Question
hi sharon, my name is mark and im 31 years old, i had two full hip replacements last year, i had bad pain since i was 21 years old and started taking pain killers only a year before my operation i was taking lots of mst and codiene as the pain had got so bad, well at 31 it was bad enough for the doc to replace both hips within six months of each other, the thing is now i have had the ops i am getting lots and lots of pain in my feet, they hurt reel bad when i wake up and im on my feet all day at work, after i recoverd from the hip ops i did a complete cold turkey from the pain meds as i couldnt handle being addicted, now the problem is because of the pain in my feet i have started taking paramol which contains a small ammount of dihydracodeiene im thankful for the releif they give me but of course after taking these for over a month now im sure i have another small addiction, i stick to the prescribed ammount but my girlfriend is worried that im not doing anything to sort out my problem and just taking the easy option, it is causing me alot of stress knowing she is unhappy wiv me using the drugs  

Answer
Hi Mark

I am also at a job where I am standing a lot.  I come home many nights with bad cramps and I know what it is like to feel as if you are addicted to pain meds.

The first thing you need to do is have your doctor measure the length of your legs.  If your legs are not even, and one is shorter than the other, that can cause bad radiating pain.  If that is the case, a shoe lift can be used to even out your legs.  They can either give you something to put in your shoe or build your shoe up.

The second thing you can do is ask to be given a referral to a pain clinic.  They may not take you off drugs immediately, but they will be able to suggest ways for you to cope with the pain.  It's not easy to come off pain meds, but it's not impossible.  

The other thing is that if you truly need your pain meds, you might want to mention to your girlfriend that people who take prescribed narcotic meds for pain, are the people who really are NOT addicted.  It's those who abuse meds that cause the people who need meds a problem.

Talk to your doctor and see what he feels is the best course of action for you.

Sharon Davis