Hi. New to this site.

[bandnmom]

Hi. I am a 32 yr old wife and mother of 2 small kids. I had gotten lyme disease 9 yrs ago and since it to so long to get the diagnosis the lyme disease did some damaged my body. the worst of it is the joint pain. I have pain all the time in my hands, wrists, knees and back. My RA bood work comes back negative but with my history and family history of RA they treat me as if I have RA anyway. My question to all of you is this, and I am going to be totally honest, I take meds for my arthritis and my doctor also has been giving me Vicodin for the pain for about 3 years now. Well needless to say I have become addicted to it and recently admitted it to myself and stopped taking the vicodin. Well my arthritis is so bad. I am in pain and have trouble getting comfy at night becuase of the pain. I am so stiff also and the weather doesnt help (I live just outside of CHI). What are some other options to help with the pain? I am willing to try anything. I have been doing yoga for excercise. I even read online that drinking a glass of pineapple juice a day will help. All it did for me was give me a cold sore. ( I get those when I get to much citric acid in my system). Also cut back on red meat intake and started eating more fish. Willing to try anything!! Any and all ideas and comments are appeciated. Thanks!

[Jaybay]

bandnmom, I'm sorry you decided to stop taking the vicodin since it apparenty helped your pain.  You need to understand that there is a big difference between addiction and physical dependence where opiate therapy is concerned.  Addiction is a mental illness; physical dependence and tolerance are normal side effects of taking opiates on a regular basis.  You will experience withdrawal symptoms if the drug is suddenly discontinued.  This is important: experiencing withdrawal does NOT mean you are an addict.

A patient who takes more meds than prescribed, and for reasons other than pain control is going down the road to a true addiction.  To make matters even more confusing, some patients exhibit what is called pseudo-addiction behavior.  They will doctor shop trying to get pain meds.  Does this necessarily mean they are addicts?  No.  In many of these patients, they are simply dealing with untreated or undertreated pain.  When the pain is treated, the behavior stops.  An addict won't stop looking for more and more drug sources even if the pain is under control.

It doesn't sound as though you were taking a whole lot of the vicodin.  Why not just use it at night so you can get some sleep?  I have pretty bad arthritis in my hips, and it's always worse at night - I'll wake up every hour or so, and some nights sleep is impossible.  Soaking in a hot bath is about all that helps me when that happens.

[bandnmom]

Anyone?