A week and a half ago I went on 5 mg Methadone 3 x a day for my head pain. Prior to starting the methodone, my head pain was excrutiating, and the 5/325 Percocet (lightest dose) that I had been taking for my RSD since I was diagnosed a number of months back was not controlling it at all. I thought the head pain was migraines. But Pete says that the methadone doesn't touch migraines, so perhaps my headaches were not migraines but just RSD of my head membranes? In any case, the methadone does work so much better than percocet alone, but like I stated in a previous post this afternoon, I still need to take the percocet in additon to the methadone to control my pain, and I am never completely pain free. My head pulses in the back behind my ears, more on the right side than the left, right above the shoulder where my RSD started. I take 1/2 a perc at a time when I feel I need one, and probably take a total of 3-4 percs by the end of each day (I don't count, I just bite a pill in half when I want one).

I may need to eventually increase the mg of methadone I take to eliminate the need to take so much perc for the "break-tru" pain, or get a better break-thru med. But for now the methadone is much better for pain relief than what I was trying to use a few weeks ago. This has had a huge impact on the quality of my life - it is so much better than what it was. Of course, it would be even better if I could get rid of the RSD altogether.

I've noticed that Methadone does make me feel much more tired than percocet did. I am OK driving, and working, but I fall asleep most evenings by 9:00 at the latest. I get up and walk around a lot when I need to at work to stay alert, and drive with the windows open in the car if I feel I should. I do not feel too dopey or stupid, and I rarely drink (thanks to Topamax, which nixes that urge altogether!), and on the rare occasions that I do, I stick to sipping a bottle or 2 of Amstel or Sam Adams Lite, so I do not worry about mixing drugs and alcohol.

I do not have any experience with other opiods or morphine derivatives yet, so I can't opine on those.

Good luck, Sandy