A week ago...

Juttle

I woke up and automatically went into my daily routine of oramorph, co codamol and all the other junk that my quack has decided that I “must” swallow if I want to wake up tomorrow and suddenly decided that I’d had enough! I’ve now not taken any painkillers for a week - and also none of that god awful laxido - and, contrary to popular belief, nothing happened! No appendages shrivelled up and dropped off, I wasn’t assailed by hordes of screaming Valkyries, nor was I carried off to “a place of safety” for my own protection.

In short, I’m still in pain, although slightly less than before, but I feel generally better. I’ve always “thought” myself out of pain - if that makes any sense - and shall continue to do so, but it really feels better to not be at the beck and call of pills!

This might not be for everyone, your mileage may vary, but for me, right now, it is!

dreamdaisy

Well done, that was a sudden cessation of the pain dulling junk and with no ill-effects, that's fortunate. I've had my time on oromorph etc and all it did was take me away from the pain rather than the other way around. I keep it to the minimum a) so I can tell when to stop an activity and b) to give me room to increase when necessary (having a creaky foot in both arthritis camps does make that necessary from time to time). Rest and mental distraction are my go-to choices for reducing my perception of pain. Good luck and keep in touch. DD

stickywicket

As any regular reader of these pages will know I'm all for as few pills as possible, especially the so-called 'painkiller' ones. The more meds we take the more likely are interactions.

Having said that, I think you've been extremely lucky to get away with the 'cold turkey' approach. We've had people on here before who have had lots of problems just from codeine. So I'd always advise people to reduce slowly under a doc's guidance. Docs are usually happy for us to reduce. I've never yet had one push pain relief at me apart from one horrible hospital stay where one doc was pushing morphine at me when I refused to take more as the 4-5 doses I'd already had had made not one iota of difference. But she was a one-off I'm glad to say.

I do hope the feeling of greater well-being continues and the pain doesn't get significantly worse.

(Can you climb into that high chair yet )

Juttle

I realise that the cold turkey method can have some alarming consequences but in the past, I’ve done exactly the same thing with various other substances, not going into details, and I’ve found that, with a bit of willpower, I can cope better with my method rather than the slow withdrawal. I was also reduced to a gibbering idiot on one occasion but that was entirely my own fault! If anybody is thinking of kicking out the painkillers don’t, for heaven’s sake, hold me up as an example, consult your GP and be advised.

I’m still getting offered the highchairs but I’ll need to loose a good few stone before I’m likely to fit. We’re all still getting a good laugh out of it though!

dreamdaisy

Hello, are you still junk-free? DD

Juttle

dreamdaisy wrote:

Hello, are you still junk-free? DD

At the moment yes, although various bits are beginning to creak a little more than expected so I might have to resort to the coco’s again. But then again it could just be the weather...

stickywicket

We creak therefore we are.

My husband is convinced we have a mouse but I know it's only me