19 Year Old Male. Scoliosis Progressing.

[JDM555]

Terrific photos John!

"How long did it take you to get down to 5mg every 12 hours or so?"

I am a little vague on timelines (was going through withdrawals at the time) but I think it was around 4 weeks. I had dizziness for 6-7 weeks.

Regarding returning meds. In Australia you can't return them to the Dr., nor are you supposed to flush them down the toilet. But you can return them to the Pharmacy. They are not allowed to re-sell them. They are supposed to be sent back to the manufacturer who, I was told, donates them to third world countries.

4 weeks? Wow, I better get moving! I should start using 15mg or 10mg. I will tell my dad to ask my doctor for prescription on a lower dose, 20mg is a lot. I want to just stop taking them and start going back to oxycodone 5mg every 4 hours and seeing if that is enough, but that is a huge step I don't want to take.
John

BTW, thanks about the photos!

That's interesting, that pharmacies in Australia take them back, but not in U.S.
actually, i dont know that doctors are supposed to take them back in the States, but one of mine does, for his patients who have no money for co pays & such...

john...i know how iron is for the stomach & system, ...lots of women have been put on iron pills at various times in their lives...we know how hard it is for the body to handle!
your waist looks terrific..mine looks like yours used to look, but i think mine is flip sided from yours, so my curves must be on opposite sides...i am so glad for you that they didnt have to go into your pelvis! maybe you will have a little more flexibility than expected!

take your time healing...you have a lifetime of good things waiting!

jess

Yeah, I didn't take it this morning and I just took the multivitamin. Weird thing is I had a BM this morning and it wasn't bad at all.

Thanks about my waist, I like it, I just really want to get back to the gym to gain my weight back, not just back, but I need additional weight, my upper body got stretched out lol, it will take a lot of weight to fill out. At least my upper/lower body are even now, before my legs were like 70% of my body lol. I'm the SAME height, but my upper body is definitely taller, so that is weird, but thank God I didn't gain 2 inches or something.
John

[JDM555]

Hey guys, I took a shower today and I noticed my scar looked a little tiny bit better. The thing is, when I was showering, I noticed there were some flakes from the scar, like dried up skin that was kind of falling off. Is that normal? I'm guessing it is, it is kind of like a wound, and the skin is healing, so there are some flakes that kind of fall off, idk how to describe it, it's weird, but I was rinsing my back and I noticed a little part sticking off, I thought it was from the bandages that I have (glue/paper crap) but it was a piece of dried up skin. Is that ok? Or is there something odd lol.

Also, it's a little swollen, the lower part of my back near my butt is smooth, but along the middle of the incision, it's like there is a little hump, is that normal? I guess it's a little swollen? How long does it take for it to go down/be flat again?
John

[JenniferG]

"4 weeks? Wow, I better get moving! " No no, I didn't cut them out at 4 weeks, that's how long it took me to reduce them to zero. I started cutting back about 6 weeks and it was at least another 4, from memory, before I stopped taking any medication at all. You need to reduce slowly.

There is no rush at all for you to cut out your meds. It just depends on your pain levels which differ from patient to patient. Better to have your pain covered and allow your energy to go to sleeping and healing, than dealing with the stress of pain.

[JenniferG]

Swelling is normal. I had swelling at the top and the bottom of my rods and it took several months to disappear completely.

[JDM555]

"4 weeks? Wow, I better get moving! " No no, I didn't cut them out at 4 weeks, that's how long it took me to reduce them to zero. I started cutting back about 6 weeks and it was at least another 4, from memory, before I stopped taking any medication at all. You need to reduce slowly.

There is no rush at all for you to cut out your meds. It just depends on your pain levels which differ from patient to patient. Better to have your pain covered and allow your energy to go to sleeping and healing, than dealing with the stress of pain.

I'm not really in pain. I wasn't even using oxycontin, I was just on oxycodone 5mg every four hours. I contacted my dad to talk to the doctor who prescribed the meds to me, I told him to do 1 week for 10mg, and 5 days for 5mg oxycontin, and I'll have the fast acting 5mg oxycodone and some 20mg tablets just in case. I think I can cut back on the medication, I'm taking the 20's every 13-14 hours instead of 12 and it's fine, but I hate this timing, I just wanna take them 12AM, 12PM and I can't cut the pill in half, so I have to lower the dosage, I'm pretty sure I am ready.
John

Swelling is normal. I had swelling at the top and the bottom of my rods and it took several months to disappear completely.

Good to hear that, but several months, ouch. Well, I guess I'll have to live with it. Just wanted to know it's OK because I was like WHOA when I looked in the mirror when showering lol.
John

[Radiogirl]

JOHN! OMG!!! Your pics are soooo great! I was surprised to see how good you look considering what you have gone through! Your back is sooo straight and strong looking now! What was your original curve degree, I don't remember seeing that anywhere. And...I wonder what it is now? My back is similar to yours, or maybe a little worse. I can't wait to have my surgery end of March, so I can look even and straight like you!!! AWESOME photos!!! Lucky you!

Laura

[JDM555]

JOHN! OMG!!! Your pics are soooo great! I was surprised to see how good you look considering what you have gone through! Your back is sooo straight and strong looking now! What was your original curve degree, I don't remember seeing that anywhere. And...I wonder what it is now? My back is similar to yours, or maybe a little worse. I can't wait to have my surgery end of March, so I can look even and straight like you!!! AWESOME photos!!! Lucky you!

Laura

Haha Thanks radiogirl. Yeah my back looks a lot better now. I don't have the same nasty lower back pain before surgery. I know once I heal I'll be sooo happy I did this surgery.

As far as my back it was 40 degrees the first time I got an xray which was in 08/09 and then I took another at 09/09 and it was 53 by then. I'm pretty sure from 09 to end of 12, it also gained a few degrees because my back looked more twisted than usual. Around surgery it was probably 55-57. Now I don't know the exact curve. But I'm pretty sure it's under 20. The thing is he stopped at L3 when my curve was in L4-5 to save me flexibility. The T9-L3 looks straight! But there is a tiny curve still left in L4-5. So I guess it depends on how you measure the curve. I really want another look at the xrays. They didn't give me a digital copy. I will ask them to email me so I can post those as well.
John

[sillycoffeegirl]

Man u guys get more with ur oxycotton. Mine is only 10 mg once every 12 hours. I think I saw jennifers is 40mg. No wonder I can't feel my oxy.

[JDM555]

Man u guys get more with ur oxycotton. Mine is only 10 mg once every 12 hours. I think I saw jennifers is 40mg. No wonder I can't feel my oxy.

Mine is going to be 10mg after 1 week of 20mg. I wasn't even using oxycontin for the first 5 days after my second surgery. I was using 5mg every 4 hours of oxycodone. I wish I had 10mg or 15mg instead of 20mg, 20 is a lot and I don't want to get addicted to these pain meds, I want to get off of them asap.
John

[kt2009]

About the dry skin...I had dry, flaky peely skin around my stomach...at the end of my anterior incision. I probably had it on my back as well, but just didn't know it! It went away at about 6 weeks.

[JenniferG]

Bethany, originally I was put on 20 mg and it would take the pain away for about 8-9 hours then it would increase to almost unbearable until I was allowed another. They then upped me to 30mg then 40, which saw me through the 12 hours. They also earlier, tried me on other meds but they weren't holding the pain either. When they upped me to 40mg the doctor said, and I will never forget it, that I was on a "horse-dose". Scary.

[jrnyc]

Jen..a "horse dose"!!?? obviously, that doctor is not a pain management specialist! i am on 30 mg of oxy, told i can take up to 3 a day..i usually take one or two...& no surgery...yet....but i am in alot of pain..forced me into early retirement!
i think there is a lot of ignorance amongst doctors regarding pain meds when they are not pain specialists...i wish they could live inside our bodies for a just a day or two...then we'd see what kind of meds they wanted to be placed on!!!

jess

[JDM555]

Jen..a "horse dose"!!?? obviously, that doctor is not a pain management specialist! i am on 30 mg of oxy, told i can take up to 3 a day..i usually take one or two...& no surgery...yet....but i am in alot of pain..forced me into early retirement!
i think there is a lot of ignorance amongst doctors regarding pain meds when they are not pain specialists...i wish they could live inside our bodies for a just a day or two...then we'd see what kind of meds they wanted to be placed on!!!

jess

I'm still surprised you're taking that much before surgery. I was in SO much pain daily, trust me. It was soo bad that the tightness/pain after surgery wasn't that bad. I never once took a pain medication. 30mg up to 3 times a day!? I feel 20x2 a day is too much for me 2 weeks out of two surgeries. Don't get too addicted to the stuff jess, it's not good for ya! 10,15,20mg doesn't do anything for you pain wise?
John

[titaniumed]

Since were talking about "medication time" I figured I check my meds and notes.

I was started with 60mg per day of oxycodone. I went about a week and it wasn't enough. It didn't even touch it! Then was switched over to Percocet with a max of 60mg per day for 5 weeks. I then started cutting the Percocet's and cutting down while my battles with constipation were an issue. Went through first withdrawal then 4 days later, restarted up with about 10-15 mg per day, after a few more days quit again for the 2nd withdrawal. These withdrawal periods were 2-3 days long. Constipation dictated my decision to quit.

I lost 40# in 40 days and was off at 6 weeks, also lost my gall bladder, due to the meds. It happens to 14% of us.

During my "perky period" the dosage size was 7.5/325, 2 tabs every 6 hrs.

With my huge anterior cut, posterior cut from my neck to my krackatoa, and my broken shoulder, I don't think that anything other than anesthesia would have kept me out of pain. I was warned by my surgeon that it was going to hurt like hell.

John,
Maybe some of us older folks who have endured pain for so long, need a little more medication.... It seems to make sense. Our central nervous systems are probably "dulled" a bit.

I will certainly agree that these chemicals are not good for you. By the time I had my shoulder repaired, I would not take any more opiates.

For pain intensity, passing a 8mm kidney stone, will make you pray for post scoliosis surgical pain. And the Doctor you trust the most, is your Urologist. After all, he fiddles with the tackle! If he suddenly wants to put new line on your reel, now you really have something to worry about.

Ed

[JDM555]

Since were talking about "medication time" I figured I check my meds and notes.

I was started with 60mg per day of oxycodone. I went about a week and it wasn't enough. It didn't even touch it! Then was switched over to Percocet with a max of 60mg per day for 5 weeks. I then started cutting the Percocet's and cutting down while my battles with constipation were an issue. Went through first withdrawal then 4 days later, restarted up with about 10-15 mg per day, after a few more days quit again for the 2nd withdrawal. These withdrawal periods were 2-3 days long. Constipation dictated my decision to quit.

I lost 40# in 40 days and was off at 6 weeks, also lost my gall bladder, due to the meds. It happens to 14% of us.

During my "perky period" the dosage size was 7.5/325, 2 tabs every 6 hrs.

With my huge anterior cut, posterior cut from my neck to my krackatoa, and my broken shoulder, I don't think that anything other than anesthesia would have kept me out of pain. I was warned by my surgeon that it was going to hurt like hell.

John,
Maybe some of us older folks who have endured pain for so long, need a little more medication.... It seems to make sense. Our central nervous systems are probably "dulled" a bit.

I will certainly agree that these chemicals are not good for you. By the time I had my shoulder repaired, I would not take any more opiates.

For pain intensity, passing a 8mm kidney stone, will make you pray for post scoliosis surgical pain. And the Doctor you trust the most, is your Urologist. After all, he fiddles with the tackle! If he suddenly wants to put new line on your reel, now you really have something to worry about.

Ed

60mg huh? I guess 40mg daily isn't anything to crazy then. I already got the prescription for the 10mg and 5mg, both weekly. I will start taking 10mg from tomorrow till next week, and 5mg till the following which will be around the time I return to school. I hope I can be off of them before my Feb. 8 Post-Op so my doctor can give me an OK for driving. I miss driving lol.

But, I am not having a real hard time with "constipation", I actually go a lot easier because the 65mg Iron pill+18mg Iron in my Multivitamin=constipated like crazy lol. I stopped taking the Iron pill and I just take the Multi and I feel better bathroom wise. It doesn't feel like a piece of wood lol, it still isn't as easy as before, but nothing too bad.

I guess being young really does help with the recovery of this surgery, glad I did it young and was in somewhat good health from the gym. I just hope everything else (heart,liver,etc.) is also healthy so I can return to my worry-free life.

Anyways, good luck with everyones surgeries, I will keep everyone posted on the medication and how I do with "weaning" off of them.
John