Today, as I mentioned previously, I just feel beat-up. I know that after a seizure (and I don't think I was having a seizure, but I feel that the aftereffects of intense tremors could be similar) people feel sore and wiped out, spent. That's me today. I've been napping virtually all day and I'm surprised that I can continue to climb back into bed and keep sleeping. Usually if I go down for a nap (which isn't every day, even when its a possibility) I'm only good to sleep for an hour max. Today, since 11 am, I've managed about 5 hours of sleeping.
I really think that the 20mg Oxy-tin is the way to go, now. That's what I'm on as of last night, and there is a subtle difference. Its more than the dosage, its like a subtly different drug. I remember taking vico-din as a kid after some dental work. That's the famed hydro-codone 5/325 tablet, according to Uncle Mike's Virtually Bottomless Store of Pharmaceutical Knowledge. 5mg of Oxy-done, and 325 of Tylenol/acetaminophen. Put simply, I really liked it. It made me feel like I was sitting under a warm blanket, inside on a chilly fall day, all safe and comfy. The world was quiet, I was kind, things were simple, and there wasn't that much to be concerned about. This is exactly why I've been leery of it: I clearly liked the stuff.
When they prescribed the Hydro-done 5/325 to me, they eventually stopped refilling the prescription because I was taking too many of them -- not out of some high-seeking behavior, but because it wasn't really doing enough for the pain at the recommended 1 pill every 4-6 hours. I was taking 2 of them every 2 hours at one point, or, put another way: dumping 650 mg of Tylenol into my system every 2 hours. That's way too much. The prescription didn't call for me taking it that often, but it was the only way to nuke the pain.
The maximum allowable daily dose of Tylenol/Acetaminophen *had been* 4,000 mg a day. Johnson and Johnson (the makers of the drug) announced in July 0f 2011 that they were reducing the maximum allowable daily dose to 3,000 milligrams. According to an article in the Huffington post, taking too much Tylenol can cause bad things, including liver damage. "In the U.S., it's blamed for about 200 fatal overdoses and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room each year." (http://preview.tinyurl.com/7h8fp79)
Perhaps Tylenol should adopt the use of Jace Everett's "True Blood" soundtrack song, "Bad Things" in their commercials. Of course the talkie bit would have to be replaced with a 3,000 mg a day warning. It would be entertaining, but sales would plummet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDY42pFwq7c
And so, back to our story.
The 5/325 was too much because I was (though without knowing it) exceeding the recommended daily dose by over 4,000 milligrams daily under the old schedule, and by more than 5,000 mg daily under the new recommended limit that Johnson and Johnson proposed. This only went on for a few days, but still.
So, then they took away (or allowed the prescription to run out, anyhow) my vico-din 5/325 and gave me just straight oxy-done 5mg -- no Tylenol. This is a drug that I was allowed to bump up to 2 pills every 2 hours, but they still weren't comfortable with that long-term. Which is what led to the Oxy-tin long-acting.
But, to get back to my 20mg vs 10mg comparison, the 10mg just didn't seem to be cutting it recently. Taking a 20mg oxy-tin last night and this afternoon seems to have changed my world view for the better. Yes, I am definitely more clumsy. I dropped a dish in to the sink yesterday, shattering both the dish and the pint glass that was already in the sink. I felt that warm-fuzzy-blanket feeling, and I'm sure that why I'm able to sleep more, also. I feel much less tense and irritable than I did yesterday.
Tense and Irritable is the name of a book that my dad did in 1964, that I remember us having boxes of in the attic when I was growing up. I always liked it. I found a copy for sale on Amazon.com, of all places. They have everything. Even books! But I digress.
My main point being that I feel much better on the 20mg. Oddly, the pain is still there sometimes (though not as bad) but I just don't care about it as much. Which is guess is all that really matters. The calm and inner quiet that I feel can be linked to the wondrous absence of pain that I feel more of the time, today. Or it could just be that I'm doped up on prescription opiates. Same difference. I resisted as long as I could, but I think upping the dosage is the best for me and for everyone around me.
I'm able to focus enough to write, anyhow. Though I drove my truck briefly this morning and probably shouldn't have been behind the wheel. I think that was still the Taze-O-Done working its way out of my system, more than the 20mg 'tin.
Anyhow, I continue to breathe better and have almost no difficulty swallowing. I guess I did have a big allergic reaction to the Taze-O-Done. Lesson learned, for me: don't take Trazodone. Put another way: Don't Traz me, bro.
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5 comments:
Scary couple of days there, bro.
Better living through chemistry! I found the same reaction to v'din, which I got a bunch of when I got my wisdom teeth out some 20 years ago: I felt like I was wrapped in warm cotton balls, that things were all just... warm... and a little syrupy... I remember doing that for like a week and thinking - Oh Kay, that's enough of THAT.
I just took two of my last tooth pulling oxi, though, just after I got my teeth deep-cleaned (the deep cleaning where they shoot you up with Novocaine cuz they're going that deep...) but this time it was warm slightly dirty cotton balls. Mildly down. In a pervasive body controlling kind of way.
(That was one pill Wednesday, when they did the right side, and one today, when they did the left side. I wondered what the street value was, counted how many I have left.)
I just caught up with all the latest posts. So sorry you're having to deal with the pain and the med complications. As you know, I had some experience with a lot of the same meds this summer and fall. Or maybe you don't remember. Do you remember visiting me in the hospital a day or so after you were discharged? I should be totally off them by now, but sometimes my pain comes back so bad I have to use it. I know I was told I could NOT drive until I had not taken any of the opiates for 24 hours. I can understand it as they made me a little loopy and slowed my reactions.
Deborah, I do remember visiting you, definitely. The oxycon-tin is safer for long term use and regular use than the oxyco-done, and one is allowed to drive on the oxy-tin. Though -- having just upped the dosage to 20mg 2x daily here -- I don't feel very safe to drive at the moment. At least for a few days until my system adjusts.
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