do other people freak out over the meds you take?

Michelley - posted on 06/20/2009

I've gotten a lot of feedback about the meds I take, It drives me nuts. I TRY (lol) to explain about the difference between taking meds for chronic pain, and taking them to get high. A person who is in tremendous pain, continuously, has to take the medicine to be able to survive. No one can be in level 10 pain continuously. A Chronic Pain patient will take a pain pill and it will relieve or lessen the pain so that we can walk, and do daily activities. (hopefully) A person with no pain will take the pain pill and it has nothing to work on, or to lessen, therefore the person feels the effects of the drug and gets high. Usually unbearable pain blocks the 'high' a person might get because the medicine is reducing the pain, it's doing it's job. I don't know anyone with chronic pain who is getting high, we just want our pain to go away.
Here's a link to the American Pain Foundation, http://www.painfoundation.org/
Right at the top of the page it talks about the FDA considering taking away some pain meds and how we can get involved. I think it's worth advocating for. Could you imagine someone telling you that you can't take pain medicine any more because people abuse it?? With the way things are going lately, I wouldn't be surprised. Get involved!! :) It's totally worth fighting for. And sorry for going off on a tangent. It just really pisses me off when people say we 'might get addicted' sigh.

Lisa - posted on 06/14/2009

ppl that don't understand chronic pain don't understand that to function at all we have to take meds.my pain doctor says if u had diabetes u would take ur insulin wouldn't u?he says it's the same.i was so wrried about getting addicted because it runs in my family that i would go cold turkey off meds to make sure i could do it.i'm a nurse and i know that was so stupid.a friend told me that a addict will never have pain meds but a pain pt. will ALWAYS have meds{cause we think what if i hurt worse later] ppl really get to talking if they find out the different drugs i have taken{morphine,diladid,oxycotin ect.}so i usually don't talk about it.i have never went to my doctor to get refills early,said my meds feel in the sink and disolved and crazy things a addict would say to get more drugs.i am new to this site and this is the first time in 10 years i have talk ed to ppl that understand. i do talk more if thats possible when i take certain meds but rarely do i get any other feelings.someyimes if i havn't slept in days i may feel a little wozzie but i have to have my meds to even get out of bed.

Marina Louise - posted on 06/13/2009

People don't understand the illness, therefore it's pretty obvious they do not understand the amount of meds we usually take.
My husband has started to understand now. He is on a wheelchair because of an accident, since he was 20. He was always going on about how HE manages to go on without a pain killer. At last he came to undersand the difference between taking the meds or not taking them is a wife.

Margaret - posted on 06/12/2009

my pain serves a purpose :( it warns me i am damaging myself.....problem is thats what I am doing everytime I move

Rachel - posted on 06/12/2009

Oh ya its taken a life of its own ..I feel and go through each everyday of my life. Pain is my condtion .. I have chronis pain contion...Its time theses doctors get on the same page and work with us .

Christine - posted on 06/12/2009

i read an article about pain awhile back. it talked about how pain served a purpose----to let us know when something was wrong. when the problem was fixed, the pain is supposed to go away. they are now starting to understand that in some people, pain has become the disease rather than the symptom. it is no longer functioning in it's normal capacity, and has taken on a life of it's own.

Rachel - posted on 06/12/2009

I totally understand I have many people and including my husband who worries. I even have had doctors call me a drug addict or addicted. I have been to a Pain Clinic and was told when you take medince for what you suppose to be taking it for your brian knows. We take these medications for our disabiltly or diease ...just like any other disease (aka high blood pressure, diabetes and other health issue. they wouldnt stop taking there meds for there condtion.) .We should not be judged for having to take pain medication for our disease. We are not drug addicts ..we are suffering from real pain ..pain the makes our daily life a struggle. Stand up speak up for yoursleves when people judge you....you have diease and take medication for it just like anyone else would for any other disease they would have . My prays are with you all. God bless

Christine - posted on 06/11/2009

everyone that uses narcotics for over 2 weeks gets "addicted"---meaning they will go through a withrawal if they stop it suddenly---but this is not really addiction, it is tolerance. tolerance is neither good nor bad--it just is. addiction is when people crave the drug regardless of negative affects that it may have on the quality of their life. those of us with chronic pain take the meds to IMPROVE the quality of our lives. i don't function very well even with the pain meds. we have been going through a long stretch of unstable and rainy weather---boy am i fighting the headaches. i have really been hit with some real fatigue lately, too. there are some days that i can hardly keep my eyes open during the afternoon.

if i try to go off of antidepressants, i get vertigo that can last up to 2 weeks----yet no one seems bothered by people having withrawals from antidepressants----really irritates me.



for me, right now, the side effects (constipation, occasional lightheadedness if i get the amount wrong) are definitely worth the benefits they give me. even though i have really been struggling lately and having a hard time keeping the pain away, there have actually been days in the past where i feel almost totally normal---but it kind of scares me a little, recently, that my pain level has increased and i need more meds. i hope this is a temporary thing.

Marie - posted on 06/10/2009

From what I've gone through--thinking I don't have the addictive personality either, I did get addicted to my meds. Once you are taking meds for a specific problem, especially narcotics, you WILL get addicted. If you do not believe me--stop taking them for about 5 days and see what happens. After the 3rd day for me I was in full blown withdrawal and stayed that way for almost 8 weeks. Your friend is right, but, when you have a chronic condition, you have to make the choice of whether the meds are worth the risk for the benefits. I hope this helps you.

Anne - posted on 06/09/2009

in a word YES. I will be the first one to tell you that if my shoulder which I am having replaced this summer(MY third joint so far. ) is really hurting the Wygesigc ( sorry about the spelling)and Soma I take gives me about 80% of the pain relief . However if I have not taken it for three or four days I get light headed and can not drive. My back has 2 ruptured disks and a stenoses of the spine in my lower back near the static nerve. Because I am Blessed enough to have good insurance I go to a pain clinic ever 8 weeks for a shop for my back. What bothers me the most about the grief I get is these are the same people that are taking 10 - 15 vitamins a day. Yes vitamins are "Natural" but not if they are made in a lab. Boy that just sounded mean for me to say that. I hope I did not offend any one that takes a lot of vitamines.

Margaret - posted on 06/09/2009

my mother well only way to put it is she is a hypocrit. she prolapsed a disc when she was in her mid 30's. and spent most of 10 years in and out of hospital or in bed with PTSD and the pain associated with the prolapsed disc.

She was on various pain meds and other illegal drugs as well.

I cop hell for taking the anti inflammatories and codeine. and now I cant take those any more I cop hell for taking the tramadol from her. and I am not allowed to have a bad day. if anything is happening which involved lifting and moving boxes and items I am to help. even if it means with the heavier items, and its not supposed to hurt doing this. mind you for those 10 years I ran her businesses while she was in bed and kept her mortgage paid.

I have 3 chronically swollen discs in my spine. osteoarthritis in both knee's and Endomitriosis (symptoms since I was 14 not uncommon for it to be so severe that even being able to walk is an issue) I am 30 years old. she is now 50 just had her 50th birthday, and she is beginning to develop osteoarthritis in her knee's interestingly enough her world is falling apart while her back is again objecting to the change in the way she is walking since developing the pain and she now struggles with steps almost as much as I do.

all I can do is sit back and think Karma!

some people have no idea they really don't, just ignore them. my mother expected of me to manage the pain better than she ever could. she never acknowledged the endo, still wont its all in my head, it doesn't cause genuine pain.

when I fell and injured my knee's it was a nonevent I just had to learn to walk again pfft thats nothing she has gone through worse just prolapsing the disc.when they screwed up the arthroscope on my knee pffft im fine doesn't make any difference. when I wound up at the hospital one morning with sciatica down my leg because the endo had been masking the pain of the damage i was doing to my back pfft shouldn't stop me I shouldn't even blink. its just pain I should work through it prolapse the discs entirely and then just live with it.

some people just do not understand at all. now she is beginning to get somewhere near the level of difficultly I have with her knee's now giving out on her too. it is rather cathartic of all the years of criticism I have received. her back recovered. mine wont because my knee's ensure that aggravating it daily. some of us yes need to learn to live with the pain and if we have drug options available to us to allow us to maintain some quality of life then we should be allowed to use them. particularly when we are attempting to raise our children and maintain a home environment for them. rather than being goaded into doing it the hard way. it is difficult enough simply obtaining a prescription for pain meds in the first place if you suffer from any type of chronic pain condition because of their addictive nature. it is easier for an injured dog to get pain relief than it is for a human. and with what these meds do to our bodies the reflux and abdominal pain, migraines they can induce over time.....and they think we want this??? its about being able to get out of bed and walk through our homes, being capable of making a meal, driving the kids to school. its about being able to let your kids have a birthday party with their friends from school and being able to be there. its about being able to give your child a cuddle without whincing in pain. its about being able to sit on the edge of their bed and read to them a short story when they go to bed.

all things our mother didnt do for us we were old enough to catch buses and ride our bikes all the way across town to get too and from school for those years she spent in bed. she didn't go to any of our school events and we rarely had birthday parties.

we barely even saw her.

except those occasions we noticed there was iced cream in the freezer and would whisper in her bedroom door asking if we could have it....and of course she would say yes just to get rid of us never waking enough to actually hear what we were asking.......

always copped hell later on for taking advantage of her like that though.....dad always noticed the chunk missing from the tub....

my children were still babies when my back caved on my and id only just seperated from my husband, single mum 3 kids working 3 jobs and studying fulltime......I over did it.....but she isnt happy unless I am so I dont pay any attention at all to her anymore. I do what I have to do and the doomsayers be damned

Christine - posted on 06/07/2009

i only wish the pain meds would make me high....sigh....maybe it would do something for my depression which seems to be sucking me under.



you know, since most of our pain meds last approx. 4-6 hours (HA!) if we manage to sleep through the night----it makes perfect sence that we wake up feeling like hell----we've got to be in a state of withdrawal, don't we? i know that i have to take my meds first thing in the morning so that i can feel semi-functional after 1/2-1 hour. what i really like to do is wake up early, take my pain meds and my stimulant, and then go back to bed for a little while. then i wake up a little later and almost feel human---sometimes my brain is even functioning and my kids get breakfast that doesn't come out of a cold cereal box.



i'm needing to find a new antidepressant these days----i cry almost every day--sometimes several times a day. i also obssess about certain things. i have found that if i take soma and conazepam, i can quit obsessing and quit crying----i just don't have enough soma to use for the depression and anxiety because i need it more for pain.

soooo, someone commented to me about the fact that i take the med for "mental pain" too. i think they were trying to say that it was an addictive behavior. the way i see it, the mental problems and the physical problems seem to be tied in together, so if one med will help two problems, that's great with me.

Misty - posted on 06/07/2009

My hubby was a little skeptical about my prozac use, but after a couple of months without it due to lack of insurance, he's all for it! :)

Kelley - posted on 06/07/2009

Hi Christine, I have been taking at least one type of pain med for over 20 years now. My pain doc explained it to me like this: YOU won't get addicted in the way people think-take it for the high ect.-people with chronic pain just do not get the "high" from pain meds. He told me your BODY will get addicted. Meaning if you stop all of a sudden you would get sick as heck and hurt like all h**l. I take about 4 different meds a day for my chronic pain and just could not function without it. I hate it more than anyone knows, but I would be in a ball on my bed or in a padded room without the relief I get-and as I'm sure you know, it only takes the edge off. I also will get chatty on my meds sometimes, esp. if it is a new med.
Best of luck to you!

Jacki - posted on 06/06/2009

I've got Neuropathy from Diabetes type 1 and I have bi-polar type 2 and all sorts of other problems. I take a whole slew of medications for the variety of issues I have and a lot of people give me extreme grief over all the medications I have to take to stay alive. I can totally relate with you. I don't get high from my medications either they help me to stay mindful and stay on track and I don't understand why people have to be so judge mental about people like us!

Cassie - posted on 06/04/2009

My husband had a hard time with me being on Vicodin. He said that they fire people at work for taking that. He didn't understand that lots of people are abusing it and don't have a valid reason for taking it, or a valid prescription for it. That's the whole problem. With so many people abusing narcotics, it makes those of us who take it for a valid reason have to deal with the misunderstanding. I am an RN and if you are taking it for pain, you don't usually get "high" that people get who are just taking it for the "high". It's a totally different situation for those of us who really need it.