Question:
HAS ANYONE ON METHADONE HAD SURGERY-HOW IS PAIN TREATED?

I HAD SEVERAL INJURYS A YEAR AGO AND BECAME ADDICTED TO THE MEDICATION THE DOCTOR PERSCRIBED FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME AND THE DOCTOR ACTUALLY COULD CARE LESS AND BEING THAT I HAVE A CHRONICALLY ILL CHILD WHO IS HOMEBOUND AND ON PAIN MEDICATIONS- I AM CURRENTLY A METHADONE PATIENT AND DOING WONDERFULLY ON IT BUT IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND A SURGEON TO EVEN TOUCH ME BECAUSE MOST OF THEM DO NOT KNOW HOW TO TREAT PAIN ON A METHADONE PATIENT BUT I FINALLY FOUND A SURGEON WHO SAYS ITS NO BIG DEAL THAT THEY HAVE A PAIN MANAGMENT TEAM THAT CAN HANDLE IT, DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THEY WILL USE FOR PAIN DURING MY STAY, BEING THAT THERE IS SO MANY THINGS THAT I CANT TAKE THAT WILL THROW ME INTO SEVERE WITHDRAWLS AND I HAVE AN UNBELIEVABLY HIGH TOLERANCE- HAS ANYONE DELT WITH THIS- IM REALLY SCARED THAT THEY WONT BE ABLE TO CONTROL MY PAIN AND MY BACK IS SO MESSED UP FROM EPIDURALS FROM CHILDBIRTH SO THATS OUT OF THE QUESTION. MY E-MAIL ADDRESS IS- [email protected]    — APRIL H. (posted on May 2, 2002)

May 2, 2002
What is commonly used is the PCA pump with either demerol or morphine. In your case, they may use something different. Hang in there, good luck to you!
   — Aimee B.

May 2, 2002
I am a recovering heroin addict (10 years drug free this June) and was on methadone the last year of my addiction. What milligram methadone are you using? I started at 80 mg. and weened myself off on my self-treatment / 5 mg's at a time every month. I was told it couldn't be done on my own and that I would need hospitalization but I knew I wanted off all opiates all together and their option wasn't an option I was willing to go through. After using this regimen and approx. 1 year later and sitting at only 5 mgs. the hardest part for me was simply letting go. I stayed up 11 consecutive days/nights without sleep and just as I was about to go nuts, I got on my knees and prayed - hard !! I asked if it was meant for me to get my body clean to at least let me get some sleep so I could feel strong enough to do so. On that 11th night, I slept (thank, God). My weight started to come on after that point. I gained over 150 pounds over a 10-year period and my level of tolerance for pain medication is, like yours, very high. 10 mgs. of valium or something like it does absolutely nothing for me. My doctor told me, as the weight started to come on, to pick and choose my battles - he said trying to conquer both the drug addiction (to heroin / methodone) AND to try and lose weight would be not only devestating to my body but to my mind and spirit and in my heart, I knew he was telling me the truth. I conquered the drug addiction - have never looked back and can never imagine being dependant on anything like that as long as I live - I am thankful for being able to come through it and I wish you the best in conquering the dependency, if that's what you want. I don't know what to tell you in regards to the pain tolerance after WL surgery - it will certainly be needed. It took me at least six hours to be without pain after surgery and I know this isn't normal. I felt a pain like I've never felt before - I've had a hysterectomy, 10 DNC's prior to that, ovarian tumors (2 of them) and a back surgery and never, NEVER have I felt the pain that I felt after this one. This was my first surgery since being clean off of drugs though - not sure if that makes a difference or not but that's what my experience has been. I'll be glad to talk with you more, if you'd like to visit. Good luck.
   — Lisa J.

May 2, 2002
dear friend hi my name is kim and i am a recovering addict of 6 years i just had surgery 10 weeks ago i was taking methadone pills along with percosset and anything else the doctor's would give me i was in severe pain all of the time do to scar tissue pressing on my nerve cells in my back right before my surgery i was in the hospital twice in december just for pain control so you can imagine what my tolerance level was it was really high so when i had my surgery they put me on that moforphine pump which did nothing for me i suffered for about 8 hours untill this on nurse i call my angel came and asked me how was my pain i told her it was bad and she went and read my chart and said she could not believe no one else relized that i would need much more then a mororphine pump to control my pain so right away she called my surgeon and told him what was going on and they ordered me a 30 milagram saringe to hook me up to so that i could use it like the morphine pump that did seem to control the pain alot better then the moraphine pump did . i was able to push it every 5 or 10 mintutes .so don't make the same mistake i did make sure all the doctor's and nurses know as soon as you get out of surgery you need to be hooked up to so something stronger then the normal dose of morphine that they give normal people.if you want to talk to me or if you have any more questions i can answer just email me back.
   — KIM B.

May 3, 2002
Just got on and saw your post. I was on methadone (and still am at 4 months post) when I had surgery. My doc did AMAZING at controlling my pain post op. He gave me nubain in my central IV every hour in addition to the ativan. I have used methadone (plus lortab when I use just for break thru pain ) for the last 2 years. I was given my methadone in addition to the nubain while in the hospital.
   — Melody F.