The Discomfort Thread

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May 6th, 2015 at 8:24:58 AM permalink
terapined
Member since: Aug 6, 2014
Threads: 73
Posts: 11786
Only pain I expereience is Diverticulitis and its only ocasional.
Never take pain medication.
Usually goes away on its own.
Sometimes the pain is huge once every 5 years or so due to developed infection but anti-biotics takes care of it.
No pain medication.
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World"
May 6th, 2015 at 5:24:17 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Hope I'm not cutting off AZD, but while we wait, I suppose I'll jump into the back pain.

Mine is crushed disks. I swear I know exactly when I did it. I lost the edge snowboarding and came down butt first hard, right on the rise of a mogul. I hit so hard I sprayed my pants. I don't mean I pissed myself, I mean urine actually shot out with enough force I felt it strike my leg, though I felt no sensation of urination. I've been a "pain patient" pretty much ever since.

My pain manifests itself in an odd way. The worse is when it "cramps". I use quotations because it's not a cramp at all, but it feels exactly like it. A snap tightening to the point it feels like something is going to tear; it actually causes me to yelp or the air to catch in my throat when it happens. But I've felt it with my hand, there is no actual tensing of the muscle. The cramping comes with a certain type of use, mostly a case of hunching over. If it's a full hunch-to-straightening motion, such as you might do while shoveling, it comes on slowly and steadily. I could roof for hours before it really hits. But if it's a hunch and hold, like doing the dishes? Christ all Friday, doing the dishes is the 7th level of hell. Ain't take 10 minutes before I'm incapacitated.

Vicodin (vikes) work for me. Ain't a panacea or a cure, it still hurts. But it dulls it enough for me to get on with my day without crying in pain or falling into a pit of despair. It turns the knife into a dull throb, and that's good enough for me. I've been a regular user for over 10yrs, and I haven't had much problems with it. Addiction, in a psychological sense, hasn't been the tiniest bit of an issue. Dependency, in a physiological sense, has. I can quit at the drop of a hat and often do without being cranky or depressed or put out in any way. But I do get a reaction. The pain seems worse when it comes and I get itchy (typical of opiate withdrawal). Neither are life altering or really worth mentioning, as neither is severe.

There is a touch of sexual dysfunction. While it dulls pain receptors, it by necessity dulls all feelings. I don't notice bug bites, I'm nearly immune to tickling, and orgasms are more difficult to achieve because all the fine sensations are gone. Fortunately, "fixing" these side effects is as easy as quitting. Takes me a day, maybe two to go right back to normal.

There is also a threat of liver damage. Vikes are some sort of -done mixed with a ton of acetaminophen. A bity 5mg of -done typically comes with a hundred times that of ace, and ace damages the liver. If you end up a regular user like myself, it would behoove you to have annual blood testing with a liver workup, just to keep it in your sights.

Also on the dependency front, I highly suggest "clean weeks". It is biologically impossible to get around tolerance. If you demand them to work all day every day, there is no other conclusion than you're going to wind up taking 6-12-20 pills a day, and not only is that gonna shred your liver, you ain't gonna find a doc to keep you in supply. It's also gonna make those withdrawal symptoms all the worse, and I hear-tell that opiate withdrawal is the worst of all. I make it a point to go through "clean weeks" where I don't use at all. Minimum 7 days, no matter how much it hurts, so I can keep on the "one pill a day" usage and actually have them work. Happily (?) my last "clean week" is still going. After 11 years of constant usage, I haven't had but maybe 2 vikes in the last... 8 months. Wow. Been awhile =)

Don't want to write an essay so I'll stop. I do have a few non-drug solutions, but I'll wait for those. Y'all probably won't like them anyways ;)
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
May 6th, 2015 at 5:38:11 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Face
Hope I'm not cutting off AZD, but while we wait, I suppose I'll jump into the back pain.


Not at all, in fact I hate to be the only one so far.

Quote:
Vicodin (vikes) work for me. Ain't a panacea or a cure, it still hurts. But it dulls it enough for me to get on with my day without crying in pain or falling into a pit of despair. It turns the knife into a dull throb, and that's good enough for me. I've been a regular user for over 10yrs, and I haven't had much problems with it. Addiction, in a psychological sense, hasn't been the tiniest bit of an issue. Dependency, in a physiological sense, has. I can quit at the drop of a hat and often do without being cranky or depressed or put out in any way. But I do get a reaction. The pain seems worse when it comes and I get itchy (typical of opiate withdrawal). Neither are life altering or really worth mentioning, as neither is severe.


I do wonder what causes the dependency. I think some people can get hooked on drier lint, just in their personality. Vike helps not just pain but gives a cloudy feeling that lets you relax. I have used it for dental and kidney pain. After days in pain having it just vanish is often not enough. While it is not a phantom, it is hard to let your mind finally relax after days of throb-throb-throb.

Here is my next question. Does anyone use or know any herbs that help give a relaxed feeling? No, I am not talking the one that will get you in the klink. Not the other one, either. Too much processing. Talking legal stuff.
The President is a fink.
May 6th, 2015 at 5:45:38 PM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
I'm kinda glad to see the thread has went from discomfort and on to pain, I know nothing of comfort.

TP, speaking of diverticulitus. They told me when I woke up that that is the reason my colon burst [twice], it infected every organ in my gut cavity and I lost 28 lbs. in 8 days. Man that hurts.

I wasn't fat. That kind of infection eats the protein [muscle] away from the body. I hope you have it looked at, from inside if you haven't already.
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW
May 6th, 2015 at 6:03:30 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: AZDuffman

I do wonder what causes the dependency. I think some people can get hooked on drier lint, just in their personality. Vike helps not just pain but gives a cloudy feeling that lets you relax. I have used it for dental and kidney pain. After days in pain having it just vanish is often not enough. While it is not a phantom, it is hard to let your mind finally relax after days of throb-throb-throb.


See, I'm exactly opposite. Vikes wire me as if I was a ten yr old who just had his first can of Mt Dew. So much in fact that I have to plan my usage around my activities. I had to take them around or during the time of activity, such as work, hockey, or fishing, and I could not take them within 6-8hrs of when I planned to bed. There is no relax or mellow. It's "PING! I'M READY!" lol. Dunno why, but doc says it affects 1-2% of users this way. Lucky me =)

But before we go on, because it's going to referenced constantly, I think it would behoove us to define "addiction" and "dependency", because they are two different things that people often incorrectly interchange. These are rough definitions, but it should help us as we progress.

"Addiction" is a mental process; a mental disease, really. It is a change of mental processes that can have some seriously dire effects. Your brain changes and begins to equate the input from drugs as a necessary requirement, on par with thirst or hunger. Your brain literally thinks it needs it to survive. This is a mental disease that does not go away. It absolutely requires treatment to overcome.

"Dependency" is more a physical process. It's the body's physical adaptation to the input from drugs. It's tolerance, and it's withdrawal. There is no treatment or rehabilitation needed to get past dependency. You simply stop, feel "off", and then get better. Many if not all of us are "dependent" on sugar, caffeine, and plenty of other everyday substances. Being dependent absolutely does not equal being addicted.

Hopefully this will sort of keep things clear in the future, so we can state and ask what we mean without becoming confused.

As for your question, dependency is simply a biological process. The same as running a finger down your side tickles, but if you do it over and over and over again, you soon become numb to it. Your sensors become "burnt out" from constant stimulus. It takes more stimulus to set them off and have them register an input. That is dependency in a nut shell, and why a one-pill-a-day habit often turns into 10 a day.

I suspect you rather meant what causes addiction. That is harder. I mean, it's caused by the rewiring of the brain, making it consider drugs on the same level it considers breathing or eating. But the how and why behind that I don't think has been solved. Some indeed are simply more susceptible. It is confirmed that it is guided in some part by genetics. Unfortunately, I think the only test for it is actually testing it by using. If not by you personally, then by looking at family. But I don't think they can yet look at DNA and say "yup, you got the hook".
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
May 6th, 2015 at 6:10:23 PM permalink
rxwine
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 188
Posts: 18632
Aspirin.

I sometimes take aspirin to sleep. It really does help (me).

My theory is, I've gotten so used to minor aches and pains that I don't really notice them. But the aspirin deadens them, thus I sleep better if I take it.

Not so great if the starting point for your pain relief is morphine, but works for me.
You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?
May 6th, 2015 at 6:13:14 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
I took a few vikes when I was in pain
from an operation. Didn't like the out
of it feeling and sold the rest to friend
who was addicted to them. They made
me feel 'shut down' if that makes sense.

My friend was weird, he was terrified of
dying and took vikes to deal with it.
He was a smoker and ended dying from
cigs in his early 40's. Ironic to say the least.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
May 6th, 2015 at 8:04:18 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Not to derail, but I found this so perfectly beautiful and perfectly applicable to this thread that I just had to share. Loan me 5 minutes, won't you?



Sums it all up just about perfectly, doesn't it? I'm sure at least petro will agree.

It's likely too late for most if not all of us. But perhaps we can infuse some knowledge into our sons and grandsons, so they, too, know the price of being a winner.
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
May 6th, 2015 at 8:22:43 PM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
Thanks for knowing.

I don't know if I have ever heard it sober before?
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW
May 6th, 2015 at 8:36:48 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Face
so they, too, know the price of being a winner.


Is it winner or weiner. Is there a difference.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
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