The ones I do have to watch are my morphine patches to kill the pain of a long standing spinal injury, if I don't change them regularly (every 3 days). I get very bad withdrawal symptoms, now those can really affect you, and I suspect the longer you have your back problem, you might escalate your meds to that sort of system. work things out.
John,
I have a bit of a story about morphine that may be of interest to you (it's long winded but I think it is of value to you):
My father developed bad arthritis many years ago and over time his pain medications were increased in strength until eventually he was prescribed Oxycodone (morphine essentially) which is quite hard to get on prescription down here. Over time, as his condition worsened, his dose of Oxy got higher and higher until he was almost maxed out on the stuff. Even then he continued to complain of the pain so I imagine it was fairly severe. He was on tablets several times a day and if he was late taking them he got very bad withdrawal symptoms very quickly. He also suffered other side effects from them, like sweating, trouble peeing, craving sugary foods and other weird stuff.
After taking the Oxy for about 8 years, at 78 years old he had an accident where he was crushed underneath the car he was working on (very lucky to survive at all, long story) and suffered a shattered pelvis, broken shoulder, several broken ribs, a punctured lung and many scrapes, bruises and cuts as well as having a heart attack bought on by the extreme trauma. I was at the hospital when he arrived by helicopter and he was in a terrible state of pain but due to his high normal Oxy load, the doctors were not able to give him much 'extra' for the pain of his injuries (this is bad enough but not the point of the story).
Anyway, he was given medications to block the withdrawal symptoms of the Oxy and, once his Oxy load had reduced, he was put onto other pain medication for his injuries.
While he was in hospital he was seen by pain specialists who explained to him and us, in layman's terms, that Oxy was a very good short-term pain killer but over time it could actually CAUSE pain itself, which is why his Oxy dose had to be increased so much over time. These specialists recommended that he cease using Oxy completely and use alternative medication for his crippling arthritis. He thought this was a good idea and while he was in the hospital he continued to take the anti-withdrawal meds and ceased Oxy use.
This is the really interesting bit - as he healed from his injuries his alternative pain meds were reduced as the pain subsided and he eventually got to the point he is at now (3 years later), where he takes over the counter paracetamol as required for his 'crippling' arthritis. Some days he takes none at all! Now I'm not saying he never had arthritis pain, but he got so used to the very high levels of pain while taking Oxy that he can now stand the 'actual' pain of his arthritis without a great deal of medication at all.
I too was offered oxy for my back but I'm staying well away from it based on Dad's experience and the recommendations of those pain specialists. Now I have no idea about your situation but I thought I'd let you know as perhaps it might be something you want to raise with your own medical people. I know the GP who put Dad on the Oxy in the first place did not have much knowledge of the drug at all and it is my understanding that it is best reserved for treating extreme pain in terminal patients, rather than long-term use.
Hopefully this is of value to you, I had to let you know as I'd never heard about this before Dad's accident.
