This is my first time here to this site
I'm 48, I just returned from the Philippines getting married to a beautiful Filipina girl who's 27. After "meeting" her on Facebook in January of last year, we had much n common despite being worlds away. I went and visited her the following October to see if there could be anything between us, we fell in love pretty much right away. I came home after being with her for 2 weeks and then returned the following January to be married last Febuary and now I am back in the US getting paperwork done for her so she can join me here at my home…..I am retired from rodeo as a bullrider, I retired 8 years ago at 40 years old. I have a laundry list of injuries that would take a half hour to write out here, which is why I take pain meds…
I started taking pain meds in 2005, I'm actually suckin' on a 30mg Morphine Sulphate as I post this. I have a genuine need for pain meds because I hurt, and it kept me from sleeping until I got on pain meds. Now that I've been takin' pain meds I am back to normal, I feel good, I sleep good and I am not as my family says all crabby and bictchey anymore because i dont hurt anymore. I almost always take them as I'm supposed to and very rarely run out before the next month, somedays I hurt worse than others. Since I have a prescription and get cortizone shots in my shoulder 4 times a year, I dont have to be looking for pain meds like I used to….
I just now wonder if I am healed up enough now to stop taking them, I know ya hurt a bit when ya stop, but if I stopped and got thru the withdawls and my body got used to being without them would I need them as I do, I know I am addicted, but everyone gets addicted when taking opiate based painkillers….I kinda want to know if I stopped would I really need them anymore. I used to not take during my rodeo career and I seemed to be able to get by with taking only Aleve. I am a pain med addict and need to really know if I even need them anymore….I would really like to get off of them, but as with most others i do not at want to go thru withdrawls….
Thanks for reading, and would like some imput from someone…..
Woody…
I just dont think you quite understand what I was getting at in my original post. I used to take Vicodins/Percocets which caused problems because they only last 3-4 hours, thats the thing I believe causes the abuse. I would take 8-10 of those a day easy. I went to a regular pain management center last year and I asked to be taken off the Vicos and Percos. They started me on the "Continuous Release Morhine Sulphate 30mg" these pills last 10-12 hours, thats when things turned around for me when I got the Morphine Sulphates because I wasnt having to take 8-10 pills to not hurt. All the throwing up went away, the worry about running out went away and I take NO other pills besides the Morphine. But I will still say that the Morphine is addictive, but 90% of the problems went away when I made the switch….But with all that said, I wonder if I am healed up enough to not take them anymore. I know when you stop taking pain meds, the aches and pains seem not to have gone away because they take away all the normal aches and pains of growing older. I am not trying to justify anything, I will do research on the "suboxone" you mentioned. I'm just afraid right now to ask my doctor about them because I dont want to give him the idea I am addicted and having a problem with them because as I said after making the switch, things got 90% better for me. I mean doctors know that ANY opioid pain killer is going to be addictive, the trick is to minimize that, and with the switch that was accomplished…
About becoming dependent, anyone who takes opioid pills for any length of time are going to become dependent, no matter who you are. Its the nature of the beast……you have to ask yourself, do you want to get relief and be an addict?….or do you want to hurt, be crabby and bitchy and not get good sleep?……thats the real choice one has to make……both choices arent very good really, but 98% of the time, I am back to normal in my pain levels and sleep, yet I am addicted to pain meds……after I retired from bullriding I just took the pain for quite a few years, but after I quit and was having alot less activity is when I grew tired of hurting and not sleeping….
Thanks Betsy…..great post and giving me something to think about