Just take them as Perscribed???

[iljchia]

Is there anyone here who is active in NA and found a way to use long term (years) opiods without abusing them?

How do you make it work?

It's one thing to say stop. Another, much harder for someone to say take less.

I've tried having someone dispence the pills, but after using them for about a week, the addict in me kicks in and i find ways to get another script and not have someone dispence it to me.

[chloes1]

Well if I could do that I wouldn't be here!

You're going to have to look long and hard at the ways you get around the system and then close those doors for yourself.

Perhaps have someone else hold your credit cards, perhaps blocking certain sites on the internet, telling the truth to the pharmacies?

Dunno, but if you don't find a way to say to no to the pills, you know as well as I do what will happen!

Jails, institutions or death. And remember you don't get to pick which of the three --- we don't make sane choices. Our actions cause other people to choose for us.

[Latte]

Seriously, not even one pill for me. It never works for me and I've tried it out quite a few times. Practice made me a very sick person and I'm doing so well now I would never go back there.

I feel incredibly blessed that I don't ever have to go back there again.

[ingear]

Originally Posted by iljchia

Is there anyone here who is active in NA and found a way to use long term (years) opiods without abusing them?

How do you make it work?

It's one thing to say stop. Another, much harder for someone to say take less.

I've tried having someone dispence the pills, but after using them for about a week, the addict in me kicks in and i find ways to get another script and not have someone dispence it to me.

Nope. My doctor told me to wean off mine and it was impossible. I had to quit them. Now I am so glad I did. I fail to understand how anyone can use them without increasing dosage since their m.o. is that more med is required as tolerance increases over time to achieve the same effect.
Best,
Bridgit

[Sugah]

Mind sharing the condition for which they're prescribed?

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[chloes1]

I should add that I [s]have been[/s] was (!!!) taking opiates for 7 years.

I started with vikes and "graduated" to percs... I abused them badly enough that my liver got very sick. My Dr (thanks! ) then gave me just the oxycodones without anything else in 'em. So I had been taking oxy's daily for 4 years straight.

[barb dwyer]

The only way *I* found was to be completely up front with my healthcare person about my drug abuse history and tendencies....
and then LISTEN to them when they offered alternatives.

I'm taking Tramadol while not an 'opoid' is still considered addictive expecially in recovery circles. So far, because I'm working a successful program of recovery (AA) I haven't had the need or even the inclination to abuse them.

Apparently as I'm told, that is...
the problem arises when coming OFF tramadol with alcoholics.
But I don't have to jump off that bridge yet.

SOrry I'm all 'drifty' today...

My advice is to be completely up front and honest with your doctor.
And pay attention when they suggest alternatives.

It COMPLETELY turned my life around,
finding a way to manage pain.

[iljchia]

Sugah it's for a nerve injury resulting in a lack of muscle and a lack of bones staying in socket. I've tried a lot of alternatives, but I'm still in a lot of pain. The people in the NA rooms keep telling me it's okay to take the meds as perscribed --- but come on I'm an addict I have not a clue how to do that. As for tramadol it is an opiod. I used it/abused it nearly killed myself from it.

[NoelleR]

I read this OP earlier this evening, but was waiting for others to post before I added mine. Unfortunately, since this is in the Recovery and Pain Management Forum, I was hoping for some different responses....guess I'll have to start..... (o:

Before you go searching through my scribbles for 'the magic answer' I guess I should fess up and tell you that I don't have the answer; I just know it's out there because............

I live with chronic pain.....it's a bummer. There have been days where I wasn't sure I'd even be able to get out of bed....or walk to the bathroom....I REALLY hate pain......grrrrr

Over the past 8 years I've been prescribed a number of meds, many of them being some of my DOC's from the past [fentanyl, vocodin, norco (like vicodin but with less than half the acetaminophen), flexeril, zanaflex, celebrex, and the beat goes on.....]. Yes I was an addict (now a recovered addict), and I have been able to take my meds as prescribed....sometimes even being able to have the scripts changed to lower the dosages or amounts.

I wish I could tell you 'how' it can be done. For me, I think it was that when I started in recovery, I was tired of drugs ruling my life; I wanted control of my life BACK. I guess I feel that if I wriggle and squirm about taking med as prescribed (after all, before I abused them, these drugs have had and still have very valid and good uses); if I constantly worry about my meds, and go to great lengths to have others hand them out to me.....well, the pain may be ruling my life (a bit anyway), but if I did these things, I'd see it as the drugs once again ruling my life...and I REFUSE to allow that to happen again.

I hope someone else comes along and perhaps has an answer for you as to the 'how' of it all. All I can tell you is that it IS possible; I have done it, and am still doing it.....and if I can do it.....?...well who knows....? I guess a mini first step could be stopping all the negative thinking...like changing the "I can't take meds as prescribed" to "I can take meds as prescribed." eh?


NoelleR

P.S. ...and yes, as iljchia said.....tramadol IS an opioid.

[Sugah]

Like Noelle, I, too, live with chronic pain. Some of it is neurologic in nature (RSD from a spinal cord injury almost eight years ago--affects both my legs). I have taken opiates in recovery without abusing them. I crushed my lower leg when I was three months clean/sober. There was no choice but to treat the pain, because, as the doctor reminded me, I could allow him to treat it, or I would be driven to treat it myself. I did have safe guards in place. My son held my meds for me, and I stopped taking them long before the pain was gone. I did rehab for my leg, learned to walk all over again (I had been wheelchair bound at the time of the accident and for two years total), and didn't use anything during that time. Looking back on it, I don't know how I got through it. Divine assistance? Brute stubbornness?

That was one of my "acute" experiences, and the only one in recovery where using opiates were unavoidable. I did not relapse on them.

Here's today: I live an extremely full and physically challenging life. I started typing out my itinerary for the past three days, but it started to overwhelm me! The bottom line is that today, I'm in my apartment in Pittsburgh where I teach and go to school, and I will not get out of my sweats today (except maybe to shower and put clean ones on), and I'll work from home, doing my grading, reading, writing here. Anytime I tell someone I don't take opiates or any other pain-relieving meds for my conditions, I have to remember that I've been fortunate to be able to arrange my life so that, though I'm always busy, I can schedule days of rest. I realize not everyone can do that.

So, you asked about you and I told you about me! I felt it necessary to establish that I understand where you're coming from. Unlike Noelle, I don't take anything to treat my pain today. I've come very close during flares to calling my doc and saying, "I need something to get through this one." I accept that if that day comes, my HP will give me what I need to avoid the hell of active addiction again. But, so far, I haven't had to test that faith.

Opiates aren't the best way to treat nerve pain. If you're on other meds as well, you probably know this, or have had your docs explain this. For me, the pain was always there, but if I was on a high enough dose, I just didn't care. The brain is an amazing organ, in that it can be trained to accept a level of pain that's far above what most folks would consider "acceptable." Part of my meditation routine involves "getting in touch" with my pain and observing it objectively. Sounds kind of new-agey, but it works for me.

Ultimately--I haven't given you an answer, and at the risk of confusing you, I thought it was important to lay my experience next to Noelle's so that you can see some have learned to do it (take meds responsibly), and some have learned to live without it. You'll have to decide what's right and possible for you.

Prayers!

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[MROBI]

some of the earlier posts on this thread sounded like they were just using pain meds with no clinical need for pain management. i dont see how anyone with severe chronic pain could ever stop taking their meds, it would be unbearable. i could see if u had a condition that healed or got better, but not all conditions are capable of getting 100% better.
just use all the tools available to you like physical therapy, epidurals and nerve blocks message good diet and exercise and of coarse your meds. dont feel guilty, no one should have to live in severe pain.
and severe pain, left untreated can have permanent damage to your central nervous system. so use all the tools available to u to deal and cope with your own individual degree of pain.