Effects of Life-Time Opitate use

I wanted to start a discussion on what we know or have learned from our doctors, etc about how living on opiates will negatively or positively effect our bodies over our lifetime. I find myself worrying about what opiates will do to me if I have to stay on them all my life.

When I talk to my pain doctor about the negative effects he says that if I had to live with untreated chronic pain the effects on my body would be far worse. Things like high blood pressure, stress on the heart, stress on the adrenal glands, changes in the brain, etc. He claims healthwise, a lifetime on opiates is much better for you than having to live with untreated chronic pain.

The issues I have noticed are things like, hormonal changes. I think I'm permimenopausal when all the other women in my family it came around 55-56. I also think there have been advanced deterioration of my teeth. I have had some odd changes in my vision and I wonder about that sometimes.

Would love to hear from the rest of you about what you have heard from your doctors or what you have learned the effects of lifetime opiate use are. If anyone can direct me to where I may able read more about it, that would greatly appreciated.

im glad you posted this brianna, for me with the muscle relaxers its an everyday thing now, my back is always tight and i couldnt get by without them, tylonal at night helps as well, i almost feel guitly cause i do get off on them, but im an addict, i look for the high in anything, still without them it would make life very uncomfortable, im under enough stress from bipolar issues plus the idiots i have to deal with everyday, so i guess im doing all i can, but thanks for posting, i feel bettter bout taking what i need to see me thru the day

That's all you can do Ed, and you're doing a good job

I've taken opiates for many years - I've taken the same dose of Kapanol (Kadian) for about 9 years now - and while I'll always be an advocate of decent pain relief for CP sufferers, I do believe the side effects are much more significant that many people believe when taken over a long period of time.

The physical problems can be dealt with if you're forewarned. Dental problems, testosterone levels, etc. Depression is a major issue, though I suppose it's hard to know how much is attributable to the drugs or the pain (a bit of both, I reckon).

But for me, the biggest downside to these drugs is the way it dulls everything. It dulls your wits, your intellect; it dulls your feelings - food doesn't taste as good, music doesn't sound as good, views don't look as look, sex doesn't feel as good; life just doesn't feel as good.

I have no choice but to take morphine, but for anyone who is actually faced with a choice about taking these drugs - if there's any way you get by without them, I would strongly advise doing so. Sadly, for many us, there's simply no choice - without these damned drugs I'd be dead for sure.

wen i take my muslce relaxers my brain goes to mush

You are better off treating the pain properly than not. Certain meds are better for you than others, oxycontin is a terrible drug for CP as is morphine. They both have too many side effects and you build tolerance too quickly. Unfortunately zero pain is not a realistic goal but you can learn to live around it.

I would like to stress that because you get withdrawal does NOT mean you are an addict. Your body is used to having the meds and letting you know it. Addiction is more psychological, you take drugs to get high and take more than you need. We are trying to relieve pain, left untreated it is worse on your body.

You are the only judge of what is right for you. I would rather take drugs and be able to enjoy some of my life no matter what anyone says. Remember "you can never know another until you walk a mile in his shoes".

My doctors refused to believe that I was in the pain I was in for years. Until I found my Neuro doc, that is. The damage that has been done to me physically, mentally, and emotionally can not be repaired. Now, I can't have the nerve block injections that work so well if I can find another doc to administer them. I am going through some serious anxiety attacks over this. The mere thought of that pain coming back is enough to undo me. As the shots are wearing off, the pain in my lower back is so bad I can hardly walk (RA), I can hardly turn my neck (the Chiari and RA), the RA is killing me in my hands, wrists and elbows, the permanent migraine is coming back and it feels like someone is slowing placing a hatchet in the back side of my head, one side at a time deeper and deeper each time! There are no drugs to eliminate this pain, they only make me not care for a time. I now have the chronic fatigue syndrome from it, fibromyalgia, and my heart is getting worse. To continue on with the opiates ruins your stomach, liver, kidneys, bowels, digestive track and will in some cases lead to early dementia. I have a theory that the pharmaceutical companies want us on these drugs until the peak dose is achieved but no longer effective, then into detox for those drugs, then into rehab then onto pain institutes all of which they have a hand and profit making scheme. That is my own personal opinion. If my occipital cranial nerve block injections block all of my chronic pain in all of my body for the most part, why in heavens name can't they work for you and Mike? They are non addicting, have hardly any side effects, and last up to 4 months at a time! They can be given at the cervical neck, or anywhere along the spine. Why are so many suffering when this help is available? I pay a $30 co pay for the injections. I am not taking the opiates as you are, but rest assured that my pain is as real and intense as anyone of you. Why can't this technology apply across the board?

I think I have two big concerns when it comes to these meds I'm on. While I competely understand that I have no choice about being on them - without them, I can't function. I might as well be dead without them because not being able to get out of bed every day, not being able to stand up or walk or any of those things, that's not a life I can lead, if "life" is even the right noun for that kind of existence. But I constantly worry about what they're doing to my body. My doctor keeps telling me that I'm on some high levels of these medications - what damage are they doing to my liver? What about my nervous system? Will my body ever be able to register pain the right way? THere's a long list of those kinds of questions.

As every year passes by, the mathematics of my situation just continue to add up to worse and worse things each time. I turned 38 in July - that means, that at best, I have another 50 years to live, if I'm lucky. What will 50 years of constantly taking pain medication do to my body?? Will there even be a medication left out there that would work on me? My tolerances , I'm sure, will be through the roof. After taking it for almost six years constantly, my dilaudid levels are to the point where it could kill your average person. I can't fathom what levels I'll be on then.

And then you factor in the effect just being in pain has on the body and mind...

I just don't see a lot of brightness in my future....

It's called life.

That's what life is, an eternity of trade-offs. One for the other, always trying to find balance.

Start out, the pain gets so bad it is interfering with daily life, you are out of balance.

Then you get the proper treatment, which includes pain medication and balance has been returned to your life.

"Excess leads to the palace of wisdom". No truer words have ever been said.

It's weird. You try to balance the pain with pain meds but this causes an imbalance within your body cause you are forcing your body to produce more endorphins then it had plan on producing. The whole time you are trying to treat your problem and bring a balance to the outside world that we live in, your body is fighting the pain meds to restore the balance it once had inside your body. Years go by and your body is winning the war for balance. Now your insides have balance which means your outsides don't have balance (pain returns).

Then all of the sudden you stop taking the pain meds. Now your insides are WAY out of balance cause your body worked so hard to maintain a balance WITH the pain meds that, without them the balance is severly disrupted (withdrawals). The whole time you are going thru withdrawals is now your body's attempt at life WITHOUT the pain meds. You made your body work so hard to create a balance inside your body WITH the pain meds (tolerance), now you are forcing your body to create a balance WITHOUT the pain meds (withdrawal).

That's why I am starting to second guess taking pain meds all the time. Like, I'm set up like most chronic pain patients with the baseline/all the time meds and the "as needed" breakthrough meds.

After years of experience both living with and without the pain and the meds for it.....I think all attempts should be made to try and live with the pain as best as possible and THEN go for the pain meds. Common sense, yes but, unfortunately chronic pain patients like myself have chronic pain all the time hence, the Rx for taking pain meds all the time (or long acting pain meds).

I actually was talking to my doc today during our session and I suggested I could maybe schedule my worst pain episodes and then I could take my meds accordingly.

My worst of worst is every freakin morning. I tell him it's like I was in one of those torture racks where they lay you down and turn the crank and stretches you out and tortures you. So every morning and then of course times when I extra exert myself like at work and such. I don't know, always trying to think of better ways of doing this stuff.

well, im more used to my muscle relaxers now, and in do feel the benifits, hell then doc wants me on 3 times as much, so i think thats why my healing is slower, but i have found i can function wen i take my pills, doing disshes and light cleaning help to pass the time, and walking the dog is getting easier while sedated, i just rememebrr to think before i do, and no driving, gotta do what ya gotta do

It is all such a vicious circle pain vs pain meds, damned if you do and damned if you don't! but at the end of the day Brianna, if you can't get up and move and live with out the meds, like you you said yourself, is it living? This is an individual choice. No one here is an addict, or wants to be, we are all of us just trying to be productive people just doing what it takes to go to work and live our lives. find you peace in that.

It is a tough situation we are in. Without our meds we are in such pain we can't function and therefore we aren't living. Yet the meds can get to the point that they keep us from living. I try to maintain a balance between controlling pain without eliminating it by using pain meds but keeping the dose low enough that I can still do things most days.

I agree about the numbing effects. What sucks is you don't know, it just sneaks up on you.

I woke up a few months ago and just realized I've been spending the last few years in an opiate stupor. I mean, I guess it's better than a painful stupor.

The thing when I started taking Kadian, which is Morphine, it seemed to replaced everything. All of a sudden it hit me. No more guys, no more going out, no more social anything. As long as I had my pain meds I was happy........relatively.

I visited some places this week that I realized I haven't been to in so long. It's like a toss up, either do the meds or have a life

It is a rough road we walk the balance is a tight rope, when the pain is bad, the meds are all we have, but the need to have a social life is always there, the need for a connection to life is always there, but the pain is also always there a rude constant companion that won't take a break and let us live like the rest of the folks so we have to make adjustments and find a path to a normal life with that pain.

We do get in a catch-22 where without the meds we can't function because the pain takes all our focus yet the meds often limit our lives to the point we would like to live without them.

You are better off treating the pain properly than not. Certain meds are better for you than others, oxycontin is a terrible drug for CP as is morphine and I've taken both. They both have too many side effects and you build tolerance too quickly. Unfortunately zero pain is not a realistic goal but you can learn to live around it.

I would like to stress that because you get withdrawal does NOT mean you are an addict. Your body is used to having the meds and letting you know it. Addiction is more psychological, you take drugs to get high and take more than you need. We are trying to relieve pain, left untreated it is worse on your body.

You are the only judge of what is right for you. I would rather take drugs and be able to enjoy some of my life no matter what anyone says. Remember "you can never know another until you walk a mile in his shoes".

Oh, trust me I do not judge another! I just don't really understand why the nerve block shots aren't an option for everyone; probably has to do with the kind and location of the pain. I just wish it was that easy for you to get the relief I just get so much relief from them....