My Opioid Addiction

@jdiakiw I too thank you for sharing your addiction lesson Part 1 I admit it scares the heck out of me. I was an addiction counselor for 30 years. I worked with people who were so addicted to drugs. There was marijuana, benzos, opiods, alcohol, methamphetamines, cocaine, and one last, the biggest is alcohol. More deaths long term than any other drug. You usually don't see an immediate death, but a long term suffering that eventually leads to organ shut down and death. Along the way, these drugs take others with them to their death. Your wife can attest to that. Those close to the addict suffer as severely as the addict. My family has experienced death due to addiction, My brother, a heroin addict, killed himself. My 1st husband, father of my son, died in a car crash after he and my son were celebrating my son's return from a Military med cruise, They left the bar with my son driving.. No more needed to be said on that. What I want to say is that through all the years of working with people addicted to chemicals, we never encouraged or even allowed them to go off any one of the drugs without medical supervision. Your story scares me because you might have died from the cessation of drug taking sooner than if you had continued using. I agree that we all have to experience some discomfort to reach our goal, but outward, extreme physical and mental pain does not need to be part of that process. I am more than happy that you made it through. It took alot away from your's and your wife's life.in the process. So now Tramadol. Tramadol is an opiod and is addicting, but can be very helpful for pain. Now getting to me. The addiction counselor who relies on percocet to ease the pain of peripheral neuropoathy in both feet, ankles and leg. This along with several other painful health issues made me rethink my objections to taking a narcotic pain reliever. I do not deny that my body is dependent on this drug and if I choose to go off I will need detox treatment. I have no intention of going off any time soon. I run a high risk of addiction so I must be extremely careful. I take as prescribed and see my doctor every month. This includes pain management and primary care. I am 75 years old and I am tired of pain. I am not completely pain free with the pecocets, but I am able to hold my Great granddaughter and take her and her dollbabies for a walk down the road, I also live alone and do the "live alone" stuff. I self check everyday on the addiction process and also question my need for the medication. I then remember crying because the pain took every ounce of energy from me. I do put a warning out there to all those using a narcotic pain reliever for relief. Always be honest with yourself and your doctor, have someone do a check of any behavior changes. Another part of this is DO NOT try to get off any medication without a doctor aboard and one that knows about addiction and medication. This includes not only narcotics but also antidepressants and other drugs that cause physical dependence.

@jdiakiw I too thank you for sharing your addiction lesson Part 1 I admit it scares the heck out of me. I was an addiction counselor for 30 years. I worked with people who were so addicted to drugs. There was marijuana, benzos, opiods, alcohol, methamphetamines, cocaine, and one last, the biggest is alcohol. More deaths long term than any other drug. You usually don't see an immediate death, but a long term suffering that eventually leads to organ shut down and death. Along the way, these drugs take others with them to their death. Your wife can attest to that. Those close to the addict suffer as severely as the addict. My family has experienced death due to addiction, My brother, a heroin addict, killed himself. My 1st husband, father of my son, died in a car crash after he and my son were celebrating my son's return from a Military med cruise, They left the bar with my son driving.. No more needed to be said on that. What I want to say is that through all the years of working with people addicted to chemicals, we never encouraged or even allowed them to go off any one of the drugs without medical supervision. Your story scares me because you might have died from the cessation of drug taking sooner than if you had continued using. I agree that we all have to experience some discomfort to reach our goal, but outward, extreme physical and mental pain does not need to be part of that process. I am more than happy that you made it through. It took alot away from your's and your wife's life.in the process. So now Tramadol. Tramadol is an opiod and is addicting, but can be very helpful for pain. Now getting to me. The addiction counselor who relies on percocet to ease the pain of peripheral neuropoathy in both feet, ankles and leg. This along with several other painful health issues made me rethink my objections to taking a narcotic pain reliever. I do not deny that my body is dependent on this drug and if I choose to go off I will need detox treatment. I have no intention of going off any time soon. I run a high risk of addiction so I must be extremely careful. I take as prescribed and see my doctor every month. This includes pain management and primary care. I am 75 years old and I am tired of pain. I am not completely pain free with the pecocets, but I am able to hold my Great granddaughter and take her and her dollbabies for a walk down the road, I also live alone and do the "live alone" stuff. I self check everyday on the addiction process and also question my need for the medication. I then remember crying because the pain took every ounce of energy from me. I do put a warning out there to all those using a narcotic pain reliever for relief. Always be honest with yourself and your doctor, have someone do a check of any behavior changes. Another part of this is DO NOT try to get off any medication without a doctor aboard and one that knows about addiction and medication. This includes not only narcotics but also antidepressants and other drugs that cause physical dependence.

So true. I am tapering down xanax now. Half mg tabs and I took one in am and one pm. I am at one in am and 1/2 in pm now, making it 3/4 mg. Getting ready to go down again to 1/2 daily, split in half. Done with benzos.. Now, I take hydrocodone 10/325. I have severe back issues from 30 years doing hair. My RX says every 6 hours but sometimes I need them less. I always have to move my appt out about a couple weeks. I see my pain management doctor every 2 months and he calls in the 2 RX. One is filled and one is put on file for later. I have now gone to every 7 hours. Very seldom do I need them every 4. I have been taking them for 20 years and yes they still work. Some pain is still there but that's how it is. I also have neuropathy and if I stand in one place too long, my thighs will get numb. They also get numb if I lie on back at night. I wake sometimes and am on back and both thighs are numb. I have something for nerve issues but do not take it. I was in the hospital for 2 days treated for leg pain, with dilaudid. I cried so much my eyes were swollen. Still not sure what happened there but I am terrified I'll wake one morning and not be able to get out of bed. Just taking one day at a time.

Hello Carol, @carol1024, it's nice to meet you. 30 years on your feet...it's no wonder you have chronic back pain. I took vocational cosmetology in high school, but due to back pain I never tested to become licensed. It just wasn't in the cards.

First, congratulations on tapering down Xanax! Wanting to rid of benzos is an incredible accomplishment that you should be proud of for pursuing. Second, always taking the least amount that you need of an opioid is responsible pain management. Thanks to @summertime4 for such a profound post. So true, is right! Seeing it both ways is important to have understanding and empathy when it comes to addictive medications.

I'm wondering if you've ever considered an all inclusive pain "rehabilitation" center? Not a pain clinic or pain management facility - a place that treats the whole person, body and mind? I used hydrocodone, plus medical marijuana, injections, ablations...you name it. I tried benzos and other stuff and hated every minute of it, but never knew what else to do for myself - my pain, my symptoms. None of my docs offered up any more than meds. For me Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center ended up being my "drug" of choice. Here is who helped me -Dr. Sletten from the Mayo PRC discussing chronic pain and rehabilitation. Maybe you will find it interesting. He's a pretty dynamic speaker if nothing else.

The xanax and beta blockers I take because of a brain aneurysm I had in 2011. I have anxiety very bad. My doctor said he would put me on a non benzo for my anxiety if I wanted. The problem runs in my family. Our adrenaline pump doesn't cut off. That fight or flight feeling you get?, yeah, things don't return to normal like they should. I have had every kind of heart test you can imagine. When I had the heart cath last year, the doctor said I have healthy, strong heart with no blockage. It used to feel like a machine gun in my chest and would scare me so bad I'd call EMS. The metoprolol slows my heart down and is a Godsend. I've gone months with no palpitations and skipped beats. I also have nerve medication. I've got a whole bottle of gabapentin, I've tried Lyrica, I don't like how it makes me feel. I think it didn't mix well with other meds I was on. The only way to fix the problem is to get the discs off the nerve. The fluid between discs is drying out(can't remember what it's called right this second) and the nerves get caught sometimes, depends on what I'm doing. I have areas on my back where the nerves branch out that are numb, about the size of a nickel, used to be dime sized. When I first had issues, I sat on a 5 gallon bucket and pulled weeds from a garden. It was the back and forth rocking I did for hours that did something. That night I couldn't hardly move and it felt like my back needed popping. This was in 2000. I couldn't get out of bed for a week. Everytime I would put weight on lower back it would spasm and hurt and I'd fall back into bed. After a week, my then boyfriend called non EMS to take me to hospital and they did x-ray, gave pain meds and sent me home. I was referred to orthopedic doctor and he gave me a shot in lower back and I was good for about 28 days. So the back thing isn't going to get better until I get the nerves out of the way. I have sciatica at times very bad. I can't do any repetitive bending or leaning at an angle. I can do thorough vacuuming like changing attachments and going along walls and because I'm bent over a lot, I can hardly straighten up when done. At times I have to stop and sit. I love to sew and had to raise my table about 4 inches so I wouldn't have to lean at awkward angle while cutting pattern. I don't sew anymore because of it. The pinched nerve in my neck, made worse from years of holding arms in air doing perms, cutting, etc, makes it numb across top of shoulders. I can't sit at a computer and sit in chair, on edge. I have to lean completely back. I'd do taxes and after 10 minutes sitting upright midway in chair, my shoulders were numb and burning. I could scratch it and not feel a thing. I also tried a chiropractor and felt good for about 3 days then right back to where I was. So, I think surgery is the only thing but that's about $25,000 for the procedure to fill in the discs and lift if so nerves don't get caught. Right now you could say I'm in holding pattern, just taking one day at a time. ❤️

@jdiakiw I too thank you for sharing your addiction lesson Part 1 I admit it scares the heck out of me. I was an addiction counselor for 30 years. I worked with people who were so addicted to drugs. There was marijuana, benzos, opiods, alcohol, methamphetamines, cocaine, and one last, the biggest is alcohol. More deaths long term than any other drug. You usually don't see an immediate death, but a long term suffering that eventually leads to organ shut down and death. Along the way, these drugs take others with them to their death. Your wife can attest to that. Those close to the addict suffer as severely as the addict. My family has experienced death due to addiction, My brother, a heroin addict, killed himself. My 1st husband, father of my son, died in a car crash after he and my son were celebrating my son's return from a Military med cruise, They left the bar with my son driving.. No more needed to be said on that. What I want to say is that through all the years of working with people addicted to chemicals, we never encouraged or even allowed them to go off any one of the drugs without medical supervision. Your story scares me because you might have died from the cessation of drug taking sooner than if you had continued using. I agree that we all have to experience some discomfort to reach our goal, but outward, extreme physical and mental pain does not need to be part of that process. I am more than happy that you made it through. It took alot away from your's and your wife's life.in the process. So now Tramadol. Tramadol is an opiod and is addicting, but can be very helpful for pain. Now getting to me. The addiction counselor who relies on percocet to ease the pain of peripheral neuropoathy in both feet, ankles and leg. This along with several other painful health issues made me rethink my objections to taking a narcotic pain reliever. I do not deny that my body is dependent on this drug and if I choose to go off I will need detox treatment. I have no intention of going off any time soon. I run a high risk of addiction so I must be extremely careful. I take as prescribed and see my doctor every month. This includes pain management and primary care. I am 75 years old and I am tired of pain. I am not completely pain free with the pecocets, but I am able to hold my Great granddaughter and take her and her dollbabies for a walk down the road, I also live alone and do the "live alone" stuff. I self check everyday on the addiction process and also question my need for the medication. I then remember crying because the pain took every ounce of energy from me. I do put a warning out there to all those using a narcotic pain reliever for relief. Always be honest with yourself and your doctor, have someone do a check of any behavior changes. Another part of this is DO NOT try to get off any medication without a doctor aboard and one that knows about addiction and medication. This includes not only narcotics but also antidepressants and other drugs that cause physical dependence.

I’m 78 years old I worked until 70 without health problems unti I had a knee replacement worse decision of my life I have chronic pain I currently take 600 mg of gabapentin and 100mg of tramadol on most days sometimes I reduce the dosage to half I am determined to stop taking these drugs I’ve noticed that in good weather I only take 300 mg gabapentin. The winters are when I have the most pain I’m thankful I’m not taking higher doses and I don’t think I’m dependent on the drugs I’m always in pain. Horrible!

My son works for a prominent pharmaceutical company and tells me they are working on a non-opiod pain reliever. I haven't read up on it but, I'm sure this will be the thing of the future. Government can't impose the removal of opiods from all but, cancer patients, and expect us to be accepting with no back up plan except medical marijuana which remains illegal in many states.

ITS VERY HARD FOR ME TO IMAGINE THAT MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS NOT BETTER THAN THE DRUGS WE ARE PRESCRIBED. I HAVE BEEN PRESCRIBED SO MANY SLEEP MEDICATIONS DUE TO A HORRIFIC WITHDRAWAL FROM 17 YEARS ON LORAZEPAM FOR RLS. LORAZEPAM IS USED FOR SLEEP, SO, OBVIOUSLY WHEN YOU STOP, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO SLEEP. MY LAST SLEEP MEDICATION WAS DAYVIGO, $138 FOR 30 DAYS. DID NOT WORK, TRIED FOR 5 DAYS AND STOPPED. FINALLY I TRIED KIVA CANNABIS-INFUSED DARK CHOCOLATE 5MG PER SERVING. I HAVE TAKEN IT EVERY NIGHT FOR 2 WEEKS AND I HAVE GONE FROM 3 HRS SLEEP A NIGHT TO 6 HRS. I DON'T THINK THIS WILL CONTINUE TO WORK, BUT I AM THANKFUL FOR THE RELIEF I AM HAVING NOW. ITS LEGAL IN SAN FRANCISCO AND I KNOW MANY ADULTS WHO USE CANNABIS WITH MUCH SUCCESS.