Opioids Successfully quit heroin and then got off subs, getting wisdom teeth pulled soon

So long story short I was addicted to heroin for awhile and then got clean with the help of Subs, I stopped using subs everyday about 3-4 months ago but use them every once and awhile when I get a craving. Anyway I am getting 3 wisdom teeth pulled next month and the pain meds the surgeon will likely give for such a procedure will likely do nothing for my pain.

Mods/admin please don't close this thread, I'm not trying to con my doctor into giving me anything to get high. I will legit need those pain meds as I will have the pain of my other health issues along with my mouth/jaw, and I'm just looking for advice on how to approach the matter.

I thought the analgesic tolerance would be insignificant after a period of sobriety. Let your surgeon know; they could prescribe a strong dissociative like ketamine? But I don't know.

totally read this thread as: "Successfully quit heroin and then got off subs, getting wisdom teeth pulled son" lol

ChemicalSmiles said:

totally read this thread as: "Successfully quit heroin and then got off subs, getting wisdom teeth pulled son" lol

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lel

I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth surgically cut out of my mouth a few years ago and I was only given tramadol (I was in recovery at the time and didn't want a narcotic). It was painful as hell for the first day but I took my meds as prescribed and kept ice on my face and it wasnt really that bad after that. About a week later though, I got dry sockets and HOLY SHIT that was probably some of the worst pain ever. But all I did was take the tramadol and ibuprofen and I made it through. If your doctor prescribes you a strong opioid it could give you cravings to use dope.

I am shit-ass-terrified of dental work, I cannot even handle getting a teeth cleaning, it just freaks me out so much. I cannot STAND the feel of having metal shit scraping against my teeth, etc.

When I had to get all my 4 wisdom teeth pulled out at once, I found a dentist that offers sedation. Theres a lot of them out there that will work with you if you have a dental phobia or are just in general really freaked out by it, etc. I told him that I absolutely could not handle to be awake while they did the procedure, so I paid a extra couple hundred bucks and they put me COMPLETELY under. Started with nitrous and then did the IV anasthesia drip and i was fucking lights out the entire time. woke up and it was all done and felt no pain.

I am on methadone, which I told him, (said it was pain management, which it is for however, so it wasnt a issue of addiction) and he prescribed me on top of the methadone Percs.

I cannot imagine why the standard meds wouldnt be good enough for your pain if you are completely off all opiates. Obviously it takes a while for your tolerance to go back to baseline but if you been off everything for a few months you should be fine...

If you've been off opiates for that long, your tolerance has gone down significantly.

You'll be fine with what they give you.

although i have only seen it firsthand used as treatment for opiate addiction, it can also be used to control pain. maybe just the suboxone will work to make the pain manageable. same with methadone...its primary use is as a replacement in addicts, but can also serve as something to control and alleviate pain.

The 'done was totally fine for me afterwards, I didnt feel pain at all. didnt even need the percs-not like they would have done much since the dose I am on is over the blocking threshold anyways.

I wasnt sure if the OP is worried about the pain DURING the procedure or the PK's he gets after it, not being good enough. my reply wasnt that clear so ill try and make it better:

If youre worried about during, like I said look for a dentist that does sedation. if youre worried about after, you shouldnt be, cuz there aint no reason why the usual shit shouldnt be enough for you. Unless you had several years straight of heavy duty large-habit dope shooting which IME kind of permanently jacks up your tolerance you should be good. Even if thats the case tho it will def be lower than it was. if youre off the subs they aint gonna be causing any blockage or any problem like that so I aint sure why you are going into this convinced that you wont get the relief you need, without even knowing what you will get in the first place. How do you know that what you get wont be good enough? Percs are standard for wisdom teeth removal. If you are several mos clean off all opiates/oids I dont see what the problem is there and why you are so certain that you wont get good enough pain relief. IDK if you made the (IMO foolish) move of telling him youre a (ex) addict , otherwise I dont see why he wouldnt give you somethin adequate.

Worst comes to worst I dont see why you cant just buy some pills on the street if youre really that worried about it, shit. Its not like you can only take what he prescribes you.

Tolerance to opiates goes down very quickly, if you've been clean that long their pain meds will definitely work.
That being said, wisdom teeth surgery is not that painful and considering your history I would avoid any kind of opiate medication if I were you. I got all 4 wisdom teeth pulled out in one session and have had about 5 other teeth pulled out and never had anything stronger than ibuprofen prescribed (opiates are only for truly horrible situations here in France). It was fine. Don't overplay it in your head and start imagining what the pain will be like.
Just my two cents.

you should be fine with the pain medicine they prescribed you. I mean you're not going to get high or anything but it should relieve the pain. But suboxone is also used as a pain reliever, so if you feel like the pain meds aren't working you can always try taking your suboxone. Also a lot of pain is somatic, so if you are psyching yourself out about theanticipated pain then it will probably cause you to feel more pain. If you have a lot of anxiety about it, try doing some meditation are positive affirmations. I learned about that s*** in rehab, and it feels kind of stupid but it actually works. I had to go to the hospital to get an abscess taken care of, and I told them not to give me any narcotics and what they gave me actually worked. I just had to meditate and clear my mind of any anticipation of pain.you might feel a little pain still but it will be manageable.

You don't need pain meds for wisdom teeth. Mind were locked away during my whole recovery and I ended up taking the bottle purely for a high. The pain isn't bad and I ate solid food the same day which aided in a quick recovery (the more you allow it to be normal and heal itself the better it'll be. Eat solid food, don't be a bitch, pain goes away and its very slight at most.)

I got all 4 extracted at once and didn't even take my hydro's.

They numb you with so much lidocaine that the majority of the pain is over after it wears off (6 hours or so).

I saved my entire hydro script for a rainy day. Slept without problem the first night. Not even ibuprofen.

Of course age has a role to play as well. I was 19 when I got mine pulled, they weren't very deeply rooted at all and no complications. All came out as 1 piece.

If you're in your late 20's or 30's, your wisdom teeth get a chance to fully grow in and "root" themselves in your jaw. Becomes a much more painful experience (from what I've read).

The "roots" on my wisdom teeth at 19 were only 1/2" long.

I hear about a lot of people and also sober-addicts going through wisdom teeth surgery plus some even more painful surgerys and dont take anything but 800mg ibuprofen. So i agree with what the people here are saying about that. But what I dont agree with is people saving you tolerance goes down dramatically after a few months. It may the first time you take some pills or do some h but it will go right back where you left off in no time, and in no time i mean like probably second or third time doing them again youll be back where you were, and those first time and if your lucky the second it will still be a lot higher than when you started using, it will definitely never really get back low. This is from personal experience of being off for 8 months then back on and another time before off for over a year, and after the year time after three uses of opiates i was actually past where i when i quit. But atleast speaking for myself, after being clean for that long and then doing 350 mcg of fent at a time, i just couldnt see why i was hooked and this shit so bad and all the people i hurt (like they say you hurt the people you care about most) and how much I fucked my life up while addicted to it, that isnt even mentioning the $ spent. And I really dont like to do them anymore. This last part of being clean for a year was very recent. I probably did opiates for 2 maybe 3 weeks and just realized fuck this this is stupid I dont know why I loved it, and that is all it took for me and im and not doing them anymore (pretty much, sometimes I will get some for free and give it a shot but i just dont enjoy it so its not a problem for me and I was hooked terribly bad.

Anyways if you are worried about the pain, just try for like the first day taking what they give you AS DIRECTED. I think a problem with us junkies is we get a script for percs for wisdom teeth or something else and am like this shit isnt going to do anything, but it may HELP your PAIN and just NOT get you FUCKED UP. Try that at first and if it doesnt take the pain away double or triple the dose they reccomend. And they buy a couple pills off the street to get you through it. ANOTHER THING THOUGH- what i have some friends and people say the medicine isnt working cause they still hurt, people go to remember its not going to make it to where you have absoutely no pain, it just to take the edge off and make it bareable, no matter what even if you shoot a shit load of hydromorphone you will still have pain and soreness.

Last part sorry for the long post but just putting in my two cents from personal experience and seeing alot of my friends go through opiate addiction. From what you were saying is that you go off H and then off the Subs, so it sounds like you are trying to be clean, and you said you still have craving every once in a while and use a sub. Maybe you should just stay clear of the opiates and just get them to perscribe you script strength ibuprofen (800mg) which is just 4 normal ones (200 mg) and maybe see if he can you some promethazine or something that will knock you out and sleep through it. I know everyone is different, for me, my opiate addiction really really fucked up my life and at times actually seemed put my loved ones in more misery than i was in myself, and like i said before gettin fucked up again just in my head it was like "all you put yourself through, jail multiple times sometimes for year at a time (i know that isnt long for some people but my second time in trouble ever had to do a year and then had to do 8 months again 2 months after i got out, then living on the streets for 2.5 months in the dead of winter, rehabs to try to get back on my families good side, kicked out of college, multiple ATF, Drug Force, whatever the bugulary division is called investagating me and questioning me {thank god they couldnt pin any of it even tho they had the right person on it all lol} and I am just now about to turn 24 and I never had been arrested till i was 21. So for me the times I have tried it this last time I just cant even enjoy the high cause I know what all it put me and my family/friends through. So the point of my story to tell you is if you think it could make you want or think you need more opiates just dont even get any and stick it out for 3 days and after that youll be fine ( Oh they get this new thing called ZZzz Quil, get the liquid not the pills and that shit will knock you the fuck out if you drink like a third of a bottle). From what you said it just seems like you have tried hard to kick a habit that isnt easy to do and you got past it, and sounds like you dont want to go back so dont even risk it.

Last thing and I am done I swear. Saying all this i hope im not coming off a preachy or like I changed my life around and trying to help others cause I still like to get fucked up. I take benzos, drink, smoke pot, do x (well would if i could fucking find any non bullshit ones) do a little powder when out partying and have recently tried meth a few times in the last two months but not really my thing. So im not saying like "I changed my life you can do it too!!!!" I just had a problem with opiates, I can do one of those other things once and not get fucked up for however long, Im not drawn to them like I was opiates, those were the love of my life and still like i said the few times I try them here and there I will think, goddamn i loved that shit i was so awesome i loved every second of it (especially old stop sign opana) and i saw something joking to a friend and theyll be like lets do it and they end up buying me some, but right when i get high on it, it just isnt the same, it doesnt do it for me anymore and actually depresses me. What Im trying to get at in that last part is that its not like i dont sometimes, i wouldnt say straight-up get the urge but would reminisce about something in the past when things seemed easier and I was usually on opiates so get that feeling in my mind too and THEN the urge would come but once its in me I just simply cant enjoy it anymore, maybe Im lucky, i dont know cause obviously i have never felt the urges or feeling or someone else i just know how things have been happening to me.

And the only reason I wrote all this is because you seem like you got yourself clean and trust me I know how hard it is and it sounds like you dont want to go back there. And opiates are the only thing I have been addicted to so I know how hard it is and I hate seeing people I know work so hard to get clean and actually do it, then spiral back down. And you think you were at rock bottom before.....it is always worse the next time, and just keeps getting worse. So maybe this would help you decide what is best decision for you

Cone said:

They numb you with so much lidocaine that the majority of the pain is over after it wears off (6 hours or so).

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Yeah exactly. I had no feeling whatsoever in my jaw for the next 5-6 hours and by the time it came back the pain was perfectly tolerable.
I'm guessing you're in the US because I've never even heard of hydros being scripted anywhere else for tooth surgery - as I mentioned most countries won't get you prescribed anything at all and we do fine. Just don't start imagining what the pain is gonna be like now and exaggerating it in your mind

Just take some ibuprofen.

The pain from wisdom teeth isn't even that bad at all, at least in my opinion. You could always smoke some weed through your nose with a joint/blunt (it helps i did it). Or make some edibles, to eat.

Pagey said:

I'm guessing you're in the US because I've never even heard of hydros being scripted anywhere else for tooth surgery - as I mentioned most countries won't get you prescribed anything at all and we do fine.

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I find this incredibly surprising. I would imagine most (if not all) first + second world countries would give out at least hydros (or an equivalent) for something like a wisdom tooth extraction. Our experiences may have been relatively painless, but I've heard some horror stories before.

Hell my co-worker who's 34 had hers pulled a couple weeks back and they tossed her 40 10mg perc's. And she looked like she actually needed them coming in to work on Monday.

Like I said, it depends on how "clean" the operation goes (i.e. no fragmenting teeth as they're trying to pull them out) and your age.

My co-worker was in such pain because her wisdom teeth had time to fully root into her jaw - right next to that main nerve for your entire face. Go poking around/ripping stuff out after its firmly rooted THAT close to a nerve and you'll probably be in a world of hurt.

For a split second I almost thought of offering her some H, but decided that wouldn't be prudent in a professional office environment : )

Cone said:

I find this incredibly surprising. I would imagine most (if not all) first + second world countries would give out at least hydros (or an equivalent) for something like a wisdom tooth extraction. Our experiences may have been relatively painless, but I've heard some horror stories before.

Hell my co-worker who's 34 had hers pulled a couple weeks back and they tossed her 40 10mg perc's. And she looked like she actually needed them coming in to work on Monday.

Like I said, it depends on how "clean" the operation goes (i.e. no fragmenting teeth as they're trying to pull them out) and your age.

My co-worker was in such pain because her wisdom teeth had time to fully root into her jaw - right next to that main nerve for your entire face. Go poking around/ripping stuff out after its firmly rooted THAT close to a nerve and you'll probably be in a world of hurt.

For a split second I almost thought of offering her some H, but decided that wouldn't be prudent in a professional office environment : )

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Hah. Nope, I assure you most countries are not nearly as lenient about handing out opiates as the US...the US honestly being incredibly generous about it. I'm from France and the only person I know who's ever been prescribed a strong opiate is actually myself, and that's when I got oxys following an accident where I almost broke my neck (was raaaather serious). I've had various surgeries for various things since then and have not once been scripted anything more than ibuprofen.

An easy comparison - my grandfather had cancer in the US and got hydros & oxys for the pain, my father has cancer in France and gets codeine.

It's even worse in the UK. Seriously, handing out opiates like candy's a very american thing. And I reiterate, unless something goes drastically wrong in OP's surgery he shouldn't be needing any - and since he's an ex-addict I wouldn't recommend it if it can be avoided. Expectations and thinking you'll need proper pain meds without a doubt just make everything much worse

when I was in rehab a guy had to get his wisdom teeth removed and he didn't get anything for pain beside Tylenol and he was fine after the first day, they can use a non opiate to put you out and you just deal with it after its over