Yesterday I sat in my dentist's chair for about 2 hours having a tooth extracted. I go back AGAIN tomorrow to have a crown put on another tooth.
Now, I've been through labor and I have always had a high pain tolerance BUT yesterday I realllllly felt the pain from the surgery. It took forever to get that tooth out and I was really, really sore and my head was pounding when I left the office despite the anesthetic. The tooth was impacted, broken and abcessed.
With that said, I had a prescription for Vicodin. I filled it and took 2. I gave the bottle to my husband to keep and dole out if needed. This morning I am not as sore so I took ibuprofen and I told my husband to take the bottle to work with him (he has been laid off but has a few weeks of work left thank God).
I want to pick your brains because here are my thoughts and I want to see how you guys feel: when in my addiction vicodin was never my thing unless i couldn't get a hold of anything else and then i had to take like 5 to even feel anything...opiates and heroin were my 'lovers'.....now, vicodin is an opiate. when i took the vicodin my attitude was one of pain removal not to get high.....weird thing was...it took away the pain but made me very sick to my stomach and 'woozy'...i went right to bed. It seems as if my pain tolerance was much higher when I was in my addiciton.....has this happened to anyone....OR maybe yesterday's pain was my addiction speaking to me????? I'm unsure. I do know that I didn't take the painkiller to get high....in fact, I am not feeling any guilt today....I took it as prescribed BUT......did I ruin my clean time??? I don't feel any guilt or loss of clean time. I feel just as good about recovery as I did yesterday but am worried about the possibility that I may have lost clean time by taking the pain med. What do you all think?
I go back to the dentist tomorrow to have a temporary crown put on another tooth. I do not anticipate as much pain and plan on sticking to ibuprofen.
Hey Deb! hope you feel better today.Did you inform your doctor/dentist that you are an addict and also that you have a history with opiates? I would suggest you go right to Pamphlet" In times of Illness" read carefully,can straight Google or got to World website.. .Also have you spoken with your sponsor about this situation! I always fall back on Literature for a few reasons 1) info about addicts/written by addicts/for addicts 2)It doesn't embellish,stray from thought,always consistent,meaning same words written, unless changed through a long process and(as addicts we may tend to stretch in areas,keeping it on me) 3)helps me to ensure I am not passing on misinformation,something we as addicts lived our lives before recovery with...tons of misinformation!!!Thanks for sharing ,keep coming back...!
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Our purpose is to remain clean,just for today,and to carry the message of recovery.
Thanks Mike!!!! I am feeling better today. Yes, I spoke with my sponsor a long time this morning. We had a good talk and I was so relieved when she said this did not cause me to lose my clean time. Like you said, she told me I must let all of my doctors know that I am a recovering addict. I go back tomorrow to the dentist for a temporary crown on another tooth and I will tell him. I should've done this before I sat in the chair yesterday. The good thing is that I still feel strong. I do not feel ashamed because my motive was not to get messed up. In fact, I felt crappy and ended up going to bed. Vicodin was never my thing anyway.....it was my last resort if I couldn't find anything else. This isn't justification or an excuse either. If he had prescribed me Oxys...well......I cannot say how I would have reacted. I probably would've taken them for the WRONG reason and kept the bottle instead of giving it to my husband.
Thanks for always responding. I now truly appreciate just how much I need recovering addicts to keep me clean. The more I involve myself and share and LISTEN, the more love I feel.
Yuck, dental work! I'm a whimp and hate dental work!
In times when use of medication is necessary it's important to be extra vigilant and proactive in maintaining focus on your recovery. Sounds like you're doing just that. You are a miracle in progress, an inspiration! In the middle of your own pain and trials posting not just about YOU, posting sharing your experience strength and hope with newcomers, the essence of NA. Keep doing what you're doing.
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Work the Steps or Die MF. (My Friend :) Clean One Day At a Time by The Grace of God through The Power of NA
Hey Deb, "It doesn't matter what or how much you used, but only what you want to do about your problem and how we can help" Oxy's we your favorite, but you took vicodin if none else available, heroin was your lover.....etc etc etc. Your still obsessing about drugs. I'm really glad you spoke to your sponsor and are being vigilant during this high risk time. Staying close to the program is crucial at this stage of your recovery. A friend in the rooms once went to his sponsor with questions such as yours. His sponsor replied "If you spend as much time and energy living clean as you do about staying clean, you'll do just fine." It took a long time for this message to become clear, but once it sunk in I saw a profound truth. God bless you Deb. I'm really glad your so active on this board
My doctors, dentist, oral hygeinist, nurse practicioner, therapist, eye specialist etc etc etc are true god-sends in my recovery. They all know my history-not the gory drug/drunk a-log, but the substances used, the durtion, the known permenant effects, and some of the other stuff that they need to know, like how I respond to anesthetic or medicaitons , becasue I don't respond like "normal" people--it's a safety issue for them, as well as for me. And over the years they have been just wonderful in caring for me and doing everything possible to help minimize the pain, doing special research, and communciating with my support person (I sign releases up front, so I don't convenientlyforget to mention what I need in my aftercare).It's all about honesty and trust. And whenever I come up against a healthcare person who doesn't know s**t about addiction, I do NOT continue with them, assuming it will probably be OK---that is not good enough today, not worth the risk, however nice they may be. And any doc who knows addiction is not going to give me vicodan or perc or oxy etc for pain! There is other stuff (can't remember the names) that works without the danger of messing with my brain, regardless of my purity of motivation.
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From dying and surviving to living and thriving. LeeU
I have abused pain pills for several years and I currently have 23 months clean. I have had dyberticulitis and myrsa since I have been clean. As soon as I get a prescription my mind doesn't mean to go there but it does go there. Being an opiad addict is scary and the last time I went to the doctors I turned down vicondin and asked for Ultram. Ultram is as strong as vicondin and can be addicting but not as addicting as vicondin but it can cause seizures. I refuse to be in pain my tolerance for pain is low and when I am in pain my blood pressure raises really high. However I go to one doctor who knows that I am an addict and I told my doctor at my first appointment that I could teach her things about pain meds. I also go to their pharmacist and the same hospital that gets my file automatically because they are all linked. This is how I stay safe today. I am also in a clean and sober program and my meds are monitored and recorded. When I move out of here soon I plan on having my sponser help me if it ever comes to that.
