fear over narcotic pain meds

I was told by a nurse that if I'm taking it only for pain then I'm not abusing it. I haven't taken any in a few years but I did for a while. When I didn'tneed them anymore I just stopped and that was it. I'm like you except that I was a bit of a socialdrinker when I was younger. No smoking, no pot, no drugs, nothing. So I was a little intimidated by the pills. They sure helped when I needed them, though.

When you need them try not to worry about it. It's just something that will helpyou right now.

Jan

I have no real experience with narcotic pain meds, but it sounds like you have a healthy caution about them.  If that is what it takes to get you through the treatment, I do not see why you should worry too much.  Once the intense treatment is over, you can get back to your normal lifestyle.

Most folks who use opioid medicine aren't going to get hooked, though long-term use can make you to varying degrees, dependent on them, but that's if your using large amounts for a long time. If that occurs, doctors or nurses can help you taper off of them with minimal discomfort. For a small group, opioids are a bad thing, they straight-way get going on them and can't stop without professional help. I wasn't like that, there was no "high" for me, merely a "warm blanket" kind of feeling. I have bad feet/ankles and while working and taking care of my wife, it became real easy to take the abundant Norco and liquid morphine we both had scripts for. After a while I realized that I'd become dependent, and quiting was miserable, like a bad flu with a side of skin-crawling. I got through it and don't want to do that again, but I  did/do need to deal with chronic pain for work, or sit on my butt most of the time. Tramadol is a similar painkiller, but without the warm- fuzzies or withdrawl issues. It's less strong but still enough to allow my day to proceed. You might ask about it. If your doing it the way the doctor says to with the hydrocodone, you'll be fine. the ones who get in trouble would be wanting more already............................................Dave

beaumontdave said:

Most folks who use opioid

Most folks who use opioid medicine aren't going to get hooked, though long-term use can make you to varying degrees, dependent on them, but that's if your using large amounts for a long time. If that occurs, doctors or nurses can help you taper off of them with minimal discomfort. For a small group, opioids are a bad thing, they straight-way get going on them and can't stop without professional help. I wasn't like that, there was no "high" for me, merely a "warm blanket" kind of feeling. I have bad feet/ankles and while working and taking care of my wife, it became real easy to take the abundant Norco and liquid morphine we both had scripts for. After a while I realized that I'd become dependent, and quiting was miserable, like a bad flu with a side of skin-crawling. I got through it and don't want to do that again, but I  did/do need to deal with chronic pain for work, or sit on my butt most of the time. Tramadol is a similar painkiller, but without the warm- fuzzies or withdrawl issues. It's less strong but still enough to allow my day to proceed. You might ask about it. If your doing it the way the doctor says to with the hydrocodone, you'll be fine. the ones who get in trouble would be wanting more already............................................Dave

That drug made me so sick even when taking 1/2 a pill.  I'm allergic to it so I'm not able to take it and they prescribed that instead of the opioid medication.  It's become such an epidemic that even the people that need those meds aren't able to get them.  Glad you are doing better but it sure would be great if you felt better all together.

Kim

Annabelle41415 said:

Tramadol

That drug made me so sick even when taking 1/2 a pill.  I'm allergic to it so I'm not able to take it and they prescribed that instead of the opioid medication.  It's become such an epidemic that even the people that need those meds aren't able to get them.  Glad you are doing better but it sure would be great if you felt better all together.

Kim

Thanks Kim, but it's likely going to take the replacement of my ankles to improve the situation. I'm working on it, and when I'm not up and about, I don't take anything, just to keep it as minimal as possible...................................Dave

Hey Christy,

Please try not to fear the pain meds.  There is a huge difference between physical dependance and addiction.  As long as you are careful and follow the prescription instructions correctly there is very little risk of addiction.  With that being said, 7-10 days of continous opioid use can and most likely will create physical dependence.  I have had to take opioid medications off and on for many years.  The first round  started with a back injury in 1992 and continued until I had back surgery in 2010.   I was diagnosed with Stage IV rectal cancer in 2016 and my first round of treatment was chemo-radiation.  I had to wear a pump with 5FU five days a week and had radiation therapy 5 days a week.  

Several weeks into the radiation treatment the rectal/anal pain got to be very intense.  Like others have said I was literally crying and in severe pain with each bowel movement.  At that time I was taking hydrocodone and ultram. THese helped me bear the pain but it did not totally elimanate it.  THe best thing for me was a combination of hydrocortisone cream mixed with a lidocaine cream.  This would almost instantly numb the anal pain and the cortisone helped with the swelling and inflammation.  

Now, I currently have to wear a fentanyl patch 50 micrograms per hour and I have a fast acting fentanly spray that goes under my toungue when the pain gets too intense for the patch to take care of.  My current pain seems to be swelling and inflamation inside my rectum due to the long term damage from the radiation therapy.  The radiation totally killed my primary tumor in my rectum so i was able to avoid surgery that would have left me with a colostomy bag at least temporarially.   

With all this said, I have never had an urge to use the pain meds recreationally, in fact, I try my best to not take any extra meds, and tend to use much less pain medication overall if I do not let the pain get too intense before I take the meds.  Once the pain gets going bad, it is difficult for the meds to adequately control the pain and it usually takes more to get it back under control.  If you notice that you are wanting to take the pills just for the feeling or high then you need to report this to your doctor quickly and maybe there is some other alternatives.  I strongly encourage you to see about getting the hydrocortizone cream and the lidocaine cream to apply to the anal area.  The numbing really helped me use the bathroom without major pain and it helped me get through the therapy.  

Hope this helped,

TIm