Hello.
I am new here and just wanted to say hi, let you know about me, and ask a question.
I am 31 and have Parkinson's disease. Because I wasn't taking my medication I slipped and fell out of the shower four years ago and injured my back. I injured my lower back and have sciatic nerve issues which causes pain all the way down my right leg. I have three bulging disks and other pain they can't diagnose, but think it's Central Pain Syndrome, which is common amongst Parkinson sufferers. For the first 9 months after I injured myself my PCP said I had growing pains and wouldn't do anything for me until I made her cry and order an MRI and that's when they found the issues. For those 9 months I couldn't even get out of bed. I ended up switching PCPs several times for different reasons ranging from not wanting to do anything other than prescribe meds to wanting to take me off meds which are the only things that make life even remotely livable. They put me on percocet 5mg four times a day to start. I have tried everything from physical therapy to various injections and nothing has helped. A few weeks ago I saw a back surgeon but was told there isn't anything they can do. I am now on 10mg percocet 6 times a day along with 5mg percocet three times a day and that is no longer working. It only lasts a short while and hardly does anything for the pain. Even when I take pain meds that work, I can hardly do anything because the pain is just so extreme. I have been out of work for the last four years, and as is so common, have had a long hard fight with disability and still have had no luck yet.
My question is about longer acting pain meds. My doctor has talked about them the last time I had an appointment, but we haven't made any decisions. I was just wondering what experience people have had switching to a longer acting pain med, what kinds they have taken that work for them, and any other information you want to impart. The only one I did try was methadone 5mg three times a day with three 5mg percocet for breakthrough pain and it didn't work well, made me very constipated, sick, and tired.
Thanks for any comments!
-Dfoxii