Good article on the spiraling Heroin Problem in NJ

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Cara_319

I don't buy that excuse. I had major surgery and received a prescription (w/ refills) for percoset. After taking one of the pills, while recuperating, I felt extremely drowsy and absolutely hated the feeling. Instead of taking more, I threw away the pills and opted to rely on prayer, meditation, physical therapy, yoga and eating healthy. Guess what, I'm fully recovered and didn't have any issues. Best decision I ever made... but I should point out that I've always abstained from substances (i.e. alcohol, drugs, etc.). I prefer to deal with my emotions...

I think the addictive types will get addicted, and the rest of us won't.

When I had arthroscopic knee surgery, they gave me Vicodin. I took two at a time on schedule for the first three days. They kept the pain down and made me feel good and be able to sleep.

After the third day, I woke up in the night and there were people standing around my bed singing. I started to laugh and I said, "I know you guys aren't real! You are a hallucination!" They stopped singing and just faded away. I went back to sleep giggling over this, but the next day I decided maybe it was time to cut back on the vicodin, so I did.

But if my ex had them, he would have gone back to the doctor and asked for more. He is an alkie, a compulsive gambler, and just an all-around addictive personality. Now that he is no longer my problem, I can see the difference.

He ate all the painkillers the doctor gave me after my C-Section. I was trying not to use them, but one day when I overdid I went to get one and the bottle was empty. That's an addict.

There has to be some kind of screening before docs hand out addictive drugs, but I don't know what. Addicts are going to lie about not being addicts, of course.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by Cara_319

I don't buy that excuse. I had major surgery and received a prescription (w/ refills) for percoset. After taking one of the pills, while recuperating, I felt extremely drowsy and absolutely hated the feeling. Instead of taking more, I threw away the pills and opted to rely on prayer, meditation, physical therapy, yoga and eating healthy. Guess what, I'm fully recovered and didn't have any issues. Best decision I ever made... but I should point out that I've always abstained from substances (i.e. alcohol, drugs, etc.). I prefer to deal with my emotions...

I am not making excuses for anyone.
I am merely reporting the reality of the situation, which is that many (perhaps, most) of the opioid/opiate addicts would never have gotten into their situation if they had not been supplied/oversupplied with opioids by their physicians in the first place.

You and I may be able to deal with pain fairly well, but other folks can't, and that leads them to request refills of their opioid RXs, and most physicians will comply with those requests. And, then there are the folks who have an addictive personality and only need their first taste of opioids in order for them to decide that they like the feeling provided by those dangerous drugs.

If you had bothered to read one of my other posts in this thread, you would have realized that I am absolutely not making excuses for anyone:

Originally Posted by Retriever

Many years ago, I had a "difficult" wisdom tooth extraction. The oral surgeon prescribed at least one week's worth of some sort of Opioid. A few hours after that extraction--without having taken even one of those Opioid tablets--I delivered a short speech at my school's annual awards assembly. When I asked others if my speech was understandable, they all reported that I sounded as I normally did, and there was no evidence of having undergone oral surgery about 6 hours earlier.

When I got home I was able to go to sleep w/o taking any of those Opioid tablets, and I remember thinking...When is the pain going to get so bad that I have to begin taking this prescription? The bottom line is that I wound up throwing that Rx bottle away--unused--a few weeks later.

Yes, I understand that some people experience more pain than others, but I also believe that a person's strength of character may influence whether or not he/she winds up using Opioids to the point of addiction.