Removed for personal reasons.

 

After my back surgery I was on heavy pain medication, including oxycodone. During my recovery, I saw it as a challenge to go as long as possible without taking it. I was able to supplement it with other, less addictive and less effective medication. After about 2 months, I started noticing signs of addiction to it. Similar to what you were going through. I was able to "nip it in the bud" so to speak, and not let it get out of hand. I quickly asked for different medication, and my doctor was more than happy to help out. Over 2 years later, I'm still on pain medication and will be for the rest of my life. But, I'm on much less addictive medication. Specifically I'm taking Diclofenac (sp?), which is more of an anti-inflammatory than a pain med.

I'd talk with your doctor and address your concerns. If they aren't helpful, seek another opinion. I know you are in the military, so was I when I went through surgery and recovery. If they don't want to let you get another opinion, be forceful. File a grievance if you have to. If they are half-way decent they shouldn't stop you from getting another opinion.

Good luck. Thanks for your service, and I hope you are getting the treatment you need.

 

Removed for Personal reasons.

 

Removed for Personal reasons.

 

Glad you shared OC- Family is VERY important! My wife and I just celebrated our #46- she is the love of my life. Our older son is an Apache pilot at Rucker with 2 in Iraq and 2 in Kosovo- probably not terribly far from retirement. And our younger son just lost our 14 year old grandson to leukemia in Dec. '07. Yes, family is VERY important. Thanks for your sacrifice and service as we approach this Memorial Day! My service was a long time ago but I will always bleed Red, White& Blue. God Bless you and your family.

 

heres my story with pain medication....

when i was 16(im 21 now) i was diagnosed with severe crohns disease which can be very painful when i get an attack and i was on vicodin, oxy, percocet pills and patches, and down to giving myself demerol and morphine shots sometimes...and when my doc started taking my off these meds slowly i started having withdrawls very badly i would break out in a sweat, i would become angry over the stupid things that would happen...and at that point i knew i had a problem with the meds i checked myself into rehab because i knew i needed help...so i did an outpatient rehab where u go in everyday to the group and talk to someone it really helped through it all...and i havent any drugs of any kind of for a little over a year now...so know what ur going through and i know it seems rough but you can make it through and they finally put me on a non-addictive pain killer that actaully works and if i miss a dose i dont even think about it so its great...i hope this helps...if u need someone to talk to about this im here man...

Matt

 

Give Rush Limbah a E-Mail, he is very knowlegeble with OXY & has much experience with it!.........

 

Did you even read the previous posts? People are talking about serious events and decisions in their lives, including injury, addiction and loss of loved ones, and you can't resist the urge to post some lame joke? I'd have to violate a whole bunch of forum rules to tell you what I think of you right now. Why don't you edit your lame post, and I'll delete my quote?

To get back on topic, I shattered my patella and underwent multiple knee surgeries and extensive therapy, from 1984 - 1986. Not long before my injury, a friend of mine had a serious ski accident and busted his leg up very badly. He became addicted to his pain meds, including vicodin, percocet and codeine. I think he was taking valium, too, to help him sleep. As well as booze and pot, and maybe some other contraband on occasion. Based on his unfortunate example, I was determined not to become dependent, though I certainly made use of painkillers. Though my injury was serious and caused permanent damange, it was the kind where the pain eventually subsided.

Since then, I've seen a few people become addicted, usually after major surgery. One is the mother of a friend, after a hip replacment. It's tough for the adult kids to deal with their mother's dependency.

I think if you are honest, you have to recognize that in the long term, the dependency will shape your behavior in a bad way, and may influence your relationship with your daughter and wife.

I know one guy who has had a few major back surgeries, and it is no picnic, but his back was so bad (boating accident) he had no option regarding the first surgery. Later surgeries came after years of discomfort and then a car accident. Since he had to work with a clear head, he made as little use of painkillers as possible, but I would have to say constant pain also effected his personality and productivity.

IMO, it sounds like surgery may be a last resort for you (especially at your age), but you may have to cross that bridge. The added weight of leaving a career you love makes it that much harder.

Good luck. Due to the injury, you have a tough path laid out in front of you, no matter which fork in the road you take.

 

I know what you mean about being too young for surgery. I was 24 when I hurt my back and it was 2 years later before I finally opted for surgery. I had ruptured disks that pinched the sciatic nerve. The surgery didn't help much with the back pain, but it did take the numbness and pain from my leg.

If you are planning on having the surgery, I highly recommend getting it done before getting out. If you have it done in a VA hospital after getting out, you won't still have that military paycheck to get you by while you are in recovery. Plus it takes about 12-18 months to finally start getting your disability check, depending on where you relocate. I moved to ND, that area has some of the quickest times for getting disability payments started and it still took 8 months.

You probably won't get as much as you think for the disability either. I only 40% for my back (70% total with another injury). You'll probably get a little bit more since your disks will be fused and mine were not, but its not nearly enough to survive. Here is a link to the VA disability pay chart so you can get an idea on what to expect for compensation. Most likely you'll have to still work, even with a 100% disability rating.

 

In 2001, my wife somehow got an infection in her spine that went undiagnosed until her back actually collapsed. She underwent a massive surgery that was successful in that it saved her life and she is able to walk, but it left her with cronic and extreme back pain. She's been on every imaginable pain med, including a bout with street drugs (heroin), and has found that in the long run pain meds just don't work. They will work for a while but over time a tolerance is built up so that the dosage required for relief is just not practical. About two years ago, she had a med pump installed which dribbles small amount of meds directly into her spine. She is now completely drug free with the exception of the med pump, and her life has improved immeasurably. It's something you might look into.

Something else you should also make sure you address is the mental toll cronic back pain causes. My wife was a very physically active person, who also believes that if you don't work, you are a worthless scum. Because of her back pain, she is unable to work, and her physical activities are somewhat limited. This caused her to go into a deep depression for several years. Through some counseling and the sheer strength of her character, she is doing MUCH better now and we have something close to a normal life now.

Cronic pain is a life changing condition, but there are options besides ever increasing doses of pain meds. Good Luck to you OC

BTW, to the guy who's laughing at Rush, you have NO idea what cronic pain will drive an otherwise normal person to do.

 

This is a good thread, it's a shame this jackass had to ruin the good tempo with some stupid comment. Regardless, this thread really hits home for me. I feel for you 100% because it sucks to be young, taking medication, not being able to do the things other people do, etc.

As a lot of people know, I broke my back racing motocross at the age of 16, I'm 19 now almost 20. I broke my back in three places L1, L2, and L3. I ended up having all of those fused together, rods, etc. Also had to have a bone graph from my hip since the L2 was destroyed so badly, it was almost gone. I also ended up breaking nearly every bone in my right foot, including my talus bone. If you don't know what your talus bone is it's one of two, I believe, of the only bones in your body that flow blood through it so it's a very important bone. I ended up having a rod go in from my ankle all the way in between my big toe and the next toe. Not to mention 6 screws to hold everything together. I ended up having the large rod taken out after a few months though.

I was pain free for a year after my surgery. I didn't take any medications. I was back to living a normal life. I couldn't ride still, it'd hurt my back and my foot but I was able to do a lot. After that first year I started to get some pain. I went to the original doctor who performed the surgery on my back, he said pain is normal, you've got to just live with it. Than he had my normal physician prescribe me some Loratabs 7.5mg to take as needed. I was able to manage my pain pretty well. I never became addicted though. The pain started to get worse though and I started to drink a lot more. I was able to go out with all of my friends but we'd just go out drinking. I drank way more than I should of been and I probably had the Loratab still in my system. When I'm talking about drinking, it wasn't a few beers here and there. I remember one night at Mud Runs, my buddy and I ended up drinking a handle bottle of Captain and than a 1/5 all in one night. Finally something happened in my head and I just stopped drinking completely. The pain was a lot worse but I just didn't want to touch a beer or anything. I haven't drank in a long time and have no desire to anymore.

Fast forward to about ~10 months ago. The pain started to get worse, I mean way worse. I started going to a lot of doctors to figure out what was going. Everything came back fine, rods hadn't moved, everything looked normal, etc. I was told again pain is normal and to just deal with it. To put it in perspective. When I broke my back, I didn't know it. My back hurt, but I figured it was just from falling from so high. I knew my leg/foot was broken so I was telling people to get my boot off fast. Medics later said they had never seen someone with such a bad back injury move and speak so well and not be screaming from the pain. Now my back swells up so bad, about a full inch off of my back. Not to mention I've got two ruptured discs right now. So for me to say that I'm in immense pain, I am.

Anyways, onto the medication. The Loratabs started to not work for me. I'd be taking a lot of them to get the slightest bit of relief. The Loratabs made me hyper and I couldn't go to sleep on them. I'd have to take them at about 4 o'clock to get to bed at about 11 or 12. I ended up having my doctor switch me to Percoset 10 mg. It makes me hyper, friendly, talkative but as they start to wear off and I come down from it, I start to get tired so it's great for me. It'll allow me to go to sleep relaxed.The Percoset gives me pain relief but I can't take one it won't do anything. I have to take at least 1-1/2 of them. I also have to watch when I eat and when I take them. Eating completely destroys the relief I get. It really makes life hard. Right now I'm prescribed to take 5 Percoset 10mg a day. I was also prescribed Lyrica just recently. It helps some-what but only when I take like 3 100mgs before bed.

 

Taking narcotics isn't fun, it's something that I don't want to do. However there is nothing that works to take the pain away. I've tried stretching, working out, etc. Nothing. I'm in pain some days where I want to get on my knees and just scream. It's the most annoying and frustrating pain to deal with. Not to mention it effects your relationship with people when you get pissed and can't help but be crabby because of the pain. Usually when I wake up, I can't move. It takes about 2 hours to be able to start moving some what normal. Rainy day? Forget it. I'm not getting out of bed. The pain is horrible. People are very quick to judge you because you take narcotics. I've had to deal with so many people who disrespect me because of it and it really pisses me off because they have no idea how lucky they are. It really gets to you after a while.

I'm scheduled for surgery on June 18th to remove all of the hardware. This doctor seems to think the hardware is irritating me. So hopefully this works. I feel for you, hang in there man, we'll make it.

 

Yeah, this is a tough situation... The reality is, there is NO pain medication that you can take for any extended period of time without building a "tolerance" to it.

You'll continue to take more and more, and stronger and stronger stuff..

Are you training? Working out? There are Several "Pain Management" programs out there that help you deal and cope with pain. Medication is not a long term option...

 

Sorry, I did not take the time to go through the previous posts & see what the real issue was here. No intentional harm done! Sorry for the unintentional harm!..................

 

In the morning I move slowly tto the oxy. Then threes ss's
Take a hydro and go work. I have yet to be impaired.
Dude you are in pain and you are going to let social stygma worry you.
Tkae the pills do the surgery, I've mentioned it before to you. I have to say it aqain. The spinal allignment caused by your pain adn lack of seperation of the bone and nerve will lead to much worse condition.

"EXPERIENCE learned from another is the most valueable"

I'm twice your age, my problem stated close to yours.
Try missing a school funtion because of a folding chair.
I don't want to embares the kid by crawling out.