Hi every one i hope your all doing fine. As for my self some good news i have not had any pins or needle feelings in my right arm for two days now but i still have the tremors and aching in my forearm as well as elbow and to day my neck is starting to feel stiff again. I am having a little problem with the scare i still hurts to rub my vitamin e on it more on the end were there is a lump very tender feeling. I have been trying to cut down on my Hydromophone from 8mg every three hours to 4mg every three hours. My next step well be to go every six hours and hopefully get off this stuff all together once again. I still have not heard anything about my appointment with Bethune but i should be seeing him by the end of this month it well be five weeks. Oh ya i almost forgot i have been having a lot of pain and discomfort in my middle ribs i don't know why it would be hurting there because it is the first rib he removed and this is so much lower go figure. I still have the sore spot in the back but i do have the felling back on the top of my shoulder. The spot on my arm i have started to get feeling back but the mussel still aches and still feels strange. I don't feel so depressed anymore thanks to my little puppy Chico he is so cute he only ways 2bls thank god for that so i have no problems picking him up. Well i need to sign off for now so bye for now hope every one is doing ok

Hey Mucker- Not that there are no scalenes attatched to the first rib, everything attached to ribs 2 and 3 are working overtime. I have a lot of soreness in that area myself, and did last time, too.

Glad to hear you are able to taper your pain meds. Don't rush it. It has just been two weeks....not really very long in the grand scheme of things.

*hugs*

Johanna

Glad to hear things are duing well. Just be careful decreasing your pain meds. Don't do it if you are having pain. I hope that you can do it in such a way that you are not having pain when you do it. If you are having pain.....don't feel you need to decrease your meds. They are there to help you so keep that in mind. Not to say you are not doing the right thing just making sure you are doing it comfortably and with your comfort....just some caring thoughts.

happy to hear from you!
love and hugs,
Victoria

Hi Mucker, its so fun to get a puppy!! I'm just glad for you it's a small dog. I have a yorkie and she weighs 8 lbs.

My incisions are sore and lumpy feeling too, and so thick feeling. I have soreness in my biceps by late afternoon everyday. I was told it's muscles compensating for the loss of the pec minors and its to be expected.

I'm glad you're feeling somewhat better. Take it slow and enjoy those puppy "kisses". Ihtos

Mucker- i'm glad your pines n needles feeling went away. Enjoy the puppy!! Our dog (a doxie/terrier mix) was about 8lbs when I got her.... now shes about 18lbs, but still cuddly as can be!

Ihtos - sorrythat your biceps are buggging you, but i'm glad the doc gave you a good explanation.

JoKat - take it as easy as you can .... or don't overdo it (too much)

I hope you all continue to feel better and get some relief!!!!!

Hi there hope all is well and that not to many of yous are having any bad flares going on. Well good news i still haven't had any pins and needles so i hope that the other aching and pain well go away soon. But then again i still have carpel tunnel in my right hand so i know that is why my hand has not gotten any better. Does any one know if the neck and head are affected from tos like i have been finding that sometimes my head and neck shake and it well happen when i am sitting standing and even laying down. I have tremors in my right arm a lot and i know that it has to do with tos so i was wondering if any one else has had this happen to them. I go and see Bethune Oct 1st so i guess i should find out then if he well do my left arm. As of right now i would have to say i do have a little relief from pain but not sure if it is good enough to warrant the left arm being done. But then again i could feel a lot better by the time i see him i hope any ways. I am very happy i got my puppy he has really helped with keeping my spirits up he is so sweet and funny and love able. I think my poor boy is getting a little jealous ha ha ha. Well time to sign off my elbow is aching like crazy.

What i have to say to day is important it is also embarrassing to say the lest but i have thought about it and i have decided that i should share this and keep with telling every thing that happens with my recovery story. So bare with me i am going to try and explain this with out taking to long. Last Thursday i started feeling like i was getting the flu i had hot and cold flashes just didn't feel right. This has been going on till to day when i finely figured it out. My other half always gets sick withen two days of me catching something so when he was still feeling good to day i new there was no way that i had the flu. The thing i realized was that when i took my hydromorphone (dilaudid) the short acting one that within half hour all my symptoms would go away that's when the light went off. So i went on the web and checked withdrawal symptoms and bingo i have been foolishly not been taking the meds as i should have. I knew i had to start cutting back on them which i was i was spacing my pills further apart but then last week i really didn't need them as much because i was only taking such a high dose for the pain relief of the surgery. I just wasn't having the pain to be taking 4mg every 3 hours or even 6 hours a day. I still take 9mg in the morning and 12mg at night this is long lasting hydromorphone and it is enough to help with the tos pain i have. But not thinking i did not realize that i would go through withdrawals but i have been on dilaudid for over a year but i did go off of it like two months ago because it did not make any difference in my pain. I don't remember going through this last time. The doctor put me back on it for the surgery so i didn't think that this would ever happen go figure i have learnt my lesson and i hope that this may help some one else. I am taking my pill again and i well take every 6hours and slowly lower it over the next while and hopefully come off of this **** with out any more trouble. As for the tos pain still no pins and needles thank god but been having a great deal of pain on the left side of the right hand which goes up the side of the pinkie. Well i need to go my hands and arms are getting sore so i need to stop before they get any worse. chat latter

I posted a little while ago about being careful how you come off your meds!!

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Pharmacy-...withdrawal.htm

I have searched for over an hour and looked for info on how to taper off these meds online and there is not a shred of good info aside from addicts boards......so I think I will have to come up with something. Leave it with me........

I have had this happen with a muscle relaxant. I should have been more specific when I said be careful coming off your meds. I should have explained how the physical effect of addiction is....not a mental thing....just tht your body is used the that amount of medication and unless you taper off appropriately then you will end up feeling the awful way u did. I think we should perhaps put a sticky up about tapering your medications without doctor supervision. Did the doctor tell you how to come off your meds???


The effects I had were the same and had massive projectile vomiting and hot flashes and it was disgusting. It was with flexaril and it was due to the medications effects on my brain. I had been taking it for so long that I had to taper it so that I didn't have the effects.....eeeeekkk

I hope that you can get it sorted out and feel better soon. Thanks for letting everyone know the side effects of coming off meds too fast!!

Take care and feel better

Love and hugs,
Victoria

but mucker, please hear me on this... you have absolutely nothing to feel embarrassed about. there is no shame in having to take pain meds for the awful sx of TOS or the acute pain of the major and risky surgery you have just been through. and there is certainly no way you could have known that your body would have reacted differently this time than before, to stopping the same medicine!

listen, i will tell you i went through the same thing. i started to taper about 2 weeks after my rib resection, because i did not want to be on the narcotics either... and i was really, really hoping that after having surgery with a top doc that i wouldn't need them anymore. i specifically asked dr. annest to put me on a schedule to come off the damned things and he was happy to oblige me.

when i got back home to los angeles i consulted an addictionologist at one point - that is a doctor (usually a psychiatrist but this one was a general MD) who specializes in treating addicts, whether they're chronic pain patients who've gotten into trouble or whatever - and i happened to mention to him that i had started to taper off of the pain meds 2 weeks post op.

he told me that he thought that was WAY too soon and that he would have had me stay on them a lot longer! the reason being, TOS surgery is a particularly nasty surgery to recover from, mucker - the surgeon has to disturb a lot of muscle and other soft tissue, not to mention nerves and vascular structures, in order to perform it.

and on top of that you have BONE pain to contend with. and studies show that your body will HEAL FASTER if you are not in pain. that is WHY your doc is giving you the meds - it is part of your tx, and can be an important piece. why shortchange yourself? only you can answer that question, mucker.

no picnic, in anybody's book - even if you were in tip top shape going into this surgery... and most of us, sadly, are not. we've been in chronic TOS pain for some time and maybe not in the best of shape to begin with.

so i guess what i'm trying to say here, is be patient and kind with yourself. i know you don't want to stay on either the long- or the short-acting dilaudid forever, if you can help it. but it is not a race! you can do this v e r y slowly; perhaps one of your docs would be willing to write you a taper schedule to help guide you through it so that you can avoid those really unpleasant withdrawal sx.

there is a big difference between addiction and physical dependence. please don't beat yourself up about this. you may need those meds right now and in the foreseeable future. lots of TOS'ers do - it's just a tool in the toolbox. it does not signify a failure of any kind, moral or otherwise. i agree with you that it's a personal choice. but please, as vic says, be careful doing it, you've been through so much already - withdrawal sx will flare you up like there is no tomorrow... and who needs that, right?

there is a good website where you might be able to get some info if you're interested: www.pillsanonymous.com -- sort of a 12-step group for folks looking to live life on life's terms without the addictive use of prescription meds. if you post there you may be able to get someone to help you with a taper - lots of chronic painers on that forum i do believe.

good luck to you mucker. keep on truckin'...

alison
"Be Brave"

Hay Victoria i guess i must have missed your post about coming off med's i well have to check it out if i can find it. Sea pines don't get me wrong i am not a shame in the lest little bit about having to be on Dilaudid i have no shame what so every about taking any drugs for my pain i do what i have to so that i can be comfortable, life sucks as it is with the pain from tos. First my doctor said that it is time to cut back and she knows that i did it on my own before so i do believe she figured i could do it again. I don't really see the point of taking any pain meds if you don't have pain. Like i said i don't have any pain from the surgery i did but it has stopped and they gave me the drug to help with that pain. I still am having the same pain that i had from tos well most of it. And it feels nothing like the acute pain that i was having from the surgery i know that i am still healing but i don't need that strong of a med for this. It was my own foolishness by not sticking to the plan in the first place it just goes to show how your body becomes so needy and when you know longer feel you need to take a pain med what well happen if you just stop or lower the dose to fast. This is why i decided to tell every one what i did and what happened because my body or mind not sure who ruled on this one said that i did not need that extra kick any longer but one side of me again body or mind said different and let me know in uncertain terms i needed to go back and taper off slowly. Oh and as far as bone pain yes i do have some discomfort in my shoulder blade and if i move a certain way i well get some in the front. My lower ribs do not bother me any more so with that it is not bad enough to warrant meds. So don't worry sea pines i am doing fine and believe it or not i do know what i am doing i just goof up now and then. So this is why the embarssment i should have known better