Opioids Suggestions for self control methodology so pain meds last all month?

[violetiris]

Yesterday was 'happy day'. Everyone who has a regular RX for pain medication knows what I mean.....it was 'ReFiLl DaY' The equivalent of a grown ups Christmas.

And, most everyone knows what I mean when I say that it's hard to exert self control and make meds last all month. Every month we say it--and every month we fail.

I've told myself I just can't let that happen anymore. It's destroying me. And, this month especially, I want to be good. I don't want the holidays ruined because I'm in a minor state of withdrawal counting the days and hours until the next refill day. To make matters worse, my pain has been much higher than usual and I couldn't go up on my dosage so I'm already under medicated but I should be able to supplement with over the counter stuff to manage the pain.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has found a successful method of learning self control? I'm not looking for how to potentiate the meds, there's a million threads on that!

I'm looking for advice on how to actually make them last all month.

I tried to UTFSE and I did see where one bluelighter would save all their unnecessary breakthrough meds and then at the end of the month have 'a really fun night'. Which is a good idea and I'll try.

I didn't see any threads dedicated to this topic however, of mental self control. Or, even physical self control. I mean, has anyone else tried having their significant other ration out their meds to them every day?

I tried that and mine just didn't hide them well enough, doesn't understand what we'll do to find them when we want to!

So, if there's anyone out there who's found success I would LOVE to hear how you do it. I'm sitting here sad because I'm afraid of ruining Christmas!

Thanks fellow BLers! and, Happy Holidays!

 

[dokomo]

I'm glad you posted this!

Chronic pain is a very real problem for many people here, but I want to point out something in particular about your thread--you seem to presume that abusing/overusing pain medicine is inevitable and expected behavior, and I assure you its not.

If you have chronic pain and expect it to be treated, you should kiss any recreational use goodbye. Medically speaking, tolerance to euphoria always builds far faster than tolerance to analgesia (in fact, many studies show that tolerance to analgesia does not seem to increase unless the pain is actually getting worse due to a progressing disease.) Remember that your goal should be pain reduction rather than pain elimination, as the latter is usually impossible to achieve.

One practical option is to get your medication from the pharmacy only a few days at a time, or a week at a time, or something like that. If you're having as much trouble with it as you described, it might be a good time to think about scaling your medications back or considering other options for pain management.

I am not a chronic pain patient myself, but many of the members here are so I will be very interested to see their feedback here as well. Good luck with your pain man, I hope you will find some good solutions!

 

[Cane2theLeft]

^Dokomo speaks the TRUTH.

There is truly no sustainable way that you can regularly abuse opioids AND treat legitimate pain. You HAVE to choose; otherwise you're almost inevitably going to face severe consequences in one form or another.

I have had chronic pain for many years now. The first 4 of those I used pain medication daily. I was very strict and did not exceed my necessary doses and as dokomo said in over 3 years I only had to increase my doses twice and that was due to pain exacerbation and not tolerance. Conversely, tolerance to the euphoria grows RAPIDLY.

Doctors know this so unless you are showing legitimate signs that your condition is getting worse, they are quickly going to reach a point where they will not keep increasing your doses and you're going to have to look to the street, doctor shop or find some other way to treat your pain AND maintain a habit.

There is one part of your thread that really stuck out to me... when you discussed how you'd feel later this month when you'd be short on medication you brought up the withdrawals and not the untreated pain you'd be experiencing. I think this is very problematic.

After years of prescription use and being very careful, I decided to try to manage my pain with poppy pods. This is first time I really felt that opioid euphoria. At first I was very strict and only used enough to get high once a month... then after about 1 year of using them daily for legitimate pain, I started to flirt with using them more. After increasing this for about 3 months, I realized I was more concerned about getting high and avoiding withdrawal than treating my pain and that is when I realized I had to make a change.

It was not easy but I made the decision to get off opioids before I forever fucked up my life and my ability to manage my pain forever at the age of 23. I forced myself to find other ways to manage my pain and have been off daily opioids for over a year. Recently I've been using kratom here and there but at most, I still spend 3 weeks per month without any opioids or other prescribed pain medication because I was dedicating to finding other ways to cope and manage.

I'm not trying to say that you have to do this or brag about my success - I consider myself extremely lucky for recognizing and stopping this before it got out of control and really fucked things up for myself. I've talked to many individuals around here who unfortunately did not go down this path and it resulted in very serious consequences.

Dokomo had some excellent advice. I think its every pain patient's obligation to exhaust every option to manage pain before solely using opioids for such. I can't pretend like I know what else you do or have done to manage your pain but I can confidently say you have not tried everything out there. The most effective way to manage pain (and many other conditions) is to approach it from every possible angle you can.

 

[sid3]

I think if you're able to save up your BT meds for a night of fun then it's obvious you don't need them. When chasing the euphoria, the addicted brain will send out signals that the pain is still there.

 

[CitioKid]

Prepare your pills for the entire month right now. Either in a pill box or wrapped in 30 different napkins or just written down on your computer in a word document.

Eg.

Dec 22 - 5 pills
Dec 23 - 5
Dec 24 - (Oh hell, it's xmas eve! I deserve a treat!) 7
Dec 25 - (It's xmas for god sakes!) 8
Dec 26 - 5

You know, make it so the pills last all month. Make sure to plan to take more on those special days when you'll take more no matter what, like xmas and new years.

Of all the methods I have used, this was the most successful. I can't say I have ever been able to make a pain script last as long as it was supposed to, but this way I was only short by a day or two.

And leave yourself notes like "Doreen, don't kill yourself with this addiction. It's me, the "real you" talking. I know you wanna take all these pills, but think about your husband, your parents, think about what your 5 year old self would say - coughing and going "why are you *cough* doing this to me?"

That sorta worked for me to....

 

[violetiris]

CitioKid,

You hit the nail right on the head! Thanks for the advice, I'm getting ready to package them up right now, following your guidance. I think it's a great idea! Have a pre-planned daily ration. Your a genius. I think your method is great and I believe it will work for me. You have no idea what a positive impact you made on another person's life. You just answered. Without ego, with humble and usable advice.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

To the other posters, I appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion however, all I was looking for was a way to manage my medication and not run out early.
All of you spoke kindly and I appreciate it VERY much.

Just an FYI, my current situation is that my condition has started to become worse quickly and so I am needing more medication than I am prescribed. It's very hard to not take it when your hurting
I do use other methods of dealing with my pain including lidocaine patches, hot water bottles, NASIDS, massage, daily hot baths, homeopathy, ice packs, a tens unit and anything else that seems like it might work at the moment.

I'm not perfect though. I don't drink and I don't smoke pot or anything else but, once in a while, every few weeks, I relax by having a recreational dose. I've managed this for over ten years now and never had serious issues. Now that the pain is worse though, it's caused problems running out a few days early.

So, really what I want to say is that
* I assume you all had good intentions and I appreciate it VERY much.
* I hope we'll all try to be as honest as we can be with ourselves and others.
* In an effort to address harm reduction--I hope we'll all direct our frustration where it belongs, on our draconian laws.
* I hope that we all give one another the gift of assuming everyone has the best intentions.
* that we embrace that we'll all 'Perfectly Imperfect'
* And that, most of all, you'll sense the caring I put into this post and know that I do appreciate everyone who took the time to post and just as I will consider what you have to say with respect, that you will do the same for me.
* Finally, have a marvelous holiday (for all who celebrate it) and that everyone will enjoy some rest and relaxation this time of year! I appreciate you all! I'm signing off now, headed to a cabin in the woods for the next two weeks. So, thank you all for your time and sharing your feelings and opinions.You'll all be in my thoughts and heart. I'll take some time to try to be more deeply honest with myself about this whole matter because of what everyone had to say--so thank you all as well for telling me how you feel and what you heard in my post. I embrace the chance to be more honest with myself---even if it hurts.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

^Those were nearly the exact rationalizations I expected to hear verbatim. I almost didn't waste my time because usually when I've tried to get through to people in these situations, the ones who have a problem won't even hear it until the consequences are real to them.

CitioKid,

You hit the nail right on the head! Thanks for the advice, I'm getting ready to package them up right now, following your guidance. I think it's a great idea! Have a pre-planned daily ration. Your a genius. I think your method is great and I believe it will work for me. You have no idea what a positive impact you made on another person's life. You just answered. Without ego, with humble and usable advice.

Clearly this is resolved for you and you're leaving town anyway so...