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struggling to stay clean because of pain

I have fibromyalgia i was on oxycotin for 3 yrs and other prescription pain pills for 6 yrs.  My life had become unmanageable.  All i did was sleep and i still had pain....i had isolated from everyone and everything.  I had tried everything for pain relief...my last resort was to detox from the pain meds and get sober to get back to living life instead of the pain and drugs in control of my life.....i had hoped for a miracle.  I had hoped to be able to manage my pain other ways....i did 60 days in rehab and i have 75 days clean and sober today :)  however the past week has been hell especially today my whole body aches.  I forced myself to do yoga but showering took sooo much energy.  My back aches, my arms hurt, my body feels so week, my brain works now and wants to do all these great things but my body wont allow me....i feel like im in my own personal hell.  I havent had any cravings at all until now.  Each day of pain wears at me more and more and i find myself telling myself i never abused my pills, i never took more than prescribed, i never ran out, i should be able to use them for pain.  All this is true i didnt do these things but is this my addict mind telling me this or is it true when you have real pain what can you do?  I feel stuck?  I dont know what to do? Any suggestions or tips on how to manage chronic pain without narcotics or types of doctors who can help with this i would greatly appreciate.  I dont want to go backwards but i dont know how much more pain i can endure.
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Avatar universal
Hey again.....

Yes I got the rebound pain.....still have some in fact.  I know it gets better......I was there.  So I guess that's the point of me writing......to tell you to HANG IN THERE, because it WILL get better.

Tami has some good advice above, do what works for you.  

I am incredibly proud of you for making it to 76 now!!!!  You got through it.  Don't worry about tomorrows pain for Heaven's sake because as you keep recovering it should get easier!!!  You will be fine.......one at a time.

Very very happy to see you make it 1 more!!!!!

bob
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Avatar universal
Hi,
I have had fibro now for 22 years. It is a horrible disease but I know I don't have to tell anyone on here that. I am/was a nurse prior to getting diagnosed, which came after a car accident, not my fault. I continued to work up until 5 years ago. I had bad days way  back when but NOTHING like now.
Now is after 2 more car accidents, again, not my fault. I can't remember how many surgeries but I have had a total of 16 in my lifetime. I have a bad history of endometriosis. I have read up on a lot about fibro, well what is out there but I think being a nurse has helped me more with pain control if you can call it that.
I have taken percocet, vicodin, apap w/codeine & for a few years I wore a Duragesic patch for the pain. I did have some better days but still not too many good ones by using the pain meds.
I am not completely sure what my body is currently up to but I am being forced to stay off the meds because I am having HUGE problems with itching & I have narrowed it down, I think, to the meds. I recently took myself off EVERYTHING I was on & that wasn't a good idea at all!!!!! So with all of that stuff said, not trying to bore you to death but just letting you know what my experiences have been. So......this is what I have learned to do to try to decrease my pain. No, I should say, preventative measures so you don't have pain as severe. Don't get me wrong, I still have bad days but I know these things help.
As far as meds, anti-inflammatory meds, those help to keep the swelling down (not all swelling you can see outside your body) I have tried more than once to see if I could get off of these, just because I hate taking all these meds & I have paid dearly in some really painful days.
Another, muscle relaxers. My doctor has me on 2 different ones at the moment.
Oh & they love the anti-depressants. They help to control, at least this is what I was told, the pain sensors in the brain. I personally didn't have any luck here because I would either gain weight on them, which isn't acceptable to me, getting fatter doesn't help my pain, makes it harder to get around plus the ones they always put me on I just couldn't function on them, they would knock me out. But I know there are some people out there that they help them.
Lyrica, I am sure you have heard of but I didn't fair too well on that one either.
Ok, now besides meds.....one thing I have been told over & over again is decrease your stress level. If there are people in your that are not adding to your life but sucking you dry, time to get rid of them. That was a hard one for me but OMG, it made a HUGE difference in my life.
When you are having a bad day, don't fight it. I used to push & push myself to get things done or when I was having a good day I would over do it & then pay for it by being in bed then the next 2 or 3 days. So pace yourself & don't feel guilty about doing so.
Massage is a must!!!! I used to hear that when I was working but always said I couldn't afford to do that but now that I am unemployed & decided to listen, well I try to work it into my so called budget best I can. Some insurance companies are now paying for them. Your doctor can write you a perscriptions for massage & well in Ohio if I have a script I don't have to pay tax on it. I do know that if you can get your doctor to write a perscription for things, well you can either get the insurance to pay for them &/or get some perks.
Exercise is another must!! I hate this one because it is a double edged sword. I don't feel good enough to exercise but if I don't exercise, well I'm not going to feel good either. If it isn't a good day, well don't do as much. Walking is a great thing to do but the water aerobics are what I hear is best. I don't live close enough to go often enough for it to make a difference for me so I have never tried it but would have loved to.
Other things, heating pad!!!! I have one plugged in on my floor next to my bed & it gets used multiple time a day!!!! Moist heat is even better. There are some heat packs/pads, not sure what you call them, that are out there that I learned about from my massage therapist. They are kinda expensive but I got one for my sons birthday, I think he has fibro too, and he LOVES it. Uses it every night he says. Be careful not to over use them because just like using ice pads, if you use them incorrectly you can get an opposite reaction so 20 mins on, 20 mins off they always say.
I feel much better if I can get good sleep too but that is a tough one. I went for about month recently where I did as I was told, finally, kinda bullheaded I am so...anyway, when I would go to bed at the same time & get up at the same time, well I had some much better days.
I don't know if you have cold weather where you are at but if so make sure you stay out of it as much as possible but if you can't do that then make sure your neck is covered always!!!!! Plus as much of your body as you can. Wear a longer coat, keep your  hips covered that way. The trigger points in the hips are bad ones for me!!!
Yoga, meditation, pain management places all might help. I have heard of accupuncture, reflexology, there is just tons of stuff out there. I know I have spent enough money on them. I always say that with all my surgeries & other expenses I for sure own a hospital out there somewhere.
This is all I can think of at the moment. I hope some of that helps, I mean it was something you hadn't tried or knew about. If not, sorry to have bored you to tears. :-)
Educate yourself as much as possible too, that has what has helped me too. I wish you the best!!!  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Bob- Thank u....i am happy to be alive again out of the oxy fog and out of all the opioid induced pain.  Did you get that?  If it wasn't for that i would have never had a reason to get sober.  My pain went from being a 8-9 EVERYDAY on oxys to being a 4-5 on a ok day without the oxys.  CRAZY....THEY SURE DIDNT WARN ME OF THAT SIDE EFFECT!  So on a bad day now its hard to get through it but i remember how bad that got so it was essentially pointless.  Not that i dont want something to take the pain away as you know bad days happen often.  I'm sorry to hear that your pain caused you to relapse...that is exactly what scares me.  Its a vicious cycle.  I HOPE AND PRAY THAT YOU CAN KICK IT THIS TIME.  It is sooo hard though. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!  
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Avatar universal
Hi there,

Wow can I commiserate with your story.  Fibro here too.  I made it just over 5 months clean recently and my pain drove me back to oc's.

I cannot take them responsibly, I have proven it to myself more times than I can count.  So I wrecked my clean time and here I am....now on day 11....having resuffered through wd.  It hasn't been easy.  

Only you know how bad your pain is.  We aren't superheroes, if you need relief, you need relief.  The only thing I CAN advise you of is that if taking opiates is truly something you want to end, then you need to explore EVERY avenue possible to control your pain because redoing detox is NOT something you want to keep repeating, especially with fibro and all it entails.

75 days is an amazing feat and you should be incredibly proud of yourself.  I plead with you to try and find find relief using non-opiate solutions.

I wish you well and thank-you for inspiring us similar suffering newbies!!!    :)

bob
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Avatar universal
Talk to your dr about your feeling. I live with pain and it's the worst.  On a pain scale up to 10 I range from 5-9.  But even if I was a 5 everyday thy wears on you. So I understand.
But if you were addicted and took you 60 days of rehab to get off is it worth that again?  You've come so far I'd hate to see you give up that hard work.  Must of been bad addiction if you needed 60 day rehab.  That's the part that sticks out to me
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