Pain-med withdrawals - everyone should know

[Trackho]

You might be one that needs opiate based pain-relievers like morphine or a narcotic like demerol.

Opiates do have the highest risk of withdrawals.

Hydrocodone(the active ingredient in Vicodin) is an opiate, with all the associated benefits/issues---Narco--is a double dose of Hydrocodone w/o the tylenol

I just spent last weekend helping my buddy who had MAJOR cancer surgery(5 ribs removed, chunk of lung, limp nodes, other misc stuff) he was on an epidural drip---and morphine, he did get a tad squirrely for a few days, but 4 days later hes off the hard stuff, hell prolly be on Vicodine for quite some time.

I think diffrent folks react differently, I have gone from 10-12 ES Vicodine/day to zero---no biggie---lots of catch up "crap"--BUT I wont ride unless Ive been off it for at least two days

 

[gsxrbabe]

for those of you who puke on narcotic pain relievers, ask for a prescription for phenergen or compazine. they are both ok to use for a couple weeks, but docs don't like prescribing them cuz they cause dyskenesia (involuntary muscle jerks) which may be permanent.

there is also a pain reliever called talwin nx. it's pretty good and doesn't cause addiction cause it has naloxone (antagonist) in it. didn't make me queasy either.

codeine/vicodin/oxy are all gonna make your body feel sick. itchy and loopy. taking a valium type drug with it seems to help me not feel so sick. or you can have a drink or two...that helps alot of folks.

ibuprofin- yep, it'll ruin your liver. so will acetamenophen (tylenol). the way motrin works is you need to keep a steady stream of it in your body and won't notice any significant until you've been taking it for about 6-8 hours.

i work at ucsf...so that's why i sound all nerdy on this....

 

[Stanley]

Wow, I knew acetamenophen was hard on the liver, but I didn't know ibuprofen was that bad!

I was on a morphine drip for three days after back surgery. I was prescribed 120 percocets and I think I only took 3 or 4 of them. The Ibuprofen seemed to ease my pain as much as the narcotics, without making me feel dizzy. I kind of liked the buzz except for the dizziness. lol

I have a family member who is a heroin addict. I can tell you from *almost* first hand experience that opiate withdrawals are a real bitch. Don't do drugs, kids.

 

[Sane_Man]

What happened to me. I had been taking codeine for about 2 weeks for back pain. A situation arose and bam! I find myself yelling, cussing, stomping about, slamming doors, got in my car, peeled out,

I act that way all of the time, I must be on a natural codeine high.

I heard that Vicodin and Percocet has an ingredient added to the pills that make you nauseous so you can't abuse or OD on them. Any truth to that?

 

[gsxrbabe]

I act that way all of the time, I must be on a natural codeine high.

I heard that Vicodin and Percocet has an ingredient added to the pills that make you nauseous so you can't abuse or OD on them. Any truth to that?

no truth to that. the only ingredients in vicodin are hydrocodone and acetaminophen. your body naturally reacts to opiates this way- nausea, vomiting, itching, sweats, pallor, dilated pupils.
look at a heroin user- they look and feel the same. they puke after booting up.

there is a drug called antabuse which when mixed with alcohol makes you vomit. they give this to alcoholics in treatment facilities.

 

[sasquatch]

After the surgery on my wrist because of the crash, I was in the hospital with one of those self dosing morphine devices. The pain was so bad I had them reduce the dose time to the lowest possible. 3 hits, sleep for 1 hour: 3 hits sleep for 1 hour all night long. The procedure should have been an out patient, but because of the pain management needed the Dr. kept me in the hospital overnight. The next day I had to puke twice on the way home.
For the next week, 2 extra strength Vicodin every 4 hours. Then stopped. I could never make it to the 5th hour without being in extreem pain.
No withdrawls from the Vicodin though

SAS

 

[engineboy]

Wait... you're taking 3000 to 4000mg of Ibuprofen a day? Man, slow down! The analgesic effect of ibuprofen tapers way the hell off after about 1600mg per day (an 800mg dose in the morning, 800mg at night) and ibuprofen is exceptionally toxic to your liver. No doctor would EVER prescribe a 4000mg dose in a day because basically you're killing your liver. You may already have done significant damage to it! You may want to go see your doctor as soon as you can.

Seriously, I'd recommend dropping it to no more than 1600mg a day (and note, even that is WAY excessive, if you can deal with less, go with less). Always take it with food and plenty of water.

It's very convenient having a medical doctor on the Zoom Zoom race team. We all know cool stuff like this know.

Yeh....I know its killing my liver, Lately I have been taking 5 advil and 2 tylies in the morning, re-peating as necc all day.

It all depends on the day and the work load......I stand on my feet all day and lift, thats not excactly the best recipie for a guy with 3 major back injuries

Some days I dont do any IB.....some days I do too much.

Good information Chris, thanks.