and pain meds

[Guest guest]

,

When I first started out in my CP " journey " , I had major issues with

taking pain medications too. Not because I'd had addiction problems

in the past, but I was deathly afraid of becoming addicted to the

pain medication, especially when short-acting opioids like Vicodin ES

weren't cutting it anymore, and it was time to consider a long acting

med, which ended up being Oxycontin.

I was afraid of not just addiction, but also of increasing

tolerance. I worried about having to take more and more of it over

time to get the same level of relief, only to one day have the rug

yanked out from under me. And I agree with everyone else-the

withdrawal you went through by going off of your meds cold turkey

does NOT mean you were addicted. It means your body had become

accustomed to a certain level of the med being in your body, and

reacted when it was taken away abruptly. That's called physical

tolerance.

Thankfully, I have a very good, and very understanding doctor.

Although Oxycontin is supposed to be taken on a set schedule, neither

of us wanted for me to take it that way, so we agreed that I would

take it only " as needed " , and that has worked out great for me. Once

we got my pain levels under control, we started " tweaking " the dosage

and the timing. My dosing schedule now is 10mg every 6 hours as

needed, but I can take 20mg in an emergency, or take none at all if I

don't need it. It puts ME in control.

Like a lot of people have said, there is a huge difference between

addiction and physical dependence. Addicts crave the euphoric effect

of the drug in the absence of pain-we take the medication to

alleviate pain, and in the vast majority of us, there is no euphoric

effect. We don't exactly LIKE taking the medication, but it becomes

a necessity, just to get through the day. And did you know that for

people with true chronic pain, the likelihood of addiction is less

than 1%?

I understand your concerns, but suffering in pain every day out of

fear of becoming addicted to your pain medication is doing more harm

to your body than you know. Studies have shown that untreated pain

actually shrinks the gray matter in your brain, and that the longer

your pain goes untreated, the more it amplifies, and the harder it is

to get under control. There are many recovering addicts who are

being treated for chronic pain. They have open and honest dialogues

with their doctors, and with careful monitoring, have very successful

pain management.

As far as your custody battle, being in an approved pain management

program does NOT make you an addict in the eyes of the courts.

Doctors and records can be brought in to prove otherwise. Also, if

you should gain custody of your children, being in constant pain is

going to greatly hinder your interactions with them.

Just my 2 cents,

Jen