ChangingforGood

I woke up in the middle of the night and had to use the restroom, I guess I didnt close the door closest to me and it started closing. ( I cant believe I am even telling this next part to anyone) When I when to stand up I slammed my head into the door knob and ended up needing to go to the hospital. Damage was a fractured Jaw and still horrid pain. I told the doctor I didnt want pain medication but they had already given it to me when I first came in. I explained my situation to him and he was understanding. He let me know what I was in for and how hard this recovery will be. He said that he was goign to Call 10 pain pills in to my pharmacy because while he understands my struggle he thinks if I let the pain become unbearable I may just give up recovery all together.
My DOC was Norco (Hydrocodone) I used it on and off always with a prescription from the same doctor for dental pain. When I had my surgeries for my teeth i used it daily for 6 months as prescribed. When the prescription ended is when I came here for help on recovering.
I am terrified of taking these and then going backwards.
The doctor at the hospital promised to talk to the doctor I will be seeing while this heals to make sure he knows I am trying to recover and am very early on.
Im at home now and in horrible pain but am so confused as to what i should be doing
I guess what I am asking is, at 16 days has anyone had to take their DOC and then went back to recovery or am I just throwing everything Ive worked so hard for away?

MidnightBlue

Hi, ChangingForGood.

I have no experience related, but just couldn't pass by your post without answering.

I am so sorry for what's happened to you. I think that your 16 days are not wasted anyway: you know now that you can do it, and you have all our support and encouragement possible and impossible to cope with it.

Get well soon!

MIRecovery

Oh man your situation $ucks. I would call a treatment center and see what they think you should do. I would at the very least have someone else dispence your pain meds if you have to take them

ChangingforGood

Thank you guys for the responses. I talked with my mom and she called the doctor who I have to follow up with tomorrow to talk about what I should do.
They suggested:
Have someone else hold the medication
When I ask (signal for it because i cant talk right now :/ ) to have me wait and if i can look over any journals or thoughts I may have written down over the last few weeks to see if I still want to take them. I think they feel that if they give me time to stop and think theres less chance Ill ask for them if i am not in pain.
They also said they would work with me tomorrow on alternate ways to relieve this pain so I could toss the medicine.


My major issue is I don't want to give up my 16 days and start all over. Im almost willing to deal with the pain just so I don't give that up however i have no idea how bad this may get. My goal for now is to make it as long as I can before taking the medication. I will also spend time on the site reminding myself how far ive come and to hopefully read other stories of people who continued on the path of recovery after having something like this happen.

Maylie

I've never been in this position, but I'm sorry that this happened
You seem to have a really level head right now, you're in a lot of pain
but you haven't used this as an excuse to just take a bunch of pills!
There are some injuries/things that happen in our lives where we might
have to use our DOC for legit reasons.

If you can take the pain then don't take the pills but if you really feel
the pain is too much then take one. Being in recovery doesn't mean that
you need to torture yourself when something like this happens.

You have alerted all the right people and if you can have someone
hold the medicine that is even better. Keep working your recovery
so you can resist taking more than you need and when this is all
over you will come out the other side with yet another experience
under your belt

hugs

Maylie

MIRecovery

Do you have a prescription for some of the non-narcotic pain relievers?

aasharon90

There's lots of meds that are non narcotic
or habit forming. Letting your doctor know
with no uncertain terms that you dont want
anything that would interfer with your recovery
and sobriety because it is that important to you
and will defintely keep you on track each day.

ChangingforGood

I do have other medications that are non narcotic. I took those about 45 minutes ago because I felt the pain was getting to a point of not being bearable. I am going to take it 10 minutes at a time and try to sleep. Thank you all for the great replies, they have helped a lot. I am going to rest for now and see if i can make it through without having to take the other medications.

ChangingforGood

Sweet relief finally and it came without the narcotics!!
I just needed heat, ice NSAID's and time. I am sure it will hurt again but for now I am okay.

However I now wonder, since when I came in to the ER, out of it screaming in pain and they administered pain medication before I could write down "NO" do I need to start my count over? I just want to be honest about it.

Dee74

I'm sorry for your pain but I'm glad that you're dealing with it responsibly - thats awesome.

You were in pain, given medication, and were not really in a position to debate it - ultimately of course it's up to you, but personally, I would not worry about your 'count'.

D

Delilah1

I was in the ER for two days due to horrible migraines that wouldn't go away. The doctor gave me meds through IV because the omitrex that I normally take was unable to relieve the migraines at all. They gave me norco for pain when home and I used them for a day unti, the migraine was totally gone.

Alcohol was my issue and I feel like if I am being given medication and following the doctor's dosage it is ok.

lilgolden73

I cannot tell you how many times I have almost knocked myself out going potty in the middle of the night....I don't think this counts against your sobriety...if you continue to use...then there is a problem. I hope you feel better!

ChangingforGood

Ty both for your opinions It does help a lot. I think my parents seeing how worried I was about going back to taking medication like before made them realize both how ready I really am to be better and how much I did have a problem. They are both recovering addicts so they can understand. They just didnt think I had a problem since I was always taking them as prescribed. However I know that even though I did take them as prescribed , I was still heading down a road that could lead to a lot worse because I was enjoying the euphoria feeling and beginning to take them even though I didn't have much pain.
They have now extended an offer to help me get medical coverage and get into some doctors for support. I think as long as I keep doing what I am doing and remain aware of what needs to be done ill make it through.
I cant say thank you enough to the people on this site, its wonderful having this type of support.

ChangingforGood

Its 430 here now and ive been able to hold off on taking the hydrocodone, I am in a fair amount of pain but im gonna try the other meds again in a little bit and keep resting.
The first few days are supposed to be the worse so if i can make it just a few days ill be doing wonderful.

sissy07

I really, really admire you. It is obvious how serious you are about your sobriety - I am sorry you are in this position.

You are lucky to have understanding parents that know what you are going through. Best wishes to you!

ChangingforGood

Just a few more hours till my appointment with the doctor. I think I will feel a lot more comfortable when I trust they understand my problem and will work with me and not just prescribe away.
I know even if they did that its my job to say no and not get or take the prescription if its not needed but I think for my own piece of mind I would love for the doctor to tell me he understands.
I took half a pill in the middle of the night last night after nothing else had helped. While I did feel slightly defeated I know it was still a win, it could have been a lot worse and I took the smallest amount possible to get rid of the worst of the pain.

ChangingforGood

The doctors appointment today went very well. The doctor understood about addiction and my struggle. We talked about ways to make sure when I no longer need the medication I don't take it.
It looks like im not going to have to have surgery at this time which is going to be very helpful.
I will allow myself to take medicine when the pain is unbearable for 3 more days. After that I will throw the remaining narcotic medication away and continue to work with the non narcotic pain medications. Ive only had to take half a pill 2 times so far. I am hoping by tomorrow I can manage with just the non narcotics.
Im less stressed and more hopeful although I am worried about having to go through withdrawal symptoms again.
The doctor doesn't feel that I will have to deal with that since the amount ive taken is very small. I couldn't imagine having to had a horrid flu feeling at the same time as dealing with a fractured jaw.

Thank you to everyone who posted here it helped a lot.

ChangingforGood

And there gone!
Woke up this morning took ibuprofen, it is working and so I flushed ( we are on a septic and well water so im not worried about 9 pills getting into anything.)
I feel so happy that monkey is off my back. Even though I was able to resist im not gonna lie, I thought about it all day long. Now that they are gone a weight has been lifted.