->  WC> Was a narcotics addict at age 8 without knowing what narcotics were.

-> YOWZA! OTC narcs. Snake oil - the lot of them? I think it's clear, Eucinasia
->  and easily digestible soup is the only things that can
deal with colds.
                                                  
->  WC> Severe repiratory problems I was prescribed terpin hydrate 
                                                  (correction^^^)
->  (alcohol  and codeine) Chericol -C with codeine cough syrup and
->  hycodan
->  WC> a synthetic codeine.

->  WC> But that was prescribed by a general practitioner long before the war
->  WC> on drugs and anyway I wasn't expected to live for much of ten years.
->  WC> Thought I was insane coming off all that crud when my health improved
->  WC> as no-one told me about addiction or withdrawal.

-> I asked a nurse if there was a pamphlet.                   

I hadn't a clue having been medicated from out of the incubator in 1955
and in 1963 it wasn't a common topic.

->  WC> Kicked it all cold at 15.

-> We do more before Five am... {-|[                                   

I was tough.

->  ->  WC> I can't even afford the co-pays for all this.

->  ->  WC> OTOH an aquaintance of mine went to the emergency room 11
->  ->  WC> times last year for prescription drug overdoses!

->  ->  WC> The 12th time he went straight to the morgue.

->  -> Haven't done that. Frankly, I wonder why I'm still standing. /-:

->  WC> I tried to talk him into sanity, no-one home :-(

-> When *it hits the fan, sometimes there is no accounting for the will of the
-> subject. I think that is one prediction the best science can't figure.

->  ->  WC> An out and out drug addict not welcome in my home for
years he had no
->  ->  WC> trouble at all getting all the prescription narcotics he wanted.
->  ->  WC> [...] ->  WC> found he'd died Dec. 25, 2004.
    
Yet this guy had no trouble at all getting endless narcotics!!!

->  WC> I underwent spinal surgery and upon awaking never once touched the
->  WC> morphine pump button for the I.V. in my arm.

-> I believe the last thing the anestician  does, is load you
up for the
-> first night. At midnight after my second surgery, 
   
My eyes fluttered open in the recovery room but I couldn't get my mouth 
working in time to tell the attending nurse not to hit me with the one
shot of morphine.

I'd wanted to tough it out but these days would rethink the situation.

-> I wasn't able to fall asleep,
-> so I hobbled up to the desk for some placebos. We both knew they were placebos,
-> but I had to ask twice if this was going to affect my abilities for a clear
-> head.

-> I think it was two weeks later, I had a *it load of hauling to do, where the
-> T3's weren't keeping up to me. I didn't notice the detox when I dropped those,
-> but I likely wasn't that used to the dosage, and being young and healthy enough
-> to breeze through it...

-> Seven years later, I couldn't understand why I was falling asleep on the job,
-> and unable to walk the the car once finished. 

->  ->  WC> I'd be grateful for the pills he took in two days for an entire
->  ->  WC> year's time span.

->  -> I'm afraid I have to disagree with you here Wayne.

->  -> No questioning your need for relief, but the relief can be hard to
->  -> live without. My first dose, I was in tears *without* the pain. From
->  -> then, I thought I couldn't live without it.

A relative was hooked.
I had access, granted illegal but declined to access them.
Still doing fairly well defying my previous experience of some
years.

->  WC> I'd take them with extreme discretion, like when grocery shopping.

-> Again, I'm trying not to live in a glass house, but I'd rather approach it
-> straight. But that's just me. Like you, I don't want to punch that IV button,
-> for fear it starts punchin' back.

Having been hooked in my youth I don't believe I could be again.
I'm wise to the tipping point, you medicate to feel somewhat normal
( not to feel GOOD) and don't increase the dose developing tolerance.

Right now the back's fair and the arthritis is controlled with over the
counter anti-inflammatories.

-> I also know the desperation of protracted pain.

->  -> I suspect you are practised in Eastern arts of mediation, and
->  -> relaxation?

->  WC> Nope.

-> Owe... Mang! The best tools there is! This spring, I mentioned I was in the
-> yard more days than I was recovering from it. That hasn't happened for me in
-> almost fifteen years. I had a brief spurt of vigour once they started me on the
-> Hydromorphone, but I was so busy doing the essentials, that nothing really got
-> done around the house.

-> I'll try to describe my go-to acupressure points:

-> Both hands, palms away from face, tuck the thumbs into the palms, like you
-> shouldn't do when making a fist. With the knuckles closest to the wrists, press
-> both into the socket of the eye, right at the bridge of the nose. You can press
-> really hard on these points, as any physiology I know of, will limit the amount
-> of pressure you can exert on the eyeball itself.

-> For detoxing, even for a flue, the web of the hand between the thumb and fist
-> finger is really great. I used to attach a huge spring clamp to mine, *before*
-> I was taught about how it assists the liver. 

-> Where are the pamphlets when you need them? 


->  WC> I'm practicing limiting my motion to limit the mind numbing pain.
->  WC> Doing fairly well just at the moment.

-> That's all great, but I suppose you and I are creatures of motion, not
-> creatures of rest. 

That has had to change, dramatically so :-( 
I used to thrive on working 66 hours a week more often than not
getting only five hours sleep a night.

->  WC> Perhaps some scar tissue has built up between my discs
->  WC> as the surgeon who did the discectomy suggested relieving some
->  WC> pressure on the nerves?
->  WC> Who knows, feels better anyway.

-> Wow... Good for you! They didn't fuse you, then?

I begged the surgeon to, he refused citing a 5 percent morbidity rate.
Back then I was having good days and hoped to arrest the injury there.
Unfortunately my funding source only had a pick of three approved
surgeons and the one I'd previously used and trusted wasn't on the list
:-(               
I'd have taken the shot at a 1/3 morbidity rate at the time and told
the surgeon this at the time.
Back then I could have stood the time on the table, today I doubt
I'd last two hours at best.

Dr. Wassell wouldn't even cut on you unless he figured it'd
substantially improve your situation, unfortunately this was not true of
Dr. Finn and my situation became worse.
In fact it's what caused me to drop out of the job retraining program
due to incapacity to proceed.

->  WC> For now the arthritis is giving me a break too, it's
->  WC> like winning the lottery!

-> (-;

-> I mentioned to George in my previous message about Vietnamese soup. When the
-> hands just wouldn't grasp another thing, it was off to the noodle house I went.
-> A day or two of repairs, and recovery, and I was off busting a nut again.


->  WC> When Jeff much to my surprise went to the U.S. Veteran's Hospital
->  WC> and admitted the full range of narcotics he was taking I
->  WC> was astonished they prescribed him morphine sulfate.

-> I think the latest studies say cold turkey is the worst way.

There's a drug they can detox you on while asleep for 24 hours
but it doesn't stop you from picking up the habit again if
you still desire the "buzz." 
Jeff was of this type, no use.

Hey I quit cigarettes cold turkey too and I swear that
was tougher than the narcotics, much tougher.

->  WC> The idea of course was he'd stop taking all the rest of
->  WC> the drugs and just go with the one potent pain killer.

->  WC> Of course Jeff kept up the whole range of drugs plus the morphine.
->  WC> I knew his days were numbered then.
->  WC> He surprised me by lasting near two more years.

->  WC> Talk about your stupid doctors.

-> Again, I'd beg to differ. For you and I, maybe delirium tremors is what works
-> best, but not your 'average' citizen.  

It appears I'm rather resistent to the DT's and have only a very
passing aquaintance, for me the mental aspect of walking away from
addiction was the challenge.
But then I hated anything controlling me or _owning_ me thus
I always managed to kick be it narcotics or cigarettes.

Took me two years back in the 80's to kick the cigarette
habit and that's far and away longer than kicking anything else
for me.
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