my pain management doctor wants to take me off all opiates for 6 weeks has anyone heard of this? i am a teacher and i cannot imagine spending half of my summerlik

Strange....What meds are you taking?
Does he plan to give something else for the 6 weeks?
Surely its gonna be a bit complicated, I mean, are you gonna have to slowly taper off them and then build back up after?
I hope your not being used a his experiment.....

One school of thought is that the longer one uses a specific pain relief medication the more of that medication is needed to produce the desired effect.

Opiates as well as some other "recreational" drugs, do seem to have that tendency, at least on the anecdotal level.

There are drs who believe that using alternating drug therapies is a better course for those who need long term pain relief. Finding the right combination of drugs is often hit and miss,,,, so pain relief is then not achieved,,, at least not as desired by the patient.

Although morphine is considered to be relatively benign to the body,,, other than the dependence and withdrawal issues,,, the "manufactured" opiates aren't,,, and long term use could be very detrimental to the patient.

Bottom line is,,,, you are going to be in for a period of pain if the dr follows this course,,,, the question is,, will it be worth the effort????
ed

I agree what he is talking about detox off opiates is never fun. Research shows the reset does not work as soon as you use them your tolerance comes back almost from day one. You go through pain and doc gets to say i tried to get her off the drugs. When the DEA does a record check.

DEA..... your joking right?
Surley if you're prescribed these then you need them.....
Tell your doctor to get lost, you not having 6 weeks off..... I would.

I would to

Problem is,,,,, if you tell himto F off, and go to another doctor, the new one will either start you off on a lower dose than you are used to,,, or if you tell him you want more, he's gonna ask why.

That brings in a discussion about why you left the last dr........... drug seeker is a common term in the medical world.......... once labeled, you are in for a lot of pain waiting to get things back to normal.

Better to try to talk your present dr out of it,,,,,,,,, and telling him off won't get you what you want any more than telling off the girl in the bar is gonna get you a BJ.
ed

I've never heard of "resetting" someones opioid receptors. Sounds to me like your Dr. thinks you don't need them and is coming up with an excuse as to why he wants to take you off of them. I hope he isn't thinking about cutting you off of your pain meds cold turkey because that can be very dangerous.

I did this on my own 5 years ago, but I gave myself 5 months to withdrawl also. If I was to go cold turkey right now I would go into Autonomic dysreflexia and die. This doctor sounds like he is more worried about himself then you.

Thinking about it. I was on a heafty amount of Methadone, bupe... etc and stopped for 3 months whilst travelling Thailand. At the end of the trip, I started back on Morphine Sulphate and it was like I'd never taken an opiate before.... euphoria off 2 x 30mg tablets etc so you probebly can reset them.....