7 years of Narcotic pain Medications for chronic back pain, How do you stop The withdrawals?
June 26, 2008 6:22 am Back Pain Medication
JosephAllen asked:
Question on morphine sulfate kadian and Hydromorphone. I was 38 when I hurt my back 2001 The doctor have given me Vicodone 10/660’s dose rate for 2 years then I finaly had back surgery 2003. The doctor who did my surgery placed a fixation screw 12mm to long, and never seen his mistake even after many visits and newer MRIs, this wrong doing which lead me to have more pain. Rating my pain scale a 5 to 10 and nothing less for just over a year. I was commited to a bed and couch for one year. During this year I have taken vicodone with hydromorpone on a steady bases. I thought my life was over and almost ended it. I could not take the pain anymore and I never felt normal with all the pain medication, antiflamatory medication and mussel relaxers. I really thought my life was over until I went ti the twin City Spine Center, They saw the long screw that was palced in my back from the first surgery Doctor right away. This lead to a second Life threating spine surgery 2004 with a 70% chance of dying. The surgery went well but I had severe nerve scaring due to bone growning around the bad screw and into my spinal nerve. Anyway this lead to a long life of pain medication until 2008. Since 2001 to 2008 I have been on many of the hard narcodic medication with Morphine Sulfate and hydromorphine the last type of medication I am on. I just had my third spine surgery March of 2008 and its a miracle that my Nuro spine surgeon has fixed some bad nerve compression and nerve scaring to a point that I dont need my medications anymore. I am trying to stop cold turkey and I am having major withdrawals I have every one mention. I landed in the emergency room 2 day in a row this week with major bloataion, and severe pain of the stomack. I am very nervous, and shakey, I cant sleep, My head is pounding, I have hot and cold sweats, and I cant sleep. I did not realize that my emergecy room visits was because of my quitting cold turkey. There are time at bedtime I am having such a hard with drawal symptom that I take 1/2 a pill but nothing works. I have went a week already but the symptoms are not stopping. What can I do to get over this severe Withdrawal symptoms. I know this was a long writting but it was to give you an Idea that I have been on my pain medications for 7 years until my back was finaly cured by a very good Doctor.
Do You Have A Big Green Thumb
Question on morphine sulfate kadian and Hydromorphone. I was 38 when I hurt my back 2001 The doctor have given me Vicodone 10/660’s dose rate for 2 years then I finaly had back surgery 2003. The doctor who did my surgery placed a fixation screw 12mm to long, and never seen his mistake even after many visits and newer MRIs, this wrong doing which lead me to have more pain. Rating my pain scale a 5 to 10 and nothing less for just over a year. I was commited to a bed and couch for one year. During this year I have taken vicodone with hydromorpone on a steady bases. I thought my life was over and almost ended it. I could not take the pain anymore and I never felt normal with all the pain medication, antiflamatory medication and mussel relaxers. I really thought my life was over until I went ti the twin City Spine Center, They saw the long screw that was palced in my back from the first surgery Doctor right away. This lead to a second Life threating spine surgery 2004 with a 70% chance of dying. The surgery went well but I had severe nerve scaring due to bone growning around the bad screw and into my spinal nerve. Anyway this lead to a long life of pain medication until 2008. Since 2001 to 2008 I have been on many of the hard narcodic medication with Morphine Sulfate and hydromorphine the last type of medication I am on. I just had my third spine surgery March of 2008 and its a miracle that my Nuro spine surgeon has fixed some bad nerve compression and nerve scaring to a point that I dont need my medications anymore. I am trying to stop cold turkey and I am having major withdrawals I have every one mention. I landed in the emergency room 2 day in a row this week with major bloataion, and severe pain of the stomack. I am very nervous, and shakey, I cant sleep, My head is pounding, I have hot and cold sweats, and I cant sleep. I did not realize that my emergecy room visits was because of my quitting cold turkey. There are time at bedtime I am having such a hard with drawal symptom that I take 1/2 a pill but nothing works. I have went a week already but the symptoms are not stopping. What can I do to get over this severe Withdrawal symptoms. I know this was a long writting but it was to give you an Idea that I have been on my pain medications for 7 years until my back was finaly cured by a very good Doctor.
Do You Have A Big Green Thumb
June 26th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Check out medically supervised rehab centers in your area or talk with your Dr about a weaning process for the medications you are currently taking….there are medications that can help with the withdrawl symptoms or at a medically supervised rehab program can help develop a weaning protocol so that symptoms are not so severe….this is something that will require medical supervison as the withdrawl can be quite severe sometimes….Good Luck
June 29th, 2008 at 5:43 am
get rid of the pills ect .just roll a fatty & pass it to a friend
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:05 am
the best answer I can give you is just deal with it. the reason why you feel all the pains is b/c you body is trying to regulate it self again being that you’ve stop taking the medications.. it’s going to be hard just to deal with all the pains, I understand where your coming from my mom went through spmething similar to your situation it took the whole family to get her to stop and coop with it all. hang in there!!!
July 5th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Don’t rush to quit the pain meds so quickly. You’ll need therapy to slowly wean yourself off. Did the last doctor tell you to stop taking pain meds? Any doctor would know that you just can’t quit like that. Even with anti depressants, a person has to slowly work their way off of them. It will take a while but it will happen. The doctor needs to keep prescribing it to you in a way you won’t go through withdrawal so severely. You literally could die because of the side affects–vomiting, pain, headache, etc. I wish you the best of luck. I hope you go after the original doctor who put the wrong screw in you back and never double checked and left you in pain. You must have missed a lot of things in life. I could only imagine what you must have gone through. Hang tight, and you’ll get where you want to be. Take Care.
July 7th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
At least you were taking the meds for what they are intended for…pain management. I feel for you! WOW! But the good side is, you were never mentally addicted to them. Once the withdrawl symptoms subside, you should be good to go. Your doctor can help you with controlling the symptoms, but that means taking another med in the place of the opioids (narcotics). I don’t have information on how long it will take for you to feel better since you were on them for so long, but I would think you should be getter better soon. In my Mental Health book, the symptoms you describe are what originally gained the term “kicking the habit.” Its terrifying, I know. According to my book, the symptoms should subside in about a week, but everyone is different. Hang in there! You will get better soon, and I am happy to hear about your recent success story.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Cold turkey is a not-so-good idea. The withdrwals are horrific. The symptoms are exactly as you described and then some. There is also a pyschological withdrawal process. When most people stop for different reasons they will still go through it. As Wendy has a wonderful answer. Please go and talk with your doctor. I went through detox,lasted about 2 weeks in the hospital and about3weeks at home, mostly on the couch. You have most of the symptoms down pact, It is dangerous to do it on your own. If you need to go to the er again, tell them what you NEED HELP with. I sincerely am sorry for your situation and pray that you get the help.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
— You should NEVER attempt to quit cold turkey after taking that dosage of narcotic pain medication for that long. You need a physicians assistance to slowly withdrw yourself from the medicaiton over a long period of time and during this time they will give you other medicatins that will help you deal the any problems you might have. Attempting to go cold turkey can lead to serious problems and in some cases even death.
— You should already be going to a pain control center already if you have been taking the medication as you described. Federal law requires that taking pain meds after the healing period of an injury must be handled by a cerified pain control center/ doctor..
— Talk to you pain control doctor and tell him its time to stop, believe me, he will be happy to help you slowly wean off it. I am talking from experience, I take oxycontin40 and HYDROcodone 10/325 and I back off every few months with my doctors help just because i don’t like taking that much. I take the medication because I have to, not because I want to and I take full advantage of my doctor’s expertise. Trying to stop alone, cold turkey, no way!
July 10th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I have been taking only a fraction of what you were taking and I tried to taper down. I am still having really awful withdrawal symptoms the same as yours. Go back to your doctor and insist that you get help with the withdrawal. I stopped taking medications because I want to. Now I am really much more aware of how awful serious addiction must be. Going through this is hard enough. Take care and get help. I plan on doing the same.