Hi Todd,
Thanks for the interesting article. I just wanted to say to anyone who looked up this thread, to go very steady if you have been prescribed Oxycontin and want to come off it.
I was on Oxycontin, Lyrica and Tramadol for the pain in my arm, neck and back prior to surgery, in April 2008, at C6/7. Post surgery I am still in pain unfortunately, (but that's another story) but decided after the death of Heath Ledger to come off the Oxycontin, as I hadn't realised how potent it could be. I was on 100mg tablet morning and night, and was advised by my GP (I am in Australia, by the way) to cut out 1/2 tablet morning and night. However after a few days getting anxiety, the jitters and diarroeah(sorry spell check won't correct this!) a friend gave me some great advice and suggested 1/4 tablet at a time. So first I cut the morning by 1/4 - then a few days later another 1/4. Then I did the nighttime 1/4 then 1/4; Then back to the morning again and finally the night.
It may just have been me who reacted so badly - but just in case anyone is looking at the Oxycontin reference and wondering about cutting it out - here's one way of doing it. I had been on Oxycontin for around 6 months, and prior to that some Morphine type patches which totally didn't agree with me. Sadly, due to the pain I've actually had my dosage of Lyrica and Tramadol increased - I guess the Oxycontin was being effective, but it worried me a bit. Now I am 2 months post op and having 2 sessions a week of hydrotherapy and physiotherapy to help with post op rehab and pain relief.
Good luck to anyone out there who still has pain. I've been told by a nurse friend that it can take a full year for the fusion and nerve damage to repair - ah well, every day is another day forward anyway.