am I addicted?

[snowball]

how have you all sorted this out? I am sober in AA for 21 years. been living in severe chronic pain since a bad accident when I was 14 (I am 46 now) without help until I had surgery in March. you'll see my other post below. what I really ment to ask is, how do I sort it out? I take my prcocet as directed, never more. in fact, often less, I am in honest pain. I wonder if I am addicted, or just honestly happy to get some pain relief when I take a percocet 10/325? I have been consciously taking less this week because my md is sending me to a chronic pain clinic. this whole sh*##* experience is stressing me out. I am in debt, unable to work, and beginning to really isolate, depending on my pain and depression level.

[nandm]

Unfortunately, only you can decide if you are truly addicted. I do know that my experience with pain medication has been that my body can become addicted without my mind being addicted. To explain that statement I will provide an example. When I was 6 months sober I had a motorcycle accident, went over the side of a cliff. Had to have a rod put in my right thigh and had both arms broke and muscle and tendon damage to my left leg. Needless to say after a month in the hospital I was sent home with both oxycodone and oxycontin. I was in a wheelchair for another month and a half, then crutches, then a cane and finally was able to walk with a limp after about a year. But back to the point. After arriving home I decided that after being on pain meds for 4 months I could deal with the pain just as well with ibuprofen so I just stopped the oxycontin and oxycodone. The ibuprofen did deal with the pain so in that respect I had no problems. The problem was it took me about a week to figure out that my body was in withdrawls. I had electrical type shocks that would shoot through my body. I was unable to sleep and if I did nod off I would be awoken by the shocks. It was pretty miserable. But mentally the addiction was not there, as I did not feel the need for the medication even though my body was demanding it. The withdrawls did stop and I would never recomend someone stop a prescribed medication without consulting their doctor. I could have avoided the withdrawl had I talked to my doctor and tapered the dosing down. At the time I was taking 30mg oxycontin twice a day with 5 - 15 mg oxycodone every 4 -6 hours as needed for pain. I am fortunate I did not wind up in the hospital with the withdrawls. What a way to spend a Christmas.....

Today though I consider myself still sober even though my body went through those withdrawls at less than a year sober. I did not restart my sober time. I certainly would have if I had experienced the obsession for the drug that I did for alcohol as I would have been mentally addicted as well.

[Homer38]

I did a pretty quick taper of percocets,i was on 10/325 also for about 10 or 11 days for broken ribs.Ive learned that ibuprofen 600mgs. is actually better in pain releif and Im not tired all the time.Im finally starting to enjoy my non-drinking since I stopped the percs.Sober only 2 weeks but getting better daily.

[MROBI]

ya ibu woks well for inflamation but did you know that it builds up to toxic level if you continuously take it everyday and it can ruin your liver and other organs. just because its not a controlled substance doesnt mean there is no risk.
i'm hoping to get epiderals that way the drugs bypass your liver and other organs because the drugs go right into your bloodsteam.
how come you went of the cliff on your bike, that sounds like a terrible crash, i hope substance abuse was'nt a cause. take care my friend.

[NoelleR]

MROBI ---

You're absolutely right about ibprofens; nasty li'll devils, dressed up like candy. You got the term right.....epidural; I've had some....they're kinda like nerve blockers (ask most moms who might have had epidurals when giving birth .... lol), but they didn't do all that much for me.....and they're NOT injected into the bloodstream

epidural --- an injection of a local anesthetic into the space outside the dura mater of the spinal cord in the lower back region to produce loss of sensation especially in the abdomen or pelvic region .


NoelleR

[nandm]

Originally Posted by MROBI

ya ibu woks well for inflamation but did you know that it builds up to toxic level if you continuously take it everyday and it can ruin your liver and other organs. just because its not a controlled substance doesnt mean there is no risk.
i'm hoping to get epiderals that way the drugs bypass your liver and other organs because the drugs go right into your bloodsteam.
how come you went of the cliff on your bike, that sounds like a terrible crash, i hope substance abuse was'nt a cause. take care my friend.

Thanks for the info on Ibuprophen as I have been a nurse for over 20 years I am aware of the risks of OTC meds. But it is good information to share here.

I had a series of 3 epidurals for my back pain (from a different wreck where I was re-ended, 2 years ago). The first one worked for about 3 weeks, the second and third made no difference. But I have heard of people who had great results with them.

I was sober when I when off the cliff, actally 3 days past 6 months sober. I decided at the age of 35 I could learn to drive a motorcycle. Not bright for someone who hadn't been on a bicycle in over 20 years. I was doing fine until the 5th time I got on it and was up in the mountains when I went into a curve and I was on the yellow line and so was a truck coming at me. Fortunately I missed the truck but didn't miss the guardrail and cliff. The guard rail stopped the bike but I was thrown over the edge. Needless to say I no longer have the desire to drive a motorcyle. The things we do in early sobriety....lol

[lizw]

Have you discussed this with your doctor?
I take a cocktail of medication which treat my symptoms for MS and fibro.
And I've stopped asking myself if I am addicted or not as I believe for me it's just another form of torturing myself, focusing on this.

Addiction is characterized by certain types of behaviour and thoughts, and only you (and your doctor) will know if you are displaying these, i.e. keeping secrets etc....

Feeling 'relief' when you take a painkiller isn't addiciton. Painkillers kill pain. You're on shaky ground though if you are taking them to get high or to kill other problems in your life.

Take it easy

[grumpyoldman]

I agree!! Although I have to tell myself this a lot. To be able to leave them aside would be an answer to a prayer.

[Alera]

When your body (and not mind) become used to a med it is called physical dependence. Its often in that little white booklet you can get from the pharmacist. Physical dependence is very different than addiction. Some narcotics will actually explain that the drug is a danger for those with addiction problems. Addiction is very different than physical dependence.

For example, when I cut down on my codiene because I don't need it for the pain I get withdrawls. That doesn't mean I am abusing the drug.

I hope that helps to explain the difference.