I have actually tried the no pain medication route. It did not work for me. My pain was out of control. I was down the entire time. It was a very bad experience. In the last 5 monthes I have tried several types of pain meds & in the last 3 years since i was diagnosed. My doctor finally came to the conclusion the only pain medications that I tolerate are the synthetics like fentanyl & dilaudid. The others either dont work or I have bad side effects. We determined years ago my liver does not process medications like a normal person. There are many medications I have tried over the years I have not been able to take. But the thing is sometimes you just have to figure out what works for you & it can be a painful trial & error process. The last 5 monthes for me have been hell. A lot of people swear by Methadone & I was excited to try it thinking it would work well for me. I might as well have been eating M & M's for all the good it did. Just because I am on pain meds I am not a zombie. I will admit they can make me tired. But not every day is bad & it depends how my pain level is & how I feel. There are other factors involoved. Some of the other meds I take can also cause fatigue. Its such a personal choice. Like I said I tried to go without narcotics just to see if they were really making any difference & found out the hard way just how much of a difference they were making. But I think it was worth knowing. Hope everyone has a low pain day.
Hugs, Denny