Re: on being addicted

[Guest guest]

Ray,

Well said! Thank you.

Kathleen in Calif.

[Guest guest]

elle,

I don't want you to revert to reading only. A healthy dialogue is

necessary for all of us to benefit from and to understand the

various positions on the topics we discuss.

My position still is that taking pain-relief medications on a

regular prescribed basis does not make any of us addicts, in the

negative application of the word.

My wife, a doctor, also agrees with me. She says that before I

strted taking the oxycontin I was in chronic pain. When I take the

oxycontin I have good pain control. If I miss a dose the pain

returns just like it did before I began taking the oxycontin. The

fact that the pain returns is simply due to to the absence of the

drug in my bloodstream and is not a reflection of any kind of

addiction. I don't crave the oxycontin. I don't get a high when I

take it. I may be dependent upon it for proper pain control. My

doctor can substitue other medications for the oxycontin which will

also work to control my pain.

You may use the word dependent if you so choose, but I even want to

avoid that useage with pain-relief medications. I want to have

good pain management, but that can be achieved with or without

oxycontin. Other options are available.

Pain managment is not addiction. Clear and simple. To confuse the

two is to cause much grief and consternation in chronic pain

patients and may mean the loss of support of family and friends who

will misunderstand. It is much better to make a clear distinction

between the two situations, better for the patient, and better for

family and friends.

Some posts have stated that doctors have taken patients off of

oxycontin and put them on morphine or another medication that is

not getting the bad press that oxycontin is receiving. Why? To

avoid confusion and misunderstanding.

I hope you will continue to post to the list. Healthy discussions

are necessary for complete understanding. On some things we will

agree, on other things we will disagree. That is the nature of this

kind of list. I may be a moderator, but I am also just a patient

with chronic pain who shares his experiences, knowledge, and

concerns, just like everyone else.

Ray in Virginia