hi new to forum. could use some support and advice

[cid]

I have battled this in my head over & over. I have decided to go thru with the detox of opiates and vallium. 2 years of this and I'm tired I don't want to live in pain. But will never know if it is hyperalgesia if I don't do this. I am very scared. Which is not helping matters. The only thing I have to lose is the chemicals. I had a long talk with my.Dr yesterday & I also have an appointment next thur with the pain clinic . My new Dr understands that there is pain & wants to try to treat it differently. I never inteded on becoming dependant on these meds. I really don't want to live my life around these pills anymore I'm sure most of you can understand this. I will keep you all updated when I find out more thank you all for your advice and support.

[Rob]

Hi cid,

Just a thought, if you note the city and state you live in you may find a member that lives in the area that can recommend a doctor. I looked for the city in your profile but didn't see it, could have missed it.

Regards,


Rob

[Badgolfer]

I have battled this in my head over & over. I have decided to go thru with the detox of opiates and vallium. 2 years of this and I'm tired I don't want to live in pain.

Cid,

I just detoxed off a relatively mild dosage of OxyContin and found it to be very difficult . Kimberly has a thread on 'withdrawal' that is very good with lots of suggestions and comments made by the others here. Many of us have done this hard time.

I would go Google and look at "opiates withdrawal". As a long time user of opiates you may need to ask your Dr's about a specific detox program and plan for a long term 'taper' program to go off the meds slowly- like a month or more. A 'cold turkey' change as a long time user could be very hard. I missed a week of work...and there was no way I could have worked...going cold turkey from just one 20mg oxycontin twice a day.

So, I applaud the attempt to understand if your pain is possibly hyperalgesia and I assume there is no 'evidence' of the impingement or damage. But it is a big step and you need to be prepared.

BTW, my wife has leg 'nerve pain' with no evidence of spinal impingement or damage. She finally got relief after 3 years with some nerve sleeve root injections, rhyzotomy, and norotriptyline. So I understand the how invisible pain can exist.

Dan

[Kimberly]

Cid,

I also applaud your brave decision to see if your pain is caused by hyperalgesia. Like Dan, I also found that coming off my opiate medication was harder and more physically and emotionally trying than I had anticipated. There is a pretty steep learning curve with this and although I am anything but an experct, having gone through it once gives one some perspective. If you have ANY questions please feel free to fire away (or send me a PM). There were a handful of things I found to be helpful in the process that might be of use to you. Like Dan suggested, I would definitely recommend googling about opiate withdrawal and doing a bit of reading/research before you go through the process. This will give you some ideas about what to expect, what others have experienced and some things that might make the process a little bit easier. I was fairly studpid about it and just jumped in with both eyes closed. I don't really recommend that approach, but I still managed to be ok in the end.

it isn't fun, but YOU CAN DO IT. You've been through a lot with your spine problems which by definition makes you a pretty tough cookie.

Kimberly