My husband had emergency spinal surgery 2 years ago to reverse the effects of a spur rubbing on his spinal column causing him to lose his ability to walk and has been on either Percocet and/or Oxycontin (50mg three times a day) since that time. I had read a article about hyperalgesia from being on narcotics but never thought too much about it till my husband could no longer function dispite the pain meds. His pain seemed to just increase regardless of the increase in dosage. He finally said that he didn’t want to go up with his dose any more and continued to sit at this dose for almost a year. He had multitudes of test and treatments to help with the pain buy nothing ever seemed to work. Finally he decided to just stop the meds COLD TURKEY. Dispite 2 weeks of withdrawal, most of which happened in the first week, he came through it very well. He still has residual insomnia but we are working on that.

The point I want to make is that he is PAIN FREE NOW! After stopping the drugs and mearly taking plain Tylenol and Advil now he is functioning at levels even better than before his surgery. He obviously was suffering from this HYERALGESIA.

I just want to get the word out to so many people suffering from the same thing. THESE DRUGS ARE NASTY! The side effects are terrible and it could have very well cost us our marriage. I commend him for being so strong and stopping the way he did but it was far better than the alternatives. Methadone and Subluxone only prolong the inevidable of withdrawal, because dispite these drugs, once you stop them you will go through the same withdrawal symptoms!!

Thanks for this article, it has explained so much of my years of upset and I now have my husband back. We couldn’t be happier. CHEERS!

Interestingly, knowing that I can do something about it- that I am on a low enough dose that if necessary I can take a double dose to get on top of bad pain- makes it easier to cope with the bad days. I know they’ll happen, and I know what to do about it, and that feeling of agency helps me hurt less and feel generally more “normal” in general. Medication, whether it’s the opiates or the muscle relaxant I take to shut down dysmenorrhea or the antianxiety drug for dental procedures, is a tool.

I used them this way. When I move too much my pain increases. I suffer from wind up pain which is when the level of pain increases independly. When I find the pain is increasing and I cannot stop the increase, I use a quick acting narcotic and it seems to stop the winding up of my pain. By putting a cap on the pain, I do not have to withdraw from the situation I am in. I adjust my activity but I do not have to withdraw. This is very important to maintain a life with severe chronic pain
I have developed this treatment plan over many years. It is not standard treatment but it works for me. Don’t be afraid to try different ways to use. Opiates but you m ust have a doctor who will work with you. When I go through a period of less pain, I lower the amount of opiates I use.