Re: PVC skipped heart beats due to hydrocodone abuse
From: GFX (garyrn_at_ifx.net)
Date: 01/13/05
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Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 12:06:31 -0500
Sadly, Mikey is still taking 10 mgs of hydrocodone "every other day or so" -
the problem here, as you correctly pointed out is addiction, and needs to be
treated accordingly. What I want to know is this: how do you obtain 100
mgs of hydrocodone every day for a year? Surely no physician who's heard of
the DEA would prescribe like that, and street sources - are they THAT
reliable?
G
"Snidely F Whiplash" <Muttly@doghouse.com> wrote in message
news:FaednWVPk9_VkHvcRVn-gQ@giganews.com...
>
> | mikey wrote this...
> |
> | Hello, Im having a problem with skipped heart beats. Let me briefly
> | give you how this came into play. Im 28 male who had been abusing
> | hydrocodone for about 2 years (no i was not taking this for any medical
> | reason). I was taking up to 100mg of hydro daily. I have been through
> | withdrawls before on a 50 mg habit and never had a problem like this.
> | After a good year long binge of 100mg <> a day, I decided to stop again
> | only because i started to feal weird chest pains in all different
> | areas. My neck has siezed up twice not even sure if that is related.
> | Arms fell asleep but i do sleep kind of weird again not sure if that is
> | related.
> |
> | But as i tried to take more hydro it would hurt. Now at this point on
> | im 30mg a day. I was 230 lbs and now weight about 204. I was waking
> | up in the middle of the night in what seemed a comma. I was up but i
> | could not wake my body up. I had to shake myself until I got up. On
> | other occasions i would wake up in a panic, take my blood pressure
> | which would go up to 160. This would happen every other day, then
> | almost ever day, until that one day would it would not stop ALL day. I
> | saw my doctor and told him all this and subscribed me CATAPRES and a
> | "good luck" and scheduled me for a physical a week later. The next day
> | things got alot worse and heart rate and blood pressure was more
> | constant. I actually could not take it anymore and went to the
> | emergency room. I came in with a blood pressure of 165 and a heart
> | rate of 170bpm. All the doctor did was take an EKG and requested more
> | CATAPRES since i was only on just a patch of .1mg. Im now on 2 pills a
> | day plus the patch. They then sent me home with the cause as narcotic
> | withdrawl which i dont entirely believe to be the reason. Anyway, that
> | same night my nerves or heart did not seem to stop and was in fear that
> | my heart could not keep up at this pace any longer, i took a half of
> | xanex(thank god i had available) and slept like a baby. Panic almost
> | all gone, temporarily anyway.
> |
> | The only bad news is now as after i went to the doctor again for
> | another EKG he says i do still have irregular heart beats. Next week
> | when a holter monitor is available he will put me on one as well as a
> | chest xray. I know for a fact by fealing my own pulse that every
> | couple minutes or so my heart DOES skip a beat and comes back with a
> | large pulse. I do feel this in my stomach as if it is nerves or just
> | scared that it happened.
> |
> | The good news is Im on about a 10mg habit every other day or so and
> | basically done but still have that skip heart beat fealing. Also i
> | woke up twice last night one time my heart seemed to be racing again in
> | my dream. So, my question is can anyone offer any advice? Should i
> | continue valium or xanex at low doses? Should i excercise or do i need
> | rest from my heart going crazy for days. I have been to the doctor and
> | the hospital and not getting much advise or help.
> |
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Some questions come to mind.
>
> Did you tell your physician how much hydrocodone you were taking
> and how often? What was his actual response to this information?
> Did he recommend that you STOP taking unprescribed hydrocodone?
> Is your physician aware of your continued hydrocodone usage? Is
> he aware that you are taking Xanax? What was his response to
> THIS information?
>
> A blood pressure consists of two numbers, systolic over diastolic.
> you've only given one number; 160 and 165. I presume that is your
> systolic pressure (the larger of the two numbers). If your systolic
> blood pressure is consistently in that range then you do have high
> blood pressure. Is it a result of withdrawal? Very likely. A heart
> rate of 170 is very fast for an adult. Too fast. Is your heart rate
> this high consistently? I suspect it isn't. What do you feel like when
> it IS this high?
>
> You state "i started to feal weird chest pains in all different areas.
> My neck has siezed up twice not even sure if that is related." What
> do you mean by this? Does the pain go up your neck? Do you feel
> pain in your jaw when this happens? Do you feel pain anywhere in your
> left arm when this happens? Do you have trouble breathing or are you
> sweating during these episodes? Do you feel dizzy or nauseous?
> If your answer to any of these questions is yes then you should
> tell your physician of these symptoms if you haven't already done
> so. This pain could well be related to your extremely fast heart rate.
> It may indicate your heart muscle is not getting enough blood (and
> oxygen). If this occurs again and lasts longer than five minutes then
> you should seek immediate emergency medical attention. Do NOT
> drive yourself to the hospital. Call an ambulance.
>
> While you may believe you aren't getting much advice or help from
> your physician it appears that he has prescribed Catapres (clonidine)
> appropriately. It is used to control high blood pressure as well as to
> suppress symptoms of narcotic withdrawal. In addition, the plan to
> evaluate your heart rate and rhythm using a Holter monitor also
> seems to be appropriate. I repeat, however, if you are experiencing
> any of the symptoms I have described above for longer than 5 minutes
> then do NOT wait. Get immediate medical help even if you are on
> the Holter monitor.
>
> Your physician is dealing with a narcotic addict. Such a patient
> can be extremely difficult to treat. Your post illustrates why
> this is so. By your own admission you have "been abusing
> hydrocodone [up to 100 mg per day] for about 2 years" and you
> were "not taking this for any medical reason." That is a boatload
> of Vicodin, yet when your physician diagnoses withdrawal you don't
> believe him. In addition you begin taking Xanax to relieve the
> symptoms of your withdrawal (in addition to the medication
> already prescribed for your symptoms) and then you seek
> the advice of others whose qualifications are, at best questionable
> while seeming to reject, at least in some measure, the advice of
> your physician by stating "I have been to the doctor and the
> hospital and not getting much advise or help."
>
> My advice is to ask your doctor the questions you have posed in your
> post. And you should absolutely NOT exercise if you are experiencing
> chest pain.
>
> Kindest Regards,
> Snidely
>
>
>
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