[4everontheRight]

I have a degenerating disk in my back and take Loratab for it. If I could find a way to ease the agony of it without pills I would in a skinny minute! My husband tells me to just “tough it out” but until you have experienced pain related to your back, you have no idea how bad it can be. I tell him to imagine a knife in your back and then imagine someone standing on that knife! Trouble with pain meds is that in order for them to really do you any good, you are supposed to take them prior to the pain starting...well, hello! How am I supposed to know when it will? In other words, you stay on them all the time!! My doses of Loratab have had to get larger due to my becoming used to them and them not being as effective. My doc said my next step is Oxycodone and that step scares me to death....what is after that???

[TomServo]

Loratab never did much for me. I graduated right to Oxy.

Oxy is great stuff. Your back may still hurt, but you won't care. ;-)

Initially, my pain was so bad, I couldn't walk. At all.

Staph infection wrapped around the base of my spine.

[Don Carlos]

until you have experienced pain related to your back, you have no idea how bad it can be

Exactly!

I suffer from spinal stenosis, and take hydrocodone 2 or 3 times a day. At best they make the pain bearable. Until you find yourself crying out in agony with sciatic pain that goes through the buttocks and all the way down the back of both legs to your toes, you have no idea what the typical "pill popper" experiences!

[shbox]

Don’t be afraid of the Oxycodone. When taken regularly with the DR orders, it can be very safe and effective. And, it sounds like your way of thinkung (you are aware of the risks) will keep you from abusing it.