Ginnie,

Morphine is the "gold standard" for long-term chronic pain, and has been for over 200 years. Because it's been around for so long, morphine is probably the best-studied pain medication, and relatively inexpensive compared to most others. Most other opioids are based on or derived from it. All opioids cause dependency when used long-term; that's one of the trade-offs for pain control/relief and having some quality of life.

I don't know of any long-term pain medications that do not produce dependency (though some less than others, e.g. cannabis/derivatives, but that's not yet legal where you are), and/so I don't understand your thinking with regard to not taking the percocet prescribed for breakthrough pain. If you're dependent, you're dependent; it's not additive that I'm aware of. I think your fear is really fear of the unknown and what might happen (not what is or is likely to happen), and the best weapon against that is knowledge.

Google: talk doctor pain, review a few articles, and be candid with your doctor about your concerns/fears; I know you have confidence in him. He may want you to try the percocet before making any changes/increases, but ultimately that may be what happens, and medically in order (in the doctor's judgment - not mine ).

These are just the facts of chronic pain treatment. Nobody likes it, but in those 200 years, nobody has been able to find a safe & effective pain medication that isn't dependency & tolerance producing (not that they haven't tried).

Doc