I don't understand this either, so I think it might be a good question to ask him. (I'm a little curious myself, but that's up to you.) What's important is that you need to be able to function day to day.

Long-lasting opioids are usually only prescribed for conditions/diseases that are not expected to improve (barring some new development) so dependence (and some side effects) are deemed acceptable trade-offs for quality of life. If there were a safe & effective pain medication that did not produce dependence, all chronic pain patients (barring allergy, etc.) would be on it. It would be the miracle drug that medicine/science has been searching for for centuries.

[Non sequitur]
Yesterday, in looking for any possible new developments, I came across mention of a (not exactly) new formulation (MoxDuo®) that combines morphine and oxycodone (the latter being the active ingredient in percocet). The theory/claim seems to be that these two meds work better - with a better short-term safety profile - than either one alone. I'll reserve comment because this is new to me and I haven't dug into it yet. I mention it in case others may wish to look into it/comment.
[/Non sequitur]

Doc

Doc,..... I responded to a post you had under the thread Neuropathy Does Improve. Your post was Feb. 26, 2012 and my post asking about the suspplements you were taking was on Feb. 27th. I know it has been some time since you have posted on NT and wonder if this may have been overlooked. I really value your input.
Thanks,
(Ger)

I wrote questions down, and looked at the site on how to talk to your pain doctor. All will help me in talking to this pain doctor. The conditions I have are permanent. I am also at risk for stress fractures in my neck. The stress from the bracket is hurting the verterbre above and below. The ankles have no hope except for ankle relacement, which I don't qualify for. If my ankle had been crushed, I would have been accepted. Because this is degenerative in nature they won't do it. I think it also has to do with medicare/medicaid. My appt.isn't this month, it is the 13th of next month. Wrong month written down. I still have a long wait, and alot of time to write down what I need to ask. Thanks for your response. ginnie

That seems outrageous; they replace hips & shoulders all the time, but I'm not so familiar with medicare/medicaid....

Keep reading those articles and searching on your own - Google is our friend!

Doc

The ankle replacement is being done in only a few places in the country. It is relatively new, and in trials in Methodist hospital in Ohio. Of course I wrote to them asking about this proceedure. I don't have much hope of staying on my feet long term without the surgery. I wrote to the doctor who is doing this surgery. I currently am reaseaching into other hospitals and teaching facilities who may be doing this replacement on the ankles. My neighbor crushed her foot when I was living near Chicago, all they did for her was to pin it back together, which is more or less what they do now, because this surgery is so new. Hips and other joints have been around for awhile. Since the ankle supports weight differently than the hips, and there are more bones involved, the complication is higher. At least that is my understanding so far. Yep google is my friend. thanks doc. ginnie