Safe pain meds - when in hospital?

[impulse79]

I've been clean 3 weeks from loritab - no cravings - doing pretty well.  But because of my illness, I may be back in the hospital soon.  When I go, I'm there for typically 7 days - and five of those days I need pain medication for a treatment I receive, and then I don't need pain meds when I leave.  I'm having anxiety about what I'm going to do.  I know not to take loritab.  Is there something else I can take?  Are there any pain meds besides OTC that are not opiates?  Thank you.

[impulse79]

Thank you everyone for the responses.  I was really starting to have some anxiety about pain and the meds.  Now I have a couple of directions I can go.  Thank you so much for your support!

[MMarty]

Congrats! This might not be what you want to hear but I would tell the doctor and hospital the truth. You have addiction issues with narcotics and are afraid of feeling the pain as well.You are not the first person to confess and you shouldn't be afraid to own your addiction. I am hearing some rather upsetting stories about people confessing to their doctors on this group but in my case I was handled with respect and dignity when I was truthful. GL, Marty

[avisg]

Just remeber just becuase your an addict does not mean you need to suffer like you said they wil not give you any to take home .The doctor will be montier and doling out your meds while you are there i had my gall bladder removed it can be done just keep in mind where you have been and where you are not going back too

[GA Guy]

Many people in my rehab have had good luck with Toradol for post operative pain. In fact, a good friend of mine just had a plate and 7 screws in his ankle and only took Toradol. Your best bet is to have an addictionologist as a consult for your surgery/hospital stay. Ask your primary doctor to consult one. They know how to handle this the best way.

[Florida_Guy737]

Hi...been there and actually right there now.  I was clean for almost 19 months and had surgery this week.  During my hospital stay, they provided me Lortab Elixir and Percocet elixir when I was sent home.  I didn't think about my addiction at all and just went with the flow...meaning I didn't need the med every 4 hours and since leaving almost 3 days ago, only used the med twice.  

The cool thing now is having an acute awareness of how bad things could get if you let them...

I'm back in the gym tomorrow and see the doc on Monday for a f/u;  no more meds after that.

It's all good...don't think about it so much.

Guy