bridgetmark - I understand how horrible ti feels to get a migraine. It is a horrible pain and left untreated can last for days or even weeks. You can NOT get down on yourself for taking meds for legitimate pain. That is not abusing the med. Maybe some people with disagree with me but this is my opinion. Just because you have an addiction problem does NOT mean that you have to suffer thru unbearable pain. Abusing drugs is when you are taking them for reasons other than what they are prescribed for (pain,etc....). If you truly have a terrible migraine and need to be medicated for it to go away that is what you have to do. If you were exaggerating your pain to get the shot, then THAT would be setting you back from all your hard work. There are a lot of people (myself included) that have chronic pain conditons PLUS problems with addiction. Sometimes it is just not possible to cut the narcotic pain killers out of your life completely. What you cut out is the abuse. And that is the trick...finding a way to balance it all so that you don't start abusing them again.
I abused my vicodin like crazy. It didn't help my pain anymore because I had been on it so long but I took it anyway for the buzz, and then after that went away, just to ward off W/D. Finally I came clean with my doc and told them I wanted off the drugs completely. But they had to help me realize that as nice as that would be, that with my medical condition NO pain killer is just not possible, unfortunately. SO...they switched my meds. I am now on 40mg of methadone a day. It works better for my pain than anything else EVER has (even back in the beginning) and I don't get a buzz from it. I know some do, but I don't. So I don't have the desire to take more than I should. Also, since starting it and my pain going away, I haven't had ANY desire to take anything else. So for me, methadone has been a great solution to my two major problems, pain and addiction. But even so, given my history I still don't trust myself. I ask my brother (who lives in the lower level of my duplex and also works for the same company as I do) to hold my meds and to only give me my 40mg a day. This has worked out great. Next month we are going to have me hold my own since I am doing so well, but he's going to count them once a week for me. At this point I'm positive I can do this on my own....but I don't want to take any chances.
There are a lot of people that have tackled this problem, chronic pain that REQUIRES narcotic pain meds, and addiction problems. It's a tricky situation and everyone has to find the solution that suits them the best. For me it was methadone. But the point is that if you are in legitimate pain that OTC meds, and alternative therapies are not helping, that doens't mean you should just let it go on and on or you will end up in the hospital! Just because you were an addict doens't mean you need to suffer. Just try to use the narcotic treatment as a last resort. But if you have to, you have to. Don't beat yourself up over it.
Linear Mode
