I am taking far too much hydrocodone.

[naggie1972]

I think. I am going to go to my FP to have a frank discussion on what may be a long term pain condition and I do want my liver to cop out on me. Who knows anything about pain relief that can give me some starters to google. I am looking for personal opinions about what has worked for you all. I took 4 325 aspirin Friday all at once and I felt no pain relief at all. 1000mg of ibuprofen doesn't work either.

[KindeBabe's Kupid Kiss]

What condition do you have that's causing you pain and how much hydrocodone are you taking each day?

[Jaguar]

Meditation and Brainwave Entrainment.

BUT talk to your doctors and pharmacists first, EVERYTHING needs to be ruled out. If you have been taking these meds for to long, your system might be immune to the drugs. I sat down in the Fall and had a frank discussion with my Respirologist on the med that I've been taking for years for my asthma. Now I'm on a new one and wow the difference is amazing. Good luck.

[Sum Dum Gai]

My grandmother with fibromyalgia has been on all kinds of painkillers over the years, some of which worked better than others, but a year or two ago she stopped taking everything. She says living with the pain is better than being loopy all the time from the pain killers.

I know two other people who swear by medical marijuana. They said it was the best pain relief they could find when balanced against the side effects.

[Jaguar]

Dec 27, 2011 5:13:43 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

Why not have a word with your doctor or a pharmacist. The hydrocone will seize your bowels up long before your liver goes, while too much aspirin or ibuprophen can seriously hurt your hearing. If you have long-term, serious pain (I don't mean mild arthritis) you will need prescription drugs, possibly including anti-depressants. How you will be treated depends on what you are being treated for and what other conditions you are subject to.

For some conditions, switching off the painkillers entirely may work best since under some circumstances the painkillers themselves are part of the problem. An example is a rebound headache from a migraine.

Sometimes physical therapy, massage, hot and cold packs and many other "old-timey" cures will do more for you. Talk to that Dr. and Pharmacist TODAY.

[naggie1972]

That is one of the problems is that when I don't take it I do get super, super ouchie and I know that it can be/is rebound, but psychologically I can't get past/through that. I might look into MM. I quite like my pharmacist, there is sometimes new techs or even a new RP but my guy seems to talk to them. Like OMG this chick has ANOTHER RX. I was getting it for stomach/gyn issues at the beginning of the year, I have had two back surgeries this year and abdominal surgery that went horrifically haywire for me. I never overlapped RX meaning when I got the RX from the GYN I did not get or ask for the refill from the neuro. As of right now I am thinking I may have to go to rehab to get off this stuff. I don't mean horrifically haywire medically really just emotionally for me. Dark I cannot believe your grandma quit and seems to be doing well, karma for her. oh and it was pretty hilarious, the PT guy came in with the TENS machine right before my last back surgery and he showed us how to put it on and I got it up to a two and yelped like "wth" but will give it another try just need DH to help me with it.

[naggie1972]

What condition do you have that's causing you pain and how much hydrocodone are you taking each day?

Sorry didn't totally address this. Right now I am three weeks out from back surgery so really still surgery related. I take 1 or 2 10mg at a time depending on the pain level. I do not go above 8 a day, that is a lot of drug though. Then I have to think about possible tolerance and be a drug addict and out on the street one day.

[mmhmm]

Drug addiction isn't really an issue when battling real pain, naggie. It becomes a problem when the reason for the pain has started to dissipate and the need for pain-killer continues. Right now, your worry is the pain more than addiction. You've got a PM.

[Deleted]

Drug addiction isn't really an issue when battling real pain, naggie. It becomes a problem when the reason for the pain has started to dissipate and the need for pain-killer continues

You're only 3 weeks post-op!!! That is precisely what pain meds are for. I hope you start feeling better soon.

[mmhmm]

Another thing to remember, for anyone taking pain medications, is to keep to a schedule. If the pain medication is ordered to be taken every six hours, take it every six hours, and take the amount prescribed. It's a lot easier to deal with the pain this way than it is to play "catch-up" once the pain is severely out of control. If your pain medication isn't working for you when you follow the prescribed regimen, talk to your doctor about it. There are other pain medications to be tried that might work better for you.

[Jaguar]

Dec 28, 2011 10:01:29 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

Drug addiction isn't really an issue when battling real pain, naggie. It becomes a problem when the reason for the pain has started to dissipate and the need for pain-killer continues

You're only 3 weeks post-op!!! That is precisely what pain meds are for. I hope you start feeling better soon.

now isn't the time to worry, it's the time to heal.

[KindeBabe's Kupid Kiss]

I have heard of Hydrocodone referred to as 'Poor Man's Heroin'.

Your Pain Clinic may have other alternative treatments for managing your pain such a TENS unit or meds that raise your pain threshold.

[gavinsnana]

I cannot take hydrocodone.. I don't have chronic pain, but I do use Aleive or Advil. If pain is bad, I take 2-3

[naggie1972]

I just worry about 1. Maybe having to be in PM and 2. The apap in it. Well those are my primary worries, I have other worries of course. I will do some googling and researching and make an appt. for early Jan with the FP.

[Shirina]

I once borrowed oxycodone from a friend who had had surgery (no, I didn't steal it, she gave it to me - left overs). I was in serious serious pain from neuropathy.

I got nice 'n high, then could barely stay awake. Oxycodone is supposed to be powerful stuff, and the dosage in each pill was rather high.

Guess what. It didn't work. LOL! Oh, it alleviated the horrible burning, but I still felt like someone was sticking live electrical wires against my feet.

I take Lyrica now (400mg per day) but it's only partially effective.

At least with back surgery, you can expect the pain to dissipate over time ... doesn't it? (I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on television).

[thatchica]

Dec 28, 2011 9:35:17 GMT -5 @naggie1972 said:

What condition do you have that's causing you pain and how much hydrocodone are you taking each day?

Sorry didn't totally address this. Right now I am three weeks out from back surgery so really still surgery related. I take 1 or 2 10mg at a time depending on the pain level. I do not go above 8 a day, that is a lot of drug though. Then I have to think about possible tolerance and be a drug addict and out on the street one day.

I broke my back in 2003. During that time I was prescribed all sorts of pain meds including the 10mg hydros. I was on the fentinal patch as well. I hated the way those made me feel. I went through wild withdraw from them 3 different times. The last time I decided I could handle the pain and be med free. I lost weight and did all the exercises for back problems.

Personally I don't believe in these medications. They mess up your body more than they help. Your body builds up a tolerance to them and stops handling pain naturally and wala you have withdraw when you try and stop.

I haven't had a prescription for hydrocodone or any other pain med in over 5 years. I have a very good chiropractor and massage therapist and when I do get a pinch going on I take muscle relaxers and anti-inflamitories.

I hope you recover quickly from surgery, but try and get off those pills as soon as you can!

[thatchica]

Dec 30, 2011 9:17:00 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

Hydrocodone is no more addictive than anything else if used as prescribed in the correct amounts and on schedule. I have been on morphine pain pumps and weaned quite successfully off. First, there are "addictive personalities" who have certain personality issues that lead to problems. Secondly, there is misuse.

Even with proper use, your body can become addicted. Every time I went to the doctors over my back they would lecture me for not taking enough hydrocodone. I couldn't handle how the dosages made me feel. When I stopped taking my medication all together and went to the doctor for anti-withdraw medication he told me if I came in the following day, that he would inject me with demerol and that with my back the way it was, I should be taking 5-8 10mg hydros per day.

I get that I didn't wean myself off the right way, but knowing what the pills were doing to my body and how I felt, I just couldn't put another one in my mouth. Either way, it is highly addictive and you don't need to have an addictive personality to have a body dependency.

[naggie1972]

Well I have been cut off so no longer have to worry about it. The pain is quite minimal, will try aspirin and the only motrin I have is a huge 800.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Personally I don't believe in these medications. They mess up your body more than they help. Your body builds up a tolerance to them and stops handling pain naturally and wala you have withdraw when you try and stop.

Then apparently you've not been in a lot of surgical pain.

December 24th, I had an infected hip prosthesis removed from my left hip. In order for them to remove the stem part, they had to fracture my femur in many pieces. Up until recently, I was taking 140 mg of oxycodone (60 mg oxycontin, 80 mg oxycodone) each day.

As my pain has resolved, I'm taking less of the oxycodone. At the appointment with my orthopedic surgeon yesterday, he prescribed 10 mg tablets of oxycontin so I can step down from the 30 mg (x2) tablets I am currently taking.

Weaning off narcotics is not difficult, I've done it multiple times the same way - with zero side effects. Once I could sleep without waking up in pain, rather than taking the drugs on schedule, I took them as needed.

Making blanket statements such as this does a LOT of harm to patients. Surgical pain hinders healing and doctors know this. Unfortunately, many people feel like if you need them, you're weak - including those who have just undergone hip replacement surgery. Because of this attitude, they wind up in pain and do not move - and moving is important. The pain meds alleviate the pain enough so that the patient CAN move more comfortably - which avoids more fatal implications of hip surgery like deep vein thrombosis.

it is highly addictive and you don't need to have an addictive personality to have a body dependency.

No, you do not become addicted if you use pain meds as prescribed. However, you need to understand the diffence between addiction and dependency. You *may* become dependent....or maybe not. Dependency is your physical need for the meds - which is why it is strongly suggested that you wean yourself off meds and not go cold turkey. Addiction implies a psychological need for the meds - which usually happens when one takes the meds for something other than pain.

I have never had any withdrawal symptoms when I've stopped dosing, even cold turkey. As of today, I've had a whopping 20 mg of drug since 10 pm last night and it's currently 1 pm, 15 hours later. This is after having taken around 100 mg of oxycodone the previous 24 hours. I could probably stop altogether, but I still am in pain and I need to continue to move so I will titrate the pain meds to my need for them. THIS is proper use of meds, and I will (and have never) done otherwise, despite the 5 orthopedic surgeries I've gone through since 2007.

There are entirely too many miscomprehensions about the need and use of narcotics and it annoys the hell out of me when they get misrepresented. Not only that, it makes those of us who need them on occasion feel like we should be doing something different when in reality, narcotics are the best solution for the problem we're encountering.

JMHO

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

when I do get a pinch going on I take muscle relaxers

You do know that muscle relaxants can also cause addiction and dependency, right?

[Artemis Windsong]

An interesting thread. Thanks for sharing.

[Deleted]

If you are having back issues, it is possible your could get epidural steroid or pain injections. But if you are shortly postop, they probably aren't going to do that until you recover. There really are only a few classes of pain relievers, tyenol, NSAIDs like ibuprofen, toradol, aleve, muscle relaxants, and opioids. There are other opioids you could use like a fentanyl patch or something like that instead of oral. Also, there are things like heat/cold applications, massage , acupuncture and those kinds of things as well.

[naggie1972]

Hi y'all, I am being sent to pain management, hopefully they will have some PT I can do, maybe massage and epidural shots.

[reasonfreedom]

Dec 30, 2011 9:17:00 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

Hydrocodone is no more addictive than anything else if used as prescribed in the correct amounts and on schedule. I have been on morphine pain pumps and weaned quite successfully off. First, there are "addictive personalities" who have certain personality issues that lead to problems. Secondly, there is misuse.

I agree with this, I think Tylenol is the only non-addictive pain killer, but it probably is to mild for you. I think they have research on pain killers that aren't opiate related, but I am not sure if they have any new drugs with it.