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Addiction vs Chronic Pain Control
by busylady, Mar 03, 2003 12:00AM
I've been reading the board for a while but this is my first time posting. My question is how do you know when you have gone from taking your meds for real pain to just using them because your addicted to them. I never take more than prescribed. I don't call and ask for early refills. Some days I take more than others because some days I don't take any at all.
If I am using them for the wrong reasons I really want to know. I am also very afraid of dealing with the pain that brought me to the meds in the first place. Any input you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
If I am using them for the wrong reasons I really want to know. I am also very afraid of dealing with the pain that brought me to the meds in the first place. Any input you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Post Comment
If you take them as prescribed and never need early refills, it sounds like you're OK. As long as you really have legit pain. If you feel in any way that it is getting out of control, make sure you tackle the problem now rather than later.
It's good that you are looking at this now.
It is a good thing that you are looking at this, I know how hard it is to live with chronic pain and in my case it did turn into a fullblown addiction and reached a point where I would take 30 pills in 4 days and be calling for refills.
Would you believe I was able to get refills that early!! Once I realized how easy it was I kept doing it. At some point it crossed the line into addiction and once there happens it is almost impossible to turn back.
You don't want to get to that point and I am not saying that it will ever happen but just keep track of how many you take and maybe look into other alternatives for dealing with your pain.
Best of luck to you
Golden Slipper
DO YOU TAKE THE MEDICATION WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN PAIN?
DO YOU HAVE A CHRONIC TYPE PAIN?
HAVE YOU DEVELOPED A TOLERANCE THAT CAUSES YOU TO USE MORE OF THE SUBSTANCE TO CONTROL PAIN,THAN WHEN STARTED??
I only take the meds when I am in pain which is most days. I have been on the same dose for about 4 or 5 years no increase no change except to a breakthrough med with less tylenol. One med is a timed release so even though I am suppose to take daily I don't. Still use the same doc and pm doc. Still use the same pharmacy. Always use my insurance and never try to hide any of these things from anyone.
At the outset of your initial post, I thought, no prob for her.
But the statement you made in 1st paragr., last sentence struck me as very "telling" even on my first read.
"Some days I take more than others because some days I don't take any at all".
To me, that single sentence spoke volumes but I may well have mis-read it or your intention.
What it said to me was you occasionally took more BECAUSE other days you didn't take any.
As far as I know, we *should* only take pain meds when we need them for pain. No pain? Skip it & who cares how many are left or when your next refill is due? If in pain, take it until you get on top of it.
Your statement read to me that pain doesn't always have anything to do with your usage & *that* is a classic sign of problem usage.
Oh, and I'm been quite a problem user myself & I do hope you won't take offense at what I've said here. I just felt it behooved me to be honest.
I'm sure I'm wrong but that wouldn't be the first time!
All the best,
Dancing in the Dark
Dancing...
I believe it to be the silliest and stupidest thing to NOT do after an Ultra Rapid Opiate Detox. Only now, since I started Revia TODAY, have I learned what it in fact is and the chemical effects and counter-effects on the brain after long-term opiate use. I underwent Ultra Rapid Opiate Detox on 4/20/02, but began to struggle with relapse approximately 6-7 months later. Prior to detox, I was at approximately 600 mg/day of Oxycontin, prescribed by my Doctor and paid for by Workers Compensation Insurance. My spine had some minor injuries that were horrifically magnified because I began to self-administer Opium by smoking it to reduce my pain levels. At the age of 25, my ignorance prevented me from seeing the slippery slope I had just embarked on, and the cost was not an obstacle. (Ironically, the cost was not a problem because I had been working so hard, which is why my spine was injured...The Irony of Life)
The chemical manipulation ones brain undergoes while under heavy opiate use is quite significant. For Revia to be able to rapidly return the brain to its original "pre-addicted" stage is VERY important for the individual that has no physical craving for the drug at all to KNOW. In this case, it is purely physiological.
To throw the term "psychological" around without really thinking about the manipulation ones brain undergoes after being administered 400-600 mg/day of Oxycontin as a substitute for the self-administer of Opiate analgesia resulting from trauma to the spine, creates a sense of naivety about the treatment course and education required for those that are physically dependant due to injury, and not psychologically dependant due to drug abuse. There is an important distinction to make, if only because the former may believe himself to have a strong will and believes, ignorantly, that he can prevent a relapse on his own.
Until the chemistry in the brain is changed back to the way it was, the physically dependant will struggle with possible relapse as does the psychological addict, but they are not one and the same in structure, but surely both are just as important. Unfortunately, the psychological addict will have a longer struggle.
But it is the duty of the medical profession to make this distinction and educate their patients when appropriate, for this tiny bit of logical education about the effects naltrexone has on reducing the number of opiate receptors in the brain, can be the difference between life and death for many.
I Thank God for granting me the wisdom to see the ignorance in my ways, and allowing me to return to my true path in life. Not just once, but whenever I have asked.
PH