Prescription Meds

[amidoomed]

I have been taking 4 7.5 mg hydrocodone for apprx. 1 year. This was prescribed for DJD in my right knee. I have been told I am too young for surgery.

I have not been taking it as prescribed because it never worked. I take the entire 4 per day at one time about mid afternoon. This relieves my pain for about 8 hours.

My doctor has told me that if I take them every 6 hours as prescribed before I experience pain they will work but this has not been the case.

At any rate, it will be years before I can have the surgery according to my doctor and this no longer seems like a long term solution to me. Even though I have never built up tolerance to the medication I have heard from some people that taking large doses of ibuprofen works just as well and is not addictive.

My question is will I go through withdrawal. I have never abused my medication except for not taking it the way the doctor prescribed it. I can easily go 48 hours with no withdrawal symptoms but then the pain gets to me.

30 mgs a day doesn't seem like a lot to me. I have discussed it with my doctor and he told me that I should not have withdrawal symptoms and to just keep taking it. I have a mistrust of doctors and their knowledge about dependency on medications since they never seem to take them themselves.

He has okayed the ibuprofen and given me a prescription for 500 mgs but he says it won't work as well for severe pain. In fact, he told me to take it along with the hydrocodone.

So before I stop and start substituting the ibuprofen, what should I expect?

[amidoomed]

Thanks again everyone for the responses.

I stopped today and started substituting the ibuprofen. I have been told by people with arthritis that I should take 3000 mgs a day and it takes about a week to work.

Yes, I have the injections and they do help somewhat.

I suspected I would get some withdrawal. I have quit drinking coffee and I got withdrawal from doing that. I felt very tired and had headaches for several days. So I found it hard to believe that a drug like hydrocodone would not cause dependency.

My doctor seems to think that given the low dose it wouldn't but I will see. He doesn't think I should even stop but he's not taking it. I am.

The pain will probably be the hardest part for me. At least, I got 8 hours relief taking it the way I was. I hope the ibuprofen does work.

Will check out the other forum for ideas and remedies.

[IBKleen]

If you do experience withdrawal, you will know it. You may have stomach issues (running to the bathroom), muscle aches, restless legs, lack of energy and exaggerated pain are a few that come to mind. You may also experience opiate induced pain and you will not be able to tell the difference as to whether the ibuprofen is working or not.

The injections sound like that may be a course you could take. It can't hurt to look into it.

You may also want to post in the Orthopedics forum here and get some advise from others who share your disorder.

Best of luck. Let us know how you make out.

[troubleinohio]

although your dose is not high, i think you still will have WD once you stop. You did state you can go 2 days before you get some WD? that may be because you are only taking your medicine 1x a day instead of sperad out throughout in several doses. I cant imagine you not having some WD after taking 30 mg every day for a year...  as for your knee pain, have they ever mentioned doing injections? Back when i used to have insurance a few years ago, the ortho dr I used to see wanted to inject my knees with some kind of lubricant medicine. At the time, the x-rays showed i had quite a bit of arthritis in them but they werent really hurting me then so i declined to have anything done to them (I figured it'd cause me more problems and start pain up with my luck). I do have knee pain now and in fact just a few days ago it was so bad i could barely walk. I could FEEL the SWELLING inside them, it was a thick heavy feeling and felt like pressure was building up behind my kneecaps and was going to send them shooting off like a volcano lol.  The good news is, heavy doses of ibuprofen did help that inflammation and pain flare up in them. I took 800 mg of ibu for this.  I hoep that will help you too. Good luck to you and let us know if we can help you further

[amidoomed]

Thank you for your quick response. I am 44 yo. I have had a second opinion and it is the same. I am too young for surgery because if I have it now, I would end up having to have more surgeries in the future.

Physical therapy won't help because the joint had degenerated so much, it is bone rubbing against bone. I used to be very active in sports when I was young and I imagine that I had some injury that contributed to this.

I do strengthening exercises for the muscles surrounding the joint but this does not effect the joint itself.

I am planning on trying the ibuprofen. My only concern was that I am dependent on the hydrocodone and my doctor is wrong. They are not always right about everything.

The only way to tell is to stop taking it. I just wanted to know if I should experience withdrawal symptoms, what they would be and how bad they would be so I can plan accordingly.

I am not going to keep taking this medication for years and years although I know people with chronic pain do it all the time. It just bothers me despite what my doctor tells me.

[IBKleen]

Hi & Welcome,

With a condition such as yours (DJD), I would recommend a second opinion. You didn't state your age but I cannot imagine them not doing the surgery if you are in that much pain.

Has he suggested physical therapy at all? I have gone through many rounds of it over the years for herniated disks and it does relieve the pain to some extent.

As far as the hydrocodone goes, it seems as if you are not physically addicted to it. That is not to say that you won't be should you continue it. You may be headed down that road at this point.

This is only a suggestion but why not try the ibuprofen for a week and see how it works.