Naltrexone vs Percocet

[TNDadx4]

My doctor has weaned me off of Precocet in favor of Naltrexone. I am up to 4.5 mg. I told them that I do not feel that it works as well to which they replied that Percocet is not indicated for Fibromyalgia. I've been under their care for many years (always compliant) and up to this point, I've been on Percocet for 12+ years with moderate relief.

Has anyone had any success on Naltrexone? I feel that they are just pushing to remove people from pain management meds and at this point I'm thinking about going to another pain management center so I can get back to where I was.

It's so frustrating. I am starting to miss more time at work and that's concerning. I told the doctor and she said that they can write me a note for migraines (which they also treat me for) so I can get FMLA. I don't want to and  can't afford to miss work. I just need something that works. Does anyone else have a similar experience? and what did you do?

[ronr]

SAD how the expect everyone to adhere to what some paper put out by some fool researcher making up what works for each condition and what doesn't.

I'm afraid that contacting a new clinic would cause them to accuse you of doctor shopping.

[looneylane]

I truly think many of these doctors don't have a clue about life quality and proper pain management! Yes there are some who are abusing them but there have been several studies on pain management that show true chronic pain patients have a huge quality of life improvement with proper pain management and that dependency is not really an issue! pain is!

[foxgrove]

Welcome home, brother!

It sounds like this doctor has read that low dose naltrexone (LDN) is the next cure all for fibro. Yeah, sadly, the boots on the ground response to it has been really poor. I can't actually say I've ever met a person who has been successfully treated with LDN, online or in person.

There is a very recent study done in Copenhagen that you might want to show him called "Low-dose naltrexone for treatment of pain in patients with fibromyalgia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study" which concluded that LDN usage "did not indicate any clinically relevant analgesic efficacy of the LDN treatment in patients with FM." https://journals.lww.com/painrpts/Fulltext/2023/08000/Low_dose_naltrexone_for_treatment_of_pain_in.3.aspx

Personally hope that the joker who thought it up is infested with the fleas of 1000 camels! I think the basic reasoning was that fibro was neuropathic and that inflammation of the nervous system might be what causes our pain. Now that may or may not be the cause, the researchers are still out on it, but I still think there was some funny business with those preliminary studies with such glowing results... it always makes me do a doubletake when the study comes out so rosy but it simply doesn't take in the real world.

Ron and Looney said it well, there is no reason these doctors should be screwing with what is working. None whatsoever! I would sit down with that doctor and ask them to explain to you why, when you were clearly not addicted to them, were not asking for higher and higher doses, were satisfied with the amount of pain relief they were giving you, and were not in any medical distress from their usage, why they would switch you to a less effective medication without your permission. The National Library of Medicine has an excellent article about the basic human right to access effective pain management that your doctor obviously needs to read. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6301399/

I'm so sorry that they are doing this. Working with a medical professional should not be this difficult... I mean, yeah, they're generally smarter than the average person on the street, but that certainly doesn't make them gods. Some days, we just gotta push back and say, this is not right.

Keepin you and the family in my prayers, brother.

[TNDadx4]

Thank you for your comments and the links, everyone. It is appreciated! I am foggy, so only remember part of the conversation, but they seem to say that it was either a State (Tennessee) or a practice policy.

Appreciate everyone here and hope that you all have been well!