Detoxing and CPAP

[dllfo]

I am detoxing off Morphine/Oxycodone/Fentynal/Demerol, etc.

It is been 11 days for me and for those of you who remember some of my
previous posts, I have hit 30 cmH2O for 30 minutes straight. I am on the
Respironics SV machine. Difficult days back then.

My Encore Pro data is already smoothing out. My IPAPs are no longer hitting 30 every other day and I am initiating 99.9% of my own breaths now.

My Pulmonologist saw the print outs and was thrilled. We all suspected the opiates were depressing my pulmonary functions, but for the recovery to happen in only 11 days is miraculous.

I still have my serious problems that Avinza may have caused, but the results of the first step has been wonderful.

If you are on opiates, I understand they can be necessary. My lower back is killing me right now. I was dependent on opiates, NOT addicted. I never liked them. They were just a tool to relieve severe, chronic pain...which is coming back. I peaked at approximately 450-500mg of Morphine a day from April 10, 2008 to mid May 2008, after my oral surgery. That was necessary then, but getting off is necessary now.

If any of you are considering detox while on CPAP/BIPAP/SV, etc. please feel free to email me. I just learned morphine is stored in my fat cells and is being released. THAT is not fair. I paid good money for all those fat cells and now they are turning on me. Go figure.

[crossfit]

Do you know if oxycodone is also stored in the fat cells?

[Snoredog]

man I told you to get off that morphine more than a year ago,

as for your back pain?

Try one of these inversion tables, 5 minutes on it every other day at about a 30 degree angle is all you need.



Amazon has them or you can google LifeGear Inversion table and possibly find one local.

I've had the LifeGear it worked just fine only about $150, Costco had them at one time but they had the memory foam (not as good as the nylon mesh type with no foam) so you can store it outside if needed.

You can also make a ramp with a T on one end and lay down on it elevating you feet and accomplish the same thing. It applies traction to your spine and takes the pressure off the disc so they can heal.

[Guest]

A TENS machine can help take the edge off back pain. It won't stop it all together, but will reduce it significantly.

Also, don't forget the old hot water bottle or heating pad for immediate short term relief.

Congratulations on stopping the pain meds, that isn't easy.

[Hawthorne]

I have certainly been thinking about you in this difficult time. Congrats on coming off all that amount of opiates! I am on a very minimal amount for chronic pain. I did not realize a person could take as much as you did. Not that I want to! I know what you are saying when you say you were dependent upon it for pain but not addicted. I am the same.
Now what is the plan for your chronic back pain?
All the best!!!

[SeaPappy]

The inversion table and TENS machine are great suggestions and both help me incredibly, along with a good (read suitable for your injury) stretch regimen. I have been dodging the knife for over ten years now with 3 herniated disks. My savior has been a really good chiropractor who is gentle but effective and uses acupuncture. It may be all psycological, but who cares if it works.

[Wulfman]

David,

Congratulations and best wishes for continued good progress.

Den

[dllfo]

Thanks for the encouragement and kind words.

The inversion table will not work for me (per four different doctors) because of the type of damage I have in my lower back. The discs between S1 and L5 and L5-L4 would not even hold much pressure during the discogram. But there is more damage than that...memory loss here. The surgeons told us any surgery they could do would cause more harm than good to my back.

My plans for handling chronic pain .... I honestly don't know. My lower back
is waking up and is still not happy with the world, but ... I may try the steroid shots they talked about. I am guessing we will have another round of MRIs, etc. Except the implant in my heart may not allow it, I got a letter about that. I don't know about the Magnatron's "strength", but I darned sure would not want that implant ripping through the walls of my heart. On the bright side, it WOULD cure the back pain permanently.

One of the surprises I am finding is that I feel great today (not counting the lower back pain). It may surprise many people, but being on morphine does not eliminate the pain. It just keeps it down to a manageable level.
The Oral surgery was where they cut a strip out of the roof of my mouth and sewed it to my gums. That hurt a lot. I counted 22 shots and there may have been more. That was where I used the most opiates. Don't let your kids drink drano. I had false teeth at around 4 years old. Then got my adult teeth later.

I never wanted to go on the morphine, but the pain at the time I did it was debilatating. I literally fell out of my Lazy Boy one day and could not move.
If the house was on fire I would not bet I could have crawled out. This was before CPAP, etc. I don't know if CPAP was caused by age or opiates. We will find out .... to a certain degree. I know now I have VCD and CCHS, so that complicates my future. I don't mind CPAP/SV, etc. My wife and I both are on them. I weighed 164 pounds when I got out of boot camp in 1963 and I weighed 164 pounds when I met my wife 20 years later. I weigh about 222 today. Inactivity and Prednisone have taken their toll.

Prednisone is a wonderful drug for my lungs, but the rest of my body is not happy with it. I have a groove down my temples where my glasses go. If I take my glasses off you can see it. Prednisone will give you a "moon" face.
My head is now about 24 and 1/4 inches around. Size 8 1/8 hat. Good luck finding that in a store. I am not complaining, just trying to educate some of you as to the side effects of steroids. Medical and otherwise.

I have to whip the withdrawals and I will, but the future and pain mgt will require acupuncture (I HATE needles), etc. I also have to avoid any more wrecks (rear ended twice now).

[JeffH]

If you have a pacemaker, then an MRI is out. Ct Scan is the only thing they can do.

[ozij]

Congratulations, David.
You've got such a big battle to fight. I hope that with better sleep and better oxygenation your pain will be more manageable as well.

O.

[ffarmer]

David,

I also suffer from chronic paid and have been trying to find long term solutions after the short term/acute solutions of the heavy duty pain meds you are talking about.

You are getting lots of advice, but one thing that hasn't been mentioned is that antidepressants are used for chronic pain; you might want to look into that.

Good luck!

[dllfo]

ffarmer, thanks for the info, but they put me on 7 different SSRIs, anti-depressants, etc. in 2003-2004.

Example: I might have been on Lexapro for 3 months, then these thoughts pop into my head "Death isn't really your enemy ya know." "Your wife would be better off with you gone, she is young enough to marry again..." and so on. I would call my doctor and tell him I am having suicidal ideations, so he would change my prescription to...say..Buspar and at 5pm that day I am on Buspar. The only drug in that general category that I did not take was Prozac. After around 15 months of this, I quit one day. Cold Turkey. In 3 or 4 days I felt much better.

I will take valium, but don't seem to like any of those drugs. I think I mentioned at one point I dropped from 180mg of morphine a day to 90mg in either 24 or 48 hours. No problem. I gave my excess meds to the doctor as toxic waste. Tomorrow makes 3 weeks and I don't miss the opiates one little bit. Now wait a minute, when my back was hurting real bad a couple of days ago, I admit there was a thought about pain relief, but right now I am just thanking the Good Lord I am not addicted. Dependent, maybe, addicted --no.

I was given the darned Librium when they should have known better. My Pain Med doctor's staff is the worst in the world. I had an appointment yesterday and called on Monday to confirm I am going to see the real Pain Med doctor. I was told no, I would see the FPN who saw me last time. I asked to see my Pain Med Dr. and was told he only sees new patients. I can not see him. The doctor himself is great. A friend of mine was referred to him and I told him the truth. He is asking for another referral.

My breathing --- my SV numbers are great. I am hitting "the wall" now. I feel great one minute, then feel like a truck ran over me next. My wife keeps oxygen in every room and when it happens, she puts me on continuous flow and stays with me. It took her about 40 minutes to "revive" me a few days ago. THAT bothers me, but even my Pulmonologist is puzzled...... I think everyone is attributing it to "detox".

Do our fat cells store Oxycodone? I am told they do. My BT pain med was Oxycodone.

If ANY of you are on opiates.... good luck getting off of them, it is not all horrible. I have had days with mental clarity that I haven't had since I started this stuff. I wasn't born like this.

I had to go on Prednisone for over a month due to the fires out here, so I was up to 230 pounds. I gained about 25 pounds in about 5-6 weeks.

New detox I am not eating chocolate until my weight is back under 200 pounds. I bought 18 bags of my favorite candy (15 oz bags) and I ate them all in .... about 3 weeks. I am surprised they lasted that long. I have always been able to eat pounds of chocolate without gaining weight, but Prednisone really ruined that. And no, I am not even close to being a diabetic. Our bodies are incredibly resilient. Well, mine used to be.

Leaving opiates behind won't bother me as much as another 6 month stint with no chocolate. Wonder how THAT will effect my numbers??

[NeedinZs]

dllfo,

My hat's off to you, coming off all those pain meds.

Wishing you better days to come.

I'm with you, on the chocolate thing. I was able to just quit my Oxycodone, and not look back. I actually have withdrawals coming off carbs and chocolate, but not opiates.

I think I had the same disc herniation as you. As I recall L4-L5 S1.
It was like being electrocuted every time I tried to stand up for 2 months.

I count myself lucky, after hearing all you've been through.

Best wishes! Hang in there!

[Hawthorne]

dllfo- Glad to hear from you! I was just thinking about you yesterday and wondering how things were going.
Hang in there and keep us posted! We are all pulling for you!

[dllfo]

Thanks again for the support. I was a lot happier about it all until the dr. told me my fat cells stored opiates. That just seems unAmerican !!

I wish some of our RTs would take a flying stab at why I can't wake up part of the time.

When I spend the night on my SV, with 2 LPM titration on the oxygen, I have no trouble waking up. In fact I have been waking up around 5:45am the last couple of weeks. No more drug induced sleeping to noon. My wife loves it because she wakes up early. I secretly have suspected she is pinching me or something.

I have ALWAYS hated getting up early. Now I am just glad I feel like getting up. As I said, better days ahead. My wife is thrilled.