Dilaudid; are you getting more than bargained for?
I have enough problems in dealing with this metastatic prostate cancer and pain let alone trying to cope with more sickness and pain caused by what is supposed to ease some of the pain.
Had a lot of pain last night so I decided to take a pain killer called Dilaudid. It was another opioid prescription given to me a few days ago. I was on it last year for a while, in the hospital and had some vague memories of how I responded to it while on it. They weren't pleasant! My oncologist felt that if they worked back then, why not now. I don't remember how well they worked on pain but do remember the sick feeling. The strength is only 2mg and lasts maybe 4-5 hours but very addicting. It's very easy to overdose on this pill. I took one pill with a glass of water around 8 P.M. It took about a half hour for it to kick in.
It wasn't too long after, that I noticed that my hair was falling out in clumps. I could just pull the hair on my head between my two fingers and I'd end up with a clump of hair. I tried the same with my beard. Same thing happened. I'm sure that this was only a coincidence and not a side effect considering I had just gone thru a round of chemo recently and loss of hair is imminent.
It was around 12:30 A.M when I could feel the pill wearing off. It didn't do much for the pain, it only made feel lousy for 4 hours. I welcomed the feeling of the pill wearing off until things went haywire. I started feeling nauseous and dizzy and quickly took a pill to take care of the nausea. Heartburn set in with acid re-flux as I was ready to vomit any second now. I was going back and forth for the next 4 hours dealing with withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawals that included; hallucinations, headache, body ache, dizziness upset stomach and sweats. My mind was racing and had constant urge to take another pill. I had to resist with all my might. I certainly wasn't expecting withdrawal symptoms from taking one lousy pill. But it happened. I called my oncologist office later in the day and they confirmed it. The same has happened to others.
I felt pretty crappy all day and am now trying to deal with constipation. I tell you, these damn pills sometimes cause more problems and aggravation than what they are worth. All I wanted to do was to cut down on some pain I was having, pain that my 100mcg/hr and 1300mg Tylenol couldn't. That's what the Dilaudid was intended for. This is definitely a pill I want to stay away from!
As for my hair? I spent some time this evening combing and brushing it removing what I could. There's still some to go but that's for another day. There's not much I can do about my full beard as it too is falling out. I may just need to shave it off. Tomorrow is another day.
Here's another one of my paintings for you to enjoy.
Had a lot of pain last night so I decided to take a pain killer called Dilaudid. It was another opioid prescription given to me a few days ago. I was on it last year for a while, in the hospital and had some vague memories of how I responded to it while on it. They weren't pleasant! My oncologist felt that if they worked back then, why not now. I don't remember how well they worked on pain but do remember the sick feeling. The strength is only 2mg and lasts maybe 4-5 hours but very addicting. It's very easy to overdose on this pill. I took one pill with a glass of water around 8 P.M. It took about a half hour for it to kick in.
It wasn't too long after, that I noticed that my hair was falling out in clumps. I could just pull the hair on my head between my two fingers and I'd end up with a clump of hair. I tried the same with my beard. Same thing happened. I'm sure that this was only a coincidence and not a side effect considering I had just gone thru a round of chemo recently and loss of hair is imminent.
It was around 12:30 A.M when I could feel the pill wearing off. It didn't do much for the pain, it only made feel lousy for 4 hours. I welcomed the feeling of the pill wearing off until things went haywire. I started feeling nauseous and dizzy and quickly took a pill to take care of the nausea. Heartburn set in with acid re-flux as I was ready to vomit any second now. I was going back and forth for the next 4 hours dealing with withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawals that included; hallucinations, headache, body ache, dizziness upset stomach and sweats. My mind was racing and had constant urge to take another pill. I had to resist with all my might. I certainly wasn't expecting withdrawal symptoms from taking one lousy pill. But it happened. I called my oncologist office later in the day and they confirmed it. The same has happened to others.
I felt pretty crappy all day and am now trying to deal with constipation. I tell you, these damn pills sometimes cause more problems and aggravation than what they are worth. All I wanted to do was to cut down on some pain I was having, pain that my 100mcg/hr and 1300mg Tylenol couldn't. That's what the Dilaudid was intended for. This is definitely a pill I want to stay away from!
As for my hair? I spent some time this evening combing and brushing it removing what I could. There's still some to go but that's for another day. There's not much I can do about my full beard as it too is falling out. I may just need to shave it off. Tomorrow is another day.
Here's another one of my paintings for you to enjoy.
 |
| 11"x15" acrylic painting on canvas paper |
Comments
Post a Comment
thanks for commenting, it will be published shortly once I make sure that it's not spam!