Percocet Dependency

[Droopy]

Someone I know was taking Percocet due to severe back pain. He finally had the surgery he needed last week after being on the medication since July of this year. He had been taking the maximum recommended dosage of Percocet and due to that and the length of time he was on it he had become dependent on the drug.

He came home on Wednesday and decided to try to kick the drug without any guidance from a doctor. He called me Friday morning and asked me to pick up a few things for him from the drug store. He said he felt terrible. He had diarrhea, the shakes and twitches, cramps, and insomnia. I brought him the stuff from the drug store and then decided to look up Percocet dependency and withdrawal on the internet.

I didn't think kicking the drug was really all that big a deal until I saw what it was doing to him and then looked up some information. It turns out that Percocet is an opioid and is in the same class of drugs as morphine. We're talking some heavy duty stuff here. Then I saw that withdrawal from the drug could cause seizures and convulsions if not treated. I decided that it was time for my friend to go to the doctor and it wasn't too difficult to convince him of that.

The doctor prescribed him some kind of non-narcotic drug to help him come off of the Percocet. I forget what it was now. I'm thinking Ultrim, but that sounds like a weight loss drug to me. I checked on him the last couple of days and he is doing much better. His symptoms of withdrawal are still there a little bit, but they are not near as fierce as they were before and he is able to get some sleep now.

I thought he was going to end up on the psych unit at the hospital there for a little while. I've been there a couple of times myself for mental illness and I've seen people like my friend there trying to kick heavy drugs. If you've been taking pain meds for a while and decide to quit taking them, be sure to see your doctor first.

[KitchenWitch]

1. Your friend was probably given Ultram

Which is a milder form of opioid. He will likely still need help getting off of that, but I am no doctor so he really should be seeing his doctor early and often!

[Droopy]

2. I'll see to it that he sticks with the program

Someone told me that he knew a person who had to kick Percocet and they had him on methodone. That's scary.

[machI]

3. Your friend should go to a different doctor

Get away from the doctor that gave him the Percocet that has heard all the stories about the back problems.

Get a doctor that specializes in treating drug dependency. There is no social stigma here, this is a legitimate case (which happen quite often) that simply requires some additional medical procedures to treat. Getting off of pain killers like Percocet is a little more complex that just changing the prescription to a milder drug.

After the physical aspects of getting off Percocet is dealt with (the diarrhea, the shakes, the 'I feel bad but I don't know what is wrong with me' symptoms), some physiological treatment is warranted also. Just a support group of a couple of friends will usually do the trick. The technique is to keep his mind off the withdrawal. Keep him busy by constant mentally challenging tasks. I know of a single, isolated case where a friend of mine kicked a little drug addiction by becoming involved with HO gage race cars. While he was driving the little cars around the track, he didn't give a care about drugs.

[BlueIris]

4. Ouch.

I would say he needs drug detox and treatment. And a new doctor. I am surprised he managed to find anyone who would prescribe him Percocet for back pain for such a protracted period of time.