Re: Pain Medication

From: cathy:- (anonymous@medispecialty.com)
Tue Aug 27 22:36:22 2002


There are a couple of things that are useful to know about opiates... One thing that I learned from one of Helen Dynda's links is that when you are in pain it alters the chemistry of your brain. So if you take an opiate when you are in pain it affects you differently than if you weren't in pain and you took it.

Another thing is that just like some people have allergies but most people don't, it appears that some people are suseptible to opiate addiction but most people aren't. If you are one of the suseptible ones, then taking it will make permanent changes to your brain and you will never be "quite right" without it. If you are not one of the suseptible ones, then the worst that will happen to you is that you will get dependent. That means that you will have unpleasant flu-like symptoms that will go away over a few days if you quit, but if you wean from the drug at a reasonable pace then you won't even get that. Many people here have reported having temporary pain-free periods and so they stop the drugs and have no withdrawel at all. Others have needed to wean a bit more slowly, but not so that it was any big deal. Even for a person who is one of the unlucky ones with the suseptibility to addiction, you still have to measure the benefits of the drug against the side effects. I know lots of people who take powerful meds for high blood pressure and heart disease. These are absolutely mood-altering drugs -- they block the hormones that are involved in the "fight or flight" reaction because if you get excited when you have a heart condition it can kill you. Nobody thinks anything bad of somebody taking a beta blocker when they have a heart condition -- why should you feel bad about taking opiates when you are in pain?

The fact that you were able to quit the morphine cold-turkey for a week without any sign of withdrawel at all is an excellent indication that you are one of those people who couldn't get addicted to opiates even if you wanted to be. So just think of them as a tool. A tool that does something really good for you (relieves your pain) without much in the way of bad side-effects.

At Tue, 27 Aug 2002, crm wrote: >
>Good Morning Everyone,
>I have not wrote in a long time, but I read the board daily. Here is
>alittle about myself. I have had a hyst. and both ovaries and 2 more
>surgeries for ovarian remnant, and I still have ovarian remnant.I not
>sure if anyone will understand me but if anyone can it will be
>you.Yesterday I called my doctor about refilling my pain medication
>(morphine 60mg)and last night she finally called me back and gave me the
>refill without any problems and gave me something for the break though
>pain. After getting off the phone I got really upset over the pain
>medication, I feel ashame that I need these pill to help me with my
>daily life. I stopped them for a week before and had no problems with
>withdraws(that good). but the pain was horrible, I have been on
>morphine for about 1 1/2 years. I have fought for almost 3 years for
>pain control and that is why I tried surgery. I had my last surgery
>May8,2001, and after that surgery my bowels would not wake up and was on
>a liquid diet for alittle over a month. I have been working for almost
>a year now, and life has become alot less painful with the medication,
>but I still feel like I am a druggie, whenever I go the hospital for
>something thay always ask about my medication and when they hear
>morphine the doctors always tell me how the medcation is not good for me
>and how I need to find a different way of dealing with the pain. My
>friends are understanding to how I feel but they do not understand what
>life is like without the medication. I have problems with sleep because
>the pain is so bad I can not walk up my stairs at homeI can not stand or
>sit to long. I have been working a year now and I finally felt like I
>was a normal person but for some reason I just do not seem to be able to
>say I am on pain medication to anyone, but I told my boss about the
>problems I have and the medication I am on and she has been really good.
>I know in my heart that there is nothing to be embrassed about, but why
>do I feel like I have to hide the fact that I take this medication.
>Thanks for listening to me, ans sorry this message is alittle long.
>
>christine

--
cathy :-)

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