I agree. If I were able to get pain meds as easily as tylenol, I would be right back into full-blown opiate addiction.
I used to be one of the addicts that ladyfoxfyre and Foxy40 are having a dandy time tittering and high-fiving about. :rolleyes: It’s the regulation of the drug (as well as the fact that I’m a mother now) that keeps me out of trouble. I’ll admit it, I do need “nannying” in this case. I never went so far as to forge scripts, but I was always at the pharmacy at 8:00 am the morning I was able to get it refilled, even if I had used it up daaaaays before.
The difference is this: people can consume alcohol and enjoy its effects -without becoming addicted- more readily than people could do with oxycontin.
I don’t have statistics, but I am going to assume that the VAST majority of people taking painkillers don’t do it for the cheap buzz on a Saturday night. They do it because they currently need or in the past did need pain medication. For those that do not need it anymore, and still continue to take it, they are addicted. They were given medication to relieve pain and now they’re addicted. At the point of addiction, with regard to pain medication, these people are no longer rational thinking adults. They’re addicts. And giving them free reign on their medication (one, you must remember, they never chose to start but rather had it thrust upon them by means of an accident or other disability), isn’t fighting the Nanny State. It isn’t helping these people.
What a fine example of an idiotic attempt to grasp at straws. It’s her fucking job to take notice of prescriptions that don’t match up with the situation at hand. Ask that stupid question again when she changes career from pharmacist to traffic patrol. :rolleyes:
I can tell you about one time Ivylad visited his parents without his pain meds. No biggie, he said, bring them over in the morning.
I got there about 10am and his mom said he was still in bed. We chatted a bit, then they left to run errands and I very quietly let myself into the bedroom where he was sleeping.
He was awake, but buried under the covers, sweating and shaking uncontrollably. He hadn’t slept all night. I got him into the tub (he could barely walk) and ran the hot water, because he said he was freezing. Then I crushed up his pain pills and let him take the powder. (This was before he got the morphine pump implanted, so he was on the heavy duty stuff, Oxycontin, Oxycodone, etc.)
His body was having a physical withdrawal from the pain meds, even though he was taking them for pain. He was not jonesing for a fix, but his body needed the pain pills.
These are very powerful drugs, and even those people taking them for legitimate reasons can suffer adverse reactions if they are abruptly withdrawn.
I ordered it online. Crazy, huh? Aside from that, I probably could have written your post. We’re still human.
I have a problem with one particular medication. It was prescribed by my doctor after a bad fall, and he continued to prescribe it for two years. I fell into the trap of building up a tolerance, so I took more, so I ordered it online to fill in the gaps. It wasn’t technically an opiate, but it had very, very similar effects on me (and apparently, this is a common issue with it, but it’s not a narcotic or a controlled substance, so online pharmacies can sell it - and still do.).
Two years ago, I finally had had enough and went into an outpatient treatment program. Successfully completed it, and I am being 100% honest when I say that I will NEVER take that medication again. I know what it does to me, and dammit, I don’t ever want the hell of trying to get off of it again. I don’t ever want the hell of trying to get off of ANY medication again. I have still taken prescribed painkillers - for my C-section recovery (which was a pretty crappy recovery), and for a torn ligament. I have taken them exactly as prescribed. Tylenol, Motrin, and Aleve just wouldn’t cut it, but I went to those as soon as I could handle my pain with JUST those OTC meds. My primary care doc knows about my recovery, and is very careful about what she prescribes to me - rightfully so. I appreciate that from her.
Yeah, addicts will lie to get what they want. I was one of 'em (that lied - I realize that I will have to be on my toes for the rest of my life as far as addiction). But we’re not doing it to fuck up your day. I have sympathy for these addicts because I used to be just like them, and I know with one wrong move, I could be there again.
That sounds like Ultram. I had a previous Lortab addiction from severe pain 10 years ago, then I was prescribed Ultram from a back injury and was told it was “non-narcotic and non-addicting”. M’kay…
I was eventually ordering it online and, after taking an obscene amount because I built up a tolerance, I had a seizure and ended up in detox and out-patient treatment. Those withdrawls were worse than anything I experienced with opiates. So I will never take that again, but I’m still vulnerable when it comes to opiates. That’s why regulations are necessary, for me anyway (see how I brought that hi-jack back around to the subject at hand? ).
You would probably assume correctly, since that’s what happened to me. I was no longer thinking like a rational person. NYS has tighter restrictions these days, so I’m not about to do anything to get caught.
As is the case with Elza B, my primary care doc and my gyno know about my problem, so opiates are given carefully. I can’t take anti-inflammatory drugs due to having ulcerative colitis and having had gastric bypass surgery, so if I’m in severe pain, opiates are all I can take. I’ll get darvocet (which isn’t a trigger drug for me) and my husband doles out the pills.
I have to side with the pharmacists on this one. As a long time pain killer user I learned a long time ago not to get all crazy taking them. I am in mild pain most of the time but I just tell myself I’m getting old. On the flip side I know when the it starts getting bad you have to take them quick, if you don’t they don’t work as well. My wife tries to get me to take them a lot because she can see the pain and I get tired of trying to hide it. Shit . I’ll be getting to the point now. My wife is always trying to get the pharmacy to fill them before their due. She takes them too and she gets a little upset when she has to wait . I tell her , hey , no biggie they have to be careful . I’ve known people who will pay cash to see different doctors and go to different pharmacies to try to get it by the pharmacists . What are they supposed to do ? I don’t know how much they make but it’s a lot of responsibility for one person, don’t you think ? You be the judge.
diggleblop, you may very well be an addict. Or you may not. Who can to make that judgment except for you? If you are an addict, your OP is a prime example of someone not thinking clearly. Even if it’s only a matter of being phyically addicted (which is almost inevitable with chronic pain), that can turn into a psychological addiction without you even realizing it. I never saw it coming.
Yep - it was Ultram. That stuff is horrible, and I’d be the first one to testify to have it become a controlled substance. I was told by several doctors (including my regular doc, who was the one who prescribed it for two years) that it is NOT addictive, and there’s no reason I should have had any problem not taking it after several months, then years of taking it.
Okay. Whatever. The severe withdrawals were all in my head. :rolleyes:
Yep. I stick with stuff that’s not a trigger - Vicodin, while a huge trigger for most people, makes me sick if I take it longer than 3-4 days, so my doc considers it safe to prescribe for that time period. I took Percocet after my C-section, and gave it to my mom to dole out (she stayed to help for a week and a half). Once the first prescription was gone, my midwife offered to prescribe more to me since I was quite obviously still in pain, but I declined, and stuck with Motrin. The pain wasn’t necessarily totally manageable, but I could handle it if I absolutely had to.
I feel sorry for ‘legal’ addicts. Getting off of those medications is absolute hell, and honestly, I know exactly what they’re thinking when they try to get their meds early. It’s not “Let’s see if I can get one over on this pharmacist”, it’s “Oh, God, if I can’t get this early, I’m not going to sleep for three days and I’m going to have the shakes and the next three days are going to be hell on earth.”. And yes, while the decision to take more than prescribed was made BY the addict, it was in response to chronic pain that got worse because they developed a tolerance to the current dosage. I fully admit that I made the decision to take more of my medication than prescribed. But it’s a vicious cycle - the medication no longer works as well, so you take more, until it no longer works as well, so you take more, ad nauseum.
I probably should ask them to make me a partner, though. What with all the “Milwaukee’s Best” I allegedly help them dispose of. (Vicious rumors spread by my detractors.)
You got to get off that stuff. You’ll get fat like me. Kettle One vodka. Nothing finer, my friend . Makes me lick my lips just thinking about a nice short tumbler full with just a cranberry coloring to it. About six big ice cubes. The glass all beaded up with little drops of water . Oh, my. I need to excuse myself now.
I’m still unclear about whether diggleblop was describing one incident in two different threads half a year apart, or two. This makes some difference in how I understand it.
Thank you for summing all of this up for me, as I agree completely with every point. Number 5 is exactly what I was talking about in my original post. Regardless of whether or not the OP is an addict (which I didn’t realize was widely suspected when I posted), the treatment of those in pain in the U.S. is horrible. Especially for those in chronic pain - sure, you may be OK if your pain is at a 5 for a week or two. It’s different if it’s every day for the rest of your life.
Of course I may be predjudiced here, as I hate watching my father suffer. (He seems reasonably ok on his current regimine, but of course it changes every few months…)
Well, your user name is apt. If you go back and actually read what I’m talking about you’ll see it was about calling a patient’s doctor to inform them of a patient’s desire to sell their medication, a suggestion by Guinastasia. I never questioned her doing her actual job.
What an idiotic attempt to grasp reading comprehension.
Taking an Oxy pill is anarchy? :dubious:
That’s a bit strong don’t you think? No, everything should not be a personal choice. I’m actually very law abiding. I never rob, steal of injure other people. I never even drive faster than the speed limit and always come to a complete stop at stop signs. These laws protect others as well as myself.
How would that be ‘sponsoring’ it?
This idea that because something is regulated a bit differently than pharmys it has ‘no relevance’ is just silly. My point is that many here take the “regulated” status as a horse to climb upon and wag the finger from on high. I used Prohibition as an example of the fickleness of societies labeling of ok-ness in these things. I would venture to guess that alcohol causes much more deaths than opiates yet it’s not regulated as heavily in regards to availability.
I’m sorry, but when did we decide that it was the addict’s responsibility to decide when they’re an addict? I thought that’s what detox and interventions and mandatory drug testing for drug offenders was all about…the fact that addicts have no perspective to determine whether they are addicts or not?
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