Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

And pill pushing doctors either too lazy or too arrogant to do their job. One pill doesn’t fit all.

I’m so sorry. Usually if you are taking meds for a purpose, dependence is the last thing your body and mind develop. Your body—pain receptors—are fulfilling the purpose for which they were designed—survival.
If you take opioids and you are not in pain or at doses which are not required to control the pain, your pain receptors are not being used to fight the pain at hand. They are being flooded with unused drug.
What happens when this occurs? Euphoria. Relaxation. Peace.
These side effects don’t appear “bad” to those seeking pain relief. But when coupled with tremors, fatigue, constipation, gum inflammation, and dependence.
However, when treating severe pain with opioids, euphoria should not occur. That is your dosage gauge. If it occurs, lower the dose. Increase the dosage if the pain is greater than an 7 or 8/10 all day, watch for euphoria though and do not increase too much.
Euphoria will send you down the road toward dependence faster than any other side effect of the class.

They should be used only as a last resort and then only with caution, at the lowest possible dosage, and absolutely as directed under strict guidance and control of a pain specialist.

@faithwalker007

Don't I wish! A little euphoria would be welcome once in a while. I can't remember ever having that happen to me, with a possible exception of getting a big dose of dilaudid in the ER a couple of times.

We adopted our son as a newborn, and knew that his birth family had real addiction problems. As he got older, we could see that he developed habits, both good and bad, very quickly. When he was old enough to understand, we had a conversation about the addictive personality issue, and talked about how important it was that he never develop a behavior, such as drinking alcohol and smoking, that would easily become a life controlling habit. He really took it to heart. Unfortunately, he didn't apply it to drinking too much Mountain Dew.

The addictive personality has been evident in my 2 brothers, with significant drug and alcohol abuse for many years. One was able to break free of it after around 10 years, but the other one came very close to dying, with almost no liver function, homeless, separated from his family, many years behind on paying any taxes, nothing left to call his own. It took at least 5 years for him to achieve sobriety once he got started, and I think it's been 10 years or so since he reached that point. He's hypervigilant about his diet now. During the years that he was trying to get clean, our father died, and he moved in with Mom, with a strict zero tolerance policy for having any alcohol in her home. He fell now and then, but didn't give up. My sister had access to his finances because he was too far gone to deal with them, so if he didn't show up at home, she could track his debit card transactions, and knew that he was on another binge. He got clean and sober with my sister's and mother's help, before Mom died, and the trust my parents wrote up allowed him to live in the condo (which was paid for) as long as he needed it.

I'm proud of the hard work he did. 25 years ago, we went to see him at the VA hospital in Santa Rosa, and he didn't know us. Doctors told us that he would be lucky to live another year. Somehow he managed to survive long enough to reach the point when he was ready to turn his life around. So, there's hope for those who have an addictive personality.

Sorry. I never know when to stop. I think it's time now.

Jim

@faithwalker007

Don't I wish! A little euphoria would be welcome once in a while. I can't remember ever having that happen to me, with a possible exception of getting a big dose of dilaudid in the ER a couple of times.

We adopted our son as a newborn, and knew that his birth family had real addiction problems. As he got older, we could see that he developed habits, both good and bad, very quickly. When he was old enough to understand, we had a conversation about the addictive personality issue, and talked about how important it was that he never develop a behavior, such as drinking alcohol and smoking, that would easily become a life controlling habit. He really took it to heart. Unfortunately, he didn't apply it to drinking too much Mountain Dew.

The addictive personality has been evident in my 2 brothers, with significant drug and alcohol abuse for many years. One was able to break free of it after around 10 years, but the other one came very close to dying, with almost no liver function, homeless, separated from his family, many years behind on paying any taxes, nothing left to call his own. It took at least 5 years for him to achieve sobriety once he got started, and I think it's been 10 years or so since he reached that point. He's hypervigilant about his diet now. During the years that he was trying to get clean, our father died, and he moved in with Mom, with a strict zero tolerance policy for having any alcohol in her home. He fell now and then, but didn't give up. My sister had access to his finances because he was too far gone to deal with them, so if he didn't show up at home, she could track his debit card transactions, and knew that he was on another binge. He got clean and sober with my sister's and mother's help, before Mom died, and the trust my parents wrote up allowed him to live in the condo (which was paid for) as long as he needed it.

I'm proud of the hard work he did. 25 years ago, we went to see him at the VA hospital in Santa Rosa, and he didn't know us. Doctors told us that he would be lucky to live another year. Somehow he managed to survive long enough to reach the point when he was ready to turn his life around. So, there's hope for those who have an addictive personality.

Sorry. I never know when to stop. I think it's time now.

Jim

Jim,
You can talk as long as you want. I understand.
My husband is Native American and his uncle died from liver failure. His life was a cycle of torment and victory. I can’t tell you the number of family members my husband has lost or has battling the demon known as addiction. His grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins—lives wasted from the inability to control basic behavior ingrained within them.
I’ve watched my husband and son over the last thirty years fight for control to contain this part of them and it is like watching a crocodile fighting with a hippo—eventually it doesn’t matter why you or who started the fight or the struggle for dominance. It’s about who or what gains the most ground to take over and win the day. Not from opioids, alcohol, nicotine, gambling, or even sugar in the diet... but your very life. He’s overcome the fight against alcohol after spending a night in the reservation “drunk tank” from a unwise decision of drinking and driving before I met him—the original pathway of destruction the Lord pulled him back from—and moved into a life of purpose albeit suffering.
It is possible but takes dedication, discipline, and no small amount degree of trust
My advice to anyone struggling with addiction? Accept it. We all are in one way or another, we just haven’t discovered it yet. Confront it. Conquer it with Jesus’s, your family’s, friend’s, and anyone’s help. Never try to do it alone.
If you don’t, it will destroy your life.

@jimhd
Jim, based on what Renee @faithwalker007 said about euphoria I do not wish for you to have much of that. I do wish you freedom from the worst of the chronic pain you are experiencing. I hope that freedom comes to you soon. And Renee, we are lucky to have you here with all of your experience. Thanks for your great advice, which always seems so sensible and useful. You are a gem!

Jim, I am sorry for the road your brothers had to travel but I'm glad they made you proud of them by struggling with and (it sounds like) overcoming the demons that wanted to control them. Also, both you and Marilyn have reason to be proud of yourselves with the great counsel you gave your son and the affect it had on him. Best to you, Hank

Remember euphoria only occurs IF the pain relief is met and the Opioid is exceeding it. It won’t occur if it isn’t.
I do not experience euphoria and I’m on OxyContin 30mg bid and Percocet 10mg qid and my pain relief is at 40%. I also have a DRG SCS.

Opioids are NOT something to be afraid of as a pain therapy. It can be managed and monitored and adjusted.

Addiction is not the usual result. Yes, dependence is but NOT addiction. Please do not confuse the two.

Dependence does not usually lead to addiction in the pain management community. It only leads to addiction in those patients who do not require it for pain management as a recourse for survival.
By that, I mean to live a life worth living. Anyone and everyone in this group should know what I mean by that.

Without pain relief, addiction is the least of our worries. In fact, only 2% of all suicides are prescription-only related. Does anyone in this room believe those were due to hopelessness because of their addiction? I don’t.

Euphoria is not a reason to not seek pain relief. It’s a gauge for determining your dosage. That is a side effect that can actually be useful to be reported to your pain management providers to adjust your medication.

Please don’t let rhetoric, the media, or anyone else’s fear or experiences interfere with YOUR treatment options.

Whether you can or can’t take opioids must be substantiated through trial and error and your own body’s reactions. Medical observation. Not any other reason.

Remember euphoria only occurs IF the pain relief is met and the Opioid is exceeding it. It won’t occur if it isn’t.
I do not experience euphoria and I’m on OxyContin 30mg bid and Percocet 10mg qid and my pain relief is at 40%. I also have a DRG SCS.

Opioids are NOT something to be afraid of as a pain therapy. It can be managed and monitored and adjusted.

Addiction is not the usual result. Yes, dependence is but NOT addiction. Please do not confuse the two.

Dependence does not usually lead to addiction in the pain management community. It only leads to addiction in those patients who do not require it for pain management as a recourse for survival.
By that, I mean to live a life worth living. Anyone and everyone in this group should know what I mean by that.

Without pain relief, addiction is the least of our worries. In fact, only 2% of all suicides are prescription-only related. Does anyone in this room believe those were due to hopelessness because of their addiction? I don’t.

Euphoria is not a reason to not seek pain relief. It’s a gauge for determining your dosage. That is a side effect that can actually be useful to be reported to your pain management providers to adjust your medication.

Please don’t let rhetoric, the media, or anyone else’s fear or experiences interfere with YOUR treatment options.

Whether you can or can’t take opioids must be substantiated through trial and error and your own body’s reactions. Medical observation. Not any other reason.

@faithwalker007 The only time I experienced euphoria was when I fractured my back in the E.R they gave me morphine Wow it was terrible and actually scared me as I felt I was losing control .

@faithwalker007, you would be an asset to the Addiction & Recovery group on Connect should you ever wish to take part in the discussions there.
- Addiction & Recovery https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/addiction-recovery/