F
flutterbee
Guest
Maybe I'm just being paranoid or dramatic, but there is such a strong history of addiction in my family that this concerns me.
My doctor prescribed hydrocodone (vicodin) for pain on June 20. The prescription is as follows: Hydrocodone 5/500 (which means - I think - 5mg hydrocodone, 500 mg acetaminophen), 1-2 tablets every 4 to 6 hours (max 8 per day). She prescribed 30 with 2 refills. Obviously, she doesn't expect me to be taking them every day and I have no intention of that.
I've had a lot of pain the last couple of weeks - been in a flare or whatever you want to call it. And when I use the word 'pain', I'm talking 7 or higher on the pain scale. The rest of the time I use words such as, aching, burning, discomfort, etc. I only take one at a time - never two. The most I've taken in one day is 3 and those were at least 4 hours apart and I've only done that 2 days. The other days I've taken either 2 or 1 per day and one day I didn't take any. As I stated above, this was prescribed June 20 and I've taken a total of 28 pills (as I have 2 left).
The first day I took a total of 3 pills, was Monday, June 23. The other days that week I took either 1 or 2 per day. I don't get 'high', although I do get a little chatty, but mostly I notice that I'm mentally sluggish and tend to trip over my words. That Friday, June 27, I didn't take any. I felt horrible that day, but was going to the movies and didn't want to be drugged. I was horribly irritable. It can easily be said that it was from the pain, but I really don't know. The movie was too loud, it was loud in the theater, I am very sensitive to noise and smells and I used a little bit of hairspray that day and could smell it all night. It was making me sick. I couldn't filter out the noise and it was sounding just like a roar. The noise and smell issues are a constant with me. When I'm feeling worse, I have less tolerance, but it's always there to some degree.
This past Wednesday I started feeling really bad. Besides the pain, I just felt really ill all over. Thursday, was horrible. I only took 1 pain pill Thursday and that was around 5pm. I slept most of the day Thursday.
This does seem to be part of whatever is going on with me. This ebb and flow, the feeling ill, etc. Today, however, I felt awful. I felt so bad. I didn't want to stand up. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what. Just the kind of thing where you just want out of your body. But, I wasn't having pain in the sense I use the word. I had a lot of discomfort and it was pretty miserable, but not pain. I have been hot and cold all day. I woke up at 1am freezing and actually turned the furnace on. I turned it on again at 1pm. Then, I had the A/C on and it's been up and down all day. I've been on the couch with a blanket and it's been on and off me all day.
I was just feeling worse and noticed that my heart just really seemed to be thumping so I checked my BiPolar (BP) and pulse. My BiPolar (BP) was 186/106 and my resting pulse was 106. I went to the ER a few weeks ago (before the pain medications) with this thing and they didn't do anything so I wasn't in a big hurry to go again. However, I was feeling so bad that I was considering it. I called easy child home from his girlfriend's, as he had the car, and took a warm shower to see if that would relax me some. After the shower, my BiPolar (BP) did come down some - 166/100, but my resting pulse was 133. (!!!) Normal is between 60-80. So, I decided to take a nitro glycerin. I wasn't having angina, but I know it will bring down the BiPolar (BP) and pulse rate. Unfortunately, it also causes an incredibly, intense headache and so I took the nitro and my first pain pill today at around 9pm. It did bring my BiPolar (BP) down some more and brought my pulse down under 100.
Thing is, now I don't feel nearly so horrible. I suppose it could have been the nitro bringing down the BiPolar (BP) and pulse, but I have serious concerns that what I was experiencing all day was withdrawal from the hydrocodone.
I'm afraid to talk about this with my doctor. I'm not drug seeking. I didn't have a craving for the medication today and didn't take any because I wasn't having high levels of pain. But, I felt so horrible. I'm afraid if I bring this up with my doctor that she will be afraid to rx me anything and while I don't want to have dependency issues, the vicodin is the only way I've been able to function at all the last couple weeks. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been much more useful than if I were in a coma. Seriously. I could barely move and walk as it was WITH the pain medication. And, like I said, I'm not drug seeking. I'm just concerned that with my family history there is some kind of genetic predisposition to becoming dependent quicker and that what I experienced today was withdrawal.
I know that I will see how tomorrow goes, but I'm just really worried tonight and if anyone has any experience or insight, I'd like to hear them. If it ends up that I think over the next few days that this is becoming a dependency issue, I will have to find other alternatives for pain relief so any ideas on that would be appreciated as well.
Sorry this is so long. If you've made it this far, well, you really need a hobby.
TIA.
My doctor prescribed hydrocodone (vicodin) for pain on June 20. The prescription is as follows: Hydrocodone 5/500 (which means - I think - 5mg hydrocodone, 500 mg acetaminophen), 1-2 tablets every 4 to 6 hours (max 8 per day). She prescribed 30 with 2 refills. Obviously, she doesn't expect me to be taking them every day and I have no intention of that.
I've had a lot of pain the last couple of weeks - been in a flare or whatever you want to call it. And when I use the word 'pain', I'm talking 7 or higher on the pain scale. The rest of the time I use words such as, aching, burning, discomfort, etc. I only take one at a time - never two. The most I've taken in one day is 3 and those were at least 4 hours apart and I've only done that 2 days. The other days I've taken either 2 or 1 per day and one day I didn't take any. As I stated above, this was prescribed June 20 and I've taken a total of 28 pills (as I have 2 left).
The first day I took a total of 3 pills, was Monday, June 23. The other days that week I took either 1 or 2 per day. I don't get 'high', although I do get a little chatty, but mostly I notice that I'm mentally sluggish and tend to trip over my words. That Friday, June 27, I didn't take any. I felt horrible that day, but was going to the movies and didn't want to be drugged. I was horribly irritable. It can easily be said that it was from the pain, but I really don't know. The movie was too loud, it was loud in the theater, I am very sensitive to noise and smells and I used a little bit of hairspray that day and could smell it all night. It was making me sick. I couldn't filter out the noise and it was sounding just like a roar. The noise and smell issues are a constant with me. When I'm feeling worse, I have less tolerance, but it's always there to some degree.
This past Wednesday I started feeling really bad. Besides the pain, I just felt really ill all over. Thursday, was horrible. I only took 1 pain pill Thursday and that was around 5pm. I slept most of the day Thursday.
This does seem to be part of whatever is going on with me. This ebb and flow, the feeling ill, etc. Today, however, I felt awful. I felt so bad. I didn't want to stand up. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what. Just the kind of thing where you just want out of your body. But, I wasn't having pain in the sense I use the word. I had a lot of discomfort and it was pretty miserable, but not pain. I have been hot and cold all day. I woke up at 1am freezing and actually turned the furnace on. I turned it on again at 1pm. Then, I had the A/C on and it's been up and down all day. I've been on the couch with a blanket and it's been on and off me all day.
I was just feeling worse and noticed that my heart just really seemed to be thumping so I checked my BiPolar (BP) and pulse. My BiPolar (BP) was 186/106 and my resting pulse was 106. I went to the ER a few weeks ago (before the pain medications) with this thing and they didn't do anything so I wasn't in a big hurry to go again. However, I was feeling so bad that I was considering it. I called easy child home from his girlfriend's, as he had the car, and took a warm shower to see if that would relax me some. After the shower, my BiPolar (BP) did come down some - 166/100, but my resting pulse was 133. (!!!) Normal is between 60-80. So, I decided to take a nitro glycerin. I wasn't having angina, but I know it will bring down the BiPolar (BP) and pulse rate. Unfortunately, it also causes an incredibly, intense headache and so I took the nitro and my first pain pill today at around 9pm. It did bring my BiPolar (BP) down some more and brought my pulse down under 100.
Thing is, now I don't feel nearly so horrible. I suppose it could have been the nitro bringing down the BiPolar (BP) and pulse, but I have serious concerns that what I was experiencing all day was withdrawal from the hydrocodone.
I'm afraid to talk about this with my doctor. I'm not drug seeking. I didn't have a craving for the medication today and didn't take any because I wasn't having high levels of pain. But, I felt so horrible. I'm afraid if I bring this up with my doctor that she will be afraid to rx me anything and while I don't want to have dependency issues, the vicodin is the only way I've been able to function at all the last couple weeks. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been much more useful than if I were in a coma. Seriously. I could barely move and walk as it was WITH the pain medication. And, like I said, I'm not drug seeking. I'm just concerned that with my family history there is some kind of genetic predisposition to becoming dependent quicker and that what I experienced today was withdrawal.
I know that I will see how tomorrow goes, but I'm just really worried tonight and if anyone has any experience or insight, I'd like to hear them. If it ends up that I think over the next few days that this is becoming a dependency issue, I will have to find other alternatives for pain relief so any ideas on that would be appreciated as well.
Sorry this is so long. If you've made it this far, well, you really need a hobby.
TIA.