Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group surgery Monday! Now whatabout morphine?

Well all your prayers and wishes must have paid off, cause I got zoomed in Monday morning! (ok, it doesn't seem like zooming after all this time, but it's just working your way up the system). So glad this horrible saga of pain & morphine will be over soon...which brings me to...

A friend of mine is very afraid that I will come out of this addicted. I've sent her quotes and stats (http://www.hopkins-arthritis.org/mngmnt/opioids.html has a really interesting article, probably cited elsewhere on this site), all to no avail. She is certain I'll be robbing my old mother and selling her tv on the corner !

So...Here's the question: We've all had experience with pain - what is your (or others') experience with getting off of the (prescribed) painkillers? Stories?
Laurie

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.

Hi Laurie

Sorry I can't help you with any information on getting off pain meds. I am only taking tynol and I don't think you can be come addicted to them or can you, anyway they aren't really working just taking the edge off a bit so I can function a little. But back to you. I am pretty sure you won't sell your poor mothers tv on the street corner. The least you can do is try ebay you may get a better price.

Good luck on your surgery whatever it is for. I am sure you will get along fine.


Take care
Valerie

Laurie
If you are taking it for pain,and surgery relieves the pain....you shouldn't
have a problem giving up the med....

Your body will have a physical dependence,most likely you will be given
moriphine post-op...They should slowly lower doses to prevent
withdrawl symtoms,and wean you off the med...I have read where people
quite taking OxyContin,or Moriphine bases meds(MSContin,Kadian,Avinza)
cold turkey..Although not advisable without a doctors help..People only
reported flu-like symtoms for a week or so...All comes down to dosage
and the amount of time you were on it,as to how long it takes to wean
you off...

Good luck on your surgery!!!!

David

I just had major surgery on Tuesday, for which they gave me some morphine the day after (Wednesday.) Can you believe the morphine did NOTHING for me but make me a bit sleepy???? Isn't that weird?????

I told the nurses that I would really like to stay with the Percocet they were giving me before the morphine because it worked well. The nurses asked me if I wanted to try the pill instead of the injected version, I said NO, if it ain't broke don't fix it, I'd like to stay with the Percocet please! Even my surgeon was shocked when I told him that!!

If you are taking opioids or narcotics regularly, you will HAVE to be weaned off them slowly. That is just a fact of life, your body is used to a certain level of comfort and pain relief the meds provide, along with a certain level of them in your body and you WILL have withdrawal symptoms if you go off them cold turkey. However this is physical dependency, this is NOT addiction.

However you WILL NOT get addicted. Someone explained it earlier that those in pain who take pain meds DO NOT get "high" becuase the pain meds are released into the appropriate nerves which are signaling pain (Simone, did you write something about that once, if memory serves me correctly???). When someone who is NOT in pain takes them, the meds have no where to go and cause all sorts of goofy things in the brain (which = getting high!) I read that less then 1% of all chronic pain patients get addicted to their pain meds.

Don't be afraid to take them, you might find that something works for you and something else doesn't. But if you take them regularly DON'T go ff them cold turkey...have you doctor's help in slowly tapering them off.

And no, you won't be robbing your Mom and selling her TV on street corners!!

Rox

If I'm ever reincarnated, I wanna come back as Lara.
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Hi Valerie,
I've responded to your foot-ache post, and I sure do hope you get some shoes or inserts that work - meanwhile, I would try to find a compassionate doctor who's willing to give you something that helps a bit more than tylenol (no, you sure can't get addicted to it!) - even tylenol-3 should help, or some of the non-opiate OTC drugs like muscle relaxants.
My surgery is to remove a ruptured disc, and I've been on morphine since August.

Ebay...now I never thought of that! I'll be I could even sell my mother there!
Laurie

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.

Thanks, David, that was the information I was looking for...I know I'm not mentally addicted (I HATE being fuzzy-headed - I get that enough without drugs!) but I wondered about coming off all the stuff. Neurontin too...
Laurie

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.

Hi Rox, and welcome back!

How horrible to be in the hospital and totally out of control of your own pain! I've read in several places that people actually take LESS pain killers if they are allowed to take them whenever they want. Odd that the morphine didn't work, although different people respond in different ways to drugs. You were right not to take the pill - if the injection didn't work then the pill probably wouldn't either, and then you'd have been stuck another 4 hours before they'd have given you something else.

I remember that whole conversation about addiction, and the research info - I sent all that to my friend and she's STILL not convinced, so I was just wondering if anyone had personal experience getting off the stuff. I've been taking morphine (at my own pace) for 10 weeks now, and neurontin for about 3...the morphine alone worked a little, but the combination is really effective. Makes sense to wean off, regardless of psychological state - that's what I was really wondering about, and yeah, cold turkey sounds very stupid, especially after surgery!

Laurie

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.

Funny you should post this question...I was fearing the same so I asked my Daughter, who is a pharmacist and this is the response I got...it made me feel a lot more at ease.....

"Morphine is a narcotic and can
be addictive in more than one way but I really am not concerned about it -
here's why...

1) if you need it and are taking it regularly for a while (eg around the
clock for more than about a week - its different for everyone) then suddenly
stop without tapering off it you might feel some withdrawal symptoms but
this is normal and doesn't mean you are "addicted" just means you need to
reduce the dose a little bit at time before stopping altogether.

2) if a person has drug seeking tendencies and they really like the side
effects they might become "addicted" to it but most people don't become
addicted in this way just because they are on it and we'd never ask someone
not to take it if they are really in pain.

Bottom line: if you're really in pain then you should take it and if it
means you are on it regularly then decide you should try to go off it you
just need to go off it a little bit at a time.

People tend to get worried when they hear or are prescribed morphine but
really no differnt in terms of addiction than other pills you have taken in
the past such as demerol or tylenol #3's or percocet.."

Hope this helps.
Dan

>>>>>>
We are kicking some AS*.

Hi Laurie,
Good luck!!! As for getting off pain meds it can be a real "painful" time. The best way is of course to be weaned. Going off cold turkey can nearly kill you!!!! I went off perocet cold turkey... God, I thought I was going nuts!!! And the pain was just so unbearable. My niece went through the same for other medical problems. She quit cold turkey and ended up in the hospital from withdrawls. She was in for two weeks. Dr's put her back on and weaned her slowly off.
I wish you luck...............................Terry


~If there is something you cannot change, then change the way you react to it

Laurie, I just wanted to wish you luck on Monday. I'm so glad they 'fast' tracked you and that, hopefully, you will get some relief.

Take care of you.

Many hugs,

Kat