I learned this evening that Hank Willams root cause of death was a bad back, it caused him to drink untill he passed out to deal with pain, and then started using drug from an illegal source. I think that many here can relate to this and we can understand better than anyone else what he went through.

Dave

Before I started Pain Management, I would drink 2 glasses of wine/night to help w/pain and sleep. It's a very good thing I can hardly drink w/o becoming sleepy (and this was before taking any pain medication).
Before the pain meds I must admit I felt like offing myself sometimes because the pain was so bad~ thank God the meds help me greatly tho I am scared of what a withdrawl will be like if and when the day ever comes I can stop taking Methadone~ I'm sure I'll be on Neurontin forever or something like it for peripheral neuropathies from past surgical trauma...
I surely can relate to what you've stated above Dave...

Mariaa,

I'm surprised that you as an NP being hooked (no pun intended) into the system couldn't get appropriate pain relief asap. Can withdrawal be more comfortable (is there such a thing?) if gently tapered? Best, ans

ans,
way back when after my failed spine surgery of '92, Pain Management for failed spine surgeries wasn't quite the hopping business it is today nor was it so in vogue to prescribe opioid medications for pain. I think CA. state legislation/law has come a long way in the last 10 -15 years with regard to legal parameters prescribing pain medications and working to make this practice more acceptable all the way around.
Physicians in general have long been very guarded against a practice that would bring perceived drug seeking clients in the office/clinic settings. There were/are understandable reasons,so the development of PM specialty has greatly reduced some of this patient perception (pain patient=potential drug addicted patient) or misperception however, many regular physicians/other specialties remain guarded when it comes to pain management.

Most of the doctors I worked with back then frowned upon the use of the medications I'm now on for management of chronic low back pain. I was in a very reputable PM program after the failed 2nd spine surgery but there was no narcotic medication prescribed for me and Elavil for neuropathic pain just sort of took the edge off..not much more.

Withdrawl, sure, there is a much easier way to do it than cold turkey which I definately don't intend to do, altho supposedly Methadone has one of the longest and most intense withdrawls for it's classification of drugs. Hopefully I'd still be in as good overall medical condition when considering doing this as I am now..