Addiction of pain killers. I think it is selective, like booze. I hope so, anyway. I was on Oxycontin for four months, and got scared and went off it when I dropped the weight, which the articles said was a sign you were an addict. Getting off it my problem was IBS, which I found out after getting off that I could control very well with Miralax. After being off it for a month, and realizing that this weight drop made a big difference in my back pain, I went back on it two weeks ago.
It controls my pain very well, and I have normal, unassisted bowel movements with it. Every other opiate gives me IBS problems. My appetite is already starting to drop. Only side effect is that I sleep more, which I can control to times that I don't care if I am out of it. Dancing is the best it has been in 12 years. "Sleep all day, dance all night." :>)
I only take two 10mg tabs a day, which, compared to what I have read, and my son's experience, is very little. I have never had any "push" to take more. My goal is to stay on it long enough to lose another 25 pounds. I am at 203, down a couple of pounds from when I went on it two weeks ago. That is about a 26 BMI. At 180, I will be a 23 BMI. 180 is about what I weighed from 18 until I stopped smoking at 45. That's when I went up to 200, and looking back now, that's when my back started hurting. I was always very slim, so the low BMI is not a worry to me. My health, otherwise, is good. I am active, with a positive mental attitude.
When I hit my weight goal, and barring any problems with the Oxy in the meantime, I will assess what I should do long term. Do I stay on it for the rest of my life? My initial thinking is to cut the Oxy in half to one pill a day, in the evening. Hopefully that will handle what pain I do have left, and help me keep the weight off. Any sign that I am "hooked," and being pushed by my subconscious to take more, and it's gone. |
