Pain relief without getting addicted

[crateraider]

I have just spent 3 months getting off xanax and it has not been fun. Im know having a lot of pain in my lower back, and my doctor is understandably hesitant to prescribe me any serious pain medication. On one hand, Im getting pretty desperate to get some sort of pain relief once in a while, until it gets better. On the other hand, im terrified of getting addicted to the painkillers, because of my weak mental condition. I bought some oxycodone last week, but didnt take any until yesterday, when the pain got really bad. It was the first day in 2 weeks, where I was able to relax, eat some food and get 8 hours of sleep. Today I feel so much better mentally, but the pain is back.

Heres my question: If I restrict it to once a week, how big is the risk of becoming addicted? Will I be able to control this, or should I just throw the rest in the trash?

(i apologize for my poor english)

 

[Steady Scootin]

There's no way anh of us cam guarantee whether or not someone may become addicted to a given drug, regardless of their usage patterns, although the more often the dose, the faster tolerance rises along with the possibility of addiction. I'd say contito voice these concerns you mention here to your doc. It is possible to manage pain without becoming an addict, especially when taking a med of a reasonable potency at a reasonable dosage according to your level of pain. Even not taking a scheduled dosage of you don't feel you need it, or perhaps a partial dose even.

Ot doesn't sound as if you have mich experience with opioids, so feel free to ask any and all questions.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey crateraider, welcome to Bluelight! We're happy to give you some advice and the quality of your English is actually pretty good, so don't worry about that.

The biggest thing that we need to be aware of is that life happens at a relatively slow pace and a lot of these decisions that we make, "I'm only going to use once a week" or what have you. These plans we make get out of control often right under our noses. You decide to take an extra pill one night, but you still don't use for a week. The next week, you've been good all week right? That dose felt really nice last week, it can't hurt to simply raise our once weekly dosage. We still won't become addicted, right?

Maybe 2 weeks pass, maybe a month, maybe 3 months and you make the decision to make a one-time concession and take your Opioid a second day. It's only that one time. Now your medication doesn't seem quite as potent that once weekly dose. Then, maybe you use at this rate for 3 months without consequence. Nothing happens. You're not addicted. You begin to consider using a 3rd day a week. You stay strong. You wait another 2 weeks. By now, your original dosage is long-gone. You're using a higher dosage than before, 3 days a week.

You thought everything was fine and one day, you wake up not feeling so great. You have a cold. No big.

So you see how these things can progress. We often are losing all of our control while we feel that we're making fairly informed and reasonable decisions. I'm not saying this will be you, but Opioids are quite addictive and feel pretty great.

 

[crateraider]

You are right steady. I have little to no experience with opioids and these oxycodones appear to be very potent. It also makes a lot of sense what you're saying Keif. I could see myself going down that path. Seems like I'm better off, just dealing with the pain, than the risk of getting addicted. Thanks to you both, for helping make the right decision.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

when you have bad chronic back pain and opioids around youll end up taking them everyday and becoming dependent. Which there is nothin gwrong with if you cankeep yourself honest and ONLY take enough for the pain, not to mentally escape your depression from the pain.

Do you have someone you live with that can hold the opioids for you and only give you them when you are in pain and only the proper dose? this is what i do. Although to be honest i tear the house apart every now and then until i find them then abuse them. Its a game of cat and mouse. We are going to get a safe to lock them in to avoid this

 

[crateraider]

The pain in my back is really bad right now, but it's not chronic (hopefully). It has only been this bad for 12-14 days. Before that it was sore most of the time, but only hurt once in a while. I really hope it will get better soon and there will be no need for painkillers at all.

To be honest, Keif scared the shit out of me, and I mean that in a good way. These oxycondones are way to strong for me, so if the pain continues I will have to see my doctor and hear what he suggests. As much as it hurts, i'll rather deal with the pain now, than risk having to deal with a new addiction later on. It's simply to easy for me to buy this stuff where I live and it's really cheap.

 

[MrRoot]

Gabapentin and Lyrica are quite effective for back pain and although those can be abused and get hooked on I would still say they are safer alternatives.
I am currently taking 600mgs of gabapentin three times a day and before I used 80mg of oxycodone for my back pain and still gabapentin helps a lot.

 

[crateraider]

I will definitely look those up and see if they are available here. Thank you

 

[Trajal]

Don't know if it's any help, but may be worth taking a look at Nefopam. I have similar concerns about addiction but also suffer chronic pain and have found Nefopam to work very well either in conjunction with paracetamol (there are some lab mice experiments showing improved efficacy and prolonged analgesia in that context) or without. I take other stuff too, but that's what has been a real life-saver for me.