So this is what the FDA thinks about Oxycontin????
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So this is what the FDA thinks about Oxycontin????
I found this under the FAQs page on the FDA's website. What a crock of crap!
8. Will I become addicted to OxyContin if I take it every day?
OxyContin is only intended for moderate to severe pain that is present on a daily basis and that requires a very strong pain reliever. Patients with this type of severe pain condition require daily pain treatment. Taking OxyContin daily can result in physical dependence, a condition in which the body shows signs of narcotic withdrawal if the OxyContin is stopped suddenly. This is not the same thing as addiction, which represents a situation in which people obtain and take narcotics because of a psychological need, and not just to treat a legitimate painful condition. Physical dependence can be treated by slowly under the advice of a physician by slowing decreasing the OxyContin dose when it is no longer needed for the treatment of pain. Concerns of addiction should not prevent patients with appropriate pain conditions from using OxyContin or other narcotics for pain relief.
8. Will I become addicted to OxyContin if I take it every day?
OxyContin is only intended for moderate to severe pain that is present on a daily basis and that requires a very strong pain reliever. Patients with this type of severe pain condition require daily pain treatment. Taking OxyContin daily can result in physical dependence, a condition in which the body shows signs of narcotic withdrawal if the OxyContin is stopped suddenly. This is not the same thing as addiction, which represents a situation in which people obtain and take narcotics because of a psychological need, and not just to treat a legitimate painful condition. Physical dependence can be treated by slowly under the advice of a physician by slowing decreasing the OxyContin dose when it is no longer needed for the treatment of pain. Concerns of addiction should not prevent patients with appropriate pain conditions from using OxyContin or other narcotics for pain relief.
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Oxycontin, like many other drugs, are very helpful and useful and NECESSARY
That's the point. Many drugs and substances are horribly addictive and dangerous if they are abused. Heck - I know of kids who have died sniffing Spray Paint!
I had some serious surgery a few years ago, and I took oxycontin. Then I went to vicodin and then I went to ibuprofen. All with my doctor's guidance and blessing, all in matter of about 2 weeks. That's what those drugs are for: to help manage and control severe pain. I didn't crush them or snort them ... and I took 1 or 2 every six hours AS PRESCRIBED. Period.
BUT - I'm not an addict. I don't have that disease. Honestly I didn't like taking them, and I stretched out the time between pills as long as I could. I wondered why anyone would want to feel like that. The doctor explained it that when you have severe pain, the drug does its job and works on the pain receptors. When someone takes the drug and doesnt have pain,then the drug sort of bounces around in the system because it has nowhere to go and no job to do!
I'm not defending drugs or drug abuse, not at all. Addicts will do what they do to escape their emotional pain and to get high.
IF TAKEN AS PRESCRIBED.
That's the point. Many drugs and substances are horribly addictive and dangerous if they are abused. Heck - I know of kids who have died sniffing Spray Paint!
I had some serious surgery a few years ago, and I took oxycontin. Then I went to vicodin and then I went to ibuprofen. All with my doctor's guidance and blessing, all in matter of about 2 weeks. That's what those drugs are for: to help manage and control severe pain. I didn't crush them or snort them ... and I took 1 or 2 every six hours AS PRESCRIBED. Period.
BUT - I'm not an addict. I don't have that disease. Honestly I didn't like taking them, and I stretched out the time between pills as long as I could. I wondered why anyone would want to feel like that. The doctor explained it that when you have severe pain, the drug does its job and works on the pain receptors. When someone takes the drug and doesnt have pain,then the drug sort of bounces around in the system because it has nowhere to go and no job to do!
I'm not defending drugs or drug abuse, not at all. Addicts will do what they do to escape their emotional pain and to get high.
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Danish
as a healthcare professional I want to say, many thousands of people can and do take oxycontin for pain and do not become addicted
YES, It is a drug that can cause physical withdraw and must be tappered off before discontinued but if taken as directed it can be a useful medication. And thousands of people once tappered off the drug never return to using it, much less take to the streets to attempt to buy it illegally
There are so many drugs that must be tapperred off that are not addictive nor abused.....so the need to tapper off this medication does not in itself make it a horrible medication.
The average or dare I say normal person can use this drug and not take more than prescribed
the addict, It is my opinion is an addict from birth.....and by this I mean that......the predisposition is there chemically from the start that makes this person react differently when exposed to certain drugs...........and one cannot know what drug it is that will trigger the psychological need for more drugs...............In some its stimulants, some opiates some depressants depending on the brain.
Addiction -- is a psychological, physical and spiritual Disease
I hate that you and your family are sufferring but I just want to say that its not the drug its the person abusing the drug............and that being angry at the drug companys may make you feel better for now.........but eventually we have to stop looking for places to put blame and begin to truely learn what addiction is and begin to accept its not the drug .........thats the issue its the person and until that person is ready to get better they wont.
And even when they are ready and try with everything they have same still never find and keep recovery.
All said in love and support
as a healthcare professional I want to say, many thousands of people can and do take oxycontin for pain and do not become addicted
YES, It is a drug that can cause physical withdraw and must be tappered off before discontinued but if taken as directed it can be a useful medication. And thousands of people once tappered off the drug never return to using it, much less take to the streets to attempt to buy it illegally
There are so many drugs that must be tapperred off that are not addictive nor abused.....so the need to tapper off this medication does not in itself make it a horrible medication.
The average or dare I say normal person can use this drug and not take more than prescribed
the addict, It is my opinion is an addict from birth.....and by this I mean that......the predisposition is there chemically from the start that makes this person react differently when exposed to certain drugs...........and one cannot know what drug it is that will trigger the psychological need for more drugs...............In some its stimulants, some opiates some depressants depending on the brain.
Addiction -- is a psychological, physical and spiritual Disease
I hate that you and your family are sufferring but I just want to say that its not the drug its the person abusing the drug............and that being angry at the drug companys may make you feel better for now.........but eventually we have to stop looking for places to put blame and begin to truely learn what addiction is and begin to accept its not the drug .........thats the issue its the person and until that person is ready to get better they wont.
And even when they are ready and try with everything they have same still never find and keep recovery.
All said in love and support
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I was on it for a month after I had a C-section (and I was a pretty big baby compared to most who only stay on it for 2 weeks.) I just slowly weaned myself off. Instead of taking 4 pills a day, I made it down to three, then 2, then 1, then nothing. The first few days off were hard. I felt a little achy, but I just took some ibuprofin and that helped quite a bit. Honestly, about 4 days after I stopped taking it, I slept better than I had in a long time.
I've never had an issue with it. I took it for dental pain, for other things and I always have some left over. I actually have half a bottle of refills still that I keep around. I used it once when I had my first "time of the month" after having a baby and quitting breastfeeding. Krikey, I hadn't been in that kind of pain in a LONG TIME! But, it just took one to relieve the pain.
I honestly hate taking things like that if I don't have to. It always makes my ears itch and then you have to take benadryl or something like that with it.
What gets me is this:
So, the livelihood of the human race sits upon semantics huh? I just don't see the difference. I think more people are addicted to this kind of thing than so many other drugs. Nobody is seeing it as an epidemic yet?
I've never had an issue with it. I took it for dental pain, for other things and I always have some left over. I actually have half a bottle of refills still that I keep around. I used it once when I had my first "time of the month" after having a baby and quitting breastfeeding. Krikey, I hadn't been in that kind of pain in a LONG TIME! But, it just took one to relieve the pain.
I honestly hate taking things like that if I don't have to. It always makes my ears itch and then you have to take benadryl or something like that with it.
What gets me is this:
Taking OxyContin daily can result in physical dependence, a condition in which the body shows signs of narcotic withdrawal if the OxyContin is stopped suddenly. This is not the same thing as addiction, which represents a situation in which people obtain and take narcotics because of a psychological need, and not just to treat a legitimate painful condition.
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Wow!
You know, I am in the medical field as well Liesagain and I am feeling pretty incompetant right now.
Reading your post and the reply to another thread I had posted in is really throwing me for a loop. I am just really beginning to take the time to research my husbands addiction and unfortunately, I have held the same biases as most of society. Its very hard to look at your loved one through different eyes. I know that this is what I have to do though.
I guess I would like to have other people to blame.
Thank you again for your frankness and caring words.
You know, I am in the medical field as well Liesagain and I am feeling pretty incompetant right now.
Reading your post and the reply to another thread I had posted in is really throwing me for a loop. I am just really beginning to take the time to research my husbands addiction and unfortunately, I have held the same biases as most of society. Its very hard to look at your loved one through different eyes. I know that this is what I have to do though.
I guess I would like to have other people to blame.
Thank you again for your frankness and caring words.
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Danish......................oh no dont feel bad or incompetant NOT AT ALL
can you believe that I KNEW that my husband had drug habit before we married?
He was clean and had been for a LONG TIME and I convinced myself that that was HIS PAST and it would NEVER be a problem again!!!!
I'm a nurse I have been for 16 years and I thought I knew about addiction but I was clueless!!! I let myself believe he was different he wasnt an ADDICT, he just had issues and turned to drugs to ease the pain, basically I let myself believe his past issues were circumstantial
HA, nope not a matter of circumstance---addiction is a disease and there is NO CURE, even with 10 years clean he wasnt "all better" as I wanted to believe
your not alone, so many of us here know what your going thru. And the more you read here and post the more you'll see that the names are different and the drugs of choice may be different but addiction well not so much differences
And one thing I thought when I first came here..............alot as I read.........was oh no He'd NEVER do that
well in advance I 'd like to say that addiction is a progressive disease and when you hear yourself say oh no not my husband, son etc remind yourself of this one word..................................YET
because the things we believe they will never do, its more a matter of what they havent done YET
because as addiction progresses theres really no end to the lengths they will and can go
((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))
can you believe that I KNEW that my husband had drug habit before we married?
He was clean and had been for a LONG TIME and I convinced myself that that was HIS PAST and it would NEVER be a problem again!!!!
I'm a nurse I have been for 16 years and I thought I knew about addiction but I was clueless!!! I let myself believe he was different he wasnt an ADDICT, he just had issues and turned to drugs to ease the pain, basically I let myself believe his past issues were circumstantial
HA, nope not a matter of circumstance---addiction is a disease and there is NO CURE, even with 10 years clean he wasnt "all better" as I wanted to believe
your not alone, so many of us here know what your going thru. And the more you read here and post the more you'll see that the names are different and the drugs of choice may be different but addiction well not so much differences
And one thing I thought when I first came here..............alot as I read.........was oh no He'd NEVER do that
well in advance I 'd like to say that addiction is a progressive disease and when you hear yourself say oh no not my husband, son etc remind yourself of this one word..................................YET
because the things we believe they will never do, its more a matter of what they havent done YET
because as addiction progresses theres really no end to the lengths they will and can go
((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))
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Congrats on school!!!
The nursing choice, well many would say thats a part of us, the caretaking part that influenced our choice in partner......sometimes even when we arent aware they need fixing
....we seek out ones to help and fix etc etc
have you read codependant no more? If you like to read I recommend this book...........as do many many others here on SR
The nursing choice, well many would say thats a part of us, the caretaking part that influenced our choice in partner......sometimes even when we arent aware they need fixing
....we seek out ones to help and fix etc etc
have you read codependant no more? If you like to read I recommend this book...........as do many many others here on SR
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Originally Posted by liesagain 
Congrats on school!!!
The nursing choice, well many would say thats a part of us, the caretaking part that influenced our choice in partner......sometimes even when we arent aware they need fixing
....we seek out ones to help and fix etc etc
have you read codependant no more? If you like to read I recommend this book...........as do many many others here on SR
The nursing choice, well many would say thats a part of us, the caretaking part that influenced our choice in partner......sometimes even when we arent aware they need fixing
....we seek out ones to help and fix etc etc
have you read codependant no more? If you like to read I recommend this book...........as do many many others here on SR
Thank you
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Originally Posted by liesagain
the addict, It is my opinion is an addict from birth.....and by this I mean that......the predisposition is there chemically from the start that makes this person react differently when exposed to certain drugs...........and one cannot know what drug it is that will trigger the psychological need for more drugs...............In some its stimulants, some opiates some depressants depending on the brain.
My AD has had panic attacks since she was six. She was diagnosed after her first detox in CA when the pdoc and therapist did some investigating, to make sure it wasn't just drug related. Her current pdoc came to the same conclusion after doing state of the art medical diagnostics on her (more info about that here).
I ended up remembering back to all the times when she was little and told me she thought she was having a heart attack. She would sweat profusely, too. I always attributed it to a little girl hard at play.
She told us how she would sit immobilized for what seemed like eternity to her, before finally being calm enough to ring a doorbell and ask if so and so could play. It never stopped as she got older but she just sucked it up and kept quiet about it, thinking it was all in her head. But it steadily got worse.
When she was 13 she had opiates for pain after she broke her wrist. She mentioned at the time she felt so much better overall and stopped sweating. A few years later she was in a car accident, had opiates again and noticed the same thing. Looking back, we're all sure that's when she began self medicating and the addiction was born.
You know what always makes me scratch my head? No one on either side of the family has a problem with opiates or anxiety/panic attacks. Her older brother has needed opiates too with no consequences (herniated disc). They both had very normal childhoods with no trauma.
Her current pdoc told me someday medical science may be able to answer how this happened to her but for now it's a mystery.
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Chino thank you for your post. My husband has never been diagnosed, but his brother has SEVERE anxiety. To the point that his life is controlled by it. He cannot ride in cars in the rain, he is at the hospital at least once a month saying he cant breathe (all the while talking to you), and he believes that he is suffering from every disease in the book. His mother is addicted to Oxycontin and Fentanyl (even after her own son had to get treatment for his addiction). And his father is an alcoholic. My husband has suffered from an addiction to steroids, gambling, and pain meds/opiates. He began using the steroids at 16. I honestly believe that he was an addict even before he took his first pill.
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Originally Posted by liesagain
I hate that you and your family are sufferring but I just want to say that its not the drug its the person abusing the drug............and that being angry at the drug companys may make you feel better for now.........but eventually we have to stop looking for places to put blame and begin to truely learn what addiction is and begin to accept its not the drug .........thats the issue its the person and until that person is ready to get better they wont.
The real problem was me and what was between my ears, my thinking/attitudes. I couldn't cope with life on life's terms. I was broken physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
For me, my recovery is three-fold; I must heal the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual parts of me.
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Originally Posted by ZombieWife
I
Nobody is seeing it as an epidemic yet?
Nobody is seeing it as an epidemic yet?
I think it's a combination of personality traits being more vulnerable to the fantasy of life without consequences meeting the magic bullet ( pain killers, crack, cocaine, opiates, alcohol) to make us feel better.
Somewhere along the line, how we feel became more important than what we do.
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[QUOTE=CatsPajamas;1741948]
BUT - I'm not an addict. I don't have that disease. Honestly I didn't like taking them, and I stretched out the time between pills as long as I could. I wondered why anyone would want to feel like that. The doctor explained it that when you have severe pain, the drug does its job and works on the pain receptors. When someone takes the drug and doesnt have pain,then the drug sort of bounces around in the system because it has nowhere to go and no job to do!
QUOTE]
This is certainly true, I had surgery and was prescribed vicodin, after awhile I didn't need them any longer. (I should have thrown them away but didn't) about a month or two after I was having a hard time getting to sleep so I thought, "I'm gonna take one of those pills, they knocked me out when I took them for pain". WHAT A MISTAKE, I got so sick to my stomach, how the heck do people take this. well needless to say they finally made their way to the garbage disposal.
If you would like more info on oxy's go to OxyContin Awareness and its other dangers. My friend ed runs the site, his son died of an overdose of oxys so he started a site and has many many supporters.
BUT - I'm not an addict. I don't have that disease. Honestly I didn't like taking them, and I stretched out the time between pills as long as I could. I wondered why anyone would want to feel like that. The doctor explained it that when you have severe pain, the drug does its job and works on the pain receptors. When someone takes the drug and doesnt have pain,then the drug sort of bounces around in the system because it has nowhere to go and no job to do!
QUOTE]
This is certainly true, I had surgery and was prescribed vicodin, after awhile I didn't need them any longer. (I should have thrown them away but didn't) about a month or two after I was having a hard time getting to sleep so I thought, "I'm gonna take one of those pills, they knocked me out when I took them for pain". WHAT A MISTAKE, I got so sick to my stomach, how the heck do people take this. well needless to say they finally made their way to the garbage disposal.
If you would like more info on oxy's go to OxyContin Awareness and its other dangers. My friend ed runs the site, his son died of an overdose of oxys so he started a site and has many many supporters.
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oops I guess I was not supposed to put a website on here because whats on my last post is not the website I typed. oh well I have good infor site if you want it I guess you'll have to PM me.
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Originally Posted by Freedom1990
Thank you for sharing this. There was no drug company responsible for my addiction. I was responsible for my addiction. The drugs were only a symptom, my 'solution' for many years to my problems.
The real problem was me and what was between my ears, my thinking/attitudes. I couldn't cope with life on life's terms. I was broken physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
For me, my recovery is three-fold; I must heal the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual parts of me.
The real problem was me and what was between my ears, my thinking/attitudes. I couldn't cope with life on life's terms. I was broken physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
For me, my recovery is three-fold; I must heal the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual parts of me.
Im sure what you are saying is completely true, but I just wonder if there are people who have become addicted physically or phychologically to this drug who were not completely informed of the extent of health risks it poses. I personally, after reading about it and knowing what I know now, would never, ever, ever take Oxycontin. Im not saying I would not take pain medication, but this one medication in particular, I am afraid of.
"Concerns of addiction should not prevent patients with appropriate pain conditions from using OxyContin or other narcotics for pain relief." I personally believe that concerns of addiction should always cause the person to take precaution. Maybe being completely and honestly educated about the medication will help prevent some unknowing people from beginning them.
If there is one thing I have learned from this whole experience, it is that as consumers of prescription medication, we HAVE to take responsibility in knowing what we are being prescribed. We cant just take the doctors advice as always the best option.
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I agree with many others... the drug itself is not bad. Not everyone who takes this drug (or other potentially abused drug) abuses it. My dad took oxycontin when he was dying of cancer and even that barely took the edge off of his pain. Should he have not been allowed to take the drug simply because some people abuse it?
I think it's really important to see the differences between using a drug as prescribed and abusing it. When people have the attitude that the drugs are to blame, others who really do need the medication are denied it based on the possibility of abuse. For example, I have been prescribed klonopin for years for my panic disorder. I've tried many medications and it is the only thing that has helped me to remain functional. I have never taken more than I was prescribed. However, because so many people abuse it, my prescription drug insurance no longer covers it and I have to pay for it out of pocket. How is that fair to those of us who need the medications and do not abuse them?
I feel angry that substance abusers have basically made it difficult or impossible for some of us to obtain the drugs that we legitimately need and will not abuse. How much fun do you have waiting in line at the pharmacy to get Sudafed when you feel like you're about to die from a severe cold? Ugh I should stop now LOL
I think it's really important to see the differences between using a drug as prescribed and abusing it. When people have the attitude that the drugs are to blame, others who really do need the medication are denied it based on the possibility of abuse. For example, I have been prescribed klonopin for years for my panic disorder. I've tried many medications and it is the only thing that has helped me to remain functional. I have never taken more than I was prescribed. However, because so many people abuse it, my prescription drug insurance no longer covers it and I have to pay for it out of pocket. How is that fair to those of us who need the medications and do not abuse them?
I feel angry that substance abusers have basically made it difficult or impossible for some of us to obtain the drugs that we legitimately need and will not abuse. How much fun do you have waiting in line at the pharmacy to get Sudafed when you feel like you're about to die from a severe cold? Ugh I should stop now LOL
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