P I X I E wrote:
Amazing painkiller, that stuff is. I have a really bad tooth ache going on since last night and since my dentist was closed, I went to the hospital. Waited 6 hours for this, but it was SO worth it.

its morphine, for a toothache?

Gabrielle Heather wrote:

its morphine, for a toothache?

Yes. The pain was just horrible. Lowest dosage of the stuff though.

Tegan Lynn wrote:
Is that hydromorphone? I loooooooove hydromorphone. I've been cycled through just about every opiate painkiller they've got with the muscle disease I've been fighting the past two years.

Yes, that's the generic name. It's amazing. The pain was so bad it was irradiating to the whole left side of my face. I thought I was losing my mind.

DivaEroticus wrote:
Several years ago, I had a cervical spine issue.  It was so bad that I couldn't sleep, was in tears constantly.  I went to the ER, the first night, but they only gave me a Rx for pain pills, which didn't work.  I walked around in circles all night.  The ER wouldn't give me anything else, since I was by myself.  The next night, same thing.  Walking in circles.  I called my brother at 1am.  He took me to the ER.  They gave me a shot of Dilaudid.  Five minutes later I was pain free.  I have never...NEVER...felt that good.  It was magic...MAGIC, I tell you.  I don't know about the pill version (I used to date a guy back in the 80s who loved the pills), but the shot?  ZOMGZOMGZOMG.  Magic.

That is all.

I felt magical enough on the pills... I can't imagine how the shot would feel.

You think it feels good just being on them... I have NEVER felt anything even remotely close to what happened to my body when I'd orgasm while on them. That was effing magic. I think I kind of lay there stunned and drooling for a bit the first time it happened.

P I X I E wrote:

Yes, that's the generic name. It's amazing. The pain was so bad it was irradiating to the whole left side of my face. I thought I was losing my mind.

Definitely amazing. I also didn't get as drowsy on the hydromorphone as I did on the other opiates, which was nice.

DivaEroticus wrote:
Several years ago, I had a cervical spine issue.  It was so bad that I couldn't sleep, was in tears constantly.  I went to the ER, the first night, but they only gave me a Rx for pain pills, which didn't work.  I walked around in circles all night.  The ER wouldn't give me anything else, since I was by myself.  The next night, same thing.  Walking in circles.  I called my brother at 1am.  He took me to the ER.  They gave me a shot of Dilaudid.  Five minutes later I was pain free.  I have never...NEVER...felt that good.  It was magic...MAGIC, I tell you.  I don't know about the pill version (I used to date a guy back in the 80s who loved the pills), but the shot?  ZOMGZOMGZOMG.  Magic.

That is all.

The shot would work way faster than the pill... I'm on the 1 mg dosage, and it usually does the trick within 20 minutes of taking it. They gave me the first dose at the hospital and so getting back home was kind of weird (thankfully my husband was with me the whole time!) and trippy to a point. I was prescribed Supeudol/oxycodone in the past and it didn't work as fast and nicely as Dilaudid.

Tegan Lynn wrote:
Definitely amazing. I also didn't get as drowsy on the hydromorphone as I did on the other opiates, which was nice.

I was on oxycodone for other stuff years ago. It made me hallucinate way more than get rid of the pain.

A friend of mine described hydromorphone as like 'kissing the face of God'. I'm not super religious, but yeah, that's pretty accurate.

Oh, and one more thing: I'm supposed to take this every 4 hours if I need to. Thing is, it makes me pain free for almost 8 hours! I don't want to abuse the stuff obviously, so I'm only taking it when the pain's unbearable. The triage nurse gave me Tylenol when I arrived, but yeah, that didn't do much.

P I X I E wrote:

The shot would work way faster than the pill... I'm on the 1 mg dosage, and it usually does the trick within 20 minutes of taking it. They gave me the first dose at the hospital and so getting back home was kind of weird (thankfully my husband was with me the whole time!) and trippy to a point. I was prescribed Supeudol/oxycodone in the past and it didn't work as fast and nicely as Dilaudid.

60mg injection, for me.  HOLYMOTHEROFGOD. 

DivaEroticus wrote:

60mg injection, for me.  HOLYMOTHEROFGOD. 

Whoa! My sister passed 2 kidney stones in 6 months and they gave her a needle for the pain. Pretty sure it was Dilaudid, she said the name started with a d. But afterwards, she was only given Empracet.

P I X I E wrote:

Whoa! My sister passed 2 kidney stones in 6 months and they gave her a needle for the pain. Pretty sure it was Dilaudid, she said the name started with a d. But afterwards, she was only given Empracet.

Yeah.  I was in heaven.  Seriously.  I've never...EVER...felt that good.  But in all honesty, the pain I was suffering was just that...suffering.  I didn't know a body could feel pain like that. 

ShivaKitty wrote:
I'm scared shitless of opiate painkillers, because I've known so many people who started out on prescription drugs for pain, and ended up injecting heroin a year or so later, feeling like they couldn't possibly live without opiates once their 'scripts ran out.

...

That shit ain't ever getting hold of me, if I can help it. The horror stories. The depths of hell people can fall to in their lives when they start relying on pain pills.

Yeah, opiates are pretty scary, and the stories are horrific. I've lost friends to it too. Unfortunately we tend to only hear the horror stories and none of the stories about the thousands of people who take them and get off them just fine. I've been given opiates and gotten off them no problem a few times, so have many people I know. We also don't know what other coexisting conditions (mental, physical, and situational) people can be suffering from that can influence the way their bodies and minds react to opiate use. There's just too many factors and we can't know them all.

I've also dealt with broken bones with no drugs, prefer to even. Even now, though I've been taking them for the past year, I do not like them or want to keep taking them. I fought this muscle disease a good year before I broke down and took the drugs, and only because it was literally crippling pain, I couldn't get out of bed on my own that's how bad the pain was. Even so, I usually make a solid attempt to go without them about every two to three months. Since I've been getting better my consumption has drastically reduced. I can't wait to get myself off them completely.

Personally, I think a big contributing factor to people getting hooked on hard drugs after being prescribed painkillers the the complete lack of concern the medical system has for discontinuing people's pain medication. There is no question that it causes a physical dependency and pretty horrific withdrawal effects even with relatively short term use. I've seen so many people suffer terrible cold turkey withdrawal experiences because their doctors just decide to end the prescription and not give them a chance to wean them off of these powerful drugs. Hell, I think the process should be medically supervised with all dependency-causing medications. Having experienced intense opiate withdrawal due to doctor's office mix-ups twice over the past year, I don't doubt that it would send people to the streets in search of a fix. Honestly, if I wasn't bed ridden I would have been out there looking for drugs to hold me over till the prescription was back, so I can completely understand how it happens. Especially at high doses, which is what I was on. shit.

Tegan Lynn wrote:
Personally, I think a big contributing factor to people getting hooked on hard drugs after being prescribed painkillers the the complete lack of concern the medical system has for discontinuing people's pain medication.

This is the stuff conspiracy theories are made of.

We supposedly spend so much money on the "war on drugs," but then, it's perfectly legal for medical professionals to offer serious narcotics to people, for health insurance to support their use -- but then, to just drop people after a certain point, when it's pretty apparent they're going to have some level of addiction established.

Honestly, from what I've seen in my own life, among people I've known -- the ease of doctors prescribing drugs like percocet, vicodin, hydrocodone, etc. was the best thing that ever happened to the heroine trade.

Tegan Lynn wrote:
Yeah, opiates are pretty scary, and the stories are horrific. I've lost friends to it too. Unfortunately we tend to only hear the horror stories and none of the stories about the thousands of people who take them and get off them just fine. I've been given opiates and gotten off them no problem a few times, so have many people I know. We also don't know what other coexisting conditions (mental, physical, and situational) people can be suffering from that can influence the way their bodies and minds react to opiate use. There's just too many factors and we can't know them all.

I've also dealt with broken bones with no drugs, prefer to even. Even now, though I've been taking them for the past year, I do not like them or want to keep taking them. I fought this muscle disease a good year before I broke down and took the drugs, and only because it was literally crippling pain, I couldn't get out of bed on my own that's how bad the pain was. Even so, I usually make a solid attempt to go without them about every two to three months. Since I've been getting better my consumption has drastically reduced. I can't wait to get myself off them completely.

Personally, I think a big contributing factor to people getting hooked on hard drugs after being prescribed painkillers the the complete lack of concern the medical system has for discontinuing people's pain medication. There is no question that it causes a physical dependency and pretty horrific withdrawal effects even with relatively short term use. I've seen so many people suffer terrible cold turkey withdrawal experiences because their doctors just decide to end the prescription and not give them a chance to wean them off of these powerful drugs. Hell, I think the process should be medically supervised with all dependency-causing medications. Having experienced intense opiate withdrawal due to doctor's office mix-ups twice over the past year, I don't doubt that it would send people to the streets in search of a fix. Honestly, if I wasn't bed ridden I would have been out there looking for drugs to hold me over till the prescription was back, so I can completely understand how it happens. Especially at high doses, which is what I was on. shit.

This. Can't agree more.

As I have mentioned earlier, I've been prescribed other opiates in the past. I didn't develop an addiction. And although my script says I can take a Dilaudid every 4 hours, I don't feel the need to take it so often. I take it only when the pain is making me lose my mind. I can see how one could become addicted, but I'm fairly confident this won't happen to me. If it was to happen, it would have already, 7 years ago.

I'm also getting an appointment with my dentist in the next few days, which will most likely take care of the problem (I'm fairly certain I need another root canal).

I'm also on very low doses of the stuff.

Oh yeah, there's no way I want to go the heroine route. Nope. Maybe it's easy for me to say, but whatever. I know myself.

ShivaKitty wrote:
Honestly, from what I've seen in my own life, among people I've known -- the ease of doctors prescribing drugs like percocet, vicodin, hydrocodone, etc. was the best thing that ever happened to the heroine trade.

Totally. And this whole oxycontin abuse hype is only making it worse.

Earlier in the year the government of ontario forced everyone on oxycontin to a new formulation that is harder to abuse. I was taking oxycontin at the time and needed to refill my prescription. Long story short, the government banned it a week before they could supply it to people on the government coverage program.

I wondered how many people bought some off the street that week. I wonder how many people's doctors refused to switch their scripts and just discontinued them. I wonder how much of the stockpiles of now unusable drug got snapped up by organized crime.

Tegan Lynn wrote:
I wondered how many people bought some off the street that week. I wonder how many people's doctors refused to switch their scripts and just discontinued them. I wonder how much of the stockpiles of now unusable drug got snapped up by organized crime.

Oh, I'm sure the numbers would be staggering.

I find it hard to believe that all of the successful people who make decisions, controlling legal drug distribution stuff in developed countries go around completely oblivious.


Do smart, powerful people not think about this stuff at all? Ever? Maybe it's just because their lives aren't the ones being ruined, so they don't care. Who knows.

Caradoc wrote:
Back when I had my one and only kidney stone, they hit me with hydromorphone in the ER.

That stuff *terrified* me because not only did the pain go away, I felt *good.*

Which, given the 4.7mm stone I had wedged in a spot that meant no lithotripsy and no stent, was a really bad thing. Pain is educational. If something is wrong and you can't feel it at all, that's bad.

I've had my share of painful incidents, and if I can handle it with acetaminophen, I'll do that.

I'd had nearly a week of incomprehensible pain.  I was in tears nonstop, and I had to go to work.  The percocet, and whatever else the Rx was for, did nothing except make me want to vomit.  The second trip to the ER, getting that dilaudid, was pure magic.  The pain went away instantly, I actually slept for four hours, and I could go to work without crying.  Once it wore off, I was crying again, but for those few hours of relief?  Oh yeah.

I went to a number of doctors, various discussions on treatment, and we went with Neurontin and physical therapy.  No pain pills.

DivaEroticus wrote:
I'd had nearly a week of incomprehensible pain.  I was in tears nonstop, and I had to go to work.  The percocet, and whatever else the Rx was for, did nothing except make me want to vomit.  The second trip to the ER, getting that dilaudid, was pure magic.  The pain went away instantly, I actually slept for four hours, and I could go to work without crying.  Once it wore off, I was crying again, but for those few hours of relief?  Oh yeah.

I went to a number of doctors, various discussions on treatment, and we went with Neurontin and physical therapy.  No pain pills.

I completely agree that hydromorphone and other "big gun" painkillers/narcotics/opiates have their place, but they really should scare people into not using them unless they're absofuckinglutely the last resort.

ShivaKitty wrote:
This is the stuff conspiracy theories are made of.

We supposedly spend so much money on the "war on drugs," but then, it's perfectly legal for medical professionals to offer serious narcotics to people, for health insurance to support their use -- but then, to just drop people after a certain point, when it's pretty apparent they're going to have some level of addiction established.

Honestly, from what I've seen in my own life, among people I've known -- the ease of doctors prescribing drugs like percocet, vicodin, hydrocodone, etc. was the best thing that ever happened to the heroine trade.

I know this situation all too well.

My mother in law has a plethora of medical conditions and is prescribed a laundry list of medications which started about 4 years ago.

Long story short, she ( obviously) became dependent on the drugs and like any person with a physical dependency started showing signs of an addiction problem...  Well her long time doctor that started her on these drugs launched a campaign to ' get her to stop taking drugs because she had a substance issue'.. Her doctor that had thoughtlessly handed her prescriptions to narcotics for years with no end in sight was treating her as if she was a low life off the streets. Needless to say, after about 6 months of telling her ' stop taking narcotics, you have a problem' she was completely dropped by her doctor and the whole family asked never to return because she was unfixable. The doctor could no longer help her....

Years later we have come to find she has on top of substance issues from being prescribed drugs for so long has wernicke korsakoff syndrome from years of malabsorption that went undiagnosed because those responsible for her care ( including a few ER visits) were too busy telling her she was a drug addict....This brain condition also lead to alot of behavioral issues, memory loss, comprehension issues, and seizures but no one was paying attention to the signs... Mind you this malabsorption was due to bypass surgery, which is actually somewhat common and is supposed to be monitored..

So yea, don't get me started on the state of our drug industry. I just call them drug dealers with a PHD. Some of these doctors are so wreckless and have no comprehension of the damage they are doing ( I'm not saying all of them mind you)

OP I'm really sorry to have hijacked the thread. This is just obviously something I feel strongly about.

Cait Chan wrote:
I know this situation all too well...

That's awful, but I can totally relate. My family doctor is a useless sexist twat. Same story, handed me these drugs for years, and now it starting to tell me I'm addicted. Is insisting I get counselling and help for my problem before he does anything else for me. Of course won't listen to me saying that the crippling pain that caused me to need these drugs in the first place is still here. All of course without putting any effort at all into trying to fix my actual muscle disease. Any other doctors I see now don't take me seriously because I'm an apparently healthy 25 year old woman with purple hair and piercings with a pain problem whose doctor has nothing to show for two years of treatment. Not a drug problem, because like I said above I do stop them every few months to see if the underlying issue is clearing up (which it finally is, thank god). They're all like, well why didn't your family doctor do anything? I'm like, I don't know!!!!!

Thankfully I managed to get myself into a specialist who believes me and is helping and is knocking my doctor down a peg or two. I can't describe the anxiety of being a seriously ill person and having the medical community think you're just after drugs... drugs which were prescribed to you freely. It's awful. Knowing the pain I'll be forced to endure if they decide to cut me off... terrible.

I hope things with your mother in law turned out okay in the end. Still terrible the suffering she was forced to endure.

DivaEroticus wrote:
60mg injection, for me.  HOLYMOTHEROFGOD. 

60mg? Then it wasn't Dilaudid. Standard adult doses are in the 2mg to 4mg range.

P I X I E wrote:
Amazing painkiller, that stuff is. I have a really bad tooth ache going on since last night and since my dentist was closed, I went to the hospital. Waited 6 hours for this, but it was SO worth it.

Wha?!

When I got my bottom wisdom teeth pulled, I got no pain meds. And then, when I got dry socket from it, I still got no pain meds....just got told to take Advil.

DarcieK wrote:

Wha?!

When I got my bottom wisdom teeth pulled, I got no pain meds. And then, when I got dry socket from it, I still got no pain meds....just got told to take Advil.

Well, I went to the ER, not the dentist. I guess the doctor felt really sorry for me.

Sophistocles wrote:

60mg? Then it wasn't Dilaudid. Standard adult doses are in the 2mg to 4mg range.

The lowest pill dosage is 1 mg. They are small green pills. That's what I have.

P I X I E wrote:

Well, I went to the ER, not the dentist. I guess the doctor felt really sorry for me.

I'll say! Dry socket is the most painful thing I've ever felt in my life. Even when I was in the hospital with severe abdominal pain (which apparently warranted a morphine injection) was less painful than dry socket.

I guess my dentist thinks I'm tough, which I am

DarcieK wrote:

I'll say! Dry socket is the most painful thing I've ever felt in my life. Even when I was in the hospital with severe abdominal pain (which apparently warranted a morphine injection) was less painful than dry socket.

I guess my dentist thinks I'm tough, which I am

My dentist never ever wanted to prescribe me happy pills...

DarcieK wrote:
Dry socket is the most painful thing I've ever felt in my life. Even when I was in the hospital with severe abdominal pain (which apparently warranted a morphine injection) was less painful than dry socket.

I guess my dentist thinks I'm tough, which I am

I'd rather go for a month of dry sockets (I had three out of the four extractions go "dry" when my wisdom teeth were pulled) than a week of the kidney stone I had.

Caradoc wrote:

I'd rather go for a month of dry sockets (I had three out of the four extractions go "dry" when my wisdom teeth were pulled) than a week of the kidney stone I had.

I've never had kidney stones so I can't compare. Dry socket sucked for me because I'm on the phone all day at work.

Caradoc wrote:

I'd rather go for a month of dry sockets (I had three out of the four extractions go "dry" when my wisdom teeth were pulled) than a week of the kidney stone I had.

Never had kidney stones, but my sister did. Twice, in 6 months. Very painful apparently.

P I X I E wrote:

Never had kidney stones, but my sister did. Twice, in 6 months. Very painful apparently.

When I was in the ER with my stone, the doctor asked if she could talk to me with the woman in the bed next to mine - same problem, kidney stone.

Since we were both on hydromorphone, we agreed she could do anything she wanted as long as the drip didn't stop.

She told me, "This is the closest you will come to feeling the pain of childbirth."

The woman in the other bed said, "Oh, honey. I've had twins. This is worse."

P I X I E wrote:
The lowest pill dosage is 1 mg. They are small green pills. That's what I have.

My wife got 2mg when she had her endo surgery.

I got 6mg when I had a perforated ulcer. (I'm 5'9" and about 190#, so it was quite the rush).

Sophistocles wrote:

My wife got 2mg when she had her endo surgery.

I got 6mg when I had a perforated ulcer. (I'm 5'9" and about 190#, so it was quite the rush).

Crazy. 1 mg was more than enough for me. You should have seen me when I got out of the hospital after my first dose. I don't remember much about how I got back home. I'm glad my husband was with me the whole time!