HOW I BECAME A REAL LIFE PICKLEBALL JUNKIE

DRUG ADDICTION WITHDRAWAL
IT AIN'T NO FUN, I KNOW!
Some things are personal and probably best not discussed in a open forum setting like this. And some topics have no relevance to a TOPIC of the facebook page. Well friends I am going to break the rules, and discuss prescribed pain medication addiction of someone near and dear....ME!

Hopefully this little stroll down the darkest allies and avenues of legal drug addiction, may just help someone caught in a similar situation. No, this is not going to be one of my lengthy dissertations, and it sure as hell ain't going to make you laugh. So if you are of a fragile sensitive nature and cannot bear to read about human suffering, change the channel.

I was on a mild prescription pain medication for a little over two years. The drugs name was "tramadol." I use to take OTC Tylenol Arthritis and it worked fine. But my well meaning primary care doctor suggested I try "tramadol." because it works better and last longer. So I did. My "well meaning internist" has since retired and now lives the good life in the high class section of the Dominican Republic. I have a new internist to treat my medical needs.

After reading and seeing all the negative press about opioids I decided to wean myself off the drug "tramadol." So, Mr. Know It All, who knows little to nothing about such medical issues, decided to stop taking the drug "cold turkey." The second evening of my stoppage, all hell broke loose. I started to have tremors throughout my body.

These tremors were uncontrollable jerks, twitches and spasms starting about 8pm and lasting thru most of the bedtime hours. Although I was dead tired I could not go to bed because of the cray antics that my body was doing. I could only get back out of bed and walk around the inside of the house until I was totally exhausted , before I could even attempt sleep.

For five (5) straight evenings I endured these same problems. The worst of which was not being able to fall asleep. Finally at the suggestion of a close friend, I notified my doctor about my symptoms, and what I had decided to do on my own.

I really like this new way to communicate with your doctor via "portals." You type in the problem, he comes back a day or so later with the diagnosis, no trips to his office, no leaving an hour before the appointment only to arrive late due to road crews blocking lanes and flagging traffic flow with a sign on a poll. Oh ya, I almost forgot about the $5 parking fee. First 30 minutes free, not in my life time. I always get stuck for five bucks.

The next day after messaging my doctor's portal, I received a call from a PA, telling me that I was experiencing symptoms of pain medication withdrawal. The PA had a magical cure to slowly wean me off the drug. I had to start taking the pain med again but in a smaller does for the next two weeks. After that I cut the pain med does in half for another two weeks, and finally after two more weeks it was one does, and adding OTC Tylenol pain med.

After two days back on Tramadol, I no longer had tremors, anxiety, uncontrollable jumpiness throughout the body. However when I went to go to bed, I still could not fall asleep. I went to bed last night but could not fall asleep. I was awake until 5 am when I was so tired I basically collapsed in the bed. Well here it is at 10:30pm and I am going to try to go to bed.

I took my last does of "tramadol" back around 8pm. Don't have a clue what's going to happen or not happen. I just hope I can go to bed and fall asleep. I played pickleball today at Edgewood Senior Center. Needless to say today was not one of my stellar pickleball performance days. I was nervous and at times non-responsive to balls. Maybe, just maybe I will fall asleep early. After playing pickleball, I went to the gym and worked out, to tire myself out. WE SHALL SEE, TO BE CONTINUED...................................................................

The POINT of this post is "Addiction" of any sort is no joke. It is damn serious and can lead a person to do and experience horrible things. They say Alcohol Addiction is the worst to recover from. Recovery from an addiction is no easy takes. It takes a hell of a lot of courage and will power to follow the path to a cure. I had only a light brush with addiction and withdrawal. I can't imagine the hell a man or woman has to go through to attempt a full recovery. So the next time I here or see someone who is a recovering addict, I just may shake their hand and congratulate them.