Has anyone had to stop taking painkillers and suffered a lot doing so?!


Question: Has anyone had to stop taking painkillers and suffered a lot doing so!?
I have had a condition where my bowel just wears away and bleeds that i need life saving treatment for the past 8 years I have taken morphine and this enabled me to live a near normal life, i recently 5 weeks ago had an operation to re site my intestines[rectopexy] and two bits of bowel removed and rejoined i was very ill and could have died, after the hospital giving me huge amounts of opiods fentanyl and morphine they decided to stop them all, I had such terrible withdrawal,i nearly died from this and they had to give me injections to stop this[morphine]I came home on morphine and last week was readmitted to my own hospital with severe bleeding, the consultant from the first hospital believes i should be reducing the morphine weekly[despite being in terrible pain] but my gp who has treated me for years thinks i should continue as it gives me a quality of life and possibly reducing it when i feel better, however my husband and parents believe the morphine is damaging me ,I am terrified of a withdrawal again and being in pain i feel so depressed and anxious ,has anyone else tried stopping any other painkiller and was it awful!?any advice would be greatWww@Answer-Health@Com


Answers:
I have never done this, but I was friends in college with a woman that had cerebral palsy, and from a young age she was in extreme pain from her condition!. Her pain tolerence was so high that during medical procedures the doctors shocked at what she could handle!. On days when it is the worst she does give in and take pain medications, but over time her body has built up an extreme tolerence for pain!. That women gets up early every day, works out to help limit her disability, and she lives every day choosing not to focus on her condition!. The only time I ever knew she was in pain was if her hip locked up (brought her home once for that), or if it was a REALLY bad day for her!. She bikes, hikes, skis, and participates in all sorts of outdoor sports even though some days she can barely walk due to her thrown balance by the way she must manuver to move!.

I can tell you from her experience that if you go off of pain medications you will need to increase your determination and make a choice every day to live rather than give in!. You will need people in your life that will make you laugh, and you will have to have resolve to make yourself stronger rather than be beaten by the disease!. Not everyone can do that, and if you feel you can't then maybe medication is your best chance!.

My suggestion if you want to try to live without medication, is to taper your medication extremely slowly, let your body learn to cope with each stage of pain, and allow you time to make yourself mentally able to handle it!. Your body is an amazing thing, and you will learn how to overcome, but it won't be an easy process!.

The nearest thing I can relate this to in my own life is sleep deprevation!. The first night that I don't get enough sleep, the next day I am so pressed to function normally, and my concentration is terrible!. A week of sleep deprevation and I have found how to focus, even through my attitude and temperment is not entirely stable!. I had to make a choice to press myself to get things done, and I have to struggle to do what others do easily!. A month and my mind hurts, my brain hurts, my body hurts, and it takes self control to keep going, but I can force myself to concentrate, I can study if I need to, and I can push harder and get things done, but it takes a very strong stubburnness and mental decision to keep going despite what is against me!. This happened in college a lot when I took too many credits, but at the end, I was able to see how hard I was working, when I slept fully for a week, and realized that I could think without effort, control my emotions without thinking so hard, and my hunger regulated itself instead of me realizing I hadn't eaten and forcing myself to stay nurished!.

What kept me going was stubburn will, and that is what you will need if you decide to go off this medication!. Every day you will make a choice to be strong or defeated!. It will test you intensly, but I guess the good news is that the medication is not going anywhere so if you decide it is too much you can go back to the medications again!.

I really hope you think long and hard about this decision, and if you decide to get off the medication prepare yourself mentally, physically, and spiritually, set up your supports in advance, and stir up some stubburn will!.

You can do it, but it will come at a cost!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

I had to stop taking strong painkillers!. And my gp switched me to Methadone to use as a pain maintenance drug, which worked very well for pain and I had no withdrawals from the other opiate pain medication!.
But, getting off the Methadone was hard!. It took about 4 months at a slow tapering of doses until I was barely taking any!. So when I stopped, I had no withdrawals!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

morphine is a narcotic drug!. So u can not just give it up!. It would need a proper planing with a very good medical back up!. So u should follow doctors orders!. Take some professional level advice efore talkin any further actions!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

in your case you have to seek a doctor's advise, to be able to follow the right steps!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

To help control the withdrawals, there is a patch called CATAPRES that is non narcotic and makes a tremendous difference in your bodies reaction to coming off of pain meds!. If this is a chronic issue that requires you to have pain meds then i would take them as your gp recommends and even get a 2cd opinion as to which ones will work best!. You are in more danger "dropping" them than you are taking them!. I wish you the best of luck and hope that this helps some!.Www@Answer-Health@Com





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