My hubby has had chronic lower back pain for 10 years. He has a L5-S1 back fusion which did not help, has had his nerves burnt, facet injections, laser stuff, etc. He has been on narcotic pain meds for as long, and is on subutex right now for pain, which does not cover the pain at all. When he tries to get off subutex, there is a period of 4-5 days (after he has stopped completely) of no pain at all, and then wham-o, the pain and withdrawal symptoms come back so ferociously that he goes back on the meds. I am wondering if the pain medications, on a high dose, over a long time, could be the thing that causes so much pain! Has anyone else dealt with this problem?
Pain Medications causing Pain??!!
(3 posts) (1 voice)-
Helen
guestPosted 1 year ago # -
Barry C.
guestYes, this happened to me. I was taking pain pills every day for over a year and then decided to stop to see where my pain was and after the physical withdrawal was gone, the pain was reduced and still is a few months later. I hope this helps!
BarryPosted 1 year ago # -
Kathy
guestThe Subutex is a different type of medication (an opiate partial agonist) that leaves your system more slowly. The increased pain is likely to be a part of the delayed withdrawal effect. You might have him ask his doc about doing a slow taper off his pain meds that worked previously. Unfortunately, because it is thought that Subutex/buprenorphine is less abusable, they have started giving it to chronic pain patients, despite the fact that it doesn't work as well for pain. He may have to take more pain meds than before initially after having been on Subutex, as the latter has a blocking effect. If your doc is not knowledgeable about these aspects of the meds, I suggest going to a pain management center, if possible.
Posted 1 year ago #