New here! Any no habit forming pain meds I can suggest to my Dr.?

[fayee]

Hi,

I was recently on Oxy and TA(i forget the long form..) for my pain. They were the only things getting me through the day and night. They didn't give me a high, but rather made me feel like a normal human being again...

It was clear to my Dr. I had become dependant on them and he will no longer prescribe them to me.

The pain is back and I'm having a lot of trouble coping. Especially through the night.

I'm a student and have been missing a lot of school because of this…

**Ganj doesn't help either. Just intensifies the pain.

Anyone have any none habit forming pain management I could suggest to my Dr. next time I see him. (He's not very helpful himself, so I'm the one trying to find out the facts etc.. Knowledge is power!)

Thanks in advance!

 

[durwardian]

Tramadol

 

[fayee]

Thank you!!

 

[pink&green]

Hubby GI prescribed Tramadol for his perianal fistulas.

 

[UnXmas]

Tramadol

I'm pretty sure Tramadol can be habit-forming.

What kind of pain are you having, fayee?

I take codeine, which definitely is addictive and habit-forming, however, my doctors do prescribe it to me. Did you find your use of pain meds a problem, or was it your doctor's idea to take you off them? Not everyone gets addicted, and although you may build up tolerance, for some people the benefits of pain meds still outweigh this. So if you didn't feel you were addicted and the pain meds were still working, it may be worth discussing it again with your doctor, who may agree to prescribe them so long as you are restricted to set maximum doses, or you may be able to have some which you use only on occasions when the pain is very bad, as short-term use is unlikely to lead to addiction.

One thing I found helped me with sleeping: I couldn't find ways to control all the pain and other discomforts I had at night. However, since I've been being prescribed Amitriptyline, I've found I can sleep through much more pain and discomfort than I could otherwise. So I still get good nights' sleep despite pain. If addressing the pain isn't successful, addressing it as a sleep issue may help. Amitriptyline can also help with some kinds of pain, including stomach pain and neurological pain. It does potentially have a lot of side effects, and you can get some physical withdrawal symptoms if you stop it suddenly, but you shouldn't build up a tolerance and it's not addictive in the psychological sense.

 

[snowiezip]

Hey

I'm sorry I can't actually give you any recommendations however for me personally both codeine and tramadol gave me really bad constipation (never thought I'd ever complain of that) so it's worth bearing that in mind. In terms of dealing with pain I use a hot beanie bag, hot baths and a heat rub. Hope you find something suitable soon.

 

[Justin1982]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at some point, all pain medications are habit forming. The term "Pain" indicates the medications use is to dull discomfort. Over time, dosage increases are necessary, thus leading to addiction.

My cabinet looks like a white trash pharmacy filled with oxycodone. I hate taking the med as it makes me nauseated and dizzy. Worse, I get constipated, which runs in stark contrast of Crohn's. However, once I stop, I'm sick and have to go a lot. Like right now. Ugh feel so sick.

I've got pain meds because of severe kidney stone burden. Left kidney is a diamond mine of pain. I believe I started out with 25-30 stones each being 6-12CM.... Ugh and Ouch....

Right Kidney is undersized and has a few more.... =(

Damn you Crohn's.

 

[durwardian]

The synthetic narcotics don't seem to have a risk of addiction, Abdi tells WebMD. "They are very effective in treating a lot of different types of pain syndromes. A lot of physicians prefer to utilize them before progressing to narcotics."

Among the newest narcotics for chronic pain relief:

The Duragesic transdermal skin patch is a narcotic treatment for moderate to severe chronic pain. It provides continuous delivery of the narcotic fentanyl for 72 hours.

More options for pain flare-ups. There are also two fast-acting medications containing the narcotic fentanyl. It was developed for cancer patients who have breakthrough pain -- and who are already taking opioid medications for cancer pain. Actiq comes in a "lollipop" form and Fentora is a tablet that dissolves in the mouth.

 

[UnXmas]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at some point, all pain medications are habit forming. The term "Pain" indicates the medications use is to dull discomfort. Over time, dosage increases are necessary, thus leading to addiction.

Well, you might like taking paracetamol, so I suppose you could, at a stretch, say it became a habit. But if you compare it to opiates, it's just not the same.

There is a difference between tolerance and addiction. Tolerance - your body gets used to a particular medication, so you have to take higher doses to achieve the same result. Addiction - you mentally crave the medication. Opiates result in both; paracetamol results in neither. (But paracetamol is also, imo, a pretty useless pain-killer.)

I find Amitriptyline interesting, because it does cause some physical withdrawal symptoms if you suddenly stop taking it, but you don't get addicted to it. I believe there are quite a few other meds like this.

When I'm running out of codeine (an addictive med), I start counting out how many days I can make my prescription last, ringing the chemist to check my prescription's coming, and exhibit various other clear signs of a minor addiction (though I do have the will-power to go without when I have to, e.g. when I couldn't risk slowing my bowel down following surgery). I take more than the recommended dose of codeine, yet its effects on me are much weaker than when I first took a normal dose. You just don't get these kind of behaviours and thoughts and tolerance with paracetamol, Ibuprofen and other non-addictive, non-habit forming pain-killers. You won't have a need to increase the dose of these meds (unless your pain increases, but that's unrelated to taking the meds). So applying the term "habit-forming" to only certain pain-meds is quite a useful way of distinguishing them.

 

[Justin1982]

I hate medication in general, so I agree opiates are no fun. I spent 2 weeks ago hawked up on high doses of morphine on 2 trips to the emergency room.

Ugh... Now having to take oxycodone for pain and this crap makes me sick / constipated.... Then sick once I stop taking...

I'm not sure any "dulling" medication is good for you. However, some are more benign than other drugs.

 

[kel]

I thought tramadol was worthless when I took it. Vicodin always works for me and codeine is very nice as well.

 

[Tony H]

Tramadol did not do much for me either and it gave me really vivid bad dreams and left me feeling fuzzy all day ,
The heat from an electric blanket in bed seems to help when it really bad .