Pharmer.org

 I am not sure how to word my question but I will try my best. There are alot of people using pain meds for many years, even decades. I know there is a limit on daily APAP intake. But even if you are under that limit, dont you think there is still a health threat by putting these chemicals in your body everyday for all these years? Could they cause any health threats 40 years down the line? Sure we have a piece of information that has come from some great knowledgeable people letting us know 4mg of APAP a day is the safe limit but do we just assume everything under that is no worries? Even with Oxycontin, This eliminates the dangerous APAP. But does taking lets say 40mg of Oxy a day for years have any effect on your long term health? And how do we know if it does or does not? Cuz our doctor told us it wont? And even the other other side of the spectrum, Could it actually improve our health in long term use? I hope this came out the right way. I would appreciate some good honest feedback on this. How do you truly feel as a daily medication user?

Thanks to all,

To many of us, or at least to me, it's a balancing act.  Everything we put in our bodies affects us in some way.  My goal personally is to not add to the liver damage that I already have existing.  That said, I try to take low dosage APAP in my scripts among many other "liver watch-dog" things, milk thistle, other liver health natural meds. 

Could I function without the pills with my level of Chronic Pain?  Not really, especially right now, I am about to accept a new job that will keep me pretty busy (less time here).  You can't ly down and writhe in pain, while at your HQ office.  It's not just pain pills.  I take glucovance (metaform and glyberide) for Diabetes, Lisinopril for blood pressure, Xanax to sleep, Vitamins (low dose Vitamin A for liver), milk thistle, Zetia for cholestorol, and Norco for pain.  Do I not take any of these meds and let these conditions go because I am afraid of damaging my liver?

There are things that can pass through the liver rather harmlessly, then there are other things that can collect and become a problem, like APAP.  I can only take one type of cholesterol med called zetia because its affect on the liver is less negative than other meds. 

My point is, we all have to watch what is going into our bodies.  Personally the additional effect of pain meds with APAP on my liver in its current condition has so far been minimal.  My ALTs are already always high because of an existing liver condition.  The small amounts of hydrocodone and APAP that I take "do" make my life just a bit easier to bear.  It enables me to physically get through the day.

Of course I worry, every day, every time I take a pill, every time I eat something, but I can't worry 27/7 then the condition of my liver wouldn't matter because I would go crazy.  I do the best I can, and then I try to improve on that.  My recent months on this site are part of a self improvement, tune my engines, project.

In the long run, the meds that I take have a positive long term effect on my health and my life because the meds allow me to work harder, start this new job, at not much under 60 years of age, encounter relationships, to have some pleasurable moments (I DON'T mean high, I mean the normal pleasures we all have by living and loving) without pain......Now if I am wrong, then I will die and you won't have to read these long posts again.  I just can't see letting the pain control me.  I can't spend the rest of my life, crying, moaning, and complaining about the pain.  Your question is a hard one.   In short, I think that I would rather live 15-20 more years with the pain controlled than 25-30 more years feeling like I wish I was dead, hurting all the time.  Do the pain meds control me?   They don't control me any more than the other meds for Diabetes, HBP, etc.  I have to take them all to manage my various ailments.  I could stop all the meds, then I expect that would be the shortest life expectancy of all.

thelifeline

We need to add Percocet, Percodan and generics to quiescentlyhot's post re OxyContin and Roxicodone:

Oxycodone categories are:

• OxyContin and generics - controlled release oxycodone with no other additives
• Roxicodone and generics - immediate release oxycodone with no other additives
• Percocet and generics - immediate release oxycodone with acetaminophen (APAP)
• Percodan and generics - immediate release oxycodone with aspirin (ASA)