coming off pain killers (off the shelves in chemist)

Hi @Bubbles3

Great post.

I've struggled with headaches, back pain and now hip pain for a little while. When i am in pain i take anything i can get my hands on. It's automatic, i go to my meds. But now with the new laws you can't just go into a chemist and buy them. You need a prescription from a doctor.
I'm a bit hesitant to go to my GP as I have a feeling he won't give me a script. I think because he sort of knows what I would do with the meds. So he says to me just take paracetamol which to me doesn't do much at all.
I think it's good that you are coming off your meds; it must be very hard. I feel for you.
BB xxoo

Hi @Bubbles3

This is a good thread - I am glad you have started this one

Going cold turkey is rough - and I am glad you have some to wean off on - take a little less each day and it will be easier - the side effects of going off that particular drug for pain is pretty tough - can be really tough

I am taking schedule 8 medication for a long time now for chronic pain syndrome - the pain comes from DDD or Degenerative Disc Disease and Spinal Cord Canal Stenosis ands this is all in my lumbar spine - the process to allow me access to the medication is complex - I see a pain specialist twice a year who applies for permit from the Health Department so my GP can write the medication - everything has to be authenicated and there is a strict programme - and this is for my own good and as the years have passed since my spinal injury I have been taking less gradually over time

It's really tough going through what you are going through - I can only wish you the best and if you have any questions I am a good person to ask - when I first hurt my back I had trouble getting the medication I needed because of the restrictions on this kind of medication - but the laws changed to allow people with chronic pain to have access to this medication to have a quality of life. Things were easier for me after that and I have had two MRIs both proving the pain has a physical cause,

But there is pain that is not so obvious - which is obvious to me because you have been taking them for a different kind of pain - and I understand this

Keep writing and cut back before you get into a bad place again - and when you have got used to not taking that drug then you will feel better - it's just really hard to see that where you are right now

All best best Bubbles

Dec

If you like I can tag you to my thread Life can be a Pain - we discuss painful issues there - not all of which are physical pain

I have the schedule 8 medication for pain @Bubbles3 - so yes - I do understand pain

And if you are taking other kinds of Schedule 8 medication then that is a problem - I understand that too

Would you doctor be understanding if you shared this issue with him?

I really do understand this thing with pain-killers - it is so complex - I have read as much as I can get my hands on through the years - I feel I know more than the GP - actually sure I do -

And those tablets are hard to wean off -

Take it slow and easy - and I wish you the best

Dec

This is a great thread @Bubbles3, so I thank you for starting it. I feel reading through it helps me understand the struggles that my Mrs faces, as she is also addicted to over the counter painkillers.

What began as taking painkillers for chronic pain (fibromyalgia and polymyalgia rheumatica), has involved her in becoming addicted and now facing have to quit or face serious health consequences. She is in the very early stages of liver disease connected to taking them. I had to play the devil's advocate and instruct our local pharmacy not to sell her over the counter painkillers anymore. This has caused her to get them elsewhere I have found out.

She sees a chronic pain specialist team who have told her she must stop using the painkillers, but she is finding it difficult to give up. Like you, without them she has body aches and headaches. She is on a painkiller slow release patch, but takes extra due to this 'pain'. It is a catch-22.

Thanks again for starting this thread. I really want to walk this journey with her so she isn't alone.

I'm sorry about the addiction @Bubbles3 - and not being able to tell your doctor - it's really important to cut down what you have rather than hit the cold-turkey thing again -

I have been told that these drugs cause pain and I guess in your case this is true - everyone is different - I had the pain first and of course the pain returns if I miss a tablet - usually forget and didn't take one - and nothing has been done to correct the damage in my spine - so yeah - case by case

But the pain you have now when you don't take the tablets is withdrawal - and not at all good - maybe you could ask your pharmacist about this so he knows and might suggest something because there are people everywhere coping with withdrawals right now with the drug taken off the OTC list

Which seems silly to me because the medication that causes liver damage is still available and people will still have access to that one -

I'm sorry this has happened to you - it's really rough

Dec