Going through chronic pain is a difficult thing.....finding the right med & the right dose is tough, but once it is found, it is like having your life back.

I never had a migraine or even a headache all my life until they started messing my body up with anti-depressants...& I have to admit, I messed my body up with those anti-depressants even more when I didn't want to continue living. That may have been what caused the almost permanent migranes that won't go away.

I had tests, tests, & more tests....they found a neck problem....thinking that neck fusion would help the migraines, I went through that....with no relief. That was when they started me on a lower dose of the fentynal patches for the pain which was actually a pretty high dose. Unfortunately, that didn't help, so they tried giving me a prescription of another pain med to go along with the fentynal...rather than trying to find the right dose of that to work. I was in the ER every 3 days for demoral shots....being accused of being drug seeking when all I was doing was seeking pain relief.

I went for years like that until they found another form of the fentynal & tried that along with the patch. It was like a miracle....until the drug company changed the formulation & that quit working......the pain specialist suggested my using 2 of the patches (my husband was at the appointment & heard him say it too). The next month when I went back, he denied ever saying that & told me that he wouldn't prescribe that amount & he wouldn't continue treating me & to go find another Dr.

I had enough of the med to last me at the higher dose for several months & it took that long to find another Dr. The next pain specialist I went to insisted that I go off all meds & that would make the migraines go away. That was theory & I asked her how she would handle me if that didn't work. She said that was impossible & she wouldn't even consider that possibility.....well.....I don't want any Dr that isn't going to deal with all the options. She had pointed me to another pain specialist that worked in the hospital that my pdoc & psychologist had privlidges at in order to get me off the pain med I was on.....so I went to see him. He wanted new MRI's....looked at them & saw all the leisons (white spots in the brain). He said that was a good indication of how seveire the migraines actually were & asked me about the meds I was taking that were now working. He told me it wasn't that high of a dose for major chronic pain & he was willing to continue the level that was working since I was completely functional. He said there could be the possibility that I could build up a tolerance to that level......needing a higher level & that is different than getting addicted to the med.....he said that getting addicted would be if I was wanting more of the med to get a high or some kind of feeling out of it....where tolerance is where the body ends up needing more to keep the pain away.

At that level, I was able to start riding my horse again & focus on things. I could actually come out of my dark bedroom & deal with sounds & smells again.....so as long as I was getting my quality of life back without feeling so drugged that I couldn't function either, that is the basis for prescribing the level of narcotics. He said that justifies to the DEA the level of prescription & they never would go after him for treating patients with that background.

That was over 4 years ago, & I haven't had migraine pain since then....I can still feel some pains, & sometimes get the symptoms of the migraines without the pain (which is a strange sensation).

You need to find a pain specialist with that basis for treating pain....in order to get it under control & get your quality of life back.....they are out there....it is just a bit difficult to find a Dr who treats his patients that way.

If you know they are out there, & know what to look for & the questions to ask, you will find the help you need,
Debbie