Withdrawal help please...

[Pbchoclovr]

Kimberly,

That is such good news!I'm glad you're finally through all the withdrawal symptoms! Now to continue with healing and testing the waters with more and more activity!

Another baby step conquered and won!

Linda

[Badgolfer]

Kimberly

I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your thread, everyone's comments and Justin's detailed response again this week when I went off pain meds. I had surgery on 14 Sep and am doing great. Back to work full time with tiredness but not much pain. So I decided to stop after 5 1/2 weeks with 20 mg OxyContin twice/day, and 50mg Tramadol and 10mg OxyNorm as needed (after I get home from work or an outing). I was not on pain meds before surgery as I tolerated my slight pain OK. I was also on Lyrica 75mg twice per day for nerve sensitivity.

The withdrawal has been worse than I would have thought even though I had seen your note before. I still, after 5 days, feel like I have a bad flu and stomach virus all rolled up into one. But know it is a phase that will pass in a few more days and I will be fine again.

I would have to say the one effect I didn't see mentioned is "emotional sensitivity" as I found I would cry at commercials this weekend.

Thanks again

Dan

[Kimberly]

Dan,

So good to "see" you and hear that your recovery seems to be moving along nicely. I'm sorry to hear that you are going through withdrawal. No way around it.....it just sucks. At 5 days out (I guess by now it's 6?) the worst should be over and you're right, it will pass. I'm glad my post was helpful. It was very new territory for me and I was grateful for the kind support on the site. You're right about the "emotional sensitivity" bit. I cried ALL THE TIME and AT NOTHING. Cried in the shower. Cried at TV commercials. Cried at many many episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" (medical drama show). Cried when friends called to check on me. Cried when they didn't. You get the picture.
I would also add to Justin's list of lovely symptoms: restless legs (could NOT sit/lay still), heart palpitations and insomnia. All together lovely.

BUT.....It does end so hang in there. One day (or hour) at a time.

On a somewhat related note....I had been completely opiate free for over a month and was having quite a bit of pain during/after PT. I was VERY uncomfortable, couldn't sleep and the increased pain from PT was making me not want to do my PT exercises. My Dr. was glad to see me off the meds but very concerned that once I increased my activity and began working on strength, etc that my pain would go up. He made it very clear that if the pain was preventing me from doing my PT exercises that I needed to take something. I was reluctant for many reasons (having to withdraw again being one of them.) I have over the past several weeks taken a 1/2 or 3/4 of a Norco tablet in the evening maybe 2-3 times a week. It offers a welcome relief, allows me to do my 2nd round of exercised in the evening and sleep well. I can then go for a few more days before the pain "builds back up again." And in the 2-3 days between I have no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. So, for now, it is a useful tool.

Hang in there. Each day brings you closer to feeling better.

Kimberly

[rhatzy]

I discovered that tho you are physically off the opiates, you still might have the urge to take it. I still had the urge to take it for up to a year after being off of it. I was on percocet. I think that is why it is hard for addicts to stay off of the opiates. I fly for a major airline and according to the FAA, if you were "addicted" or had gone thru rehab, you had to be off for 2 years without any relapses before you could fly again. I found that just keeping myself busy and happy kept the urge away. This stuff affects your brain also.

mark

[Badgolfer]

Dan,

So good to "see" you and hear that your recovery seems to be moving along nicely. I'm sorry to hear that you are going through withdrawal. No way around it.....it just sucks. At 5 days out (I guess by now it's 6?) the worst should be over and you're right, it will pass. I'm glad my post was helpful. It was very new territory for me and I was grateful for the kind support on the site. You're right about the "emotional sensitivity" bit. I cried ALL THE TIME and AT NOTHING. Cried in the shower. Cried at TV commercials. Cried at many many episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" (medical drama show). Cried when friends called to check on me. Cried when they didn't. You get the picture.
I would also add to Justin's list of lovely symptoms: restless legs (could NOT sit/lay still), heart palpitations and insomnia. All together lovely.

I also had the restless legs which made it hard to lay still. I couldn't nap during the day due to 'nervousness'. And I am a vivid dreamer most nights so this was a wild experience as the sleep pattern is so disrupted I would have multiple dreams, most of them bad, and wake up tireder than I went to bed.

"After PT" I have over the past several weeks taken a 1/2 or 3/4 of a Norco tablet in the evening maybe 2-3 times a week. It offers a welcome relief, allows me to do my 2nd round of exercised in the evening and sleep well. I can then go for a few more days before the pain "builds back up again." And in the 2-3 days between I have no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. So, for now, it is a useful tool.

Too suggestions we have found; hydrotherapy and Tramadol. The hydrotherapy is a wonderful warm water pool where we have to do lots of exercises all which work the back and leg muscles. The warm water and low stress is very nice and I can do much more (90 min) than on dry land where I start to really ache after 20 min. Of course Tramadol was a pain medicine recommended by my Doc that is non opiate and may let you take more, to keep pain under control.

Thanks again
Dan

[Pbchoclovr]

Too suggestions we have found; hydrotherapy and Tramadol. The hydrotherapy is a wonderful warm water pool where we have to do lots of exercises all which work the back and leg muscles. The warm water and low stress is very nice and I can do much more (90 min) than on dry land where I start to really ache after 20 min. Of course Tramadol was a pain medicine recommended by my Doc that is non opiate and may let you take more, to keep pain under control.

I absolutely love my time in the pool, much more than my traditional therapy. But I also find that I hurt more after being in the pool for about 40 minutes - 20 walking and 20 floating. The increased pain usually lasts for about a day and then settles down. I just know that getting out of the pool and then resting at home, I'm going to be stiff and sore.

As for Tramadol....I've been on that now for about a year. My PM doc prescribed it along with Lyrica to replace percoset and a few other pain meds I had been on. I did a lot of research on it when it was first prescribed, since I had never heard of it. While it's a non-opiate, the literature lists it as a synthetic opiate. It's the synthetic part that allows the FDA to label it as a non-opiate. You can find on the internet reviews of people who have taken it as prescribed by their doctors and then tried to get off it and complained of withdrawals symptoms having becme addicted. Others had no such effect. I think for this particular med, it depends on a persons make-up as to how it effects. For me, I don't know whether I'm going to have issues, since I haven't tried to get off it yet. I do skip doses depending on my pain levels at the time with little issue. Then again, I'm on three different meds that are all working together to control my pain levels.

I had been completely opiate free for over a month and was having quite a bit of pain during/after PT. I was VERY uncomfortable, couldn't sleep and the increased pain from PT was making me not want to do my PT exercises.

Kimberly, I'm completely with you on the increased pain after PT. I go through the same thing twice a week with my PT. It's a big part of the reason I haven't been able to decrease my meds yet. That and the severe muscle cramps I keep getting. I'm glad you've been able to find a compromise between regular medication and treating the increase in pain caused by PT.