Questions??

Pain Pills
1
My husband takes vicodin for migranes he takes about 5-10 a day, is this normal? Should 70 pills be missing from his bottle from only 11 days? Is he addicted? What should I do if he is? Please help...
2
Exellent question what should you do? without knowing your situ its impossible to say or give advice but firstly i think your hubby needs to reconise his own problem and address it with your support without which im affraid there is not much you can do. take care jackie xxx
3
Questions -

I'm not sure I would take the leap that he has a problem until I knew more about his situation. It's certainly a lot of meds. Maybe he has a high tolerance or an awful lot of pain?
4
Well all I can say is sounds like he is addicted bad. First of all why in the world would someone take 5-10 pills a day of anything for a headache. That may give you a worse one. Second, 70 pills in 11 days means he is averaging about 6-7 pills daily. That is alot. What strength are they? 5,7.5 or 10's? Most doctor's if they are writing the 10's will only write enough for him to take 4 a day which is 120 a month. Do you know what his monthly supply is? Is he running out early and going through any withdrawls that you can see? How long has he been using? Let us know and I am sure we can help. I have been addicted to Vicodin over the past 10 yrs on and off maybe I can help. Rae(Rachel)
5
He has been taking vicodin for a long time, he also has stomach problems and he takes vicodin because he says that nothing else will work for the headaches without upsetting his stomach condition. it seems to me that he has only within the last couple of months been abusing his perscription, he even has lied to me about somethings dealing with it, I asked him once if he thought he may have a problem and he admitted that he may, however, when asked again he got very upset with me, so I don't bring up the subject often but I am very concerned. I feel like I am just sitting back and doing nothing... I don't know...I really don't know what to think. I just love him and want him to be healthy and happy.
6
Migraines can be extremely debilitating. The amount of meds you take does not dictate if you are an addict. We have no idea if he has physiologic or psychologic dependence to the drug.

Neurontin helps migraines. You may want to have him check into this line of therapy. Maybe a PET also. He needs to find the root cause of the migraines, if possible. First, make sure it isn't organic. Then see if stress precipitates it.
7
Great advice Eddie......
Questions you can check some of this stuff out too.......I think some of the things Eddie spoke you will find on here too......
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/
Good Luck to you,
Tina
8
I am not sure the stregnth of his perscription but I know he is running out early, this month he used a family memebers pills to get by until he could get a refill. I see him when he has a migraine. He cannot function, he is not taking the pills for his headaches alone he takes them for any sickness or pain that he has as well as when we go out to parties or anywhere there may be drinking.
9
Yeah Eddie's right,migraines can be horrible. However,being addicted to vicodin can be too. I would try and talk to him a little more about his addiction. He has got to realize HE has got a problem before it can be fixed. That is with any addiction. That will be the first step. Why don't you suggest him coming to this message board and just read some of the posts. Maybe that will open his eyes if he is in denial and both of you can openly communicate with each other. Then go from there. All you can do is try for him but he has got to want it for himself or recovery isn't an option... Best of luck and Happy New Year, Rae
10
Yeah sounds like he has got a bit of a problem if he is running out early and getting family members to give him pills. Also if he is taking them for every little pain and not just for migraines. Like I said before he has got to want help and maybe you can make him see that. There are many other drugs out there that may help him with migraines. I like Bextra personally, it really helps me. I get migraines so bad sometimes I have to lay in a dark room,nobody can talk they are horrible. I have also found that when I have a headache seriously Vicodin makes it worse, I take Bextra or 800mg motrin. I know a lot of people that say vicodin makes them have headaches so he may not want to take to much of it when he feels a headache coming on and try something different. Just a suggestion! Rae
11
Hi again certain pills will enhance a headache if taken over the prescribed limit maybe you should suggest that he trys to reduce his amount slowly jackie xx
12
Thank you, so much to everybody. I will be taking all of your suggestions. I hope you all have a happy New Year and wish you all the best of luck.
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Heres hoping your hubby gets the help he needs hun and you both take care and have a god new start to the year jackie xx
14
Usually, there's a simple answer to everything and I wonder why I am struggling with this one and then it hit me...

Questions...we are trying to help your husband when he may not necessarily want help/advice. Therefore, we are left with helping you. This is a great site for info, but there is another one that is even more applicable to you here...."Families/Partners of addicts". That may help some of the issues you have. This site has a lot of good pain meds info though. Maybe try both...