psychological effects of percoset?

[grace'smom]

Hey guys,

Strange question! My mom has had two surgeries on her feet in the last few months. She has been prescribed percoset, I assume for the pain associated with surgery and recovery. My father sent me a cryptic email this morning. It said "Does percoset have any psychological effects. Don't email me back. I will call you this morning." So I'm guessing my mom is acting a little strange.

I looked it up online (which I am assuming he is afraid to do b/c they share a computer) and it said it is highly addictive and should not be given more than three weeks in a row, but I didn't notice much about psychological effects other than that it can cause a depressed state and/or lowered level of conciousness.

Anyone have any knowledge of this sort of thing?

 

Thanks!

Hailey

[Jennifer in MI]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I don't know about percoset, but my dad was given pain meeds after his knee replacement surgery (I forget which one). He was REALLY strange. He was jumping around and talking ALL.THE.TIME. about stuff that wasn't happening. I talked with him on the phone - it was a little funny, but mostly scary. Very scary. He also got aggressive and actually pushed my sister down!

 

After about 30 hours, he was better. Unfortunately, my dad remembers quite a bit of it and is VERY embarrassed.

 

I hope your mom is okay!!!!

[grace'smom]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I don't know about percoset, but my dad was given pain meeds after his knee replacement surgery (I forget which one). He was REALLY strange. He was jumping around and talking ALL.THE.TIME. about stuff that wasn't happening. I talked with him on the phone - it was a little funny, but mostly scary. Very scary. He also got aggressive and actually pushed my sister down!

 

After about 30 hours, he was better. Unfortunately, my dad remembers quite a bit of it and is VERY embarrassed.

 

I hope your mom is okay!!!!

 

Oh! That sounds rough! Thanks for sharing that- I'm sure it will make my dad feel better to know that these sorts of things just happen to some people. I'm glad I've never needed surgery (knock on wood).

[G5052]

EVERY narcotic pain medication can have psychological effects, and they can be different for every person.

 

One family member can take Percoset and be just the same as always.

 

Another can take it and be giddy and suffer insomnia for days.

 

Another can be dopey and sleepy all of the time.

 

There's no shame in taking it when you need it because pain has a serious impact on the body. You will recover faster and better with some level of pain control after an injury or surgery.

[SquirrellyMama]

Hey guys' date='

Strange question! My mom has had two surgeries on her feet in the last few months. She has been prescribed percoset, I assume for the pain associated with surgery and recovery. My father sent me a cryptic email this morning. It said "Does percoset have any psychological effects. Don't email me back. I will call you this morning." So I'm guessing my mom is acting a little strange.

I looked it up online (which I am assuming he is afraid to do b/c they share a computer) and it said it is highly addictive and should not be given more than three weeks in a row, but I didn't notice much about psychological effects other than that it can cause a depressed state and/or lowered level of conciousness.

Anyone have any knowledge of this sort of thing?

 

Thanks!

Hailey[/quote']

 

My sister had hallucination with percoset and my dad had a weird reaction too but I can't remember what happened with him. I just posted on the Imitrex thread too. My family has over the top reactions to meds it seems.

 

Kelly

[DarcyB]

My normally gentle, laid back, quiet husband became completely hyper when he was on vicodin. It was awful. And in the brief 10 days he was on it, he was already showing signs of addiction. The weaning period was kind of hard on him.

 

When he had something done earlier this year, they prescribed vicodin and instead of turning it down, he kept it and took it at half-doses, and within about 2 days, he was hyper and edgy again. So we know that this is not a pain med he can take safely.

 

The stuff can definitely change your behavior if you are sensitive to the stuff. I hope that they can get her weaned off and try something else!

[littlebug42]

I took percocet after eye surgery when I was in my 20's. I was in a musical at the time and I performed at a dress rehearsal that I have no memory of being at. I can imagine that it certainly could cause other side effects as well. I would discuss it with her doctor.

[TravelingChris]

As another poster said, a lot of drugs can cause side effects in some people. I don't take Percocet but a related drug, Lortab, and it doesn't affect my personality at all. Unfortunately, it also doesn't take care of all my pain either. But it does help.

 

In elderly, a lot of drugs are more problematic. I would have him call the doctor or the pharmacist. The pharmacists actually know more about side effects.

[SailorMom]

I have taken it after two of my surgeries (sinus and knee)... I was only ever tired and really realxed. But even three weeks sounds way too long to me. My docs never let me take it for more than 5 days. If the pain was still bad - they would try something less addictive. Percocet, vicodin, valium, benzodyazapines - alll very addictive.

As long as her doc is monitoring her use of it, the addictive issues is probably being watched. But - the it may become a problem that she feels sick without them, and the pain is uncontrollable without them (and nothing else will work). She needs to be weaned off of them, and given something a bit lower on the narcotic scale.

Ultram would probably be a good place to start - it is only very mildy narcotic, and non-addictve (at least in 99.9% of people), and works very well for most people.

Good luck :grouphug:

[HRAAB]

My dh suffered a burst compression fracture last year and was prescribed percoset. He was extremely cranky and short tempered. We walked on eggshells around him. He was in extreme pain, so that could have been the cause of the crankiness. It also made him drowsy. I do know the Dr. was very concerned about getting him off the percoset as quickly as possible.

[gingersmom]

I had hallucinations while taking it. I will never take it again.

[Kathleen in VA]

I had hallucinations while taking it. I will never take it again.

 

Me too, on both counts. It was given to me in the hospital when I had my first baby - a c-section - and I had hallucinations for about 24 hours. I told the nurse to please just give me some tylenol. Those hallucinations were frightening and I never want to experience that again. Also, I was quite cranky the whole day it was in my system.

[Lara in Colo]

Percocet makes me chatty and itchy oh and FUNNY. I refuse it and now if needed, I take darvocet--still chatty, not itchy though!

 

When I used to wait tables, I would make really good money when I took percocet--that's how chatty and funny I was!

 

Lara

[Matryoshka]

Drugs can have really different effects on different people.

 

Percoset does nothing for me except make me dizzy when I stand up. Still have all the pain, I stay mentally clear-headed, but can't stand up without falling over. Oh, so helpful.

 

I've heard from some people that they love Percoset because it gives them a nice "high" - definitely wan't my experience - but it can have mental effects on some people, and it sounds like what that is varies widely.

[grace'smom]

Thanks guys! He hasn't called yet but when he does I'll know more about the issue. However, it does sound like whatever she's doing could definitely be related to the meds.

[HS Mom in NC]

I had a surgery after which the Dr. prescribed it and another pain med. to be alternated through out the recovery. He would not prescribe a refill on it.

 

I think it's entirely possible different people can react very differently to the same drug.

 

I had a very strong psychological reaction to morphine. It got it after a crash c-section and was very irrationally angry and itchy. I told them to give me something else because of it and now just tell Dr.s that I'm allergic to it.

 

Years later I had a lung spontaneously collapse and in the ambulance I told them to under no circumstances give me morphine. (It's all they had on hand.) I don't trust myself on it.

 

My husband (think of Mr. Spock from Star Trek) turns into the "I love you, man" guy from the beer commercial on codine. Weird.

[asta]

It's actually called an idiosyncratic reaction (when your body has the "wrong" reaction to a medication vs an "allergic" reaction).

 

They can range from the strange to quite dangerous, from behavioral to physiological. The weirdest part about them is that some people can take one formulation - say Percocet, but not another (Percodan), showing just how dangerous something seemingly innocuous (tylenol vs aspirin) can be when mixed with a narcotic.

 

Even weirder is that there are people who flip completely out on drugs like codeine (I'm in the hallucinatory camp like Ginger and Kathleen - with bonus psychosis), but are perfectly normal on morphine. And codeine is a synthetic derivative of morphine!

 

The whole time I was growing up, my mom could never take codeine - it flipped her out. Now that she is elderly, she can, but it makes her itch. Go figure.

[grace'smom]

Well, my dad never did call me, but I called my mom today to ask her how she is doing. She said she feels unusually depressed as well as very itchy, and she thinks it might be from the meds. So, I am guessing she's scaring my dad a little bit. However, she's also a very extroverted person who is stuck in her bed for the next six weeks so it's kind of hard to tell if it's a side effect or just a yucky situation.

 

Luckily, she has already called her doctor to let him know about the whole "itchy" problem so I'm sure they will probably switch her to something else anyway.

 

Thank you all for sharing your info with me. I was glad to be able to tell my mom that it's not out of the ordinary to have a strange side effect or two from these types of meds, so she felt better about it. It's funny how the knowledge that someone else has had a similar issue can make it so much easier to cope with your own.