Re: Pain meds for adhesions?
From: Poutinen, Jay (jpoutine@uwsp.edu)
Thu Jun 15 12:12:10 2000
-----Original Message-----
From: LNewman@milbank.com [mailto:LNewman@milbank.com]
.... You mentioned that withdrawal is painful ... and I would like to know
a little more, especially what kind of pain are you referring to and the
fact that I thought that they give you another drug (methadone) to cut the
morphine and bring you off slowly so that you do not suffer through
withdrawal.
... One time my pump ran out.... I started going through withdrawal and it
was an ugly sight. I was sick as a dog....
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It sounds like you experienced withdrawal yourself. The drugs I mentioned
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(Demerol, Fentanyl, and methadone) are pretty heavy duty narcotics.
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Withdrawal symptoms can include body aches, fever, nausea. Withdrawal
symptoms can last a long time (our doc said you might feel withdrawal
symptoms for 6 months). I think tapering off narcotics is the best way to
reduce dependence, and lessens the dramatic effect of going "cold turkey."
I guess methadone is used by drug addicts to help reduce dependence on other
narcotics. Maybe someone else knows why methadone, specifically, is used.
It is still a narcotic and addictive.