Methadone For Pain Relief - Does It Work?

Hello - this is my 1st post here. I'm posting to see if someone may have an answer to my dilemma. I have been in a state of chronic pain for many years due to a car accident I was involved in as a passenger a long time ago.

I have run the gamut of pain meds. Vicodan - Percocet - morphine - demerol, etc.

I have found that at the very start - these meds help a lot! Over time, your body's tolerance goes up & you just have to take more and more to get the same relief that you originally got from 1 pill. So for instance - you can go from 1 oxycontin a day to 25 a day eventually, & the 25 won't work as well as the 1 did at the start.

I have experienced this with all of these narcotic pain relievers. I do have some brutal pain issues & I finally ended up on methadone.

Methadone works just like the others. You just need more & more for pain relief. I've been to several methadone clinics over the years & in different states, & each state has it's own rules.

The state I live in now has very strict rules on almost all aspects except for the amount. I'm not even sure if they have a limit that is the most they will give to a patient. I know a few of the folks there were getting 500mgs. per day.

My history has been between 30mgs. a day to 200 mgs. a day. This latest clinic had a strict rule where you had to take the same amount every day. I had the most priviliges you could get because I never had a dirty urine. Their limit was you could get monthly take homes.

But I just went every two weeks even though I could have gone once a month. I hated the rule where you had to take the same amount every day. Once your tolerance is at that level, forget any pain relief. So I liked to take a very minimum amount most days (just enough to not feel sick), which would leave me enough to take a lot more a few days a month which would then offer a little pain relief.

But if you were getting as many take homes as I was, they would call you & you had to come in within 24 hours with the doses you had left to prove you were taking the same amount daily.

I eventually left the clinic to see a private doctor so I could take it how I wanted to. He understood what I had to say and was fine with it.

The problem now is that even methadone in large doses does little for my pain issues. I have actually cut down on the amount I get monthly.

Does anybody have a solution to this problem? I have no health insurance, so I can't get expensive tests lie MRI's done or have surgeries (which I certainly would have if I could afford them, the 1st would be to have my right knee replaced).

I don't want to get into all my pain issues here, but I have several. A recent one that is new for me is the feeling that I have a pinched nerve in my neck that just doesn't go away. The one thing that I did on a regular basis was to swim a lot (I couldn't do joint bearing exercises), which really helped with some of my issues such as venous insufficiency in my lower extremities which I wear the tightest compression socks available for.

Swimming helped these circulation issues a lot. Does anybody know of an over-the-counter drug that may help with this pinched nerve feeling I have in my neck (I've had it for about 5 weeks now & the methadone doesn't help).

I'm not sure it's a pinched nerve, but thats what it feels like. Not being able to swim is a big deal for me. I have treid a medication called Alleve, which doesn't seem to help either.

Any comments, suggestions, answers, etc., would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi - sorry I only just found your post. Are you still looking for answers? I'm a doctor (non practicing for several years) and I'm a methadone patient. Neither is related.

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A method called rotation can help, periodically switching to another opiate (opioid) different types target different receptors differently and can help with lowering tolerance to one type which you can then return. This practice seems underused perhaps due to doctors times and other factors. But it works in 70% of the people in pain I monitor including myself.

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If you had that many take home doses take what you want and just bring correct number of full bottles when you get a call back. That seems pretty simple to me. Good luck.

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Re: Doug (# 3)

yes, you'll have to comply or check out .
Had same deal but tired of it after 5+ yrs. seeing all the underlying issues right outside the damn clinic so ended up at a great doctor here in Dallas but w/all the opiate scare he has been basically told to get patients down on dose daily to 50mg. by damn gov bullies . Thats where I'm at. Had done fine w/back and neck @ 70mg ..not so much at 50mg tho.
best to all who need methadone to live!!

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Methadone seems to be one of the strongest painkillers. It worked best for me but I decided I did not want to be on it for life (I feel embarrassed picking it up) I stopped substituting with oxycodone, OxyContin and DHC. immediately but suffered a 2weeks till my receptors stopped overreacting. The best way I found was to try to obtain a different painkiller (opiate) and start with that till your stable. You could cut down half a week like doctors recommend but if you can switch painkillers again. Explain to your doctor you want to rotate. He may give you something stronger but as you know he has to try smaller doses before pain relief is achieved.

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Re: Dr N K (# 1)

Yes I'm still looking for answers. I have decided on my own to split my dose, half in the A.M & other in the P.M. I have been dropping my dose amt for a minute- 5 mils every 90 days & now at 50mils from 85mils. BUT I'm starting to feel the original pain that made me start pain pills that led to heroin. So my doc has ordered X-RAYS to check my hip. ANYWAY, I am only taking high doses of Tylenol which isn't working anymore. I've tried celebrex & those meds, but don't work. ANY SUGGESTIONS??

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