My mother suffered from severe back pain due to degenerative discs, arthritis and spinal stenosis. She used a walker to barely get around and had to rely on pain medication to get through the days and nights. She went to a Pain Management Dr. here who suggested a morphine pump. She hesitated because she pictured herself a morphine junkie, but she had it implanted just beneath the surface of the skin. She never had to take pain medications after that and was not addicted. She merely went to the Dr's office every 6 weeks for a pump refill and then went on her way to do her own things. Oxycontin is a drug that patients can easily become addicted to. The pain of withdrawal can be greater than the original pain that required the Rx. Without knowing your wife I would conclude she is now addicted to the medication and giving her more meds is not going to solve her problem. I would speak very frankly with her doctors and voice my concern about this desperate need for Oxycontin. She cannot go "cold turkey" on her own. She needs help. She's already taking such high doses that increasing it could lead to an overdose and death. It sounds like the doctor that suggested she go to a rehab clinic is the only doctor that's telling you the truth. Consider going back to him. The other doctors seem to be taking the easy way out by giving her more meds. I feel for you and your wife. You're in a bad situation.

Hello all, I cant get enough of reading these blogs maybe looking for relief. Had my last period in November 2012 , started to get weakness in my legs and knee pains. I felt sharp shooting pains through my legs etc. Hot flushes for a few seconds. Sleep not too good. My body is tired just doesn't feel right . I had xrays on my knees, back some problems there but nothing to explain this great pain. Sciatic nerve problem too. Getting up out of bed standing on my legs is painful. There is an ache there all the time all day, mostly my legs from the knees down. I don't know what to do anymore.. I have read the whole blog and wrote down the names of a lot of the remedies that everyone has mentioned. But am really sick of taking supplements which I have been doing for years. I do Aqua gym 3 times a week, but with a foam belt on and in the deep so there is no pressure on my legs. I feel great in the water and the pain is less. I did a Doppler exam too thinking it might be because of Varicose veins..nothing there too to cause the pain. Just wanted to say my say..and share this with all of you and tell you all..I know exactly how you are feeling!! Its stinks... I'm 53 now was feeling 21 now feeling 70.

Talley, good luck with the canister decision. I had an adorable inherited cookie jar that I loved, but we stopped eating cookies, and I was deeply conflicted about keeping it-couldn't think of anything else to store there (still had the canisters at that point). However, the lid fell off while I was cleaning it one day, and sadly broke in many pieces. So that was that, away it went-and I was spared a little guilt along the way since it was very precious to the person who gave it to me as well. And as an aside, my Martha Stewart P-Touch died this morning. Remember? : ) Purchased in 2003? We will try to repair it (we think there is a short in the wiring since it flashes the words P-Touch then completely stops working but after a lot of re-plugging in and fiddling with the adaptor cord, it might start again, maybe but increasingly not), but if not, will replace it. We used it just yesterday and it was hard to keep the power on but we made five nice labels for our car files. Fifteen years of flawless label making, such a godsend! Any recommendations? Thanks!

Wildchild, I think you're exactly right. (And that's brave of you to say, too.) My sister is bipolar, too. She is pretty good about taking her meds and staying in treatment, but the doctors have always had a hard time treating her. She is depressed most of the time, with periods of mania. She's tried virtually every drug they use to treat bipolar, plus several rounds of electroconvulsive therapy. Susan_on, that quote from Drew Pinsky was a lightning bolt for me. That's *exactly* what I think about her. She doesn't bring the problems on herself (kidney stones, car accident where the other driver was cited, etc.), but she is pleased when something happens, because it gets her attention and narcotic drugs. It's hard to judge someone else's level of pain, but I always wonder. For example, right now, there's something wrong with her hip. The doctors thought it might have been fractured, but it wasn't, and they are thinking it's just a pulled muscle. I watch her - it's painful for her to walk, and she has to adjust herself to sit comfortably, but she'll watch television for hours without pain. It doesn't seem any worse to me than when my hip bursitis flares up - quite painful, but certainly bearable. It would never occur to me to use narcotics for my bursitis, but she immediately reaches for them. Sue, yes, she's tried to get to the root of the pain. It isn't any one thing. At one point it was her shoulder. She had surgery, it got better ... and then there were kidney stones. They passed, she got better ... and then something happened to her hip. She goes to the doctor, does physical therapy, tries alternative therapies, but something else always goes wrong. And she always asks for something for the pain. I'm not at all convinced that getting rid of the pain would take care of the problem. In fact, I'm pretty much convinced otherwise. I don't know that she's physically addicted, simply because she doesn't get enough of the medication. She certainly has a tolerance to narcotic pain meds, but so does anyone who takes them long-term, addicted or not. She misses the drugs when they're gone, but never has any sort of detoxing symptoms. (I'm intimately familiar with those, from watching my addicted clients when they get locked up without their drugs.) She won't agree to hospitalization or treatment of any kind, and she's not at a point where she could be forced. She goes to work every day, her daughter is well cared-for (by me, when she's on a drug binge), she keeps her doctor appointments. No court would find that she was a danger to herself, and I don't really want to do that, anyway. I've spent a lot of years trying to save her from herself, and finally got it through my head that it's not helpful. Linda_in_Iowa, I spoke to my doctor yesterday, and she recommended the same thing as you did. I've got the name of a pain clinic, and I suggested that she go. We'll see.