ippochick

i had surgery on my shoulder last monday. i had morphine in the hospital, and since i was discharged the next day i have been taking codeine as prescribed. i discussed it with my home group (i don't have a sponsor yet) and i'm confident it isn't affecting my recovery.

i hope you're doing ok and the pain is manageable. i actually felt really weird last week - as if i had relapsed as the morphine is so mood-altering. but it wasn't a relapse - it was a medical requirement.

onwards and upwards!!

Renarde

I learned in class that opiates act differently when there is severe post-operative pain. I would not consider this having messed with your sobriety, at all. Pain can interfere with a lot of mechanisms and actually impede healing, which I imagine is partly why they really wanted you to take something. This isn't the Civil War era - if you have surgery you need pain management! Make sure you are eating something when you take that Advil.

jeeves

No, you have no tainted your sobriety if you weren't taking them to get high. That is the answer, I had an addiction to opiates and when I got my wisdom teeth extracted I was prescribed Vicodin and had a similar concern. I took them as prescribed and was fine. Former opiate addicts actually have a much lower pain tolerance than non addicts. Because their body naturally does not naturally produce as many endorphins. There is no reason for you to be in pain simply because you were an addict. Again, take them as directed. You really aren't running the risk of addiction or relapse with any medication if it is taken as directed.
Also with surgical pain Advil won't provide much relief, because it is an anti-inflammatory and doesn't actually block pain signals. Oxycontin is also very strong, you might want to talk with you doc about taking Codeine or Hydrocodone instead?

jdooner

Thanks - I am doing okay. I spoke with my Doc this AM and my recovery is going quite well. Can actually add weight bearing today. I am on Asprin and Advin and ice and that combination is working.

Hydrocodone produces anaphlatic shock so that is perhaps why they prescribed Oxys. Also when I discussed my addictions they wanted to separate Asprin from Asprin + pain med (cosine) so that I could only take the narcotic if I needed it.

The plan is in place and working out. I have been honest with myself and my AA group last night and all of you so I feel like I am doing everything possible.

The issue is I could tell I was yearning for the high and hoping to be in more pain, so I know subconsciously there were negative motives, which is why I have stayed away from the drugs. I feel I can do it without and seems to be working.

Thanks everyone.

lorelei

Hope you have a quick recovery JD x

jeeves

Sounds good, but be warned post-operative pain can be horrible. If you can endure the pain without opiates that's great! But if the pain does kick back into gear and the OTC stuff isn't doing the job, I wouldn't be too apprehensive to take the codeine. Codeine is pretty weak stuff TBH, and if you take it as prescribed I doubt you'd really feel any noticeable psychotropic effect. Good luck bro.

EndGameNYC

I've had two total anterior hip replacements in the past year. Last November, and again this past August. I also had an emergency appendectomy two weeks ago. I felt like I was going to die, and was begging the powers that be to take my life. Got myself to the ER and begged the staff for morphine. Everything was fine after they shot me up. No complications with the surgery. I was home the next morning.

Following each of these three procedures, I was given a month's supply of painkillers. With the hip surgeries, I pressed a button in my bed that delivered morphine to my system whenever I needed it. With the appendectomy, I just asked for painkillers whenever I needed them.

The docs knew about my history, but I'd also told them I never had problems with painkillers. I took whatever they gave me, confident in my sobriety that I wouldn't relapse on percocets and roxies. When the pain was bearable, I threw away the pills. The worst part of all of this was withdrawal from painkillers following my first surgery. The rest of it was just following the program of recovery I had worked hard to put in place and to prepare me for life's random acts of pain and suffering.

When we're willing to work at it, sobriety can take us to some of the strangest places...and some of the best places.