Aa
Day 4 for my husband
My husband is on day 4, no oxycontin. Today seems to be the toughest one yet, for some reason. His back pain is pretty bad. He is very cold today, and his nose is pretty runny, and his stomach is a bit funky. It is like he has the flu. He did get up and go to work, my Marine. It was tough, but one guy in the shop knows what is going on, and the other guys, well, they all adore my guy, he's the old man at the shop. They pretty much thinks he has a flu bug. This is not a stretch at all, because we were all sick the 2 weeks prior to him stopping the oxy.
He stopped all his pain meds, but is still taking 200 mg zoloft in the morning, 50 mg elevil (sp?) at bedtime. I am curious what advise I might get here abut the meds he is on still. I was wondering if maybe some ibuprofen might help him, but he doesn't want to take anything at all right now. I think he does not want to dull any pain, so that he can tell when the withdrawal pain stops? He is afraid of the paid from his back. He has degenerative disc, and has no good discs, so the fact is, he does have some pain to live with, probably.
Some history for new readers....
He was on 20 mg of oxy, twice a day. He had tapered from a higher dose, to the 20 mg twice a day dose, if we remember correctly about a year, or so, ago. Prior to that, his highest dose was 60 mg, twice a day, just prior to a 2nd surgery on his back, back in 2002. After the surgery, he tapered himself to 40 mg, and than to 20 mg, twice a day. He has been on oxycontin since 2001.
Things you have all taught us, thank you very much.
My husband was not addicted to the oxycontin. He was physically dependent on them, though. He never abused them, and he always disliked taking them. It was the pain he would get, when he did not take them, that pain scared him. He always thought the pain was from his back. He is now realizing that a good part of that pain was caused by the physical dependency on the oxycontin. Right now, he hurts, but he is believing that a good part of that pain will go away when the withdrawals stop.
I want to say, thank you to everyone here, and God Bless each one of you. This forum is a Godsend to me. I literally was scared to death on Thursday last week, when my husband made the decision, no more oxycontin. I Googled oxycontin withdrawal, and the second listing was a very old post from this forum. I was saved. You guys all saved me. The wealth of information, and real experience, it feels like we can get a hug, anytime, 24/7, just by reading here.
He stopped all his pain meds, but is still taking 200 mg zoloft in the morning, 50 mg elevil (sp?) at bedtime. I am curious what advise I might get here abut the meds he is on still. I was wondering if maybe some ibuprofen might help him, but he doesn't want to take anything at all right now. I think he does not want to dull any pain, so that he can tell when the withdrawal pain stops? He is afraid of the paid from his back. He has degenerative disc, and has no good discs, so the fact is, he does have some pain to live with, probably.
Some history for new readers....
He was on 20 mg of oxy, twice a day. He had tapered from a higher dose, to the 20 mg twice a day dose, if we remember correctly about a year, or so, ago. Prior to that, his highest dose was 60 mg, twice a day, just prior to a 2nd surgery on his back, back in 2002. After the surgery, he tapered himself to 40 mg, and than to 20 mg, twice a day. He has been on oxycontin since 2001.
Things you have all taught us, thank you very much.
My husband was not addicted to the oxycontin. He was physically dependent on them, though. He never abused them, and he always disliked taking them. It was the pain he would get, when he did not take them, that pain scared him. He always thought the pain was from his back. He is now realizing that a good part of that pain was caused by the physical dependency on the oxycontin. Right now, he hurts, but he is believing that a good part of that pain will go away when the withdrawals stop.
I want to say, thank you to everyone here, and God Bless each one of you. This forum is a Godsend to me. I literally was scared to death on Thursday last week, when my husband made the decision, no more oxycontin. I Googled oxycontin withdrawal, and the second listing was a very old post from this forum. I was saved. You guys all saved me. The wealth of information, and real experience, it feels like we can get a hug, anytime, 24/7, just by reading here.
no please, you're tottally misunderstanding Greebo. Never annoyed, always just helping and wanting people to have the correct info. She is an extremely caring person.
it seems to me that almost everything here bothers u or annoys u....i've been reading ur responses to others ,,ur posts...etc...why do u come here if ur always annoyed
just read my story..i hate them...i'm trying and will get off of them...tell him u are proud of him an just bear with hhim ..god bless him...i wish i was strong
No offense taken at all, dear heart. I understood what you meant, and mainly, wanted to clarify it myself. It is very important to me that I give my husband the support he needs. I do not want to enable any bad thinking on this.
I agree that is overwhelming the number of people who suffer from dependency, regardless of whether they have an addictive approach. Perhaps it is somewhat semantics. The physical pain, coming off the drugs, is the same.
I agree that is overwhelming the number of people who suffer from dependency, regardless of whether they have an addictive approach. Perhaps it is somewhat semantics. The physical pain, coming off the drugs, is the same.
There are a lot of people in here that only take required dose the doctor has prescribed to them but they will still have to go through WDs just like a person that abuses a dose of a drug. Anyone that take opiates for any length of time even if they don't enjoy them they become dependent on them. I don't mean to offend anyone but that's why this man is in WDs. It's sad because there are not many non opiate options for people in true pain and the opiates make you have more pain less tolerable to pain. It's a vicious cycle. Lulu's husband is trying to do the right thing before it becomes a problem that many of us have gone through. I have friends with cronic pain and they don't think they are addicted to pain pills they only take the required dose but if you took the pain pills away from them they would be in full WDs. It seems like it's very much an addiction that someone in constant pain may not be able to live without. There are tons of new people in here everyday it is overwhelming to me. I'm sorry if I offended anyone
It is different , dependency and addiction. He doesn't have the same problem that most here have with addiction. The hardest part will be to find a non narcotic way (if possible), to manage the pain. all the best
You are correct-Dependency and Addiction are two different things. It is irritating when people who are not familiar with the difference give advice that mixes the two up. It causes confusion and is not very helpful.
Dependency is the actual physical changes to your body which cause withdrawal. Addiction is the BEHAVIOR of taking the drugs to get high, not as prescribed, and when not needed for clinical reasons. It is the un-manageable behaviors associated with lack of control.
Your husband is withdrawing because of his physical dependency. You can take pain meds as prescribed and never become addicted-but you will become dependent.
As you know, dependency on opiates actually makes your physical pain worse. You husband may be pleasently surprised once he makes it through the WD's. His pain may be at a managable level with OTC meds. Once your husband if off the opiates he should talk to his doctor about the zoloft. Long term pain can lead to depression-being dependent on opiates can also cause depression.
Your husband is doing the right thing. Congrats to him for chosing to get his life back-free from drugs. Congrats to you for being so supportive. He should start to feel better very soon. Keep feeding him healthy food and keep him hydrated.
All OTC medicines are not created equal. For his stomach problems be sure he has some Immodium-it works wonders.
If you need some additional information-go into my profile and read some of my journal entries. One is called 'time for some technical talk'...it's about addiction (versus dependency) and has information on tapering. For PAWS (post accute withdrawal syndrome0, read the PAWS partS 1-3 entries. These are just some backround information on addiction-but it may give you some insight into opiates in general.
Good luck and keep posting. Let us know how you and your husband are doing!
Stay strong,
Greatgreebo
Dependency is the actual physical changes to your body which cause withdrawal. Addiction is the BEHAVIOR of taking the drugs to get high, not as prescribed, and when not needed for clinical reasons. It is the un-manageable behaviors associated with lack of control.
Your husband is withdrawing because of his physical dependency. You can take pain meds as prescribed and never become addicted-but you will become dependent.
As you know, dependency on opiates actually makes your physical pain worse. You husband may be pleasently surprised once he makes it through the WD's. His pain may be at a managable level with OTC meds. Once your husband if off the opiates he should talk to his doctor about the zoloft. Long term pain can lead to depression-being dependent on opiates can also cause depression.
Your husband is doing the right thing. Congrats to him for chosing to get his life back-free from drugs. Congrats to you for being so supportive. He should start to feel better very soon. Keep feeding him healthy food and keep him hydrated.
All OTC medicines are not created equal. For his stomach problems be sure he has some Immodium-it works wonders.
If you need some additional information-go into my profile and read some of my journal entries. One is called 'time for some technical talk'...it's about addiction (versus dependency) and has information on tapering. For PAWS (post accute withdrawal syndrome0, read the PAWS partS 1-3 entries. These are just some backround information on addiction-but it may give you some insight into opiates in general.
Good luck and keep posting. Let us know how you and your husband are doing!
Stay strong,
Greatgreebo
My understanding, from reading here, is that if you abuse your pain pills, taking more then prescribed, you are an addict. If you only take them as prescribed, you are physically dependent. Is that correct?
My husband never took more then prescribed, and, in fact, tapered himself down over the last few years. He hated the oxycontin.
It has been some consolation to him, reading, and considering, that he is not an addict. The word addict bothers him tremendously. We understand that the physical dependency is very real, as is the withdrawal. He considers himself fortunate that he did mot actually abuse the pills.
My husband never took more then prescribed, and, in fact, tapered himself down over the last few years. He hated the oxycontin.
It has been some consolation to him, reading, and considering, that he is not an addict. The word addict bothers him tremendously. We understand that the physical dependency is very real, as is the withdrawal. He considers himself fortunate that he did mot actually abuse the pills.
He is withdrawing and the pain will get better with time. Even though he did not abuse his dose he is still addicted and will withdraw. It will get better just takes days.
The zoloft is for depression I'm assuming and the Elivil or amitriptilyn (spell) is used for many things. My husband has colitis and it is used at bedtime to help him sleep and to calm his colon. I have taken it in the past for migraine prevention (I take nothing daily now) so it's used for a lot and I would not stop either of those without the doctor's advice.
Once he is through the WD's he is probably going to feel so much better and his doctor will hopefully be able to work out a pain management without opiate use.
The zoloft is for depression I'm assuming and the Elivil or amitriptilyn (spell) is used for many things. My husband has colitis and it is used at bedtime to help him sleep and to calm his colon. I have taken it in the past for migraine prevention (I take nothing daily now) so it's used for a lot and I would not stop either of those without the doctor's advice.
Once he is through the WD's he is probably going to feel so much better and his doctor will hopefully be able to work out a pain management without opiate use.
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