@janetg .... You may notice that I have merged your two threads. We like to keep our members' recovery posts all in a single thread. That way it's easy for us to go back and read your history before responding to a question or concern. In addition, the thread becomes a journal of your recovery for those who come along later and want to read about you. So, please post in this thread from now on when you want to give an update or ask a question. If you decide you'd like a different thread title at any point, just post what you want here and we'll get it changed for you.
hi all, gradually coming along to be able to say feeling pretty good. i have a couple of questions. as soon as i came off coumadin i started taking advil which usually works very well for me. well, i never had any experience with pain meds and didn't know to wean off rather than just stop. the withdrawal was really awful. so my question, as i lay here trying to fall off to sleep, advil just doesn't cut it. is it ok to take say 1 dilaudid 2mg at night for pain. seems like a no brainer but feel as I've gotten off the dilaudid, should i take it just at night. thanks
In this post (#37), I'm assuming that you are talking about coming of dilaudid and not coumadin, right? It is a powerful pain medication and your body can become dependent upon it, resulting in some of the withdrawal symptoms you described. A much better route, which you've probably figured out by now, would be to reduce it slowly or go to a step-down medication such as Hydrocodone or Tramadol.
But, you are where you are with pain meds now, so let's just deal with your current pain issues. You are less than one month out from this surgery. It is very, very normal to have pain and need something fairly strong to keep it at bay. Advil isn't a pain medication and it will probably never do the job for you. It's an anti-inflammant. And while you may have some inflammation going on, you also have real pain that needs treatment. If you must go the over-the-counter route, you should be using Extra Strength Tylenol (500mg) taken in 1000mg doses at least 4 hours apart no more than 4 times a day. You can take the Advil along with it on a schedule too. But I really think you're much too early in your recovery for this.
Please talk to your doctor about what options he recommends for your pain. You need to be on something consistently throughout the day and night so that your pain does not "build" by night. When this happens, by the time you take something, you're chasing the pain and you'll actually end up needing more medication than if you just stayed on a schedule. See if your doctor will prescribe some Tramadol that you can take every 4 to 6 hours like this. You will be much more comfortable and your recovery will go more smoothly.
But.....no one can change the fact that you're not going to be healed in a month or so. It takes longer than that and patience is key! You will have good days and bad days. Please go back and reread the recovery articles that were left for you earlier in your thread. I think some of that information will make more sense to you now that you've experienced some of the "joys" of recovery. You'll get through this. And it will be so much easier once you get your pain properly managed.
United States
Another question, I have plenty of Dilaudid left over, should I be moving down to something less strong? Is percoset less strong, vicodin?
