The Total Destruction from My Prescribed Opia... - Pain Concern

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The Total Destruction from My Prescribed Opiates.

Ritchie1268 profile image
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I apologize in advance as the following post is very long, but it is the story of my own personal experience of how Opiates almost took my life after taking everything else. I am also fully aware that many people take Opiates for pain relief & say they help them. This is just my own personal experience.

I do not apologize however for sharing my story, as it has made me the person I am today, and I am so very fortunate to still be around to share my experience to tell of how the severe anxiety & depression from long term Opiate use completely engulfed me. And if by posting this, It can help save just one person from many years of the most unimaginable suffering, then it will be so worth it.

I enjoyed a very happy childhood growing up with loving & supportive parents.

I left school aged 16 with the basic GCSE's & walked straight into a full time job.

Aged 18 I joined a local concrete manufacturing company.

I started in the factories & spent around 10 years hand stacking very heavy concrete paving slabs, along the way gaining experience in every aspect of the whole manufacturing process.

I injured my back one morning at work, this was in the days where awareness around Health & Safety & Manual Handling wasn't as prevalent as it is today. I had some physio & returned to work just a few days later.

Over the following 16 years I gained many qualifications in Management, in Manufacturing & Health & Safety.

I was promoted on a number of occasions up to my last role with the company, where I was responsible for running one of their many satellite sites. Throughout this time I always experienced problems with severe debilitating lower back and neck pain.

I moved house & now lived in & registered with a new GP Surgery.

I was diagnosed around 2008 at the local hospital with Degenerative Disc Disease after MRI scans showed damage to five discs in my back, along with two in my neck, all believed to be the cause of the heavy manual job I did for years.

Numerous injections in my back from the Pain Clinic offered no relief from the pain.

My Dr at the time prescribed me Oxycodone, after trying several other medications that did nothing at all to help relieve the pain I was in constantly.

The Oxycodone worked, i gained some quality of life back – at first that is, but only for a short amount of time.

After several visits to my Dr, constantly having the dosage increased on every occasion. I was then switched over to OxyContin.

The exact same thing happened again, constantly increasing the dosage due to it no longer giving any pain relief, later learning this being due to my tolerance levels constantly increasing.

After constantly increasing the dose over the following few years, I was prescribed 800mgs of OxyContin per day, though this would continue to increase to almost double the amount prescribed to 1500mgs per day on a daily basis.

I remember the pain I was in was actually much worse at this point, in fact, so very much worse than the pain I was in at the time I was firstly prescribed the initial dose of Oxycodone a few years earlier. But this was put down to my back deteriorating & not the amount of Oxy I was taking.

Despite being raised to always be very honest & to always respect & help others, I found myself being dishonest & selfish in order to just get that OxyContin prescription.

I would constantly wake up between 2-3.am, then would spend the rest of the night pacing up & down in a blind panic, just thinking of excuse after excuse of how I could collect my monthly prescription two weeks earlier than I should have needed it due to running out. Then to my absolute relief after picking up the prescription after saying I was working away a lot. That bout of unbelievable panic would then return & switch focus to the Pharmacy. What if they hadn't got any OxyContin!? What if the Pharmacist refused to give it me due to realising I was picking a months supply up two weeks early!? This happened on many occasions & I absolutely hated myself for doing it, but as long as I got that script, that's all I was worried about & now all i could ever concentrate on.

Though I cannot remember doing this, my partner tells me she actually went to the Pharmacy for me on a number of occasions due to my panicking!

OxyContin was the very last thing I thought about before I closed my eyes at night & the very first thing in my head as soon as I woke, along with every waking hour in between constantly thinking & clock watching, just willing time to speed up so I could take my next dose.

I remember taking my prescription to a different Pharmacy once due to actually really working away! The Pharmacist rang & spoke to my Dr’s surgery. After the surgery confirmed my dose, the Pharmacist refused to give it to me, actually telling me: “I'm not going to be held responsible for your death”

At this point, I was no longer taking this amount of OxyContin to relieve the agonising pain I was in constantly, I was only taking it in order to be able to function, as I learned that without it, I could no longer do, or even want to do even the most simplest of tasks.

I realised at the point of becoming deceitful that I had a serious problem, so I started to research what was happening to me.

This is when I learned what Opiates were, what Oxycodone & OxyContin were & how it was actually much stronger than Morphine & the reason for the current Opioid epidemic in the U.S.

This very same medication I was taking is now responsible for over 400,000 thousand deaths through overdose in the States & still counting to this day & the reason Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin have been found $1billion to date.

Passed by the FDA In the U.S as it was said to have few addiction properties & just one tablet was supposed to last a full twelve hours between each dose. I was having to take my dose every 1.5-2 hours, if I didn't, I would start to experience the first very unpleasant signs of what I came to learn were in fact Heroin withdrawals. Interestingly also, is the fact that the same person at the FDA who passed OxyContin, then went on to actually work for Purdue Pharma 2 years later! Strange that!??

After doing all this research, I soon realised my worst fears, I was a full blown drug addict. But I kept telling myself I couldn't possibly be an addict as I had been prescribed this medication by my Doctor.

There were times when I would run out due to my Dr being on holiday, the locum Dr or the other Dr's at the same surgery would not prescribe such a high amount, i would then suffer full blown withdrawals until I could pick up my next prescription.

Those withdrawals were the worst experiences I have ever gone through in my life, or so I thought at the time, as there was so very much worse to come.....

Around this time I was involved in a car accident where I collided with an oncoming car.

I was not speeding as I approached a sharp bend on a road I have driven on for many years, when I heard a sudden bang on the apex of the bend from the back of the car, the rear end of the car stepped out & clipped a car travelling in the opposite direction.

The wing mirror of my car came through my drivers window, smashed & broke on my left eyebrow. I blacked out for a minute & when I came around with blood streaming down my face, I had people helping me telling me to stay still & not to move. The person in the car I hit was standing in front of me checking I was alright.

The emergency services arrived & I had to be cut out of the car due to the severe pain in my neck & back.

While lying in the hospital bed waiting to have the tiny pieces of glass around my eye removed, the Nurse asked me if I was taking any medication, what type & the amount. When I told her 800mgs of OxyContin per day, but actually almost double that, she said you must mean 80mgs per day, I replied no, many times more...

It wasn't until I was trying to remember these events, that my mother told me that the Nurse actually took her to one side & asked her what amount of OxyContin I was taking as she was sure i had got the amount wrong, when my mother confirmed the amount, the Nurse was shocked.

I was signed off sick from work & was constantly worrying about driving to work due to the pain in my back & whether I would be able to manage the commute.

After long discussions with the HR department, I sadly decided it may be better to end my career with a company I had worked 26 years for.

When I was feeling well enough after healing from the injuries of the accident, an old colleague who had left to become Managing Director of another company, contacted me to see if I was willing to do some Health & Safety work for him on a self employed basis.

I completed the work he required over a few weeks & he then offered me an employed position as an Operations Manager which I accepted.

I believed in my addicted mind that all was well. I was driving a brand new Lexus car which I was given an extra £450 per month on top of my salary to buy, I was paying 40% tax due to the great salary I was being paid, all was great, yet I was still taking around 1500mgs per day of OxyContin.

I carried on going to work as the drive wasn't half as far as my previous job, though I knew my ever increasing pain was down to the amount of the OxyContin I was taking.

Then one day I was called into the office & told: “I'm really sorry, but I have to let you go” there was no explanation given, so I gathered my stuff & left there & then.

I remember driving home in a daze as I couldn't believe what had just happened.

I was in total disbelief, wondering how I was going to pay the bills & survive.

I had to give my beloved Lexus back & pay Lexus £2000 for the privilege. How had everything I had ever worked for come down to this?

I refused to claim benefits & would spend all my savings before claiming benefits due to a belief I've had all my life of working hard & having an inner pride.

I did spend all my savings before being forced to then claim benefits as I no longer had a choice, to then go through the whole demoralising system of assessments & appeals, almost being evicted etc. but that's a whole other story.

Sitting at home wondering what I was going to do, I started to replay things in my mind over & over again.

What if that car accident over a year ago was actually my fault due to the amount of OxyContin I was taking? I know I definitely heard a bang & I know the back end of my car definitely did step out & i did lose control for a split second, but what if I had actually imagined all that?

I know I blacked out for a short time after the impact, but what if I had actually blacked out seconds before the impact due to the massive amount of Opiates i was prescribed but just cannot remember?

What if the person I hit had also been injured as a consequence, or even worse still, what if they had actually, God forbid, died as a result & i had caused it!?

How would I ever have been able to live with myself if that was the case?

What if due to my ever decreasing poor memory due to the Opiates, my mind was tricking me to prevent me from coming to terms with the reality, actually blocking trauma out?

What if I no longer cared about my performance at work after being so proud of what I have achieved all my career over all those years?

What if I was so bad at work without realising it but everyone else I worked with had realised, but didn't say anything to me?

What if, even though I truly believed I was doing a good job, I actually wasn't & that is the reason I lost my job?

It was at this point that something that had been buried, swallowed up by all the many Opiates I had consumed over the years deep inside my ever decreasing & barely functioning brain, that something suddenly & finally after all those lost years, clicked!

I’d had enough, I wanted my life back.

I’d had enough of being deceitful, that isn't who I am, it wasn't the person I was brought up to be & who I truly was.

I’d had enough of the Opiates being in total control of every waking minute of my whole life & taking all from me. I was now ready to take back control of my life.

I made an urgent appointment with my Dr & said that I'd had enough & wanted my life back. I wanted off all the OxyContin.

I'd become so dependent on OxyContin that I no longer wanted my whole daily life to be controlled & totally consumed by it.

I was then told that there had been several meetings held about me & how my Dr had been “told off” by the other doctors at the surgery about the amount of OxyContin I had been prescribed over such a long period of time.

I was then referred to my first drug clinic in Derby, to take what I believed would be the first steps to claiming my life back.

After going through my addiction with the drug worker, I was told:

“I'm sorry, but it isn't street Heroin so we cannot help you” so was referred back to my Dr.

My Dr then referred me to another drug clinic in Derby, again I was told exactly the same thing, it isn't Heroin, we cannot help you, again being referred back to my Dr.

At which point my Dr stated I would have to do a taper by myself.

I moved back to the small town I grew up in & registered at the local GP Surgery.

Made an appointment to discuss with my new Dr, as I knew that the amount I was on, there was no way I could attempt to do this all by myself & would need help.

My Dr drew up a taper plan which I was determined to follow.

Over the following months I stuck to the taper plan & I was doing really well, I managed to reduce from the 1500mgs per day down to the actual prescribed original 800mgs per day, then took my time & gradually reduced even further, until I dropped down to 320mgs per day. This is where my journey to Hell began.

I believed It couldn't possibly be any worse than the many times I had been through withdrawals, little did I know, as so very much worse was to follow...

After being turned away by three drug agencies, going around in circles from doctor referrals to drug clinics, back to my Dr, to the Pain Clinic, to drug clinics then being told the same old story, we cannot help you, then referred back to my Dr.

I was truly suicidal at this point, I could not see any way forward to help me out of the actual Hell i was in. I had done so well to reduce my dose, but could no longer see any way forward.

I remember standing on my balcony, coming so very close to actually jumping off.

After paying into a system all my working life, to then be prescribed a drug that i later found out to be actually stronger than Heroin that effected how my brain perceived things, to then get turned away by that same system that turned me into an actual drug addict, I was lost, very angry & suicidal.

Now knowing that when on Opiates, your brain stops producing Dopamine as you get it artificially from the dose of Opiates, therefore the Brain shuts the Dopamine receptors down. Dopamine is part of the reward system in the Brain which gives us pleasure from things. Due to reducing from such a high amount down to the 320mgs per day, I was no longer getting the Dopamine from the Opiates & my brain had stopped producing Dopamine a very long time ago.

I truly believed that if the OxyContin didn't actually kill me, then I would do it myself. This I wholeheartedly believed to my core, because i was truly broken, beaten & i could not see any way out, from a system that should have helped me, but had let me down at a time when I needed it the most.

I recently found out the reason I was turned away by all those drug addiction Clinics.

It has nothing at all to do with the reason I was given by those Clinics, it's all down to commissioning from the government, no budget to help with addictions to prescription medications, even if it is stronger than Heroin!

I eventually managed through research to reach out to a drug charity in London called Release.

Release, especially a lady who I truly believe actually saved my life who I will forever be indebted to, actually got one of the drug clinic addiction consultants that firstly turned me away, to change their mind & agree to treat me, after being told by the clinic, "we're only agreeing to help you out of the goodness of our heart, as we're only budgeted to treat people addicted to street Heroin & not legal Heroin given by a Doctor" I was also told I had to totally stop taking the 320mgs of OxyContin I had tapered down to before they would prescribe any Methadone.

After an agonising following few months, starting on a minimum dose of 30mils of Methadone, (Methadone is given to Heroin addicts to come off Heroin), with no OxyContin at all, the 30mils of Methadone didn't even hold me for two hours, then going into full blown withdrawals every single day & night. My new Doctor, after seeing the state I was in & how very desperate I had become, even prescribing me 4 x 20mg OxyContin tablets that I had to pick up daily from the Pharmacy, doing his best to help me, knowing the clinic should've started me on a much higher dose of Methadone until I was on a stable dose. Then to 50mils of Methadone, everyday withdrawals continuing, then 70mils, withdrawals still continuing daily, they eventually, over a few months of suffering daily, got me to the dose of 105mils of Methadone, where I no longer needed the OxyContin, i was stable & no longer going through those horrendous, constant, daily withdrawals & sleepless nights, not eating as the food I tried to force down me, came straight out one way or the other! Constant RLS, anxiety, severe depression, the worst case of Flu & multiplying that 10 times over etc etc etc.

Looking back recently through all the old emails between me & the lady at Release that I only have vague memories of, I was so desperate & cannot believe It was me who had actually sent those emails. One even saying that if I could find a Heroin dealer, I would overcome my fear of needles & inject myself with Heroin as I could no longer continue feeling the way I felt as I was no longer living, I was just existing & every minute, of every hour, of every single day was constantly going through physical & mental torture. I no longer wanted to be here!

I reduced the Methadone as soon as I possibly could, over many months I reduced more & more, till i was free & have been totally free now for around seven months. But the effects of long term Opiate use have devestating effects on the Brain as well as physical health.

Even though i beat this drug that should have, & very nearly did kill me, it had one final kick at me, leaving me to deal with the following:

In December 2016, I was diagnosed with severe ‘Central’ sleep apnoea, where I was stopping breathing eighty times per hour per night after a sleep study. This type of Apnoea is where you stop breathing & your brain doesn't actually tell you to wake up!

I was advised to inform the DVLA & after several questionnaires, my driving licence was revoked.

Then i was told after blood tests that my Testosterone level was zero.

I had a brain scan to check my pituitary gland, thankfully all was clear, so I was put on regular hormone replacement injections. These caused severe acne & thickened my blood, so at the risk of a stroke, I refused to continue with the hormone replacement.

After given three different types of antidepressants over the following months, which did absolutely nothing for me, I refused to take any more due to my experience around medications.

In March of 2018, i had another full blood count test. This time it showed Megaloblastic, (Macrocytic) Anaemia, Vitamin B12 deficiency, Folate deficiency & Pernicious Anaemia.

After keeping a diary of my six loading doses & three monthly injections, i knew i needed more B12 injections than the standard. I took my health into my own hands after joining the PAS {Pernicious Anaemia Society}, listening to many others who are forced to do the same & self Inject regularly, ordered B12 from Germany & after self Injecting every other day since Christmas, I've never felt better, I finally have my life, my personality & my morals back!

I have Peripheral Neuropathy from the Pernicious Anaemia where it is painful to walk due to nerve damage in my feet, but hopefully the regular B12 may help to heal, but it will take time.

I obviously still have the pain from the degenerative disc disease in my back, but I'm looking at alternative relief, other than the legal Heroin i was given that almost took my life.

My sleep apnoea has improved to almost non existent. Down to 0, 0.1, 0.2 etc. Anything below 5.0 is classed as not having sleep apnoea.

Since regular B12 Injections which improves Macrocytic Anaemia, I feel so much better. Heroin severely restricted my breathing. Having Macrocytic Anaemia restricts oxygen to many essential organs in the body, hence the reason my sleep apnoea has now vanished.

Most Heroin addicts have a B12 deficiency without even realising it!

Even after all this time, certain things I used to enjoy have yet to return.

I have fallen in love with my very first love all over again, music & playing the guitar, which sat in its case for three years. Other interests are still yet to return, which I now know to be “Anhedonia” a term used to describe no longer gaining pleasure from pleasurable activities. One cause of Anhedonia is substance abuse.

All of the above were caused by my long term Opiate use, Pernicious Anaemia, though treatable, being irreversible.

My main passion & purpose in life now, is to educate everyone about how long term Opiate use destroys lives & actually makes pain so much worse in the long term.

Opiates do actually have a very important role to play in pain relief, but only in certain situations & only for short term pain relief, prescribed & monitored very closely.

Long term, Opiates only Increase pain and cause other health issues, especially affecting mental health after altering Neurotransmitters, Endorphins, Dopamine & many receptors in the Brain.

Even though I was lucky enough to beat my ‘legal’ Heroin addiction, I am now having to deal with the long term health effects it has left me with.

I am unable to change policies in the UK to how I believe they should be changed from going through my own experience.

I know just how very lucky i am to have been treated, as if I wasn't given that help, I would just be yet another, sadly growing statistic which is increasing daily not only in the U.S, but now here in the UK also.

Not only did my addiction take everything I had worked so hard all my life for, it also greatly affected the people who I love most in life even more so, my family, which I still regret putting them all through to this day.

I spent a long time being angry at my then doctor, but now realise that all she was trying to do was to help relieve my pain. Doctors don't know how to deal with addictions, they are not trained nor have the time to deal with it.

I spent a very long time being very angry at the system also, a system that should have helped me, asking why & how could I go from being so successful, to then being turned into a full blown drug addict.

Addiction does not discriminate! Addiction doesn't care what your circumstances are, what your social situation in life is, or how much money you have. Once it grabs a hold of you, it will totally destroy you & everyone around you and leave you completely broken, facing the hardest battle you will ever have to face in your life.

I have now accepted what happened to me.

I have now let go of the anger & frustration at my then doctor & a system that i paid all my working life into that let me down so badly.

This problem I was faced with, I now know is a much bigger issue here in the UK & growing daily.

There are still very few drug clinics in the UK who help people like me, as they get sent back to their doctor, unless fortunate enough to be able to afford private rehab.

My aim & main purpose in life now is to not only help others addicted to prescription medication, but to also help other addicts with Opiate addictions, along with educating doctors & healthcare professionals who prescribe Opiate medication so freely.

My passion now is to save others from going through the Hell that I went through for a very long time & couldn't see any way out of that deep black hole I found myself in. To prevent those people becoming yet another, very sad statistic.

To go into schools, colleges, universities & prisons to educate from a first hand, lived experience & to warn of the many dangers around substances, both legal & illegal, as they all lead you down the same pathway.

Recently learning that dealers are now lacing cannabis with Fentanyl, which will sadly only have one outcome!

The whole system around prescription medication addictions needs addressing to help those in desperate need, as the current system does not offer that help.

The massive Stigma that surrounds Heroin addiction also needs to change!

After talking to the many addicts i have met during my time spent at addiction clinics, not one said they enjoyed being on Heroin, all stating how it totally consumed every single day of their lives, as without it, it was completely impossible to function. These addicts are human beings who have been dealt a cruel blow in life, later realising they made the wrong choice on how to deal with that blow, but by then it was way too late.

Recovering Opioid addicts should not be shunned by society, but should be embraced, as so very much could be learned from their experiences to help others. Every single addict in recovery is far more qualified to help overcome an addiction than any University graduate with all the qualifications around addiction. As they have the most important qualification, 'Life Experience'

If by telling my story & raising awareness of what i experienced can now just save even one person from suffering what I went through, or worse still, losing their life, which should have happened to me, then the sheer Hell that i suffered will have been worth it.

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Ritchie1268
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13 Replies
Amk31 profile image
Amk31

Thank you for sharing your story. Hopefully it will help others.

I think the problem is that pain killers are only way to manage chronic pain unless there is some sort of surgery.

People are desperate to be out of pain. People would pay millions just so not to be in pain.

Need to find better ways to manage the pain.

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm also suffering of degenerative disc disease (in the neck) and had to undergo anterior cervical fusion surgery on C5/6 a few months ago. I'm still in the process of recovery from the surgery but unfortunately experienced a significant increase of pain over the last few weeks, possibly related to another disc – currently still under investigation.

I'm prescribed a number of different pain killers, mainly Naproxen, Gabapentin, Dosulepin – the last two mainly for the Fibromyalgia that I started getting in the last two years after having the neck issues for 4-5 years. My GP now put me on high-dosed Co-Codamol (2*500/30) as I'm not getting any relieve with the Naproxen. While the codein in the co-codamol is nowhere near as strong as your Oxy, your story still is a very forceful warning and I'm now even more cautious about taking the co-codamol.

However, for me the main question remains open: How to best deal with chronic strong pain? Is medical cannabis a less dangerous alternative? Are pain management programs effective? In your specific case, how are your pain levels today compared to the time before you started your Oxycontin treatment? What do you mean by "alternative" medicine you use for pain, if you don't mind me asking? Did the B12 injection not only adress the sleep apnoe but did they also help with your chronic pain? (I'm obviously aware that they don't solve the cause of pain, but possibly the way how you perceive/experience pain due to increase of certain brain functions and higher natural Dopamin release)

Anyway, again, many thanks for sharing your story!

A Berliner in London

Ritchie1268 profile image
Ritchie1268 in reply to IchbineinBerliner

Hi IchbineinBerliner

I'm really sorry to hear you're struggling after having surgery. My consultant won't consider disc fusion as he says my spine is curved the wrong way & the only way my pain in my back eases is by bending forward slightly.

I'm not sure about medical Cannabis as I've only ever tried CBD oil for a short time & gave up as I cannot stand the taste.

The 'alternative' I use is an inversion table where I hang literally upside for 2-3 minutes 3 times per day, obviously this is no cure, but by gently stretching and opening the discs up in my back, it does help me. I spoke to my consultant before buying one & he said even though he couldn't recommend one, patients have said how they've helped them. He said it was like the old 'traction technique' they used to use at pain clinics, but can no longer use that method as it's now classed as barbaric!

I have just had confirmation of a 10 week course at the pain clinic in September, once per week on how to deal with chronic pain, so I am unsure yet how, or even if these help.

Interesting you mention the B12 Injections, as I completely forgot that I read somewhere a few weeks ago that trials are taking place to see if B12 Hydroxocobalamin, can be used as an alternative to pain medication! I laughed when I read it, but thinking about it after reading your comments, I'm now wondering if it is actually helping ease my pain!?

Strangely, although my back & neck are worse after recent MRI scans, (my neck now locks & I get what I can only describe as an electric shock pain that if I move my head really quickly, it cracks & then eases).

I don't believe I am in the amount of pain I was in when first diagnosed & now my Peripheral neuropathy which I didn't have back then, also causes problems when walking a certain distance, like I have pebbles or glass in my shoes.

I know back then I had a really stressful job working very long hours, was driving a lot also which would definitely not have helped. After all the books I have read over the years & the research I've done to find out what was happening to me, I also now know that my mental state is so very much better than it was at the height of all the Oxy I was taking, due to how the amount effected neurotransmitters in my brain etc.

I know that loads of people will be suffering & in pain way more than I am & that pain can be so very debilitating, frustrating & annoying. I still get so frustrated when I cannot do the things I used to just get on with & take for granted.

I do think state of mind has helped me, that's not to say other people suffering in pain have a poor state of mind, they don't, but being in constant pain does get you very down, it's bound too.

All I can go off is my own experience & I know I am in such a much better place now than I used to be, as I believe all the Oxy only masked the pain initially, but then made it so much worse, also adding loads of other problems along the way.

I really hope you get sorted soon & your pain eases.

Thank you for your comments, take care.

johnsmith profile image
johnsmith in reply to IchbineinBerliner

You need to have a look at what the medical profession have investigated. The physical therapies are in most cases never looked at. So you get trapped in a drug solution when there may be an alternative better route.

Drug therapies have had clinical trials. A clinical trial costs a great deal of money. The physical therapies have had no clinical trials because there is no one among the physical therapists who can bear the costs.

Coaxing muscle to lengthen when it has over contracted is a skill that is something that a healer who uses it is born with. It is not something that you can expect lots of people to be able to do. It is not something that can be described in a book.

There is much talk about higher natural Dopamin release. There is very little talk about things that can go wrong with how the brain controls muscle functions in the body. A muscle clamping on a nerve can be very painful. A muscle which is pulling on a joint continuously will generate pain.

Muscle have nerves which instruct them to contract. They have no nerves to tell a muscle to uncontract. Uncontraction of muscles rely on the activity of other muscles and the springiness of ligaments and fascia. Sometimes fascia sticks and pulls on nerves. Sometimes other muscles which should act to uncontract a muscle does not.

Have a look at

alexandertechnique.co.uk/

alexandertechnique.com/onyo...

johnsmith profile image
johnsmith

Thanks for the life experience story. Hopefully it will be helpful to many others.

Ritchie1268 profile image
Ritchie1268 in reply to johnsmith

Thank you John.

I really hope so!

Thank you for sharing ur story Ritchie1268.My story is very similiar n I too try to talk to people about e after effects of what pain meds, n etc prescriptions do to u,ur family n any friends u may have left.For me..I landed up with a rare n incurable illness that could have been prevented if the docs had listened to me n not brushed me off.

My friend u r a survivor:)

Tell ur story n help others as I do.Some may not listen ,but others will.

Glad ur in our community with us.:)

Ritchie1268 profile image
Ritchie1268 in reply to

Thank you hippolove1 for your lovely comments, & you're very welcome.

So sorry about what happened to you & what it left you with.

It's so hard when in pain, as you will do absolutely anything on bad days to take that pain away & you trust your doctor, right!?

Sadly, in this case the Sacklers & Purdue Pharma knew exactly what they were doing & it was all about pure greed. The people I have spoken to in your country & how it has destroyed hundreds & thousands of lives is truly heartbreaking. How they put sheer greed before human life is deplorable, they made Pablo Escobar look like a novice! But the 2000 plus lawsuits they're now facing will hopefully be a warning of just how dangerous Opiates can be.

It will be 4 years in August when I moved doctors & started the long road to recovery of tapering down, & I always said if the Oxy didn't kill me & I could survive through it, then I would spend the rest of my life helping others in my situation as there was no help for me.

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger don't they! Because I beat that, I feel I can take on anything at all now & come through it.

Thank you again & take care.

Pips04 profile image
Pips04

It was so hard to read your story and I did cry for you it’s hard to get your head around you feeling so lost with no help or reason to go on. You are one of the strongest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, you saved yourself and you must feel so proud of the man you are today. To turn this nightmare around and be the person to help others go through what you have is remarkable. I had an experience where I didn’t know I was taking pills that were addictive. I moved from Belgium to UK and saw a doctor because I was feeling really bad he informed me that I was addicted to Lexotan a form of Valium and he helped me by giving me diazepam. This was just as bad as Lexotan so I came off those myself but again the doctor didn’t help me he made it worse. I’m curious about you losing your job in H&S did you ever find out why ? I wish you all the good things in life and thank you so much for sharing with us it can’t have been easy writing this and reliving the feelings you had then but you have helped just by doing that take good care of yourself Pip x

Ritchie1268 profile image
Ritchie1268 in reply to Pips04

Thank you so much for your lovely comments Pip. Sorry you didn't get the help also & for the suffering you went through. Such a worry that loads of others suffer this way also.

The lady from Release I mention rang me the other day after I had a massive bouquet of flowers delivered to her as a thank you for helping me. She said my experience could also be used to help doctors understand about some of the stuff they prescribe.

What I'm finding now is that kids as young as 13 are ordering pills online from China, Xanax & other stuff, really worrying, hence one clinic wanting me to go into schools to warn about the dangers & how this stuff starts, then totally spirals out of control, before they know it, they're full blown Heroin addicts.

Thank you again & take care.

Sparkleshimmer profile image
Sparkleshimmer

Glad to see you’re on the right track now and what a fantastic thing to do - to use your own personal story to help others.

Take care ☺️

Ritchie1268 profile image
Ritchie1268 in reply to Sparkleshimmer

Thank you

Emma2017 profile image
Emma2017

Terrible. Thank you for sharing.

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