Vicodin for pain

When I was at my worst with CIDP 5 years ago, I was given a Vicodin (Lortab) every 4 hours for the 3 months while I was in the hospital, along with 3600 mg of neurontin. After I got home, I cut way back on the vicodin, & lowered my neurontin to 2400 mg, then 1800 mg within a year or so. I now take vicodin as needed, which is about 1/2 a pill 3-5 nights a week for back pain in my sacral area.
I am a firm believer that if vicodin is truly taken for pain, then one does not become addicted to it. I probably put up with more pain than I should, as every doctor tells me I am taking very little for the pain that I do have. My neuro thinks I should be on double the dose of neurontin that I am on, & my GP thinks that for the amount of back pain that I have I should be taking more vicodin. Life probably would be much better if I were less stubborn & listened to them, but I like my head as clear as possible.

I was disabled with a back injury in 1995 and have been on disability since. My GBS is recent.

For 9 years I have been taking either morphine or Dilaudid. It’s been Dilaudid for the past 7 years. Dilaudid is stronger than Morphine and one 4mg tablet twice a day does okay…..

When my GBS pain was new and worse, I was taking 3 and 4 Dilaudid per day. It is a very good analgesic!

Let’s talk about “addiction”. I’m not addicted in any way, period.

Twice now, the last just being two weeks ago, I simply stopped taking the Dilaudid at all. Yeah, the pain hurts….and every time I want to take a Dilaudid, I just don’t. No reaction, no withdrawal, no “classic” or any other signs of withdrawal.

My Pain doc (that’s all he does except sit on drug councils) told me this would be and still I was amazed. Will some people who take narcotics for pain become addicted? Yes. But if you are not an “addictive personality” and you take narcotics for pain relief, you won’t become addicted.

Unfortunately, this is contrary to what I learned and thought I knew after thrity years in law enforcement, and even more unfortunate is that so many doctors believe it to be so. Add that to the institutional paranoia caused in great part by the DEA and the “war on drugs”, and all the misinformation and disinformation that goes with it.

End result: It’s hard to find a doctor that will prescribe a GOOD pain-killer!

I’ve been very fortunate in that regard for the past 9 years. Before that it was a NIGHTMARE.

I couldn’t agree more Ken. Before GBS I had severe restless legs and the only thing that helped was methadone. But I developed side-effects after a year and had to stop. No problem. No addiction. The best thing about GBS for me is that it healed my restless legs-weird but apprently it happens. Now I am on percocet and not afraid of addiction either. Chronic pain can have such adverse effects on your life that it is better to take the meds you need than suffer endlessly. Fortunately, my primary care doctor agrees. Jeff

GG, i agree with Pam and Ken, unless you really want and are abled to become addicted to meds, you don’t have any worries. i had been on all those class 2 narcotics for well over 15 years and i never once became addicted to them, matter of fact i hated to use them, but had to just to get through the day. before gbs, i have fibromyalgia, degenerative discs in the cervical and lumbar areas, fractured this and that and bad joints(whats this geezer stuff…i’m not one although i do have the hair of one;) ) and other health issues, so i’ve had many chances to get addicted, but i never have been. i have such a high narcotic tolerance it would and does make hospital drs alarmed. i’ve been given such high doses of narcotics that it would put down an elephant, yet i can get up and walk out of the room, much to their amazement. i think you can tell how much a dr cares and listens to you by how much and what meds he perscribes you for pain, if he hesitates he doesn’t trust you enough and its time to find one who does. take care.

[QUOTE=jeff]I couldn’t agree more Ken. Before GBS I had severe restless legs and the only thing that helped was methadone. But I developed side-effects after a year and had to stop. No problem. No addiction. The best thing about GBS for me is that it healed my restless legs-weird but apprently it happens. Now I am on percocet and not afraid of addiction either. Chronic pain can have such adverse effects on your life that it is better to take the meds you need than suffer endlessly. Fortunately, my primary care doctor agrees. Jeff[/QUOTE]
I too have RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome)…. Before GBS and the liver infection that started it, I was taking Dilantin for it for years, and it worked.

For almost 2 years I have not taken the Dilantin and the Dilaudid has kept the RLS in check…..until lately. If I did not take a Dilaudid in the late evening the RLS began again “in spades”. So at my last Dr visit he prescribed the “new” drug Requip that was made just for RLS and it works GREAT!

Only problem is he also prescribed Cilostazol for a circulatory issue, and both of these have the side-effect of HEADACHE! Now, I’m hoping that that side-effect goes away…..soon!

Requip is the same type of medication as mirapex which I was and still am on for RLS, the little of the disease that still can affect me. It does work great and makes a big difference. Glad it works so well for you Ken. Sounds like you have had your share of afflictions. Jeff

gene,

central park, eh? i grew up in weehawken. take care. be well.

gene gbs 8-99
in numbers there is strength

I was born and raised in NYC. Lived at London Terrace at W. 23rd St. & 10th Ave for a while….attended Charles Evans Hughes HS.

I was born in Newark and lived in New Jersey until I was 25 when I moved to Zurich for 5 years and then to Colorado. Jeff

I have used it for years for Sciatic pain and Migraines. I take 1/2 a pill every night to calm the pain and get to sleep.
Nate now uses it for his “leftover pain” that Neurontin doesn’t handle.
When he was in the hospital they had him on Vicodin and Oxycodone.
I was worried that he would be addicted to that stuff but they took him off right before he was discharged and he didn’t have any problems.
My husband is always worried though that Nate will become addicted to Vicodin but he has to take something besides Neurontin. IMO, it isn’t worth it to just keep trying to handle the pain and not take something.
Trudy, natesmom

[QUOTE=GENE GREENE]Born bronx, lived in manhattan my whole adult life. 5 yr las vegas, 7yrs fl. alway kept an apt in NYC live in a loft 100 year old bldg. got great view of empire state bldg only a few blocks away. I have 2 very large rotties male 120 lbs female 95 lbs, When I retired I could have lived anywere I chose NYC I LOVE NY….you got to be a little bit crazy, Have a great day yall……[/QUOTE]

Gene it’s to bad you never got to meet Marge, she lived in Manhatten too. She loved walking around the “Village” when GBS would let her. She never would have lived anywhere else, she adored Manhatten and all that it has to offer. She lived right near NYU Medical Center.
The city that never sleeps. I live right across the Hudson from you. I also have a a male rottie who weighs in at about 150, I adore my little baby dog, he’s 9 yrs old and will be 10 in June. 🙂

Gene & Brandy,
You people make me really want to see New York City. When we were in our 40s we took all of our vacations in Mexico & Florida, loved staying at resorts & swimming in the ocean. I also loved just walking along the ocean & enjoying the beautiful colors of the sea. Now I don’t dare go there anymore as I know how inaccessible it is & am also afraid of the health care down there, what a mess if I needed medical care, as I am not bilingual.

If I can talk my husband into a trip to New York will someone be a tour guide for us? I don’t even think we would need passports, as I think MN is still considered part of the US? How grand it would be to walk in Central Park, even with a cane. Besides, husband is afraid to leave the US anymore. We just had dinner last Saturday with a young woman from Spain (lives in London) who told us that the Europeans are definitely not fond of Americans right now. Besides, I lived in Europe for a year in my 20s & have never had a desire to go back there. Any offers?

angel2ndclass22699
It is great to hear that someone else has a high pain medication tolerance. Drs think I am just wanting drugs when they see how much it takes to get me eased. Please keep me in your thoughts as I go to the doctor the first of May to see if he will give me something for this major pain I am having. That was the earliest that he could see me. Everyone, thanks for geing able to vent and talk these subjects out. It really helps a lot.

I have to jump in and play devis advocate here…

It is possible to be addicted even if you are taking it for pain but it depends greatly on the person. I am a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. When I was in the hospital it was made clear that I didnt want any narcotics because the chance of relapse was so high, I ended up getting to a point that I was begging for them because of the bad pain and the inability to sleep so they started me on different ones. When I was release it had previously been made clear to them that with my addicition I could not take a chance of having any narcotics so I was release without any.

I have been clean and sober now since Nov 7, 1992, and even though it has been so long the risk or relapse is still just as real as it was even one year later. When I was in rehab for the drugs and alcohol I learned some interesting things in that the brain of an addict is different than the brain of a non-addict in that different chemicals are secreted. Interesing stuff, but in rehab anyways there are those who are addicts and those who are abusers. The abusers are sent away at the better clinics because honestly there is no reason for them to be there, they take the drugs or drink the alcohol when they want which is in excess but not being an addict they have the ability to stop when they truely want to. There are tests that they run you throug in the good rehab centers to determine which class a person falls into.

Anyways, my point is that not everyone is prone to being an addict. Some people could drink in excess or do drugs in excess and have the ability to quite when they want to, I know people that fall into this class. Some people on the other hand, because of the chemical makeup of their brain can be addicted regarless of how much or little they do of any type of addicting item. A person who is an alcholoic is technicall an addict with alcohol being the drug of choice, so if you are an alcoholic then I would say to stay away from the narcotics. Being an addict I need to watch what I take even now, even things like Nyquil and Mouthwash (except alcohol free mouthwash) are off limits.

So keep this info in mind, but the majority of people dont have a brain setup in a manner for addiction, but it is always possible for a person to be addicted to medications even if they are taking it for the need to control pain.

I do not know what I would do without vicodin. It takes care of my pain. I am a football coach, spring training has started, you can imagine the pain of keeping up with those young men… I teach a technical class so my head has to be clear. It takes care of the pain when other types of meds do not…like neurontin, trileptal. It works for me. My wife worries sometimes because of it because her family has had members who has had “issues” with medication, but we deal with it because she knows I could not do what I am able to do without it. Would I like to one day not take it? Of course! But for now… I am able to live my life… a little above “the new normal!”