Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Me, too....esp ULTRACET...but WE may metabolize it differently. I just had a crushed T12 vertebra from Osteoporosis and the bone chips were pinching nerves in my back with horrific pain. A PA put me on Ultracet and even after the MRI showed the bone chips etc they blew me off x 13 more days until I had surgery....now scaffolded with titanium at 2 levels. I will NOT let that happen to me again.
Norco 10/325 and Flexeril. It most definitely got me high. Not a good high mind you. There's no "rush" (which is why people crush and snort them) but it oh so definitely got me high. I took it exactly twice. The first time was when I got out of the ER and I just slept like a log so I didn't realize how f-ed up I was. The next morning I took it again as they'd worn off and I was in even worse pain than the night before. That was about the least pleasant six hours of my life I've ever had. I popped 600 mgs of ibuprofen for a couple weeks which barely took the edge off but there's no way I was going back to zombie status that the Norco + Flexeril combination put me in. That said, it wasn't chronic. As long as I was careful with how I moved I didn't go into spasms and as long I wasn't getting muscle spasms the pain was tolerable.
Making the choice between the Norco + Flexeril zombie state or long-term existence where a wrong move would lock my neck up for half an hour in excruciating spasms... I don't know. Neither were fun that's for damn sure. How much of that was what or the combination, I don't know. I never took either of them again.
Vicodin + alcohol is the opposite. Very nice high. Alone it's a pretty mild high at therapeutic doses. Add a couple beers and oh man does it feel good. Too good. I flushed the stuff and the couple times they've tried to write scripts for it won't take them.
Back prior to the late 80s there used to be a reason MDs gave back pain patients that Vicodin/Flexeril or Soma combo....it was supposed to knock them out and KEEP THEM RESTING IN BED so their back would heal. The problem with that was back then people saved their "sick days" to party or use as a PTO day, so they might take the drugs then try to drive somewhere 3 or so days after being in bed. Not good combo meds to work or drive on. There were different med combos but they all made you feel like,a zombie for a specific reason. It is at this same time Big Pharma developed Oxycontin and other highly addivtive, time-released narcotics...and now we are in a mess.
.at the same time OXYCONTIN was developed by Big Pharma...making certain that whomever got it became hooked on it. I watched it happening.
I can assure you, as someone who was on Oxycontin for over a year, not all of us who took it AS PRESCRIBED got hooked in it. I was on a 10mg pill 3 times a day. I had absolutely no problems tapering it down to a single pill a day over a week and then simply stopped with absolutely no problems at all. I also had no problems the entire time I was on becoming tolerant to it.
I'd be willing to guess the likelihood of becoming hooked on Oxycontin is no more than any other opioid but it became the big bad villain because it was new "exciting" to place the blame on.
I can assure you, as someone who was on Oxycontin for over a year, not all of us who took it AS PRESCRIBED got hooked in it. I was on a 10mg pill 3 times a day. I had absolutely no problems tapering it down to a single pill a day over a week and then simply stopped with absolutely no problems at all. I also had no problems the entire time I was on becoming tolerant to it.
I'd be willing to guess the likelihood of becoming hooked on Oxycontin is no more than any other opioid but it became the big bad villain because it was new "exciting" to place the blame on.
Absolutely ultraviolet. Like I mentioned, I have been on Fentanyl for over 10 yrs now. It works for me BUT I do take it as prescribed. I don't double up, and I know how serious it could be for me if I did. I do not get a high from my medication and that is a myth at least for people with LEGIT chronic pain. I will shout that to the rooftops.
I started out on 25 MCG and I am at 50MCG which seems to be just fine for me. It takes the edge off. I do not take any other pain meds. I take the usual things for Hypertension- Diabetes etc but that's it.
I've had interesting talks with my Pain Mgmt. doctor and he has stated when something "works" for a patient then they should stay with it-of course within reason. I am SO happy to see more and more pain mgmt doctors coming out to help people who are in serious -real pain. DEA has scared primary doctors and this is why many will not prescribe Opioids. They are scared...
Street addicts- are famous for sniffing out opioids.
Do we stop helping people who are in real pain because of people who abuse these drugs? NO.
I guess the meaning of "addiction" is subjective. Being physically dependent on something, in my opinion, is addiction.
I'm late to the discussion, but when used properly the terms dependence and addiction are two different things.
A diabetic is dependent on insulin. They need it to stay healthy and for their body to function properly. You would never describe a diabetic as being addicted to insulin.
Addiction is the compulsive need/use of a habit forming substance. It can be psychological addiction, such as cigarettes (if you stop smoking you might be miserable for a while but your overall health is generally not threatened) or physical addiction, as with opiates or alcohol. Dependence is sometimes used as a synonym for physical addiction. The two terms are actually different, but they sometimes merge when medical intervention is necessary.
How can you be on a drug for 10 years and say you are not addicted?
There is night & day difference in addiction and tolerance. People who have chronic pain rarely abuse their "lifeline'. Taken responsibly, they become dependent and tolerant to the narcotic after a long time using them. They rarely, if ever, come up with 'dirty' urine drug screens (and urine drug screens are well known to be flawed and have many other drugs/foods that can alter their results). They also have less problems coming off or being weaned off those medications in less than a month.
Now, the CDC & the DEA have doctors so FREAKED out about how many and what kind of narcotics they are prescribing that they no longer can do their jobs. Mine closed his office and it was 'too bad, so sad'...NO wean, nada! After 7 yrs, I had a stuffy nose, teary eyes (which I took Sudafed for) and some diarrhea for a week. I wasn't writhing in pain, screaming and rolling on any floors, sweaty and nasty like you have all seen on TV a million times. WHY? I never took more than the amount prescribed, and I was on a low maintenance dose of both the narcotic meds I was on. And, because of the OPIOID CRISIS HYSTERIA with Trump and his cronies faking they are saving America, I am killing my liver quickly taking the MOST DEADLY of drugs, Extra Strength Tylenol. And guess what?? All these new laws will not slow down or make less the number of deaths to opioids...WATCH AND SEE!
Prescriptions are less in the past 2 yrs and deaths are up BOTH years. Guess where lots of the Fentanyl and heroin, etc is coming from....Mexico, China, and Afghanistan who has exported 500 million tons of home grown Opium last year to Europe, Asia and the USA. Just so happens , the same year the Medical community designed the famous Wong-Baker happy faces Pain Scale (1989) poppies began growing in Afghanistan. Our Govt has know all about it all along, too. I have known about it 20 yrs.
Easily. Addiction has nothing to do which how long a person has been on a drug. It has to do with whether the person craves the drug to the point where the craving interferes with normal function, and whether the person can successfully voluntarily stop the drug.
I've been on a statin for over 10 years, but I don't desire that pill every day, and I could walk away from it tomorrow if I wished to. Therefore I am not addicted to it. Likewise, a person who drinks a glass of wine at dinner every night, but who can go without it for days, weeks, or even months if they wish to is not an alcoholic.
Probably because stains are not addictive medications.
Certain people must be more prone to addiction than others. I have a friend whose son became addicted in high school after having his wisdom teeth pulled yet millions of kids get their wisdom teeth pulled with no issues.
I have a niece who was in a terrible accident 6 yrs ago and given opioids. She deals now with her addiction every day.
My 80 yr old Dad was given opioids for his arthritis and began hallucinating after a couple of days but he was able to wean off of them with no problem.
Opioids help a lot of people, no doubt, but they are very very strong drugs and effect everyone differently - I don't know how you manage that.
Now we are talking about something concrete! There are people who have the genetics to become addicted over others being tolerant. Same as there are people who can use a Fentanyl Patch and it lasts the 3 days it was made to last and others it stops about mid-day on the #2 day. They are called 'rapid metabolizers' or even 'ultra rapid metabolizers' AND there are genetic tests to determine how each person metabolizes meds, whether they are taking an antibiotic, statins, acid reducers or BP meds. THIS will soon be the way at least Pain Management MDs begin their first office visits with chronic pain patients. It is called Pharmacogenetics and they will know which of their patients metabolizes what and how fast. Eventually, it will be in your Family Medicine or Internists office, but right now we have to DEMAND the tests be done and insurance companies try and deny them, but lose a lot. This is not junk science. I know an infant with a heart disorder called Long QT that has all her meds prescribed by this same genetic testing because the ones they were giving her were not working and she was screaming in pain, non-stop, for 3 months til they figured out what was going on.
For the average joe or jane, it takes a needle and a spoon to get the opiate "high" that everyone talks about. Taking a pill is not the same - you get pain relief and maybe some dopamine pleasure over hours.....but it's not the same thing and shouldn't even be discussed in the same thread or forum.
Those addicted to the needle are usually gonna die before they stop.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And guess what?? All these new laws will not slow down or make less the number of deaths to opioids...WATCH AND SEE! 
Just so happens , the same year the Medical community designed the famous Wong-Baker happy faces Pain Scale (1989) poppies began growing in Afghanistan. Our Govt has know all about it all along, too. I have known about it 20 yrs.
