Junkie girl or grumpy girl...not sure which is worse.
Sooo...here I am, going off my pain meds for the second time in two years. I really got nailed by the long-term side effects with the last chemo I did. Nasty joint and muscle pain that has been going on for over two years now. I took Vicodin during and for about six months after treatment, and then kicked the stuff with the help of one our forum friends, Abrub. But I ended up back on it during a trip to Disneyland a few months later (Kids! Don't go to Disneyland if you want to stay drug-free!). Those 12 hour days in the park were killer.
I've been on it ever since, and have gotten up to six pills a day in order to maintain some pain relief (and not much either, I have to say, but it did help me to function, do things that are important to me, like hiking. And opening cans.).
But in the process, I think I've fried my stomach a bit, and things aren't feeling great (unless it's the cancer, of course...won't that be a hoot if I get off the drugs only to find out I'm really going to need them...scan next week, stay tuned), so I decided to try to reduce my intake or go off them again all together.
I've cut out 1.5 pills in the last four days, and just snapped at one of my kids because she had turned the heat on (ok, somewhat legit, it's 65 degrees out and the power company keeps sending us these letters comparing our electrical usage, which is admittedly insane, to our neighbors with the chickens and the solar panels on the roof).
The pain really hasn't gotten any worse, so I'm going to keep on cutting back, see if I can do it (using Abrub's tips again-thank you!).
But if I start to post weird crap on here, you'll know what's going on. It's just me, seeing bugs on the walls.
Lots o' love from your hopefully-not-a-junkie-anymore pal~AA
Comments
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I have my medical mj card,jen2012 said:chickens on the roof
Your neighbors keep chickens on their roof??
Sorry AA. Sucks feeling grumpy or in pain. Have you tried acupuncture? Pot?which will soon not even be relevant as we will all be smoking weed here in Seattle for FUN.
I actually have been wondering what the social niceties are going to be once it's being sold in stores...do I offer it next to the wine at my dinner parties? I do have a couple of very conservative relatives who it would be fun to mess with a little (although oddly enough, not my conservative cop brother, who thinks weed is no big deal. He's too busy busting the meth dealers in our little home town to worry about it).
Anyway, back to using it for medical purposes. I have tried it for the pain, but find it makes me...well, stoned! What a surprise. Oddly enough, the pain pills don't effect me much in that way.
It was, however, kind of fun going to the fancy-pants dispensary, with the specials of the day written on the white board, and the amazing array of products (including pot-infused olive oil) in the deli case. And the bullet proof windows, and double-plated steel doors. Can't forget those.
I've also done a little acupuncture, but I have a serious needle phobia for some odd reason. Probably didn't help that I went to this awesome woman who is highly experienced in the Chinese version, which seems to have as its motto "No Pain, No Gain". She really seemed to enjoy pounding those suckers in. Haven't been back.
My other brother says that pain is meant to help you "learn" something, so maybe I just have to work on absorbing whatever lesson the pain has in store for me (or maybe my brother is an idiot who has never been in pain a day in his life).
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Party at AA's house!annalexandria said:I have my medical mj card,
which will soon not even be relevant as we will all be smoking weed here in Seattle for FUN.
I actually have been wondering what the social niceties are going to be once it's being sold in stores...do I offer it next to the wine at my dinner parties? I do have a couple of very conservative relatives who it would be fun to mess with a little (although oddly enough, not my conservative cop brother, who thinks weed is no big deal. He's too busy busting the meth dealers in our little home town to worry about it).
Anyway, back to using it for medical purposes. I have tried it for the pain, but find it makes me...well, stoned! What a surprise. Oddly enough, the pain pills don't effect me much in that way.
It was, however, kind of fun going to the fancy-pants dispensary, with the specials of the day written on the white board, and the amazing array of products (including pot-infused olive oil) in the deli case. And the bullet proof windows, and double-plated steel doors. Can't forget those.
I've also done a little acupuncture, but I have a serious needle phobia for some odd reason. Probably didn't help that I went to this awesome woman who is highly experienced in the Chinese version, which seems to have as its motto "No Pain, No Gain". She really seemed to enjoy pounding those suckers in. Haven't been back.
My other brother says that pain is meant to help you "learn" something, so maybe I just have to work on absorbing whatever lesson the pain has in store for me (or maybe my brother is an idiot who has never been in pain a day in his life).
Seriously that sounds like quite the place - infused olive oil huh?
My husband has done acupuncture for back pain and more recently for help for neuropathy and it did seem to help - or was coincidence. I'm not sure I'd want a bunch of little needles stuck in me either.
I don't think I agree with your brother about the pain.
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Awwww! I wish I had betterannalexandria said:I have my medical mj card,
which will soon not even be relevant as we will all be smoking weed here in Seattle for FUN.
I actually have been wondering what the social niceties are going to be once it's being sold in stores...do I offer it next to the wine at my dinner parties? I do have a couple of very conservative relatives who it would be fun to mess with a little (although oddly enough, not my conservative cop brother, who thinks weed is no big deal. He's too busy busting the meth dealers in our little home town to worry about it).
Anyway, back to using it for medical purposes. I have tried it for the pain, but find it makes me...well, stoned! What a surprise. Oddly enough, the pain pills don't effect me much in that way.
It was, however, kind of fun going to the fancy-pants dispensary, with the specials of the day written on the white board, and the amazing array of products (including pot-infused olive oil) in the deli case. And the bullet proof windows, and double-plated steel doors. Can't forget those.
I've also done a little acupuncture, but I have a serious needle phobia for some odd reason. Probably didn't help that I went to this awesome woman who is highly experienced in the Chinese version, which seems to have as its motto "No Pain, No Gain". She really seemed to enjoy pounding those suckers in. Haven't been back.
My other brother says that pain is meant to help you "learn" something, so maybe I just have to work on absorbing whatever lesson the pain has in store for me (or maybe my brother is an idiot who has never been in pain a day in his life).
Awwww! I wish I had better advise for you to kick the pain ... but they have all been mentioned ... well, accept for this. I have heard that if you ingest the MJ it does not give the same "stoned" affect. Never tried it .. but I am getting close! I also have been suffering from pretty bad joint and muscle pain for some time now. I am doing acupuncture, PT and message. There are still days I can't function ... but it does help. I won't take the other pain meds .... yet.
Just for kicks and giggles ... did your oncologist give you the MJ card? Mine is not a fan.
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annalexandria said:
I have my medical mj card,
which will soon not even be relevant as we will all be smoking weed here in Seattle for FUN.
I actually have been wondering what the social niceties are going to be once it's being sold in stores...do I offer it next to the wine at my dinner parties? I do have a couple of very conservative relatives who it would be fun to mess with a little (although oddly enough, not my conservative cop brother, who thinks weed is no big deal. He's too busy busting the meth dealers in our little home town to worry about it).
Anyway, back to using it for medical purposes. I have tried it for the pain, but find it makes me...well, stoned! What a surprise. Oddly enough, the pain pills don't effect me much in that way.
It was, however, kind of fun going to the fancy-pants dispensary, with the specials of the day written on the white board, and the amazing array of products (including pot-infused olive oil) in the deli case. And the bullet proof windows, and double-plated steel doors. Can't forget those.
I've also done a little acupuncture, but I have a serious needle phobia for some odd reason. Probably didn't help that I went to this awesome woman who is highly experienced in the Chinese version, which seems to have as its motto "No Pain, No Gain". She really seemed to enjoy pounding those suckers in. Haven't been back.
My other brother says that pain is meant to help you "learn" something, so maybe I just have to work on absorbing whatever lesson the pain has in store for me (or maybe my brother is an idiot who has never been in pain a day in his life).
I love that you can keepI love that you can keep your sense of humor in the face of pain - you are one special lady my dear.
Oh, and I think it would be a great idea to send your brother to that nice Chinese acupuncturist - tell him it will broaden his senses.
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Well...ams5796 said:Can I ask, what is Abrub's
Can I ask, what is Abrub's plan? I've been on and off painkillers myself. I take just one oxycodone (two halfs separate times) a day and seem to have trouble stopping even that one.
basically it's just to very slowly reduce the dose by small amounts. I'm taking a lot more than you are, so this is maybe a little easier for me to do. I'm cutting back by a 1/2 pill about every three days. It's going to take quite a while, but it's not such a shock to the system.
So maybe with two halves, you could try to break them into quarters, and take one quarter away every few days? Or maybe you could ask them to make you up some new pills at a lower dosage so it would be easier to do this. Kind of hard to quarter those little suckers.
I will say that I took oxycodone a few years ago when I was dealing with pretty severe pain from tumor growth, and developed a nasty physical dependency in about two weeks. I ended up "getting off" of them kind of by accident, as I got very sick and had to go in for emergency surgery. By the time I came out of the hospital almost 3 weeks later, I no longer was addicted to them. But I think oxycodone may be harder to quit than Vicodin. I would suggest talking to your doc if you find it difficult. I was told that there are various meds they can give to help make the process a little easier.
Good luck!
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Excellent idea, Cynthia!LivinginNH said:
I love that you can keepI love that you can keep your sense of humor in the face of pain - you are one special lady my dear.
Oh, and I think it would be a great idea to send your brother to that nice Chinese acupuncturist - tell him it will broaden his senses.
My brother could definitely use a little broadening of his perspective.
A good guy, but a wee bit clueless.
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Haha...yeah, NO.hippiechicks said:Awwww! I wish I had better
Awwww! I wish I had better advise for you to kick the pain ... but they have all been mentioned ... well, accept for this. I have heard that if you ingest the MJ it does not give the same "stoned" affect. Never tried it .. but I am getting close! I also have been suffering from pretty bad joint and muscle pain for some time now. I am doing acupuncture, PT and message. There are still days I can't function ... but it does help. I won't take the other pain meds .... yet.
Just for kicks and giggles ... did your oncologist give you the MJ card? Mine is not a fan.
My oncologist is a gentleman who has probably never smoked a joint in his life. It's possible that he's never even had a beer. Seriously kind of a kill-joy. I asked about getting a "prescription" (used the wrong word), so he was able to say that he had never head of such a thing. His nurse told me that I should just get some "on the street" (and that's an exact quote).
I ended up getting one from my acupuncturist/naturopath. I figure she owed me after hammering those needles into me for an hour straight.
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So...hippiechicks said:Awwww! I wish I had better
Awwww! I wish I had better advise for you to kick the pain ... but they have all been mentioned ... well, accept for this. I have heard that if you ingest the MJ it does not give the same "stoned" affect. Never tried it .. but I am getting close! I also have been suffering from pretty bad joint and muscle pain for some time now. I am doing acupuncture, PT and message. There are still days I can't function ... but it does help. I won't take the other pain meds .... yet.
Just for kicks and giggles ... did your oncologist give you the MJ card? Mine is not a fan.
You've never had a pot brownie I presume...
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hippiechicks said:
Awwww! I wish I had better
Awwww! I wish I had better advise for you to kick the pain ... but they have all been mentioned ... well, accept for this. I have heard that if you ingest the MJ it does not give the same "stoned" affect. Never tried it .. but I am getting close! I also have been suffering from pretty bad joint and muscle pain for some time now. I am doing acupuncture, PT and message. There are still days I can't function ... but it does help. I won't take the other pain meds .... yet.
Just for kicks and giggles ... did your oncologist give you the MJ card? Mine is not a fan.
double postdouble post
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posting weird crap..annalexandria said:Well...
basically it's just to very slowly reduce the dose by small amounts. I'm taking a lot more than you are, so this is maybe a little easier for me to do. I'm cutting back by a 1/2 pill about every three days. It's going to take quite a while, but it's not such a shock to the system.
So maybe with two halves, you could try to break them into quarters, and take one quarter away every few days? Or maybe you could ask them to make you up some new pills at a lower dosage so it would be easier to do this. Kind of hard to quarter those little suckers.
I will say that I took oxycodone a few years ago when I was dealing with pretty severe pain from tumor growth, and developed a nasty physical dependency in about two weeks. I ended up "getting off" of them kind of by accident, as I got very sick and had to go in for emergency surgery. By the time I came out of the hospital almost 3 weeks later, I no longer was addicted to them. But I think oxycodone may be harder to quit than Vicodin. I would suggest talking to your doc if you find it difficult. I was told that there are various meds they can give to help make the process a little easier.
Good luck!
I had a former coworker who died in 2011 of MCRC, and when I tried to write to her (email) I got the weirdest answers. Really trippy. Figured she was zoned out on chemo or something -I didn't take it personally, although we weren't very close so I just backed off.
Well, after she died, I bumped into one of her good friends who gave me the scoop, an explanation for the kooky emails - she was high as a kite! When the chemo didn't work, she opted to spend the last months of her life on medical marijuana, most likely to ease the pain. That explains a lot!
So I saw your admission and it reminded me of her situation.
Karin0 -
That's tough Anna. Pain
That's tough Anna. Pain killers are another common problem/side effect of cancer treatment. I found my self addicted to percocet on a couple of occasions and had to quit cold turkey.
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Thank you! Over the past
Thank you! Over the past seven years I've been prescribed oxycodone after various surgeries and to combat lingering rectal pain after the resection. So many aches and pains feel a lot better when I take one (or actually a half). I also have a lot of bowel issues and I know that when I take one I can get through an activity or an event without having to use the bathroom. But, of course, there are many downsides to that. I know that it's a catch 22 with the bowel issues and if I stopped taking the oxycodone my bowel issues would probably be a lot better. I have stopped many times over the seven years and somehow I find my way back to taking a very small amount. When I do try to stop I also feel grumpy (am I just thinking that lol) and I have a couple of really sleepless nights.
But, I would like to be off them. It's healthier, of course, and I don't want to be dependent on drugs! So, thank you! I just cut a couple in quarters. I'll start that today. Good luck to you too. I know you've been through a lot.
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AA,ams5796 said:Thank you! Over the past
Thank you! Over the past seven years I've been prescribed oxycodone after various surgeries and to combat lingering rectal pain after the resection. So many aches and pains feel a lot better when I take one (or actually a half). I also have a lot of bowel issues and I know that when I take one I can get through an activity or an event without having to use the bathroom. But, of course, there are many downsides to that. I know that it's a catch 22 with the bowel issues and if I stopped taking the oxycodone my bowel issues would probably be a lot better. I have stopped many times over the seven years and somehow I find my way back to taking a very small amount. When I do try to stop I also feel grumpy (am I just thinking that lol) and I have a couple of really sleepless nights.
But, I would like to be off them. It's healthier, of course, and I don't want to be dependent on drugs! So, thank you! I just cut a couple in quarters. I'll start that today. Good luck to you too. I know you've been through a lot.
i havhe been an addictAA,
i havhe been an addict basically my whole life. Had my first back surgery when I was 13 and had docs give them out like candy. About 5 years ago, I was going through 120 10 mgs. in about 4 days. Ended up in rehab where it is harder to get off Percocet than heroinThyey gave name saboxone to get off of it. Step down process but it sounds like you are doing the same. Nasty stuff. Was actually clean for 3 years then cancer. I have my wife control all my pills when prescribed because if 2 is good than 6 is Gooder.
i actually have a lot of issues with neuropathy and the 5 herniated discs I currently have so the fentanyl patches work great for me.
good luck,
Allen
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I have!RobinKaye said:So...
You've never had a pot brownie I presume...
The only challenge I found with the edibles is that it's hard to know how much to eat. And it takes about an hour to kick in, so after my first nibble, I assumed it wasn't working, had a little more, and then a little more, and pretty soon...bam! Passed out and drooling on my pillow for four hours.
Totally not nauseated when I woke up though, so there is that.
I think more experimentation may be required to determine the precise dosage.
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herniated discsesk2poo said:AA,
i havhe been an addictAA,
i havhe been an addict basically my whole life. Had my first back surgery when I was 13 and had docs give them out like candy. About 5 years ago, I was going through 120 10 mgs. in about 4 days. Ended up in rehab where it is harder to get off Percocet than heroinThyey gave name saboxone to get off of it. Step down process but it sounds like you are doing the same. Nasty stuff. Was actually clean for 3 years then cancer. I have my wife control all my pills when prescribed because if 2 is good than 6 is Gooder.
i actually have a lot of issues with neuropathy and the 5 herniated discs I currently have so the fentanyl patches work great for me.
good luck,
Allen
Having had a herniated disc at l5, I cannot imagine the effect of 5 of them. Only those of us that have had them know what it's like.
It;s a wonder you aren't currently an addict!! Best of luck to you!!!
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MJ in pillsannalexandria said:I have!
The only challenge I found with the edibles is that it's hard to know how much to eat. And it takes about an hour to kick in, so after my first nibble, I assumed it wasn't working, had a little more, and then a little more, and pretty soon...bam! Passed out and drooling on my pillow for four hours.
Totally not nauseated when I woke up though, so there is that.
I think more experimentation may be required to determine the precise dosage.
A while back one of the threads talked about MJ in pill form. I think if I get to the point of needing it that's the way I'd do it. Might help you to determine how many are effective. Take one wait an hour, take another, wait an hour, etc. I'd find it hard to stop eating the brownie!
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G'day AA
I have serious pain. Between spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis plus add to the mix severe permanent neuropathy in both legs and left hand. Walking is not fun and believe me not far. When I had my cancer op I had my first meeting with morphine. I did not like it and it does not like me. I respond well to nsaids but can no longer take them thanks to very leaky kidneys. I lose around 3+ grams of protein a day thru my urine. If I take nsaids for a couple of days my legs look like tree trunks. I take four panadol a day , that's it. I might as well use them as suppositories for all the good they do. I am one of the fortunate people who has a very high pain threshold. There is nothing good about pain except for the constant reminder that if you are feeling pain you are still alive.. Hugs Ron.0
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