Narcotics & withdrawl
Is it possible for someone to become physically addicted to narcotics in 8 days? I have been taking percocet (strong painkiller and sedative) for an appendectomy for 8 days. I never took more than the recommended dosage and usually much much less.
I gradually reduced my dosage but stopped taking it at night for the first time yesterday and I can not sleep. I've been up since 11pm and it is now 6am.
Has anything like this ever happened to you? I usually have NO problem sleeping at all. If it is withdrawal, it's very scary how quickly a body can become used to a drug.
Boomer is so 2005.
Notice my comments under the marijuana thread. I do believe it can happen that quickly, but just minor withdrawal effects. Try chamomile tea, which even though it has such a "mellow" reputation, I believe it can counter act even strong drug effects.
Sunflower
"Yoda of the vagina"
Sunflower the unflower
Thanks Sunflower. I will have some chamomile tonight before bed. I think I will be so tired, the tea and the bed will be all I need tonight.
I can totally see how people would get addicted to these drugs. Not one of my doctors ever told me about the side effects. It also gave me crazy, scary dreams. Last night during the two hours I did sleep, "death" was pulling me by the wrist. The night before my daughter got kidnapped from our driveway.
Tea, tea, tea.... beer, beer, beer. See, I'm not an addict 
it probably is the drugs. narcotics (especially percocet) are really intense and your body gets used to them being around pretty quickly. It will probably pass in 24 hours though. Good luck.
"I think governments are the cancer of civilization. And the minute that we see seven or eight women get in a circle and start a war, I’ll be shocked like a @#%$." - Chuck D
* I'm all fight and no flight *
Opiate withdrawl is something I am intimately familiar with unfortunatly and you are right, it is so fast. It literally is like one day you are you and all fine, then you look around and you have become this crazy person. Good for you for listening to your body. Within 3 days it will be like nothing ever happened.
"I think governments are the cancer of civilization. And the minute that we see seven or eight women get in a circle and start a war, I’ll be shocked like a @#%$." - Chuck D
i had that after my surgeries. i would say that yes, it is possible for psychological addiction, but the physical thing i wouldn't call addiction but adjustment. i do think that the body does adjust to it, because that's what the drug is made for. morphine is worse, but percocets can do it too. i'd also suggest not taking anything for sleep, but let your own body re adjust to bringing itself to sleep. since you're taking a small amount for a short time, i doubt you have to worry about full-blown addiction unless you already have addiction issues.
"I've done a lot of things in my life I ain't too proud of, and the things I am proud of are disgusting." - Mo Szyslak
"I've done a lot of things in my life I ain't too proud of, and the things I am proud of are disgusting." - Mo Szyslak
I'm kind of a walking "what not to do" with substances ad right now. I'm still having insomnia and started taking Ambien a night or two a week when I really need it...so I am not the best at giving advice. Just wanted to let you know you weren't imagining it. I was so floored when that report was put together to learn how quickly addictive opiates are.
I hope you're sleeping right now.
Adults ought to skip more often. -Anna Maxted
Remember that you are unique, just like everyone else.
I've spent the past 1/2 hour looking for a report we did a few years back on the rate at which opiates (natural and synthetic like percocet) are physically and psychologically addicting. I can't find it, but I do remember that there are some physical symtoms of addiction within HOURS of first administration. Sorry - maybe I should preface this by saying my job is in substance abuse research.
I was on Oxycontin this summer after my surgery, which terrified me (with my job you do NOT want to take OC) but having had ribs removed and being unable to move I took it. I didn't take much, surgery was June 27 and I still have part of the bottle they gave me, but I know that there was a wierd effect happening there so I've just started to grit my teeth and take Ibuprofen and Naprosyn.
I too had trouble sleeping, though I had it if I took the stuff or not. I hope that your insomnia goes away. I also hope that a)I didn't freak you out and b)you're feeling better after your appendectomy.
Adults ought to skip more often. -Anna Maxted
I had my appendix removed a few months ago. I wasn't as cautious as you with the dosage, especially since my son's grandma took him for a few weeks so I could recover. Then I had to recover from recovering. I did have insomnia. I watched movies. All of the seasons of Six Feet Under to be exact. I will never take those things again if at all possible. Fortunately (in some strange way) I gave myself an allergy to them. In other words, you will sleep. Until then try not to think about it too much and find something to do. The drugs have their uses, but eight days of a narcotic after all of the stuff that they put in your system for surgery is a lot. Drink so much water you think that you are going to float.
"Tiny evolutions"
tiny evolutions
After my appendectomy in July, I took the painkillers for three days and then I started to wig out. I didn't like the way they were making me feel. (I can't quite remember but think I had oxycontinen). I remember not being able to sleep, too. It almost felt like my body had just rested itself out and then without the drugs making me sleep my body just couldn't drift off.
Yeah, from what I understand, that is generally HOW people become addicted to them, is through normal presription use.
Physical withdrawal symptoms is not by definition addiction, though. Usually people with predisposition toward addiction to percocet will have a strong euphoria upon first taking it, while non-addicts will often feel almost uncomfortable when they take it.
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If this happened to me once in a while, I wouldnt have even thought about the drugs, but it is so out of the blue. I'm hoping I will be so wiped out by tonight that I will get back on track.
Have a great day