I've gotten off hard opiods after many months of repeated surgeries. The worst flu doesn't do it justice even a little, it's so much worse and that doesn't even consider the physical craving that last for multiple weeks. Then you have the mental aspect.... After that, I understand how people get to such a bad place in such addiction. People who have no clue just have no clue and talk out of their ass. Sure there's plenty of junkies that have only themselves to blame, but there's an absolute TON that got started by Dr feelgood in their small town and sent them down a horrid path. Big pharma has an absolutely massive role in all this scourge that has a whole nation gripped so tightly. We can also say this same thing about the massive number of fat asses we have , or the drunks we have, ect.... Trump is the only person on a national level that has even tried to address this, and our current administration knowingly allows chicoms to ship it right in here by way of the cartels. Absolutely sickening
Most of the people who are dying from this stuff are young people that have never been injured or had anything prescribed to them for pain. You are working hard to link two entirely different groups of people to this fentanyl problem. All of this outrage without a single bit of it directed towards the government that’s welcoming it across the border by truck loads.
And yes, I know only too well about opioid use. You can call me an expert at this point. I’m not proud of it, but I don’t really see how anybody has a choice initially.
After they reattached my leg, and the other surgeries involved in trying to make me whole again - it was a long, slow, painful road. My back is still screwed, one leg is shorter than the other, there’s nerve damage and the ankle is fused, but no more surgeries. Long-term opioid use destroys everything, and changes your personality - and not for the best. After years of stronger and stronger prescriptions I had to do something! None of it is my, or anybody else’s friend. My doctor tried cutting the dosages back, but I ended up just eating more of it, then screaming for more refills. That cycle was terrible also.
After reading a study about long-term pain and opioid use, I chose to fight through it without meds. Cold turkey. Not even aspirin. Not because I’m some tough guy, but because I figured out that just like the study said - MY brain amplified the perceived pain to cause me to want the meds. That’s the addiction part. That’s the part that must be fixed. I didn’t see any other way than just stopping, and suffering through it. I was a complete wreck for awhile. It was very bad. It was worth it.
No, it was not easy!
Yes, there is still pain. That’s never going to change. Some days are better than others.
Now with no meds at all though, the pain actually feels much less intense, but it certainly didn’t get that way overnight. I no longer even think about “if I just had something to take the edge off”. That includes drinking too! Trading one crutch for another is no gain. Life sucks, but it’ll be over soon enough anyway. Make the most of it.
If anybody else out there is on opioids for pain - consider going without.
Don’t just try. Do it!
You’ll be way better off in the long run.
These, above, actually know of what they're speaking.
How do I know this for fact? Because I too know EXACTLY what they're saying. I didn't choose to get 'drove-into' and I sure as hell didn't volunteer to spend many months in the hospital, practically immobile because everything except my left-arm was broken. I didn't ASK to be 're-learned how to walk again, the following Spring'.
But when I got out of the hospital, and simply decided to 'not get re-fills' on the 2 pills they were giving me every 2 hours for the past bunch of months....that turned into the worst week of my life. It wasn't until I was going to do some laundry (had nothing left that was clean-you figure it out) and was going through pockets where I found a 'go-pack' of 1 single pill wrapped up in Saran-Wrap that I'd forgotten about. It was purely out of desparation and lack of anything else that helped, that I took that 1 pill.
And a half-an-hour later, "all was well with the world...."
Right then and there, is where the lesson began. That lesson being, there is a HUGE-ASSED difference between "addiction" and "dependency". I learned right there, that my body was DEPENDENT on that medication. Quitting cold-turkey was HELL. But from that point on, I learned that I had to stick-it-out and carry-through.... and continue doing the cold-turkey thing.
Literally crawling on the floor, because you can't walk. literally sleeping on the floor because you can't physically get up and in to bed.
One hell of a learning experience, let me tell you. And all those times when in the hospital, I'd asked 'since I'm taking all these meds, why aren't I getting 'stoned' and such"? Their answer/response was always "because you're in so much pain and so many things are broken/wrong with your body, that it is working on all that stuff. If you DIDN'T Have anything wrong, THEN you'd get the 'effect' in your brain."
I can't tell you how many nurses told me that, over the months. Most of it is factually true. Except for the fact that they didn't tell me anything about 'dependency' and such.
Now, had I CHOSEN to go out and get more meds, then I would have been an addict. I personally CHOSE to not be an addict. Hence why I haven't had any of them meds, ever since. Do I get to have the fun of daily discomfort? YES. Do I get to have the fun of constant pain? YES. Do I get to have the consolation prize of "any time I attempt to do anything like what I used to do, when I was a certified Tradesman and it HURT LIKE HELL"? YES.
But I'm still alive. I still HAVE both my legs, and can still sorta-kinda use 'em. My pelvis is still separated, and it still flexes/wobbles when I walk/stand and such, and that SUCKS ASS but I'm still alive.
So yeah, those guys above DO know what they're talking about. I do too. And none of us chose to be an addict. Which is why we aren't addicts.
There's a hell of a difference, but there's a hell of an apprenticeship to get THAT ticket.
I chose to not be dependent.