I am not necessarily anti-drug. Modern chemistry has done wonders for our ability to cure illness and manage pain, and has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. There are lots of legitimate drugs being taken for legitimate reasons, but sometimes our first world society goes a little over the top. Have a head ache? Take an Advil. Have a sniffle? Take cold and sinus medication. Don't want to change your lifestyle? Here's a drug.
But I do draw the line (for myself) at the addictive ones. I'm not comfortable with it at all, so I started to track what I was being given, when and why. I will grant that my pain management has been excellent, and all my pre-surgery fears of waking up with searing back pain were totally unfounded. Points for the professionals here. But what am I taking?
300mg Gabapentin (AKA Neurontin) three times a day - used for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Given that my surgery did some serious messing with my nerves, I'm thinking it's okay. Followed by some googling on what this drug is, and what it is for, made me comfortable enough taking it. (As an aside: this is the drug that made headlines when Pfizer was successfully sued for illegal marketing of off label uses of it.)
2 x 650mg Tylenol four times a day. This prescription is considered extended release. Dr Google tells me that eight of these tablets a day is high, but that the 2500mg that I'm getting daily is well below the 4000mg max recommended by Tylenol. Their website doesn't get into many details about their prescription products, but they seem consistent about 4000mg as a maximum across their products.
0.75mg Dexamethasone (AKA Decadron) - a steroid used to counteract the swelling process, in my case where the tumor was interfering with the spinal cord. It's one of those drugs where they hit you hard right after surgery then spend four to seven days weaning you off it. To be honest, I have no idea how much I was given immediately after surgery, but since I've been tracking, they've given me four per day for two days, then three per day for one day, and it's been two per day for the last couple of days. Im good with the taper - Dr Google says withdrawal causes nausea, vomiting and confusion. My friends would say I'm crazy at the best of times, so there's no need to add to the fun :)
Then there's the Oxycodone Extended Release. Brand name Oxycontin. The famous Oxy. Making headlines recently for its use and abuse in our society. If I'm not a big fan of drugs, I'm REALLY not a big fan of addictive drugs. Oxy Extended Release - one pill, every eight hours. I can choose between the10mg strength or the 20mg strength, depending on how I am feeling at the time. I immediately went for the 10mg during the day and the 20mg at night, and I'm now down to only 10mg. I was also prescribed Oxy IR (Immediate Release) ... 10mg pills that I could take on demand or every two hours. I had myself off the quick release in two days, but I'm still on the hard stuff, and it scares the crap out of me.
Most of that fear is because I don't know anything about prescription drugs beyond what I see on Intervention - not really the best source of information - so I asked the nurse about the seriousness of my dosing.
He did, eventually, stop laughing.
I guess it's safe to say that I'm in little danger of walking out of here a prescription drug addicted junkie.
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