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Opioids Dealing w/ High Opiate Tolerance and Surgery

john3434

Bluelighter
Joined
May 27, 2010
Messages
92
Posted on another thread today about perc 10 withdrawal help. I appreciate all the feedback.

On a side issue related to this, the reason I've been on the perc 10's is for a ruptured disc in my neck. I'm having surgery at the end of this month to repair the ruptured disc and I'm very concerned about post surgery pain management due to my extremely high tolerance to opiates. I'm currently on a run of about 2 weeks taking the percocet 10's (7-10 a day, which I'll soon be out of) and that just barely alleviatesthe pain. Obviously the post surgery pain will be much more substantial and I'm only going to be in the hospital for one night, so for the majority of the 1-2 weeks of recovery I will be at home on prescribed PO meds.

Has anyone on the board dealt with situation? Any ideas about how to deal with this in regards to discussing with doctor, etc? Getting supplemental meds isn't really an option for me. Thanks.
 
Since the surgery will be to repair the disc, its likely that your pain will actually be lower after the surgery.

NSAIDS are always a good option to combine with your current medications, especially for post-surgery pain, inflammation, etc. You can always talk to your doctor, but beyond that you'll just be in pain if you're out of meds :(
 
You're almost out of the percs and you can't get prescribed anymore after surgery?
 
you need to speak to your doc about this ASAP , I am taking approx 240-280mg oxy per day & if i need to have an operation I have been told there is nothing more they can give me.
 
I would just be completely honest with your doc. I just came out of the hospital after a 2 week stay for a spinal infection in the disc between L4 and L5. It was honestly the most painful situation I can imagine ever being in, and I have a MASSIVE tolerance to opiates. It took a few days of me screaming and crying like a baby for them to realize this but eventually I got put on 200mcg's of fentanyl and 8mg's dilaudid every 4 hr's. This was enough to lower my pain to a bearable level.
They were extremely hesitant to prescribe me high levels of opiates because I was honest with them about my past drug use so they took a little bit longer to realize that I wasnt faking the screaming and crying just to get drugs. Unfortunately in a situation like that you may have to go through some hellish pain before they realize what they actually need to prescribe you. And unfortunately you may never be prescribed the correct meds for your pain level and tolerance....thats just the way life is.
 
Re: "Your almost out of percs and can't get any more after surgery?"
-Yes. Of course I can get more. I could of course get even more going the "alternate" route. But I'd rather do this the right way.

I actually had not started using any opiates again until this disc issue came up. It has been years since my heavy opiate days (to be more specific, any opiate by any method, I've done it to the fullest in the past).

I've noticed though that my opiate tolerance has never really recovered. Still takes about 20mg of oxy to get rid of severe pain. I've also noticed that even after short stints on opiates (for instance, going through 30 10mg hyrdros in 5 days) I still go through a noticeably uncomfortable withdrawal. Don't know what's up with that.
 
^tolerance never going to baseline and experiencing w/d after short periods of use are pretty common for people who have used a lot in the past.
 
Do what you gotta do to get thru the surgery, after that taper down otherwise you won't know how bad the pain really is.
 
Re: "Your almost out of percs and can't get any more after surgery?"
-Yes. Of course I can get more. I could of course get even more going the "alternate" route. But I'd rather do this the right way.

I actually had not started using any opiates again until this disc issue came up. It has been years since my heavy opiate days (to be more specific, any opiate by any method, I've done it to the fullest in the past).

I've noticed though that my opiate tolerance has never really recovered. Still takes about 20mg of oxy to get rid of severe pain. I've also noticed that even after short stints on opiates (for instance, going through 30 10mg hyrdros in 5 days) I still go through a noticeably uncomfortable withdrawal. Don't know what's up with that.


Taking more then 5-10mg's a day will not really cause withdrawal, anything more will, and sometimes it depends.
 
Sorry to hear this. It seems that when we have pain, we dose ourselves to feel normal w/o pain & when our tolerance grows to the point where 2 or 4 pills a day dont do it for us anymore, we bump it up & we get to the point of when is enough, enough? I cant believe your doctor wont bump you up to OP's since Percs are not working for you anymore.
 
Posted on another thread today about perc 10 withdrawal help. I appreciate all the feedback.

On a side issue related to this, the reason I've been on the perc 10's is for a ruptured disc in my neck. I'm having surgery at the end of this month to repair the ruptured disc and I'm very concerned about post surgery pain management due to my extremely high tolerance to opiates. I'm currently on a run of about 2 weeks taking the percocet 10's (7-10 a day, which I'll soon be out of) and that just barely alleviatesthe pain. Obviously the post surgery pain will be much more substantial and I'm only going to be in the hospital for one night, so for the majority of the 1-2 weeks of recovery I will be at home on prescribed PO meds.

Has anyone on the board dealt with situation? Any ideas about how to deal with this in regards to discussing with doctor, etc? Getting supplemental meds isn't really an option for me. Thanks.


are you getting your percs from a pain management doctor?


if you are getting percs off the street the best thing to do would be to NOT tell yoru doctor and just deal with it. if your doctors is prescribng you the percs then he would know that the pain will be increased and prescribe you something stronger. if you are not prescribed KEEP YOUR FUCKING MOUTH SHUT.



I had spinal fusion surgery in april and was IVing heroin quite often. when i left the hospital they gave me loratab 5's, when i got home my surgeon switched me to perc 10s, neither helped considering my tolerance. i just dealt with the pain how i always did...IV heroin

I would just be completely honest with your doc. I just came out of the hospital after a 2 week stay for a spinal infection in the disc between L4 and L5. It was honestly the most painful situation I can imagine ever being in, and I have a MASSIVE tolerance to opiates. It took a few days of me screaming and crying like a baby for them to realize this but eventually I got put on 200mcg's of fentanyl and 8mg's dilaudid every 4 hr's. This was enough to lower my pain to a bearable level.
They were extremely hesitant to prescribe me high levels of opiates because I was honest with them about my past drug use so they took a little bit longer to realize that I wasnt faking the screaming and crying just to get drugs. Unfortunately in a situation like that you may have to go through some hellish pain before they realize what they actually need to prescribe you. And unfortunately you may never be prescribed the correct meds for your pain level and tolerance....thats just the way life is.

coming from recent experience, it really isn't a good idea to be honest with a doctor if you have a history of drug abuse. More often then not you will get the dick head doctor who doesnt give a fuck about how you feel and will label you as a junky.

this may go against harm reduction in some way, but IME it was a terrible idea to tell my surgeon about past drug use.


dont even tell the fucker you smoke weed.
 
^eh, it can go either way. In a lot of situations, I'd agree with you but if someone has a large tolerance then by not informing their doctor, they guarantee that they'll be in more pain than necessary (at least while they're admitted). A lot of members here have talked about informing their doctor of their use/tolerance and only then were they given adequate pain relief... again, at least while monitored by medical staff in a medical setting.

Are you familiar with the multi-quote feature? Just hit the little button to the right of 'quote' button for all the posts you'd like to quote and then hit the actual 'quote' button for the last one and it'll put all of them in one post. I find it a lot easier than making multiple posts to respond to multiple quotes.
 
Since the surgery will be to repair the disc, its likely that your pain will actually be lower after the surgery.

NSAIDS are always a good option to combine with your current medications, especially for post-surgery pain, inflammation, etc. You can always talk to your doctor, but beyond that you'll just be in pain if you're out of meds :(

In the long run, yes, but right after surgery is what i think he is talking about.


chances are he will be on a dilaudid or morphine drip which will take care of a great deal of the pain.

^eh, it can go either way. In a lot of situations, I'd agree with you but if someone has a large tolerance then by not informing their doctor, they guarantee that they'll be in more pain than necessary (at least while they're admitted). A lot of members here have talked about informing their doctor of their use/tolerance and only then were they given adequate pain relief... again, at least while monitored by medical staff in a medical setting.

Are you familiar with the multi-quote feature? Just hit the little button to the right of 'quote' button for all the posts you'd like to quote and then hit the actual 'quote' button for the last one and it'll put all of them in one post. I find it a lot easier than making multiple posts to respond to multiple quotes.

Yeah I guess it could go either way, IME it was the worst idea ever to be honest with my surgeon.

yes i am farmiliar with the multi quote button, i just don't use it while on this PC, causes problems. terribly sorry.
 
^you fucking should be... I actually considered banning you but you're funny sometimes so I guess I can scroll past your 9 sequential posts when I must.

You're absolutely right about informing doctors... its a crap shoot and really could make the situation A LOT worse or A LOT better. There's no way to know for certain in advance, I suppose people should just trust their intuition on the matter.
 
^you fucking should be... I actually considered banning you but you're funny sometimes so I guess I can scroll past your 9 sequential posts when I must.

You're absolutely right about informing doctors... its a crap shoot and really could make the situation A LOT worse or A LOT better. There's no way to know for certain in advance, I suppose people should just trust their intuition on the matter.

certainly a coin toss. i thought i was being noble and shit when i told my surgeon, and in the beginnig he was kind of cool about it telling me i would have a pain specialist and not to worry about it. when i was laid up in the hospital (with 2 18 inch rods in my back and 72 staples) no pain specialist came, they had me on a 1mg an hour dilaudid drip and were giving me loratab 5s. when it was quite obvious i would get no better help with pain, i quickly motivated myself to start walking early (they told me i would have to be in the hospital for a week if not more) and said fuck it and checked out. when i checked out they handed me a script for loratab 5s, i quickly told them that this wasnt going to work and to call my surgeon. they said they called my surgeon and he had told them to keep me on the loratab. I went home in extreme pain and called my surgeon as soon as i got home. they acctually wanted me to come up to their office to evaluate...yeah let me jump right back into a car after getting 12 vertebrae fused so you guys can do they job you neglected in the hospital. They ended up giving me perc 10s and warned me thats all i was getting. I decided to take care of matters my own way. fuck em.
 
maybe we should also consider the aspect that telling your doc about your drug history could effect your surgery and general medical care in many different ways(...and not just ways that have to do with your doctor labeling you as a junky). it coule also change the way the surgery is performed or how they prep for it.....there are many different things that could change because it would make it safer for you once your doctor knows the truth about your history. try not to think so much about being labeled as a junky, and a little more about being as safe as possible.
 
maybe we should also consider the aspect that telling your doc about your drug history could effect your surgery and general medical care in many different ways(...and not just ways that have to do with your doctor labeling you as a junky). it coule also change the way the surgery is performed or how they prep for it.....there are many different things that could change because it would make it safer for you once your doctor knows the truth about your history. try not to think so much about being labeled as a junky, and a little more about being as safe as possible.

very good point, touche.
 
cut and dice but no dope no hope AAaHHHHhhhh

I would just be completely honest with your doc. I just came out of the hospital after a 2 week stay for a spinal infection in the disc between L4 and L5. It was honestly the most painful situation I can imagine ever being in, and I have a MASSIVE tolerance to opiates. It took a few days of me screaming and crying like a baby for them to realize this but eventually I got put on 200mcg's of fentanyl and 8mg's dilaudid every 4 hr's. This was enough to lower my pain to a bearable level.
They were extremely hesitant to prescribe me high levels of opiates because I was honest with them about my past drug use so they took a little bit longer to realize that I wasnt faking the screaming and crying just to get drugs. Unfortunately in a situation like that you may have to go through some hellish pain before they realize what they actually need to prescribe you. And unfortunately you may never be prescribed the correct meds for your pain level and tolerance....thats just the way life is.

Been in same type of situation befor bro an could not agree more cas soon they know you are/have been an addiccit getting the right dose is a right pain[pun not intended;)
 
Thanks you all immensely for all the great input guys. Can't thank you enough. I'm really nervous about this situation and just reading and responding to all the threads has helped a great deal.

Here's my idea at least at this point in time:

I have pre-admission testing Monday. I was going to tell them that the perc 10's the doc has been prescribing me only help my current pain slightly and that due to a PAST DEPENDENCY issue I had with opiates I will require something pretty substantial for post-surgery pain. I'm hoping that referring to the dependency issue as something I dealt with a long time ago will lessen any looking-down upon I might get aimed at me. I'm certainly not going to bring up my IV H and Dilaudid days.

So far my neurosurgeon has been good about treating my pain. He asked me what worked best fro me for pain and I said "percocets" (didn't want to go overboard and raise any red flags). His response was "5, 7.5 or 10's"? I said "10's" and that was that. No questions asked. Hopefully his manner with me about this doesn't change post-op. I'm only 10 days away from surgery.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to ask for post op? I've had several ideas but was curious if anyone know what stronger meds docs would be willing to give a post-op
script for. Demerol, Dilaudid, Morphine Sulfate, ? I've heard there's some new strong stuff out there now if anyone could bring me up to date. Any thoughts?


I've even considered asking for Subutex simply because of it's incredible pain killing ability and how long a little bit goes. Plus, if I really need to I can deliver them by a more effective route.

Anybody got any feedback on thoughts?
 
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