Surgery & pain meds at 3+ yr sober
Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 3,027
Concerned about the self imposed dehydration. Personal talk for a sec: can you get the new female urinal? I’ll bet you could order on amazon. You don’t need a uti or kidney infection on top of all the other trials.
It would allow more rest.
Take care of yourself.
It would allow more rest.
Take care of yourself.
Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Canada
Posts: 116
Good on you for recognizing that pattern of thinking and stopping it in its tracks. It's scary to think where our minds can take us when physical ailments take over (lack of sleep, anxiety, headaches etc. )
I've seen quite a few of your posts on here August. You seem like a highly intelligent, no-nonsense no-BS kind of person who doesn't miss a single beat and who treats their sobriety with the utmost importance. You don't miss the smallest details, and I admire you for that.
I've seen quite a few of your posts on here August. You seem like a highly intelligent, no-nonsense no-BS kind of person who doesn't miss a single beat and who treats their sobriety with the utmost importance. You don't miss the smallest details, and I admire you for that.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 2,775
Pain medication is a tricky thing to be sure. Interesting to watch those without an addiction deal with such medication. Both my mother and my wife took the pain medication as prescribed but didn't finish their prescription. Just tossed it away when the pain subsided.
Yours truly on the other hand was prescribed a 5-day supply of minor pain medication a couple of years back. Was I in pain? Well, yes but...the last couple of days? **Not really but the doctor said three times a day so three times a day it was.
**Actually it was hard to judge the pain level was because it was diminished by the medication. I took the medication as prescribed and didn't request a refill.
Yours truly on the other hand was prescribed a 5-day supply of minor pain medication a couple of years back. Was I in pain? Well, yes but...the last couple of days? **Not really but the doctor said three times a day so three times a day it was.
**Actually it was hard to judge the pain level was because it was diminished by the medication. I took the medication as prescribed and didn't request a refill.
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Hi August. Sorry to hear of your medical problems. It seems to be a risky area, yet most of us will have to deal with it at some time.
The outstanding thing to me from your posts was your awareness of the dangers and your considered approach to mitigating those. That is not something someone in whom the obsession has returned would be capable of doing. All that work and effort you have put in in the past few years has placed you in a position of reacting sanely and normally, with genuine concern about a potential risk to your health. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
The outstanding thing to me from your posts was your awareness of the dangers and your considered approach to mitigating those. That is not something someone in whom the obsession has returned would be capable of doing. All that work and effort you have put in in the past few years has placed you in a position of reacting sanely and normally, with genuine concern about a potential risk to your health. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
voices ca**y
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: St. Paul Minnesota
Posts: 4,360
Thanks for sharing this August. I'm concerned about how I would handle being in a situation where I needed pain meds because I know the tendency to abuse them would still be there. "Tell on yourself" is some good advice.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Thanks everyone!
Mike- thank you & knowing you these past few years from our class thread start has been so important to me!
Briansy- I appreciate your note a lot.
CR - you mentioned a few things that really stuck so thanks.
Bimini- so, so true about emotional keel. I always talk about my emotional sobriety preceding physical and this whole thing has been more emotional for sure.
To a few things above, in case my past few days can help anyone....
- we've monitored my pain scale from the day I got home (8/30) and when it was a 5 or more, I would take something. The original and second rx were for oxy every 4-6 hours. I was taking it with an 7-9 fluctuating scale for the most part, every 8-12 hrs.
- this current rx is for tramadol (so similar to extra strength Tylenol which taken correctly is OK for the liver per my drs - it will be what I go to as needed) and floboxin (a muscle relaxant).
- this wkd is the first time that "I'm doing well" has meant "I feel good" v "I don't feel that bad"
Thu was awful and Fri was better but difficult. I did some diet coke so indeed not the caffeine abuse but enough (almost). Headaches persisted til this morning, fluctuating but we actually discussed going to the ER if not resolved today. Not possibly dehydrated etc past 2 days!
Various other thoughts -
I say often that I do believe in meds as appropriate, from good drs and taken correctly. I took Antabuse the first 90 days; it's not an addictive med but it is hard on the liver so not meant for long term use. I signed a sheaf of papers every day w time, and witness, and had that with me all the time. It was part of my routine.
I do take mental health meds- may not have mentioned that I chose not to take my anxiety med on all this bc I didn't like the kinda loopy feel it gave me when taken even with 2 pain pills a day. That quite possibly contributed to the situation in diff ways.
This stuff can be scary to talk about. Sharing it with my husband is important but also scary - for him! Thankfully, I have an old sponsor who is a good friend who has been thru not only my surgery but more serious ones (!) as well as 2 friends with major surgery experience; my husband still doesn't totally get the we need pain med thing (like Dee and others mentioned- not suffering is important along with our caution) as he has never even had a cavity.
Nothing else super important comes to mind right now! Maybe bc I'm calm and relaxed and my eyeballs don't feel like they are going to explode from a headache
Take care all - thanks again for the support, comments and thoughts - you gave me a lot to look up again this next wk for sure.
That whole "next right thing" thing and JFT ... pretty applicable!!
A
Mike- thank you & knowing you these past few years from our class thread start has been so important to me!
Briansy- I appreciate your note a lot.
CR - you mentioned a few things that really stuck so thanks.
Bimini- so, so true about emotional keel. I always talk about my emotional sobriety preceding physical and this whole thing has been more emotional for sure.
To a few things above, in case my past few days can help anyone....
- we've monitored my pain scale from the day I got home (8/30) and when it was a 5 or more, I would take something. The original and second rx were for oxy every 4-6 hours. I was taking it with an 7-9 fluctuating scale for the most part, every 8-12 hrs.
- this current rx is for tramadol (so similar to extra strength Tylenol which taken correctly is OK for the liver per my drs - it will be what I go to as needed) and floboxin (a muscle relaxant).
- this wkd is the first time that "I'm doing well" has meant "I feel good" v "I don't feel that bad"
Thu was awful and Fri was better but difficult. I did some diet coke so indeed not the caffeine abuse but enough (almost). Headaches persisted til this morning, fluctuating but we actually discussed going to the ER if not resolved today. Not possibly dehydrated etc past 2 days!
Various other thoughts -
I say often that I do believe in meds as appropriate, from good drs and taken correctly. I took Antabuse the first 90 days; it's not an addictive med but it is hard on the liver so not meant for long term use. I signed a sheaf of papers every day w time, and witness, and had that with me all the time. It was part of my routine.
I do take mental health meds- may not have mentioned that I chose not to take my anxiety med on all this bc I didn't like the kinda loopy feel it gave me when taken even with 2 pain pills a day. That quite possibly contributed to the situation in diff ways.
This stuff can be scary to talk about. Sharing it with my husband is important but also scary - for him! Thankfully, I have an old sponsor who is a good friend who has been thru not only my surgery but more serious ones (!) as well as 2 friends with major surgery experience; my husband still doesn't totally get the we need pain med thing (like Dee and others mentioned- not suffering is important along with our caution) as he has never even had a cavity.
Nothing else super important comes to mind right now! Maybe bc I'm calm and relaxed and my eyeballs don't feel like they are going to explode from a headache
Take care all - thanks again for the support, comments and thoughts - you gave me a lot to look up again this next wk for sure.
That whole "next right thing" thing and JFT ... pretty applicable!!
A
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