Oxycontin Withdrawl in Seniors

[FastEddie2008]

Hello,
I'm brand new here...so I apologize if this is not the right place for this post..

I ran across your site when doing research online about Oxycontin and the effects of long-term use.
I'm not sure that you can help us with the stage we are at, but I thought I would try anyway….because my mom, who was addicted to Oxycontin but now has been off of it for 1 week.

My mother began taking Oxycontin 3-5 years ago for back pain, and has been in a vicious cycle of going to her doctor to get Oxy RX for pain, getting more of it, abusing it, then we (family) would intervene, the doctor would decrease the Oxy for a few weeks, and over a few months she would gradually increase the oxy again until we were right back where we started.

This time she got to the point where she was physically suffering, so my dad took her into the hospital for an MRI, which turned out to be 'normal', but she stayed in the hospital for about 5 days, and the Oxycontin (along with several other medications) were stopped cold turkey.   Now after 1 week of that she was released and is at home, but her short term memory is GONE.  

Her primary care physician is basically saying she doesn't know what else to do other than refer to her psychiatrist, so she visited the psychiatrist yesterday.
I was not at that appointment but from what I was told, the psychiatrist said that the memory loss could be permanent or it could be temporary, and there is no way to tell if there is permanent brain damage.   the problem is that my dad is 73 years old and works, so it is difficult to provide the care that my mom needs, ESPECIALLY if we have no way of knowing if this is how my mom will be from now on!

Any suggestions would be appreciated…
Thanks!
Eddie

[FastEddie2008]

Thanks for all the input so far!
In answer to your question - YES, her memory WAS suddenly affected... over about a 2 day period.  she was in BAD shape when she had the MRI, but the memory thing didn't seem to start until after the MRI.   We are now in the process of searching for a Geriatric Neurologist that we can have her see...

[1234betterlife]

this does NOT sound like opiate withdrawal even in seniors, this sounds more like she has an underlying issue. was her memory suddenly affected and was this before or after her mri?

[headies]

Thats a tough one. I remember when I went through withdrawl from Oxy's my body and mind were messed up for about two weeks.  I could not drive well even sober until the physical w/d subsided. I would drive, but I would swerve and brakr too slowly. I am 28 yrs old, so I can imagine to an older person it might be worse. Things like appetite, sleep, coordination, balance, my weight, my vision were all temporarily impaired so to speak. It took about 20 days before I really felt good again. I was using about 160 mg's a day of oxycontin for six months staright.  It was torture let me tell you. Also one of the most important parts of detoxing for me was to be around my family.  I was reverted to a child mentally for about 10 days when coming off the oxy's. I also had very strange eating habits caused by the addiction, like I would only eat childhood faves like cheese pizza and chicken fingers almost every day for 10 days really strange, it changed my palette completely. It returned to normal once my brain began producing endorphins again.

The point is, opiate withdrawl can cause problems for young and old. Mine was temporary, and hopefully your mother will be the same.
However, I wish I would have had a shrink afterward's, probably is a great idea. Good luck.......

[IBKleen]

Hello and Welcome!

I wish I could help you. That is such a sad situation. I am not sure there is any way of telling if the damage is permanent or not, you may have to just wait it out.

I am hoping that she can not get prescribed anymore Oxy's...? If there is damage, it may only make it worse.

It is very quiet here this morning. Please be patient and check back as others will pot as the days goes on.

Take care of yourself.