I am tired of people not understanding

[anniebubble36]

I injured my back a year ago very badly, I have tried everything with the help of my doctor to overcome the pain. I excercise, I have lost weight, but i am on many rx's. Every time someone askes how I am feeling and I explain, they roll their eyes and think I am going to be addicted, or joke about the "pills". I take some pain pills, some antiinflamtories, nerve blockers and sleeping pills. I take ms contin twice a day and four percocet a day, sometimes six. I have surgery scheduled for march when my kids are on spring break and I will not have to drive. I don't feel addicted nor do i want to be. I hear of people taking 20 pills a day and I am no where close, so am I ok until surgery? I do not want to become addicted, but I would like to be able to walk until the surgery.

[shadowwally]

I injured my back a year ago very badly, I have tried everything with the help of my doctor to overcome the pain. I excercise, I have lost weight, but i am on many rx's. Every time someone askes how I am feeling and I explain, they roll their eyes and think I am going to be addicted, or joke about the "pills". I take some pain pills, some antiinflamtories, nerve blockers and sleeping pills. I take ms contin twice a day and four percocet a day, sometimes six. I have surgery scheduled for march when my kids are on spring break and I will not have to drive. I don't feel addicted nor do i want to be. I hear of people taking 20 pills a day and I am no where close, so am I ok until surgery? I do not want to become addicted, but I would like to be able to walk until the surgery.

Annie,
I can't answer your question.
welcome to the forum,,please just read anything that sounds relevant and you may already find your question answered.
Best of luck

[musicman48]

I injured my back a year ago very badly, I have tried everything with the help of my doctor to overcome the pain. I excercise, I have lost weight, but i am on many rx's. Every time someone askes how I am feeling and I explain, they roll their eyes and think I am going to be addicted, or joke about the "pills". I take some pain pills, some antiinflamtories, nerve blockers and sleeping pills. I take ms contin twice a day and four percocet a day, sometimes six. I have surgery scheduled for march when my kids are on spring break and I will not have to drive. I don't feel addicted nor do i want to be. I hear of people taking 20 pills a day and I am no where close, so am I ok until surgery? I do not want to become addicted, but I would like to be able to walk until the surgery.

The simple answer to your question is yes you are now physically addicted/dependent on these. Possibly mentally addicted as well. ..I have injuries too....3 herniated disc.sciatica,DDD ,etc...The first year is ok on pain meds...trust me this will quickly turn to a living hell. I would seek out any other plan for your pain management other than opiates.....Just my opinion.
Good luck,
MM

[picablue]

It is very much possible to be addicted to 4 percs a day. That's about the level I was at. I never went far beyond and I had to go in to treatment to get off. I guess it comes down to this: Can you stop when the time comes?

The only way to find out is to try-- though some folks do need various drugs to function. There is nothing bad about that. That may be you-- Only you will know.

Me? I was taking those 4 percs since they made my depressed feelings go away-- it had very little to do with my injuries from the car accident. That's why it's a problem for me ... but might not be one for you. I can't tell you which it is. You sound concerned, so that makes me think maybe it is a problem... think about it.

Stopping will be hard... but not super hard if you don't have a mental need for the drugs too. BEST.

[ARTIST658]

I injured my back a year ago very badly, I have tried everything with the help of my doctor to overcome the pain. I excercise, I have lost weight, but i am on many rx's. Every time someone askes how I am feeling and I explain, they roll their eyes and think I am going to be addicted, or joke about the "pills". I take some pain pills, some antiinflamtories, nerve blockers and sleeping pills. I take ms contin twice a day and four percocet a day, sometimes six. I have surgery scheduled for march when my kids are on spring break and I will not have to drive. I don't feel addicted nor do i want to be. I hear of people taking 20 pills a day and I am no where close, so am I ok until surgery? I do not want to become addicted, but I would like to be able to walk until the surgery.

Dear Annie,

The roll of the eyes is likely to be more a statement of the dangers of the narcotics you are taking, rather than an opinion of you, personally. MS Contin is morphine, as you probably know - and you're adding another powerful painkiller to that, with percocet; the combination does sound alarming. Also, their reaction may be to what they see of how the drugs are affecting you. If we see a person who is having trouble speaking or reacting physically to heavy-duty drugs, we tend to sense they have a serious issue with it. Sadly, while we're using, we can not get a clear picture of what other's see. We tend to believe that we're managing quite well, and no one really knows our drug use, but that is not true.

When it comes to addiction, it really doesn't matter whether or not we are truly in need of the pain relief -- the basic nature of the drugs will lend themselves toward dependency and addiction. I'm trying to say, even when we're taking them for legitimate pain, still we run the risk of addiction. We can't "measure" addiction by how much we're taking; the number of pills is not the factor. One person may be addicted with 4 pills - another person with 30; it doesn't matter.

Your comment that "I don't feel addicted nor do i want to be" is the same for anyone, addicted or not. Generally, we don't "feel" addicted; a large part of this disease is denial. We simply can not see what is happening to us. And of course no one wants to be! This is an insidious, tricky disease that creeps up on us. There is no blare of trumpets to announce when we've crossed the line. It generally takes ahold of us quite slowly, completely under the radar for our detection. By the time we realize we have a problem, it's usually gotten pretty well out of control.

One stage is dependency; that is when we experience withdrawal symptoms if we stop the drugs. You are likely to be in that category, to begin with, after so long on these drugs. A separate stage is addiction. The major characterizing feature of addiction - that separates it from dependency - is the mental obsession. This may be difficult for you to determine, as, right now, your doctor is willing to supply you with the drugs - and there's no need to obsess over whether or not you have enough. But generally, once our minds are consumed with thoughts of running out or how to get more - we're crossing into addiction.

These drugs are more powerful than you probably realize - and can turn the most intelligent, thoughtful and responsible person into an addict. Having genuine pain does not exempt us from the potential for addiction.

God bless,
Ruth