Reply #12: Find a Doc who knows about pain! [View All]

There are many different therapies that can help you cope with pain. I spent years in agony before an MD put me on low-dose anti-depressants and anti-epileptic meds for an unrelated problem. Now my pain is manageable.

Massage, yoga, and meditation help as well.

BTW, Darvocette's a perfectly lousy drug; doesn't do much for pain, has nasty side-effects and can be deadly when combined with alcohol. Ask about long-acting Fentanyl, or sustained-release morphine instead. Some Docs will shy away from these because they're Opiates ("horrors!"), but the sustained-release forms will NOT get you high, and they're the most effective pain-killers around.

And I absolutely am NOT recommending this - I don't want to lose my license - but there is another medication many chronic pain sufferers have found effective. It can be grown in your backyard or closet, and is usually smoked. It has no side effects, aside from the fact that if John Ashcroft finds you using it, he will throw your butt in jail for about a zillion years...