Multiple Chronic Pain Sydromes :(

I've had chronic pain since the age of 12 when I started my period. I'm 23 and have been dx with intersitial cystitis, fibro, TMJ, migraines, ibs and arthritis.

For pain I have a butrans patch. I'm in the process of finding a new pain management dr. It's so hard to be 23 and be in a pain management clinic because I don't get the care I need because they think "I will become addicted." Which is ********.

If you have fibro and have issues with urgency and frequency and pelvic pain you could have IC. IC and fibro usually present themselves together in many IC patients.

Has anyone been to therapy for chronic pain issues? I have been dx with bipolar and borderline personality disorder but I feel they relate to my chronic pain.

Does anyone have a good med combo that includes a long acting opiate with a short acting opiate for b/t pain?

Chronic pain can definately cause emotional issues. I suffer from chronic, dibilitating migraines, back pain, bilateral leg pain and falling all the time as my legs won't bend so I can't stop if I trip on even a small change in the rug.

Knowing that you have pain that may never go away, may get worse and is slowing taking from you everything you had ie job, recreation, sleep etc, can cause severe depression, hopelessness, anger, panic, control issues. You get the picture.

There is no magic opioid cocktail. Each person responds to medications differently. When nothing else would help my migraines, I was put on methadone. That was about a decade ago. Now I take methadone, dilaudid and clonazepam on a daily basis and have eight injections of phenergan and meparidine per month. Prior to that, they tried fentanyl, morphine, codeine, butalbutol etc. etc.

I don't have any info on psychiatric therapy for chronic pain, but if you are not already a patient of a pain management clinic, I suggest you find the closest one and see if they will take you. Unlike most clinics and Dr.s, pain management clinics are not afraid to break out the big guns if they have to.
Its not a free ride though. You will be required to sign a contract stating that you won't take prescriptions for pain meds from any other Dr. unless they first call your pain doc and check. You will be subject to urine or blood tests and pill counts with only 24hr warnings. Mainly that is for the clinic's protection, a DEA mandate and your protection. Its well worth it though.

I don't know all the meds you have tried, but there may be medications that are not opioids that work better for you. The downside of opioids is buiding a tolerance to them (they no longer help at that dose), constipation, tooth decay over the long haul and physiologic dependency. Unfortunately, nothing else worked on me. My dosages are very high and can't be raised without danger of death now. If you can avoid them, do so.

Anyway, look for a pain clinic. They are most likely to help you. Sometimes they give anti-depressants as part of the medications. It sounds like you should stay in therapy as well, at least until they can figure out how much of your emotional turmoil is secondary to pain and how much is primary.

Sam2

I was young when my chronic pain problems started, so I know how hard it actually is to be taken seriously, and treated correctly for it. My only advice is to just keep looking for a doctor that will listen and take you seriously. They do indeed exist! Good luck,
shinty

the problem is its hard for me to find a clinic that will take me as a patient because I have chronic pain disorders that are not normally treated and most pain management dr's arent familiar with how bad the pain can be or doesnt believe that it is as bad as it is in me. My urologist who is an IC specialist said i should use my migraines as my way to get in the door because any pain management dr will treat migraines. it sucks that I cant really get the treatment I need because of a lack of knowledge. I feel like if I had chronic back pain or something that is way more prominent then I would get different care...

I had terrible chronic pain for three years, then I had a leg amputation and now I "just" have phantom pain.

My psychiatrist says the phantom pain is mostly (influenced by) mental (duress), so he doesn't think I should get treatment for it. I had stuff that worked really well, but I quit it because, at that time, I didn't want to take drugs anymore.

I get the "you're too young". I was 12 when the pain started and 15 when my leg was amputated. I've had almost every drug known to man, but ketamin I could only have for 48 hours, on the IC, instead of the week I really needed it for (applying it during and after surgery helps prevent phantom pain). I couldn't get weed because I was too young. I could only get morphine through an IV while on a heart-rate monitor. So I mostly overdosed on tramadol. My pain doctor is BRILLIANT, though, and he told me I could use twice the FDA-approved dose. (he didn't put this on the prescription, of course, but he said I could if I needed to)

Besides that, I taught myself how to mix OTC drugs and POMs in order to not die and have maximum pain management.
The result is that my GI tract (stomach in particular), kidneys and liver, and other organs but those in particular, are now really bad and I have to take a lot of medicin for that, too. But it's possible.