Opiates, darvocet, percocet, codine, etc should be cycled on a regular basis every few months. This prevents one from building up a tolerance to the drug (each is a slightly different formula) which prevents one from having to take more drug to ease the pain, which in turn helps to prevent dependency - or addiction. I personally do not get pain 'relief' as in the pain goes away. Instead there is a bit of distance between pain and me. The pain is there - just away from me to where it does not interfere in my life. The opiates are no good for pain management alone - they should be prescribed with other drugs, muscle relaxants, nerve blocking medications, sometimes sleep aids. Lack of sleep leads to more pain, more pain leads to less sleep, less sleep leads to more pain, more pain leads to even less sleep leading to even more pain... you get the idea. Treating the patient to insure sleep will benefit in less pain in the end. Pain management is more than just pills - there are other 'tricks' they will use - from PT to tens units. There may still be 'pinched nerves' along her back - those may affect legs, arms, extremities. Dealing with that pain may require exercises to keep the nerve moving. Muscle trauma may be involved. Scar tissue in the muscle may need to be 'worked out'. Building the muscle supporting the skeleton in the affected areas usually will reduce the stress on the break areas reducing the pain. It is also possible that injections on the back will help. These are basically going to numb the nerve slightly to relieve the tension and therefor the pain. They can last up to 6 months. Most often the first series includes a cortisone injection to reduce inflammation. Tens units are also available, these send electricity through the muscles and nerves - countering the pain and of course Physical Therapy. You should seek out a chronic conditions specialist ASAP. Unfortunately if you are going through and HMO it could take up to a year to get that on track. Perhaps with such an obvious issue (a broken back) the process will be shorter. Depending on the exact nature of the injury and if nerves or muscle tissue is involved, using an anti-inflammatory may be needed, and perhaps a muscle relaxant. EXAMPLE I am currently taking darvocet every 3 hours as needed for pain - at night I take nortriptyline. I take these for a herniated disk in my neck and a bum knee. Nortriptyline was used as an antidepressant(before the newer anti-depressants came out), however it is also used in chronic pain management: http://www.hopkins-arthritis.org/patient-corner/disease-management/depression.html#anti and http://www.aafp.org/afp/20050201/483.html Those two links go in depth as to what it does and how it affects the patient. Chronic pain is attack from several angles at once - treating the cause and the symptoms and insuring the over all health of the patient - i.e. proper food, proper exercise, enough sleep, hydration, etc - all will be called into play to reduce the pain and make it manageable.