Pain meds

@oregongirl talk to your Dr maybe he has something else to help you but I like what ginger said about cutting pills in n half there are some you can't do that like capsules but most pills you can keep us posted

@grandmar

I'm like you Ronnie in that I have an addictive personality. Fortunately when I was taking Lorazepam or Ativan over 15 years, I never abused it or took more than I needed. In order to control your deep pain from Surgery you have to get "ahead of the pain." If you wait until you are having a lot of pain before you take your pain medications, it won't work as well, and you'll need more sooner. It's best in my experience to take the medicine at the time and in the amount prescribed by your doctor. If you notice over time that you feel like you need more than was prescribed, that is when you need to get on a taper off schedule. Usually if you're taking the medicine for real pain you won't get addicted to it. However, your body may become dependant on it, as mine did with Tramadol. It is fairly easy to withdraw from the pain med if you use a slow taper down process. I wouldn't worry about that now as you need the relief from pain in order to heal. I hope everything works out with this latest surgery.

That was so interesting, grandmas. I became dependent on my Norco hypercodone. And knowing that, and waking up every few hours at night and waiting till you could take another pill, was really an indication for me to taper off. But how? I started with cutting pills in half, but when I started to have real pain again, I would use more. Never more then was prescribed to me! But I could not taper off successfully, because then I would get really bad withdrawal symptoms.
How are you doing it? I am ready to go to a rehab clinic, but they will not take me, since I am not considered addicted, only “dependent” on the opioids.
My doctor just says, wean yourself off. Take one less every week or month. And my neurologist prescribed even Lyrica to take, when weaning off.
Please, If somebody went thru this, let me know how.

@edda and all I never had an addiction problem but there was a time the pain pill wouldn't last till next time so Dr told me it is o.k. to take a Tylenol in between times so I did but now I can say that taking something for the inflammation helps I dont take a pill as I believe in holistic as much as possible ,This does help with pain its ginger-Tumeric tea from Trader Jos as Tylenol didn't help me all that much thats when I looked elsewhere

It's constant. Everytime they change my pills. First withdrawal for about a week and stepping up to another pill. There is no answer for those of us who have CHRONIC pain listed in our chart. I am grateful to be 76 and now waiting for the Lord to finally take me home. No more pain.

Imagine those of us who live with constant pain and not from a surgery

@oregongirl Im sad for you to feel this way and sad nothing is helping If I had an answer I would let you know God bless you and heal you

Thank you lioness. I have accepted my condition. When pain gets really bad I tear up and pray. God knows of my pain. I have talked with Him and told Him I am ready to go whenever He feels it's my time. In the meantime I am trying to work on not being bitter toward those who control our pain meds. I am also reminded that Jesus Himself suffered terribly. In ways we cannot imagine. He hung by his wrists by nails on a tree and was given NO PAIN meds. How ashamed I am when I complain. Please forgive me.

@oregongirl I’m so sorry that you feel so awful. You don’t have to be forgiven for crying in pain! There’s no difference between crying in physical pain and crying for depression. I have fibro, rheumatoid arthritis. I am seeing my pain dr tomorrow because nothing is working. I understand where you are coming from! Let’s check on each other, ok?

@grandmar hi Ronnie- it’s Karen. I think you should stick to the schedule, even if you don’t have bad pain at the moment. The docs will always tell you it’s best to “stay ahead of the pain”. From my experience, I agree. Good luck - praying for you.