Avoiding addiction

[MF42 0]

Please tell me, people with experience, how do I go about preventing any kind of dependency issues with my painkillers?

I've never hurt myself this badly before, that prescription-strength pills are necessary while my back mends. I've always been the good boy, steered clear of all manner of recreational pharmaceuticals, don't even drink alcohol cuz I don't like the fuzzy headed sensation that others seem to enjoy. Sugar and caffeine are the only substances I abuse. So narcotics are new to me.
The doctor prescribed oxycotin and orphenadrine. I'm thinking oxycotin is what Rush Limbaugh got himself into trouble with.
The directions for the oxycotin are to take one pill every 4 to 6 hours as needed for pain. I've been averaging about 6 to 8 hours between pills, depending on how much I'm pain I'm willing to just suck it up and deal with.
What really concerns me is that I can't get to sleep unless I take both the oxycotin and an orphenadrine just before crawling into bed. I'm worried that my body will grow dependent on the drugs to be able to fall asleep, even after the vertabra heals completely.

How do I avoid this? Anybody who's been there before, please let me know how you dealt with it.

Matt

[NWFlyer 2]

I did exactly what you did ... I didn't take them as habit, but took them when my body said "take them." At first, it was 4-6 pills every 4 hours, but I then tapered the dosage, then started taking them less frequently. As soon as I could manage with just naproxen, I did, saving the serious meds for flareups if I pushed myself too hard, too fast.

And yeah, if you're having a lot of pain, you're gonna need them to sleep. But rest is what your body is demanding right now to heal; help it.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[soulshine 0]

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Sugar and caffeine are the only substances I abuse.

Those aren't substances. Those are food groups!

Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity!
~DEVIOUS BEEF~~FGF #69~

[MF42 0]

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Sugar and caffeine are the only substances I abuse.

Those aren't substances. Those are food groups!

I agree wholeheartedly! Mountain Dew is my lifesblood.

Matt

[d_squared431 0]

If you take them as directed you will be fine. I hate pain med's cause they just knock me out but I would rather be out cold then in pain. Everyone is different and maybe you just need to talk to your doctor and get a lower dose or change the medication you are on to something else..

TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1
I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH
You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly

[Muenkel 0]

Matt,

I'm in exactly the same boat as you. I am in chronic head pain. Depending on the level of pain, I am on either Fioricet or Percocet. Both are addicting. I discussed this with my doctor and he gave me great advice. First, I need to get as much rest as possible in order to heal. This is how I deal with the possiblility of temptation to abuse. I happen to live in an apartment in my parent's home. My mom keeps both Rx's hidden. She puts out just enough for a day and there is a log sheet that I fill out each time I take them which lists the time of day and the dosage. This gives me accountability because I know she is watching it. This has worked out great because I never exceed the prescribed dose. If you have someone close to you that you can trust, I would give this method a try. PM me if you have any questions.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

Chris

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Chris

[skydemon2 0]

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Sugar and caffeine are the only substances I abuse.

Those aren't substances. Those are food groups!

I agree wholeheartedly! Mountain Dew is my lifesblood.

Shit yeah I bleed green....

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone!

I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!!

[Jaden 0]

You are obviously a very strong person to conquer the fear & jump from a plane. I've been through the drug atmosphere. Please remember who you really are...your true strength. You are not dependant on narcs...They will only depress you. Good luck...Try hard & believe in yourself.

[Deuce 1]

I went through this when I had my injury that retired me from being the PO-lease.

I was having cortizone injections in my heels (you have no idea) but then the pain would come back and I needed vicoden (they didn't have oxy back then).

I went in to see my Dr. to increase my vitamin V dosage and he said he was cutting me off. I had to stifle the urge to grab him. He said he was putting me on a drug called Tramadol/Ultram and I was pissed. I took the dosage on the drive home and halfway back I had this amazing feeling. I wasn't codeine buzzed but I was NOT IN PAIN! Tramadol is much better for pain management than vicoden, and it does not give the morphine buzz. It lifts mood some, but I think that is just because it blocks pain so well.

Tramadol/ultram really is the best way to get off opiates. Ask about it. It does interfere with sleep some, but it really does cancel out the pain only without the morphine buzz.

It was responsible for me kicking the vicoden habit.

[MF42 0]

Sounds like a good idea, but the only person I know who lives nearby is my half-senile crazy ancient neighbor lady. She's a great person, but she's not really all there. It's best not to trust her to remember anything from one day to the next.
Nope, I'm kinda on my own with this one.

Matt

[Muenkel 0]

Yeah, I wouldn't trust the crazy ancient senile neighbor lady.

Do you have a trusted friend who is close by?

Chris

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Chris

[MF42 0]

That sounds great! Something to ask the doctor about anyway. Thanks!

Matt

[MF42 0]

Unfortunately, no. I just moved here a few months ago, and I'm truthfully not the most social person in the world.

Matt

[Muenkel 0]

If Tramadol is the drug I am thinking of, it really is good and non-narcotic. Each time I've gone to the ER for pain management, they start with the morphine. I hate morphine, it gives me that buzz throughout my body, makes my nose real itchy...but unfortunately it does kill the pain most of the time. The times when it didn't, I was given a drug that I know starts with the letter 'T' and is non-narcotic. I'm wondering if it is Tramadol.

Deuce, you just may have given me some really good advice also. Thanks.

Chris

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Chris

[Muenkel 0]

Matt,

In that case, you can take control of the situation. In a way it is a catch 22. You need to rest in order to heal, but pain causes you to tense; therefore your rest suffers.

My advice: Keep an open dialog with your doctor and your concerns. He/She doesn't want you to become an addict either. If you find yourself ever taking the med when you really don't need it or if you are just simply fearing the pain coming on, contact your doctor right away. They are not going to throw you in some rehab. Staying honest will go a long way in preventing addiction. I truly understand what you're going through. Hopefully the medication Deuce mentioned will be a solution.

Chris

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Chris

[lawrocket 3]

After a surgery of mine, I was prescribed Vicodin. I took the first dose, and I realized that I was still in pain. I just didn't care. The stuff was damned good.

Less than an hour after taking that first dose, I flushed it all. It was too damned good and scared the hell outta me. The pain became more manageable for me then. I haven't touched it since.

Talk to your doctor. Tell your doctor that you are worried and need strategies.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[twibbles 0]

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Sugar and caffeine are the only substances I abuse.

Those aren't substances. Those are food groups!

Food group? I see sugery tea more as a blood subsitute...

Eugene

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of
people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

[katzurki 0]

Damn, I was in a bad pain after my encounter with the hardness of concrete walls, and in all those days of pain they gave me a whole total of one little shot that did little to relieve it. Sounds like America is THE country to get broken in.

[skybytch 259]

I have one of those "addictive personalities." Spent almost a full year on Vicadin and Soma pretty much every 4-6 hours when I blew out two discs in my back and had to have the vertebrae fused - for awhile it was every 4 hours even at night.

I worried about addiction as well, but I found them to be a lot easier to get off of than I was expecting. When it was time, I started stretching how long I went between pills - ie the first couple days I went 7 hours, then 8 hours, then 9, etc. Only took a week or so before I was down to one at bedtime; after another week or so of that I was off them completely. I had no withdrawal side effects.

Like Krisanne said, take them while you need them. Your body needs rest and your brain needs some relief from constant pain.

What did you do to your back??

[MF42 0]

Thank you everybody for the responses. Looks like my initial strategy of simply stretching out the interval between doses has worked for others. I will be discussing this with the doctor.

In answer to Lisa: I seriously screwed up a landing on AFF4. This was my first time landing in zero winds, and for whatever reason got some kind of "target fixation", just kept staring at one spot on the ground until I hit it, flared way too low, didn't even complete the flare, forgot to PLF, so my butt hammered into the ground and I got a compression fracture of the T12 vertabra. I'm still pretty angry at myself for combining so many dumb mistakes into one landing. And the worst part is it'll be at least a few months until I can go try it again and fix the mistakes.
And the freefall portion of the jump was going great! I was doing my 360 degree turns, and they were easy, I wasn't struggling at all, just think about going left, there's a turn, think about stopping, I'm stopped.
Oh well.

Matt

[tbrown 26]

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If you take them as directed you will be fine. I hate pain med's cause they just knock me out but I would rather be out cold then in pain. Everyone is different and maybe you just need to talk to your doctor and get a lower dose or change the medication you are on to something else..

Talk to your doctor about it. If there is a physical dependence issue, that 's fairly easy for your doctor to deal with. The tough part is the mental dependence and that has more to do with personality types. Most people don't like the side effects of narcotic pain killers (nausea, constipation, being "out of it", etc.) and will reduce or stop using them once their pain becomes manageable. But for others, narcotic euphoria is like mannah from heaven and they keep going back no matter how many times they're cleaned up because they need the comfort. Fortunately only a small portion of the population is inclined to that kind of addiction.

So get with your doctor. If you develop chronic pain issues, and some people do, you need to talk some more. You may legitimately need relief from a drug that causes a physical dependency. Don't let anybody fight a moralistic holy war over your body or the pain your in.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[NWFlyer 2]

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constipation

Oh yeah.... good reminder. Make sure you take something (I found docusate sodium, available OTC, to be just enough) to counteract that side effect. Otherwise you'll be adding a whole diffferent level of pain and discomfort to the equation.

[MF42 0]

Yeah, I've already figured that one out.
I didn't crap for five days until I found the right combination of diet and laxatives.

Just in case anybody wanted to know!

Matt

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Tramadol is much better for pain management than vicoden, and it does not give the morphine buzz.

Depends on the person.

They fed me vicodin when I tweaked my back I don't particularly care for being fuzzy on opiates so I asked for something which worked better than acetaminophen and ibuprofen but didn't do that.

They gave me some ultracet samples (tramadol + acetaminophen) and a prescription. It didn't make me fuzzy like the hydrocodone. It also didn't work any better than the acetaminophen + ibuprofen combination so I didn't bother filling the prescription.

[smiles 0]

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Please tell me, people with experience, how do I go about preventing any kind of dependency issues with my painkillers?

I'm from Canada eh?
Never taken oxycotin or orphenadrine....

Body injury sucks major- throws you into shock you sometimes have never experienced- even having a great attitude of "shit-happens" doesn't help. You are not alone...good to talk about your pain and be able to understand that "TIME" is what is needed to heal- along with "PAIN RELIEF."

My doctor has prescribed hydromorphone-
a potent opioid analgesic drug in extended release capsule formulation. Taking one capsule 1X a day- at the same time -works for 24 hr. pain relief 100%

When pain is relieved you are able to rest- and some injuries require you to rest- in order to heal.

In the hospital after surgery I have been given morphine intravenously and very aware how easy it is to spend day after day requesting it, regardless if there was ever a pain anywhere in my body....I be "a-feared" of pain....(most human)

Taking hydromorphone time release capsules 1X a day it was never like intravenous morphine as medication is released slowly over the 24 hr. period- not every 3-4 hrs. and wearing off faster and faster.

After the first week, I was also concerned about becoming addicted and my doctor explained that tolerance leading to mental and physical dependence can occur with the use of when it is taken repeatedly. Physical dependence (need for continual doses to prevent withdrawal symptoms) can occur after only a few days of narcotic use, although it usually takes several weeks.

So-

#1 only take as prescribed
Do not suddenly stop medication as it has to be weaned off of slowly..
#2 drink more water (actually I also ate 6 dried prunes every time I took my meds.) Constipation sucks!
#3 DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL as potentially fatal interaction between slow-release opioid painkillers and alcohol---dangerous levels of hydromorphone are released quickly into the blood stream, instead of over a 24-hour period. This effect is known as dose dumping-suppressing the cough reflex- breathing level, blood pressure.....(no thanx)
#4 Visit your doctor regularly.

I was prescribed hydromorphone over a three month period.....weaned off of exactly as prescribed, and did not have any withdrawal symptoms, craving for continue to use...(physical dependency) Mental dependency was there...anxiety....fear of having pain- but once I realized I could actually tolerate it---all was good.

Once my body had healed I was very naturally extremely interested in getting back to the life I had without use of drugs..........I was able to move/ exercise/ and best of all...skydive...


SMiles

eustress. : a positive form of stress having a beneficial effect on health, motivation, performance, and emotional well-being.