Pez, do not be down about this. Folks with chronic pain, and you may be in this category, need pain medication to function half way normally. Unfortunately even people with chronic pain can become mentally addicted to pain medication and abuse the meds. I was one and a very close friend fell into the same trap. The good news is with discipline and self control you can manage the intake of pain medication without ending up abusing them again. My friend realized that he would be cut off the pain meds if he didn't get it under control. The doctors basically told him if he can't manage his intake of the pain meds they would stop prescribing. He could not live without them and the fear of losing relief helped him get his med intake under control. He now uses his pain meds as prescribed and has had no relapse to abuse in the last 2 yrs.

Like myself, you will have to determine if you really need pain meds to live and manage the pain you experience. The pain you experienced may be a combination of withdrawal and the body’s heightened sensitivity to pain as a result of the overuse of pain meds. I found that when I got through the withdrawal and gave myself 6-8 weeks that my pain level was able to be managed with over the counter pain meds (Aleve), stretching, Yoga and walking. Also use of Vioxx or can't remember the name of its counterpart, can help also as they are non opiate based.

So somehow or someway you need to access your pain level and determine if you need pain meds to live or you can live with an alternate opiate free pain management strategy. I would work closely with a Dr to drive to this ending strategy. And its OK to use pain medication, it really is, as long as you don’t abuse the intake.

Hope this helps, VL hit it before me so I'm just regurgitating.

phil