Posted by Donna on October 27, 2001 at 12:08:42:
Hello all. I sincerely hope that I didn't offend anyone with my F.Y.I. post of yesterday. That is not my intention. And as I have said before, if it works for you.......Good!..... But be careful.
Pappy, you know that I love you and by knowing you, have learned that there are kind, sensitive, intellegent people who know how to control and use these meds to their advantage and not the other way around.
It's people who come on here touting their one and only "cure" to their headaches or their drug cocktails used only for clusters. It's not the people with chronic (other then ch, like perhaps a cancer) illnesses that I react too. These drug touters I am afraid, will encourage other unknowledgable people into the web of drug addiction.
So people, don't get mean. We all have our own stories to tell, our own reasons for how we react. Some statements that we make might be wrong but they are all worth looking up. I was accused of not knowing what I am talking about, but the truth is, I did extensive research and I will soon post links to that information. You can be the judge as to whether it is or is not the truth.
The information that I posted was aquired due to the addiction of someone very close to me.
He had a back injury about 5 years ago, was prescribed Vic and Oxy and hydrocodone, yes all three, and yes I know how closely they are related. He soon learned that there was a vast market place out there where young and old people were buying and selling at $10 & $20 bucks a pop.
When he wanted a higer dose, his doc gave it to him. Soon he was taking almost double the amount
he had started at.
His cousin was taking them too, for a leg injury, and the cousin had his wife and sisters going to the doc, faking injurys to get more for him. The cousin was also changing prescrips for quantities of 60 to 160 and making a little profit for himself. He was caught doing this and slapped on the wrist.
And several guys that he worked with are addicted
and so are some of their wives.
He finally realized that his life was out of control, and how much money he had wasted He decided to quit.
By the third day he was in pain, he had sunken eyes, couldn't keep out of the bathroom, every bone in his body ached and he had the shakes. The fourth day he was in the ER. They told him that one does not quit cold turkey. That seizures, coma and death could follow.
So he went to a pain management clinic where he learned about the destruction of the receptors of the brain that allow the pleasurable feelings. How the ends close up because the drug provides the chemical needed and the receptors are no longer needed. How, when treatment is complete, there is another drug ( very expensive) that teases these receptors open again, but most people are not aware of this treatment.
The pain management clinic didn't last very long and my family person was back to the doc.
Believe me, I researched everything that I could possibly get my hands on and talked to several medical people.
A year later, he decided to go the Meth. Clinic route. They wanted to start him out at 60mg per day, but he wanted to start at 35 just to see if he could handle a lower dose and get off quicker.
After stabilizing, he's now on a 50mg per day dose. Everyone going there that he has talked with, has been going for years and are up around 100mgs per day, with no desire to ever quit. And the clinic is perfectly willing for this to happen. They say they are keeping it off the streets, lowering crime rates, etc.
There are mandatory meetings which he can't always get to. The clinic is 50 miles away and he goes once a day, every day. To come back again would mean not working. It's such a f&(*^d-up mess. So now he is on probation and is being detoxed-at the rate of 3mgs every three days.
You know what? I'm scared.