signs that you take too much PK meds

[tristanWW18]

Hi there everyone… I would like to talk with you and ask what do you think are the signs that you are starting to over do the pain killers? The reason why I am asking this is that, of course, I am afraid that I start to over do on pain killers and I want to know what in your opinion means overdoing on them at all… the reason I even started to take them is that I am trying my best now to get over spine fusion… I have truly been in a lot of pain since I have had my surgery and I can call that I am going through a really bad recovery since this kind of pain is ruining my life, which is why I started to take medications for killing the pains, such medications as Soma 350 for the muscle spasms, I am taking also fentanyl 48 hours, I am using Dilaudid 4 mg PRN as well as oxycontin 10 mg IR PRN. And yeah, I must also add that I have been drinking grape fruit juice as well. I do know that there is quite a bit of fuss around it. Whatever the case I started to think that I over do it because, actually, my head has started to spin right now and that’s after I have taken the soma. I can’t continue like this anymore so I do know that I am going to go to sleep soon… but I just can’t… the thing what’s really annoying is that I am now in pains and I am still buzzing very hard. I mean… I do think that this is not right when the buzz’s here along with the pain… that’s the kind of pain that I have… and that’s how bad it is.

 

I can also mention that one plus besides my tolerance it is that I am having a O2 concentrator that I am normally having it set to 2 LPM and that I am using it whenever I hit the hay. I know it is all bad and it is really hard to deal with… I mean, this is really hard… it is now really late here but I am having something scheduled for tomorrow morning and I’m still here, although my head is spinning, writing this… I just can’t sleep. And yeah, it is obvious that the ‘my head is spinning’ it is already a good sign that I am already over doing it, however the soma is doing the job pretty nice for me and from as much as it seems, the dilaudid must have caught up too.

 

I just hope that I am now going to go to bed and that I would be able to sleep which is so important for me now. Then I would go to the PT scheduled for tomorrow and hope I would get some positive news. Up until then I hope that someone would be kind enough to reply here and to tell me… what’s a giveaway sign that you are already getting way too far onto the pain killer medications?! Of course, needless to mention, I do not want to overdo it, in fact, I can say that if I would have this possibility – I wouldn’t take it at all, however I MUST take it because I have to stay ahead of the pain because if I don’t, I am not able to be functional at all, my life is getting pretty much like a vegetable life and I am not able to sleep which is so important, I think, for healing. That’s why I said earlier that going to sleep is so important for me. And I would really want to sleep longer as I am feeling that the longer I sleep, the healed I am getting… or I hope this to be true.
Anyway… someone has any thoughts on this? Or maybe even some recommendations if there are any? I mean, how I can stay away from the pains and to take as little as possible, especially not to overdo it. And also I must mention that, honestly, I do not really want to pick up Narcan or anything in that matter. I am not very sure that I can, to be honest. I mean, I did have tried it already, back then I used to think that I can when I firstly tried it, however I have had such an awful response to it that I just couldn’t be able to deal with. I wanted to get it (and I did) for emergencies should I screw up or asthma is definitely going to kick in immediately at night.

 

Thank you very much in advance. I really hope a lot that I am going to get some responses here. Not ready to kick yet, to be honest. I am thinking that I already should have done that at the hospital when they have completely crewed up on the pain management. Too bad for me I’m like that… its unbelievable hard to deal with it. At least, harder than I thought it is.

 

[hallov]

I am not very sure what overdoing means for others but I have experienced it myself once and the only thing that I can remember which showed me (kind of proved) that I overdone it was the fact that I was barely able to breathe. In fact, I have actually had to FIGHT in order to breathe, that’s how bad it was. Plus to that, I remember that I have been all fully awake but I was still not able to move, it was like I have been in some kind of a funky sleep paralysis mode or something. That was very strange, and I never went through anything similar. It induced anxiety and fear in me… in fact, of course it did, I don’t know who would be calm in such situations when you are all awake but you are not able to move and you are not able to breathe… so scary… my heart was all racing like crazy, I was thinking that I am dying or something. For a second I thought that I’m already dead because fighting so much to breath in the time that your heart is racing so much while you can’t move… that does seem to be like death, or at least it seemed to me. Obviously I have overdone it back then… I took a too big dose because I was in a really big amount of pains. Hope I will never experience that again and I wish nobody of you to ever experience such thing.

 

[Webster]

The racing heart might have something to do with that… not sure about the sleep paralysis, but the heart racing might do have something… that’s because I am getting sweaty and clammy. I am getting sweaty, I guess, because of the fact that my heart is racing… not sure, but it does seems like overdoing the pain killers can do it. Whichever the case, I know that the signs for me are those ones. And generally, overdoing the pain killers really sucks.

 

[WmTom]

Well… I personally am thinking that to use any dose of any pain killer drug that means that you are already over doing it – that would have been said only in a perfect world where everything is possible but more importantly where there would be no such things as pains in such a world. I would absolutely hate and detest any pain killers because of their side effects if there would be such a world without no pains. Unfortunately, we are not living in such a world, and oftentimes, they are really helpful. Whenever you are being in the pains, the narcotic pain killers are only making it to be just a little bit better, all of us who were in pains and took them already know it… at least I surely do. I have taken a lot of them (unfortunately) just to be able to get through all of those pains and through my illness.

 

Plus to that, I have also went over a lot of years and switched to a lot of pain doctors and also went through all of those darn laws out there that appeared and that made it and still continues to make it harder and harder to get anything… I mean, anything else other than just some kind of freaked up non narcotic pain killer that it is doing absolutely no job for the pains and doesn’t even touches it… but instead of giving you the benefit of relieving the pains (because that’s ultimately what we are searching for only, that’s why we take them) it only gives you some god awful side effects… and if you take them for longer period of time – they can even give you permanent damage to your organs. Anyway…. I am very fortunate (I really think so) that I am able to be nearly 100% off from all the pain medications a little bit more than 9 months now and I am having to go through a lot of crap in order to get those very few pills (only 10) that, I really want with all my heart to kick it all together, but when you are constantly trying to deal with the pains, that’s something that I have learned to do by just trying to limit as much as I can those actions that are giving/ worsening/ increasing the pains. And I tell you – it does seem to work. The problem is that, of course, there are still some bad days and it doesn’t really matter what I am trying to do in order to avoid getting them.

 

Plus to that, I am also having some quite bad headaches nearly on a daily basis as well. But with these ones, generally, I am trying to deal myself by toughing them out. Usually I am dealing with them like that but that’s until I can’t take no more and I am starting to puke. Whenever this happens I know that it is a sign that I must take the medications. Whichever the case, I tell you guys – that’s a really hard call due to the fact that everyone is having all different medical issues. I can tell you from the last 20 year of experience that I have with them that I have realized one thing… it is that daily pain management did has helped me to relief pain and it has helped me to be much more active either… however as amazing as it sounds, I still must use it in moderation and that’s because just in case I am going to overdo it, I am going to have some quite severe consequences that I really do not want to have…  this is the reason why I am currently using it now only for those bad days that I can’t go through without them… for the bad days that are bad enough for me to take the medications, but they are still not SO bad enough to go to the ER, because there are also those absolute worst days when I need to go to ER. And so, then later I have realized one very important thing and it is that the biggest change that I needed to make has been that I must change the expectations of myself….

 

What I am trying to say with all of that is that the thing of not overdoing the pain killers, back then, meant something that it is completely different from what it does now as far as level of the activity as well as other obligations I have done because of my own personality, and so, in order to make the very long story a bit shorter I must tell you that… even though I sued to think in the past that I am never going to say anything similar to this but… you must read and carefully listen to your own body because everyone’s bodies are different which means that… off… that’s really unbelievable I tell you this but… for someone out there saying not to PK and using such kind of very simplest things like for example ice and heat… that might be just enough. I do know… it can be very hard to understand what I try to say… it was so hard that it has taken me more than 20 years in order to finally realize this and to get to this very point I am now and that I try to share with you people here.

 

With all I went through I can also tell you… trust me, to get off those pain drugs daily has not been that hard, or at least not the worst thing to do… however I am still having those god darn days when I just want to do some more… there are still such days.. and I have to hold myself bac and stay away from them. What I can recommend you is that keeping a stable regimented life really does help a lot with this so I would recommend you trying to keep a stable regimented life. Anyway, just try to keep your heads up and I am really hoping a lot that I have made a little bit here…. It is just the fact that I find it quite hard to explain a point of view without giving away your entire life story, usually, from as much as I know, they are direct co –related with one another. Once again, hope this helps.

 

[fakeman]

Oh wow… you have got sleep paralysis because of taking too much pain killers? That’s just unbelievable… yikes.. that must be very scary… it is terrible. I did have had sleep paralysis and it is indeed a awful experience, but I never thought that it can possibly be medication related. That’s just another reason of not overdoing it… that would be very scary. Hope you’re all fine now and wish the same to all of you people. Pain medications are definitely nothing to play around with, but unfortunately, we just can’t live without them when the pain is taking over your life.

 

[Thadestal63]

Hey there everyone, I would recommend you to be very careful with the Soma. Soma can be exactly as dangerous as helpful it can be. I personally have been a chronic pain patient for pretty lots of years, however I have learned that mixing Soma or some benzo (or maybe all, not sure) to an acute pain situation that would be really leery, and can have a bad outcome, even if you do, talk to your doctor about it first and ask whether is it safe to take soma with the cocktail that you already take. All the best to you.

 

[FlyBird]

Very well, I can say that nearly any amount out there that it is going to make you to pass out and to go numb it is already way too much in my opinion. Of course I am not an expert, but going numb isn’t a good thing, and generally that’s not why pain killers are being intended to be taken for, in my opinion. I am also being scheduled to have a back surgery in some months (this summer) and I did  some research so I can say that personally for me, the right amount of medications it is that amount that it is taking my pains down to a point where I am able to function normally on a regular basis without being constantly distracted by the pains, but in the same time, not to go numb, otherwise I can’t work. In short, there needs to be some kind of an ‘balance’. It might be a hard job, I know, but we’ve gotta find that ‘sweet point’ in which you can normally and properly do your stuff, without pains and without numbness. But yeah, I was already been told by my doctor that honestly, after the surgery, I am definitely going to have at least some pains. My doctor is a super good doctor who tried to help and doesn’t feed me with some kind of false expectations like telling me that there are chances that I would feel no pains. He told me that there WILL be pains. It is actually good that it is helping us to keep away from over doing it. That’s good.

 

It is obvious that I am already having pains (which is why I agreed to the surgery) and I have gotten to such a point when I am only using a few anti inflammatory medication as well as only a very light narcotic (and in a low dose) just a couple times a day in order to function normally. These 2 in combination does seem to do a good job and that’s because I am feeling a lot much more better living without my head being constantly in a fog, but also not being in the agony from the pains. I do not go numb (brain fog or something) and I do function. That’s enough for me. However, one sure thing that I know is that it is really hard to taper back down when you are having pains… that’s ‘cuz I do know that it is feeling like you are being in even more pains that you used to be in the past before the narcotics… even though it might not be like that. The reason is that you’ve simply got used to the narcotic pain killers. So besides the thing that you’re already in pains, you are already going mad because of the withdrawals symptoms. I just know, unfortunately, that there are different situations… in the end, I am only thinking that the least amount that you are able to take – that’s the best amount. Generally with the medication it always applies – the least the better.

 

The worst of them all is that we all know pretty well that one back surgery is only leading to another, unfortunately, and regardless of how much we think this is not true – this is… in short, we are standing very little chances that we would ever go back to normal and we must face it, we must accept it. This is the reason why I am quite sure now that I am going to need pain medications for my entire life, and this is the reason why I don’t really want to get it higher now than I should until later, otherwise it would be even harder for me later. Hope this would be any helpful for you.