opiate abuse

[Dahliagirl]

Hi Everyone. I'm new here and wanted your opinions on the long term effects of opiate abuse. Just to give you some background, I was clean from all opiates for about 6 six years. for the last three or four years of my 12 yr  addiction to lortab 10's, I was up to about 40 a day. I quit cold turkey. This was the only option for me. This is probably the reason I haven't relapsed. Here is my question. Six years with no opiates, my x boyfriend broke my jaw and about 12 teeth. Out of surgery they were giving me enough morphine to kill a horse. It didn't touch my pain. I have since learned that once you screw your system up with opiates, you never get any relief from the meds again. I found this to be true when my jaw was broken. My fear is dealing with pain now that I know thats true. At the time my jaw was broken,  I hadn't taken any opiates in 6 years and it wasn't doing anything for my pain. I have heard about a procedure called rapid detox. They claim that after that procedure you're like an opiate virgin and in the case of my jaw I would have had relief from the morphine like any other normal person who hadn't ever abused opiates. While I don't think an easy detox would have been a good option for me, I am wondering if this wouldn't be a good idea so if I am ever in a car accident or am diagnosed with cancer I can get some relief. Whats your opinions on this? Does the idea of a terminal illness with nothing for the pain concern all of you? I understand no matter how much time goes by, your brain doesn't forget unless rapid detox is done. Have any of you heard similar things and if so what are your plans to control pain? Thank you in advance for your response.

[Hensley258]

Yes, Opiates are funny like that. Actually Opiates work very well to relieve Depression. In fact in just hours they can eliminate the most Severe Depression known to medical science. BIG PROBLEM; They don't last and the crash is hard. Resistance is built up VERY fast and the results of using Opiates for Depression can be potentially fatal.

This antidepressant effect that Opiates have is being studied hard by many chemists and scientists at many major drug companies. You see it's not the Opiate part of the Opiate that relieves severe depression and anxiety, rather it's another totally different mechinism in Opiats that has this effect. The theory is that if science can find a way to remove the bad Opiate component from the molucule that we will have the worlds most perfect non-addictive antidepressant in the world.

About it's ability to eliminate pain, yes you are correct. Most people that in the past have abused Opiates will no longer get pain relief from it, but there are also other powerful pain medications avalible that are not opiate based and can be used as an alternative.

[Dahliagirl]

Hi and thank you for your response. I'm afraid I posted this in the depressionforum by mistake. I meant to post it in the substance abuse or pain management forum. I'm am not depressed, but I'm concerned that my past opiate abuse will keep me from receiving benefits from future use of these meds, liek in the case with my broken jaw. Prior to my jaw being broken, I was unaware that once you become dependant on opiates your body doesn't forget it, no matter how much time goes by without use. I have heard of a procedure called rapid detox that is supposed to reverse this. I wanted to know if anyone else is aware of this procedure or any other that would restore my body/brain to what it was prior to the years of abuse. I am only concerned about this out of fear of actually needing the opiates in the event of say a car accident, surgery or terminal illness. You also mentioned other powerful pain medications as an alternative to opiates and I thought opiates were the strongest meds available as they are so widely prescribed inthe instances I have listed. What are the names of some of the meds you are talking about? Again, thank you for your response and any information you can provide.