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Living in Pain PDF Print E-mail
Story by SharkdMark
Addictions

 

pain-vicodin

About two years ago I was involved in a serious car crash. I was coming home from work and was stopped at a red light when a car came behind me full speed and hit me head on. The driver of the car fled the scene of the accident and didn't bother to check if he/she left me dead or alive. The impact of the crash was so strong I actually lost consciousness. The crazy thing is my wife heard the accident because I was at an intersection right by our house. If only I wasn't stuck at that red light I would've been safe at home and not in this situation.

The only thing I remember is waking up in the hospital surrounded by my family. When I finally came to, I was in a lot of pain. I suffered a broken arm, and a broken nose and a back injury. The doctors told me it could have been much worse and I was lucky to be alive.  The police estimated the driver of the other car was going about 50 mph. They never found the person responsible for the accident. I will never understand how someone could leave a scene of an accident and not care if they seriously hurt or even killed another human being. 

I have to assume he or she got scared and didn't want to be arrested. For all I know they could have been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and didn't want to be caught. I don't understand how they could go on with their life as if nothing happened. Forget the fact that I was out of work for months, but I'm still stuck paying on my hospital bill. I still live with pain everyday since the accident. I've had physical therapy, even saw a chiropractor but nothing seems to take the pain away completely accept for the pain killers. 

I take Vicodin on a daily basis. I wonder if eventually I'll be off the pain killers because it's not cheap to keep filling my prescriptions.  My wife is worried that I could become addicted to Vicodin. She saw an Oprah show about a guy that got hurt and became addicted to pain meds. She wants me to try not taking Vicodin everyday but at this point it's not going to happen. I need to take it because my back kills me if I don't, and I can't function without it.

I think eventually I'll be able to stop taking pain meds but my wife is on a journey to get me there faster. She's always online looking for ways  to have me go off prescriptions drugs. She wants me to go see a massage therapist, an acupuncturist, you name it. I have little faith in any of these methods but I'll try it. I personally don't think I have a problem with drugs at all. I would never be on pain meds in the first place if the person driving that night stopped at the red light.  Instead he or she plowed right through and almost killed me. Lucky for me it was late and hardly anyone was on the road, because if another car hit me I wouldn't be here to write this story.   

 
 

Comments  

 
0 #7 advice — Chance1 2011-07-06 16:15
I don't know you personally, but I do know that a lot of people become addicts and addicted to pain meds simply because they were injured and were prescribed medicine. Some cases within 6 months. Eventually, if you try to stop taking the vicoden cold turkey, you will have withdrawls just because the opiates in the pill have created more receptors in your brain, and those receptors need to be filled on a daily/hourly basis in some cases.

When people take opiates, they fill the receptors in their brain, and then when you take more, it makes more receptors which need to be filled with opiates. So it's a recurring circle. When you stop taking opiates and those receptors are not being filled to the amount they need to be filled, a withdraw starts to take effect. Once a person has withdrawl symptoms, there is not much you can do, but simply go through the days/ sometimes weeks of leg spasm, cramping, running nose, anxiety, diarrhea, etc. Your wife is right, try something else.
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0 #6 RE: Living in Pain — Leonna 2011-04-14 09:49
Taking pain medication can always create a problem! I speak from my own personal health issues. Doctors know that giving pain meds can and does create addiction issues, it doesn't mean you shouldn't take them... but, be cautious taking them. One should always take the medication the way a Dr. prescribes it, even if it means waking up during the night. Through my last surgery, I chose my husband to administer my meds, it made the whole process much easier!

Ya see what happens when meds aren't taken like they should be, creates pain spikes which are very difficult to correct once out of hand. Pain spikes compel an individual to think they should take much more than needed. I find that towards the end of taking my pain meds, I start extending the times between doses, as well as, replacing my pain med dose with over the counter pain meds. It seems to work. One more thing, I have found that my pain almost always increases to a crippling point if I just, all of a sudden, quit taking my pain meds... which most people do!

There's some studies going on regarding how some pain meds can create more pain. I believe this is very true. Many times I would get a horrible migraine while taking Vicodin, or terrible pain after stopping the meds. Always let your doctor know about this, he can help ramp you off of your medication, making it much easier to stop.
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0 #5 Living in Pain — Bobi1229 2010-12-31 19:46
Hey, I hear you & feel for you. I broke my leg twice, had a broken arm set, re-broken & re-set. The physical therapy made the pain even worse, which I had to stop going to because I began to experience blazing neck and head pain that I never had before.

Now, 2 years later, the pain from my neck & head is beginning to subside.Had my ribs broken, my hand, and concussions (don't ask, it's all past now)
But, I would not take pain meds, I come from a family of addicts. I continued to line dance, & work, never ever giving in to the pain. Strong mind and low & behold, the dancing would place me in a state of natural high, adrenalin (sp) flowed, & I just had so much fun with the teacher & my fellow friends/students, that soon I healed & moved on.

Not saying this is for everyone, only that there are other means to work through pain, each of us must, must, find our way, in order not to let society tell us what we should have done or put into our bodies to get well. Prior to all these meds we used old fashioned homemade remedies & had to work the fields to eat & feed our young, and we survived pretty well.

My dad lived to 85 without doctors or meds of any kind, he didn't believe they knew more than he & his family. Aspirin was his cure all.
Please take care of yourself & believe. My prayers for you & your family
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+9 #4 reply — Guest 2010-07-07 16:39
This is a tough subject for me because my friend of many years had an addiction to pain killers. He comitted suicide last year because his pain was too much for him to handle. I think the above posters are wrong to say no one gets addicted because they are in pain they just want to get high. My friend sure as hell didn't want to get high he wanted the pain to stop so he could live a "normal" life. The doctors couldn't perform surgery on his spine because it was a dangerous procedure that was almost sure to kill him or leave him paralized. So his only option was pain killers. Was he addicted? Yes, he was but again it was the body's way of getting used to the meds and so he would have to take more and more as he had built up a tolerence to the drugs. He hated that his life was controlled by the drugs. He wanted to go out and have fun and make money as a musician. He was gifted but his ailments made it so he could not have his own band or play in mine because he couldn't stand for long. He had no choice but to take his prescriptions as he was instructed to do. He built up an immunity to them and I later found out he resorted to Heroin in the last days of his life. I detest drugs and have for most of my life they have stolen a lot of my friends from my life. Do I blame my friend for his addiction or even taking his own life? No, he was in a lot of pain and couldn't handle it anymore so those that say Script addicts just want to get high read this story and have a heart. Sometimes what happens to our lives is not our fault and we deal with it the only way we can at the time.
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0 #3 Gorgeous nana — Guest 2010-06-21 00:20
People that are in pain don't get addicted to pain killers but people that want to get high on pain killers do get addicted because they want more pain killers to get even more high. I am on pain meds for a chronic pain condition and I don't get high and I don't crave pain killers or drugs but I do know when the pain starts in. I can't even move or walk or even get out of bed because of the pain is so excrutiating that it's time to take my pain meds. I don't overdose on my meds and I take them like the doctor says to. Good luck to you and I hope your wife stops hounding you. She needs to be in the pain that you are for a while and then see if she gets it! I'll bet she wouldn't be trying to get you to stop taking your pain meds.
If she knew what the pain felt like!! Good Luck and I pray for a pain free life for all who suffer from pain.
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+8 #2 not addicted (i say) — Guest 2010-05-24 18:26
You can't say he is addicted and until you have lived a life suffering in physical pain, don't tell someone that they are addicted! Of course he likes the feeling it gives compared to the pain. Everyone deals w/ pain differently but from personal experience when it it EVERYDAY and untreatable we get desperate to try and feel normal again!
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-8 #1 Luck wasn't in the equation — Guest 2010-05-24 11:27
You were blessed! Yes you're definitely addicted and in denial. You don't really want to get off and that's because you whether you admit it or not like the way they make you feel. I know people with broken backs who don't live on meds everyday. There are many ways to come off to include deep relaxation therapy to learn how to not allow the pain to over take you. If you don't want to get off why bother doing anything at all. In the end you'll wish you had of gotten off.
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