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About Tracy
Expertise
I am not a doctor but I have spent the last 7 years in chronic pain from numerous lumbar back surgeries and L4/L5 fusion surgery. I can answer questions about most treatments, traditional and alternative therapies. I can answer questions about the many pain medicines used to treat chronic pain. I can also answer questions and give practical advice on all aspects of living with chronic pain. I am NOT a doctor and I have not had any formal medical training so I CANNOT GIVE YOU A DIAGNOSIS!

Experience
I have spent the last 7 years in chronic pain due to a lower back injury. I have had just about every treatment, therapy and alternative treatment, including massage therapy, acupuncture and rekki. I have been to more pain specialists than I can remember and I have been put on almost every pain medicine available.

Organizations
I have been involved with the American pain foundation for about 3 years. I am also an active participant on several chronic pain message boards. I am a member of several local chronic pain support groups. I also volunteer at a local organization that helps people that are disabled and in chronic pain find the information, resources and support needed to cope with living with disability and chronic pain.

Education/Credentials
I have not had any formal medical education but I have done extensive research on available treatments and therapies. I have also done extensive research on the different pain medicines used in the treatment of pain.

You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Holistic Healing > Pain Management > pain relief

Pain Management - pain relief

Expert: Tracy - 10/13/2009

Question
Hello i have charot-marie-tooth disease and have taken all types of medications for chronic pain relief. Everything from percocet,loratab,vicodin,demerol,turdul,morphine, and gabapintin. I am 26 years old and nothing is helping the pain relief. My question is is there a type of medication i can discuss with my doctors about?

Answer
Hi Timothy,
  I found your question in our question pool and thought that I may be of some help.

One pain medicine you might want to ask your doctor about is Fentanyl. Fentanyl is a strong, safe drug that has less of the usual side effects associated with narcotic pain medicines. It comes as a skin patch that is changed every 3 days, the brand name for these is Duragesic Patches. They are convenient to use (just changing a patch every 3 days) and they provide a constant 24 hour pain control. Fentanyl has worked for many chronic pain patients when other narcotic pain medicines have not. However doctors are reluctant to give Fentanyl patches to people who do not already have a tolerance to opiates (opiate naive). Judging from the pain medicines you have listed (especially the stronger ones), I will guess that you have been on some type of narcotic pain medicine for awhile and have developed some tolerance to opiates, so that might not be a problem.
You can also ask your doctor about long acting pain medicines such as Oxycontin and/or Roxicodone. Oxycontin is the same opiate that is in Percocet but is in a 12 hour pill and does not have Tylenol in it. Roxicodone is the same thing except it is a short acting 4-6 hour pill. Oxycontin and Roxicodone come in many more different strengths than Percocet so they have more flexible dosing levels.
Another pain medicine that has worked for some people when others have not is Opana (oxymorphone ). Opana is a newer narcotic pain medicine that a lot of pain management doctors are using more and more. It comes in both a long acting 12 hour form and a short acting form.
One of the biggest drawbacks to this medicine is since it is a newer drug there is no generic for it and the brand name drug Opana is quite expensive.

Another thing to ask your doctor about is possibly adding a non steroid, non narcotic, anti inflammatory drug to one of the opiates you have already taken. I am not familiar with Charot-Marie tooth disease but I have learned from my own experience with extensive dental work and from talking to other people who have had a lot of dental problems and/or pain that often adding an anti inflammatory drug like Naproxen or even Ibuprofen (Motrin) to a narcotic analgesic, especially one with Tylenol in it, can make a big difference in pain relief. I know that this is okay in short term use but you will have to ask your doctor about possible side effects from long term use.
Also both Vicodin and Percocet come in a form that has Ibuprofen in it instead of Tylenol (they are called Vicoprofen and Percodan). They may work better for you than the ones with Tylenol in them.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions or need additional information please don't hesitate to ask.
          Thanks
              Tracy

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