I've come to grips with the fact that I am addicted to prescription pain relievers. However, after a night of eye opening research, I'm left wondering how on earth I survived this long. I've been taking between 10g-15g per day of acetaminophen, through Darvocet lately, and sometimes for weeks at a time. I normally take 3g-6g a day for the last year or so.
How much acetaminophen have some of you taken regularly through an addiction, or how much have you heard of addicts using a day? I'm extremely worried about my health now and just hope I haven't done damage that can't be repaired. I'm done with acetaminophen altogether now, I'm not going to take it ever again if I can help it.
I live with chronic pain and need the relief, but I am now going to request to my pain management doctor that I am switched over to ibuprophen instead of the acetaminophen in the meds. I'm really, really worried now.
Its a GOOD thing to be worried about this,really.it helps with the motivation factor and just reinforces the need to stop.there are quite a few different threads right on this addiction site here that i know i have posted on the nasty damage to your liver and the kidneys can get with abuse of tylenol in the meds that are taken that contain tylenol.
the actual daily limit for an occasional use is actually 4000mgs,BUT if you are using any tylenol based product in an abusive/chronic or daily manner,that 4000 will drop down to only 3000mgs per 24 hour period.this is the 'safe' limit.once you go beyond that safe limit the liver just cannot metabolize anymore as the chemical needed to do this just gets too depleted and thats when cell damage begins.the one good thing about the liver tho is that at some level,without the continued abuse,it 'can" regenerate itself to a certain degree.but the abuse has to stop in order for this to actually occur.the kidneys also take a big hit with analgesics.espescially combined like ibuprofen,aspirin,tylenol,the usual suspects.you could just as easily succumb to kidney failure(analgesic nephropathy) as liver failure if this continues.everything gets filtered thru the kidneys before it actually exits the body,so even tho things like tylenol are heavily metabed in the liver,all of those toxins still have to pass thru the kidney tissue as well.and it can take its toll.
if you are seeing an actual pain doc for pain management,there are many other med options that do not actually contain any tylenol.just discuss those concerns with your doc.my pain clinic will not under any circumstances actually Rx any med that contains tylenol,to anyone.they are just very much aware of the overall toll tylenol can take on a chronic pain patients body systems.i also have a kidney/liver disease so i wouldn't take them anyway or any other product that contains it.why take that crap if you really do not have to ya know?there are just much safer options availiable these days.darvocet just has to be one of the worst pain meds only because it contains such a huge whopping dose of tylenol.and you cannot get it in any other form than the 650mgs i believe.i would really sit down and discuss other options with your doc soon,there are so many others that are just soo much safer to have to take on a daily basis.good luck,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.
You Said that you were taking up to 15grams of tylenol through your darvocet use? With each Darvocet tablet containing 650mg, am I adding the math correctly that your daily intake of darvocets was as much as 23 tablets???? I am in no way judging you....trust me....I am in the throes of a detox myself off of darvocet and my daily "habit" had creeped up to about 10-12 pills a day, which I KNEW had to wreaking havoc with my liver (that translated to between 6,000 - 7,000 mg a day vs the "allowable" amount of 3,000 mg)
I had been taking this amount of tylenol since a spinal surgery in Oct 2005 (all of it Legally prescribed by ONE doctor). You would think HE'D have been aware of the amount of tylenol within the narcotics that he was prescribing me on a monthly basis. I too began to do a little internet research and was horrified. That is one of the BIG reasons that ultimately led to me quitting narcotic pain meds entirely.
I am still struggling with withdrawl 14 days after stopping CT, and ended up in the ER yesterday, feeling so bad. They ran some blood tests on my liver and miraculously there was NO damage...so, as "Feelbad" said, the liver is a remarkable organ that has amazing regenerative ability....up to a point.
So, it is a very good decision on your part to change meds to something without tylenol.
Your post was a bit ambiguous....are you STILL taking the darvocet now? You mention you are never going to take any more tylenol at all. I ask, because at the levels of darvocet you have been maintaining on a daily basis, it is not going to be easy to "just stop"....speaking from PERSONAL experience here....just read a few of my threads to see how miserable a detox from darvocet can be. My Pain management doctor told me I would have "no trouble at all just quitting whenever I wanted" because darvocet is such a "weak" narcotic. Well, that statement of his along with the AMOUNT of this crap he prescribed for me makes me so angry and I have a compulsion to lash out and try to do something about it. To me, it could almost be a malpractice case....especially if I HAD shown liver damage in that test yesterday.
One final question for you 72575, and you certainly don't have to answer. You mention in your post about having a Pain Management doctor. Did one physician prescribe the amount of darvocets that you say you were taking? I ask because I possibly see a sad trend here on this board that so many of us "addicts" became the way we are due to what I perceive as the MISMANAGEMENT of prescriptions by Pain Management doctors. It should NOT be up to the patient to know what the limits are. That is the doctor's job.
I wish you the best in whatever decisions you ultimately make and look forward to hearing back from you.
Due to the Terms of Service here at this particular site, I can't get into where I may or may not get the Darvocet, as it would be a breach of the forum rules. Hope that clears that up without actually going into specifics.
When my Percocet runs out I turn to the Darvocet in large quantities. Yes, on average 20 a day. 5 at a time, 4 times a day. Sometimes for up to an entire week in a row. I've heard of people dyig or needing a liver transplant after just one dose that high, and thinking back on how often I have done it I'm just worried that it may be too late for me now. I thought if anything bad was going to happen, I'd know right away and could quit taking so much, but the more I read, the more I understand that is not so, that it can take some time for the effects to show up.
chances are if your able to type this, your gona be fine, i would cut the dose to 4g or none at all, and get some tests done, let your doctor know,and baby your liver for a bit, maybe look into taking milk thistle
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