Chronic narcotic use is a very challenging issue. The data seems to indicate that chronic narcotic users show no better quality of life and no less pain than those managed with non-narcotics. Additionally, chronic narcotic use usually leads to escalating doses with little improvement of symptoms, which can eventually be dangerous from an overdose point of view.

Finally, chronic narcotic use causes the number of opioid receptors in our brains to decrease, so we become more sensitive to pain. The same injury might cause a narcotic naive person to experience a dull ache, but a chronic narcotic user would experience severe pain.

For these reasons, I try to limit prescriptions of narcotics to an acute issue (broken bone, surgery, etc.) or to patients with malignant cancer pain. It's not that I don't understand the pain; it's more that I think narcotics are more harmful in the long term than they are beneficial.

You should attempt to find a pain specialist, who may be able to suggest other alternatives to using narcotics for the rest of your life. Best of luck.