Re: Sleep Medications

[Guest guest]

When I have had difficulty sleeping due to my condition my doctor has

prescribed Ambien. It is known as the " astronauts' sleeping pill. " It has

very little, if any, side-effects in terms of having any " hang-over " the

next morning. And I do not believe that it is addictive like some sleep

meds. I have gone on and off it as needed to manage sleep. Others I have

known who have taken it have has similar positive experiences. Check with

your doctor.

Ray in Virginia

[Guest guest]

Hi Ray;

I should first introduce myself to you and the other members of this elite

club of superhuman individuals (we have to be; some people die from too much

pain, we take it on face-to-face and laugh it off...much later). My name is

Mike. OK. Now the introduction's done...!

Just kidding! I'm 46 years old and I've been suffering from chronic pain

since January 16, 1974 about 4pm. How's that for precision ! Actually it is

also factually correct. There's a whole story that goes with this but I'll

spare you the long boring stuff unless I catch any of you on the net late at

night just because the pain won't let you sleep, so beware ! I've been known

to be online for over 24 hours at a stretch when things get bad. My story in

a nutshell is an injured back which went mis-diagnosed for 6 years as

" profound-laziness-caused-by-being-too-young " on my part until a

chiropractor/radiologist told me that a lump the size of your fist in the

middle of your back was not normal. He eventually forced me (in September

1980)to seek serious (read: other than the doctors I was seeing) medical

advice. This lead to emergency surgery (they loved their scalpels in those

days) which was botched leaving bone fragments in the spine. Five years and

a new education later (I had to go back to school to retrain from being an

auto and heavy duty mechanic to becoming a hotel/restaurant administrator),

I bent down to pick up a 2lbs bag of sugar and snapped another 2 disks.

Surgery again but with a twist. This one lead to the discovery of the bone

fragments, removal of said fragments which lead to total numbness down one

side of my body. I finally had to overcome that first because the wheelchair

didn't fit in the house but mostly because I couldn't fathom my wife and

kids spending their whole life looking after me. (Pride also played a big

part; bodily functions come to mind)

Anyway, long story short: it hurt then, it hurts now. Some good days, some

bad days.(good summary I think)

Somewhere along all this, one doctor handed me a bottle of Percocet and told

me to take them as I needed them. That was a mistake. Over a period of 7

years, I got up to over 20 a day. At one point, because they had almost no

effect, another good doctor just put me on straight morphine to be taken on

a sugar cube. Beautiful trip and I never even left the room ! (I sometimes

laugh at it now but I didn't for a long time). Overall, the trip lasted from

1980 to 1987. Unfortunately, I can't remember a lot of it.

I learned a valuable lesson. " Doctors are not to be trusted off hand because

they are doctors " . There is something totally alien in doubting a doctor's

word. Most times, I would leave a doctor's office rather than question his

judgement to his face and make him re-evaluate his decision. Now I know

better. I've been with the same doc now for over 14 years and I question him

all the time. He truly is great. We made a deal 14 years ago that poking,

prodding, forcing weird positions, experimental treatments and prescriptions

for anything stronger than a Tylenol 3 was a no-no. I actually went in there

just to meet the guy, introduced myself and laid down my ground rules after

telling him what I had, what I had done, what I had taken etc. Then I asked

him if he was crazy enough to take me on. He laughed, took a long, long read

at my medical file (you do have a copy of your medical file, right?) and

agreed to give it a try. I've been seeing him every month ever since. My

daily intake consists of 3 Tylenol 3's, 125mg of Elavil at bedtime, Prevacid

to counter the damage done to my stomach over the years, and the occasional

Tylenol 1 as need in between the 3's.

Now, the point to this message. Ambien, a depressant manufactured by Searle

is considered a Schedule IV drug by the authorities that be. Schedule IV is

defined as :

The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the

drugs or other substances in Schedule III.

The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in

treatment in the United States.

Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence

or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in

Schedule III.

Included in Schedule IV are Darvon, Talwin, Equanil, Valium and Xanax.

In laymen's terms: there is danger for addiction or dependence. Through the

years there has been a lot of debate over the issue of defining the

relationship between what effect this has on a " normal " patient as opposed

to one suffering from chronic pain. The two main threads I've seen say that

1) people suffering from chronic pain can develop such a high threshold of

pain that these drugs have no addictive effect, and 2) that number 1 is all

hogwash.

Over the years and thanks to the internet (big big thanks), I have been able

to check out the effect of different drugs. In the last 2 years, my wife and

I looked after a friend with cancer. She left us last February. I checked

all her meds for her as they were prescribed. Twice, I came across

conflicting drugs that would have eliminated each other and possibly cause

serious side effects. When her doctors were informed they both times quickly

changed the prescriptions. That's when I realized that the time on the net

was really worth it. Now no new medication goes down my throat until I've

read all the available pharmaceutical data.

I am not a doctor, or in any way connected to the medical profession. I

certainly wouldn't presume to tell anyone else what to do, specially as

regards chronic pain treatment. I seriously doubt anyone on this list hasn't

already figured out for themselves what works for them. I do however get

worried about drug interaction and addiction or the potential thereof in

particular. Please understand, I had no problem whatsoever with my

addiction. In fact I felt great. Some people tell me to this day that I had

never " produced " so much, so fast, and so well as when I was addicted. I

only had a problem with getting off the stuff. Two long year's worth of

cramps, lying, cheating, crying and contemplating suicide. Those were tough

times. Please don't think of me as a meddler. I don't mean to be.

Well...this being said...does anyone want to hear the whole story about

January 16, 1974 at 4PM !

Have a great day all.

Mike

> Re: Sleep Medications

>

>

>

>

> When I have had difficulty sleeping due to my condition my doctor has

> prescribed Ambien. It is known as the " astronauts' sleeping

> pill. " It has

> very little, if any, side-effects in terms of having any " hang-over " the

> next morning. And I do not believe that it is addictive like some sleep

> meds. I have gone on and off it as needed to manage sleep. Others I have

> known who have taken it have has similar positive experiences. Check with

> your doctor.

>

> Ray in Virginia

>

>

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