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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Does it sound like he is addicted?

T

tiredoftheuser

Greenlighter
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
3
He has pain.
Doctor prescribes lortab. (10-500)
Says it isn't working very well.
Doctor prescribes tramadol (50mg)
Says it "takes the edge off" and helps lortab to work better.
Is also on:
Lorazepam (1mg)
Temazepam 930mg)
Ambien cr (12.5)
Paxil
Been on the lortab for over a year. Tram for over 8 months. Says he wants to stop taking it, does pretty good weaning off for about 2 weeks, then starts back on it.

Hides it from family member. (lortab and tram)

Was taking lortab - RX for 120 of them and running out before even 10 days were up. I think using tram to fill in the gaps. I think he has learned to juggle them to keep himself high.

He has been addicted to something be it alcohol, cocaine, prescription rx's on and off all his life.

I think he is addicted again, but won't admit it. He did admit it once, and said he was going to stop, but keeps using chronic pain as an excuse. Im not even sure where the pain ends and the addiction begins. Is it live or is it Memorex???

He is sooooo calm all the time. Wondering if it is the combination of the sleeping meds, anti-depressant, anxiety med, and the pain pills.

It just seems like it is not normal to me. Wonder what would happen if he stopped taking this stuff? Withdrawals? I know one time he was out for a few days and started the nose running and got a little bit irratable.

That's enough to get started with.

It is not my intention to make anyone mad. I just want some feedback on this. Im just so sick of having to deal with addiction I could puke!!

Okay, im bracing myself for some feedback. Hope I get some. Thanks!!
 
Lortab for over a year consistently will definitely lead to dependence and he will surely feel withdrawl when and if he stops.

It won't be the worst withdrawl, but it'll be there for sure.
 
Sounds like dependent on pain medication. Running out of meds before next refill points to addiction.
 
dependency (both physical and mental) will form from taking any and all of those meds daily for prolonged periods. you can read about the respective withdrawl symptoms for each chemical individually.

but ... if he is calm and pleasant with you, seems genuinely happy, and the drugs are relatively safe and obtained legally, where does your concern arise from? what if you considered it as self medication rather than depraved 'addiction'? drug use isn't an inherently evil thing. if handled responsibly, it allows those of us with deficiencies to lead well rounded, fulfilling lives which might otherwise be miserable.
 
Based upon what you said your boy did, I would not necessarily say he is addicted bit he is headed that way if he uses 1200mgs of tabs in ten days.

Fcukn opiates are so damn addictive. I was on fentanyl for3-4 months after my heart problems. Coming off that stuff that is 80 to 100 times as potent as morphine, I went through 120 10mg tabs in 7 days.

I have been on opiates since dec. 2007 and I am definitely addicted to them, both mentally and physically. Anybody that is on opiates for a year or more is addicted. The problem begins when you start taking more pills to manage the pain. Then you cross the line and take them to get high by taking 5-6, then 7-10 and so on.
I saw a guy chew up 100mgs of tabs and went to work. He gave me one and I had to go home and take a nap. Now, I usually take them 3-4 at a time for my pain. Admditly, I take 3-4 extra every now and to cop a buzz.
 
holy shit 930mg of temazepam I hope thats a typo. Honestly people who dont have chronic pain and sleep issues have no idea what it is like you shouldnt be judgemental also I doubt he is holding off opiate withdrawl with tramadol. Chronic pain patients are usually addicted to opiates it is the nature of the beast. You seem pissed hes hiding it from his family well maybe your the reason for that? If a medical proffesional is prescribing all that then obviosly there is a reason you know?
 
Yeah it was a typo - supposed to be 30 mg. It's just that it is ALWAYS something with him. If isn't alcohol, then it is coke, if it isn't coke, then it is religion, if it isn't religion, then it is back to prescription rx's. Yeah, he is calm and relatively happy, but when he runs out, he gets irritated. When we argue, it can get nasty and that old personality rears its ugly head. Chronic pain? yeah, I guess so, but wonder too if it is just an excuse to get high and stay on a constant high. I just don't know anymore.....................
 
I was putting my girlfriend and family through the same crap...then I got arrested with heroin and it sorta wasn't really a question anymore.

...hmm, that probably didn't help much did it.
 
people with chronic pain always seem to be on the defense.

There is a reason he is using drugs and I don't think that reason is just to get high for the sake of the high. If he felt well he wouldn't have the need to take drugs. He seems to suffer from physical and emotional problems. He takes drugs so that he can lead a relatively decent life and not suffer all the time.

I also have chronic pain. I wish that people could feel the pain I feel all the time. It's debilitating and makes me want to kill myself. And yet people think that I should just live with it. It seems that people only understand how it sucks to be in pain when pain happens to them. Otherwise they often get so pompous about never taking a pill of any kind. Well, they don't take pills cuz they don't need them. If the had bad enough pain they'd be downing pills faster than the speed of light.
 
^

We also tend to glorify our pain once we are scripted pain meds by a "medical professional"...

Because if someone who went to school for 8 years specifically for that reason tells us that we NEED them, who are we to say otherwise? Its the perfect excuse.


I was also a chronic pain patient. I started on perc 5s...120/month. 3 months later I was on dilaudid and fentanyl patches.

Stayed this way until rehab...but now that I'm clean, my pain isn't nearly what it used to be.

Of course this is all circumstantial and drastically depends on what type of pain you have.
 
InTherapy82 said:
It seems that people only understand how it sucks to be in pain when pain happens to them. Otherwise they often get so pompous about never taking a pill of any kind. Well, they don't take pills cuz they don't need them. If the had bad enough pain they'd be downing pills faster than the speed of light.
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly. I work on an oncology unit at a hospital and it's mind blowing how many health care professionals have the attitude of "well, they should never have started taking pain meds, I would just deal with the pain and then I would never be in this situation" towards chronic, terminal cancer patients with intractable pain. It's absolutely disgusting.

Sorry this really has nothing to do with the original post, just couldn't resist throwing my .02 in there.
Nicole
 
Your man is up there with Heath Ledger, if thats just what he's getting himself scripted from the Doctor imagine what else he can manage to fine. And I make the reference to Heath simply because what he's prescribed won't kill him, but who knows what else he might be taking....

YOU SAID HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ADDICTED TO SOMETHING. When it comes to pills & opiates, we don't often discriminate. Does it kill pain? Does it cause euphoria? Does one induce sleep? "Sure, I'll take 'em man."

Why is he in pain? I feel thats somewhat a reasonable question...
 
I'm not saying he doesn't need the meds for Pain and what not, but he is definitely physically dependent on them if he has been taking them for a year. That's just a given. If he has prior addiction problems and is taking opiates+benzos AND he going through his script like a mad man, well then I would say he is heading down the path to addiction(both physical and psychological), if he's not already there.

Any good addict will deny, deny, deny. That's what we do. We will do anything to protect our ability to get and use drugs. Sorry for the negative response, I hope things get better!
 
tiredoftheuser said:
He has pain.
Doctor prescribes lortab. (10-500)
Says it isn't working very well.
Doctor prescribes tramadol (50mg)
Says it "takes the edge off" and helps lortab to work better.
Is also on:
Lorazepam (1mg)
Temazepam 930mg)
Ambien cr (12.5)
Paxil
Been on the lortab for over a year. Tram for over 8 months. Says he wants to stop taking it, does pretty good weaning off for about 2 weeks, then starts back on it.

Hides it from family member. (lortab and tram)

Was taking lortab - RX for 120 of them and running out before even 10 days were up. I think using tram to fill in the gaps. I think he has learned to juggle them to keep himself high.

He has been addicted to something be it alcohol, cocaine, prescription rx's on and off all his life.

I think he is addicted again, but won't admit it. He did admit it once, and said he was going to stop, but keeps using chronic pain as an excuse. Im not even sure where the pain ends and the addiction begins. Is it live or is it Memorex???

He is sooooo calm all the time. Wondering if it is the combination of the sleeping meds, anti-depressant, anxiety med, and the pain pills.

It just seems like it is not normal to me. Wonder what would happen if he stopped taking this stuff? Withdrawals? I know one time he was out for a few days and started the nose running and got a little bit irratable.

That's enough to get started with.

It is not my intention to make anyone mad. I just want some feedback on this. Im just so sick of having to deal with addiction I could puke!!

Okay, im bracing myself for some feedback. Hope I get some. Thanks!!
Click to expand...


If he stopped taking all that stuff, it may be potentially life-threatening if he keeps it up. But theirs no way he needs all of that. I would worry most about being addicted to the lorazepam and temazepam. They have nasty withdrawals with seizures. Tramadol also has nasty withdrawals, and makes seizures more likely to happen while on it.
 
That's quite a bundle.

Whether he's addicted isn't the question. If he stopped all of that tomorrow, would he experience w/d? Yes. Is he physically and psychologically dependent? Yes. If he's relying on a prescription, and he wants to taper off, then that's something he should talk to his doctor about, who can help him do it effectively and safely.

Is all of this the best way to treat whatever his condition is? I don't know. If he's experiencing mood swings, irritability, etc., and frequently running out of meds, then it may be time to consider alternative treatments. If the meds are hurting more than they're helping, then there's a problem.
 
The pain killer regiment is entirely feasible depending on his condition, but the combo of benzos + z hypnotic + opiates is very irresponsible of his docs. He is no doubt abusing his medication but there is no way of saying if he is definitely addicted or not. IMO he is, I was in a similar situation and was desperate for pain relief. Eventually I got something that worked well, then I'd get bored and start getting high off them. I didn't have any major psych issues coming off, but w/d is a bitch.

Oh, and as far as tramadol being able to keep w/d at bay, entirely correct. I was using fent patches and defeating the time release - that's a huge amount of narcotics daily and I could get by on high dose tramadol easily after I'd blown through my Rx.
 
tiredoftheuser said:
Yeah it was a typo - supposed to be 30 mg. It's just that it is ALWAYS something with him. If isn't alcohol, then it is coke, if it isn't coke, then it is religion, if it isn't religion, then it is back to prescription rx's. Yeah, he is calm and relatively happy, but when he runs out, he gets irritated. When we argue, it can get nasty and that old personality rears its ugly head. Chronic pain? yeah, I guess so, but wonder too if it is just an excuse to get high and stay on a constant high. I just don't know anymore.....................
Click to expand...

well you cannot change this guys personality. people will always without fail behave like themselves, if that self is one you cannot enjoy the behaviour of any more you have options to leave or stay unhappy....:\
 
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