My mother in law, mother, and aunt are addicted to Lortab. They supposedly have pain, but as with all of them. Their bodies built up a tolerance of sorts. Now they are on the FDA list so that they may not receive Lortab since they have abused it.
Also my husband was hit by a drunk driver and thrown over a 100 feet. He broke both arms, hip, jaw, his ribs, and his leg. He has had four bone graphs, 3 skin graphs was in a body cast and stopped growing properly. When this happened he was air lifted out of a canyon, given 8 units of blood and not expected to live. This was at the age of 10. By the time he was 12 years old, the pain medicine no longer worked well due to the build up or tolerance to the chemicals. He then turned to Pot, Heroin, and Meth to cope with his horrible pain. His nerves had to be removed from his hip due to adhesions. They did not get them all and had them cauterized. This still did not help the pain. He started smoking to help him through his anxious times. At the age of 16 was a full blown addict, but his pain was increasingly steady. Nothing seemed to be enough for him. By age 18 he had rolled his Jeep and almost was killed. He was also dealing to support his morphin and coc addiction. He told his therapist it was the only way he could get through the day with his pain. He was hospitaled and was told about addiction and pain management. They are one and the same when you suffer from pain. He went the University of Utah Phyc Unit better known as UNI at a cost of 2500.00 a day. He was released after 6 weeks only to go back to Morphine for pain management. Mind you his mother felt bad and took him to a pain clinic. She prompted him not to tell them of his addiction or they would not help him.
I met my husband nearly four years ago. He is now 24. When I met him, he seemed to always be sick so we would be in the ER continuously. He would request a shot, IE Morphine, Demeral, Dolodid. I realized finally what was going on so we started to talk. He was hurting, but taking meds inappropriately. I guess you could say that I counceled him out of his behavior. I told the dr about his addictions, the pain and how uncontrolable it seemed. Mind you I wanted my husband to be able to go on with life. I talked the doctor into giving him a shot of Toradol and Phergrine. The Torodol takes the pain away and the Phergrine and anti-nausea med makes you feel sleepy or drugged like Morphine or Demerol does. Not a controlled substance, totally drug free. After about 8 different times being placed in the ER. We started going fewer and further in between. I talked to my husband about acu puncture for his knees and hips, he will need a replacement on both by time he is 30. They are riddled with arthritis already and he has many adhesions on his right leg. Mind you the incision is over a foot long.
My point is what you may think is pain management is NOT, please think about what these drugs do to your body the long term effects are devastating. My husband has had over 5000.00 in dental work and we are working on the second half now. The dentist told us that the Morphine and the Meth ate through his teeth. He is now smoke free and has not had a single narcotic in his blood stream for over a year. I and my husband have first hand experience in this issue. Please look for other references before you decide to be narcotically induced the rest of your life. -----Original Message----- From: adhesions@adhesions.org [mailto:adhesions@adhesions.org]On Behalf Of Helen Dynda Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 4:02 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS Subject: Addiction -- Dependence -- Tolerance
Addiction -- Dependence -- Tolerance
http://www.adhesions.org/forums/ADHESIONS.0011/0235.html
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National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on "Addiction vs. Dependence"
http://www.asappain.com/AddictionVDependence.html
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Risk Of Addiction to Pain Relief Is Small, Expert Says ... At the following Url scroll down to the bottom - and click on the Url for this article.
http://www.asappain.com/AddictionVDependence.html
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The Difference between Addiction & Tolerance: Patient and Family
http://www.nursing.uiowa.edu/sites/adultpain/MedGen/AddTolnt.htm
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