Need some advice

[meg321]

I am n such a spot..i started  taking pain pills after 31 yrs clean, and my Dr gave me methodone saying it would work and was cheaper.  I should have been more careful but at the time I didnt really care.  At the same time I was trying to get a diagnosis for MS, which I have now.

I have been cutting down from 60 mg for a couple months now...i am now on 10 mg a day.  I also took some vicodin off and on. I just decided that i could just stop at this point.  That was like last week, a day or two days later i was so sick , a friend took me to ER, i was dehydrated and my potassium was very low.  They sent me home and said that it was diverticulitis. They sent me home with septra and 10 vicodin.  THat got me thru the weekend and i I felt pretty good. On Monday worked and when I got home I had an attack of not breathing well and just plain sick.  On Tues I went to my Dr and they sent me home with the flu...i told them i was off the methodone.

I am very frightened to go thru w/d, on friday I have an appt in SF to start on a medication for my MS.  And supposedly, i have the flu and diverticulitas, so I feel like garbage.

Since yesterday i took 20 mg of meth...one after the dr and one today so far.  I am almost convinced I need to go to the drug rehab and get help.  But for the life of me I don't know if it meth/ w/d, flu or diverticulitis.

MY problem is I have 7 pills left, thats it.  I cannot get more.  So i don't know if  I can get off these in a few days or shall I just go to rehab?  My fear is I cannot do one more day like last week when I went to ER, but I don't know if it was from withdrawing or not.  I do feel like I have the flu however.

I know its complicated, but some advice might help me

Thanks, meg

[mtgoat911]

he is doing good, he married an aa women so i do not see him as much, but they seem to be doing great and it good shape, physically, its obvious, there always traveling, hiking, boating, he is in his 50's and looks 35, i bet hes coming up on 3 yrs, it all happened so fast,
it was just the surgery that got to him, and after he was given the pills that obsession kicked in , he was so ashamed to pick up that white chip, but really they basically put his spine together with mental lego like pieces, they poke out, you can feel them when you hug him
i had it happen to me too,(not back surgery)  i was clean for over 2 yrs,,, when i was in the delivery room they gave me iv stadol and instead of worring about delivery i was begging for more, its some scary stuff!
i try not to talk about my relaspes on here that much because i do not want everyone to think about that, but injury or illness can really be a breaking point for us

[meg321]

LOL, actually, it amazes me too.  But you can slip at any time.  At one time when really sick I said I didnt care at my age, but I do care.  I am  sorry about your friend, How is he  doing now?   You never know when you might be in this situation

I would appreciate anything you can send me also.

hugs, meg

[road2recovery]

WOW!!  I just have to say congrats on over 30 yrs of clean time...I don't know anything about MS, or diverticulosis, or methadone...

I do know here, we all had the flu, and they actually do a swab test in the doctors office, and comes back in like 5 minutes, to know for sure...I think it is w/d's, or a mixture of the flu and the rest...I know here the flu is going around like crazy..

My prayers are with you that you can get a good diagnosis, and get off the pain meds...
If you don't mind me asking, in those 30 yrs, what was your aftercare?  and how much and what you were using before?  I think you can help some here (including me), and alot can help you here as well, especially the nurses....
God bless and good luck
r2r

[meg321]

yes, i had diverticulitis once before , thats when I started pain pills actually.  I let it go not knowing what the pain from.  It was really awful, i could not even walk to the bathroom for awhile.  It lasted a few weeks.  Thats why I am not sure if I have it now...I feel no symptoms.  I thought maybe this is what a mild form feels like.  And he did no tests aside from a blood test.

Yes, my Dr has been taking me off slowly but I am at the end and for some reason it scares me.  Probably I associated the ER event w/d's.  I don't want another drug at this point.  I haven't really had bad w/d's so far at all.  But then I normally feel lousy anyway.
Is that a good sign that the last pill will be the same?

I do have thepain in my neck which I am feeling now but I can get an injection of cortisone?? , had one two yrs ago and it worked great.

I so appreciate these responses, it really haelps me.

hugs, meg

[worried878]

Best of luck to u...r u in pain? And do u abuse the methadone or strictly use it for pain?  I deal with many diverticulitis patients...an acute attack involves nausea and vomiting..abdominal pain/severe...and people just feel plain sick and infection is often associated with diverticulitis/but not with diverticulosis...surgical intervention is often needed...I do also know that shortness of breath can be associated with MS..so it is really hard to say but if u were on methadone for  a long, long time..some wd would be expected...can u talk to ur doctor about taking you off the methadone slowly/there are meds he can give u to help with the wd if that is the route u want to take..many here switch to sub at this dose of methadone but that can be another battle to fight as addiction to sub is no fun either from what i hear...wishing u the best of luck and keep posting

[meg321]

It takes me 40 minutes to this Dr I have now, we have quite a few Drs here but lousy.  The one I had was good and he left.

Sounds like your MS friend is doing a good job.  We all are different when it comes to MS , its a rough road.  I just want to get back to a place where I can do some normal things to help myself.

I amazes me that Drs can hand out pills and not know how to help you get off them.

hugs, meg

[mtgoat911]

yeah, i started in aa, and then moved to na, but i still read my bb and use my 12 and 12
recently i have considered ea, i atleast want to get their book
na has a book called "in times of illness" i read it everyday when i was going through chemo/inerfuron, i think i have a journal about it, if not i will send it to you
i have a good friend who is going through a relaspe because of back surgery, he had a ton of time too, i know that you have relasped and all that, but knowing that people can actually stay clean for 30yrs, just amazes me!!!!

[meg321]

I don't know how I will do with the MS, but I want of these nasty things.   I went to AA after a  rehab when I was 30, got off drugs and alcohol.  I am almost 65, so that is 35 yrs ago.   I got sick and thats what happened...

I can't even imagine what you went thru and I so hope you don't go back. Do you have a support group to go to?

thanks for your reply, i will keep in touch.

meg

[sway1]

i live in a small country town where they have had the same main doctor since the 1960's. he loves to give out some pills. if i am having a true medical problem i go ahead and take the 45 minute ride to the 'real' doctor. i have a friend with ms. she does alot of homeopathic stuff and gets deep tissue massages along with her meds. she is alot tougher than i will ever be. let me know how things turn out. best wishes, sway                                

[mtgoat911]

sounds like this er doctor was guessing, when i was diagnosed with this my doctor said i may have it but sent me for test (upper and lower endo)
the symtoms you are having are the same as i had coming off methadone, i went ct off 240mgs, long term use
i was unable to eat or drink for weeks, eventually i started throwing up greenbile and had a seizure and my family took me to the er
the first thing i said was no narcotics!! the er doctor was awesome, but i have been many times to the er and just been sent home, this doctor called a private facility and begged them to take me, said i was minutes away from renal failure, and needed icu to become stable then i went to detox and stayed 3 weeks, because i was so sick they kept me a long time, i was given iv morphin the first 3 days,(the er sent me over with an iv)  because of my health condition, they also gave me iv fluids, then i went to darvoects for a week, and a drug called ilmotill for cramping and diareah, their goal was to have me eating before i left, i really would have died if this er doctor had not gotten me into detox
i was just too sick for an at home detox, but i have done them before several times, just this time i was too sick, so if you think your ms is going to complicate your detox like my liver disease did for mine, just take some time and go into tx
i am vert happy to see that you stayed clean 31 yrs, thats crazy to me, i hope that i can say that one day, what did you do to stay clean that long? did you goto church, meetings, s.m.a.r.t? i am a little scared that my illness will result in a relaspe.

[meg321]

Thanks , it was the doc in ER and I am not really sure how he came up with that.   I have had it before really bad and I can't feel it this time...to tell you the truth my DR left this year and I don't trust anyone I see here..except my heart DR and I don't have a heart problem.

I totally trust my MS Dr, i go to UCSF, i have a call in to her office now.  She is hard to reach but someone will call me.

This town is so small the Drs are not that great...if they are, they leave.  I know i will do the right thing.  It is hard to tell a lot of symptoms apart from my MS symptoms, they mimic so many other things.

thanks, meg

[sway1]

do you trust your doctor. how did they reach the dx of diverticulitis?. which treatment are they going to do for the ms? some of them are pretty harsh and i doubt they would do them if you are sick. get a second opinion on all of it.
   usually when someone asks if they are in withdrawal, they are. but with all this other stuff going on you really should take it slow and easy(in my opinion). i wish you the best!   sway