Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
Hey Spaz i just wanted to say i think you are a pretty awesome guy and i admire all of the courage and strength of what you did for your recovery ON YOUR OWN!!!! You HAVE helped alot of people and i am sure they are thankful beyond belief. Keep up the good work and i do hope that we will continue to hear from you at least once in awhile. Until next time good luckand TAKE CARE!!!!
Tinkerbell45
The following user gives a hug of support to tinkerbell45: Spaz50 (10-11-2011)
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
I have no idea what you are talking about Jonathon. May have responded to wrong post. So will take this time to update. 4 weeks as of Saturday. 2 bad days, with migraines, fatigue and depression. Back to work today and hasn't been to bad a day. Not near as hard work today as last Thursday and Fri.
If I had to work like that everyday, I would be in trouble. Pain levels were really bad over weekend due to work. Woke up with migraine Sat. and had it till bedtime. May not be related to getting off meds. Wasn't expecting to deal with depression. May just be the 4 weeks straight of not feeling good. Thats depressing enough. Anyway, take care all.
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
Hi Friend
Wasn't expecting to deal with depression.
The depression is an absolutely an expected part of the aftermath. Lousy, but normal in the whole process. It absolutely will pass in a number of weeks.. I don't know for sure as we are all different... but I would venture to say between 8-10 weeks.
Ironically, although working hard has created pain for you, it is also the very best thing you can do to speed up the process a lot in dealing with the depression. The brain needs as much help as it can get to rev its motor to start producing enough of the feel good chemicals again. There natural production was reduced drastically when we started fueling up with the drugs. Physical activity really gets the motor running again.
As my ordeal is over as far as withdrawal, I know this is easier for me to say than for you to believe: Considering you were 8 years on the drugs, it is reasonable to assume it will take a bit of time to feel all better. Kind of like if we overate for 8 years and gained 50 lbs... it would be reasonable to expect it to take some time to lose the weight when we decide to diet ( now that analogy is near and dear to My heart. chuckles).
Try to be patient in knowing that this depression is going to leave before too much longer. just keep on keepin' on... you have been doing everything right so far!
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
Thank you reach,
It is easy to get discouraged but you make a great point. Again, my lack of patience
In this recovery helps nothing. Feeling pretty anxious about the pain levels I have been dealing with for past week. Haven't missed a day of work since the week I took off to detox so that is a plus. Working a physically hard 10 hour day each day wwhich is why pain levels are where they are. So I will try to be patient.lol. I guess the depression should have been expected. I know you all said it was part of the process. I just believed I would be different. Positive thinking maybe. Have alot of stresses right now besides the not feeling good for a month. Thanks again for your help and encouragement. You are a blessing. I pray you are well as I do all my new friends here.
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
Hi
Thinking about you and wondering how that darn depression is going? It really can be a torment for us. Bah! Keep moving physically as you are able and help rid yourself of those crummy feelings. when thoughts turn dark, give yourself an immediate reminder that it is the depression spitting out the thoughts and recognize them as such.
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
I am struggling a little wih it. Make it thru work week, get exhausted then weekend comes and really struggle to want to do anything. Hard to understand why, having quit meds I can apparently live without. Pain get bad and frustrates me but not sure pain is worse than on meds, but I am not numb emotionally to it anymore. So, maybe I just answered my own question. Not numb to anything any more. And everything. So, I am in a motorcycle ministry called Holy GHOST riders. Bunch of born again hooligans.lol have a cookout this evening so that will be a break from me laying here depressed for no reason at all. So stupid. Thanks reach. Will hop on Harley and ride.
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
Hi Buddy
So, I am in a motorcycle ministry called Holy GHOST riders. Bunch of born again hooligans.lol
Couldn't help but chuckle aloud at that one. :-) There is a group of riders out of my Mom's church... Riding for Jesus, I think. Great bunch of guys. Never quite thought of them as born-again hoodlums before! Too funny.
Anyway.... for me, I found that the pain was no worse off the meds. I still have pain, but unlike you, I no longer work and can take the time out when it hits to deal with it with rest and ice and heat and aspirin, etc. It was really hard for me to accept that there was no choice but to accept that my life was just gonna have to change. For me, if I stayed on the meds, I was going to die from the depression they were causing. To come off them meant I could no longer work as there was no other way to mask the pain. Darn vicious cycles sometimes.
I know that the working is helping chase away the depression a bit quicker and that is good. Not sure exactly what kind of work you do, except that there is a physical component to it. What's the possibility of other work in the company? Any chance of another kind of work all together (writing that with the knowledge that jobs are hard to come by these days). How close or far away are you from retirement? I guess last I wonder if it might have come to the point of filing for disability? Lord knows I didn't want to do that, but there just was no other reasonable choice left.
We will chat again. For tonight, I hope you are enjoying that cookout. :_)
To Harleys and Him
reach
We conquer one battle just to face another sometimes, huh?
Last edited by reachout; 10-25-2011 at 12:13 PM.
Reason: sp
The following user gives a hug of support to reachout: tinkerbell45 (10-24-2011)
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
We have an amazing group of people. And that was hooligans, although I really don't
precisely know what that means. Like me, the holy Ghost riders have come from
a past of sin and being lost to a life of living the life convicted by the holy spirit to be just what we claim to be. We sow seeds at bike rallies and pray for our fellow man. It would be a dangerous thing to have just one of us HG riders not be true to our cause. . We are watched pretty closely by the 1%'rs as we are allowed to be patched like an MC. Rockers etc. We don't judge or preach, but answer question and give our testimony if asked.
I work in a manufacturing company and work on the equipment. Robots, motors
and computers. Just so happens the plant I work in is in state of rebuild and total redesign. So that means the next 3 months will be very long days and very strenuous.
after the restart in feb. It will be more back to waiting for a breakdown and projects. Much easier work. If I can manage the coming months I can handle the rest. If not I can bid diffrent jobs although I am not. Management material apparently.lol. so being maintenance is best pay I would take a cut almost anywhere I bid. But, that may be only option if I can't do the hours and work for next 3 months. Will see what the future brings
once I get through the side effects of stopping meds.
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
I can't say for sure, but when I came of oxy's (but i was snorting my 20's, usually 40mgs sometimes 60) it was definitely the addiction talking. I don't have the conditions you do, all I have is a fractured and dislocated pelvis, so I can't say for sure but... I'd talk to your dog a/b suboxone - it is a mild opiate that's not designed to control pain, but instead, keep you from having withdrawl. For the pain, I don't know of anything other than ultram during the day and flexoril at night... But you may need something like ambien, I can't say for sure... I've been hospitalized for 2 months and recovering for the next yr was hard, but not near as hard as the many many days/nights during my detox from opiates... But now I feel great and love sharing my story. Good luck!
The following user gives a hug of support to mshawk1983: tinkerbell45 (10-24-2011)
The Following User Says Thank You to mshawk1983 For This Useful Post: Spaz50 (10-24-2011)
Re: Time to quit pain meds but how to deal with pain without
Thanks for your help.
I pray you have a successful recovery. That is a long time in the hospital and
sounds like a difficult year. Is this something that you have been thru years ago or are you currently dealing with the injury and withdrawal. Sounds like in past. Thanks again for your input.
