusions in my neck, radial ulna relocation in my right arm, and just yesterday had a myelogram, as they are about to operate on my lower back for the 5th time, this time fusing 3 vertebrae together.

A while back, my doctor and I discussed pain management, and he explained it to me this way: It is not addictive if it is used for pain management - that's what it was created for. So we moved me off taking waaayy too much vicodin and flexeril - which weren't helping much anyway unless I was also drinking whiskey or scotch - and put me on Morphine Sulfate.

Now the Morphine was pretty good for pain management, but I stopped taking everything else. This meant that when I had breakthrough pain - pain that crossed the threshold of the morphine's control - I had nothing to take. So, very unwisely, I would take more morphine. Bad idea. The bottle even says "do not chew!" so of course, you bet, I chewed it up when the pain was bad.

Realizing this was a mistake, I stopped taking the morphine. Went in and talked to doc about it, and he suggested the Methadone. Now I was apprehensive about methadone too, since there is a bad stigma attached to it being a heroin recovery drug. And the first time you take it, there's a good chance you'll know why heroin addicts get this to curb their addiction - it's mean. What I mean by that is, it's quite powerful, even at the low dosage you will likely start at.

It took some getting used to, but I was taking 2 methadone a day, and able to function a lot better than before I was taking it as far as mobility and stamina. For the breakthrough pain I took simple advil and it did the trick. Sometimes a vicodin, but only when it was very bad. All in all, it was worth taking.

I would still be taking it daily if I were not getting ready to have surgery again. I'm hoping that following this operation I won't need medication this powerful just to get through the day, but if I need it, I know I can take it.

My best advice to you is talk to your doctor about the breakthrough pain, and ask what is safe for you to take (based on your other meds) when your pain crosses that threshold. Don't walk in thinking that this drug is going to take all of your pain away. Also, give your body some time to adjust to it. You'll be a zombie for the first few days, I can almost guarantee it.

Wish you luck. I don't envy pain like ours on anyone, but I'm sure thankful there are docs out there that aren't afraid to give the hard stuff when it's really needed.

By the way, I am 10 years your junior, and have been injured for 10 years now.

Answer 3

You need to tell your Dr that the medication he has prescribed does not work for your type of pain. The better thing about the morphine is that it is a longer lasting pain relief, the extended relief tabs that you are on slowly go into your system to keep the pain at a tolerable level. The vicodin or percocet are quick acting meaning they hit a level failrly quickly and then drop off leaving you with the need to reach for more and more of it and giving you a roller coaster pain relief ride rather than a steady dose of medication that the extended release ones do. You could ask your Dr if he was comfortable with maybe trying the 30 mg. morphine tabs before you go to a quick acting opioid. It really is much better for you in the long run and know that no medication will ever take ALL of the pain away - it is just there to make the pain tolerable. Good luck with your pain level and do talk frankly with your Dr about it. He and you should be able to find a happy medium that you are both comfortable with.

Answer 4

I have taken Methadone for seven years and it has helped me keep my pain in check. I just watch how much I use it and use it with caution. I think that when you are in so much pain you have no quality of life unless you can get rid of the pain so that you can join the real world. I have had less problems with Methadone than I have with my other medications. It is a life saver for me. Give it a try, you may find that all of your fears are unwarranted. But make sure that you have a break through drug like morphine to go with it, because there will be plenty of times that you will need it.

Answer 5

I have a friend who takes Methadone for her chronic pain in addition to Percocet for breakthrough pain and she has said that she has found it very helpful.

To those of us with chronic pain dependence (which is different from addiction) is common with pain medicines because we are using them to help us function on a daily basis. It's just like someone who is a Diabetic and depends on that insulin to live and function.

So yes, the use in this case is different than what it is for a person who is an actual addict.

You mentioned that you have chronic pain syndrome. I was just recently diagnosed with this so if you would ever like to talk some time pls feel free to e-mail or IM me directly any time.

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Doctor has changed my meds, need advice/experiance?
I have chronic pain syndrome, degeneration disease, sciatica, nueropathy, and the kicker is I'm only 43. My doctor wants to start adding methadone to my meds? I have never really heard anything good about methadone. Just that it is addictive, or that addicts use it to kick other drugs. Is is...

Answer 7

I have severe spinal stenosis, three herniated discs, degenerative disc and degenerative joint disease. I have been dealing with this since 1979. I have been on methadone for 6 years now. I take 14 10mg tablets a day. I can not imagine being on 2 like the other poster mentioned. I was started off on 7 a day. Of course before I switched I was on almost 300mg of morphine ( MS contin) a day and it was not helping me at all. The methadone has helped me more than any other drug they have had me on. I tried Fentanyl and it had a bad effect on my heart. I have had no problem at all with methadone. The other poster said in her state it can not be called in. It can not be in any state. The drug guidlines are a federal matter not a state one. I live 1 1/2 hours from my doctor so they used to mail the script to me but often it wouldn't arrive in time. Now they fax it to the drug store and mail them the hard copy. If need be they fill it on the fax. I get it filled every two weeks. My doctor is very careful about making sure they end up where intended and will only write for two weeks at a time. Methadone was used as a pain med before a detox med by a long shot. It was developed during WWll by Hitler. We had him shut off from his supplies and he needed pain meds for his injured soldiers. He put his scientists to work coming up with a synthetic morphine like drug and they came up with methadone which is generically dolophine, named after Adolph. If I had to make the decision again whether to switch from morphine to methadone again I would do it without hesitation at all. I know that I am on a very high dose and I feel that if there were going to be any complaints with it that I would likely be one who would experience them seeing as I take a lot of it. It still don't kill all the pain but nothing ever will and they say I will likely end up in a wheelchair in a few years but this drug has offered my more relief than any other by far.Methdaone taken for pain should be taken every 6 hours and you do not or should not take anything else inbetween as another stated. My doctor is an addiction medicine specialist as well as being the doctor who oversees the methadone clinic for the addicts in our largest city. He sees it from all sides and he mentioned that was the best thing about methadone , used for pain or addiction, was that it lasts longer and needs no support.

Answer 8

You 've got no option but to start the new medication. However, if you notice any negetive symptoms, stop the medic report back to the doc immediately
Getwell soon

Answer 9

Good grief, that's a lot of medicine.

Answer 10

(I'm 44! HI!)
Read all you can about "clay" and take it!
You'll see the results! You can pray, too, God can help us more then everything!
Take very good care of your health and of your soul!