and i would definitely talk to that doc of yours and let her know what happened, too. she should know better! patients need medical supervision coming off these powerful meds - that is just common sense, in my opinion (and it is only my opinion). and hey, sometimes when we're taking that stuff (well, me anyway...
) - we're not the best decision-makers out there, ya know?
i really respect you for wanting to share your story to help other people. i think that is way awesome and wicked cool!!
you have already helped more TOS'ers than you can possibly know, barb.
what i meant by bone pain is the pain caused by cutting the first rib out. i have been told that if you just have a scalenectomy the recovery is not quite so bad as having a rib resection plus a partial and/or complete scalenectomy, for that reason. the human body does not LIKE it when 'dem bonez get sawed out by hot shot surgeon types!!!
and it lets us know it, bigtime...
anyhoo, thanks again for being so open and generous with your tale. i do know from my own experience that it's helpful to learn stuff like how to treat the side effects (chills, diarrhea [sorry, ick], aches/pains, restless leg crap) caused by opioid withdrawal beforehand so that you can go out and stock up on stuff like immodium whatever, lavender bath oil - well you get the idea. ask your dr. to rx a clonidine patch for ya; that is pretty standard stuff (at least it is down here in the states). perhaps a call to a colleague more familiar with detox is all she'd need to be comfortable with the process...
when you're ready to jump off, i think the site i gave you might be a good source for ideas. or if you do it gradually enough you may not feel very many withdrawal sx at all. but i sure would tell your doc the trouble you ran into - i'm sure she'd want to know so she could help you with medical supervision...
it's simply not enough to just tell a patient it's time to cut back and then leave us to our own devices to figure out how to do it. post TOS surgery is kind of a time of crisis, if you think about it, mucker. we need tons of support from the people around us, and that absolutely needs to include our docs!!!
just giving you my thoughts, for whatever they're worth. i know you can take care of yourself - you're more than capable, i just happen to have some background with oh, shall we call it 'pseudoaddiction'
? and thought i'd give you my 2 cents, that is all. you take care.
alison
"Be Brave"