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| | From:  LunarKalia (Original Message) | Sent: 11/1/2008 3:19 PM |
so now i am reading allllll about "opiate dependency", which IS, technically, what i am dealing with....my decision to take more than prescribed during the past month in response to the very bad pain in various body parts due to the bike accident, does, i know, indicate physical dependence. it is simply what happens the longer you take opioid pain medication, it is inevitable i think. (i think?)
so i am reading all about these in-hospital treatment programs where you are anesthesized and your opioid receptors are "emptied out", so that you can start back at square one with the narcotic pain meds, taking the very little amount necessary to control moderate pain.
has anyone ever done this? know someone who has?
i am GUESSING that the idea is for people like us who have developed tolerance to a pain med but who NEED pain control in order to have quality of life, this treatment can be helpful....you get to go way back to the beginning in dose and find it still to be effective.
the thought of this maybe even being a slight possibility has me kind of interested.....i know i can't just go to the ER when i run out of my meds this weekend and say "oh, i'd like the rapid detox treatment please"...lol.....but as i am reading, it looks like a situation like mine would be one that could be made better all the way around by using this treatment.
just curious as to whether or not anyone of you knows more than what i am reading on the internet. thanks. |
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I've heard about this type of 'quick detox', but don't know much about it. Some docs do it....while others will reduce the amount of narcotics we take....let us go through withdrawal....then put us on a lower dose to 'start up' again. Then, supposedly, we go through it all over again...lol. There are very few doctors who will put you through the rapid detox by 'putting you out'. That sounds a lot better than being awake and having to go through it though...lol. Sorry I can't help you much with this....and don't know of anyone who has gone through this type of rapid detox either. And, yes, IF I were to do it, I would rather hear about it from someone who has actually gone through it...and hear what they thought about it. To be honest, it scares me!! I'm on very high doses of Oxycontin and Actiq, so would be very leery about this. Good luck in your search...and if I hear about anyone who has had it done, will let you know! Dee |
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| thanks natzo. yeah, i have been reading about the treatment where you ARE "put out", while your opiate receptors are cleaned out....a small vaccuum perhaps? oh i can just feel the pain ramping up in my cervical spine, up my neck, into my head. somehow hydrocodone has lasted me as an effective drug for 8 years now. i mean really, if it took THAT LONG for me to get totally tolerized, i don't see why the internist i was going to (notice how i can already speak of her in the past tense??? lol) doesn't see the BIG PICTURE of my pain life, as if my very recent uping of my dose is some BIG SIGN of me being a druggie! good god almighty, i mean REALLY. i just really wish the well-meaning friends would stop with the book suggestions: "have you read the one about how you can retrain your central nervous system?" gee no...but i'll put it right at the TOP of my list of books to read! lol |
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| | | From: CyndyK2 | Sent: 11/1/2008 4:19 PM |
I seem to recall we did have a member a couple years ago who was forced to go through this procedure by her doctor or medical team because they felt she was on too many narcotics or on too high a dose, I forget which. And she was reacting pretty much the way you are now, panic spilling all over the place. But it turned out pretty well after all, and she had a good experience with it and they put her on something new once they got her off all the old stuff she'd been on (under hospital supervision). All that panic she went through had been for nothing, so maybe you should discuss this with the doctor you DO trust and see what she thinks, hmm? That's a lot better than scaring yourself witless like this. I recognize your state of mind; it's the same one I had when I decided to quit smoking; I went instantly into full-blown panic mode because my crutch was gone. And man, I was hell to live with for a week, I know. My daughter is a saint, trust me. : )
Cyndy
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| i do consider pain medication for chronic pain to be something above being a "crutch" like nicotine is for people. |
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| | | From: CyndyK2 | Sent: 11/1/2008 9:31 PM |
Of course it is, but the feeling is the same, when it's taken away without your consent, I think. And I was forced to stop smoking by my doctor when I was in the hospital; he had a nurse slap a patch on me when I complained that I wanted a cigarette because I was basically in nicotine withdrawal, I guess. By the time I got out of the hospital, I figured there was no better time to quit smoking, since I had a couple days' headstart on the process, and I was finally successful. But there really isn't any comparison to something I CHOSE to do versus something you have no control over, I realize that. But the dependency issue is a similar one; it was just a bad analogy, and I'm sorry.
Cyndy
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| oh i'm sorry cyndy....i'm just so SENsitive right now...lol i'm sorry too. i can feel the fact that yours is a WONDERFUL soul and i know you didn't mean it the way my SENsitive nature took it. all is well! |
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| | | From: CyndyK2 | Sent: 11/2/2008 4:36 AM |
Not to worry, Kalia; I DO understand. You're in full-blown panic mode right now, and I absolutely do NOT blame you for that; I would be, too. I've never been "fortunate" enough to have pain control for long enough to become dependent on it; I live in Pennsylvania, and the doctors here are at least as bad as those in NY when it comes to thinking we'll become drug addicts if they prescribe anything that WORKS. Heaven forbid! They want to stick needles in my spine, which I resist with all my being; I consider that way too invasive and risky. I already have degenerative disc disease; why should I risk some doctor hitting a nerve with a needle and causing more damage?? Makes no sense to ME; I can't see why THEY don't see it my way. So I live on way too much aspirin, which is pretty much useless, as you might imagine. Oh, well.
Cyndy
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