Posted by BarbaraCat on September 12, 2002, at 15:08:20
In reply to Re: Drugs Supplements » BarbaraCat, posted by ShelliR on September 12, 2002, at 0:01:23
Thanks so much for your kind post, Shelli. You are one whose messages I always look forward to reading. About oxycontin, it's kind of interesting. I too started on small doses of Vicodin, just a shaving here and there and it never went above 1/2 pill at a time. I used it mainly for feeling 'up'. If I had a hard day, or was tired and crabby, I could always rely on Vicodin to perk me up, whether I had pain or not. It didn't do much for the fibro pain, but it did alot for my spirits during those fibro flares. It would especially create a zippy-ness if I had a few glasses of wine. I wouldn't think of going to a 'do' without some Vico-fortification. Then I started getting stomach burning and some constipation which I mentioned to my primary care doc and he said that oxy didn't have the acetominophen which causes stomache complaints, and he also touted the long term pain relief benefits. Well, I said heck with the long term and just chew my pill up and then tuck the juice under my tongue to get an immediate hit (it's not too far from grinding and snorting it). I'm a Juice Junky, what can I say? I enjoy the good feeling, but am smart enough to know when to call a halt.
I must say that it does help the fibro pain alot, more so than any other med I've taken. But yes, there is a definite tolerance occurring that I'm being mindful of. It used to be that 1/2 pill would do the trick, and now I'm taking around 3 a day (when I take them - I am trying to be rationale about it). I find that I just 'want' more as the day goes on, more of the nice warm fuzzy feeling that I may or may not get, depending upon if Nepenthe smiles upon me. I'd actually like to be able to do Vicodin one day and oxy the next, just to confuse the addiction gremlins. However, my doc says 'oh no, you get one or the other'. I certainly can't discuss the lifting of mood effect with my pdoc, and he doesn't seem to appreciate how therapeutic that can be when in the midst of a bad time. I've most stupidly admitted to him that I had a great liking for opiods and he's put a screaching halt on anything that smacks of 'junkie' (although I never was). This was all before reading on these posts that morphine derivatives were being successfully used for intractable depressions and were not evil incarnate.
I also belong to many Fibromyalgia networks and much of the new evidence is saying that when there is a pain condition present, dosing with opiods to relieve the pain and becoming accustomed to that relief is not as big a problem as having nothing to relieve the pain - period! They say addiction can be dealth with, IF it occurs (more likely, the pain perceptors are going to soak it up pretty quickly), but for the most part, we're not getting adequate pain relief because of doctor's malpractice horror.
To answer you methadone question, no, I never have done methadone. Do you use it for pain relief, or other? BTW, the pain in your chest may be costochondroitis, an inflammation of the insertion place where the intercostal ligaments join to the breastbone. It's a bona-fide serious pain condition in it's own right, although I have it in a lessor form as part of the overall fibromyalgia makeup. However, I find it fascinating that you've associated it with your depression. I get a very discernable discomfort in my center when I'm really depressed, like a black first is grabbing and twisting. It's mainly in my solar plexus and heart chakra areas, so I know that it's telling me something.
Good luck with the Cod Oil. Are you taking the Carlson's Lemon Flavour? That seems to have a good ratio of EPA/DHA. Keep in touch, girl. - Barbara
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:111261
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020906/msgs/119651.html