It is only a metter of time and you shall pay.

one more question do you have insurance? sometimes docs want to really rack up a big bill to get more money. if i was still in pain and all he could write me was 90 a month and give those steriod injections and i was still in pain i would go to a pain mgmt. doc, one with a speciality (sp) in neurology IMO i think you have nerve damage (radiucolopathy) hope i spelled that right, does your overall quality of life suck? my pain mgmt doc has a degree in internal medicine , neurology, and a sub speciality in psychiatry. i am sorry i am such a horrible speller and bad grammar. i would definitely be interviewing some more doctors, they are suppose to work for you. good luck.

I have been to doctor after doctor and they all can see my problems, but won't prescribe anything stronger than Advil. This war of prescription drugs is taking a heavy toll on us with chronic pain. Doctors are afraid to prescribe it anymore, no matter that they know nothing else helps. That is why I stick with my old doc who does give me Hydro. It gets very expensive trying to find a new doc that will help. Being on total disability, I can't afford to do that. It's the rock and a hard place situation.

My doc is getting kinda old and I don't know what will happen when he retires. I hate to think about that.

PoPo - I am so sorry that you have had to deal with this....fill in the blank.

Pain management is like any other condition requiring treatment. Truly it is. But we, we CPers are made to feel somehow LESS. In addition to pain, we have to deal with all kinds of $hit. Can you imagine my doc denying chemo?? Or insulin?? Or, or, or????

Ya know - I don't CARE if a doc feels uncomfortable. It is their JOB! When I managed an investment management firm - there were a couple of people who had inherited money. We invested it. They kept drawing it out. Yes, concern - denial - NO! It was THEIR money. Not a direct analogy, but this power play crapola just sucks. If a patient requires pain management, they should get it - period. And not stupid treatments and meds that often cause more harm than good. Can you tell this sets me on fire lol?

I also worry about my doc retiring. He is the same age, almost exactly as I (57). Then what? Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Pat, my pharmacist is also not young. I don't want to think about it.

I always write a book. Hope it doesn't annoy anyone.

To the original poster: I actually started having back issues in my late 20s, after my third child. Didn't really "get" it - just figured it was all those late nights with a new baby. Even if I had figured it out, getting chronic PM at that age is difficult, almost impossible.

I've had liver disease since a child, which only recently has started to cause me problems. Nerve damage from chemo upped the ante on the pain and that's when I started on PM. I was, let's see, 48 then. So, I went thru alot of pain for some time. Had a couple of failed back surgeries (can't "cure" nerve damage by cutting). But, boy, if you're trying to limit your range of motion, it works great (LOL).

OK, novel over. My hat is off to all of us. We endure. That says alot.

Right about that ROM stuff. I feel, and look like the TIN MAN right now. The only way my neck turns is if I turn my feet and body too.

I had a minor break in my back at age 6, walked around for months in pain before a Dr even took an x-ray, they just attributed it to growing pains. Even after finding it they didn't give me anything, that time it wasn't that bad though.
At 9 I got thrown from a horse and seriously crushed 2 vertebra in pieces. I was on bed rest for 2 months, and limited activity after that. I remember MANY MANY nights being up all night in pain crying. Even after I was supposedly ok again, it was bad, to the point where I had to stop going to school. We later found out (at age 14?) that they hadn't healed rite at all and I had a ton of scar tissue causing even more problems. Through this whole time I don't remember being given any medication. A few years ago I was expressing my frustration to my mom about no non narcotic medicine working for me, and she told me they didn't work for me as a kid either, and that she kept asking them to give me something stronger, just on the 2 am ER visits and stuff like that and they never would.
The first time I got anything that worked was at 19, it was great, but I didn't want to be dependant on anything. When I asked the DR for alternatives, she suggested morphine maintenance. Not quite was I was looking for and I thought she was too drug happy so I stopped seeing her. Now I'm in another state, and have spent days and weeks not being able to get out of bed because of the pain, and I wish for a Dr like her.

To the person who commented about kids not feeling pain, that seems to unfortunately be common. Even at 24 and 26 Ive had Dr's walk in the room and the first thing they say is something like "Didn't anyone tell you 24 is too young for back pain?" and Ive had quite a few tell me, after I told them my history that I don't know what pain is, and its only going to get worse so I better learn to live with it.

the same with me. started with chiropracters but only made things worse.that was at 14 finally after several doc's telling there's nothing wrong with me,and self medicating when i could ,drinking, i finally found a doc to give me an mri,and what do ya know, they found several things wrong.that was around 42yrs old.46 now.

i decided along time ago that doctors are like plumbers. some are pretty good and are worth their pay. the rest ain't worth $hit!

nothing against plumbers, i was one at one time. but so many people think dr.s are all knowing beings that can do no wrong.but they are just like everyone else. some are good at what they do others are not. what i should have said is that dr.s are like toilets,some work great while the others are just full of *hit.

I am 20 and am on 10mg of oxycodone a day (a percocet in morning and one night) Only reason my doctor is sympathetic now is because I came in complaining of severe abdominal pain but was treated like drug addict. Few days later broke out in a bad rash called the doc and was told to wait a day or two and see what happens.

Turns out I had a severe case of shingles and the doctor failed to see the warning signs (even though I told him about my swollen lymph nodes, the pain and my rash). I was not able to start antiviral medications because of this, it is only effective in the first 24 hours of the rash. Now i am left with permanent nerve damage.. woohooo for judgemental doctors.

However i dont want to just complain, i feel my doctor has a more sympathetic outlook after this. Hopefully it prevents other patients from getting screwed, not that i have it that bad off anyway

sorry for the double post

I first started regular meds when I was around 8 or 9 (anti-depressants), but it was only one prescription. Around 15-16 I had at least 10 prescriptions at one point. I'm back down to one now though, it's nicer taking less.

I was 46 when i was put on pain meds for DDD/RAD. The sad thing about being on pain meds is the tolerance issues. At first i was given lortab 5mg. 2 times a day and that knocked it. Then i was put on lortab 7.5 one tab three times a day. Next was lortab 10 one three times a day. Now i am on 4 30mgs. of oxycodone along with 4 percocet 10 mgs. for break through pain this was all over a 12 yr. period , no need to ramble any further i think everyone should get my drift.

when i was 17 i was prescribed seroquil (not sure how to spell it cause i wont take it) im 18 now and was prescibed lortab 10/500 for my thumb. i tore all the ligaments in it.

i was 19 when my PD first manifested, abruptly. was rxed stuff that didn't really help (librium). finally at 26, got switched to xanax. while it scares me due to the seemingly more addictive aspects, it WORKED. librium really didn't.

Probably putting this in the wrong place, but my doc is getting old too, he is a neurologist (sp) , internal medicine, and sub speciality in psychiatry (sp) I am almost 57 and i am finally getting some quality of life, however he informed me today that the DEA is putting him through hell because he is over prescribing, i sure wish the DEA would stop practing medicine and leave us legit pain patients alone. If the DEA would walk a mile in our shoes maybe they could gain some understanding. I think chronic pain has no age, its what has happend to you whether it be genetic , accidents ect. ect. If i had my way the DEA would ALL be down on the border helping fight the mexican cartels. Here in TN. meth is on the rise again because its coming from Mexico, but the DEA is cowards and they chose to go after legit pain patients and their doctors.

DEA needs to get a real job.

And I am restraining myself, big time.

And who the heck came up w/the controlled substance levels? Tranquilizers that one can become dependent or addicted to and can kill you when you stop taking them, is a lower level than narcotics which can be stopped w/out life threatening results. Now that I do not understand.

you know, i agree with this statement. as much as i hate the controlled med schedule and wouldn't want benzos at class III, not sure why minor tranquilizers (benzos) are IV and opiates are II/III. note: barbituates are class III.

if i had to guess, i'd say it's the "high" potential/danger potential. benzos will eventually (if you take enough) put you to sleep - but probably so would enough benadryl, and it's not scheduled.

barbituates and opiates can make you stop breathing...much, much faster than any benzo (unless the benzo is mixed with other CNS depressants - as we've seen with heath ledger, anna nicole smith, michael jackson).

example - one i gave a friend recently: the ld50 for valium is about 65 bottles of 90 10mg tablets. yeah, only 50% die after the equivalent of 65 bottles of pills. the ld50 on barbituates or opiates is much lower than that.

OTOH, death can't be the criteria (hence my guess about getting "high"). hell, only one bottle of tylenol will kill you - because it will destroy your liver.

Wanna hear something really backwards?

Fioricet - butalbital (barbituate), APAP and caffeine is not on the DEA scheduled list.

Fiorinal - bultalbital, Aspirin and caffeine is SCH III

both are SCHIII when codeine is added, which is logical.

I still don't understand why Fiorinal is Scd III and Fioricet is not.

16 y/o for me. Severe Migraines. Up to now that was my only issue (with the exception of a broken rib once, and some dental work - short term routine use of pain medication)

But now after my car accident.....I have no idea when (if ever) I will be off of pain medication in one form or another. Granted I will not need them on a constant basis, but there will be days that are REALLY bad, and a Tylenol or an Advil won't help things at all.

Mine started about 7-8 years ago with migraines and now I have back problems too.

I was about 23 when I was diagnosed with FM. I was in university studying chemistry and got so bad I had to take a leave.

I realize this thread started some time ago - but I read the entire thread and I am so sorry most posters are very young.

I really did not need much in the way of pain meds until I was 55 years old and had moved from a very warm climate to a very cold one. Diagnosed at that time with lots of bone issues, among others. Still have cronic pain. Most of you either know or will know the story. Could not afford the high cost of pain management. So I am not productive in my life, cannot work.

Again - so very sorry about so many in pain at very young ages.

I am a severe FMer too. I tuffed out pain for years until the fatigue from it brought me crashing down - couldnt work, that killed me - so depressing.

I spent another few years getting no relief from any meds drs gave me.

wasnt till two years ago I realized there WAS meds that helped me live a better quality of life. Wish I had known that 15 years ago.

unfortunately, drs wont agree with my protocol for pain management.

(so I was early 30's when I needed meds for pain)

I've had anxiety attacks all my life like my mom. She was on valium at the ripe old age of 10. I probably really should have been on a little something to keep me from freaking out so much then but I thought it was normal to be scared out of your wits at everything new and unusual.

I feel you on this one.

I first had to start taking medications at 18 for my back problems...

Herniated discs, spina bifida occulta, scoliosis, and others...

MS-Contin (Morphine) was the only thing that worked.


Now at 22, and after trying them all, and all other methods you said above, I am trying to scale it back for my own productivity.

I started needing chronic pain med at about 40 which my doctor was really great in helping me stay comfortable. He left about 2 years ago and even my own doctor states I know you have real pain but I don't feel comfortable giving you anything more than Tramadol. Great what else can I do. I have to go to this clinic for better coverage for my insurance and in the end I am stuck. Hurting every day or order online and be comfortable for a big price. I have no choice but to be comfortable.

Hi all,

I am a chronic pain sufferer as well, pnfree, I would change doctors. Yes according the the other posts the DEA is a pain!!! I get UA'ed all the time, every visit-- I was really pissed when I found out the drs. office was billing the ins. co. $450 -- then my last visit, I gave the M.A. the specimen and discussed the charge her reply was " You don't pay for it anyway" -- I about lost it-- I left the office-- a "new" dr. who I had never seen before wrote the wrong rx. What a mess!!!

fisher

in my case it started about at age 45. but really wasn't a amajor problem untill about 6 years ago. i am now at ripe old age of 57 and don't see any othwer way of dealing with my chronic pain other than to take medication . i was put thruoght the ringer with all the other procedures at about 52 and very nearly went broke paying for them as i am self pay. no insurance company will touch me for less than 1000.00 a month premium, if they will take me at all. 3 herniated disc's in my neck with bone spurs and cervical spondiolysis plus 2 collapsed disc's in my lower back, and just for good measure i've got osteoarhtritis in most of the joints in my body.
as they say it is waht it is., what are you gone do/ i go on as best i can , and am truly glad to be alive. a happy holiday to all