It appears you're having some slight hallucinations from the Percocet you are taking. This too is also common for people with extremely low tolerances concerning opiates or for people that are taking too much medication in a shortened length of time.
If it's possible, you probably should try and increase your length of time between doses. Your bottle probably says take 1 tablet every 4-6 hrs. as needed for pain. If the pain has subsided somewhat, try and stretch your doses every 6-8 hrs. That's ONLY if the pain becomes manageable. If you find it to be too uncomfortable, then go back to your regular dosage.
What you probably do not know is the fact that opiates can cause severe addiction, so the quicker you abstain from taking the medication, the better off you'll be. You shouldn't have to worry about this, if you follow your doc's instructions. Most of the addiction problems stem from the fact that people overmedicate themselves, which in turn, causes a euphoric condition. Lots of folks continue to take the medication not for their pain, but for the affects the medication has on their state of mind. You remember the state of mind you were in yesterday? Some people pay top dollar to get themselves in that position. And, the more you take, the greater your tolerance will become. For some people that build up a resistance to the medication, they find themselves having to take higher and higher doses to produce that same feeling that only a few pills produced at first.
Pain management is a very complicated issue nowadays for especially physicians. They have to make the determination whether one of their patients continues to take the medication for legitimate pain issues, or they're still taking it because they're trying to produce that euphoric state of mind.
Two common medications to treat pain in certain individuals are hydrocodone and oxycodone. The Oxy classification of drugs is a stronger form of medication to treat pain. The common names found with this chemical makeup are Percocets and Percodans. Hydrocodone drug classifications include names such as Vicodin, Lorcet Plus, and Lortabs. If your pain is becoming less severe, you might want to tell your physician to switch you to some drug containing hydrocodone as its main ingredient. If you want to get away from the opiates altogether, then there are some new pain medications out there that claim to be non-addictive. I use the word claim because I've read cases where people have actually become addicted to the medication. A couple new ones are Ultram and Zanaflex and we've seen good results from many of our patients.
I will tell you one that you should try and stay away from is a drug called Oxycontin. This is a drug that is also made up of the chemical Oxycodone, but it comes in much much higher strengths. It ranges anywhere from 10mg - 80mg and they're coming out with a 120mg. The percocet you are taking has 7 1/2 milligrams of oxycodone. Can you imagine taking a pill that had 120 milligrams of oxycodone. It would probably kill you! Another difference is the fact that Oxycontin comes in a delayed release tablet which last up to 12 hours. The reason for the production of the higher strengths is mainly due to the fact that people's bodies have built up a resistance to the medication so they have to take higher and higher doses for their pain to subside. The drug's intention was to help cancer patients deal with the agonizing pain that is associated with the disease. People that have been inflicted with cancer consider it to be a miracle drug. They are able to still function in society although they have somewhat of a crippling condition. When the drug is not used for the proper purposes, it produces a high like none other they say. The heads have even found out that if you suck the enteric coating off the pill, they get an immediate rush like no other drug in the world! Some chop it up and snort it or shoot it up their arm. It's quite sickening and has become a major problem in numerous states. The street value for the drug runs about $1 dollar a milligram. So, a 120mg tablet, will cost ya $120 bucks.
I apologize for the length of this response, but I thought you might want to know some avenues you might want to take or not take! Good luck and you'll be on your feet in no time....
[This message has been edited by Neemer (edited 06-09-2001).]
