Decreased pain med and feeling down and irritable.
The best way to get off of them is to slowly decrease them, go twice as long without them and then longer when you can, but if you are still in pain go ahead and use them. You'll find as you feel better and don't need them you will automatically go longer without them. Surgery is a major trauma to the body and your body may just decide it needs them abit longer. Also I know surgeons put "no refill" on some pain meds but that is just so you can't automatically refill them. However if you need them longer than what they give you at first, call the doc and usually they will give you a new RX.
I take narcotic pain meds on a regular basis for chronic pain issues and each month I have to get a new Rx and pick it up from the doc because what I take can't just be called in to the pharmacy. I just read an article about how only 1% of people on pain medication for legitimate reasons ever become addicted to the meds. So you are pretty safe but if you feel you are developing an issue do discuss it with your doc, better to catch it early if it does get to be a problem. Good luck to you.
I take narcotic pain meds on a regular basis for chronic pain issues and each month I have to get a new Rx and pick it up from the doc because what I take can't just be called in to the pharmacy. I just read an article about how only 1% of people on pain medication for legitimate reasons ever become addicted to the meds. So you are pretty safe but if you feel you are developing an issue do discuss it with your doc, better to catch it early if it does get to be a problem. Good luck to you.
Your body can get "addicted" without you becoming an addict.
It's simply physiology. You have habituated your body to a certain amount of narcotic per day. That's not bad or good - it just is. It certainly doesn't make you an addict.
The easiest way to deal with this is to taper off of it slowly, eliminating a dose every couple days. That will spare you the withdrawal symptoms (which is what you are experiencing). Or you can tough it out and just quit. For some reason your body seemed to easily take to the drugs, so if you go cold turkey, expect some emotional reactions and even some flu like symptoms.
I personally kept my narcotic use to 5 days post op and had weaned myself off by Day 5 because I learned this whole lesson the hard way after a spinal fusion.
Try to remember there is no judgement involved here and you did nothing wrong. Your body is just susceptible, for whatever reason, to dependency on narcotics and maybe file that away in your mind for future surgeries, etc.
Best of luck to you however you choose to deal with it. And actually, the pain will seem a LOT less once you stop the meds probably. It turns into a vicious cycle. At 10 days if you have sufficient pain to use narcotics, you may want to call your doc.
Take Care, Hang In, Post when you need/want to. You're doing great! =)
It's simply physiology. You have habituated your body to a certain amount of narcotic per day. That's not bad or good - it just is. It certainly doesn't make you an addict.
The easiest way to deal with this is to taper off of it slowly, eliminating a dose every couple days. That will spare you the withdrawal symptoms (which is what you are experiencing). Or you can tough it out and just quit. For some reason your body seemed to easily take to the drugs, so if you go cold turkey, expect some emotional reactions and even some flu like symptoms.
I personally kept my narcotic use to 5 days post op and had weaned myself off by Day 5 because I learned this whole lesson the hard way after a spinal fusion.
Try to remember there is no judgement involved here and you did nothing wrong. Your body is just susceptible, for whatever reason, to dependency on narcotics and maybe file that away in your mind for future surgeries, etc.
Best of luck to you however you choose to deal with it. And actually, the pain will seem a LOT less once you stop the meds probably. It turns into a vicious cycle. At 10 days if you have sufficient pain to use narcotics, you may want to call your doc.
Take Care, Hang In, Post when you need/want to. You're doing great! =)
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