Is it Okay to take Opiate Pain Medication
in Recovery?
(avoiding prescription drug addiction)
~by Joe Herzanek

(April 2011) Is it okay to take opiate pain medication during recovery? How does one avoid prescription drug addiction?

I recently had the opportunity to once again, test my own advice on prescription drug addiction and taking prescription pain medications in recovery.

I occasionally like to get away to a quiet place, be still and just listen. So about ten days ago I left to spend a few days in the desert around Moab, Utah (to kind of disconnect from the world and see what God is doing in my life).

I found a place to camp near Moab and slept in the car the first night. It was cold and windy, --no big deal. The next morning I drove to an even more secluded place where I planned to camp for two more nights. It remained cold and windy and rained off and on. I set up a tent-like shelter in the (cold and now light-rainy) new area. In the process I managed to cut my thumb. I didn’t think it was any big deal--maybe a half inch long but kind of deep. I quickly drove to town, got something to clean it out, bandaged it up, and returned to the “site.”

I spent the rest of the day back in the car--as the weather stayed cloudy and windy. The “stabbing of the thumb” took place at 1pm-ish. By 6pm the thumb is now swelling up and getting very painful, with “stuff” draining out of it. By the morning it was worse, so I decided to drive home and have it looked at.

After the 6-hour drive, I arrived at the emergency room and they began talking about admitting me. I thought “you’ve gotta be kidding”. This was a one-half inch cut!! They put me on IV antibiotics immediately.

The next six days were spent in the hospital--on IV antibiotics, had three minor surgeries, and one major surgery on my right thumb. I returned home with a PICC line in my left arm and will be receiving daily antibiotic injections for the next four weeks.

Once again, in order to avoid prescription drug addiction to my opiate pain medications, I had the opportunity to practice the advice I so often give to others. Below is an excerpt from “Why Don’t They Just Quit?” (Chapter 28)

Avoiding Prescription Drug Addiction
and taking Opiate Pain Medications during recovery:
In general, a physician knowledgeable about addiction (ideally, specifically prescription drug addiction) needs to monitor the recovering person’s use of medications. I often hear stories of relapse because someone has taken  prescription pain medications. The question then is, What does a person do when they truly need this kind of medication? What should you do if the addict in your life needs pain medication for surgery, a broken bone, or recovery from oral surgery? I’ve talked about my own struggle with these same questions when I faced hepatitis C. Here, I want to address this dilemma a little more specifically. How does a recovering addict take drugs like this without bringing their disease out of remission and developing a prescription drug addiction? Well, very cautiously!

I have had a few surgeries over the years, so the issue has come about at different stages of my own recovery. Earlier, I mentioned my neck surgery and the dirt-bike accident. Dirt-bike riding in the mountains is a young man’s sport. I thought this might be one of those bonding things a father could do with his son. Instead, it brought about the dilemma of how an addict can use again for valid medical reasons.

After surgery, my doctor wrote a prescription for Percocet, a strong opiate painkiller. I was in a lot of pain, and I was going to continue hurting for at least a few days. My doctor knew that I was a former drug abuser and was quite aware of the high risk for me to develop a prescription drug addiction. I had informed him so he could be aware of my tendency to want to keep taking these drugs even after the pain was gone. For the first time in my life, I made sure to take the medications exactly as my doctor told me to. The next important thing I did was throw away whatever was left once the pain was gone. It is always a bad idea to save leftover medications.

Some recovering people may even have a chronic pain problem that they have to deal with. But there are many different ways to manage even chronic pain without developing a prescription drug addiction (see “Pain Management” in the Resource section). Opiate-type pain medications like Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin are not the solutions. Here’s why.

Over time, our bodies will build up tolerance to opiate drugs. This can result in an addict taking a large number of pills and becoming dependent on them. It may get to a point where the pills are not working anymore, yet the person keeps taking them for fear of going through withdrawal. The cycle begins all over again. When someone in recovery needs to take prescription pain medication for a legitimate reason, they need to let someone (like another person in recovery) know. It’s not difficult to get a refill on most prescriptions. If doctors don’t know a person is in recovery, they will assume that the request for a refill is legitimate. But the person in recovery, or their friend or family member, should be sure to tell the doctor of any history of drug use or prescription drug addiction. Following that, the medication should be used as directed for a short period of time, and the remaining pills should be flushed*.

Stay On Guard
As your loved one continues life in recovery, you should be aware of situations that will naturally present opportunities to use again. Even if twenty years have passed, do not assume a prescription drug won’t be a temptation. This kind of event can often disguise itself as a legitimate excuse to use and ultimately end up as a full-blown relapse in the form of prescription drug addiction.

Play an active role in the recovering person’s life. Take time to talk through their medical needs with the doctor. No matter how many years have passed, your loved one still needs your support and concern.

* Note:
Great comment from Tiffany K. that we'd like to share with everyone:

After visiting your site, it looked like your advice is sound. However, you advise people to flush left-over medication. Instead of flushing, people should take them to a pharmacy for disposal. Our tap water is full of drugs that well-meaning people have unknowingly added to the water supply.

Thanks Tiffany!

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