Pain meds, hoping to end soon, opiates. I'm worried.

Hi Rochelle!

I was prescribed Hydrocodone for my second TKR last October. It made me less LOOPY than the Oxycodone prescribed with my first TKR last June.

In the hospital they gave me two pills each time. My surgeon prescribed just one at a time on the prescription. One did NOTHING, so I took my discharge orders which clearly read "TWO tablets" into the pharmacy , but the pharmacy would not honor the discharge orders.

I took two tablets until they were done then tossed the bottle and began my tried and true Ibuprofen.

For me, the Ibuprofen worked much better, and I had no hazy feeling as I did with the narcotics.

In the future, if I have any procedure, I do Tylenol until it is OK to move to Ibuprofen. I am done with Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Percocet, and DEFINITELY Vicodin. Not impressed with their pain-reducing abilities, AND definitely hate the way they make me feel.

Oh, and Tramadol gave me all the symptoms of the FLU without a fever. Nixed THAT drug, too!

Moving around and stretching helped me. Hydrating with ice water and icing helped, too.

I hope your recovery goes well. Rest as much as you can, and I hope you get an awesome physical therapist. The good ones are SO HELPFUL to a fast and solid recovery!

Well, for ME, when the pain lessened I easily cut back on the meds until I was not taking them.  And I have been taking opiod based meds for years.  The best way I found to do it is cut the pills in half, and endure til you absolutely need them for pain.  There are a few 'withdrawal' symptoms to look for, some are sweating, headaches, diahhrea.  Those are NOT reasons to take more, take only for pain!!  I have quit many times and this has been my method.  I have chronic pain, and have had several surgeries over the past 5 years for various ailments.  I take the hydrocodone for awhile, then stop for awhile, and then when I know that I am taking too much ibuprofen or other over the counter meds, I will go back to the Hydrocodone, but in the smallest dose possible.  I see a pain management doc and they track you very closely here in the U.S.A.   I work full time and have hobbies that I can not be drugged up for and this is my main reason to focus on this issue.  Otherwise, I would probably be an addict chaising the high wherever it takes me.