Addicted to PERCOCET

[Beckota]

My brother had a tumor removed from his kidney on September 25th. While he was in the hospital they gave him percocet and morphine for his pain. To date he is still taking PERCOCET because he complains of acute pain. We fear he has become addicted to the pain meds and his pain is now stemming from the drug. His doctors have told him to get off the meds but yet they keep prescribing them to him. What can we do? Has anyone had similar experience with Percocet and dependency? My brother needs help, he is in so much pain and he looks horrible.

[Boxerluver]

It's been about what, almost 4 weeks since his surgery? It can depend on what they had to do in surgery. Kidney pain is bad and if they really had to go through all the muscle and some nerves, he could still be in pain. Is he taking more than prescribed? Does he run out early and then go through withdrawls? Is he preoccupied with meds. What is he doing to get better, what is his physical prognosis. With a little more info maybe we could make a better determination whether he is becoming addicted or still in legit pain from surgery. It can take 4-6 weeks to heal and maybe that is why the docs are still prescribing the meds.

[denon]

Answer to your last question: YES! Many of are here on this forum because of dependency or addictions to opiate drugs. I was taking Percocets for 5-1/2 months before I finally got off of them.

I'm siding with Boxerlover on this one. 4 week is not much time after major surgery, but he should start thinking about tapering down to get off of it in the next few weeks. Most people don't start getting the false pain from taking opiates after 4 weeks. It usually takes much longer.

What dose is he taking? If he is taking more than the prescribed amount, maybe you should talk to him about sticking to the prescribed dose. Depending on the amount he is taking, he will have to taper down instead of just stopping. After 4 weeks he's just getting into that gray area where a person can become dependent on it, but usually it is a longer period of time of taking opiates. Although, some people can become addicted in as little as 2 weeks.

If he is in legitimate pain, then he should take something to reduce it. Not everyone handles pain the same way. The doctor should be asking why he's still having pain and should be looking for reasons why he is still in pain.

[Beckota]

Boxerluver;

Thank you for responding. NO, he is not taking more than prescribed. When he was in the hospital he was on 8 a day (not sure of the dose), now they have him on three a day. The surgeon said he had to get off the Percocet or he risked losing his kidney and liver damage. He said it was a MYSTERY as to why my brother had this amount of pain almost 1 month after surgery. This is all new to me and from i read online about PERCOCET it is highly addictive. We tried giving my brother 2 pills instead of 3 and he couldnt stand the pain, got sweaty, clamy, shaky, cramps in his stomach and unbearable pain. That is why i think he may be addicted but i don't know. Kaiser is not providing us any assistance so tomorrow i am taking him to a well recommended surgeon for a 2nd opinion and maybe he can shed some light to what went wrong with this surgery.

[Beckota]

denon;

Thanks for your response. I am not sure of the dose but i know it's 3 pills a day. This has tapered down from 8 pills a day he was on in the hospital in addition to the morphine. By the way he is still on morphine. The doctor told us last saturday that this is a MYSTERY and told him to taper off the drug but did not provide any outlet or how to do it. We tried reducing to 2 but he had a horrible night, sweats, clamy, cramping, and itching all over. Something is just not right. Doctors had said after 4 days in hospital his recovery would be fast and we're almost at 1 month after surgery and he is worse than when he entered the hospital. This can't be right. We just got the medical records today after waiting more than 1 week and will be obtaining 2nd opinion tomorrow.