How Does One Get A Painkiller Addiction?

[crokett]

Genuinely curious - I am not looking to start one. I am on Percoset - generic of Oxycontin. Other than less pain, I am not noticing any other effects with it. So I am sitting here wondering what exactly do you get addicted to?

[Richard in Smithville]

Can't help you on that one David. Last time I had perc's I had to give them up because they would make me pass out. When LOML found me collapsed on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night, I switched to T-3's.

[cgallery]

Percocet is not a generic Oxycontin. They're both opiates, but OxyContin is time-release and works for 12 hours (vs. Percocet's 5 hours).

They're addictive when taken in larger doses (they will give a "high"). Crushing OxyContin destroys the time-release feature, and you get a rush of the Oxycodone that it contains.

And in case you're thinking "cgallery sure knows a lot about pills," I had to google it.

When I hurt my back every doctor that looked at my MRI would automatically offer a script for optiates. Some of them just automatically gave one to me w/ other papers as I was leaving the office. Never had them filled, though, as I was concerned about dependency from taking the things for too long.

[crokett]

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the info. I haven't had any side effects of the percoset and actually I think I could make it through without it if I needed to. I woke up this morning and it didn't really hurt that badly. There is a definite difference when I am on it but I've had injuries that hurt more than this does.

[gsmittle]

In my experience (remember I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV) if you stop the pain meds too soon, the pain will get worse over a couple of days as the last of the pain meds is metabolized. My neurosurgeon told me that the painkillers will help speed healing at first, during the worst part of the pain.

What I discovered after I tapered off the oxycodone after my neck surgery was that I was REALLY depressed for about a week, then the depression started to lift. Walking and writing about what was bugging me helped a lot.

I don't recall ever having a high from the oxy, but it did make me sleepy.

g.

[germdoc]

Seriously, if I could answer that question I'd be going to Oslo soon to pick up my Nobel prize (for medicine, not the one they give in Copenhagen...)

My take on it is that some persons have a genetic variation such that the opiate triggers a brain chemical reaction that is very, very desirable. Over time, if you keep triggering this reaction, the brain becomes used to it and doesn't like it when it does without. Kind of like sex.

It is a general rule that anyone who takes a physically addictive drug for a long period of time (i.e., many weeks to months) will become physically dependent and experience withdrawal symptoms when they're taken away, though only a minority are at risk for long-term addiction.

That said, many people take high doses of narcs for pain without problems, either short or long-term. From a medical point of view, I have no problem prescribing Class 2 drugs for persons with moderately severe pain either short-term, or chronically, IF they have a chronic condition and do not escalate the doses. For those who "lose prescriptions" frequently, demand escalating doses, etc., I stop prescribing for them and refer them to a pain specialist.

[steve-norrell]

Interesting issues, especially for one with moderately severe problems, including arthritis and spine problems, poorly healed fractures (ankle) and a knee missing about half its cartilage. I have prescriptions for Ultram ER and Mobic (from the same physician) and take one every morning (Ultram) and evening before retiring (Mobic). I also take two Tylenol caps at night. I just finished a course of physical therapy for some of the back issues.

I had been concerned about addiction to pain killers long before the Michael Jackson incident and I believe that the relief from the pain, especially at night so you can get some sleep, can, in itself, be a kind of "addictor." (I made up that word, but you know what it means.)

I don't know if using two different pain medications at different times during the day or night helps avoid the issues resulting from higher or chronic doses of a single agent -- maybe Germdoc can answer that question. Anyway, when responsible medical people determine that the pain is real and chronic, using just enough medications to ease the pain seems appropriate. Also, using the medication to prevent the pain, rather than stop or ease it, also seems like a better way to go.

Regards, Steve

[Kristofor]

I know that I don't like the effect of percoset... When I donated a kidney a decade or so ago I ended up with a ~10" incision, a 5" incision and a 2" incision as they changed from trying to do a laproscopic surgery to open-sided in the middle. This was before the illegal use of Oxycontin was so widely discussed on the news, talk shows, and whatnot (or at least that was my perception).

At that time I was prescribed both (for days/nights) I MUCH preferred Oxycontin to percoset as it seemed to have less of the fuzzy-head/dizzy effect, I was less likely to wake up with my mouth and throat completely parched, and lasted long enough for some decent rest periods. Allegedly it had less pain suppression ability but I would have gladly traded that for the lower side-effects. As it was I just ended up doing Tylenol during the day and oxycontin at night. Though this was the only time I can recall actually finishing a pain-med script so maybe there is something to it being more dependency-causing.

Since then my only surgery has been to have my tonsils out (which may have been worse all things considering) The pain drugs for that was a liquid goo of some sort (don't recall if it was hydrocodone or oxycodone, but with a sore, choking-on-bloody-chunkies throat I wasn't getting any long rest periods anyhow...).

[crokett]

Kris,

Interesting comment on the Oxy vs Percoset. This surgery was the first for me so I've never had experience with either. I do know that in general I don't experience side effects of medicine to the degree that others do and I don't know why. The only side effect I notice with the Percoset is it makes me a little drowsy. At night, that is not a bad thing. Other than that I haven't noticed anything. My mom won't take Oxy - it makes her hallucinate.

[smorris]

I have prescriptions for both darvocet and vicoden which I take as needed for chronic back pain. Most of the time the darvocet is enough to make it bearable when it acts up. I've had times where I took it every night for a week and times when I don't take any for a week. I've never noticed any withdrawal when I quit taking it.

The doc will give me a prescription for 3 months and it seems to last 6-9 months before I have to ask him to write another one. Usually all that happens is the pain moderates but there are times when I am definitely buzzed from the same dosage, don't know what causes the difference. I don't care for the vicoden that much as it tends to make me absolutely wired so I can't stay still and I start doing things and sometimes that makes my back even worse.

[phi1l]

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the info. I haven't had any side effects of the percoset and actually I think I could make it through without it if I needed to. I woke up this morning and it didn't really hurt that badly. There is a definite difference when I am on it but I've had injuries that hurt more than this does.

I would watch for any symptoms that start when the drug wears off

[herb fellows]

I think you hit the nail on the head referring to your mom and her reactions to drugs. The one variable they can't account for when making or prescribing drugs is the individual. That's why you see 30 warnings on any medicine, just there to cover their a**es. I don't react to anything, my wife can get high on an aspirin!

[Tom Slick]

Don't addicts also mix a high dose of alcohol in the the Rx?

[crokett]

I would watch for any symptoms that start when the drug wears off

That's the thing. I don't have any really. I mean, sure it hurts but on that scale of 1 - 10 it is probably a 3 or 4. Sure there is a difference when I am taking the drug but before I actually got the surgery I was thinking it would be almost incapacitating. It is actually quite the opposite.

[annunaki]

Not just pain killers

Nasal allergies resulted in me using Dristan for frequent stuffed nose.
These were my single days and Single Social Dances at Clubs. Didn't know how allergic I was to Cigarette Smoke. Finally went to an Allergist. He told me I was allergic to tobacco smoke AND Dristan. He weaned me off Dristan and gave me something better that was non addictive prescription but felt like Draino.