Prescribed Narcotics

Hi ! I am prescribed a couple narcotics, and I do not feel the need to abuse them, but I do feel as if I will not be able to function in life without them. I know its like a crutch, thats what my family always tells me (they also call me an addict which really gets under my skin, and is why I am asking this question). Does this make me an addict, the fact that I cant even comprehend the idea of living life without these narcotics? I personally do not think this makes me an addict, I think drugs are prescribed for a reason although I do regret ever taking benzodiazepines on a daily bases (but too late, the damage has been done, and I have excepted that, and I probably would not enjoy living with the anxiety I had prior to my benzos so i am not really complaining). I would like to here what others think about my situation. Do you consider me an addict?

[Life360]

Other than for pain our bodies and minds are made to function without meds. If you take them for other reasons and believe you function better with them, i would say you are an addict. Be very careful what you are doing, the more you take the more you need and eventually they will not work at all. If you want to test to see how addicted you are try stopping cold turkey today and send a post tomm to let use know the results. I felt the same as you as was eating them like candy. They do make you function better however in the short term but eventually the parties over!!

[GarbageAddict360]

I would think that if you NEED any medication to function that you would be considered an addict.  I know this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but needing anything to function is never a good sign.  The fact that you are also on multiple narcotics doesn't help the anti-addiction case either.  I agree with Life360.  If you were to stop all together the tall tale signs of addiction will come full circle and you will see how your body actually NEEDS those drugs.  It is a hard realization, but all too apparent.  What is the reason that you are prescribed them in the first place? How long have you been taking these medications?  Do you ever take more than prescribed? On a side note, many narcotics can not be taken with benzos especially if they are pain killers.  Just something you may want to follow up with your pharmacist about.

[caycay46]

I appreciate the comment and agree with you to a certain extent, I am going to attempt to not take one of them today and see what happens. I have gone cold turkey before (coming of Klonopin for about a week and half STARTING A NEW JOB!), and I became completely psychotic. Usually I don't feel the withdraw from Klonopin until the second or third day though so I will try that out THANK YOU for the advice, and i will send a post most definitely.

I agree with you that the benzos should not be a long term drug due to the severe adverse side effects. But I dont feel the same about opiates (for they are naturally binding to the receptors in the your brain, god made opium for a reason! but they should be used with caution). I dont know what to think about amphetamines?? All i know is they help me function...

[caycay46]

I take Klonopin for anxiety (i suffer from general anxiety and also experience panic attacks, but have not lately). I am also prescribed amphetamine salts, which I started using for ADD a while back. Thats all I am on now. I also take remeron, but am ready throw the script in the trash can because I seem to have 0 effect from it anymore (its quite strange). So suppose one was on an SSRI, which you also become physically dependent on, does that made SSRI users addicts, thats what throws me off??

[caycay46]

another thing- SSRIS make me want to vommit all over the place otherwise i would consider using them for anxiety instead of the evil benzos!

[bamabred]

Cay,hey buddy nobody wants to her the word addict,BUT like the above two really good posts,if you take meds for ANY reason other then prescribed then sorry BAD NEWS.But you seem to be worried about this so i would stop meds see if you withdraw,and think do you really want to spend te rest of your life this way?Im a addict from WAY back and this is a life long road,wish you luck post back! :)

[Life360]

Cay there are a couple of things i have learned from all this. I was taking 8 norcos a day 10mg for over  4 years  and over the past 38 days have tapered down to 2 1/2 so i do speak from some drug experience. When i first started the taper i noticed that on day one and two that my body was craving the drug to function. It was something out of my control, my body desperatly needed it and over the first 8 hours was litteraly shuting down, and i was in affect dying! Also there was a mental tradition of popping the pills, also now a new thing started which was to avoid withdrawal. So i had 3 new things going on in my life, my body dying in and of itself, the mental tradition of popping, and avoidance of with drawal (which is not the same as my body needing them). You say you function better on drugs but are only functioning for increased energy with all the baggage now attached. I think if we need more energy better to exersize, eat well and get involved in becoming a financial success!

[vicki595]

Hi there-   If you weren't on all these meds you'd be able to see how much you're in denial. You're a polysubstance abuser with some shaky rationlizations...

You know you have a problem but it's not up to anyone to tell you you're an addict. You'll need to decide that for yourself.

You need to be vey careful stopping the Klonopin. Cold turkey wd's often lead to seizures. It's much better to taper off and go slowly with a benzo. The one you take has a long half life so that's why you don't feel much for three days except for the beginning of psychosis. It's just dangerous to stop abruptly.

SSRIS are not very effective when you take narcotics. It could be that you'd be a lot less anxious if you didn't have so much artificial stimulation confusing your brain's ability to produce chemicals on its own.  Try tapering off the benzo and getting away from whatever else you're taking. That would be the true test of addiction.

[bamabred]

hey buddy,hang tough it will get better i swear!Stay on this forum and keep talking,because if you are talking you are not eating pills,right? GOOD LUCK!!!      I feel te need to add ROLL TIDE!!!  Next week Football!!

[mary577]

Opiates may be natural but so are a lot of other things that aren't necessarily good for us.   I took hydrocodone for legitimate pain but could see, after about five years, the dosage going up and up.   I didn't want to quit them.   Even though I was raised to not take medicine unless you really need it...I loved those little yellow 10/325s.   I didn't ever want to quit taking them.   I figured they helped me and so I could rationalize their use.  I started taking 2 a day and ended up taking 5 a day, which still isn't huge compared to how many some people take, but every 2 to 3 hours, I was starting to need one.  Not for the pain.   I would get nauseated and irritable.   As soon as I took a pill, the nausea disappeared.  I felt all relaxed and happy and I would go out in my yard and putter around or do my housework and just be as happy as a clam.  But in a couple of hours, nausea would come back and again, I would get irritable.   If I went somewhere and didn't have some pills with me, I would get terrible anxiety.

So maybe I wasn't an addict but if I wasn't, I was well on the way to becoming one.   I had to say....is this how I want to live?   Dependent on a
f***ing little yellow pill?   Oh, but heck no!   Like a lot of people, I was afraid of withdrawal.   But I read here, and said, I am a lot tougher than any little yellow pill and I will quit.   And I did.   That simple.   I felt lousy for about a week and it took a month for me to want to get up and work, but I feel better now than I have in years and the pain I was medicating myself for....is almost a non issue.   Yes, sometimes I want to take another one.   It crosses my mind just about every evening when I go out to feed my animals and I am tired from being on my feet all day.   But, I am stronger than that.   I will not let a little pill control my life.

Anyway, just wanted to tell you from my perspective and welcome you to the forum.    And I wish you luck.

[Fireby29]

Cay, it seems you have gotten some good advice here, so I will only speak to one point.

When you say narcs bind to the opiate receptors in our brains that is true.  And in the short term it eases anxiety and releases endorphins from there that block pain to some extent.  The problem is that over time our brain become dependent on these concentrated human processed opiates to function, and our natural endorphins end up gone.  Not to mention how ragged these receptors end up also.  That is why our brains scream for the stuff when it is not there.  Opiates WRECK our brains, and it takes a long time to get them healed up after you quit.  

Bryan

Bryan

[MidLifeLoner]

Hi I am new here in this site. I have posted twice yesterday and I haven't heard from anyone. I'm not sure if I am posting correctly?!?!

[ricart70]

Hi Midlife
Go to the top of the page and click the little orange block that says post a question.You will then get to have your own thread.Hope this helps  :)

[Ben727]

Hey MidLife, I see this is your third try to post, please don't get discouraged as this site will help you a lot! I have seen two ladies posting about your exact situation in the last few days, you will get a ton of support!

The good news is that if you're reading this, you are one easy step from posting in the right place. Ricart is exactly right, but I want to make sure you get your post made! Scroll to the top of this page. You will see an orange rectangular button that says "Post A Question". Click it. Enter your title and enter the body of your post and hit "Submit" once. You will know you did it right when the screen refreshes and it shows your post but you can't edit it. You can always copy and paste what you've already written if you know how to do that. I am not an admin on this site, but there is no technical question I can't help with. Click my name and send me a message if there is anything technical you need help with!

[caycay46]

WOW thanks for all this feedback. I am coming to the conclusion that if you are dependent on narcs that instantly makes you an addict? Well I can easily admit that I am an addict if that is the case.

I am starting a new job and have NO desire to come of my narcs so that wont be happening anytime soon! But instead of being a stubborn ******* and refusing to ween of the benzos, I am considering take that step at another point in my life.

If I could make the decision I would immediately switch myself to an efficient dose of oxycodone, and go cold turkey of the benzos (which absorbs long periods of time suffering when that would not be the case while on an opiate), but I do not call the shots in the doctors office unfort...

Opiate withdraw is a cakewalk compared to benzodiazepines, and I have been through it so many times in my life its like human nature. Benzo withdraw on the other hand scares me !!

Last night I seriously went into psychosis, and i am pretty sure I was experiencing benzo withdraw or something. I cant think rationally during benzo withdraw, thats why I need the opiates to calm my mind and body! that prob wont happen when it comes time to come off them. O WELL

Marijuana needs to be legalized in my state ASAP haha (solves all your problems at once and does not cause severe dependence!)

[marycarmel]

I hope you don't regret being so flip about all this.  Dependence is when your body physically needs the drugs or you go into withdrawals.  Addiction has the mental component as well.  I'm not sure why you take narcotics? What kind of physical pain do you suffer from?  Sometimes the pain increases due to narcotics.  You're playing a dangerous game.  If you really need narcotics for pain, that's one thing.  But narcotics are made for moderate to severe post-surgical pain and moderate to severe chronic pain.  I had severe pain and was on a boatload of meds but the fear of addiction was enough to get me off them (thanks to people here.)  I still have the pain and some days think about taking something but I stick to prescription gels, patches, and lots of ibuprofen.  Usually it takes the edge off enough for no one else to notice I have pain.  

[vicki595]

Well, this is a substance abuse forum...

There is a pain management forum where you may feel "more at home".

Are you weaning off the benzos?

There is not a dependency issue with SSRIs although they need to be tapered off much like many meds. It's an issue with brain chemicals.

[marycarmel]

The pain management forum is a great suggestion.  I use it, though it's not as active as it used to be, but still some very knowledgeable people on it.