Is this a relapse?

[Undonn]

My brother went through ct for percocet. He was taking about 8 a day. He has a 25 year history of opiates for back pain. Finally kicked the habit after a successful taper. He ended up with an abscessed tooth and was given t-3's (10), for pain. After three days he had the tooth removed but the next week was like he was experiencing withdrawal all over again. Is he? Does short term opiate use, ten total, put you right back to the same level you were in prior the original detox?

[sudie58]

hi, it wont be at the same level as the first time, but as he has a dependancy/addiction to these meds,he would go into a short withdrawal , it wouldnt be as long or as bad, but it shows how careful you have to be when taking narcotics for pain, im afraid once an addict always an addict, i hope he is ok now, best wishes.

[bigsissie]

In my experience yes it is. One pill was enough for me to start trying to make excuses to take more. As long as your brother realizes this is happening he can keep control of it. I have managed to. It also helps to have friends and family talk to me when I start, they usually just ask if I am ok and it gives me a reminder. I never want to withdrawal from anything ever again. The withdrawals were worse than the pain I was having to take the meds for. Has your brother talked about his concerns over this? If he has you have a great opening use it. If not then maybe bring up your concerns if he is the type of person that will listen and not close up about it. Best of Luck to you

[GMcp]

i go on and off of t3 alot, and have never gone through withdrawal from them, im sure he will be just fine :)

[Undonn]

Thanks for your comments. We have talked about it and he feels the same way, that it did put him into a lesser degree of withdrawal. Seeing as he has more dental work ahead he has decided to forgo the meds and try to handle it with OTC meds if needed. Thanks again for all your help. He is trying hard to make this detox work and to never have to deal with this addiction again.

[atthebeach]

hi i see he only detoxed and tapered in march. after so many years of addiction what is he doing to prevent relapse? has he been to therapy, addiction specialists,group therapy,na/aa,church, talked to a pastor? he needs to find out what caused him to start to use in the first place and work through those demons, pains, emotional scars and start to heal, this will take alot of work on his part to have a recovery plan in place and to stick to it. i believe after years of use people are bound by chains of addiction and it becomes a spiritual battle also. he needs to do lots of things different. people, places and things and obviously he is older and has done the same things for a long time.he needs to work his recovery as hard as he worked to get high.
blessings
debbie