Using after detox and quitting

[worried878]

Saw tis in the social section where naughty posted and this fact has been bothering me about this forum...This is a bit more tedious than the others posted there...we have people come on here..go thru detox, then use again for things like hurt wrists, root canals, fairly simple laparoscopic surgeries and get oxys to help with pain...things like this are usually resolved with OtC meds or at the most darvacets after a laparoscopic surgery in my area...the patient would be extremly lucky to get 10 tylox and go home that day or the next day...in my area a patient would have to be almost terminal to be getting oxys for anything...like dying of cancer and the drugs and comfort/quality of life is chosen over the harmfullness of the drugs..pain is a part of life but addicts have to be more careful and perhaps do not tolerate pain well and feel they need these high grade narcotics for any trauma or surgery...I have a chronic back problem with a fusion and sometimes this forum seems like if u r hurting then u have to take your pills, just responsibly...but the pills they choose are relly heavy duty and can make people think..."my wrist hurts, my tooth hurts, i am havig an inpatient surgery"  I need oxycontin...oxycodone and oxycontin are strong and for severe pain and used here for cancer patients or those with no quality of life..I am a nurse and a patient advocate ...but i think we need to be sure of the messages we are sending out here...you would need to be in a dire situation to use the narcs agin...it is ok to reach out...and ask for support...just find it a bit worrisome as most on here are in some sort of chronic pain...position being that we have to learn to deal with pain without narcotics if we want to remain clean  except in very severe circumstances...I hope I was not rambling but with narcotics there is a fine line...i have broken my arm , sprained my wrist,twisted my ankle, numerous stitches, had 2 children, several surgeries, migraine headaches, dislocated ribs all without narcotics afterwards....really just wanted to post as the need for narcotics to solve things is always popping its ugly head on here...love the forum...i do have to be careful to read with a grain of salt at times ...or I find myself actually thinking.."well dern vern, perhaps I need some pills for this"
Alot of us including myself, have a pain problem..mostly chronic in nature, but i used the pills for the wrong reasons at the end...i think wee need to be careful and be double, triple sure we are not seeking excuses to use...have we tried every other avenue available to us before we resort back to the handy candy?

[LIZZIE LOU]

it's called "addictive behaviour" and "justification".

the continued abuse of opiates muck with the neuro transmitters of the brain...making it hard to "distinguish" what is real pain and/or the level of pain that ones body can handle.

here's where the "addictive behaviour" comes to play.  an addict will almost automatically reach for the pain pills to control their pain...never even considering trying an otc product first.

"but my pain is soooooooo damned bad and i cannot bear it"...this is the justification of the addictive behaviour.

is there a difference between being clean and being sober?  sure there is!  being clean is being free of drugs...being sober is a way of life.

[allaboutmary]

I have to say this is one good thing about being on Suboxone.  It's just not an option for me to take pain pills.  Yesterday when I got home from work I was in such awful pain. I could barely walk.  I took 3 Advil, put my heat pack on and layed down for an hour.  Got up feeling much better. Still hurting but it was bearable.
I am required to carry a card in my wallet that says I'm on Suboxone and that I can't have pain meds. I incase I am in an accident or something.
The Sub is giving me time to retrain my brain not to run for pain pills all the time.  I do still run for the bottle of Advil though.lol
It's amazing what you can tolerate, when the pain pills are just not an option.

[worried878]

I see many patient who are able to have a lumbar fusion and stay on very light meds..perhaps a narcotic post op then they go home on darvacet or something of that nature..My grandfather took naporsyn for his fusion and was walking the next day..my x-husband who had a dadwho was an alcoholic will not take pills..he had an infected gall bladder removed a couple of weeks ago and managed without narcotics...just saying there are ways to make it...I am going to have a hysterectomy in a few months and talked about it with the md...she said the first day while I am still in the hospital they will give me something IV, the next day  I should be ok without narcotics...I have had an abdominal exploratory laparoscopy and did not need pain pills after that..I was just getting scared that reasons may come up that i would have to have them as I have alot of medical issues...I think most all of it can be avoided

[usarmymedic1]

agree with that i have had 2 back surgeries tht did not take I have OH and scar tissue comressing 1/3rd of my spinal cord and also compressing the L3-L4, L4-L5and L5-S1 nerve roots I say all of this becouse I take Naprosin for this pain now that I am off the meds and it is not everyday that I have to take that.. also in my job I am doing max assist transfers of patients ranging from 100lbs to 250lbs and I have had them try and sit down or there knees buckle on me and I am stuck there holding that weight this hurts but I use the naprosin for the pain. I want to never have to use that stuff agian that is why I am putting off my spinal fussion until I am sure I am completely off this stuff so I don't go give me give me give me.

I have also seen patients with RSD ( chornic pain syndrome ) that don't use narcs everyday try heat try ice try everything you can before asking for narcs and remember pain is the way your body tells you to stop but there is also a level of pain that everybody can still be functional it is defferant for everyone but thereis a level that can be and should be handled becouse it limits you in that area so not to reinjury our self. just my opinion .... lol

[newmanagment]

funny, i can smoke an ounce of cocaine, but wont take an advil for a headache. i got shot, refused all pain meds, except wut they gave me to knock me out for surgeries. but no morphine or ne thing in ambulance or er. i think pain is an emotion, and i like to try to think my way past it, sometimes i even relish it like joy or happiness. i use it to my advantage, an my wife says im cukoo!! i just feel for the most part that pain is a feeling, and i am the master of my feelings. some will totally disagree, and i know that most dont feel this way,im just different like that. as for using too hard of pills for certain thing, i have noticed that too. like where you are, docs dont prescribe that hard of meds for lil stuff. 800 mg iboprofen, tylenol 3s and stuff like that are more the rule around here. i try not to hand out advice on pills, but i think that some of these issues can be resolved without the heavy narcotics. just ramblin , guess i betta go to bed.... LOL

[catmagnet]

WHEN, not IF I get off this stuff completely, I will never go back to this! It's already destroyed enough of my life, and I went through a couple of surgeries before without this stuff. Even if I have to see a Shaman Healer, I'm not doing this again! I think the painful memory of all this will be vivid enough to keep me from going back. I actually was classified as an alcoholic for years by my psych at the time, although I argue that point, because I finally got sick enough from it to just stop! And I can have an occasional drink now and then, so I'm not even sure I was an alcoholic...but I do know I'm an addict and always will be... that never goes away... I'll always have to be careful now...

[GoingToMakeIt]

This is a good thought provoking post. I have never looked at it that way before.