Questions, taking oxycodone Help

[atombomb]

I have posted in the back section, because i have been extremely unfortunate to have a herniated disc L5/S1 in my lower back, at the age of 23, surgery is out, so basically the doctors have told me to continue physical therapy, and just deal with it. (thats it in a nut shell) thankfully there at least prescribing me 5/325 perks. But i have my concerns, I only take 5 a day, and have been for the past 9 months, but do not enjoy having to live around a bottle of pills to get through everyday living. Also keep in mind, i use to live a extremely active lifestyle, racing motocross, snowboarding, you get the idea. Now at first they made all my pain go completely away, but now they have little affect, and if they do get rid of the pain it only lasts for a short period of time. I want to take more to get rid of my pain, but know i cant due to the fact of being short down the road, and do not want to get addicted to them.

Here are my questions.
If i have a medical problem such as this, is this considered an addiction for being on these. I here from countless people you got to be careful with those things, your gonna get addicted. When the only worry i have if i dont have anything i think to my self ( wow i have to suffer and be in a terrible amount of pain) due to my back injury.

Is this considered a high dosage?

I am just concerned because i read all these terrible stories of addiction, but at the same time i feel as i have no other choice, because of the pain im experiencing.

Keep in mind i have never taken any extra, as i take it as im suppose to.

[atombomb]

thanks again for all the advice, and clearing up the aspect that im more physically dependent, than mentally, makes me feel less worried about the situation. As i said before i see the doctor in a few days and really going to discuss other routes to take, im just tired of feeling so terrible. Trust me if taking advil did the trick i would be only taking that, but the only thing i noticed it helps the affects of my pain killers. Thank you all for clearing up my discomfort of thinking i was becoming an addict, when truly im not at all, just trying to find a solution of being in pain.

[worried878]

agree with tracy...physical addiction is different than both mental and physical addiction...only u know if u r an addict....it is very possible to become physically dependent of narcs..but those people have a much easier time quitting as they do not have the mental componenet..and the mental componenet is the hardest part of getting clean
Narcotics do not really have any direct effect on pain..not like ice, anti-inflammatories, massage, even muscle relaxers...narcs only distort the pain signal to the brain.  they were never intended to be used long term due to tolerence.  There r much more suitable means to acheive pain control than sumpin that tricks ur brain into not caring about the pain.  If i were u i would be safe for sure
herniated discs are very common among the population.  some feel them but millions of americans walk around and do not know they have them...ruptured discs are a bit more severe...a deteriorated disc is bad news....many feel pain from a herniated disc tho...and i am not trying to lessen ur feelings of pain...i only want u to know that it is common and addiction is much more painful...at 23 it is not so common but 75% of the over 40 population has at least 1 herniated disc which means swollen as it is part of the aging process for most..it is rare for someone to make it to 70 without at least one it is just that most do not feel the pain..others feel it severely...
chronic painers as u say do not need to revolve their life around a bottle of pills..it leads nowhere..and can be very painful mentally

be safe

[TrayCee]

perhaps you should check out the pain management forum

[atombomb]

Thanks for all the advice, i just think its terrible due to being in pain, it almost makes you a addict without any intentions of wanting to become one. I really dont enjoy the label of being considered one, when i have no other choice, (besides living in a terrible a mount of pain).

To add to my story, before it was known what happened to my back, i was riding my motorcycle on the road, and i hit a deer at 40 miles an hour, tore my AC joint, and broke my collar bone, and a huge amount of road burn. Thankfully i didnt die (someone was looking over me) Incredibly my GF who was on the back walked away with a few miner scraps and bruises. Now when that happened, i was prescribed a massive amount of perks (8-10) a day, for 6 weeks, and when i ran out, i had no withdrawals, no problems sleeping nothing, just the aspect of my back feeling like POOP and realized something else was def wrong with me.

So i dont think i have the additive sense with pills, i think the only issue i find myself in is, being in a huge amount of pain, if i dont take them, and i just want to be myself again(this isnt on my things to do list to experience at the age of 23), I just dont want to feel like garbage and not be in pain, so i dont get what the true solution is, if any of you go over to the back and neck section on here you can read my full story of everything i have tried doing to solve my problems of being in pain i have basically tried everything. I mean is it considered that i am physically dependent on these meaning i need them to not be in pain, is that being considered addicted, i dont even enjoy having to take these, the only thing i enjoy is if i take them, im not in pain.

As for non narcotic meds, that is a crap shoot, ive tried every possible NSAID out there with not success, besides toradol, which i got a shot of at the hospital, and apparently you cannot take that more than once every few months or your liver and kidneys will fail. I was also on lyrica which while i was driving i would see 3 cars ahead of me (and thats considered safer than perks), that particular doctor is highly against pain meds, but the stupid thing about him is he prescribed me 5 different anti depressants, and i did what i was told, and noticed no difference on my pain level, and you would think after the first 3 that didnt work the other 3 wouldnt do anything either. Plus some of the side affects lets just say made something not happen in the bedroom, once that was noticed i got really ticked off and told him i do not want him put me on anymore anti depressants, but i told him ive been having a hard time sleeping due to my back, so he writes me a script for triasadone (sp) (i didnt know at the time it was another anti depressant) and lets just say yes it made me feel sleepy, but that hole night i would wake up every 5 minutes and the next day i would burst out crying every 10 minutes, so i know everyone here is highly against the idea of pain meds but realistically they are the simplest way of solving the pain issue. My point with this is i take them like im suppose to, even though i feel like crap, and want to take more (only to feel less pain) i still do not take extra. So i understand that fine line.

A close relative of mine was on perks for 12 years straight, a small dosage of 3 a day, due to there state laws changing the doctors stopped him cold turkey, he did not have any withdrawals or anything just the same problem i have if i do not take it a large amount of pain and want to just lay on the couch.

Sorry for the rant hopefully everyone understands where im coming from, i mean sadly right now, i do not have any other solution.

[gnarly_1]

HI there is a difference in being dependent on pills and being addicted but its a fine line..
with a physical dependence you would feel withdrawals if you quit taking them this doesent necessarily make you an addict...being an addict is more of a way of thinking
the drugs or alcohol are only symptoms of addiction ...I to was on pain pills for legitimate pain I have 2 bad disks l4/l5 and l5/s1 and 3 more deteriorating I took my pills as prescribed for years but then I crossed a line started taking more and getting more scripts it was a spiral down..I was still chasing the pain away in my back but was taking the pills by the handfull and enjoying the buzz as well..I crossed over into addiction...right now it sounds like your dependent if you start taking more you could very well wind up like me so tread water carefully I hope this helps you decide where  your at but more over I hope it shows you where it can eazly lead....good luck and God bless....Gnarly      

[hadenough123]

Glad yur here. Sorry about your accident. Most of us get here i think due to an injury or a surgey that ends up leaving us with a lot of pain. I have been a cronic pain patirnt for many years due to stangulated colon that was misdiagnoised for many years till I finally ended up in ER after gangrene had set end. I had been toxic they said for at least 14  years and had no idea how I was able to even function at all as the pain had to been enough to bring brng down to my knees. i almost me my maer on the day of the surgery had a25% chance of making out of surgery.

During a very long recovery they put me on vicodine. Afterabout 5months i still had a lot od unexplained pain, Eventually they put me on Norco that was in 1997. I know wat it is like to live life with a bottle of pain meds strapped to body. This is the life of a cronic pain patient and it is a sad one.

Yes the persocets are physically addicitve and the dose's jsut like all the others usually star going up due to your body builing up a tolerance. There is a big difference to physical addiction and physcological addiction. I nevr felt high on the Norco and couldn't understand why people liked them so much actualy they made me feel really edgy but the pain ws worse.

When you start uping the doses it's time to talk to your doc about pain management classes and other alternatives. depending on your injury has alot to do with your pain. However I know people who have had serious back injury's and are drug free.

You may want to talk to your doc about your concerns and don't be afraid he'll take your meds away. he may refer you to some seriousr physical rehab which does help if you keep it up; The opiates block you natural endorphines but as you wean down they will kick back in. Every injury is different. I just happened to be lucky enough to be out of the country for a long time and ran out of my neds. They didn't make Norco where i was so he gave me percocets and I didn't need many, I was very active everyday lots of walking hikinf etc. I noticed I was having the trots and thought it was the food, Well it wasn't the food it was from not taking the Norco Ny body was cleaning itslf out and the percocets stopped all the augly WD's. And the pain was gone. I gave the bottle of percocets away before i came back to the states. I should have stayed longer as I was having nedical work done and the doctor ddin't want me to leave as she wasn't really finished and was afraid i woud have problrms. Well i should have listend to her. After i returned to the states I was in full blown pain from a surgery she performed a couple of days before I left. i went back on the Norco's. Then to make naters worse I broke out with shingles I thought I was going to die from the pain. Anyway within two months i was hooked on the Norco's again. When the pain stopped I stopped the Norco's cold turkey and it has been hell on earth. Within two months my body was so saturated with the opiates it was like i had nevr stopped. So see it doesn't take long to build up in your system. Hope this helps. And please don't up your dose talk to your doc first.

[moonshyne777]

Just be careful. I also started oxys for spinal stenosis pain diagnosed a yr ago. I didn't get addicted overnight, it was a gradual thing and before I knew it the oxys took over. I started taking more and more and saw my scripts run out early. It was a quick downward spiral. I would suggest asking the doctor for a non narcotic pain med like neurontin and see if that helps. You cannot be too careful with narcotics, it can creep up on you. If I had my time back i would have NEVER touched an opiate.