so i told my doctor in september that i had a pill issue and he put me on suboxone, and december 20th was my suboxone quite date. But for the past month ive been having lower back problems. How the hell do i confront my doctor about my pain without looking like a junky. I thought of a chiropractor but they do more bad than good for your back. And a massage is too pricey for me. I have health insurance so paying for a script is no problem. Any advice on how to confront my doc without looking like a junky?
You can tell him about your back issues and see what he says. If it's a problem that can be identified by an X-ray, CT scan or MRI, that would definitely be in your favor. Since your doctor is aware that you had an addiction to pain meds though, you'd probably have a hard time convincing him to put you back on narcotics, especially since you went through 3 months of Suboxone treatment. But you could try. Or, maybe you could go to a different doctor.
there are other ways to treat a bad back..massage, ice/heat..laying on floor and the chicro does NOT do worse for you back..not in my situation. I go once a week and back has been better than ever
Be upfront and honest with him. Tell him you're having back problems and ask what alternatives there are to pills.
i will also add...i had an epidural steroid injection in my back about 5 months ago...worked wonders. Was very nervous at first having a huge needed inches from my spine but the meds worked for about 4 months..was great
I had 2 epidurals back in 2000. They didn't do anything but keep me awake for 2 nights. Also 9-10 days of Prednisone pills that not only kept me up but put on about 20 pounds. Me and steroids just don't get along. I'm not saying those epidurals don't work for some people, because they obviously do, or that treatment wouldn't even be available. I guess I'm too far gone. Shit, surgery didn't even work. I've got degenerative disc disease. I had a spinal fusion from S1 up to L2, and a laminectomy. It was just on the right side at first, but now it's on both sides, plus I'm now having occasional pain in my upper back too. It'd be great to find a cool forum where I could actually have helpful, pleasant conversations with other people who have the same problems. This shit is getting too confrontational for me. I mean, I like Hip Forums. I've been a member for a few years now, and there are some cool people, but some of the people who come on here just grip my shit.
I am the same way with the cortisone shots. They make me very sick. I would need at least a week to recover every time. Then it is a crap shoot as to how much relief you get. There are facet blocks that are more targeted to the joint causing pain. still uses cortisone but a lot less. No grantee it will work. The shots I found most helpful was something called a Radio Frequency Ablasion ( RFA ). For me the recovery time is a lot more tolerable. There is no cortisone at all. Some docs will knock you out for this procedure. What they do is burn the nerve that causes your pain which is supposed to scramble the pain signals. If successful the relief can last as long as a year. This too is a crap shoot. You would think that considering what they do it would almost a guarantee to work. it does not work like that though. Works for some and not others. docs have no idea why. But anyway there is no cortisone with the RFA. So you don't have the same side effects.For me post op pain the next day was no fun but found ice to help with that. Yes, people don't understand how bad pain is. people jump to conclusions and just don't understand how bad it can get. Hope some of this helps you explore options. Feel better.
I wish ice could have worked with my post op pain, lol. No, I'm kidding. My procedure was way different. I remember the day after surgery they came in and had me sit up in bed. I couldn't, so 2 nurses pulled me upright. Oh lord. Up to that point I thought I knew what serious pain was. Boy was I wrong. I asked what meds they had me on, and they said Demerol. I said, well it's not working. They said, yes it is. Now that scared me. Anyway, when my doctor came in I told him I couldn't deal with it. So they had me on a Morphine pump for 2 days, where I had a remote control thing to dose myself, up to a preset limit per hour. Man, I would have that thing clicked to the max within 20 min. That was better, but I was still at 10 on the pain scale. And what sucked was I'd nod off for what seemed like 2 hours and I'd look at the clock and only 10 minutes had gone by.
