Opioids Hydrocodone - small time use, but a problem

[DesertHarp]

Maybe this website is not for someone like me, but I don't know where else to go. For years I have been taking Vicodin 10/325. Each tab has hydrocodone 10 mg. I take it twice a day - for years. It's legal from my primary care. It helps with back and neck pain from arthritis, disk compression.

I am habituated to it. This is no joke. If I go without a dose for a day and a half or two or so, withdrawal begins and will escalate. (Restless leg Syndrome, nausea, insomnia, general unease.). I take a laxative every day to avoid constipation, which has bedeviled me all my life.

I'm just got out of the hospital, treated for diverticulitis with serious infection. They gave me I/V morphine. Then they cut me off opioid pain relief because they worried my large intestine was becoming paralyzed. I went along with that, but I needed my hydro. I had brought 3 tablets with me hidden. When RLS and insomnia became too much, I self-medicated with good result.

I'm home trying to recover. I know I need to not slow down my gut. I still need my hydro, which does slow the gut. It's a balancing act. I'm using a laxative.

Hydrocodone relieves nausea in my case. I know that's not supposed to be true. Nausea is a big part of my current illness. I'm using hydro now more than twice a day to alleviate the suffering I'm in. My PCP will allow this and reorder when I need more.

I don't know what anyone can tell me. I want to know if anyone understands that even low level use like mine is very habituating, hard to be deprived of and tough to consider giving up. Years ago, I found it also helped my tendency toward mental depression.

 

[lovemissile66]

I hope someone with more experience can jump in here for you. My take, is yes, you have been on it for a long time. Your body, brain is used to that hit of opioid

every day. So, the natural opiate receptors in your brain have stopped making that natural high. They have been taken over by your hydro. That is why when you

miss a dose, you start hurting. And we have opiate receptors in the gut. So, me being a heroin addict, I suffer also from nausea when I am withdrawing, along with

every other symptom you mentioned plus others x 1000. Heroin also helps with my depression and I could keep finding reasons to continue using all day long.

But, I know I am addicted. You may be just dependent.

 

[Skorpio]

I am unsure if this is actually a good idea, but was recently reading about methylnaltrexone, which is an opioid antagonist that is confined to the gut. That could possibly spare you your GI effects while allowing you to treat your pain with hydrocodone.

Big caveat of course that the body is connected and it may very well increase pain due to signaling from the gut. That seems more the case for inflammatory conditions, but something important to keep in mind.

Methylnaltrexone - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[DesertHarp]

Thank you both for your serious, thoughtful responses. I wish I could talk all this over with doctors, but that gets risky. I'm not ready to be cut off. Thank you for appreciating that I have a dilemma on my hands. Scorpio, I will read up on that drug. Lovemissile, my heart goes out to you for what you must endure. Yet, you took time to have a care for me.

I may need to ween off the hydros, but I think that is going to be easier said than done, despite my rather low level of usage.

 

[nznity]

Maybe this website is not for someone like me, but I don't know where else to go. For years I have been taking Vicodin 10/325. Each tab has hydrocodone 10 mg. I take it twice a day - for years. It's legal from my primary care. It helps with back and neck pain from arthritis, disk compression.

I am habituated to it. This is no joke. If I go without a dose for a day and a half or two or so, withdrawal begins and will escalate. (Restless leg Syndrome, nausea, insomnia, general unease.). I take a laxative every day to avoid constipation, which has bedeviled me all my life.

I'm just got out of the hospital, treated for diverticulitis with serious infection. They gave me I/V morphine. Then they cut me off opioid pain relief because they worried my large intestine was becoming paralyzed. I went along with that, but I needed my hydro. I had brought 3 tablets with me hidden. When RLS and insomnia became too much, I self-medicated with good result.

I'm home trying to recover. I know I need to not slow down my gut. I still need my hydro, which does slow the gut. It's a balancing act. I'm using a laxative.

Hydrocodone relieves nausea in my case. I know that's not supposed to be true. Nausea is a big part of my current illness. I'm using hydro now more than twice a day to alleviate the suffering I'm in. My PCP will allow this and reorder when I need more.

I don't know what anyone can tell me. I want to know if anyone understands that even low level use like mine is very habituating, hard to be deprived of and tough to consider giving up. Years ago, I found it also helped my tendency toward mental depression.

U shuf ask your primary doctor for lyrica. 150mg pregab helps with all the symptoms when u run out

 

[nznity]

Lyrica and clonidine ask for them!!!! Thry will help you with the wds. That dr is a fkn brute fir cuttibg u off like thst. Anyway get some lyricd ASAP!

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

Maybe this website is not for someone like me, but I don't know where else to go. For years I have been taking Vicodin 10/325. Each tab has hydrocodone 10 mg. I take it twice a day - for years. It's legal from my primary care. It helps with back and neck pain from arthritis, disk compression.

I am habituated to it. This is no joke. If I go without a dose for a day and a half or two or so, withdrawal begins and will escalate. (Restless leg Syndrome, nausea, insomnia, general unease.). I take a laxative every day to avoid constipation, which has bedeviled me all my life.

I'm just got out of the hospital, treated for diverticulitis with serious infection. They gave me I/V morphine. Then they cut me off opioid pain relief because they worried my large intestine was becoming paralyzed. I went along with that, but I needed my hydro. I had brought 3 tablets with me hidden. When RLS and insomnia became too much, I self-medicated with good result.

I'm home trying to recover. I know I need to not slow down my gut. I still need my hydro, which does slow the gut. It's a balancing act. I'm using a laxative.

Hydrocodone relieves nausea in my case. I know that's not supposed to be true. Nausea is a big part of my current illness. I'm using hydro now more than twice a day to alleviate the suffering I'm in. My PCP will allow this and reorder when I need more.

I don't know what anyone can tell me. I want to know if anyone understands that even low level use like mine is very habituating, hard to be deprived of and tough to consider giving up. Years ago, I found it also helped my tendency toward mental depression.

This site is for anyone that has any kind of relationship with drugs, no matter their background. Welcome

If you have maintained this low level use for years, it helps with your pain, and you don't feel the need to take more than I think you're absolutely justified in taking them. That being said, I'm not a doctor, so I don't know what kind of negative impact it will have on your health with your current digestive issues.

If your doctor knows about your health history and feels that hydrocodone is still safe for you to take then your use seems perfectly reasonable. There are always risks of growing tolerance and dependence but if it improves your overall quality of life then it's not inappropriate

If you can't take opioids anymore then there are gabapentoids and some other niche drugs that can be substituted, definitely talk to your doc about it.

 

[DesertHarp]

Thank you for the recent posts. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for welcoming me. Thanks for the drug suggestions. Thanks for the empathy.