greg loved him some onion rings !!
I knew something was wrong with him at his last BASH, he bought the rings.
Keep on diggin'
- Thread starter redfred
- Start date
greg loved him some onion rings !!
I knew something was wrong with him at his last BASH, he bought the rings.
I'm fused L5/S1. Lifted a 50 pound box incorrectly years ago and blew out L5. Surgery was and is a success but I've spent the last 7 years upholstering restaurants and throwing around 6 foot bench seats and backs. Had me in all kinds of pain so I've been on a cocktail of meds so that I could earn my living. I turned 62 this summer and decided that enough was enough. Filed for early social security and scaled back my business (no more restaurants). I'm trying to be semi-retired but then I turn around and buy an expensive quilting machine.
I discovered, once I quit doing restaurants, that I was way over medicated. One by one, I discontinued my meds. Finally I got down to the last one, a synthetic opiod, Tramadol. Even titrating down like you are supposed to, I was in a world of hurt. My body had been on the stuff for almost 13 years and was pretty p*ssed that I was quitting taking it. Couldn't sleep, restless legs and arms, aggression, absolutely devoid of energy, pretty much text book physical withdrawal. I too kept on diggin' and after about 45 days, I started feeling more like my old self.
What really irritated me was that I, and all of us, who were prescribed Tramadol were told that because it was synthetic the risks of becoming physically or psychologically addicted were very low. Now we know that is not true. I've read of people on the stuff for less than a week severely addicted. My doc and I worked closely to keep me at a minimum dose and I never took more than I was supposed to. I count my lucky stars that I only had physical withdrawals and not psychological addiction.
I'm approaching 120 days free of all prescription meds and feel better than I have in years. Keep back pain under control by watching what kinds of jobs I take and doing frequent yoga stretches through the day. Every once in a while, I'll get a delayed withdrawal symptom (PAWS) and I keep on diggin'.
I discovered, once I quit doing restaurants, that I was way over medicated. One by one, I discontinued my meds. Finally I got down to the last one, a synthetic opiod, Tramadol. Even titrating down like you are supposed to, I was in a world of hurt. My body had been on the stuff for almost 13 years and was pretty p*ssed that I was quitting taking it. Couldn't sleep, restless legs and arms, aggression, absolutely devoid of energy, pretty much text book physical withdrawal. I too kept on diggin' and after about 45 days, I started feeling more like my old self.
What really irritated me was that I, and all of us, who were prescribed Tramadol were told that because it was synthetic the risks of becoming physically or psychologically addicted were very low. Now we know that is not true. I've read of people on the stuff for less than a week severely addicted. My doc and I worked closely to keep me at a minimum dose and I never took more than I was supposed to. I count my lucky stars that I only had physical withdrawals and not psychological addiction.
I'm approaching 120 days free of all prescription meds and feel better than I have in years. Keep back pain under control by watching what kinds of jobs I take and doing frequent yoga stretches through the day. Every once in a while, I'll get a delayed withdrawal symptom (PAWS) and I keep on diggin'.
Last edited:
When things seem insurmountable, come on and post. The world is in dire need of of your unique perspectives!
My nephew is highly functioning autistic. Graduated High School, attended prom, obtained his driver's license and works. He's a pretty happy young man!
People mistake them for dumb or unable to do certain things...When in reality they are just wired differently than you or me.
He's a great kid (31 years old the 18th of the month). He's always been my number one fan. He was diagnosed pretty early on, close to his first birthday. There wasn't a lot of information about autism then so none of us knew what to expect from him. Our first clue that he was a pretty smart young man came when he discovered Nascar. To this day, you give him a Nascar number and he will tell you what make, model, driver, sponsor, what's under the hood and anything else pertinent about it.
When he started school, the district was able to provide one on one teaching aide and I think that made the biggest difference in getting him through school as that aide knew how to get that information to Michael so that he could assimilate it.
We drove Corvette's for years. Our last was the 40th anniversary which spent most of its time in our garage. I was talking to my brother one day and he was going to go look at a used one as a fun, "retirement" car. I talked to RTB quickly and we decided to sell it if my brother wanted it. He was thrilled to get our car as it was very low mileage and he knew how it had been cared for. Michael was and is still over the moon about the purchase. Helped his dad find new floor mats, key fobs and several other replacement items for the car. He's also periodically allowed to drive the Vet, with dad as a passenger. His dad sent me a picture of Michael behind the steering wheel the first time he drove it and that kid's smile would have lit up most of the state. As his dad told him, "I bet none of the kids you graduated with get to drive a vet."
I was very moved by many of these posts. I post here because it is a place where I can discuss my real passion with others, namely Husker Football. I also come here to escape. Our oldest married daughter has alcohol and drug addiction. She is at the point where her liver is severely damaged, and she suffers severe neuropathy (nerve endings) are inflamed where she can barely walk. I wasn’t aware of how addictions can really effect a whole family until we got a crash course on this. You are dealing with a person that you love, but you will never believe anything that she will say because she continually will hide her usage. A once very bright, intelligent person with an extremely sharp wit is now dulled beyond repair. It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I felt that addicts SHOULD be able to see what alcohol and drugs are doing to them, and be able to quit. Now I realize that it is truly a disease. Life is truly good, but none of us cannot go through it unscathed. We can all draw strength from one another to get beyond our trials.
Sorry to hear about your daughter RR. Addiction is an absolute bear. I smoked cigarettes for 25 years and was horribly addicted to them. Finally quit just before my 40th birthday when I adopted some of the AA attitudes -- like not saying I had quit but rather how long it had been since my last smoke, etc.
As long as she lives, there is still hope. I can only imagine the pain you and your family go through on a daily basis. Keep your faith and hope for a better tomorrow for your girl.
As long as she lives, there is still hope. I can only imagine the pain you and your family go through on a daily basis. Keep your faith and hope for a better tomorrow for your girl.
I have 2 Daughters RR...19 and 17. I try my best to steer them in the right directions but I know that those days ended a long time ago and all I can do is hope they make the right choices...I feel for you and your wife and hope your daughter can get through her struggle.
I've seen too many addictions destroy good people and good families.
Not to get too 'political' here on our Husker board but it really burns my butt that the opioid crisis this country is going through was created by 'mainstream' medical doctors and pharmaceutical companies
Not to get too 'political' here on our Husker board but it really burns my butt that the opioid crisis this country is going through was created by 'mainstream' medical doctors and pharmaceutical companies
Fentenal (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) is the worst opioid drug out there. That's the one Tom Petty od'd on. It's just incredibly addictive. There are some crazy stories about docs prescribing them like tic tacs.
doc, I dont see how something this bad can be lowered to any political position.
What Uenth had to say about not knowing the addictive traits or consequences of medications is a shortcoming in study, and use and prescription of all drugs, especially to be so far off the mark.
Certain diseases drive us to anything to just help, Ive had a bad back and understand, especially when others dont, and can see how someone could just accept anything to make it better.
Theres a fine line in that, and again ,Uenths story tells it all, as her body recovered much earlier from her back pain, the drugs remained, and she then had to wait for herself to recover from them, if I understand it right.
Its one of those needed things, yet, are the people prescribing them qualified to actually follow up?
In two weeks, can we handle pain on our own, or with lessor treatment, and if so, whos taking those steps? And not just on the reliability of the patient?
To extend this onto or beyond the patient and prescriber can only then happen if theres greater problems within a supposed trusted system.
Meaning, whos preferring the newest meds, whos listening to them, and whos talking to those who first prescribe them and thus making them popular?
Money is also a vicious drug, and is also addictive, be you jane doe,joe blow, dr. Prescribalot or Mr Bayer.
I'll try to clarify a couple of points.
I was put on Tramadol in 2005. At that time, my prescribing physician told me that because it was a synthetic opioid, there was little chance of addiction. That's a common theme amongst folks recovering from Tramadol addiction, either physical or psychological. There just wasn't enough empirical evidence until folks started having severe issues titrating off the stuff. Yet the FDA let this stuff out on the market. Can you say almighty dollar?
I had a desk job and could not sit for 8 hours a day so even though my surgery was a success, I had tons of pain sitting all day so I was kept on Tramadol. Then I decided to start my own business and a very physical business. It wasn't unusual for me to get 200 yards of fabric/vinyl in at one shot, in 35 yard rolls. No matter how careful you try to be, you are still racking your body. So over time, I went from 1 or 2 50 mg tablets to 300 mg daily. I know folks taking 1200+ every day. Plus hydrocodone, gabapentin for nerve damage and an anti imflamatory. Kept pain to a manageable level and let me earn a decent living.
The last restaurant job let me know that it was time to stop upholstering big items. One of my legs started going out on me walking, back pain was getting crazy bad and I didn't want to increase dosages. So I stopped restaurant jobs.
About 2 weeks after I finished the restaurant, I noticed that my pain levels were decreasing and my leg issues were dissipating. For the first time, on these meds, I was starting to feel high. Always before, it had kept pain to a manageable level. So, I started playing with meds, lowering dosages and then finally eliminating meds, one by one. I kept Tramadol for last (not really sure why).
I titrated down and started getting the withdrawal issues. Once I figured out that was what was going on, I completely stopped as I was concerned that I would not be able to go through the withdrawal symptoms again. Wicked does not begin to describe them. What happens is that your body becomes dependent and your brain has to make new connections once you quit taking them. Also, in addition to masking pain, brain chemicals like serotonin and norepinephrine (this is what anti-depressants do). So your body is learning to re-route pain connections and you also may face some serious depression (probably why I was devoid of energy for a period of time).
Hope this doesn't make it clear as mud.
I was put on Tramadol in 2005. At that time, my prescribing physician told me that because it was a synthetic opioid, there was little chance of addiction. That's a common theme amongst folks recovering from Tramadol addiction, either physical or psychological. There just wasn't enough empirical evidence until folks started having severe issues titrating off the stuff. Yet the FDA let this stuff out on the market. Can you say almighty dollar?
I had a desk job and could not sit for 8 hours a day so even though my surgery was a success, I had tons of pain sitting all day so I was kept on Tramadol. Then I decided to start my own business and a very physical business. It wasn't unusual for me to get 200 yards of fabric/vinyl in at one shot, in 35 yard rolls. No matter how careful you try to be, you are still racking your body. So over time, I went from 1 or 2 50 mg tablets to 300 mg daily. I know folks taking 1200+ every day. Plus hydrocodone, gabapentin for nerve damage and an anti imflamatory. Kept pain to a manageable level and let me earn a decent living.
The last restaurant job let me know that it was time to stop upholstering big items. One of my legs started going out on me walking, back pain was getting crazy bad and I didn't want to increase dosages. So I stopped restaurant jobs.
About 2 weeks after I finished the restaurant, I noticed that my pain levels were decreasing and my leg issues were dissipating. For the first time, on these meds, I was starting to feel high. Always before, it had kept pain to a manageable level. So, I started playing with meds, lowering dosages and then finally eliminating meds, one by one. I kept Tramadol for last (not really sure why).
I titrated down and started getting the withdrawal issues. Once I figured out that was what was going on, I completely stopped as I was concerned that I would not be able to go through the withdrawal symptoms again. Wicked does not begin to describe them. What happens is that your body becomes dependent and your brain has to make new connections once you quit taking them. Also, in addition to masking pain, brain chemicals like serotonin and norepinephrine (this is what anti-depressants do). So your body is learning to re-route pain connections and you also may face some serious depression (probably why I was devoid of energy for a period of time).
Hope this doesn't make it clear as mud.
Biggest bunch of BS the medical community has ever done to this country...Finally they have started to adopt early physical therapy and limited opioids...Destroyed so many families! I’ll stop...
It’s specifically designed for surgery only and they let it out on the streets...Man made...
I think the trick is to find what works for you and everyone is different. I did PT every step of the way and it was never particularly helpful. Felt great until I walked out their door.
For me, yoga seems to be the key. I don't do like 30-45 minutes at a time. I'll do key stretches periodically throughout the day or if I hunch over a machine for too long and feel things tighten up then I stop and stretch things out and I'm good to go again.
