I have degenerative disc disease, cervical facets syndrome, fibromyalgia, 2 buldging discs in my spine and joint pain. I suffered for years and was then diagnosed in 1997. I was put on Ultram to take 3 times a day for almost 7 years. In 2004 I suffered a cervical injury and then the DR put me on Norco 10/325 because the Ultram was not strong enough to manage the pain from my injury. I had withdraws from the Ultram at first so they the DR had me alternate by taking 1 Ultram then in 4 hours take 1 Norco and so on. I went through pain management for 6 months and then was told to stop the Norco and go back on the Ultram. I did this and tapered off back on to the Ultram and found that the w/d off of Norco was not near as bad as the Ultram. Anyway the Ultram was conflicting with my Adderal prescribed for ADD. I was being treated by a shrink for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). I ended up in the ER with heart palpitations, dizziness, severe headache and chest pain and apparently Adderal and Ultram mixed can cause a siezure among other problems. So my pain management doctor said I had to choose between my medications because he would not keep prescribing the Norco. So I was stuck. Do I take my ADD meds or my pain meds? I even tried working with my shrink on a new ADD med and nothing was working that was compatible with Ultram. So I just gave up and decided to go cold turkey. I ended up in the ER with an anxiety attack my heart had double beats up and down, I was in so much physical pain I could not even speek. I was a complete mess. I ask thae ER doctor what can I do to manage my pain and he says take tylenol. Well if anyone has lived in pain you know tylenol is not enough pain control and can cause liver damage. Any way to get to the point I went for 5 months trying substitued medications that worked somewhat or not at all. I felt like a guennie pig in some sort of experiement for DR's to see what would work that would not. Medications that made their prescribing record look good - by prescribing something non-narcotic. I ask myself what is this medical system doing? We are restricted from medications that work in order to substitute them for ones that are socially more accepted! I mean look at the side effects of some of these non-narcotic substitutes. Some of them are just as addictive and can cause more serious damage to our bodies than the narcotics do. I don't understand why we are not allowed to chose the medical treament we see best. After all it is our pain our disease that we have to live with till we die. I want to live painfree or with the most minimal amount of pain possible not only for me but mainly for my kids and my family. Anything can become an addiction if a person abuses it. I feel sad when I read about people who have had to lie or seek multiple doctors to get the pain management they require! Why should we have to taper off what works only to go onto another pill or patch that may or may not work? I suffered from the withdraw and my physical illnesses all in one and it was the most horrible 5 months of my life. I decided to go back to another doctor and share my exp. I found one that was sympathetic to my needs but I lost my insurance so I am back to OCS's. I just hope that one day the system will leave doctors alone. My question is how can a pain pateint taking medication as prescribed and that they need to function be considered a drug abuser in some peoples eyes? I can totally relate to the pain anyone is going through in withdraw and tapering. I know it is frusrtating and difficult, my prayers are with you and I hope you find a remedy to manage your pain. When I withdrew totally, I found that my friends and family were my best asset. Try not to be alone. Stay busy, take lots of showers/baths, drink lots of water, take walks, sweat, have a glass of wine or a beer at dinner if you have problems sleeping. I am not saying become a drunk but I found a couple of beers at dinner or before bed would relax me enough to get some sleep. Nyquil is good too. If you have runny or lose stools try Immodium AD. Tylenol Arthritus is good for aches. Benedryl is good for sleeplessness. I hope this offeres some help. Best wishes.

Please do NOT take this the wrong way. I don't know you and am not passing judgement.

However, with so many things causing pain, in particular Fibromyalgia for which no test exists, is it possible some of this is psychosomatic? Please note I do NOT mean imaginary, that's a completely different thing.

Have you ever tried a low dose of a tri-cyclic antidepressant? Even not enough to act as an antidepressant can be useful for chronic pain. I tried Nortiptoline (sp?) some time ago and it really helped with my neck pain, though I found it awfully sedating, everyone's different.

Just suggesting you might have luck with a different approach, and the blessing is that it would not be an addictive narcotic.

Never hurts to ask a good PM doctor!

Fibro is only one of the diagnoses. I have been with the same psychiatrist for years and he does not feel that I am depressed after much testing. I did suffer from postpartum depression and found Zolft and Lexapro to be good for my personal situation. My depression only lasted for 3 months on all 3 of my pregnancies. I have been trying different medications narcotic, non narcotic and including psych medications to try and help with my pain control. I have tried Nortiptoline, Pamolar*sp? and the tri meds cause me to be so lethargic that I was unable to function. I was drooling at the lowest doeses. Not a condition I wanted to remain in as a mother. As I said I have done the doctor patient experementing and each time I went into the new medication treatment plan ALWAYS with great expectations and hopes for a good result. I am at the point 10 years later that if it is not broke why fix it. I have never upped the amount of medication (0 to 5 pills per day) or even felt the need to. The prescribed dose has worked at that same level for 4 years now. I think tolorence builds up when you start to take more and more than what you are prescribed. I can compare it to you with alcohol. Say you have 2 beers every night at dinner - you feel a slight buzz and thats where you stop. Within a few hours the alcohol in your blood stream will be gone... as so will it's effects. At that point no more buzz. So if you then reach for another couple drinks each time you lose that buzz... your body becomes dependant on that buzz. Soon you body wants to function with that alcohol all the time because it never gets out of your system. Well my point is dont drink just to stay buzzed and dont take pills just to keep a euphoric feeling. If you take the medication as needed and only when the pain is too unbearable to function and then give it time to do it's work and time to ware off and leave the body. I promise you that medication will keep working without the need to take more and more. I think what happens is people fear that when the medication wares off they will feel so horrible that they keep taking it even when there is no need. I try to go as long as possible with out it and I have found it works so much better that way. It does not lose effectiveness by my body building up a tolorence. This is my point anything including antidepressants can be addictive and cause withdraw even sugar! It is not the medications fault it is the people who abuse them. Should they outlaw beer or sugar because it is addictive? Should every liquer store be shut down? I dont think so. Should medication be outlawed because there is a chance it will be abused? Should sweet foods be illegal because they cause obesity? I dont think it should. People will do what they do you cant control them with laws thats why we have prisons. I just dont think Doctors and pateints should be targets for this. It is not the doctors fault a patient abused the prescription is it?

Also I just want to add at one point my Pain Management Doctor had me on 5 different medications and after 3 months of complete sedation and misery - I threw all of them away except the 1 that worked. I felt much better and so did my pocketbook.

Hello PF4life,
Your situation sounds alot like mine, minus the PP depression,etc. I have been also diagnosed w/disentigrating Lumbar Vertabrae,have had Scholiosis since I was a teen & have undergone so many blocks,surgeries,etc to no avail .I too don't understand the tolerance for all the other addictions;people are always trying to get me to drink & of course I have to explain I take medication that won't allow it??? But if they find out I take meds they immediately think your an 'addict'!!!!Double standards!

My chart reads "NO ULTRAM"...made me so sick I wanted to die, think your Doc is being totally unsympathetic, I know folks (including myself) who have been on hydro. for years. I hope you get this resolved and soon!
Fire the jerk, and hopefully get into a Pain Management setting that will work WITH you.
they are around!
David

You are so right! It's double standards all the way around!

Just an FYI, there are tests for Fibro.
My neighbour has it and she was tested for it.
I don't know a lot about it..but I thought I'd put it out there, as it seems to be unknown here..???
But, I do know that there is a test for it. For certain.
She suffers horribly from this.
Ema