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Old Jun 17, 2010 | 11:05 PM
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AllEuro
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Default Re: Decided on wheels... Finally

Originally Posted by Infinite
yea, right now Im on percocet, lortab, flexeril, and mobic... and nothing touches the pain. So basically i've had to take copious amounts (30/week) just to hobble around...
As someone who works in the area of chronic pain, with the worlds leading authorities in this area, I hope you are seeing a pain specialist at this point in time. If you are being prescribed two opioid products at the same time, there's a little something wrong there. And all the NSAIDs your on also isn't good. There is some controversy regarding the use of muscle relaxants for the treatment of chronic pain as well. The unfortunate reality in the pain management world is that it's unlikely that all of your pain will ever go away with pharmaceuticals alone. But there are very good ways to maximize the use of the available agents--including non-pharmacologic/non-interventional therapies. I don't know anything about your situation and obviously don't have your medical records, but there are agents that can be used in certain situations that would allow you to be removed from one of the opioids and potentially reduce the dosage of the remaining opioid that you would likely still be on---referred to as an opioid sparing technique. In 2009 there was a clinical guideline document published on the topic of long-term opioid therapy for non-cancer chronic pain--so there are people out there who have a vested interest in situations like your own. The recommendations are a bit complicated for a primary care doc, but any self respecting pain doc should have at least read it.

You just gotta find the right people to do the job--after all, you're paying for it. From what you're saying, you haven't found the right guy yet. Being in the level of pain that you currently are in isn't a good place to be. I have no idea of your interest in this area, but there is a patient advocacy group called the American Pain Foundation, which might be helpful for you. I work with these folks as well--good folks over there who take pain very seriously.

Sorry to be off topic here, but I thought I'd chime in on something I know a little bit about.
 
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