Thank you dotcom, Ashley, namommy, and Jackie for the warm welcomes! :laugh2:
I feel like I should discuss this with my doctors, but at the same, I am afraid to let them know because 1) I am still in legitimate pain and not sure if I can handle not having anything to take for it and ..2) What if something painful happens to me in the future and because of "this" I am refused pain treatment!! :06: I am just sooo confused!!
Take today for instance...we had a family get together and after talking, smiling and laughing with them for an hour or so, my jaw began to ache terribly like it always does (I have severe TMJ) and all I could think of was coming home, taking a couple pain meds and curling up with the heating pad! This upset me and made me start thinking and wondering if I am planning to do the right thing for myself!
But then again...I'll be totally honest and say that I often will take them when I'm not in any pain at all...just for the happy, peppy feeling they give me and that is where I have run into the problem! I am prescribed 8-Vicoprofen a day and I actually take anywhere from 20-25 a day...mixing in the Norco which is from an online pharmacy...there have been times when my feet were swollen in the past couple months and I know I am doing damage, but even that hasn't stopped me!
Pretty stupid, huh?!!
I have an apt with a pain management clinic next week (refered there by my family doctor who is prescribing the pain meds, but no longer comfortable with the amount!)...it is my second visit and the first visit about a month ago, they pretty much told me that what I was being being prescribed was way too much, which leads me to think that they will either want to give me something else to try or nothing at all...not sure!! I actually have a better relationship with my family doctor and wonder if I shouldn't cancel the PM apt and go there instead! Only problem is that I mentioned weaning me off the pain meds awhile back and he acted like it would be a "piece of cake" or something...saying they would just give me 1 or 2 less each time I got a refill and wean me off that way and when I mentioned the "Catapress patch" he kind of laughed and said that was for "heavy narcotic users" or people that had "really bad problems"! Well, DUHHHH!!! I think I fit into that catagory!!
Up until today when I had all the jaw pain, here was my plan...I was going to go to the PM apt and ask if I could go on a "Drug Holiday" (anyone here familiar with that??) so that maybe I could still take the opiate-type pain meds, but would go through the detox (drug holiday) so that I would need less eventually and to get my body back where it could handle pain abit better on its own! I think the average time for a "Holiday" is anywhere from 3-6 months depending on the doctor and I would just decide when it was all said and done (when I would be clean!) if I even wanted to try taking a less amount of pain med or not....I might not want to even do that if I can learn other ways to handle my pain!
At any rate, I have got to convince them to let me wait until the first week of July when my daughter won't be home for 2-weeks! She is 17 and able to take care of herself, but I just don't want her to see me like that and my hubby will be here to take care of me. I know I will have the Xanax to help me, but what are some other things I might ask my doctor for?...Also, how long before I start to feel somewhat "normal"?? I've tried once before and know that about the second day things got really bad...excessive sweating, cold chills, leg cramps, dizzy, shakey, and just a general feeling of "weirdness"...LOL...that's the best way to describe it!!
Also, what forums are best on this site for me to log on daily while I'm going through this to "vent", whine, complain, cry, or anything else I probably will be experiencing??? Will there be others there to chat with?? I will throw around the idea of "NA" but not until I am through the worst part!!
Well, I've written a darned NOVEL here tonight...got alot on my mind though and I'm glad to have found this place!! Hope someone can answer my questions and give me some input!!
Thanks!
Jane*