have you noticed

Question

have you noticed that more people come here for help detoxing off of pain pills that they get from their doctor than any other drug
maybe people who are on street drugs do not have a computer, i do not believe this, i believe pain meds are overly prescribed for moderate pain, then the patient builds a tollerence and needs stronger drugs
i guess i am so use to popping a pill for everything.....depression, anxiety, pain, energy, concentration, sleep
i grew up in a pharmacutical generation, it is more acceptable to take a pill then work on the problem
we are officially in the new generation off pharmacutical addicts,

songbird76 · Answer

I disagree slightly on some points you made about it being all the addicts fault and not the dr..  I broke my tail bone and it caused me low back pain for a long time.  Finally when I came in with my back out, she put me on vic 5/500 at like 4 a day.  When I cam in for a follow-up and said I still can't drive long distances w/o severe pain she moved me up....thi repeated a few times and now I'm on 10/325 45 every 15 days.  My brother suffers from chronic staph infections (mersa) He had no health insurance and I took him to my doc, she took a look at him and prescribed him the EXACT same meds, dose, and timeframe as me right there on the first visit.  For those who don't know what a staph infection feels like, it's awful, but for about 48 hours and then it starts to heal.  So really he only needed pain meds for when he actually had a flare-up.  But he's taking them everyday now just like prescribed and gets his refill promptly on the 15th day pain or no pain.  My Dr. is a very sweet lady, she's caring and I really like her, but you can't just blame the addict or just the dr. it's a relationship and can be a viscious cycle.

catmagnet · Answer

My apologies for poor grammar and typos in above comment...I'm tired and need to go to bed...long day...but you get my drift anyhow...=/...=P...=)

catmagnet · Answer

STAGGERING is an understatement! I'm sure all of us on her at mh a just a drop in the bucket!!No doubt!!

posteman · Answer

add me to the list ....since 2002 and counting....i don't blame my dr though...cronic pain...but i wish they had never discovered oxy....coming up with my quitting plan though ....will beat this.............that is why i;m here.......

Jester2005 · Answer

and speaking of upping the pill dosage... my hubby is addicted to percocets and the DR just kept upping it.... one day we're in the office and we didn't even have a chance to say hello and she says "well, you're on 20mg of oxy now, time to make it 40mg"... he got very ill with those and went back to the 20's (at the time)... thankfully he no longer does oxy (that I know of)... 

DRs are just too quick to increase the dosage and then when you tell them you want off, or they say they can't give them to you any more, they have nothing to help you deal with the w/d's...

this has been a real eye-opener for me... I wouldn't wish this upon any one...


GL to e1 in your recovery  : )

Jester2005 · Answer

COULDN'T AGREE MORE!!!

I keep telling my pdoc that I want to deal with my problems and he says things like, "no no take these pills and I'll increase them every time you come to see me"

I HATE that our generation is nothing more than Guinea pigs for the pharmaceutical companies. Doctors get paid to prescribe pills, not to help people any more. I bet they don't even read the pro's and con's of the drugs, just how much they'll get paid.

ARG!!

mtgoat911 · Answer

sorry worry, i have to disagree with you 2 times in one day, i started taking narcotic adhd medication when i was a small child
how was i supposed to know at age 9 that i was getting on a dangerous drug?
people go into this without information, they depend on their doctor, once they become addicted they become slaves

bigalspal · Answer

That's what I'm going through right now!
My best friend of 11 years takes everything under the sun! She won't admit she's an addict & calls me everyday. I have to her not to offer me anything, but when I was going through WD's she did! I did not take anything! Thank goodness.
I'm proud of that. The neighbor behind me has bottles of Norco's & Zanax's.
He used to give them to me last summer. But, when I told him what I was gonna do, he was pretty good about it. But he did stop by to see how I was doing, too.
I did not ask & thank goodness he did not offer, but I think he was waiting for me to ask.
I didn't. It was tough, cause I was detoxing of Fentanyl. That was harsh!
I have other friends that call every now & then who are users, too. But they live pretty far away. My Aunt who lives in another state takes vike's & percs everyday.
You get to thinking addicts are everywhere. When I went to my Pharmacy & told them what I was doing, they told me that I was the LEAST of their addicts! They are proud of me.

troubleinohio · Answer

yes it is astounding the number of people on pain pills/patches. It would take me a good hour or two to sit here and count and think of all the family and friends I know that take pills for soemthing (yes ive admited I suckk at math, but thats not the reason it would take so long, LOL). I think I seriuosly know more family and friends who are on something than NOT. You name the pill or patch and I know a handful of people that take each one. its crazy. that was also one of the huge humps i had to get over when I quit- to not go to any of these numerous people and say "hey, my ___ hurts, can yu spare some pills?"  luckily most of these people couldnt spare them anyhow as they are likely addicted too and wouldnt part with them anymore than i would have in my height of addiction. But still, just knowing so many people on pills was a huge thing to overcome when quitting! I cant tell you how many times I was in WD and people would stop over and all i could think about was "man, i know this person has a huge bottle of pills in their possession......"  It suckked. But i got past it and it doesnt bug me anymore.
anyways your post has me wondering, as i have in the past, just how many secret addicts are out there, how many people use pills out there...probably STAGGERING if we knew the real figures..

bigalspal · Answer

Thanks for the kind words! The fentanyl is evil to me. But it's now day 11 & feel great! (just had to wake up & pee) LOL!. Anyway, thanks for rooting for me.
To worried878,
Yes, I bear responsibility, but my Dr knew I was an addict& had me sign a pain contact.
Here was his logic: I told him my DOC was HYDRO, so he didn't want to put me on anything of that nature.He gave me Darvocet for pain & i took it for a short while, but of course i developed a tolerance quickly. I've had 2 surgeries on my neck & my back is a mess.
So...after being hopitalized a few months ago, my DR decided if he put me on the Fentanyl patch, I would not need the pills. I guess if you think about it it does make sense.
But the Fentanyl did not agree with me at all. I lost 19 lbs & was so sick.
Then when I went back & told him I wnted off of everything, that's when he became unglued & insisted I could not do without the narcotics & offered me everything under the sun. THAT IS HIS FAULT! Walking out of his office was MY choice!
I might need pain mgt again. I'm 51. But all I wanted to do was to give myself a fighting chance!

worried878 · Answer

dont know...just know my doctors have never pushed anything down my throat and i take credit for each and every pill i have ever taken...when i abused i also did not tell my doctor (s) until the bitter end...believe it or not most people do not become mentally adicted and then seek drugs? it is a relatively small percentage who take this ball and run with it..so how is a doctor sposed to know unless we tell them we r one of those biochemical misfits?  i will never put the blame on any of my doctors for my addiction as i was not up front in the beginning of my addiction..i knew when it became an abuse problem and not totally a pain probelm..and yes/unfortunately/if u dig deep enuf into the crooks and crannies of any city...u can find crooked doctors out there selling scrips/there is evil everywhere/but most doctors r trying to treat our pain/or in some cases the pain we tell them we have that is not really there or greatly exagerated//and then many want to turn around and blame them for their addiction? I will not go there..did this all by my little ole self...if u told ur doctor u were abusing/totally honest about ur abuse/and then he kept prescribing/then i guess i would pull him into the picture and place some blame on him...but does that take the blame off of me?   NO in my opinion ...misplacing blame is addict behavior...but hey?  whatcha expect from a bunch of addicts?  LOL

Totsie59 · Answer

great post! This was my very 1st addiction. I had just changed drs, after 20 yrs with old dr. The 1st thing she did was hook me up with hydro (I had fell out of our boat that was parked in yard and landed against our other boat-cracked ribs) I also have nerve damage in my hip. But I had always managed before her. When I told her I didn't want to cover the pain, I wanted to fix it and get off pain pills she acted like I was crazy..Then offered me methadone..I refused..My accident was last summer, I wanted off hydro in Dec. I took myself off the 2nd day of march. I have changed drs. At 1st I did love the pain pills, and yes it was my hand putting them in my mouth. That was my decision. It was also my decision to stop cold turkey, flush my pills, change drs, tell new dr about my problem, and talk to my pharmacist. Thank god I would not know how to go about buying them on the street..I am clean and plan on staying that way..I do think drs hand pills out to easily..The pills trick us and we think (or want to think) that we feel soooo much better and give us great energy. To think of what I could have lost...I shudder...Shame on me, Shame on my Dr.

shellbell72 · Answer

The doctors know how to put you in narcs, but have no idea how to take you off.  My husband started detox from PRESCRIBED oxycontin and xanax on Tuesday.  Today is Friday and he is feeling much better.  He did this as an inpatient.  I have a great fear that he will be home on Tuesday and will relapse.  Can someone give me some direction on what to do?

TysonRed · Answer

Prescription addiction is quickly becoming a world wide epidemic, its just to easy to get pills from doctors, clinics or even the streets. It always seems to start out innocent enough, then the dependency comes for pain or other reasons, then comes addiction and that is the day all fun is gone. People in general need to be fully aware of what the consequeces are of taking pain medication for too long. Still most people believe that it cant or wont happen to them or they have a handle on things. Its a sneaky disease that creeps up on people and I dont know if it will ever stop. Unless they can come up with some pain medication that doesnt cause dependency and addiction that actually works for pain control.

ProdigalGirl · Answer

I have been following your posts the last few days and I must say that I am proud of you. You seem like one tough chick! :) In your case, I believe your doctor did do you an injustice by starting you on darvocet and rocket blasting you to the fentanyl patch.I have never heard of such a thing and I am in the medical field. I really think that the stronger meds are being prescribed to long term users and not like "bigsalspal" case. In contrast I also see a trend of doctors steering clear of even prescribing a darvocet so to speak. I guess it really depends on the doctor and the patient. All doctors prescribing opaites should have a pain contract, not just the pain clinics. In my case, if I had a contract, you best believe I would have walked the straight and narrow for fear of being cut off. Keep up the good work bigalspal. I am rooting for ya! 


ProdigalGirl

outotown · Answer

When i told my dr. my fears of addiction he said dont worry i have things that will get you off of them!! OK I WILL TAKE 2 THERE SMALL

bigalspal · Answer

You are so right about the DR's giving stronger & stronger meds.
It was MUCH harder for me to get a script when I first started.
Maybe I just didn't know how to fake it! LOL!
Anyway, my Dr went from Darvocet straight to the Fentanyl Patch!
Goodness! It just about killed, as some of you know!
And when I told him that I wanted off all narcotics UNTIL I REALLY need them, he freaked! My pain just was not that bad to warrent that strong of a medicine. It was, in my opinion, GOD who got me out of that office with no narcotics.
All I would take was a few Valium for the WD's.
Any other time & would have said give me all you want!
Tomorrow will be 11 days off the Fentanyl & 2 days of that 1/2 Darvocet I took.
I've had a GREAT day! Hopefully tomorrow will be even better.
No thanks to Dr Feelgood, I might add!

ProdigalGirl · Answer

Yes, it is true what you both said about doctors handing out pills so generously. I was a priviledged member of that group....or was and am I?  I can get whatever I want at the drop of a dime b/c I am a chronic pain patient. No cure. We must take responsibilty for our own actions. I knew what I did was wrong. I knew I was getting in way too deep. It took a friend and my family calling me on it and giving me the tough love I needed to stop the cycle.Doctors take an oath to do no harm. I believe that 99% of doctors care about their patient's well being and don't fancy getting one addicted to pills. Are we not the people making the appointments,,, x-rays in hand, crying about the pain? "Oh doctor... this pain is robbing me of a life". So, doctors try and give you a life and prescribe the pills. The rest is on you. Now on the other hand, if a doctor KNOWS that one is drug seeking/addict and consciously gives you the pills to shut you up,, well that's another ball of wax. Good post though. Tis true!

corey411 · Answer

It's true, the majority of us are opiate addicts and most seem to be pills. Even the members who are buying them off of the street are getting pills that originated from a doctor. I know that I wouldn't even know how to get them from the street. Doctors are over prescribing them. They are also handing out stronger meds like oxycontin and Fentynal which were only marketed for cancer and post op patients. It wasn't that long ago when these drugs did not exist and the average pain patient got along with Hydros and Percs. Now it's almost like the docs feel that these are the weaker pills. They also hand scripts for anxiety without even asking what is causing it or if you might need a therapist instead of benzos for the rest of your life. It seems like pain management clinics are becoming more popular so maybe the docs. are getting some pressure to find alternatives to pills. They create alot of addictions and then don't want to deal with them when they know that the person is addicted. I think alot of them don't know what to do. They should be sentenced to come on here for a few days and read posts.

finnda · Answer

Yea I got mine from a DR they are the ones that get you hooked than they take em away Than I went to the street I got 18 days now and im going to keep fighting. Dave