Thank you for your comments Lyoness.
Day 2
Yesterday’s down regulation was from 9 to 6 tablets a day. I did fairly well at that dosage yesterday. I experienced a bit of lethargy and some achiness in my legs but I rested when I needed to and felt better.
This morning, like most mornings, I hurt like an SOB from my cervical spine to my lumbar spine. The osteoarthritis is bad here and in my right knee. I can barely walk when I get up in the morning. The first things I do every day is to make a cup of coffee, get a hot pack on my back and get the first dose of meds into me. Wake up time for me is usually 3AM and my first dose of meds is usually between 3:30 and 4AM. Within 40 minutes I'll be feeling better and able to move about. This will be a good time to sit at the computer and journal here, as I wake up and move into my day. Past taper's have shown me that the fewer meds in my system over time, the less pain I will have in the mornings. I have learned that higher doses of hydros tend to make my body hurt worse between doses.
In the 19th century it was discovered that narcotic pain meds have the tendency to make pain worse in some people. It’s a condition called Opiate Induced Hyperalgesia or OIH. Altho this is something that doesn’t occur for most people who take opiate meds for legitimate reasons, it does happen to some and I’m one of those. Now with that said, I’m not going to pretend that my narcotic pain med consumption got out of control solely because of this. That would be dishonest. In the beginning, the meds gave me a great feeling and tons of energy and it took my pain away initially and allowed me to do things at a pace and to a degree that I had been able to before the arthritis set in. Truth be told I loved them in the beginning. But as time went on I took more and more of the meds to push my body beyond it’s limits and ultimately I injured my body more as a result. What started out as arthritis in the lumbar spine has now spread to most of the vertebrae in my back and my neck. Had I not pushed beyond my body’s reasonable limits while initially on the narcotics, the arthritis may not be so bad today. But this is where I am and this is what I have to deal with now.
I will eventually have to go back to physical therapy, something I cannot afford at the moment but which has helped tremendously in the past for pain. Once my body gets healed again….and my hope is that it will be better than it is at the moment, I will be able to move forward in considerably less pain. But I will have to heed my body’s limitations or all will be unsuccessful. I’ve always been a little spit fire, a little go getter, independent and strong, but life experiences and aging changes things. If I want to move into my senior years without being in a wheel chair or without having multiple surgeries to replace or fuse joints then I had better sit up and take notice NOW.
Another busy day awaits me and I will be mindful of my limitations, take my time and rest when I need to. I will be at the 6 tablet dose of 5mg hydros for two more days before down regulating again. Thank you for reading about my journey and I wish you all a blessed day.