Opioid WARNING - AGAIN

[Mike Kavo]

This is for all of those new to CPPS who have MD's who want them out their office and are thus pushing opioids (like a dealer <<< brutal but often true) to let you know what can happen long term.

I was in and out of opioids for 10 years! I was taking small doses of Tramadol mainly, 50-200mg daily. WHY? Addiction! They do help CPPS but also make it worse (strange but true). At first the floating feeling is pleasant and thus pain seems less but as time passes this changes. A feedback loop occurs eventually, the mechanics of this are posted here. This causes more pain but pain the opioids also help, so you end up taking them to cover pain they create along with your CPPS pain - madness! But often you suss this out so off/on and switch opioid to keep that process in order. Horrid way to live, but the opioid high is so addictive people that do it. You end up freaking out when you run out as you are always chasing away withdrawal. This is just a hard way to live on top of CPPS - and I did it for years on and off. I have posted on side effects before here so I won't repeat this. Search the forum if you are thinking on opioids before you take them!

There are NO studies proving opioid use is effective long term in CPPS. On the contrary it is deemed to be of little value as CPPS is a life long problem for most of us. A sensible pain management strategy does not require opioids in CPPS in my opinion with 10 years of this now behind me. I am at my best off meds and just doing Wise-Anderson Protocol daily - I can be basically symptom free doing this. But via my lovely MD's I was an on/off junkie for opioids. I even told my MD's I was getting high but as I was so addicted and withdrawal made me look AWFUL they would give me more and more and more on a promise I would reduce down which never happened often (as that is how they treat street junkies after all). Unfortunately opioid use (mainly synthetics) are no longer deemed a big deal to MD's. Of course I was always prompt for work and was a good husband so know body even knew! That is the thing when docs are your dealer people close to you don't suss it out.

Once you start this opioid road only abstinence can bring you back. Even then, once you've tasted it, life is NEVER the same again. I promise you get into them and you will end up finding the world boring off them. I got CPPS at 22. So imagine how many bloody years I would need to hit opioid drugs if I was to treat CPPS with them all the time. I am 33 now so still gotta go a fair run with this.

I eventually was hospitalized late 2012 with Urticaria - from Tramadol at 200mg bid only! Oh no, this is not just a little hives. You have no idea I was "DYING" from long term opioid use. My skin was a total mess. I could not even be touched. I was in a bad way! I was hiding Tramadol under my pillow to get high even then! I am still dealing with this as some residual is still there after I stopped Tramadol. You have no idea how much I suffered to get off it! It took 2 or 3 goes to do it fully cold turkey! It took owning up and getting told I was a junkie to get off the bloody evil things once and for all!

Opioids are addictive, corrosive, de-granulates all your mast cells, messes with nerves (which are the very things that make CPPS worse) - you will end up a total mess from the dependence and withdrawal. It took a decade for me to admit I was an addict as I just did not see myself as a street junkie. But bottom line taking these long term that is what we become.

I know some of you bang morphine, fentanyl, tramadol, tapentadol, (wow this one is bonkers as it is a crazy molecule worse than tramadol), codeine, oh the list is bloody endless but they all mess up your life as much as CPPS if not more. STAY AWAY! I have nearly died from using them for CPPS. If you are young and you get into them like me it will catch you up eventually.

If you need meds look to: pregabalin (small dose), h1, h2, mast cell stabilization meds in high doses often are required as we are generally very allergic people with unstable mast cells. Get your peripheral nerves quiet and soft tissue mast cells quiet. THEN OF COURSE DO WISE ANDERSON PROTOCOL DAILY TO QUIET YOU EVEN MORE ALL OVER! As time goes past you can drop meds and feel great!

CPPS is for life but you can improve it. It is not going away 100%, but you can keep it VERY quiet indeed. Opioids are NOT the answer. I hope this SCARES people off these horrid things!

Caveat: I understand some of you suffer severe pain and feel these help. I am not criticizing your use. I am simply telling what happened to me and how I feel about them 10 years on. I apologies if I make you feel upset but this is PERSONALLY how I feel. I understand they can have a place short term but long term they are dangerous. It is so easy to keep on these for years on end and confuse the pain management with addiction as it gets very blurred over a decade. No offence or pointing the finger at opioid users is meant in any manner whatsoever.

I really hope this helps newbies deciding on how to work up their pain management strategy! There is no point re-inventing the wheel here with a forum like this.

[webslave]

Thanks for opening up to us, Mike, to post this warning.

TO ALL MEMBERS: DO NOT USE OPIOIDS FOR LONGER THAN A FEW DAYS TO A COUPLE OF WEEKS!

They are only safe and useful as short term flare breakers. And for some people, who are prone to addiction, they are not safe at all.

[Mike Kavo]

You are welcome and I agree but with a small caveat.

Anyone with an addictive trait could get lost on them and should avoid even flare breaks as the risk of addiction outweighs the use in flare breaks. If you are impulsive and do things quickly and get into one thing from time to time far too much while ignoring everything else going on around you - you are a BAD candidate for these drugs for flare breaks. This impulsive behavior is shared by many addictive people and is a red flag to avoid opioids if the condition needs managed for decades.

I am doing much better and day by day gaining strength and will be back to my daily Wise-Anderson Protocol routine soon enough. So it is NEVER too late to give these up and get on Wise-Anderson Protocol with a healthy diet. However due to what I suffered getting off them I advise highly studying withdrawal before doing it. Withdrawing ad hoc is dangerous - even from small doses.

SAY NO TO OPIOIDS FOR CPPS!

[scotsman]

Hi Mike, thanks for these posts and they have prompted me to tapering off my Tramadol dosage over the next 6-9 months.

I seem to have had a pretty positive experience overall with Tramadol compared to you. After 12-18 months of 200-300mg a day I reduced down to 50mg in the morning and have been on that for the past 6 years. Never experienced any highs from taking it (no fuzzy/floating feelings, just feels the same as taking paracetamol) and just take it in the morning with my vitamins and it helps with the pain first thing but I've been lucky in that I don't then think about medication for the rest of the day. Only reason I've not stopped before now is that I know how long it takes to taper off drugs and the 50mg capsules are a pain to divide up into smaller amounts - but after reading your posts then I'm going to make the effort and taper down to 40mg for 4-6 weeks, then down to 30mg for 4-6 weeks and so on. Taking it slow and long seems to be the trick and worked well for me before when about 16 years ago I was on Seroxat (Paxil) for 24 months and by coming off that very slowly I avoided any withdrawal symptoms.

Cheers
Richard.

[BrettP]

Do you believe benzodiazepines would cause a similar issue?

[webslave]

Yes. Benzos should never be taken long term.

Anxiety drugs like Valium are addictive in the same way as heroin, warn scientists

But they are very useful in the short term! Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

[BrettP]

Yea. I have been on them for a long time. Not consistently "but here and there" I withdrew once then started up a year later because of anxiety. I'm going to attempt to withdraw once more and keep them as an adjunct but try to stay off them for good unless absolutely necessary.

[fobo]

My old father is using Tramadol for pain management, but with absolutely no results lately. Thanks for the warning, I will ask him to let it go