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Posted 6/28/2009 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
hi everyone.
I wanted to ask, to those of you who have personally gone through coming off your medication or have gone through withdrawls, what the experience was like.  Do you get fever? Body aches, how do you deal with it all?  Are you able to eat? etc...  If anyone can perosonally share with me what you went through and the outcome, I would greatly appreciate it.

The reason i ask, is last night, i had the most unusual thing happen to me and I'm not sure if it is withdrawl-related or not.  I took my usual evening pain meds, oxycodone, then about 45 mins later, I got real sick...I was feeling sick earlier today.... and I threw up everything, most likely including my pain meds.

So about 1/2hour later I could not move my entire body.  I got a high fever, i had the chills and was sweating and i have major body aches.  I didn't want to eat or drink a thing, which is so unlike me, and I just layered there without moving, awake yet weak from 6pm until this morning.  MY body feels so achey still and my chest does hurt and I'm still very weak but no fever.

Do you think this was from a possible withdrawl since I got sick with my meds?  I usually do get sick after taking them, but its not till about 2-3 hours later and the meds have already digested into my system.  ( i get sick due to other GI issues, btw. )

What would you think?  i was thinking it could have been the meds?  i dont know, i just refuse to go to any hospital either so thats out of the question.

thank you all in advance!

Posted 6/28/2009 5:57 PM (GMT 0)
Jennca,
You really need to get some medical attention, even if it's just calling your PCP. Maybe it's some type of flu. I don't think you'd be experiencing those kind of withdrawal symptoms this early. They also seem to have come on suddenly, but you mention other GI problems and other issues with meds. You really should call your doctor. If it is the flu, there are some medications they can give you if it's very early in the process to help with the severity of it.

Please, call your PCP at the very least.

Draka - We can become dependent on some medications but that's not the same as addiction. When that occurs is different for each person; there's no timetable anyone can give you. If you start wanting to take more than has been prescribed, that's a sign to talk with your doctor as you may have developed a tolerance to the medication. Some of this also relates to your genetics; if you have any addictions patterns in your family tree it's possible you have a predisposition to addiction like we do to many other illnesses. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll become an addict, but it may me you and your doctor have to keep a closer eye on your medication use.

Hope this helps a bit.

PaLady

Post Edited (PAlady) : 6/28/2009 12:00:37 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/28/2009 6:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Palady- Sorry to sound so negative here, but I am DONE with doctors, hospitalizations, ambulances etc.. I am chronically ill and know that my time is coming and I REFUSE to be taken away to a hopsital to where they just do the same things I can do for myself at home. I have every med under the sea here and I'm confortable here. All calling another DR. will do is the same-- "You need to go to the ER or Urgent care and be evaluated" Sick of hearing that, no thank you. I have signed a DNR as well so my family understands and they are comfortable with letting me go here at my home. I'm just writing on these boards to figure out what could be the cause of this.
Today, I have no fever, but still very very TIRED and weak with my ribs being sore for some reason, but i'm not wheazing or anything like that.
anyways, thats the deal and thank you for your response. i'm just mainly concerned with it having to do with my oxy's or not.
Posted 6/28/2009 8:31 PM (GMT 0)
Seems all very macabre. Sorry, but that is how I see this.

As I told my mother when it became her time, "I'll do whatever I can to help you live, but I won't help you to die." And that was over a year before she passed on.
Posted 6/28/2009 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
Jennca,
It sounds like you have some serious medical conditions if you're talking about a DNR. Do you have a life-threatening diagnosis? If so, you really need some support. We can help as part of that, but we're not doctors and can't give medical advice. Your case sounds quite complicated. Are you giving up needlessly?

What about some home care services? You may be eligible for some, but they would be medical professionals, too. Even in cases of terminal illness having Hospice come in and manage medications can help with pain issues.

If you don't have a terminal illness, then I wonder why you are giving up. I'm not judging, I just don't understand.

Help us understand a little more of your diagnosis.

(((((((((Jennca)))))))))))

PaLady
Posted 6/28/2009 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
The person who wanted to know "when addiction begins" needs to learn a few things. Cp patients usually get dependent to pain mess, not addicted. There is a major difference.

Addiction is psychological. Addicts like the feeling they get and keep trying to raise the dose to get that feeling back. Us Cp'ers just want pain relief.

Addicts Doctor shop, buy extra meds on the street, refuse to follow doctors orders.

Here is a good way to see what you are. If the pain mehelp you function so you can contribute to society, you are dependent. If taking the mess make you less able to function, you might be an addict.

But there is a big difference between the two and watch how this MJ. thing turns out bad for us CPers.
Posted 6/28/2009 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
Actually I get terribly sick like that whenever I use to take hydrocodone (any of them, norco, lortab, vicodin) and I would be vomiting and shaking and in pain and lots of other symptoms for anywhere form 6 to 12 hours straight. This is wy I always stay as far away from that med as possible, I'm not sure why it causes this but it does. So it may not be withdrawals but something else completly. I have lots of stomach issues (I have 10 confirmed problems with my digestive system and I'm pretty sure theirs more then that as this was diagnosed 10 years ago) but hydrocodone really makes me deathly sick so maybe theirs just something about some narcotics that makes people really sick cause I seem to do fine with other pain meds.

And theris lots of 'symptoms' of addiction, the best way to know is to look on an addiction websight that lists them all. Here's some stuff I found online (these are not written by me)-

Opioid dependence is a disease and does not strike everyone who is prescribed opioid painkillers. In fact many people take them as prescribed and stop when they no longer need them. Others, however, can develop a dependence, manifested in a variety of ways. Health professionals consider someone Opioid Symptoms when they exhibit at least 3 of the following behaviors for a 12 month period:

Tolerance to the medication, to the extent that the patient needs to take more to achieve the same effects;

Withdrawal begins when the medication is discontinued (taking other drugs to relieve symptoms).

Taking higher and higher dosages against the doctor's prescription and when they aren't needed (i.e. to control pain)

An inability to stop preoccupation with acquiring more medication or another prescription

A drastic change in habit or lifestyle, such as skipping social engagements or ignoring responsibilities

-hellokitty
Posted 6/28/2009 10:26 PM (GMT 0)
Kitty,
I don't want to start a debate here - that's not the focus of this thread - but opiod dependence is not a disease. Addiction is. What you've listed are some of the symtoms used to diagnose substance depenence. I'm not sure where you got this information, but I think referring to opiod dependence as a "disease" is in error.

Thanks,

PaLady
Posted 6/28/2009 10:28 PM (GMT 0)

I have been on pain meds over a year now.  Whenever I chose to stop taking them is only when the pain is at a minimum.  It does happen on occasion for short periods of time.  Maybe a week at the most.  During this time I have never had withdrawl symptoms.  My doctor feels this is cuz I don't have an addiction personality.  Ya right tell that to me when I play online poker... yeah

If by freak chance I run out of pain meds I don't experience withdrawls more like pain from H*LL smhair

Everybody is different.  Also every med is different.  Who knows in two years I might have withdrawl issues.  But for now I'm safe.

I hope you find some answers in all our posts.

Best Wishes

Laurie

Posted 6/29/2009 1:12 AM (GMT 0)
I know this is off topic but I think it is relevant to us. The problem with pain meds often is that at a certain point they make you euphoric. Sometimes, we have to take pain meds in such quantities that euphoria is a side-effect in order to be able to function. Me friends and I (including a lot of doctors) call this the happy happy moments. Since we are usually feeling lousy, even with pain meds, it is a normal human craving to prolong the happy happy feeling and this can turn into an addiction. I have been there years ago and decided it was better to detox than to risk an addiction as this would surely destroy my life (it would cost me my job, friends, etc.). A couple of months ago I was completely med free and a wreck. Actually I was dying. So my doctors decided to put me back on meds but decided to make morphine the most prominent one (I need it to diminish diarrhea and intestinal bleedings). Even now I'm beginning to experience that happy happy moment and I know it is imperative to fight the urge to prolong this feeling. Pain meds are, alas, a ery slippery slope.

Jennca,
I think you shouldn't have such a dim view on life. My doctors told me 15 years ago I was dying and I'mstill alive and kicking a bit. I think you should reconsider your position. No matter how bad life is, their is always something to life for and things can become better, even after decades. After 20 years of missery my doctors were able to improve the quality of my life considerably over the past few weeks. Last year they told me, once more, there was nothing more they could do. Things change so fast and medicine c
Posted 6/29/2009 1:12 AM (GMT 0)
I know this is off topic but I think it is relevant to us. The problem with pain meds often is that at a certain point they make you euphoric. Sometimes, we have to take pain meds in such quantities that euphoria is a side-effect in order to be able to function. Me friends and I (including a lot of doctors) call this the happy happy moments. Since we are usually feeling lousy, even with pain meds, it is a normal human craving to prolong the happy happy feeling and this can turn into an addiction. I have been there years ago and decided it was better to detox than to risk an addiction as this would surely destroy my life (it would cost me my job, friends, etc.). A couple of months ago I was completely med free and a wreck. Actually I was dying. So my doctors decided to put me back on meds but decided to make morphine the most prominent one (I need it to diminish diarrhea and intestinal bleedings). Even now I'm beginning to experience that happy happy moment and I know it is imperative to fight the urge to prolong this feeling. Pain meds are, alas, a ery slippery slope.

Jennca,
I think you shouldn't have such a dim view on life. My doctors told me 15 years ago I was dying and I'mstill alive and kicking a bit. I think you should reconsider your position. No matter how bad life is, their is always something to life for and things can become better, even after decades. After 20 years of missery my doctors were able to improve the quality of my life considerably over the past few weeks. Last year they told me, once more, there was nothing more they could do. Things change so fast and medicine c
Posted 6/29/2009 3:39 AM (GMT 0)
palady,

actually I just read it over and I do agree with you. But sometimes I get confused because I've heard over and over again from doctors and pamplets I've gotten from the makers of Suboxone, they say that they dont like to use the word 'addiction' but the word 'dependence' instead, BUT then I've talked to doctors and read books/pamplets on chronic pain that addiction and dependence where 2 completly diffrent things...just so confusing lol. I know for a fact that 'addiction' is a disease, but I'm not sure about 'dependence' (unless you work for the suboxone makers lol). I know for a fact that a few signs of addiction is of course doctor shopping, buying off the streets, tampering with prescriptions, using it for things other then pain (even though somethimes pain meds are prescribed off label for other things), obssessing over 'running out' (this is diffrent then end of the month-need refill worry), running out before refill, I know theirs more but I cant think of more right now but also only a doctor can make the diagnosis of addiction, and I'm only a RN (registered nothing).

ps, has anybody heard that they are starting this thing (utah just started it) that if someone needs more then equilivant of 60mg of morphine that they will have to get it from a PM and other states are trying to push this through too, this makes me mad as their's so little PM doctors out their and I know alot of us have to resort getting our meds from a doctor other then a PM. Life seems to be getting harder and harder. Oh well.

-hellokitty
Posted 6/29/2009 2:59 PM (GMT 0)
Look, withdrawal symptoms have nothing to do with addiction. If you are dependent on pain mess and you abruptly stop them, you will suffer withdrawal
Regardless of whether you are dependent or addicted. Too many people-even those on this board-equate withdrawal with addiction...it is not true.

Other meds require a taper such as steroids and certain blood pressure pills.

Being on narcotics for severe pain is no different than a diabetic requiring insuln. But wait and see...they will pin the Doc for MJ's demise and as usual us Cp'ers will be the ones on the defensive.
Posted 6/29/2009 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
Wolftrades- Good point and straigtly said. now with MJ and his "pain killer addiction" is the head line of the stories now, it is going to make people like us look like total addicts/negative/bad people and raise questions to the doctors prescribing these meds to be re-evaluated or looked at with more supervision or laws etc... making it harder for docs to help patients like us. thats what i'm afraid will happen during this whole MJ thing...
but on another note.. you are totally right- whether addiction, dependency, whatever you want to call it... withdrawls are withdrawls and that was the basics of my question. Was, whether or not these symptoms was that of a withdrawl. After doing a lot of research and talking with others, i have learned that most likely what i went through the last couple days was NOT in relations to me throwing up my evening meds. Something else in my system went bad, which is probably not unusual... but anyways, thank you for everyone's resonses!
Posted 6/29/2009 4:51 PM (GMT 0)
               Dear JennCA23,

 

     Good Morning. My name is Dani. It is very nice to meet you. *huggs* I hope you are feeling a lil bit better by today. :-)

 

i dont know, i just refuse to go to any hospital either so thats out of the question.

     Unfortunatly, the only way to tell if what you experienced was or was not withdrawl... Would be to seek medical advise. As we are all blessed to be differant and unique. Our bodys all handle things differantly & in your case the person/s who would know is your doctor.  M doctors never mind answering any questions I have, Big /small, embarrasing or otherwise.  :-)   Never hurt anyone to ask a question, esp since there is a wealth of knowladge to be found out in the world today.  :-)  

 

      I can understand not liking hospitals!At one point in my life I was bound and detrimined to make a T-Shirt read

 

"I don't like it HERE!

 

On the back

"See you next week..."

smhair   smhair   smhair   smhair   smhair  

  *huggs*

    dani

Posted 6/29/2009 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
i get very nauseous on my meds. i was taking phenergran (suppository for the vomiting days, pills the rest) but i could never shake the queasy feeling. now i am on a medicine called reglan which has been a miracle for me. i never get sick anymore. i take one when i wake up. if you are vomiting you need to see a dr, you need fluids. and it may be food poising, kidney stones, you never know. i get diverticulitis a lot (i understand the GI issues) and i am consatantly flying through the er. i know how you feel about being sick of drs, but i have learned when i can't keep my meds down, and there have been plenty where i couldn't keep them down like you, i need a dr. you have to get fluids, electrolytes and make sure there is nothing more going on. i always wait too late when it comes to going, and by then i am in pain in my back and (usually) my stomach. so please go. i don't know much about withdrawls, but i have experienced them the first time i had diverticulitis since i stayed with pain for 3 days, by the 2nd day i suspect i was having them. vomiting, cold sweats, loose bowels, shaking and restlessness. and my blood pressure was sky high. as soon as the dilaudid was iv'ed into me i felt better. so i knew it was the withdrawls as well. they are tough especially when you feel poorly as it. but please consider going, if the worst you can get some ived phenergran or zophram. get rid of the nausea so you can at least get your pills down and be comfortable. please keep us updated!
Posted 6/29/2009 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
AWE, thank you guys, EVERYONE for all your advice and replies! I appreciate what you all have to say and I know I'm being very hard-headed, but understand.. i have been through this routine SO MANY TIMES just to get disappointed even more by more doctors telling me i've got chronic, serious conditions that cannot be treated and they just pass on the buck to another doc and so fourth. It gets really hopeless for awhile and knowing me, I always get admitted and i'm so sick of living in hospitals, i hate being needled to death and i alway come home even sicker. But regardless, whatever it is, the only way i'd go is if i'm having a more harder time breathing, which right now- i seem to be doing OK. Thank you again everyone and I dont mean to sound so negative, but i feel like i can be my own doctor in the comfort of my own home and if anything really bad happens, at least i'm happy in my home with my family.
Posted 6/30/2009 2:48 AM (GMT 0)

Hi Jennca 23,

I am not sure what is causing you nausea, it could and probably is a combination of things. withdrawel from opiates could very well be a part of it, and I know exactly how you feel about hospitals and doctors, they all tell you the same thing, they don't know whats wrong and most times don't care, but I digress. All I can tell you is what I have went through. I went through withdrawel symtoms after my first back surgery, my doctor had me on Percocet & Oxycontin. When I decided I didn't want to take any more pills (which was a very bad idea!) I flushed all the pills down the toilet and within six hours started to go through withdrawels. I hurt all over, I had the chills, I was sweating, I had tremors, I threw up, I had a massive headache and that was just the first day, it lasted two whole weeks, and I have never touched Oxycontin again. My doctor has me on high doses of percocet, because I am allergic to morphine. It sounds to me like you have a whole slew of problems, so I hope this helps, take care of your self and try to make the best of it.

Regards,

 Smoochie

Posted 6/30/2009 4:25 AM (GMT 0)
As everyone here knows by now...I am going through withdrawls. An incident with my pain meds a couple nof weeks ago sent me into a spiral of hell. I mean it has been horrific to say the least. I have until the 9th when I go back for my appt at the PM...and it seems like years to me. I am used to taking 120 mg. methadone a day and 15 mg. Oxycodone every 6 hours, so taking little to nothing has been awful. WD are the worst...not only that but I am also in a great deal of pain... I would not recomend going Cold Turkey off of any meds...especially pain killers. The body just can't take it. If anybody wants to stop taking their meds they should talk to the Dr. because it is hard to do it on your own. Good Luck.

Me.
Posted 6/30/2009 3:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hi again everyone..
Uniquelyme- Just a quick question... You mentioned you are going through withdrawls right now. What are you doing to combat them? I don't intend nor plan on stopping my medications at anytime, and I know I can't anytime in the near future either and don't plan to, so thats not my issue here. But everyone talking about how hard it is to come off this stuff.... i have a question. can you actually die from withdrawls? I mean, i heard you can go into seizures and stuff like that, but can they be fatal? of course, that is, if your not in a medical setting.
anyway, just wondered about that. but again, i dont plan on stopping my meds.. i just get sick a lot and i feel awful after i am sick... so its a little different.
thank you all again!!
Posted 6/30/2009 6:40 PM (GMT 0)
Jennca,
I really feel for all you're going through, but I think you're expecting a little too much from us as far as advice. From all I recall about your posts in the past as well as from this thread, you have several heatlh issues going on and it's far too complex for any of us to sort out what may be causing your symptoms. You could have many things happening and yes, withdrawals can be dangerous especially to a body that's already compromised by other problems. I don't think just getting some experiences on the forum about withdrawl issue is what you need.

You won't seek medical assistance but you'll come here. I don't understand. I DO understand none of us is thrilled with doctors. But when you're making reference to a DNR and things like that, it sounds like there is something much more serious happening with you medically.

The best support I can give you is to at least open yourself to consulting with some doctor - a PCP, one of your specialists - someone who CAN give you medical advice. And then come here for support.

Please, reconsider having some contact with a doctor.

PaLady
Posted 6/30/2009 6:55 PM (GMT 0)
PaLady-
Again, thank you for your response, but I must repeat again and reiterate.... I AM NOT, NOT NOT NOT looking for medical advice on here. I simply was asking to those who have gone through similar experiences in dealing with withdrawls, what they were dealing with etc... I understand FULLY to contact a medical professional, so you really don't need to keep explaining that to me. Yes, I do have a lot of health problems going on, but that wasn't my intent to dwell upon.

Anyhow, thats the story. thanks.
Posted 6/30/2009 11:18 PM (GMT 0)
My doctor put me on Ultram for pain (non-narcotic) and valium for anxiety and then he gave me a shot, I am not sure what it was, but my stomach stopped feeling like something was trying to chew out of it, it was scary for me, I had never went through anything like that but with the meds and the shot and my husband by my side I pulled through it. Good luck to you and I wish you the best.
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