First, my name is Chris, Live in Las Vegas, and am 28 years old. I am glad I found this forum
7 months ago, I was injured on the job - resulting in 2 post anular tears, herniated disc, causing radiculopathy at L5-S1. Workers comp is finally going to approve my Charite` disc replacement surgery after 2 MRI's, a discogram, a EMG. I have tried everything from traction, to Cortazone epidhurals. I am married, and have a 4 month year old princess (which makes all of this even harder). I have been taking Oxy Contin (daily), Oxy IR (b/t pain), Soma (spasms), Endo Lidoderm patches, and Neurontin (Nerve Radiculopathy) for 7 months. My life seems so terrible taking the Opiates, because it is a part of my life, just like someone would eat, or drink. I have experienced withdrawls a few times when I ran out of my meds, and I must say, it was very unpleasant. I have built up a pretty big tollerance for oxycodone, and sometimes I tend to take more than I should.
Dont get me wrong, Oxy has made my life bearable. I am more motivated to get out of bed, and goto therapy, etc. It really does help with the pain.. In the beginning, I did feel the fuzzy euphoria that everyone talks about, and I was in heaven, mostly because I was not in pain (as much). It helped me forget how bad my spine was, and I was laughing, spending more time with my daughter, etc. Lately, I have been seeking the feeling again, but as I said before, my tollerance has changed. My doc has given me Oxy IR for breakthrough pain as it kicks in faster until my OC kicks in.
The reason I am posting here, is because I know I am a full fledged Oxycodone addict. I know it is for the pain, but what happens after surgery (if it is successful). How am I going to kick this nasty habbit. I am a weak person at times. If I have 2 choices: a) OC and b)widthdrawls for a week, I will probably choose the easy way out.
Anyway, I just was sondering if anyone could relate, and have some advise for me, in my months to come.
Chris,
I am one of the few opiate addicts(21 days clean today), I have seen without a legitimate ongoing pain issure. I discoverd Vicodin after a minor surgery seven years ago. My surgen gave me way more refills than I needed. Ater my pain was long gone I still had two refills left, which I refilled and started down the road to my nasty habit.
I guess I can say one thing for you is that your habit is realitivly young. You have seen that you have a problem already and are addressing it. Just remember opiate addiction, like alcoholism is a progressive alilment(I don't believe addiction is a disease. Tuberculosis is a disease. Addiction is a mental weakness.) It will only get worse if you don't stop now. I really would suggest the COLD TURKEY approach. You must feel the pain to get better. I think that for the legitamate pain issue, you should look into a pain clinic where they do injections into the affected area if the surgery doesn't work. Hang in there Chris, the board is a life saver. Keep us updated on your progress.
Heya Xray, thanks for the welcome and advice. I'm hoping I can go cold turkey after I'm healed up (after surgery). Right now I am taking 80Mg of Oxycontin a day and 40-80Mg of the Oxy IR (instant release). It's like a ritual... Wake up, take pills, rinse and repeat. I know that 7 months is fairly short, but 160ish Mg of oxycodone a day has changed me. I'm just not the same anymore.. Sometimes I lose my temper and act like a jerk to my wife over stupid reasons.
I love Oxycontin because I can semi-function with less back pain. I hate it though, just because I am so dependant on it. Most of the time I end up taking more than I should, even when I have my pain controlled.
I'll keep you all updated with my surgery and progress.
First, my name is Chris, Live in Las Vegas, and am 28 years old. I am glad I found this forum
7 months ago, I was injured on the job - resulting in 2 post anular tears, herniated disc, causing radiculopathy at L5-S1. Workers comp is finally going to approve my Charite` disc replacement surgery after 2 MRI's, a discogram, a EMG. I have tried everything from traction, to Cortazone epidhurals. I am married, and have a 4 month year old princess (which makes all of this even harder). I have been taking Oxy Contin (daily), Oxy IR (b/t pain), Soma (spasms), Endo Lidoderm patches, and Neurontin (Nerve Radiculopathy) for 7 months. My life seems so terrible taking the Opiates, because it is a part of my life, just like someone would eat, or drink. I have experienced withdrawls a few times when I ran out of my meds, and I must say, it was very unpleasant. I have built up a pretty big tollerance for oxycodone, and sometimes I tend to take more than I should.
Dont get me wrong, Oxy has made my life bearable. I am more motivated to get out of bed, and goto therapy, etc. It really does help with the pain.. In the beginning, I did feel the fuzzy euphoria that everyone talks about, and I was in heaven, mostly because I was not in pain (as much). It helped me forget how bad my spine was, and I was laughing, spending more time with my daughter, etc. Lately, I have been seeking the feeling again, but as I said before, my tollerance has changed. My doc has given me Oxy IR for breakthrough pain as it kicks in faster until my OC kicks in.
The reason I am posting here, is because I know I am a full fledged Oxycodone addict. I know it is for the pain, but what happens after surgery (if it is successful). How am I going to kick this nasty habbit. I am a weak person at times. If I have 2 choices: a) OC and b)widthdrawls for a week, I will probably choose the easy way out.
Anyway, I just was sondering if anyone could relate, and have some advise for me, in my months to come.
Respectfully,
Chris
I am surprised that your Dr. is giving you so many pain pills.
You can talk to him and tell him that your tolerance to the pills
has changed.
You know, one of these days your Dr. is going to stop giving you
these pills.
Then you are going to be in a big mess.
Be honest with your Dr.
You should talk to you doctor and let him know before surgery that you have become addicted. Hopefully he,or she, can help you through this and suggest the best way. From experience with my son and the knowledge of what people on this board have gone through, it sounds like your best bet would be a detox and a rehab to get you through this. There is no reason to do it on your own
My ex-boyfriend has degenerative disc disease and had surgery which didn't work. I can tell you from being the person at home with my boyfriend, while he detoxed himself (cold turkey) it scared the he.. out of me. I thought he may have a seizure or may die at one point. But he refused to go to the hospital. When I say he went cold turkey I only mean he didn't take Oxycontin. He did however have Ativan. The only help this was that it helped him sleep through some of it. He was either sleeping or in misery when awake. It took him 5 days to even feel like getting out of bed. He had been taking Oxycontin 180mg a day, Methadone ?mg twice a day also (but he didn't have any during detox time because he abused it too), Ativan 1-2mg every 6 hours. It would be safer, easier, better to include your doctor in on the plan if you are serious about recovery. It complicates things for you due to your injury, having to have more surgery and real pain. Your doctor and you can develop a plan because you will have to have pain meds after surgery. So you may have to rehab/detox after a reasonable recovery time after surgery. Your doctor will have to make the call of when he thinks you're physically ready to detox. You won't be able to make that decision because like you said you are an addict. My ex-boyfriend wouldn't include his doctor in on the plan because he wanted to continue to get his meds to sell to support his newest addiction - Crack. We'll be here you, hopefully we can give you the emotional support that we receive here. This is the best message board forum I seen. I spend hours and hours every day online for my addiction/recovery. I can"t get out to NA meetings right now due to circumstances beyond my control. There is a ton of information/support on the internet. Have a Great Day and be strong.
Hi!!! I'm also new here. I can't believe I'm posting on an addiction website...but I need some INPUT. I had mt tonsils out this winter and went thru withdrawal after STOPPING my Fentynal"lollipops" after 2 weeks of taking them ...I just stopped and became very ill. It's now 8 months later and I'm recovering from colon resection(BIG OPERATION) I'm 6 weeks post-op and still on Darvocet (2-3/day)...if I stop totally I get "uncomfortable". It's nothing like stopping the Fentynal...that was really HELL. This is just body aches, nervous, sleepy, just "weird". Not my regular self. COULD THIS BE WITHDRWAL ,AGAIN??????? I can't say anything to my spouse ...he thinks I'm nuts (after the Fentynal). Any input would be GREAT, I'm scared. Pawla
I suppose it could be that you need to wean off slower maybe. Or just tolerate these feelings for about 5 days. Can you talk to your doctor about it? Do you feel that you have a drug problem or are an addict? Did you ever go to NA with the Fentanyl? Do you have a sponsor? If you don't know if you are an addict, going to NA meetings will help you answer that question. As I sat in NA for the first few times, I could have sworn the stories I heard from other addicts were really about me. They helped me to answer so many questions over the last few weeks. Hope you feel better and stronger soon. Have a great day.
It sounds like withdrawl to me. I become addicted quick, real quick. I had open chest surgery and they gave me an epidural to administer the morophine so I wouldn't get "high" off of it (I'm a recovering addict/alcoholic). When they discontinued the morophine I was sick for several days.
I know it's scarey but it really is okay. Being uncomfortable is ehhhhhh, uncomfortable but it will pass quickly enough.
I would take some of the suggestion on this board regarding detox and withdraw.
I feel like you will be okay if you don't get too far in your head about this. Shaming yourself makes it so much worse.
Hi!! It's Pawla, I went to my PCP this AM and explained my issues. She was so Great and told me this problem of narcotics being used for real pain relief can really cause TROUBLE if not seriously monitored. She told me to stop the Darvocet...and take xanax(during the day) and ambien at night to sleep. My irritability and cold/hot flashes have seemed to lessen...THANK GOD. These meds really do need to come with a BIG WARNING LABEL. Be well all, Pawla
Xanax and Ambien can cause just as many problems, did she tell that? Be careful with those benxos, even taken as directed will cause withdrawals when stopped abruptly. You don't want to get involved with those withdrawals, worse than narcotics. By the way, xanax is a narcotic.
Hi Zandy, Just checked my PDR (I'm a medical person) and Xanax isn't a narcotic but an antianxiery agent with tranquilizer and hypnotic properties. I do appreciate your warning about becoming addicted to the stuff...I'm being super careful. I am feeling better ...thank goodness.
I don't know, but I just hate seeing people throwing back the tranquilizers and sleeping pills who are dealing with addiction issues. Not good. I have a great friend who is forever addicted to Ativan. He will never be able to quit. I guess each of us has to do what we have to do. I am not trying to judge, but I just don't like to see people saying their drug problems are managed with other addictive drugs.
hello.
its been a while since iv posted here. but since then i too have become a miserable slave to oxycodone. in the past i could never see my self takin 140mg aday. and the sad thing, i didnt even know what i got myself into, until one day i cold turkey'd. not knowing that inside i was addicted. a couple weeks ago i ran out of pills, i only had 50mg left. i did 40mg in morning and 10mg in evening. the next morning i awoke with severe flu like symptoms that included; chills, cold sweat, aches all over body, restlessness, tiresome. it was aweful. i really thought that i had come down with the flu or something. after i had got my 32 20mg oxys. i still didnt do any til a few hours after when i decided to do some oxy to help with the achyness that the flu causes. as soon as the 40mg of oxy had kicked in, all of my symptoms had somehow disappeared....and thats when i realized that i had severe withdrawl from oxycontin.
for those in my situation and wish to kick the oxy habit, i have formulated a 9day oxydetoxplan for myself, or anyone else to use.....i started at 80mg, which was the least i could cut down to.
after day0 im hoping to wakeup and have the strength to not do any oxycontin from that day forward. im guessing that i may have very minor withdrawl symtoms if any....guess ill find out soon... one thing that has helped me to ease chills, and cold sweats is ibuprofen.
I know your pain. I also have a bad back and was prescribed OC's. I know you think they make it life better but wait before you know it you will need them to feel normal. I have been clean for 9 days and the withdraws were the worst. QUIT NOW, the longer you wait the harder it will be. Its not going to be easy now but down the road it will be so severe you almost want to die. You have a living breathing reason to quit, your new daughter. Because at some point you will lie to them, spend money you do not have, well just about anything that does not put her first. The drug will become more important than her. I know you saying no way I will ever let that happen. Read the posts, then think, did anyone on this board want to do what they did. NOOOOOOO. I have found out that 95%of the people prescribed this get addicted. That statistic is incredible. Are you that 5%? I will bet you are in the 95%. No offense, I just bet the odds. I know what you feel, if you ever need help let me know. I don't have all the answers but I do know one thing, the path your on now is a "dead" end.
Hi
Darkrom good luck on your surgery. Write us and let us know how you are.
I also have back problems. 2 herniated disks L 4-5 and C-4-5. I have been in pain for over a year. Mainly housebound. I started on pain meds for my back but of course I needed more and more just to feel normal.
I have been clean for 11 days. I tapered off Vicoden, Ultracet and Ambien. The WD wasn't as bad this way. The first 5 days were hard but it is getting a little easier. Funny thing but my back pain is better since I got off the opiates. Aspirin and Aleve(along with hot baths) are working to control the pain.
I have degenerative disc disease. No surgeries yet thank goodness. But I know what the future holds. Something caught my eye in your post about the pain actually being better with aleve/baths and since off the opiates. My drug of choice isn't pain meds (it's crack cocaine). I'm 57 days clean and during the first two weeks clean my back hurt all the time. I used ibuprophen, hot baths and heating pad. No money to buy my pain med "Darvocet" and I didn't want to take a chance that it would trigger me back to crack. Anyway - I started using Aleve and it works much better for me than ibuprophen. And I've had pain a few days off and on after the initial two weeks. But what I finally realized yesterday is that when I get stressed, my back hurts. Even those of us who have these terrible back, spine problems that won't ever go away and will get worse (if surgery doesn't work, etc) I wonder how stress effects that pain for everyone in our boat? Hope you have a good night.
Darkrom, I'll keep you in my prayers during your surgery and recovery also.
I just needed to ask you,i am assuming that your doc is actually aware of the amount of meds and the high doses you are currently taking?unfortunetly for you,and i don't know if you have discussed this with your doc at all or at the very least the surgeon may have mentioned it to you.but you 'may" have a very hard time with pain control post op,due to the high amount of narcotics that you are currently taking and the accompanying tolerance that comes along with it.and you have to make darn sure that you are totally and completely honest with the anesthesiologist BEFORE the surgery.he/she will need to know just exactly what you are on,have been on and are on that day of surgery so they can make any needed adjustments with regard to anesthesia.He or she will come in to talk to you prior to the surgey while you are in the holding area.
make certain to discuss good pain control with your surgeon so you have things in place before you need it.a PCA containing dilaudid with MS bumps for intolerable BT pain would really be the best way to go here,really.i have been thru three seperate surgeries and have found that Dilaudid works much better for post op pain,even better than MS,but only thru a PCA.If taken orally,it does not work quite as well.Do some research on how to manage post op pain in a healthcare setting and then have an in depth chat with your surgeon.once you are on the road to recovery,THEN you need to deal with the blossoming addiction issues head on.I wish you lots of luck on your surgery.please post an update when you are up to it,K?Marcia
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3-22-01,herniated C-6-7
11-20-01,placement of hardware for failed fusion
9-22-03,removal of cavernous hemangioma that was inside spinal cord. Neuro damage to L hand L leg and R leg.
Re: Hello, I am new here. 
