Use vs. abuse

[beentrying2quit]

I'm sure this question has been asked before but I would like to see some of your answers.  I currently take two to four 5/325 Norcos per day for what I think is legit chronic pain.  What baffles me is some days I can take just two and other days I have to constrain myself to stay at 4.  What constitutes abuse?  Is it 5 tabs a day or 30 tabs a day?

A few months ago I was out to dinner with my wife and before we left I put a Norco in my pocket.  When we got to the restaurant I put the keys in the same pocket and went inside the restauant.  About half way through dinner I felt I needed a tab so I reached in my pocket and it was gone!  I FREAKED!

I dug in both pockets like a squirel looking for a nut.  Then it hit me..."maybe it fell out of my pocket as I was getting out of the car."  I made up some lie and told my wife I needed to go to the car.  A few minutes before we arrived at the restaurant it had started to rain so the thougt of my pill lying on the ground in a puddle of water just made my anxiety worse.

Sure enough...as I got closer to my car I could see this little white pill getting soaked on the groud.  And you guessed it....I picked up what was left of the pill and instantly put it in my mouth..I could not tell you how ashamed of myself I was.  Is this considered abuse or just plain addiction?  How in the hell can a little white pill control a life like they do?
How can this substance take hold of a persons mind and this is all we can think about?

I only took 2 tabs today and am fighting to keep it at that level....probably will take one more to help me sleep.  What a life I am living.

[addictedme]

The heading should be use,abuse or addiction,,use would be taking as prescribed, abuse would be like someone who only drinks on sat.nite but always gets really wasted, addiction would be freaking out about a lost pill that you probably can do without pain wise till you get home but choose to do what you did,( everybody here including me has done as bad or worse). I"d keep reading posts for awhile,maybe even attend an na/aa meeting and decide for yourself cause only you can,,,,gl

[road2recovery]

I think everyone has a different opinon on this...IMO---What u just said is abuse..I think every addict would have done just what u did...But u would never see a person just taking it for pain as persribed do something like that...
i do beleive that many people can take this medicince as presribed for a long time and never become addicted, maybe dependent...Very thin line between the two...I beleive that both people will go through rough w/d's when getting off c/t...To me the difference is our behavior verus theirs....We think about them constantly, we dream about them, we pay for them, lie, etc......

Glad to see you only took 2 today, that is great!!!!
Get your life back!!
The next time u may take one that fell in the toliet just like the one on the ground...lol
U can do this!!!
r2r

[newmanagment]

if i had a dollar for all the times i asked how a lil white rock could control my life.......  i would say that use is when ya are using the pills to deal with legit pain, and i think picking one up next to your car laying in the rain while out to dinner wit your wife would prolly not fall in that catagory. i know you have been here for some time, and by now you know that the pills are an addiction, not just to help deal with the pain, but the stress of functioning in society when your not high. keep fighting , and best of luck!!