This is so true. I do have to say that I have been on Morphine ER for years. Unfortunately, after many years I had to go off it because the nausea & constipation it caused was too severe. They switched me to OPana ER & for a year it worked well but then it quit working because my body had adapted to it. I am now back on Morphine ER but after only 2 weeks I am experiencing the same problems. I take Norco & Soma for breakthrough pain & I take them together. I found that the combination of the pain killer (Norco) & the muscle relaxer (Soma) is the best remedy. They work on both our main problems which is the pain & the constant muscle spasms from the nerve over-firing, which also cause the pain. The new doctor I have (after having to move to WA because my WC comp is 4 years + in with no end in sight & I couldn't afford to live on my own after not working for all this time)is horrible & unknowledgable about CRPS/RSD & has written down that he sees no signs & I am a chronic narcotics user. He has admitted that he knows little about the condition, knows no doctor to send me to & refuses to contact my former specialists in L.A. who had treated me for 4 years before I had to move. This is why I had to go back to Morphine, because he told me he doesn't know what to prescribe & I only could hope that going back to a drug that I used to have luck with. I am searching for doctors in Seattle now but it also means that I will have to drive 3 + hours over 2 mountian passes covered in harrowing snow & black ice once a month to get to them & god forbid I have a horrible flare & need a local doctor fast.
I guess I have got carried away ranting, but the bottom line was that for me, the short term opiates have worked best & I am in so much pain that I don't feel any rush, just relief. The long acting help alot, but also cause me other problems. What ever works for us is what we should be prescribed & I HAVE NEVER BEEN CALLED AN ADDICT UNTIL I MOVED HERE & HAD A DOCTOR WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT IT & REFUSES TO LEARN. HE CALLED ME AN ADDICT IN MY RECORDS, NOT TO MY FACE OF COURSE, BUT ON PAPER. The fact that he has access to 4 + years of records by specialists in the field & reports from the 14 doctors whom have all diagnosed me with RSD & still had the nerve to call me an addict while admitting he doesn't know about the condition is deplorable, yet all too common for RSD patients. Sorry again for the long rant...I am just so furious with this kind of treatment & lack thereof that I had to get it out!