Oxy Question HELP PLEASE

Dear Real,
First let me welcome you to the HW forum. Remember, we are not docs. The specifics of your situation really needs to be managed by your doctor. There are some other recent threads here about people trying to detox on their own and it can be dangerous. You've been on quite a bit of medication and yes, your body does build up a dependence, and for some people tolerance becomes an issue. Withdrawal symptoms can be significant but if you've had an accident and had serious injury resulting in chronic pain, the likelihood is you need medication to cover your pain.

I hope you're dealing with a pain management specialist, but you really need to call whoever your prescribing doctor is and ask him/her to help you if you want to try cutting down some on these meds. I'm not a doc or a pharmacist, but it seems to me you're on a lot of perc, unless you're using it for BT pain. As to whether you build up a permanent tolerance there may not be an answer. Sometimes that has to do with genetics. And tolerance is difference than dependence. All of us develop a dependence to these meds. if we're taking them over time. Tolerance means you need more and more of the same or similar substance to get the desired result. There may possibly be other options for you with medication, but you need to be working with your doc for this.

Can I ask why you want to decrease your meds? Is there an addiction history in your family or with yourself (which is not the same as dependence)? I'm not accusing you of anything, just inquiring if that's why you want to decrease your meds. Do you have a pain management specialist? With this much medication, I would hope so. So I repeat, please let your doctor supervise any withdrawal.

Hope this helps a little.

PaLady

Dear Real,
Yes, I am following you. I'm not speaking as a professional here, but I do have some professional background in mental health and addictions. You are being very wise to recognize you may be using the drugs for more than the pain. I referenced an article clarifying dependence, tolerance and addiction. I'll try to bump the thread up for you.

Still, you need to be doing this under medical management. Is your doctor aware of your concerns? Are you involved with a therapist who has some knowledge of both pain issues and addiction? Because you need some support help you with both issues - the withdrawal/ pain management issues, and learning other ways to deal with emotions. Those are the things I'd strongly recommend, rather than trying to do it on your own.

I'll try to find that thread and bump it up to the first page for you. The link to the article is in the first post in the thread.

PaLady

days and i would be clean i dont want to be a drug addict but im in a bind cause i need to work and function any ideas from anyone would be good dont know wat top do???
thanks,

Real_Time said...
.. but the PAIN was like nothing I have EVER FELT IN MY LIFE ! so my question is this... was that pain as bad as it felt ? or was it blown way out by my mind, B/C I was not taking my meds... will I always be able to detox a little for my meds to work better or will I build up a permanent tolerance to the oxy?

Hi Real!

First off, Welcome!

As far as the added pain while getting off, I've experienced same thing & know a lot of other people who have too. It is called hyperalgesia & is often a prob when people go off of opioids (narcotics) after being on them for quite a while. You can look it up, but long story short, your body gets used to having the painkilling meds in your system so it makes less of the natural painkillers (like endorphins and such). Because of that, you are in more pain than you would have been before you started the pain meds, even if the cause of the pain is the same. Once you are off the narcs for a little while, your body realizes it needs to start making more of the natural painkillers & the hyperalgesia goes away. No guarantees, but if you've had it in the past & have it now, you will likely have the same issue in the future if you're on a similar dosage & schedule.

This is unrelated to developing a tolerance to the medication, though often the two can coincide since you have to be on the narcs for some time for hyperalgesia or tolerance to develop. I've been reading more & more studies coming out, though, that show that pain patients whose condition is stabilized (e.g., not cancer patients who have growing tumor or such) usually do not develop a tolerance to narcs as far as requiring more medication to treat the same pain, but do develop a tolerance as far as nausea & somnolence. Kinda interesting, huh?

Anyways, best to check with your doc, but if the condition resolves after being away from the drug (or on a lower dose) for a while, probably it's just the opioid-induced hyperalgesia.

hope that helps!
frances

Post Edited (Frances_2008) : 9/2/2008 12:00:02 AM (GMT-6)

REAL TIME


Can I please ask you a question regarding your withdrawl symptoms? Can you tell me how those 4 days you were trying to get off the pills were hard? I know you said your pain was way worse, but did you experience any withdrawl syptoms coming off the med? i'm asking because i'm on it as well and i experience mini-withdrawls, come-downs between my dosages, which is every 6-7 hours or so and i'm on oxycodone.

if you can let me know, that would be great!
thank you

mandy talk to your doctor about suboxone they would really benifit you and help with your withdrawals and cravings to keep you from relapsing

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE OPANA ER........................ If you are taking this drug and are having to have surgery, talk with your Dr. NOW...

I took this med. all my drs. knew I was one this medicine and I went into surgery on a friday and don't remember a thing until monday afternoon. I went into resp. depression, put into the ICU unit, heart rate and blood pressure bottomed out. The surgeon, after 9 hours of waiting with no word, told my mom I must have had a reaction to a pain med and the anesthesia.

As the result of this, I suffered brain damage. I am a college grad. and now my cog. abilities are at a 7th grade level. 

Hello Mandy and Real time I have been there and done that best thing to do is to be honest with your doctor and they can give you something to really help with the withdraw and it does not make you feel like perks and things do it just knocks out the pain of the withdraw aches runny nose can't get out of bed and all is really bad I took two years to figure this out though because of the what if's The best advice that made a world of differnce change your friends that thinkthis is ok I quit answer the phone and stuff and within four weeks there all gone I am two months out of my prolems I see a light at the end of the tunnel before I said I can't see life without my meds trust you can doit and feel great and you be proud everyday that you were strong enough to beat it and not let it beat you best of luck to both I would love to chat with you guys sometime please let me know if there is anything I might can help either of you with