Good Ol' Oxycontin........

Hi all and I want to extend my thanks and appreciation for all I have read so far. I must say I can agree with, understand, feel, et.al. as to what you're going through and/or been through. Go figure I end up the same.....
Just as most, this started as legitimate and even current treatment, however my objective of stopping the use of these is to TRULY get a feel for how much pain I am in and what the minimum is to control it. I have Fibromyalgia, Degen Disc Disease, and peripheral neuropathy. There are worst days than others, some better days than others - however the doses of the extended-release remained the same and I simply took less of, or more of, the breakthrough.
I take 40MG Oxycontin twice a day and Percocet 10's up to 4X/day for BT pain. Again, the BT med "depends". Well, all this 'depending' has gotten ridiculous. I already have this 'fog' and what-not from the diseases themselves and I don't need to be in a medicated fog.

Nevertheless, in the last 3 days, I have cut out the Percocet altogether, and am now only taking 1 of the 40MG's in the AM. I will say I now know what W/D is - and that happens almost every early AM, around 3AM, and lasts until about 2 hours after taking the oxycontin, so approx. 6 hours of the wonderful W/D's. Some days it was worse than others, some days better. However the symptoms appear EVERY time like clockwork. This AM, I decided to half the dose - as I was reading about the tapering - and seems that was enough to 'stop the madness' at least for the time being. The bigger question of the century is How in the heck do you get to the end? I've spoken with my 2 physicians who are willing to RX lower-dose meds and the other wants to RX down to a Norco, but to me that is defeating the purpose and just 'lengthening' the process.

In all seriousness, I know I will need something but I am just SICK of having to live this way, everyday, dependent upon medications that I was NEVER informed would be so damn addictive. I don't even know if I am an addict or just dependent - and that scares me too. Had I known now what i knew then, i would have NEVER started the long-acting ones - just stuck with what I had - but because of having to increase to due tolerance, I was left with no choice. I don't really blame the Dr's for all this as I DID have a choice, but then again we put our faith and expertise in them. I'm not looking to blame, just looking for a way to get to this "final step" without jeopardizing my healthcare, Medicaid, etc. for an alleged "non-compliance" by failing to take RX'd meds.

I know there are ALOT more serious issues out there and people alot worse off however I hope you understand that ultimately, we all go through the same thing at the end... For what it is worth, I do praise and admire those who turned their lives around, are turning their lives around, and like me are trying to turn their lives around. Like I said I just don't want to keep on living on the stuff, the only way to know just how much pain I really DO have is by stopping these for a while, and if it means some additional suffering for a while, I guess that is the consequence.

Thanks for all who decide to reply; I truly appreciate any/all responses regardless. Take care.

[vicki595]

Hi and welcome!
Many folks do what you're doing to assess their level of pain. It's an intelligent thing to do and you may find you need a lower dose of pain med to get the relief you need.
Now,you're kind of yo-yoing with the pain med and you'll stay in withdrawals,which is a real drag.  If you're up to it,you might try just stopping the pills altogether for a few weeks. Talk with the doctor about it.  But,this will give you a better handle on the pain
and then you may be just fine with Norco.   If you decide to stop for a bit,there are many otc's and vitamins you can take to be a bit more comfortable but you'll still have withdrawals. Probably won't be too bad but it's relative...
Keep posting~
Vicki

[n85102]

Hi Vicki and thank you for taking your time to respond to me.

You have enlightened me with the "other folks doign this" in order to get a true feeling of their actual pain level. Afterall, we have had is masked for so long how would we really know? Stopping them for a few days does not help due to the (now that I know) added withdrawal stuff. At age 32, I'm a guy that never thought I would have gotten to this point. Then again, I'm sure none of do.

As for this 'yo-yoing' part you mentioned: I'm assuming this means taking the small dose which in turn is 'just enough' to stop the withdrawal process for a while, however this does not prove a permanent solution? I see your point if that is the case. Given today is so far a pretty good day pain wise (even though it is raining which is odd), I'm speculating that the 'low dose' satisfied both pain & W/D. There are too many variables, I know....

You made a good point too on just stopping them altogether for a while - which I may have done too soon in the game - and that's where I found out about the whole withdrawal thing. I know, what 32 year old guy is THAT naive - but I was/am - and now I get to pay the price for such. Who would have thought that after 8+ years I never once worried about this sort of thing simply because I wasn't an "abuser" or "overdoing it". Obviously no one is immune from this - and some must learn the hard way. What happened last week with just stopping them was god-awful!!! Talk about a rude awakening!! That is when I started these hunts for answers, talked to the Dr.'s, and what has me pretty frustrated and irritated is their lack of concern given the situation. AFter reading about not 'substituting' one for another, that's basically what they want to do.....

Nevertheless, I guess a dose of the flu isn't going to kill me. Living in the pain I have (or dont have as much of), fatigue, and all the other 'crap' that comes along with the diseases, a few days of the flu could be totally worth it.

Thanks again Vicki and take care as well. Most appreciated!

[vicki595]

You're welcome~
Keep posting with whatever is going on...if you're going to stop for awhile we can offer a lot of support and ideas to get you through it.   There are some wonderful people on the forum!   So,be secure in knowing you've found a safe place!
Also,take a look at the health pages,upper right corner. There's a lot of info there that can be very helpful. Post with any questions~

Vicki

[worried878]

I sposedly have fibromyalgia as well...DDD with a fusion at c5c6 and they wanna do another but i refused.
I also took the narcotic ride...up to 100 mgs of hydro a day or more if i had em for 5 yrs....I was not given scips to the amount of medication u get daily..Where I live they r not pro-narcotic at all...most drs are very wary of RX-ing narcs or anti-anxiety stuff like xanax long term...I was prescribed.not even 1/4 of of what you are prescribed..so i resorted to buying and trading...was going broke qickly..cos tolerence just keeps getting worse..more and more and more of those puppies...they really do not do anything directly for pain..it interrputs the signals to ur brain so that u just dont really care
I stopped hydro...gosh...i will have to look..it was feb of 2008..so over 2 yrs ago..havent thought about it in a while!  time flies!  I tried tapering but it did not work for me so I ct-ed...3-4 days without and my physical was over..back to work day 5...mental hit me hard tho and lasted 2-3 mths....I am not sure if u r an addict or not..or only physically addicted....i was a true addict....if u r not it will be lots easier as the mental aspect will not hit u so hard and to me the physical was the easy part.  I stocked up on the thomas recipe and read the health pages...learned what to do and exercised each day for endorphin release..it saved me...immodium did too.  (:  and meetings and posting here to keep me strong

Do u use for nrg?  or do u get sleepy when u take them?  perhaps neither if u been on em awhile
true direct forms of pain relief include ice, heat, massage, stretching, correct posture, chiropractic,, i get injections 2-3 times a year, anti-inflammatories, drugs like gabapentin, and even muscle relaxers have a direct pain relief effect if tightness is an issue.  I also found yoga and find it to be my greatest source of pain relief...got my instructor license and love my yoga

good luck to u..keep posting here..lots of support

[n85102]

Hey there -

Thank you as well for the time to respond. I don't want to appear backwards however I did want to answer your questions first.
#1, I do not get ANY energy whatsoever - from anything for that matter. That is part of this horrid battle w/Fibro - you're constantly tired, no energy, your body and muscles feel 10X heavier. I'm 126 lbs, 5'10" and was 5'11" a year ago (just found out maybe 2 months ago!).
#2, I do get somewhat more 'groggy' especially after taking a breakthrough one. Up until I did the research, I just attributed this to the issues - now I realize that this could be indicative of "overdoing it", hence this whole process I'm doing.
#3, everything you listed I have done and/or am doing. Baths are THE BEST form of relief outside of "western medicine". Once in a while the baths do more harm than good, but moreso GOOD!! Hardest part is getting  in/out of the dang tub LOLOL!

All i know is I blame myself for not taking control of my health, i.e. voicing my opinions and speaking up, much much sooner. I put all the trust into the doctors, then when I could not work anymore, had no insurance, had to get Medicaid which was another battle. With Medicaid, this required the doctor-switching and both them and myself getting used to each other. Evidently I took for granted the previous relationships given the knowledge of the conditions. Then again, it's their jobs to READ all the documents in my records - at least the most recent. This isn't the first time I've mentioned this 'adventure' I'm now on...

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write and you take it easy yourself. I'll do my best to keep advised :):). Thanks again!!