Oxycodone dependence

Hi and welcome to the Online Community, although I am sorry to see you finding us and so sorry to hear that you are facing post treatment challenges.

You don’t say what type of NHL or what treatment you had so it would be good to put some info in your your profile.

You will see from my profile that my cancer journey has been 20 years long and over these years I have been on some very strong Opium and Synthetic Analgesic pain meds.

I can totally understand how you can develop a dependence on these meds. I am now over 6 years post my main chemo but also went on to have two Stem Cell Transplants.

The treatments left me with very bad muscle and nerve damage so I could say I was dependent on some of the meds to kill the pain.

I have been on various high Opium and Synthetic Analgesic meds for the past 6 years, my focus was this was the only way to control the pain and was not looking out of the box.

I actually had some sessions with one of the support team at our local Maggie’s Centre along with some specific courses that were designed to control my thoughts and also slowly get fitter with the help of a trained cancer fitness trainer and after three years.

At my last GP appointment we removed all bar paracetamol from my drug list...... and yes this make a very big difference in getting travel insurance.

During the 3 years support period I worked regularly with my GP on very slowly reducing the need for these strong pain meds moving over to more low level pain and anti-inflammatory drugs - and now hardly use any.

The past 3 years being proactive in assessing all areas of my post cancer life that had been effected by my NHL.

These three years I have been able to pigeonhole all the stuff that I was carrying around in my invisible rucksack and this has been the steppingstones to move life on.

You can’t go cold turkey........ this has to take time and effort.

Keep posting as this is a good step to move forward.

Edit: I still have periods of pain but I don't focus on them. Instead I put my focus on things that over fight the mental stimulants that say "this pain is bad"

Thank you for taking the time to reply. My journey is just beginning. Who knows what the future will hold but i am positive and take care if my health. I have updated my profile.

There's a possibility that you have developed a condition called opioid-induced hyperalgesia.  It's often poorly understood by generalist doctors.

It's characterised by an increased sensitivity to pain and feeling a degree of pain which is disproportionate to physical condition (which is why generalists often think the pain is "not real").

If you have access to a pain specialist through your oncology service, then they are probably the best people to recommend the next steps.  If you don't, then ask your doctor to familiarise himself with the condition and to seek advice from specialists on how best to proceed.  

Thats very interesting, ive never heard of that condition before. I’ll mention it on my next doctors appointment and to my consultant when i see her in April and see if they can give me more positive advice.

Hi. Hope your doing as good as can be. I was wondering what country you live in? As I am from England uk and I rarely hear about opioid use here. I have NHL but never had the therapy you have had. I've got a lot of post biopsy surgery left overs that can't be corrected but my pain has gone now . I'm only asking as I've just watched a documentary about oxycodone and pain therapists in America on Netflix and it's one of the most shocking documentary's I've ever seen.

My advice would be for you to contact an opioid addiction centre and tell your story as it's the same as heroin addiction

For your pain management it sounds like your GP isn't doing any good for you calling you a liar. That's shockingly bad to say that to someone who isn't recovering from cancer let alone someone who is

I hope this message finds you

Take care

Jimmy

Hi Jimmy I see it’s your first post so welcome to the Community.