Woah! Back off people. How can you be so judgemental? It does happen. You get a tolerance, you need more. You are in pain. It happens slowly, but check out this scenario. You are a chronic pain patient. You were not lucky enough to be under a compassionate doctor's care. The most any doctor ever gave you was vicodin, 30, no refills, even after major MAJOR back sugery that is ALL they sent you home with (30 white pills that you take in a day, liver be damned). After 5 (4-9 hour) trips to the ER you stopped going when all you ever got were 2 vicodin, or 8 mg morphine. You looked for over a f-ing year for a doctor who would help. (None would.) You cry all night long and pound your head against the wall the pain is so bad. You can't work; your mate is losing patience. Then, you find the online stuff. You get norco; you cut them in half and are oh so careful. You dole out your own precious doses of relief. You stockpile a little over the week so you can have one TRULY pain-free night. But then the 2/day stops working so you take 3 a day. Then 4 a day. As many of you have experienced, one norco lasts less than 4 hours. So you take 1 norco every 4 hours, that is 6 a day. Then with tolerance over time, add 1 more per month to the daily amount taken. So, let's say at month one you take 6/day. Month 2, you take 7 a day. Month 3 you take 8 a day, etc. This is not crazy. You are trying to do it yourself. You don't tell the docs at this point because they will most DEFINITELY think you are an addict...drugseeker...the nurses scoff at you...where are you getting the meds from? Only an addict would even think of ordering from an online pharmacy, RIGHT??? You remember telling one doctor you were taking 12 vicodin a day (2 tablets every 4 hours--it works out), AND that you STILL WERE IN CONSTANT AGONY! You needed something stronger. He yells in disgust (while noting in your chart), WHO prescribed that???! You will become addicted! That is a serious drug! He tells you to take Naprocyn (NAPROCYN?!) and lie in bed for 2 days. You can't lie in bed!!! You can't stand! You can't sit! You can't think! You can't drive! You can't work! All that you can do (without tremendous pain) is walk.
Nowadays, if I can find (ie, afford--they are $50 ea) oxy 80s I take 2 a day. Is that crazy? For someone who has had disabling pain for 3 years? They only last 12 hours you know; or less if you chew them (that's really the only relief I get). And what is 2 oxy 80s? Equivalent to about 16-20 Norco (10/325) a day, right? Would you need to double dip, triple dip, more? What would you do to relieve your pain? What would you do to end the suffering? I tell you one thing I wish that I had been under a doctor's care. Who can I tell? I want a the guidance and advice of a compassionate doctor. If the bleeping doctors did their jobs better, none of us would be on this board even. Except maybe the drug addicts. But how can a doc ever really tell. Some pain defies tests. I rather rx a drug to an addict by mistake then keep a pain medication away from a legitamate pain patient!!! People are killing themselves. Have you ever felt like killing yourself just to stop the endless pain? I can handle some intense pain short-term, but day after day, month-after-month, year-after-year??? And even if you do have a tolerance/or addiction. (Big difference by the way!) You can function very well on opiates (better than you can in screaming agony), and they do not harm your body over the long-haul (unlike, tylenol, ibuprofen, alleve, etc.).