In another article here, I wrote about living with chronic pain for several years and how, with the help of a fantastic super doctor, I am now out of a wheelchair and off painkillers for the most part. This article is about the insidious painkiller, and how he doesn’t like to let it go, even months later I’m still being tormented by a body that wants a painkiller.

I had been taking about 20 painkillers a day for several years and had developed a dependency on them. I haven’t taken that many painkillers since April 29, 2009, the day I first visited my super doctor, I cut back as soon as I was pain free, and after the third week I pretty much stopped taking painkillers altogether, just one now. and again, for unrelated pain. I was excited about not taking painkillers, but man alive, my body didn’t like the idea of ​​gout, and through a wheezing fit it put any terrible two year old to shame. Ok, I didn’t kick or scream loudly like a 2 year old, but my body did it internally.

But I wanted to talk to you about the withdrawal symptoms, which I have suffered after the initial ones passed… 5 months later, and maybe only taking 5 painkillers a month. Right now, it’s 5am and I can’t sleep, I have a nasty pain in a couple of my fingertips, in my back in a couple of large areas, and in one earlobe. It feels like I’ve grabbed one of the furry cacti and have those soft thrones on my fingers, back, and earlobe.

Now I know from experience over the last 5 months that this bread will spread and get stronger. I don’t know what it is, but common sense tells me it has something to do with my nerve endings, they feel like they’re firing, but not everywhere, and where they’re firing will move before the end of this article.

All I have to do is put down this laptop, go get a vicodin, and this pain will be gone for a few days, but hey, be real here body, reality check here, a viocidin for itchy, tingling, burning skin . ..Nah, I’m not going to give you any painkillers… go suck on an egg. Now isn’t that so much fun? As I wrote the last paragraph, the number of places on my body that ache has doubled, in a minute tops.

Now I have double vision, that is easily fixed, just close one eye. I’m ready to type with two fingers on the same hand. And my nerve endings are going crazy right now. I’m having waves of dizziness… Isn’t the body a wonderful thing, how can it play these games, just because it wants a dose of something that I don’t really need anymore?

I took painkillers for chronic low back pain and I don’t have that pain anymore, so I don’t need the painkillers. Ouch, now my foot is burning and numb…hey, that can’t even happen at the same time, can it? … Wow, body, do your best… you’re not taking painkillers, “get over it.” I have to go for a walk or something.

Ok, 30 minutes later, and the body has calmed down a bit. It still hurts but not like places. However, the message I wanted to get across is that I could take even 1/2 or 1/4 vicodin and all these discomforts would go away… for a few more days, but then I continue to feed the habit. 5 months after I stopped taking so many painkillers, and these nagging nuisances are still lurking. However, I have to admit that when I have had it before I would also develop other pain that I would use painkillers to stop, it only recently occurred to me that those pains were probably phantom pains as well.

Other ailments I’ve had since the initial withdrawal symptoms wore off have been, slow and stunted thinking, continuous runny nose, asthma symptoms, headaches, moodiness… Itching, cold sores, burning skin, prickly skin Did I mention bad mood? or downright nasty, short-tempered… oh man, I’ve been gross to be around. But this time, there are no painkillers available, well, there are, but you’re not getting them, so body, let’s get through this together. I’ll go get a glass of water, that’ll flush some toxins out of my system, and I’ll do something else to distract myself from the other tricks you’ve got up your sleeve.