Hello Everyone,

I have never joined any support group before, but I am at my ends wit, hitting the rock bottom, out of option, feeling alone and I dont know what else to do. I feel like I cant talk to most people about my problem b/c they will judge me and think I am a drug addict. I was having problems with neck pain that started in about august or before, it was awful, I went to pain managment, they did a pee test and gave me oxycodone. That was all they could really do, so I did that for months, I was taking over 120 pills of 5 mg every 2 weeks, then I got an injection, 2 weeks later I felt a lot better and weened myself off the oxycodone bc I dont want to take pain meds the rest of my life, Im only 25. So I was doing good, then of course, I was in a bad car accident, a woman pulled out on me, totalled my car and my neck and back. I went to the hospital, they told me I needed to see a nuerosurgeon, so I made the apt. A week later I went in, he gave me oxycondone7.5mg, take 1-2 every 4 hrs for pain and told me I would be in his care for at least a year. I am in severe pain, I cant do anything, I have a 7 month old baby and I cant even feed him, it hurts too bad. So Ive been seeing the neuro since the begining of Nov. I get 120 7.5 oxycodone about every 13-14 DAYS from him b/c that is how often I have to take it for my pain. There are times, almost everynight that I wake up in the middle of the night and have to take meds to get out of pain so I can go back to sleep...So I went in for my exam about 3 weeks ago and he said my right arm is pretty bad, when he asked my to push out on his hand I pulled, so he wanted me to see the surgeon in the practice and dicuss surgery, he said it was totally up to me. So I went in the following week and met the surgeon, he said I am young and have a few bulging discs in my neck, like 2 herniated and one in my lower back, but didnt feel he wanted to do a surgery just yet. I agreed, if I can stay away from that I would like to, so we decided to do an epidural steroid injection. I had that done on Mon, so 2 days ago.... I am in extreme pain, more than I was before the injection, now the back of my arm hurts, my shoulder hurts, I have pain going down the right side of my rib cage, there is like a ribbon of pain going around the upper half of my back my neck still hurts right in the middle, but way worse and I have lost some function in my right hand and my lower back seems to hurt worse now too for some reason. I can pick things up, but keep dropping them, I couldnt zip my sons sweater, I couldnt open a pill bottle or soda, I have dropped 3 cups of water. So I called him back today and left a msg. I told him the pain meds are not helping, and that mixed with the soma they told me to take is making me dizzy, or loopy, so if there was a diff medicine I would try it. I also told him everything about the pain I just listed. He called back and said him and the other dr I was seeing befor I saw the surgeon have spoken and decided He has been giving me the max of pain meds, and they dont feel they are controlling my pain, he doesnt want to do the surgery b/c Im young, and hes sorry the injection didnt work, he said with injections its hit or miss, it will either help or it wont, so they feel I should go see a pain managment specialist to control my pain and that way another set of eyes can take a look, or I can get a second opinion about the surgery from another dr. He said so at this point we have reached the max of meds we can give you and this is where we stand, we have to wait and see how it goes. I asked, well what about my hand, how do we fix that, and he said we just have to wait and let it all heal on its own, he doesnt want to do any further treatment basically. so now I am freaking out b/c I dont know if he was saying that they are not going to refil my meds when its time, and I have researched my meds and you are not supposed to stop them abruptly or you can have serious withdrawl symptoms. I also dont want to go to a pain management dr. I feel all they do is give you meds, and I dont want to continue to live in pain and jsut half way mask it. I dont know what to do or what to think. Any suggestions, questions or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Im so tired of being in pain, im in pain everyday all day in multiple areas. Also if the dr originally told me he wanted to keep me in his treatment why are they telling me they want me to go to pain managment? Thanks in advance

sorry, in the begining I was taking 120 per month not every 2 weeks

Hi marie..and welcome to NeuroTalk. Here is the link to our Spinal Disorders forum...http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html and here is the link to our Chronic Pain Forum...

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum10.html

I'm glad you've joined us but sorry for the reason...there are many forums here to choose from and you will find support and friends.

Hi Hon.

you poor thing. I am so sorry you are going through this hell. If you decide to see a pain management specialist, he might prescribe a Fentanyl pain patch for you. My husband (10 years ago) was on this and it literally saved his life. He could go to work, he drove his car. Ultimately he had to be weaned off of it because there is only so much a body can take of this drug but when he was on it, it did the trick.

I hope you get some relief and keep posting.

Praying for you.

Melody

Thank you, I am hoping it will get better for me! I will absolutly keep posting, I need to be able to communicate with people in my similar situation, it seems people who are not in severe pain 24/7 do not understand at all.

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Happy to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help.

There are great number and caring fellow members here, you will see we are supportive and relaxing place. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

Thanks for the suppport, I just dont know how to handle this situation. Im getting wierd mixed feelings about it, should I be looking for a new dr? I really like the first one I saw, but he doesnt do surgery and refered me to the surgeon in his practice, but he doesnt want to do surgery, so now they dont want to see me anymore... I dont know what to do or why they wont see me?

Hon, we live in a world where many people are narcissistic, self absorbed, and just plain "it's all about them". They don't get it.

We get it. You are now in a place of fellow human beings who walk in each other's shoes and know a thing or two about pain.

As a matter of fact, I just came home from a neuropathy support group meeting and we had a pain management specialist. He did a demonstration and lecture on the Spinal Cord Stimulator and he spoke about the next step if that doesn't work. A pump that uses a catheter in the spinal fluid. Never knew about that one. It pumps pain meds directly into the spinal fluid and because of how it's done, a person needs less pain meds so they have less side effects.

I learned lots from tonight's meeting.

So here's hoping that if you get to see a pain management specialist, he just might be able to suggest a thing or two.

Take care

Melody

that sounds great, but my concern now is that since he said he wants me to see a pm dr. he is not going to prescribe my next rx of pain meds, which is tues. They only do rx pick up on thurs, and I left a msg yesterday asking them to mail it since I didnt need it till tues, and I dont think they did. I spoke with the office today and they said I can not see the other dr I was seeing in the practice, he assigned my patient file to the surgeon, well the surgeon doesnt want to do surgery so I wanted to go back in and the first dr I was seeing. She said I cant I have to see the surgeon, he is my dr. now and that there is a note that someone is calling me monday. Dso Im concerned that they are calling to say he told you he wanted you to go to pain managment, we arent writing anymore rx, you need to go to pain managment. And everything Ive read up about the oxycodone I take says to never stop suddenly, and now I feel I will be forced to do so and have to face the consequences, and suffer through the reactions. Im very scared at what is going to happen to me with stopping this medicine abruptly as well has still being in pain and not able to use my right hand to pick anything up. Is he even allowed to stop my medicine that way?