Use this section to discuss your experiences with prescription drugs, iron injections, and other medical interventions that involve the introduction of a drug or medicine into the body. Discuss side effects, successes, failures, published research, information about drug trials, and information about new medications being developed.
Important: Posts and information in this section are based on personal experiences and recommendations; they should not be considered a substitute for the advice of a healthcare provider.
SquirmingSusan wrote:Vicodin is a medication to treat a real medical condition. When used to treat pain or RLS the addiction rate is very low - I've read that it's about 7%.
I agree with the first part of this and I truly hope that the second part is true as well
SquirmingSusan wrote:There's a big difference between dependency and addiction. People become dependent on opioids when their bodies adjust to the meds and it takes a higher dose to get relief. Addiction is a psychological condition where people crave the drug and use it to get high.
The problem that I see Susan is that either way whether you are dependent or addicted you will expereince withdrawal (sometimes painful) when you stop taking it. Anyone taking addictive substances needs to be aware of this.
SquirmingSusan wrote:But RLS is a real, disabling condition, and we do what we need to do to get relief.
I completely agree, and everyone's journey to relief is different.
Both my doctor and neurologist have no problem with me taking vicodin for my rls. and its easy for you to tell me to try something new. you dont know what i have been through. i have been more than willing the try several different drugs and none of them did anything in the slightest. i really did wish that something other than vicodin would work..so then i wouldnt have to hear all of the critisism from everyone who likes to complain about others. but..its the only damn thing. im sorry, you have no idea how sorry i am...but its all that works for me. and as for you KBear...i dont like the way you came off. I know what you were trying to say. With your "allegedly" crap and everything. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before so I dont feel I should hear it from people. I wasnt the one who screwed with my meds.
As for my bestfriends bf, what happened was he was already in trouble with the law because he and a bunch of other people ran some big credit card stealing thing, so thats how he was on parole or whatever its called. we'll..i needed a new computer chair, so my mom gave me her card and said i could only spend 100$ and i said thats pefectly fine. well..we went to i think office max it was...i picked out a chair..but their debit thing wasnt working. so i asked the lady who worked there about where the closest bank was..and there was one right in that area of store..i went to that atm and it said there wasnt any money in it. my bestfriend bf, chris, said that he could go in this store (i guess it was one of those gambeling things or whatever) that i couldnt go in because im only 20. so i said okay and told him my moms pin (god i was so stupid). he took a while to come back out..but handed me the 100. the next day, he came over to play counter-strike with me but we had to drop off my boyfriend at work. after that, we went to mcdonalds and i noticed i forgot to give my moms card back to her. so i said oh crap i forgot to give her card back..so he knew i still had it.
then we went to my house and play CS for a while and then i said we should take a smoke break. he said okay but he needed to goto the bathroom first. so i went outside to smoke and wait for him. he came out in a hurry and said he needed to go pick up some cigarettes at their house which was right down the road..i said ok. so as soon as i went back in i was going to give my moms card back..but it wasnt in my wallet..and then i started freaking out. i called chris on his cell phone and said i couldnt find the card and he said he'd look for it. well he took a long **** time considering he lived just down the street (he said he had more smokes at his house). as soon as he got back he said we should check the car again. the first place he put his hand he magically found it right away.
So what ened up happening...he stole 120 the day i bought my chair...er he gave me 100 and took out 20 for himself. the next day he took out 180 i think. thats why he took so long to get his "cigarettes" because i think he went to the back to get out more money..and he knew my moms pin. so after all of this...i called him and i laid into his punk ****..of course he denied it..but its funny how everything falls perfectly into place. i kept telling my mom to call the police but she wouldnt. she told me to tell him that if he didnt give her her money back, she would. but wouldnt you know..he gave the money back but was still claiming he was innocent. personally..if i were innocent i wouldnt give the other person money..but he did. so yeah..thats why i said karma came back to bite him in his little b****** ****..because he failed a UA.
The only reason why I even became "friends" with him is because of my bestfriend..and he was always around when she was. i hope that clears that up.
And these bad people im talking about...are my friends bf's...i dont really want anything to do with them..but i kind of have to...but not that douche who stole my pills or the one who stole my moms card. i dont trust friends bfs or friends friends any more. my friends are good people and they dont do drugs..but they pick bad people to have a relartionship with.
Believe me..i have tried with my friends. even my best friend now..she wants to wait for her crap bf who is in jail...and she believed him when he said he didnt steal my moms money. You have no idea how angry I was when i found out he did that. I was shaking, i was so mad. No one screws with me..or my family..especially my mother. she may tick me off sometimes..but she is friggin awesome and would do anything for any more. I wanted to bash his head in.
I know what the pharmacy thinks now, because people who have said it before..and im sure they have...were really liars. but im not..but they wouldnt understand that. this just cant happen again, and its not..im going to hide my pills where no one will look..where maybe even i will forget about lol. whats weird though..is why he didnt steal my kolonopin..but i know why..becuse he didnt know where it was or that i even have it.
Here's an idea, while the dork is jail make sure your friend gets out and meets lots of new people, and just maybe she will find a new boyfriend before the old one is released.
thats what i am trying to do. i say bad things about it..but try not to too often because it upsets her. i just wish i could shake her and tell her to stop talking to him and then all would be well. but people are stubborn..and they need to learn on their own. shes only 19..20 in aug..she shouldnt be waiting a year for some douche to get out of prison. hes a bad kid. he looks normal and everything..has a nice car..you wouldnt think he would hurt a fly just by looks alone. but he is like really evil.
Jushka, Just read your posts, and can relate to the critical mother stuff. I am quite a bit older than you, but still have my mother criticizing my every move. I had major abdominal surgery about 8 weeks ago and instead of offering to help me, my mom had some surgery on her leg that was completely voluntary on her part. I know she did it so that she could use it as an excuse not to help me, and also to have something to pitch a fit about. Anyway, because of the type of surgery I had, i have incisions from the back side of each hip across my entire lower abdomen, and another incision from just between my breasts all the way down to meet the lower incision. I had over 125 surgical staples and 2 drains in place for several weeks. I was put on a decent dose of Percocet because of all of the pain, which was brutal! My mom is allergic to alot of stuff and claims that all pain killers make her "deathly ill", so she says she took nothing for her pain. She also told me she couldn't understand why I was taking "drugs" because pain is just a "mind over matter" thing and if she can handle it, so can I. Well, I finally grew a set after all these years and told her that my surgery wasn't voluntary, and she didn't have anywhere near the size of incision that I had. I also told her that I agree that pain is a mind over matter thing - and that since I didn't mind taking pills, it really shouldn't matter to her. Don't let your mom get you down. I know that she'a your mom and you shouldn't disrespect her, but she shoudn't disrespect you, either! It took me a long time to realize that I have to do what's right for me, not try to please everyone else. This affliction is what i would call horriffic! I used the word desperation when describing me feeling to my doctor. Everybody is different and your mopm needs to recognize that you are not taking meds recreationally - you honestly have a condition that requires them. Hang in there kid!! You aren't alone and those of us similarly afflicted understand what you are feeling!
You know what, pardon my language but I'm going to say F*ck all of my "friends". They all know where my damn pills are, I know they've stolen from me, they know when I get my refills..and freaking ask me all the time for one of MY vicodin and when I say no they get all angry like I freaking owe it to them. I'm sick of this crap. I'm sick of caring about people who just want to use me for my damned medication that I NEED because I have REAL freaking pain, not just to get high like all my b****** "friends" do. I don't care if i have to be all locked up in my room until i move, screw them and all their drama crap. I can't trust anyone any more, and I'm too caring to call the damned police on them too. I can't wait until I move and I really need to evauate what kind of people I want in my life anymore, whos going to be there for me and with me on my path through bettering myself with going back to college once I move and everything. I'm so pissed.
Everyone is different, not every medication works the same for everyone.
Juska- I'm so sorry that you are having trouble with your friends. You don't need friends like that. You are right to be angry and fortunate that you will be moving (hopefully soon) and will be able to start fresh and make new friends.
Ouch.. No one should have to hide their meds or lock themselves up.. Hope you find some better friends for sure.. It might also be wise to be discreet about your medicine until you know you can really trust telling someone..
If it can't be helped I guess you can just lie to people and tell them you have some other condition and they aren't even painkillers or something.. Shouldn't have to but..
I grew up with lots of shady people and even they wouldn't stoop that low.. I know I brought it up with my best friend once, something to the effect of "I'll cut anyone who comes near them" or something.. I'm just use to keeping them on me at all times by default though.. Maybe you should consider that, if you have a small enough spare bottle, bury the rest and keep a short supply on you in a pocket or something.
Juska, that was one of the hardest lessons I had to learn. Seems some of us know it earlier or something. Not me. I remember similar crap happening to me - going all the way back to my "friends" stealing my Girl Scout cookie money. It's sort of funny now, but when I was 11? Man, was I a trusting, naive fool. That was just the beginning. . .
At any rate, just wanted to let you know that I've been there, done that and I can remember how angry I was, how painful it was, and how much courage it took move on, set new standards, etc.
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.
I've had medicine stolen from me as well. it was by strangers at work. I now lock up my purse when I leave my desk. I like the lock box idea, that way they need a key to get into it. I know you say vicodin is the only thing that works for you, and it was the only thing that worked for me as well, however I needed something longer acting for the night time since I kept waking up, my doc prescribed MS Contin, it doesn't make you loopy as you might think, maybe something like that might work for you, its longer acting so you could take less vicodin. I can't beleive your mom doesn't have sympathy for you, WTF that is what mothers are for. My mother isn't the best mother in town, she was addicted to street drugs as I grew up, she put me in a lot of bad situations, a drug bust, creepy men, and just out right dangerous situations. I was taken away from her twice. But now she is getting better and she is very supportive. She knows what I'm going through because she has the same issue with her legs, as well as Fibromyalgia which we both have, its funny how this stuff is hereditary (sp). I like uhs77's explaination of mind over matter, that was a good one.
As far as your friend stealing your pills and asking for them when you get your refills, it sounds like maybe you need new friends, or have a real heart to heart with them. Maybe have them read some of the posts on this site so they can see what some people go through, then they might get a clue. if all else fails just tell them your doc changed our meds to something non-narcotic, and maybe they'll leave you alone.
Hey Juska! First, you are not alone as is apparent from the posting's. I know what it's like to have no one believe you and to say that it's all in your mind or that you can control it. If you could control it, would your legs really move around, hurt, crawl and be so uncomfortable? NO. My partner has zero sympathy for me and my condition. It's always been about his sleep or lack there of when we were sleeping together. He would never understand why I was irritable or would fly off about something small. He just kept saying, get help! Which I finally did a few weeks back. Now I'm in medicated hell. I'm so stoned of the Mirapex, that I'm forgetting the smallest of details, shutting/locking doors, keys, phone, wallet, etc. I cant concentrate at work and have discussed just cutting off my pills or asking for somethign different and was told in no uncertain terms. "then that means you arent trying to make our relationship work" I know your pain, I think it really comes down to you having to do what is good for you and nothing else. I hate to say it, but your pain is yours.......no one else can ever understand or actually give any kind of sympathy as they dont know what it feels like, if I could duplicate it so they could, I would. People are people, they have zero feelings for something they cant possibly understand. I'm so sorry you are having this, I know what it's like.........I have had it since I was 5 and I'm 35 now.......it's not fun, but there is an answer out there somewhere and I hope you find yours.
Juska- I'm so sorry that you are having trouble with your friends. You don't need friends like that. You are right to be angry and fortunate that you will be moving (hopefully soon) and will be able to start fresh and make new friends.