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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Help-husband addicted to ir oxycodone and has cancer

J

Jagger15

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Joined
Nov 2, 2015
Messages
12
Hi!
Please help with some advice or insight. My husband, 49, is addicted to prescribed oxycodone IR. He has herniated discs, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis. He has been on it since 2009. He got diagnosed a month ago with tonsil cancer. It's serious. He is bedridden due to what I think is the oxy cycle. He has pain constantly at a 7/10 even on the oxy, 100 mg per day. He is in bed all the time, and if not has constipation,diarrhea, anxiety, depression. He's up for a day and all night then sleeps for 2 days. Everything revolves around a bowel movement. He eats one meal then skips 8 of them. It seems he is in withdrawal a lot and dr will not give more. The pharmacy is giving a hard time about filling the script. The biggest problem is he needs to get treated for this cancer, and I can hardly get him to any appointment, he is missing appointments, it's been almost 8 weeks and no treatment. We've been to two famous hospitals and they want to treat him for cancer but can't give him pain meds because pain isn't from cancer. No pain mgmt dr wants him because dose is too high. He says he can't detox now he can't be in any more pain. And the cancer treatment will be painful - radiation, maybe chemo. I think his pain is from unhealed PTSD that has manifested physically but at this point it doesn't matter. He needs detox/rehab and we had him going into a chronic pain rehab center but now they can't take him because he has cancer. I don't know what to do. He was already on suboxone prior to this. Methadone? He tried OxyContin er but it's not covered by insurance and he doesn't like it, moods seem extreme and worse. Are there places that treat cancer and addiction inpatient at once? He hasn't worked for years.
 
if you go to a local methadone clinic you can probably get a somewhat high dosage but it would be a daily thing and he would have to attend for at least 3-6 months before getting any take home doses.

I went through chemo; there is no pain there. its not easy, and you surly will be sick to your stomach and feel completely burnt out at times, but there is surly no pain to worry about.

keep calling different pain clinics and tell your story.. it may take a bit but you MIGHT find someone - its not going to be easy.

does his current doctor know what is happening? was withdrawals mentioned to the Dr!? if he is taking his actual daily dosage and at the correct times, I am surprised he is going thorough WD's.
 
Thanks so much for your reply. His current doctor does know what's going on but doesn't hve an answer. The pharm we've been using for years said they won't fill another script from this dr unless it's from a pain mgmt doctor (he's a doctor osteopathy). We tried another pharm and they filled it- the oxy ir. But even if we keep getting it filled he's in bed all the time and I think it's due to long term oxy use. I don't think he takes it on time or according to dose. I know he grinds it up. I think he takes more when he's more stressed or in more pain then runs out. He tries to conserve or go down. I know he's tried to get more in other ways. We met w a new cancer dr who said he can hosp him for a biopsy he needs to get for the cancer and maybe put him on methadone or suboxone or something else (getting a pain team involved) so that his pain is controlled. He's been in pain so long I don't know what's real or is because he's in bed most of the time and hasn't done physical therapy on herniated discs. He's very sensitive to drug changes so I'm scared if they change something it will delay treatment even longer. But as is doesn't work either. He's supposed to go to hospital tomorrow to get this biopsy and is saying he has anxiety, can't go, can't suffer any more. Thanks for all of your input. I haven't found anyone who gets it, the oxy /painkiller part of it.
 
well, you are on a board where about 80% of us has some serious problems w/ oxy/painkillers and a good portion of us moved on to heroin.

he can give methadone or suboxone a shot but he would need to see a certain type of Dr. to get a script for either; or possibly go to a methadone clinic (not sure where you live or what) and as I mentioned, would need to go daily to start and after a while take homes would be possible. w/ a methadone clinic he could start ASAP after booking first appointment; suboxone might be a bit harder to find/get on.

I've been on both and suboxone is/will always be my fav. however, mine is not about pain but more about abuse. I was a long term opiate/heroin addict. and yes, I've been through surgery and have had a brain tumor/chemo but there was never much pain but I did abusive the script they would give as well as heroin I would buy on the street.

suboxone saved me in many ways and makes me feel GREAT daily; when I was using dope/pain killers I'd find myself always sluggish or laying around until I got a drug into my system, then MAYBE I'd go from there but nothing was guaranteed.
 
Again thanks so much. The oncologist seemed to think he could get him on methadone in hospital. We live in the states, northeast. He'd never get to a clinic daily. Well maybe if while on it it changes his pain level he would. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad people like you exist! Sorry to hear about your journey....it sounds like you are in a good place and that you know yourself. Maybe we can go bk to suboxone. There are doctors who prescribe it here.
 
I'm so sorry op you and your husband are going through this it is very sad and breaks my heart.Don't let anyone tell you that you are not suffering just as much because all though you aren't the one who is physically ill you are deep in this emotionally and it can be just as bad or even worse.
I was addicted to heroin for many years and then on methadone maintenance,after being off of both for half a decade I became a pain management patient. It's very difficult because I'm prescribed oxy ir and if it wasn't for my wife would be abusing the shit out of them. You need to get on board with his doctor(sounds as though you are) and you need to lock his meds and dole them out to him. He won't like this one bit because he is abusing them but you need to for his sake. he doesn't seem worried about his pressing medical issues because he's preoccupied with getting his fix.
Many people I have heard don't like the er oxys but I have a feeling with your husband it might be because he can't abuse them like with the ir oxy(that would explain his moodiness).
Maybe methadone is the way to go but I personally thought it was a pain in the ass going everyday and you are exposed to people dealing dope at the clinic because you go everyday and not everyone there is focused on getting well.
I wish there was an easy solution but there isn't and as long as he is abusing this way you are gonna be at least as tortured as he is.So you need to lock them up and give as needed or get him on the ers and let him be moody for awhile(us addicts act like children when we don't get our fix and we over exgaggerate our pain and lie and manipulate).
Please don't misunderstand me and I'm not saying your husbands pain isn't real but it won't get better with him in control of his drugs and it sure won't if he keeps missing his cancer appointments!
 
Oxy IR is a short acting opioid too, like 3-4 hours so I can see why it would be hard to be stable and would fluctuate.

Even if taken as prescribed over a long period of time withdrawal can set in if oxy is stopped. The body becomes physically dependent. And yes if he is crushing and snorting or something that makes the pills have a faster and more intense onset but not last as long.

It sounds almost like he takes big doses and gets up and is active then crashes. I could be wrong. But it just sounds off. He shouldn't have an "oxy cycle" as you called it unless he is doing large doses then little to none or else doing something else on top (heroin?)

Constipation is normal with opiate use. He should definitely be taking a stool softener, and if needed a natural laxative. It shouldn't be such a focus though

I don't have any experience with the cancer part of it. I don't know why he couldn't be treated though...his meds while not for cancer are similar to what they give cancer patients. I do think perhaps stabilizing on methadone would be better than the up and down of an IR med. (and you said he didn't like the oxy ER formulation). Methadone for dependence has to be given in a clinic as BBT said. But it can also be prescribed by the doctor for pain, either the cancer dr or the back dr. It's given several time per day for pain as opposed to once per day to stave off withdrawals for dependency. I think that's one of your better options. Detoxing completely in order to be treated shouldn't be necessary?

And if that is not workable, then as BBT said, best thing to do is make lots of calls. And consult with the cancer dr and see what he thinks. He can switch the prescription to a methadone one. Many patients do because methadone is an inexpensive med
 
Thank you. I think you got it exactly. I just never put it into words but when I read it makes sense. He probably takes a lot then crashes. Esp if he is snorting it (he says he dissolves it in water but I'm not sure that's true) then he gets some energy and then crashes. I just went in to ask about the appt tomorrow and he said he just took his medication, can't talk, leave him alone, he's in anxiety can't talk about tomorrow. This is relatively normal. He's been in bed since Sunday at 5 am after being up for a few days. Also normal. I'm going to talk to the cancer doc about it. Hopefully we will get him in there tomorrow. We are potentially saying goodbye to the two big famous hospitals because this boutique cancer doc gets it - he said he thinks he has an oxycodone problem, not a drug problem and it is making more sense. The doc is good in other ways too if he works out, the bigger hospitals aren't as open to doing an herbal supplement protocol along with their chemo and rads, but whatever is meant to be will be I guess.
 
Thank you so much very helpful. You are right. I wish I could give him his meds it made me laugh when I read that, not because it's not spot on but the thought of him allowing me to do that. He's very secretive and protective and I walk on eggshells a lot of the time as it is with that end of things. His main response is no one understands what I go through, no one knows how I suffer, I'm in pain all the time. If the doc told him it's that way or the er's or methadone it might work. But he's got so much anxiety, depression, PTSD from childhood stuff I just don't see how this is going to happen. But today I have more insight thanks to you all which is empowering.
 
I am so sorry you are going through this. Is there any chance you could intercept his script? Do you ever go to the drug store for him?

I went through something similar with my spouse, who later died of cardiac complications. He never admitted he had a problem with his morphine or MS contin and alcohol. I spent a year getting him counseling, doctors, and lawyers (DUILs) and he behaved very much like your husband. After his spine collapsed from general neglect, I got out. I'm not suggesting you do the same but at some point you are going to have to look what this is doing to your life.
 
Ok so I was wrong about his IR dose, it is 500-600 mg per day not 100 mg per day and he takes more if has to go to an appointment. He has been told by his prescribing doc that he cannot go on Methadone because he would need such a high dose it would make his lungs collapse? Could this be true?
 
If I had fibro, RA, orthopedic pain & cancer, I'd probably be abusing opiates too, holy shit. All of those conditions are known to cause lots of pain. I wouldn't even think that the primary issue would be an addiction to drugs in this case, I would think it would be about finding access to ENOUGH drugs in order to even get a SEMBLANCE of a decent quality of life.
 
Yeah that's 17-20 30mg pills a day,no wonder his doctor can't up his script. I'm sure his doctor isn't prescribing that many that would be 600 30's a month. he's lucky his doctor still gives him any script they usually would cut someone off for admitting abuse but at that number I can't imagine any doctor not cutting him off. I'm glad they haven' though because I'm sure he's in pain.
Anyway opiates in high doses can cause respiratory depression(don't know about the collapsed lung) and do kill but he can have that from the amount of oxys he's taking. I would get a second opinion if methadone is what you seek because I've known hard core abusers getting put on high doses of methadone. Even if they start him out at a high level they can ween him down to a more acceptable level eventually and I'd think it'd be much more safe course then taking that many oxys that's ridiculous. Did his doctor say that about the methadone with you in the room?
 
No I wasn't in the room. It was relayed through my husband when I asked him today if methadone might be better than this. He said they have talked at length about it and he was told he isn't a candidate for methadone because at the dose they would need to put him on it would make his lungs collapse. But my husband is known to get some details off and I don't know how long ago they had that talk. He just talked to the cancer doc and agreed to go to the ER tomorrow am and cancer doc will admit him and do the biopsies he needs and cancer doc also told me they will be addressing the pain problem including possible methadone (I don't think he knows how much he is on yet, I met with this dr on Friday on my own bc my husband couldn't get there and my husband has only talked to him on the phone tonight.) I hope they find something that will help him!!
 
make sure you are there during the methadone discussion. Either your husband got it accidentally wrong or he told you that in order to continue to abuse his oxys. They ould switch him to methadone and it would probably safer thn the amount of pills he's on and they could control his dose a little better. Also he won't be able to get high anymore at the levels of methadone they would need to put him on so maybe he would realize the futility in it and quit?
 
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Let me tell you from little experience I have, I had a childhood friend who moved from Israel to America for 3 years (to California to be exact) I was too young to understand why they came and left and later I got older found out the mom had cancer she was bald completely when j met her and came to get legal marijuana prescription for cancer that was the entire purpose of traveling that far... Also pot helped me stop lots of hard drugs without help from professionals. Like that guy said get him tons of pot "I don't condone doing anything illegal cough cough*" what state are you in?
 
I don't know what's available in your area, but many oncology centers have pain management specialists on staff. These are specialists in treating pain in cancer patients.

See if you can get your husband into an oncology center and go through them for his pain management. Your husband also needs intensive psychiatric/psychological care, and a good oncology center will be able to refer him to a specialist in that field who handles cancer patients.

I went through this with my late husband who was a chronic pain sufferer (though not an addict and not mentally ill) before developing the blood disorder that eventually killed him.

He was also on massive doses of opioids and still suffering not only with pain, but with the side effects of the pain meds, until his care was taken over by a specialist pain doctor who tailored a program for him that involved whole body/mind care as well as meds.

BTW, methadone is quite frequently used in cancer patients for intractable pain, as not only is it good for stabilizing addicts off their DOC, it is a damned good pain killer.

Mental and (if so inclined) spiritual care is also important for chronic pain sufferers, and especially important for cancer patients. In addition, FAMILY MEMBERS and carers also require care during the course of the illnesses.

Please take care of yourself. You husband's oncologist should be able to refer you to resources for care that will help you to deal with the suffering YOU are enduring.

My best to you, and if your husband's oncologist isn't able to provide resources for whole-person care (NOT AN OSTEOPATH), please find one who will, preferably one affiliated with a major hospital.
 
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