Hi everyone. First I'd like to say I've been reading these forums for quite a while and love the honesty and respect I've seen here. Quite frankly, though I haven't seeked out much support here, I still feel as if I've gotten a lot.
So, anyway, here's my story... (and very, very apologetic in advance for the long post!!!)
In June, 2006 I was admitted to the hospital with Viral Meningitis. For those who've never experienced it, it's usually accompanied by very severe headaches, and in my case they lasted 5 or 6 weeks. In the hospital I was getting 2 mg Dilaudid every 2 hours plus 2
Norco (10/325) every 4 hours. When I was released, I was given an inadequate dosage (5/600) by my doctor. Complaining to my other doctor - my regular internist - I was immediately given a stronger dose of Norco and enough to last me a month or so. In this time I didn't become dependent, but my tolerance to Norco certainly shot way, way up!
In May, 2007 I had a microdiscectomy for a lumbar herniation and was put on Norco (10/325), which I began taking as directed (e.g.: 2 every 4-6 hours). Unfortunately, my disc reherniated 2 days out of surgery and I had to have surgery again 13 days after the first operation. That operation resulted in a staph infection which brought be back for yet a third surgery about a week later. Throughout all of this, I was in pain, recovering from a herniated disc. In the hospital they were always good about keeping me in IV Dilaudid as well as 2 Norco every 4 hours. A quick side-note was that leading up to the first and second surgeries, I made fairly frequent visits to the ER for a 2mg shot of Dilaudid for a boost when my Norco wasn't working well.
After being released from the hospital following the staph infection I stayed on Norco (at this point probably up to 4 or 5 at a time) for another couple of weeks. Somewhere in there I was occasionally put on
Percocet, which I think lasted about a month. I quit cold-turkey and ended up suffering through a week of hell (some of you may well know what I mean).
Fast forward to December and I found out I reherniated the disc once again! I was put on Norco and
Lyrica (225 mg twice daily) for the sciatic pain associated with the herniation. In February I was put on a
fentanyl patch (increased to 100 mcg over the month), at which point I felt fairly normal.
Since my surgery wasn't until end of March of this year, the dose of Norco I was taking was 12 pills (10/325) at a time, once daily. If I skipped a day, I began to experience "the sweats" accompanied by chills, so I was nervous to skip a day. When I was released from the hospital, I resumed this dosing schedule (patch, Lyrica, 12 Norco) until my visit to the pain clinic this past Thursday. About a month ago, in my first post-op visit to the Neurosurgeon, I dropped the Lyrica, but changed nothing else. To note, the Norco, at the end, in particular, seemed to do little to control my pain (thank God it grew to only sporadic outbreaks, rather than constant!!!).
This past Thursday I visited the pain clinic for my assessment. Among other things, they immediately changed my meds to
Opana (10 mg x 2, 3 times daily) and 150 mcg fentanyl patch, changed every 3 days. I specifically asked my doctor if such a drastic change would result in withdrawals and he said they wouldn't. I suppose I've got a virus, but it sure feels like withdrawals! Interestingly (or perhaps not), I don't get even a tiny buzz from all these meds (which, admittedly, I do miss a bit).
Anyway, my symptoms over the weekend included nausea, diarrhea (both have subsided since Sunday morning), fever up to 100.6 (subsided last night), chills and sweats simultaneously (continues to this very minute), bad headaches (primarily on Sunday, but it surprised me, considering the strong meds I'm still on), loss of appetite, weakness, general soreness, loss of sleep (despite taking 50 mg. of
Benadryl - approved up to 100 mg. by the pain doc), etc.
I'm generally happy with the recovery from my surgery overall, though it's difficult to accurately gauge my progress in light of such heavy meds. I'd like to think I'd be relatively pain free within a month or two and able to return to work, particularly since I've had breakthrough pain decrease in intensity, duration, and frequency over the past several weeks. Prior to beginning the Opana on Thursday, I was still experiencing the pain nearly daily, often more than once a day. Since Thursday, I *think* I've had *one* occurrence of breakthrough pain, which tells me the drugs are probably, at a minimum, the correct dose. On the other hand, if I'm experiencing withdrawals, I feel like the doctor is ignoring my dependence, which ticks me off a bit!
If anyone has thoughts on how to best deal with this, I'd appreciate it. I've purposely stayed away from my Norco since Thursday, since the pain doc doesn't want me taking it anymore, but if I'm withdrawing, I'd go back to it in a heartbeat, until he can properly help with my WDs.
Dependent, withdrawing too soon 
Linear Mode
