How Oxicontin Has Ruined My Family

My other half (to be nice will call him joe) had a great job and was a wonderfull husband and father. He was hurt at work and needed a neck surgery. This was the begining to what I call the dark days. Right after surgery the doc gave all kinds of pain meds from vicodin to morpine patches. Which at the time was needed. He had a tromendouse amount of pain, really they sliced through his neck and it took about four months to heal. Like that wasnt enough to live thorugh. He started going to a spine and pain clinic for on going treatment. Unknown to anyone else they were still issuing pain meds to him first vicodin and when he complained that ten a day of those did not work they issued Oxicontin. Little did the doc know he was acttually taking up wards of about 60 from several doctors. It started as a caouple 20mg a day doses that soon turned into three 40mg a day doses and then well you get the piture. This went on until he was issued four 80mg doses a day. I would just like to say that at this point this was still his little secret. Eventually this was not enough and he found himself some new friends. friends that sold oxicontin illegally and showed him tricks to by pass the time release.
Taking the pill as intended was a thing of the past. He was snorting it and shooting it up.

Oxycontin is classified as a Schedule II drug, meaning it has a high potential for drug addiction and is only available by prescription from a licensed physician.

OxyContin most commonly exists in tablet form. These round pills come in 10mg, 20mg, 40mg, 80mg and 160mg dosages. OxyContin also comes in capsule or liquid form.

What is OxyContin?

OxyContin is the brand name for an opioid analgesic containing the active ingredient oxycodone (also found in Percocet and Percodan). OxyContin is a legal narcotic that is available, by prescription, to treat
severe pain. OxyContin is a controlled-release medication that, when used correctly, provides extended relief of pain associated with cancer, back pain, or arthritis. However, often when the drug is abused, the tablets are crushed and snorted, chewed, or mixed with water and injected- eliminating the time-release factor and allowing for a quick and intense rush to the brain. This practice can lead to overdosing on OxyContin's active ingredient, oxycodone, by releasing too much of the medication into the bloodstream too quickly. OxyContin is highly addictive - so higher doses of the drug must be taken when a tolerance develops. Illicit users of the drug have risen drastically and steadily over the last few years.

Street Names

OxyContin is also known as Oxy, OxyCotton, Oxy 80 (for the 80mg dose),OC or Hilbilly heroin.

Now we were expecting a baby and I was like any other mother trying to make preperations. I started noticing that money suddenly got tight really tight. Joe seemed to have a reason for everything and sence he was the one that payed the bills I trusted him. I gave it little notice until at eight months pregnant I came home to the city shutting off my water and the electric company telling me that my electricity was hooked up illegally. WHAT??? You can only imagine my response. Of course Joe was no where to be found. My landlord informed me that the rent had not been pain for seven months and I face eviction. This is the point in which he had to leave our home.

I could not have this around my kids. I had to go and ask the state for help with utilities. This was in the dead of winter. For two days I had to melt snow to flush the toilet. It was just a week before christmas and of course the money for kids gifts was gone along with any thing that had already been purchased.

From then until the baby was born everything we had dissapeared guns four wheelers you name it. I had no phone no car.

Short-term Effects

Using OxyContin chronically can result in increased tolerance to the drug in which higher doses of the medication must be taken to receive the initial effect. Over time, OxyContin will be come physically addictive, causing a person to experience withdrawal symptoms when the drug is not present. Symptoms of withdrawal include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, and involuntary leg movements.

This is not the same addiction, which represents a situation in which people obtain and take narcotics because of a psychological need, and not just to treat a legitimate painful condition.

The abuse of prescription pill medication is a serious public health concern. Prescription medications such as pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives are very useful treatment tools but sometimes people do not take them as directed and can become addicted (chemically dependent). The use of prescription pill medications like opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and stimulants can lead to abuse and addiction, characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use.

So I am still living in the wake of having an addict for a husband. I Actually had to count change to buy diapers today like that isn't bad enough, I didn't have enough change and the teller threw in a dollar. Say a prayer for her I know I will. People like that prove to me there is still good in the world. I can no longer have a bank account due to all the bad checks that were written out of my account with out my knowledge. I am trying to move on with my life and take care of my kids but even as I type the phone is ringing with an "inmate" call this goes on all day until 11pm. I don't answerer because I cannot except those calls on my phone any way. Why does he call? I get floods of letters each day that all say the same thing I'm sorry I'm sorry I will change, get me out of jail, bla bla bla. I have heard all that before more times than I can count and each time I believed it, he just got worse. I wonder if he is delusional how in the heck am I suppose to get him out of jail? There would never be enough change in the couch for that Ha ha. How long does the after shock go on until I can break free of his demon?

The most serious risk associated with OxyContin, is respiratory depression. Because of this, OxyContin should not be combined with other substances that slow down breathing, such as alcohol, antihistamines (like some cold or allergy medication), barbiturates, or benzodiazepines. Other common side effects include constipation, nausea, sedation, dizziness, vomiting, headache, dry mouth, sweating, and weakness. Toxic overdose and/or death can occur by taking the tablet broken, chewed, or crushed. People who abuse the drug (by removing the time-release coating) will experience effects for up to 5 hours. The high that is felt is morphine or opiat-like - a sedate, euphoric feeling.

Individuals taking prescribed opioids medications should not only be given these medications under appropriate medical supervision, but also should be medically supervised when stopping use in order to reduce or avoid withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms of withdrawal can include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps (cold turkey). Opioids drugs, such as oxycodone, work primarily through their interaction with the opioid receptors, especially in the brain and spinal cord. When activated, these receptors mediate the drugs' analgesic effects. However, they also mediate the ability to produce the euphoric state. Moreover, opioids like oxycodone have similarities to virtually every other drug of abuse, including nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, in that they elevate levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain pathways that control the experience of pleasure.

Prolonged use of these drugs eventually changes the brain in fundamental and long-lasting ways, explaining why people cannot just quit on their own, and why treatment is essential. In effect, pill abuse take over the brain's normal pleasure and motivational systems, moving drug use to the highest priority in the individual's motivational hierarchy, thereby overriding all other motivations and drives. These brain changes, then, are responsible for the compulsion to seek and use drugs that we have come to define as addiction. This is likely the state people are in when they are reportedly "doctor shopping", feigning illnesses, and stealing from pharmacies

He is now in jail and for the first time I am realizing that life with out him is so relaxing. Oh yes I still have a four month old, soccer and football every single day, groceries and you know all that mom stuff. The thing is he is now behind bars and probably the only 30 days he has been of a sober mind in about three years. But I still cannot bring my self to trust anything that he has to say. I am not sure where you draw the line I struggle with that every day. He says the same stuff like I will get help, I won't hurt you any more ect...But it doesn't sound any different now than it did before. I have decided to no longer take his phone calls or see him on visitation day and enjoy the time away from his destruction. Focus on my mental health and me. He had me at one point thinking I was crazy and I became so depressed I had to check my self in for suicide watch. When is time is up I have to make a decision to allow him back into my home again (because with out it he will be on the side walk). But I have to tell you that every day that he is gone I get stronger. It has only been thirty days and still has another 90 to go. Being a single mom is hard but being a mom and a partner to an addict is even harder. I don't think I will ever have any trust left for him, maybe not for years. I will give him a chance to prove to me his sincerity but just not from the home my children live in. I thought that I could not do it alone and the thought of it scared me to death and now I won't go back. Because he is going to do what he is going to do regardless of how it affects me and my kids. I have learned from this experience that drugs take over all moral decision-making and they would do any thing for the drug before they do for the family.

I feel like I always do. I get hope. I think that maybe this is the time that everything will be ok. He has been clean for two months. I want it to be for good but my emotions are so damaged that I have no idea how to feel. I can no longer trust. I question everything he says and does. He says he needs my support to get through recovery. I want to help him get better, but I am just protecting my feelings and waiting for it to begin again. I dont know how to be supportive of him and prtect my family. As time goes on and months turn into a year maybe then I may be able to let down my guard. As I work through this stage of life I will let you know.