Hydrocodone/Vicodin

[karas404]

Had 2 broken ankles 2 years ago and was out of state.  Rushed to hospital and surgery on both ankles.  Then flew home on oxycodone and then to vicodin.   Then, 8 months later, had a torn ligament in one of my ankles, and yes, another surgery.  So I'm finally healed BUT now I still use one 5mg of hydrocodone a day.  I have low depression, take Paxil, but have found that one pill, sometimes just half, give me incentive, otherwise I sleep and am sluggish. Had a active lifestyle, working, riding horses, and just before these accidents retired.  I guess my question is does anyone have thoughts/ideas if taking one pill a day is harmful?  I mean, I know, it's addictive behavior, but it just elevates me enough to get things done.  oh, fyi, on days when I run errands, have apppointments, i.e. things that make me get out of the house, I do not take a pill.
thanks for any input you have...other than going to NA, that's already on my list.

[TheLightSeeker]

OK, now I will offer my "2 sense" worth.
Paxil belongs to a class of drugs called Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
(SSRIs) which are designed to boost serotonin levels in the brain by inhibiting their reabsorption by the brain cells.
Your doctor prescribed this hoping that will help with your depression- it does not work in all patients, because not all depression is attributed to low serotonin and serotonin levels vary greatly from person to person.

Paxil is a synthetic formulation of course, however, serotonin is produced by the body utilizing tryptophan-an aminoacid available from food sources- which gets converted to  5-HTP by enzymes in the brain cells and finally into 5-HT (5-hydroxytryptamine, which is the technical name of serotonin).

Should you opt to gradually wean off Paxil - it is known that there are withdrawal effects as it has strong habit forming properties- with the help of a professional, you could consider 5-HTP as a natural replacement .
Studies have shown that supplementing with 5-HTP was effective in alleviating symptoms of mild depression and improve mood.

This is what I would do if I were in your position.

Hydrocodone is another issue altogether. Finding a better alternative that works for you might be a  challenge, however, you may want to research a herb called Kratom, which I came across and used only for a few days in Bali, following a horrific event in the ocean where I was swimming-long story short, I got pounded by a massive wave to the bottom
of the sea and thanks to my lucky stars I only hit sand and suffered no serious injuries or broken bones, but because of the great impact my body  received, I was in severe pain and hurting all-over.
Kratom was god-sent, lol!
Without giving me a high,it helped me deal with the pain easily and it also increased my concentation and it improved my mood!
It is legal to purchase from online sources or oriental medicine health food strores in the US, but please do your own research on this regarding its safety, availability, purity & effectiveness.
I spoke to other people who had used this in place of opioids and narcotics
and the consensus was that it helped with the withdrawal symptoms from opioids and most importantly it treated their pain symptoms efficiently.

I hope this helps, however, my suggestions and comments are not intended to replace medical advice.

Best wishes.
Niko

[jeannine72]

Be very careful with medication that can be addicting!  I have a lot of medical problems including severe pain on a daily basis...Mentally I was not addicted to my meds, but I found out the hard way that physically I was. When I ran out of my strongest pain killer (Morphine) I went into withdrawals.  It was then I decided to stop taking anything addicting and had the worst 2 days of my life dealing with the severe withdrawal symptoms imaginable.  My suggestion is *if* you can, try to find something that is non habit forming to replace the hydrocodone ASAP.  I currently only take Motrin 800, which sadly doesnt work for crap for my pain, but there are other things you can try to help.  What you went through sound very painful and i'm sorry you had to go through that!  Best of luck to you!

[AnnMorton]

your body will build a tolerance and your will slowly need more.This is how addiction begins..be careful.try and not take it only if needed..I am talking about pain pill.

[worried878]

and is how i started using hydrocodone/for energy/lots of other less risky ways to get nrg tho/i used to take 2.5 mgs and it gave me nrg for hours/no longer as tolerance builds so quickly..look into exercise or ginseng/healthy sources or energy/your dose is low/let it go