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Old 04-23-2007, 06:13 PM
  # 3 (permalink)  
Sugah
Om, Aum, Ohm...
 
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Punxsutawney/Pittsburgh
Posts: 4,797
One of the issues with me was that being on opiates so long totally destroyed my pain tolerance. I have mulitiple chronic pain issues, so not only was I feeling the pain of withdrawal, I was feeling more severe pain from my conditions than I would have if I had just toughed it out. And toughing it out is not easy -- can be downright cruel -- but for an addict, it's a choice between finding another way to deal with it or face the chronic and progressive nature of addiction. There's the fatal element of addiction, too, even though it might not seem as pressing when you're in pain.

The best suggestion I'd have for you would be to seek out a pain mgmt specialist who teaches meditation. Folks probably get sick of me talking about meditation for pain mgmt, but I'm telling you, it works. Last Thursday evening, I sat through the latter half of a track meet in the rain, then 50 minutes of speakers at a town hall meeting, then I spoke for ten-12 minutes (I was on the panel) -- all w/a migraine headache!! If I wasn't pretty damned good at meditation, I would have been puking in my fellow panelists' laps and curling up in the corner in pain. I didn't take so much as a tylenol for it, and about an hour after I got home, the pain started to ease.

I know I didn't answer your question, but it's so subjective when addiction isn't the only issue that it's hard to say.

Peace & Love,
Sugah
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