Would you ever take pills if you got hurt/had surgery, etc?

[lady_m]

What if you (God forbid) got hurt or had surgery, etc.  Would you take narcotic pain medication?  Is there a situation that you would because you felt it was necessary?  I know I shouldn’t be putting the carriage before the horse here, that I should be taking this one day at a time.  But I keep wondering that.  What if I blew my knee out?  What if I broke my ankle?  Could I ever trust myself to take it?  Would that first pill lead me down the very same path I’m on now?

[TimH2]

I always think about that and I would take them after surgery. I just can't stand to be in pain and I always have had a high tolerance (before abuse) to all medications. I agree that you are putting the cart before the horse. When I try to quit, I always think about that. I just pray that I am not in that position.

Tim

[GA Guy]

This is a great thread. Especially the advice to those recovering to not go back to the dosages we were taking before we quit. I can remember countless times where I'd take 1...then another 15 minutes later when it didn't kick in fast enough. I do know that if I ever HAVE to take these things again, I'll stick with low dosages. I'm sure that now, just 2 weeks clean, that my tolerance has dropped enough that my old amounts would probably cause me to OD. This is something I bet a lot of us don't even think about.

[lady_m]

When I tapered I only did it for a week.  I had a huge habit and my last day I took 2 vic 5/500s.  I had some blahs and slight w/d's, but nothing bad enough to even miss work for.  Not even after I completely stopped.  My tolerance dropped quicker than it skyrocketed during my use.

[liscamdave]

Oh gosh, I am sure it would be. I was always afraid of that too. I have a bad knee and always thought to myself that if I were to get really hurt that I would need a **** load of pain meds to feel no pain. What a world we live..huh? I know that every time I detoxed the pamphlet always stated to never take your usual dosage if you relapsed...that an o/d could come into play...So your tolerance does drop quickly, Look at the people who taper, with some it takes a few days, so thereto your tolerance is dropping...
xo, Lisa

[road2recovery]

thanks that is good to know...maybe i should of tapered before my surgery...i think if someone has a planned surgery, that is the best thing to do..Because it is pure hell when the meds don't work...i would take w/d's Anyday, then that....
R2R

[liscamdave]

Like I said, I stopped for 40 days and my tolerance went from 1000mg to 20mg....It drops fairly quick...

Lisa

[road2recovery]

That is a good question...i have no idea..But maybe someone will know..i dont' want to be like that either..i have watched someone i love suffer and die with cancer,, and pain meds did not touch, she abused them all her life..SO SCARY...But then I think maybe i need to stop smoking these damn cigerettes, ONE thing at a time..:)
R2R

[road2recovery]

i think you are right...And everything i have read was DO not think you can take the same amount if you start again...That is why they say that most movie stars, singer etc, that OD'D was not on purpose...it was not suicidal..They had stopped and their tolerence dropped and then they binged...SO i think that makes sense and we cannot go there....

[GA Guy]

I often wonder how long it would take for my normal tolerance levels to return. My Dad's on pain meds for his back (isn't abusing them...using as prescribed), but recently went into the hospital and was in sever pain that morphine and dilaudid didn't help for long. I don't wanna be like that. I still wonder how long until I get at least a respectable tolerance back up??

[lady_m]

I’ve heard that it actually drops pretty fast.  I don’t know how much truth to that there is, but I was told by more than one person that that is a big cause of ODing.  People stop using for a short while and when they start again they take the same amount they were using before not realizing their tolerance had gone down and their body couldn’t handle the same amount it always had before.  I know from my personal experience that after I quit my tolerance dropped.  I had gone from countless Oxys a day, or 50+ vicodin a day, etc.  Then after a couple of months I popped two vicodin and FELT it.  

[liscamdave]

I too, think that all the time. I can tell you this, when I was almost 40 some odd days clean and decided to take a pill, cause I thought I wasn't psychially addicted anymore, I came to find that my tolerance dropped drastically. I went from being able to eat 10-15  80mg Oxy's a day, to taking a quarter of 1 oxy, 20mgs, and it made me feel just as good. I wish I hadn't done it right after, cause the next morning I felt a little tired, but learned my lesson. I think that a recovering addict wouldn't have a problem with a low dosage being able to do its job, the problem lies in not abusing the pills again. I think if something were to happen to me, that I could follow as perscribed, but my tolerance would grow more rapidly and I would then abuse, as I have already. Plus, I never needed a script, my drug use was purely recreational. WHo knows....

xo, Lisa

[lady_m]

Omg that is so true.  Not too long ago I was in the hospital and they had given me a shot of something and later 2 vicodin and it didn't touch the pain.  I had to have my husband bring me my stash of pills to the hospital so I could take my own stuff in addition to what they were giving me.  Scary.

But when we stop, doesn't our tolerance go back down?

[road2recovery]

I have read it does..And i hope that is true.....you know i had some in my purse too, the bad thing was i  have never told anyone, and there was family in my room the entire 10 days...It was HELL...And there was everyone saying..Damn if i was on that much morphine i would be sleeping day and night..YEA right...but still my own fault!!
R2R

[road2recovery]

i don't think you are putting the carriage before the horse..i have thought about that many times..but like you said one day at a time..i will tell you what scares me more then that, and this helps me not to think of that..When your tolerence is so high , if you are in real pain( and i mean real pain) it will take so much more to take the pain away...But doctors, nurses , hospitals don't care about that...I was recently in the hospital, and the morphine drip wasn't cutting it..i WAS in so much pain, all because my torlerence was so high..I really though i was going to die..Then the nurse comes in and says ok" we are going to add 1 7.5mg lortab every 4 hours" ....Right there i knew i had to get off this ****..So havign to take them again for real pain doesn't scare me as much as really being in REAL pain and nothing touches it because i am taking too many...
Hope this helps
Keep fighting the fight..seem likes you are doing great
R2R