Coming back from Opioids

[Kelleytoons]

So I had my knee replacement surgery a little over two weeks ago and for the first four or five days I had nothing at all for pain as they sent me home with a spinal block on that leg. Pretty amazing, really. Then, of course, I had to remove the magic computer (feeding the wonderful stuff into that leg) and return it, and the pain started in earnest. I went to the opioids, both prescribed (Oxy) and stockpiled (a lot of Vicodin) and that took care of all issues for about a week.

In the last two or three days I've essentially stopped the opioids and am returning to kratom, but I've changed my dose and would be interested in what folks think. For reference, my pain levels (without anything) are around four to six depending on what I'm doing (I'm really stressing my leg greatly because I want/need to get back on the courts ASAP). In the past my usual dose of kratom was two or three times a day, at just under 3 grams a dose, with the nighttime one (for sleep due to the pain in my knee) being the most important.

What I find is that I'm dosing about every four hours, or around five times a day, at around 2 grams. So that's close to the same TPD (ten versus nine) but a lot more regularly. I find it "manages" the pain nicely, although I still had to take some opioids late last night when my nighttime dose of red kratom didn't quite carry through and I needed immediate relief.

When my knee is completely healed it will be interesting to see just how much kratom I need anymore - perhaps I won't dose more than once a day. We'll see, but for now it's a lifesaver (I really hate being on opioids).

[IndelibleDotInk]

thanks for the update; sounds like you've got shit under control. I will remember this the next time I (hopefully not) get a serious injury.

give those teeming tennis overlords something to fear!!

[Kelleytoons]

I'm impressed by how seamlessly you can switch over to kratom from pretty regular opioid use - there didn't appear to be any sort of period where I felt I should have had a "break" in between.

Then again, I may have turned the corner - always have to keep in mind the first two weeks of a knee replacement are the worst. But this time seems to be going SO much better.

[PistolsAtDawn]

Glad to hear that, KT! Hopefully you'll be back to normal in just a few more weeks.

Surgery is the worst. The last one I had triggered my autoimmune problems into overdrive because (I believe) of the antibiotics wiping out part of my good gut bacteria. I've been taking probiotics for years since, and I feel like it's slowly getting back to normal.

Unfortunately that was years before I knew about kratom and I only had 14 percocets prescribed for a disc replacement surgery in my neck. The time before that - before the public acknowledgement of the opiate crisis - I was given 120 percocets, 120 vicodins and 90 valium.

Oh how I wish I'd known about kratom for that second time.

[Kelleytoons]

I think I'm still looking at months in terms of "normal" but at least I can do stuff now (I drove to the store myself a few days ago - you're supposed to wait at least three-four weeks after a knee, particularly a right knee, but after two weeks I felt fine to drive and, because I wasn't on major drugs there were no issues with reactions there).

I wish kratom worked as well with my wife and friends as it does for me but I just haven't been able to reach them in the same way, so I've given up. But at least it's something that I know I will never want to be without.

[IndelibleDotInk]

bump.

[Kelleytoons]

Well, since it's bumped...

Now about six weeks out of surgery I haven't had any more opioids since that first week. Of course, not much pain, either.

Overall my kratom usage has... changed. I used to take it for pain, almost exclusively (while I did take a white for energy on tennis days I still had to balance it out with either reds or make sure the white did enough pain relief to play). Now that I'm out of really heavy pain (just the normal "boy am I old" type of pain :>) I find I'm enjoying greens a LOT more, at low doses (just took a DTE green of some sort an hour ago and it's *really* nice).

For me it's unlikely I'll ever use opioids again - not that I might not get in heavy pain (that's just part of life) but they just aren't all that effective anymore. Kratom is a very good substitute - yes, it's not "heavy" in the way the prescribed drugs are, but if you play it right, and keep on top of the doses it can definitely smooth out most everything. I also suspect (but may never know in my state) that using some grass would also be helpful.