I take opana 10mg 2x a day, have oxycodone 5mg for breakthrough, and in oct after my two surgeries started taking effexor XR.

Though I was initially against taking an A/D, the effexor XR is great. It has allowed me to significantly reduce my opiod pain meds from 3 opana to 2 and to pretty much stop taking breakthroughs, i used to easily take 2-3 on an average day (more on a bad day) and now it is more like 2-3 a week. It has given me a sense of confidence that if I leave home w/o my pain meds I'll be OK...i didn't feel that way before, I always felt like when i was out, if i looked sideways wrong i'd have to take a breakthrough med.

Pain meds are such a delicate subject...but if you are working closely with a competent pain management doctor, he should be working with you to find a way to get your pain to a place where you can fuunction stably (sp?) thorugh the day-whatever level you function at. It took 3-4 months past my second surgery and a lot of experimenting with different drugs to approach where i am now. THat isn't my final destination, but I can get myself through the day... I can count on at least getting my kids to daycare and school, keeping my house from looking like it was taken over by wolves, and getting groceries in the door (well, the driveway, anyhow...hubby has to carry them inside) and most nights, some sort of dinner on the table.

At last visit, my pain mgmt doctor asked me "can you do what you need to do for yourself adn manage a job that has 2 hours or less a day of keyboarding..." and I said I have had glimses of feeling that good, but they have never lasted more than a couple weeks before i do something to hurt myself again. SO...we are starting to explore the next set of treatment options because it is not my goal to be home on disability forever, or to take pain meds forever.

I don't mean to tell my life story, but some peopel are flaky about their opinions of pain meds. I just want to say that I DO take pain meds...I find them to be essential to taking care of myself and my sanity. I am lucky that they work for me and I am not allergic to them, and lastly, that even though I take them it is not because I am giving up, I just see it as a neccessary stepping stone to my goal of getting better. I probably will never be completely off of them unless there is some miracle treatment that gets developed in the near future, but I'll get to as low as i can.

I hope others are able to find a solution that works for them, and hope that none of us are ashamed of their use of pain meds.

Johanna