7StraightIsGreat
Well-Known Member
Percocet is my drug of choice. Love that stuff. When I was undergoing cancer treatments I had a bottle of 100 10mg percs and some time release oxy as well as pure oxy for a quick hit. I had a high level of pain due to surgeries and heavy chemo, but I didn't mind the mellow buzz, that is for sure.
Now I have a pretty high tolerance (I do naturally anyway, I always need at least 2 of the 10mg percs to touch the pain). At the time I developed a dependency, was using up to 5 10mg percs at a time, and that was ugly. I ran out one weekend, not thinking anything of it, and within hours I was in full-on withdrawal. Sweats, shakes, vomiting, the works. My wife called the doctor, told him what was going on and he personally met her at the office on a Saturday to give her a scrip, as he said that withdrawal from high levels of something like oxy can be as bad as an overdose. He almost had us go to the emergency room.
I was finally weaned off using methadone and buprenorphine. I was never a "junky" per se, I don't steal the drug, I don't buy it illicitly, never have. But I was truly addicted at the time and it took some effort to get off of it.
This was over a decade ago when the prevailing medical opinion was control the pain, deal with the addiction later. Now they have the opposite approach, due to the high number of people permanently affected by opioid addiction.
But man, if I have to get a pain killer I prefer percocet. Good stuff.
Very interesting post. I’m 41 now, but I’ve had severe lower back problems since I was 17 (thanks HS football). By the age of 19 I got to the point where I was in complete agony and I finally got into a good neurologist. They did an MRI on me and saw that 3 of my discs were bulging so badly into my spinal column, that I was in surgery the next day getting a discectomy. I’ve got degenerative disc disease and while the surgery did wonders to help with the pain, my back has continued to worsen, and 8 years ago I went in for another surgery and got a one level fusion. They wanted to do a 3 level fusion but were concerned that at my age, fusing all 3 levels would leave me with almost no flexibility. So basically, they fused the worst disc and told me to hold off on future surgeries for as long as I could. The pain is crazy and during my 2nd surgery, the neurologist told me that I have the back of an 85 year old man (I was 33 at the time).
Needless to say, opiate pain killers have become a regular part of my life. The problem with those bastards is obviously that the more you take, your tolerance basically skyrockets. I’m 22 years in on treating my pain with Percocet. I’m up to 30mgs per dose. The current Opiod “Crisis” happening in our country has really got me on edge. I try to be responsible as possible, take my meds as prescribed, and keep them locked in a small digital safe that’s mounted on a shelf in my closet. My doctor keeps me updated on the ins and outs of the current war on opioids and it doesn’t look good for me. She says that while my pain is every bit as significant as somebody fighting off cancer, since I’m not terminally ill, the time will come sooner than later when patients like me see serious reductions in the pain meds we’re able to get, if we’re able to get them at all. This isn’t being judged on my pain level, it’s basically going to come down to the fact that I don’t have an expiration date.
While I’m not a doctor or an addiction expert, the measures this country is taking to basically try and wipe out opioids is very upsetting to me. I’ve used these meds responsibly for over 2 decades and I’ve NEVER, EVER, even considered turning to Heroine or other illicit street drugs. If I eventually am not able to treat my pain with opiates, I still won’t turn to those other options. However, I think this state is going to see a HUGE heroine epidemic fill the void of opiates as they continue to try and make them harder for people to get. Heroine is cheaper than ever, easy to get, and I would guess that a large percentage of chronic pain patients would turn to illicit drugs if the other option is simply doing without. I realize many families have been shattered due to opiates and addiction in general but I think our country is currently doing a horrible job of separating chronic pain patients from addicts who are trying to get their hands on whatever they can, whenever they can. Due to that, people like me are probably gonna pay the price and lose our ability to manage our pain as effectively as possible. It’s scary as hell for me to think about.
Ok, I’m off my soapbox now. Go Jazz!