getting off opiates

[Guest guest]

Hi co-cyberfibromites!

I have spent the last 6 weeks weaning off of opiates. When I told my

pain doctor (Dr. V) I wanted to stop the meds he became VERY angry.

His clinic doesn't accept insurance, and the visits cost $130 in cash

only (I was going to go to another pain clinic that accepted

insurance). They don't care about their patients, they just want

that money. They'd upped my dosage of morphine (the extended release)

to 60 mg in the morning and 30 at night. He also had me on percocet,

the 10's, for breakthrough pain, & Soma at night. I got sick of

sitting for 3 hours every 28 days waiting for my " fix " . The doctors

would over-book patients and if I had a 9:00 appt I usually didn't

see a doctor til after 12:00.

I'd been in the hospital a few times recently, and they gave me

morphine in my iv (twice for fevers, and the third time for chest

pain). I had huge marks on my arms where the iv's went in, as well as

several spots where they tried to get a line in and couldn't hit the

vein (I have small veins and they tend to roll. Once they had to use

a butterfly to take blood from a vein in my hand, which took about 15

minutes and left a huge bruise). I'd seen the doctor's female partner

and told her about it, and Dr. V got all bent out of shape when he

read my chart. He demanded to see my arms and legs, and said all the

marks were from me shooting up! I have a lot of allergies, and

occasionally get serious itching on my lower legs and wrists & hands.

My regular doctor had looked at them and gave me cream to put on

them. I was extremely upset by Dr. V's accusations, and I told him he

could call my regular doctor, and the hospital, to verify what the

marks were. He said he knew the signs of shooting up, and wouldn't

believe me, and discharged me from the pain clinic. He also told me I

needed to go into rehab immediately.

I was in a panic for a couple of days, but since I felt the morphine

wasn't doing me any good anyway, I went to my PCP and he gave me

Ultram. I've been off opiates for a while now, and the Ultram seems

to be helping with my pain. I also go to a chiropractor, who is

extremely pleased with my progress. I'd been to chiropractors in the

past, and the adjustments always left me feeling achy and bruised,

but this one is great! He actually believes in fibro, which surprised

me. He does something over the trigger points that help relieve the

fibro pain. I haven't had any problems with the adjustments causing

pain, and feel so much better. I was putting on some make-up the

other day, and noticed that the whites of my eyes are so clear

they're bluish white. My eyes haven't been that clear in so long I

can't remember them not being bloodshot! I'm also 2 1/4 " taller from

the adjustments! I was worried when I started putting on weight, but

now that I'm 5'4 1/4 " tall, I guess 128 lbs isn't too much to worry about!

My husband actually had more panic over the lack of morphine than I

did, lol! He kept telling me I needed it to function, and needed to

get on with another pain clinic, but since he's seen the progress

I've made he has changed his mind. Everyone is telling me I look so

much better, and my pain is not nearly as bad as it used to be. I

think the morphine actually made the pain worse when it wore off

between doses.

The docs at the hospital never did figure out what the chest pain was

from. They said my heart is in excellent shape, and my x-rays came

out clear. The only way I can describe the pain is like breathing in

super frozen air, like running on a very cold day. It's happened a

few times, and I always refused to go to the ER, but my husband

finally saw one of the episodes and made me go.

One thing I noticed that I thought very odd; when I went into the ER

with a ruptured disk, the doctor refused to give me any pain meds.

But the last 3 visits, they not only gave me morphine IV, but wrote

out prescriptions for morphine! And this was the same hospital I'd

been going to when I had pain and no meds for it. I guess I'll never

understand how doctors think.

gentle hugs to all,

cyn

clmerritt37211@...

Fibromyalgia-Support-Group co-moderator