To wish I always felt like I did on painkillers...

[StormcloakNord]

Bit of a random one - I have horrific periods so once a month, for three days I take paracetamol and dihydrocodeine. This gets me over the worst of the pain, and whilst the doctor said it would be okay, I don't like taking it for any more than three days.

Also worth noting I suffer with depression and have for years, on medication etc.

Ive noticed that for those three days of each month I'm a happier person. The painkillers make me feel ever so slightly spaced out but not enough to notice in my speech, behaviour etc. I just feel so much happier in myself, more calm etc.

I don't really know what I'm asking here... I just wish I was always that happy/content/calm. Im on an even keel with the anti-depressants but I rarely feel properly happy.

@toystoyseverywhere the stigma unfortunately comes when people start to talk about taking these medications for fun, the nice 'fuzzy feeling' (as pps have said) and not for the medical reasons you need them for to maintain a quality of life.

It's not helpful when people start to glamourise the effects of this type of medication, for people like yourself who need them but also for people suffering addiction.

I was prescribed it from age 16 for menstrual pain, it’s like jumping in a warm bath . Took away all the pain I had but also calmed me down - normally I’m highly anxious and stressed . I still take it for three days of period pain but only if acutely in agony ie making dying horse noises . Otherwise try to breathe through it .

Got given oramorph in hospital alongside gabapentin and couldn’t get my head off the pillow a few times . It’s lovely, lovely stuff . Though both caused hallucinations - had a horrible morning once where I was convinced I was dead ... that wasn’t much fun .

I also ended up heavily addicted to codeine and had to go through withdrawal which was hell - remember lying on hallway floor with feeling like restless legs but all over, chronic severe diarrhoea and in absolute agony .

Fentanyl had the weirdest effect once though - was having a coil fitted under spinal anaesthetic - consultant’s head was obviously between my knees, so only about 2 foot from me - to me she was 2 miles away - I remember saying to anaesthetist and saying, tell her to speak up, she’s too bloody far away and I’ve no idea what she’s saying !!

@LoveFall I'm sorry for frightening you - I was just trying to make the point that there are lots of non-opioids that cause physical and psychological dependency that aren't stigmatised in the same way. And lots of them people aren't even aware cause dependency.

You really should have been warned by your prescriber not to stop taking pregabalin suddenly, but at least you know now!

The switch to doctors prescribing gabapentin and pregabalin instead of opioids has led to a corresponding rise in the misuse of those two drugs and people selling them on the black market. Which is why their status was changed over here.

There are lots of people who assume because they're not opioids - and they're often being prescribed specifically to avoid opioids - that they must not cause dependency or have any cessation effects. Unfortunately that's not the case.

Interestingly, a pp queried whether the op wouldn't be better off being prescribed anti-depressants - many of those drugs cause dependency too and have severe cessation effects if you don't taper.

It's not black and white.

Thank you @user16395699, I appreciate your knowledge and candor. My sister is a hospital pharmacist, now in the US and she is a great help sometimes too.

I am grateful I don't seem to have dependency issues but the pregabalin has helped my sleep so much. I had major surgery last year, and a bad post op infection, and recovery has been hard even without the pandemic. Stopping my legs jumping around has been a godsend. I cannot take NSAIDs, which used to help, because of borderline kidney function.

My work has exposed me to many people with chronic pain and dependency on opioids or even cannabis can be a huge detriment to recovery and getting back to life. I truly feel sorry for the medical practitioners who have to be the gate keepers. They received a lot of misinformation about opioids in the 89s and now are struggling to pull it back.

I am well and truly persuaded that opioids should be short term if at all possible.

I have just taken 2 weeks of Tramadol for a back injury. I took about half of what was prescribed over a 14 day period. Felt very sick for a couple of days and then was fine, just sleepy. However when I stopped them I had withdrawal for 48-72 hours which was awful, proper withdrawal shivers and sweats, felt like I had bad flu, restless legs but all over didn’t sleep at all for 2 nights I just felt awful in myself, never again. And that was just after 2 weeks!

Am I the only person who finds this thread a little dangerous and irresponsible? A close family member died after abusing an above mentioned OTC painkiller for years. Those of you who have described all your lovely fuzzy buzzes that you’ve had from painkillers, and those of you that have described how they can ease anxiety, could very well have triggered someone to either start using or go back to using. Some of you have even named some of the drugs you can easily get over the counter! OP, you say that you have a healthy relationship with painkillers but the fact that you’ve started a whole thread about how lovely they are shows that you really don’t. I really hope that the UK follows Australia’s lead and makes any OTC codeine prescription only. Just Google OTC codeine addiction and read the horror stories. It’s horrific! Of course there are people out there that live their lives in constant pain who need painkillers every day, but if that’s the case, they should be under the care of a doctor and should be able to access the medicine they need responsibly.

Codeine just sends me straight to sleep, total zombie effect. Tramadol on the other hand - that stuff is amazing. Although the happy mood may have been because I wasn’t in pain any more?

I take pregabalin, and I will always need it, so I don’t suppose it matters that I’m addicted to it.

After my last c section the pain was awful, gp prescribed co codamol, so between that and the hormones.. well I was on cloud 99 plenty left in the cupboard and I know the Gp would give me more but yes what a slippery slope I don’t fancy slipping down… as warm and fuzzy and safe as they make you feel, I’m lucky to say I won’t be relying on them as the pain is much better now

I took tramadol instead of paracetamol when I was a teen. Dad had them prescribed after an op. I slept for 96 hours after on the sofa. Family thought it hilarious, everybody had been around, nan did Sunday dinner for 20 as per. All sat eating it around me. I'd love that feeling again. Prob best I don't try for it

It's hard reading threads like this when you are reliant on opioids for chronic pain, because you end up feeling lumped in with addicts/users/'smackheads' etc. For people like me, allergic to NSAIDs, they make it possible for me to cope with my pain and live my life. I'm always thankful to my consultant, who, when I said I was worried about addiction issues, said that this medication was supposed to be for people like me, and I needed to think in terms of balancing out the fact that I was reliant and the positive affect they have on my daily living (ie pain reducing). I'm never going to get better, I'm probably going to be on them for my whole life, but as he said to me, the problem only comes when people begin to take too many and start finding ways to get more, and I've never done that, I stay within maximum dose (on bad days, which is many days tbh). He said I needed to let myself off and simply see it as medication that made living more possible for me. I do take movicol along with it for the obvious effect and it works really well.
Sometimes I want to be free of them, but I want to control the pain even more, so I'm just thankful for them. Not in terms of any buzz or happy feeling, but of a medication that means I can function and keep working.

Really glad to hear you're getting the medication and advice you need, Madhairday. I think your consultant is spot on and that you're using the medication in exactly the way it's intended.

My personal view is that if THC were legalised then people would be more likely to get the relaxation effects they want or need from that, and would leave potentially much more addictive but currently legally available opiates alone.

Thank you, notjustacigar.

@Madhairday I agree, this thread is incredibly insensitive. I’m quite surprised that @MNHQ haven’t taken it down. I’m sorry to hear that life is hard for you, I can’t imagine how awful it must be to live in constant pain.

There are some upsetting comments on this thread.

Chronic pain is shit enough without people calling you a "smackhead" .

Dihydrocodeine is amazing.I was prescribed it after an op.

@Madhairday - me too. I'm on cocodamol for chronic pain that's never going to go away. It's not working as well as it could, amitriptyline makes me too sleepy to function. Recently tried low dose diazepam & it's been great but he and I are reluctant to use it long term because of addiction concerns. He's talking about slow release patches. For me it's all about pain relief, not the 'buzz'.

I'm quite shocked by this thread.

I take morphine and Gabapentin and I absolutely do not recognise any sort of 'buzz' from them. They're simply what helps control awful, unrelenting pain.

As for being compared to heroin users...

@Frazzledd I completely agree with you. I am actually somewhat shocked that many are openly talking like this!

If I do not have my medication then I cannot walk. It enables me to do the basics. That is the reality for me. I am not magically going to get better. It is about trying to get the pain under better control so I can move.

Yet I am judged always and lumped in as a drug seeker by many random nurses at hospital and also nurses due to my meds despite as I previously said being under a pain consultant for many years and all of my pain conditions having been diagnosed. Also by other doctors who have viewed MRI images and also by the ever so lovely camera in stomach. So the "proof" is there but still lumped in as a drug seeker.

The posters who are talking about how lovely it is to have certain meds should be very grateful they do not have to take them. The actual reality of having to take medications in order to move and look after your children is extremely depressing and has made me feel suicidal at times knowing I won't get better.

This thread could also very well tempt some people into trying these out. Whether that is from walking into a pharmacy and asking for the OTC pain killers that contain a small amount of codeine or by pretending they have a severe pain somewhere in their body to a GP. It is completely irresponsible to be basically gloating about how certain medications make you feel.

It also causes genuine chronic pain sufferers to face a lot more judgement than we already do. Which is already at such a high level when we should never be made to feel forced to explain all the many reasons why we need our certain medications to random doctors and nurses etc who automatically judge due to preconceived attitudes.

I read an article a few years ago that if codeine wasn't so addictive it would make a much better anti depressant than the ones we have,with fewer physical side effects. I have to be careful with any codeine based pain relief. I love it but know its extremely addictive.

Also pregablin and gabapentin are actually addictive.

So for the posters who have stated that they're on this medication yes it is addictive. It is still addictive even though it is not an opiod.

Doctors were encouraged to prescribe this for patients instead of opiate pain relief.

There is a large number of people who are addicted to this and use these alongside other drugs. As this type of medication is happily bought by numerous heroin users etc.

Wow it shows how different people can be - I had co-dydramol post-birth and again with a herniated disc - it was great pain relief but that was it, no buzzing, no dopiness, nothing. No issues driving on it at all.

@Littlehouseinthebigcity I had basically exactly the same experience with the way I was treated. I was treated like some addict and openly treated horrendously on the ward.

Constant comments would be made about my medication and the usual "you're too long to need this" and them attempting to change my dose or to not give them at the right time. I have several to take that I have to take at the same time yet some came out with "that it is too much to have at once" and "I could wait a while"

So many more remarks were made also. Along with the quizzing asking why I was on these meds and how long etc and then quite personal about my conditions!

All this despite the pain team had attended the ward to tell them it was needed and they were not to interfere and obviously prescibed in hospital by a consultant on ward. My consultants during them also had no issues with this as they actually understood and had a sense of what was needed!

A complaint is in due to everything as I developed post natal depression which I strongly believe they contributed to. Numerous other incidents occurred which left me in tears so many times and the other patients on the ward obviously judging and assuming some type of drug addict as they always made sure they spoke as loud as possible and never lowered voice when talking and asking questions in my bay! Not that curtains are soundproof anyway but a lowered voice would have gone a long way!

Yet there was a crack addict who also had another addiction on the ward and she didn't experience any of this... I'm not saying she should have however to go through that at a very vulnerable time and what is meant to be the best time of someone's life is beyond any words.

I'm so sorry you experienced horrendous treatment. So called professionals who behave and hold these views should not be in their position over vulnerable females.

@Madhairday I hear you!

My pain consultant same very similar to me also.

You need these to control your pain for quality of life. You're not someone looking to be spaced out and out of it at all unlike some others!

Please don't feel worse for taking something you need. If it happened to be a heart condition or thyroid condition it wouldn't be feeling like that. I get how you're feeling so reminding myself of the other conditions people take meds for helps me feel somewhat less you know....

The trouble is that, as described by PPs, it's very easy to slip into using them to change the way you feel, rather than to deal with pain so that you can function. And from there, you're always chasing that happy fuzz and increasing them or staying on them for longer than is necessary - which then leads to dependence and unplanned withdrawal when the GP refuses to prescribe them anymore because they're being abused.

I have been on long term pain medication a few times. Having grown up in a house where the parent was either off her tits on prescribed medication or raging with withdrawal symptoms all the bloody time, I have to be persuaded by doctors to go any further than a begrudging couple of paracetamol and am planning how to tell it's time and how to tail them off before I've even picked up the bag from the Pharmacy (am definitely not a fan of withdrawals/rapid discontinuations).

But the 'looking forward to' shit is absolutely why it's so hard to get effective medication prescribed and why people can suddenly discover when they put in a repeat prescription request that they aren't getting any more. You are the reason why people are left in pain.

I was told by a pharmacist that gabapentin is not addictive! I was quite poorly for a long time coming off the loads of meds I was prescribed for back pain. My gp no help indeed actively caused problems because he had not recorded correctly the amount of morphine I was on. I approached our local drug help team in desperation but they could only offer an appointment with their Dr in two weeks time and in the meantime I had to attend meetings. No help at all or advice; I was made to feel like a junkie.