Muscle Relaxers!

[geauxtohell]

BTW, vicodin makes everyone itch if you're taking too much of it, or hitting it for too long.

Which is why it's often prescribed with diphenhydramine.

AKA Benadryl for those of you who aren't sufficiently impressed with AB's massive brain trust on medications.

 

[geauxtohell]

(Ignoring the narcisstic claptrap)....I'm ALLERGIC to codeine, Allie. I wasn't as a young woman, didn't have any for twenty years, and now cannot tolerate even a tiny amount. The genius I was seeing at the Cleveland Clinic couldn't seem to figure this out...was my family doctor who did.

If you ask me, most American pain management is FUBAR.

Did you have an anaphylactic reaction? It sounds like you aren't actually allergic, but just experienced side effects. It's pretty common for people to have a known side effect and report it as an "allergy". I am not telling you to change your "allergic too" status, just some info to ponder in the future. There is a push to document what kind of reaction people have to medications they think they are allergic too so that it can be sussed out.

As for the morphine v. codeine. My second guess would be that you take the codeine orally, which means it goes through the liver, which means your liver makes metabolites of the drug, one or more of which, you don't tolerate. That wasn't the case with the IV Morphine. It bypassed your liver and went straight into your blood stream.

 

[geauxtohell]

So about a month ago I was hit in the jaw, and it aggravated by TMJ, so my doctor gave me muscle relaxers. I can hardly ever take them, mostly because they f me up. And if I take them before bed, I have to make sure I will get 8hrs of sleep or it is impossible to get out of bed.
It just cracks me up, drugs like Flexeril is legal, and not marijuana.

I find it ironic that marijuana is illegal while alcohol is legal. Which one does more damage overall?

Alcohol. And of all the drugs in the world, only Alcohol and it's cousins (barbiturates and benzodiazepines) will kill people who are withdrawing from them if they aren't properly managed.

 

[AllieBaba]

So about a month ago I was hit in the jaw, and it aggravated by TMJ, so my doctor gave me muscle relaxers. I can hardly ever take them, mostly because they f me up. And if I take them before bed, I have to make sure I will get 8hrs of sleep or it is impossible to get out of bed.
It just cracks me up, drugs like Flexeril is legal, and not marijuana.

Cyclobenzaprine/Flexeril?

That's good stuff.

You know, you can cut the dosage on any pill by halving or quartering it so it clears your body faster*.

*I am not a doctor.

yeah, no you can't.
Or rather you can, but you may suffer side effects...like blackening or rotting of teeth, or overdose in the case of time release meds.

Never cut meds in half without checking to make sure it's safe.

 

[geauxtohell]

There are many, many people coping with long term, heavy pain. Thank God I'm not one, but I've had some need for pain meds in the past and it sucks not to be able to tolerate them. Terrible MD story:

So I am seeing a Pain Management Specialist at The World Famous Cleveland Clinic for about a year and he keeps changing my prescriptions, looking for a drug that will work on me and not make me itchy and bitchy. Trouble is, chemically all the drugs he tries are related and apart from the cost, I am building a stockpile of oxycotin, etc. that a drug addict would envy. (Eventually I threw them all out, so dun bother to burgle me.)

Anyway, after all this time my pharmacist finally whispers to me that this is a snipe hunt. A whole year of itchiness etc. and all that other trouble, and the MD never even bothered to tell me that someone who reacts badly to vicodine is not likely to be able to tolerate any codeine-based drug.

Eventually, the pain passed on its own....but I'd still like to bitchslap that MD.

OMG! I am SO allergic to vicodine and coding based drugs. I just want to jump out of my skin itching!!! I told the DR if that was what he was planing on giving me after surgeries...forget it. I would rather drink!

I am actually one of these people that has permanent moderate to severe pain. My doctors try to perscribe me the narcotics but I now refuse them. I have also stopped taking the big ibuprophens. I now just "deal" with it.

The weird part is that a few months after stopping all pain meds my pain level returned to the level I still had while taking the meds. The first few months without them though did hurt more but I think your body/mind adapt to it after a while.

Vicoden/Percocet/Oxycontin all have the same effect on me, they turn me into a total spaz who can't sit still. I can't relax, I can't sleep, I can't stop moving around and doing things.....I swear I turn borderlin OCD when I was on that stuff.

Withdrawal from any drug causes an "opposite" effect. So if you were on pain pills and stopped them, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that you would be in more pain in the withdrawal phase until your body found equilibrium again.

 

[AllieBaba]

Of course you're all liberals. Only liberals are this dense and this incredibly easy.

***** be trolling. It's fun isn't it? This thread is probably the highlight of your day.

There are a couple of posters on USMB who I suspect are textbook cases of transference. Basically, they have a shitty day and come on here to say all that shit they can't say to their boss to other posters and all the rest of the psychobabble BS.

Yes, that would describe some. The ones that work, that is. It hink that leaves out Madeline and Luissa.

Certainly not me. I don't have shitty days at work. I love my job, love my supervisors (who work 90 miles away from me, wahoo) love my office.

And..er...isn't your post a classic example of psychobabble?

 

[Madeline]

Goddamn it Allie. Get off this ******* thread.

 

[AllieBaba]

**** you up the ass, Madeline, you dipshit. If you want a private thread, pay for your own board.

 

[Madeline]

I don't -- owning a message board sounds like a Trip To Purgatory to me. But Christ onna cracker, woman, can we be allowed to discuss something other than YOU YOU YOU?

And BTW, how in hell can cutting a pain med pill in half make your teeth rot?

 

[geauxtohell]

So about a month ago I was hit in the jaw, and it aggravated by TMJ, so my doctor gave me muscle relaxers. I can hardly ever take them, mostly because they f me up. And if I take them before bed, I have to make sure I will get 8hrs of sleep or it is impossible to get out of bed.
It just cracks me up, drugs like Flexeril is legal, and not marijuana.

Cyclobenzaprine/Flexeril?

That's good stuff.

You know, you can cut the dosage on any pill by halving or quartering it so it clears your body faster*.

*I am not a doctor.

yeah, no you can't.
Or rather you can, but you may suffer side effects...like blackening or rotting of teeth, or overdose in the case of time release meds.

Never cut meds in half without checking to make sure it's safe.

Okay.

New memo people!

Do NOT split up your pills. The magic drug powder that makes them up is magically proportioned so that if you split up a pill and take it, you will die.

Also, the effects of prescription strength Ibuprofen (800 mg) is not the same as taking 4 OTC ibuprofen (200 mg). If you take four OTC Ibuprofen for something your Dr. has recommended prescription strength ibuprofen for, you will also die.

Or turn into a methadone addict.

 

[DiveCon]

Cyclobenzaprine/Flexeril?

That's good stuff.

You know, you can cut the dosage on any pill by halving or quartering it so it clears your body faster*.

*I am not a doctor.

yeah, no you can't.
Or rather you can, but you may suffer side effects...like blackening or rotting of teeth, or overdose in the case of time release meds.

Never cut meds in half without checking to make sure it's safe.

Okay.

New memo people!

Do NOT split up your pills. The magic drug powder that makes them up is magically proportioned so that if you split up a pill and take it, you will die.

Also, the effects of prescription strength Ibuprofen (800 mg) is not the same as taking 4 OTC ibuprofen (200 mg). If you take four OTC Ibuprofen for something your Dr. has recommended prescription strength ibuprofen for, you will also die.

Or turn into a methadone addict.

nice sarcasm

 

[geauxtohell]

I don't -- owning a message board sounds like a Trip To Purgatory to me. But Christ onna cracker, woman, can we be allowed to discuss something other than YOU YOU YOU?

And BTW, how in hell can cutting a pain med pill in half make your teeth rot?

I don't know about making teeth rot, but it really pisses off the drug companies.

Pill Splitting

I think there could be some concern that lowering dosage on treatments might cause an adverse medical outcome (due to lack of treatment) and I would think it would be very stupid to reduce the dosage on any scheduled/regular drug that a person takes (i.e. blood pressure pills, warfarin). I just assumed that went without saying.

However, for any medication that is "take as needed" or not for some organic medical problem, I don't see the harm. I certainly don't think it is going to make a benign drug lethal as the medications in pills is a heterogeneous mix (pills and not capsules).

Then again, I am not a Doctor so if I am wrong, I'll be happy to admit it.

 

[geauxtohell]

yeah, no you can't.
Or rather you can, but you may suffer side effects...like blackening or rotting of teeth, or overdose in the case of time release meds.

Never cut meds in half without checking to make sure it's safe.

Okay.

New memo people!

Do NOT split up your pills. The magic drug powder that makes them up is magically proportioned so that if you split up a pill and take it, you will die.

Also, the effects of prescription strength Ibuprofen (800 mg) is not the same as taking 4 OTC ibuprofen (200 mg). If you take four OTC Ibuprofen for something your Dr. has recommended prescription strength ibuprofen for, you will also die.

Or turn into a methadone addict.

nice sarcasm

It's one of my specialties.

 

[geauxtohell]

Here is a more legit link on "pill splitting".

Pill-splitting found safe, economical; industry differs - MarketWatch

 

[AllieBaba]

I don't -- owning a message board sounds like a Trip To Purgatory to me. But Christ onna cracker, woman, can we be allowed to discuss something other than YOU YOU YOU?

And BTW, how in hell can cutting a pain med pill in half make your teeth rot?

Some medications have a coating or capsule which prevents the medication from contacting your teeth. If the outer shell is broken, they destroy your teeth.

That's one reason why so many mentally ill patients have black and rotting teeth. They hold meds in their mouths, they chew them, and over years their teeth deteriorate. Lots of meds come with the warning "do not chew, cut or crush". There's a reason for that.

 

[geauxtohell]

I don't -- owning a message board sounds like a Trip To Purgatory to me. But Christ onna cracker, woman, can we be allowed to discuss something other than YOU YOU YOU?

And BTW, how in hell can cutting a pain med pill in half make your teeth rot?

Some medications have a coating or capsule which prevents the medication from contacting your teeth. If the outer shell is broken, they destroy your teeth.

That's one reason why so many mentally ill patients have black and rotting teeth. They hold meds in their mouths, they chew them, and over years their teeth deteriorate. Lots of meds come with the warning "do not chew, cut or crush". There's a reason for that.

We are talking about pills, not capsules.

 

[Madeline]

I don't think I've even seen a capsule since the 1980's.

 

[AllieBaba]

"coating or capsule".

Table of meds ok to split, and meds that shouldn't be split:

http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=4589

 

[geauxtohell]

I don't think I've even seen a capsule since the 1980's.

It's a fair point though. Some drugs, like tetracyclines have a nasty habit of chelating calcium and really screw up teeth.

So here is a happy medium:

Some drugs can be halved, but not all can. Ask your Dr. before halving a medication.

 

[AllieBaba]

I don't think I've even seen a capsule since the 1980's.

what the **** are you talking about?