I am taking a bit of a side journey on this journey of weaning off of morphine sulfate to give you some very good advice that I "thought" I had taken myself.
Before weaning off/going through withdrawal from any medication, please make sure you have the following:
- A plan B - in other words for those things that you must do, make sure you have something or someone else to cover you. If you feel lousy, you may not be able to make dinner, walk the dog, get to work for that meeting. You get the idea. Make sure you have a plan to cover those items if you are feeling lousy.
- Support system-make sure you have people around that know what you're going through and what you are feeling. I have a girlfriend (in spite of having a hubby, daughter and mom close by) that checks on how my days have been going. The mental/emotional aspect of going through withdrawal can sometimes be more difficult than the actual physical symptoms. So, make sure you have people around that "care" about you, are positive and supportive of your decision.
- Drink LOTS of water. For some reason, when I get dehydrated, I begin to feel worse and get muscle aches. There's no mystery that hydration is healthy for everyone, but especially when you're body is going through this "assault".
- Give yourself a break. Meaning, give yourself the space you need to feel lousy. If you have a bad day, rest. Don't beat yourself up and try to do more than you can. This process could totally derail your attempt at withdrawal, sending you back to the doctor to go back to the higher dose. You do not want that. This is hard work and you need a good outcome.
- Be careful who you tell. This is the main reason that I'm writing this post. The last thing you need at this point is any controversy about your meds. If you have friends that understand your illness and your meds, then they will also understand your desire to get off of them. HOWEVER, be careful with this. I told some friend from high school who I have connected with over the past several years. I have noticed lately that NONE of them respond to my texts and emails. It's as if my telling them this was a burden to them. They are not local and we only meet every few months, but they seem to have drifted away once I told them this.
Last night I lay awake worrying about this for hours. It has totally affected how I feel today.
Point here is that you need to be in a very up and positive emotional situation to go through this. Friends who don't support your, respond to emails where you bare your soul, or otherwise ignore you, are NOT friends at all. Do not contact them or tell them what you are doing.
Keep close to those you trust and treat yourself with "kid" gloves. :)
Yesterday was difficult, I had some bad burning in my upper back and I had to take a percocet. I believe that percocet can be very "depressing". I am avoiding taking it from now on and going to pursue some more "holistic" methods for getting rid of my pain.
I wish all of you good day. Please comment or ask questions as needed.
Mo M.
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