Oxycotin, addiction and me

My leg infection was extremely painful. Over the counter pain killers barely took the edge off. After being admitted to the hospital I finally got the pain meds needed to actually be comfortable. It took 20 mg of oxycotin twice a day plus dilaudid every three hours to do the job.

After my hospital release I got a prescription to continue with the oxycotin. It was great to have the pain managed, but I really started to miss my mind. As soon as I could deal with the discomfort I replaced oxycotin with Tylenol. Medical people have assured me I’d been on opiods more than long enough to have addiction issues. That can happen very quickly.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that hard for me to get off them. My big motivation was getting my mental clarity back. I was lucky. Too often a long struggle with addiction starts with a painful injury.

Addiction is one of those things that frightens me. Genetics play a role, and there are relatives of mine who struggled with alcohol. One of my cousins died from it.

Frankly, I like to drink. A good beer with lots of hops is a special treat. There’s a sublime pleasure to sipping a good single malt scotch. A nice red wine goes down well. Rum is good even when its not chilled. In fact, there’s a lot of different drinks I really enjoy.

Here’s the thing, I want to keep enjoying them. To do that I make sure I don’t drink habitually. Days or even weeks can go by without drinking alcohol. It’s rare that I’ll drink enough to to get drunk. I can stop after one or two drinks.

Probably the smartest thing would be not to drink at all. However, I always believed that too much moderation was bad for a person. The thought of something being banned can make it more attractive. Knowing I can have a drink anytime I want removes both the anxiety and a lot of the temptation. That’s what seems to work for me. I know alcohol is so dangerous for some people that they should not drink at all.

There’s nothing special about me when it comes to addiction. Thank goodness I don’t have to give up coffee. That’s hard. I’ve done it in the past and didn’t like it.

-Sixbears