Just some background before my actual inquiry: I had Chiari Malformation Brain Surgery 8 months ago and am still suffering with a lot of neck/upper back and shoulder pain. I have been on 10mg of Oxycodone and 5mg of Valium for 7 months now. It has seemed to fade as far as how much relief it gives me, my PCP is recommending switching my Valium to Soma. I am also on Ambien and have been for about 3 years to sleep at night (insomnia is a symptom I ve had for over 10 years and Ambien is the first medicine to help me sleep and not feel drowsy in the morning). And lastly, I am on 30mg of extended release Adderall twice/day to give me energy in the throughout the day. It seemed to work more before my surgery - now it just gets me moving, but I don t get the abundance of energy, but at least I can make it through 4-6 hours before feeling like I need a nap. I was not able to drive for 8 weeks after my surgery, but then gained movement back in my neck through stretching exercises pretty quickly and was evaluated and approved to drive again in November 2013. I have been driving to physical therapy, my doctors appts and short errands. My whole spinal cord hurts and I get shooting pain up through my cervical spine/neck/back of head when I am up and walking/sitting for a majority of the day. So to my situation/questions: I was driving to physical therapy and slipped on black ice in February and hit a snowbank (to avoid other cars when my car went out of control). My car then flipped over on my drivers side. The police/ambulance were called - I was able to crawl out the back of my car and had a ton of neck pain from the airbag hitting the seatbelt into my neck. They transported me to the hospital and the cop showed up and demanded a blood test. My prescription for Valium had fallen out of my purse during the accident. I wasn t concerned about it, as I take my medicine as prescribed - and even less when I can. I don t feel impaired when I take the Oxy/Valium and I typically wait an hour to an hour and a half to drive just in case (from having worked for the police and having a brother-in-law that was a heroin addict, I am very against drugs and impaired driving). The cop just now filed a suit against me for Driving Under the Influence of Prescription Drugs. It did not say that I was over the limit, just that I appeared impaired (as he was trying to get his DUI number). I even told him about my brain surgery and that I was allowed to drive and that I took as prescribed. Even after the accident, when I got even worse - which is why I have another appt with my neurosurgeon on April 18, my doctor switched me to Soma and Oxy, as I felt a tolerance to the Valium and was/am having so many muscle spasms. I asked my PCP again if I could drive on these medicines and from observing me (I see him every 3 weeks since my surgery) and he said yes, he saw no signs of impairment or addiction with me. He knows my goal was to get off all medication (including the ambient and adderall) with a successful surgery (which still remains to be seen). So I guess my question is, is there a medical way to show that I could have built up a tolerance and that I wasn t impaired when driving? That day I was in so much pain already and so mad that the medicine wasn t working for my pain at all. I did not even get a drowsy side effect from it after the first month of my surgery. And do you know how it metabolizes? How fast/long it stays in the body? I am obviously calling an attorney to fight the whole thing, as there are so many errors in his report and I remember everything. I was shaking after the accident because it scared me and I told him that - he disregarded all of it and didn t even right in his report that I indicated I had brain surgery and I was just scared I messed something up. I just won t be able to talk to an attorney till Monday and was wondering if the MGs I was given are looked at as abuse?? I guess I wanted a second doctors opinion on all the medicines they have me on as well. I absolutely cannot stand taking pain medicine and feel it is leading to a depression state, in which my doctor wanted me to start Cymbalta. He indicated that would help me with this short term depression while I go through my healing process, dealing with my car accident and whether or not I need another surgery and just feeling locked in the house the majority of the time, as well as indicating Cymbalta can help with pain (but that it will take about a month to notice a difference). I just don t want to keep adding medicine after medicine. I appreciate any insight while I wait to talk to my attorney about the medicine/accident and get the legal side, as well as my neurosurgeon appointment next friday. Thank you SO very much for taking the time to read this. (first time I ve ever used an online site like this to ask a question). Have a great evening/weekend!