Vicki, oh good. I'm glad you have one. I like the way yours works better. Mine, I have to hold the switch down all the time.

I'm another one who is afraid to mix. I've been taking Ibuprofen and have thought it might help to take a Percocet at night to sleep, but I'm too afraid to do it...so I keep seeing 12, then 1 something, then 2 something, etc. What do you do for droopy eyes?

It's hard to sleep when you're in pain. If you don't want to take a pain pill, you might want to consider Advil PM. It will help with the pain and let you relax and fall asleep. Those pain meds really don't help you go to sleep, they just numb you for awhile.

Take your Advil PM with a warm glass of milk, that should help you sleep too. :-)

Vicki, Ross picked up some Tylenol PM last weekend. I was alraedy to try it when I sae that Benedryl was in it. That keeps me awake so I didn't take it. Of course we didn't relaize it until the box was opened so we have a bottle of Tylenol PM that we'll never use. Anyone want it?

You know, I didn't know that. I wonder what they use in the Advil PM?

You don't get sleepy when you take Benedryl? Wow. I thought everybody did.

Dotsie,
I don't think you need to fear taking percocet for pain. The anecdote for pain medication is pain. It's when you take it when you have no pain that you get high and some get hooked.

It's important that you get relief because the pain causes you to tense your muscles which constricts the blood vessels and slows healing.

When I told my doctor the pain was keeping me awake, he insisted I take the pain medication especially at night so my joint would heal. Of course, like you, it did not help at all at first, but later I was able to take it and get some much needed sleep.

You might try Aleve. It's a non-steroidal-anti-inflammatory drug (nsaid) but don't take it too long because it has naproxen which causes depression. Ross might check the labels on the otc drugs around the tylenol p.m. Perhaps there are others you could take. Or better yet, ask the pharmacist.

I'm praying for you still.
smile

Dotsie, are you feeling better now? I hadn't seen the post about your surgery...I hope you're well on the road to recovery! Best wishes...

Dotsie, Smilinize has made a good point that I had in my head but was too inarticulate to post. An example is this: my mother had a mastectomy, and refused to take any pain meds after. She was going to PT to gain use of her arm, but her PT had to be curtailed each session because she was in too much pain. My mother never did regain full use of her arm because she could not get past the pain into PT. Also, she went into a depression 1) related to having cancer and the loss of her breast 2) because she was in too much pain and could not get to sleep. Nowadays, she asks herself "What was I thinking?" in other words she feels she lengthened her healing time & recovery by being afraid to take the prescribed pain medicine. Dotsie, you are not prone to addiction. An addict is always looking to repeat the first euphoric high, which you do not experience on Percocet. You say you feel drugged, and you don't like it. That does not sound like someone who could start on a med for one reason (to reduce pain) and continue for another (to get high.) I think you are being so hard on yourself. I hope your pain subsides in one way or another very soon.

SMILES....what were you saying about Tylenol PM? I have taken it sometimes when I can't sleep. Is this a bad thing? I have probably taken it twice in a month. EEEK?

JJ,

It's just tylenol and benadryl. You can just take benadryl if you aren't having any discomfort.

Most of the OTC sleep meds are benadryl which shouldn't be a problem for occassional usage. Disclaimer...of course check with your physician before taking this or any other medication...

Dotsie,

When I had shoulder problems the doctor gave me a mild sleeping pill. This really helped because pain meds usually make me feel bad and I don't sleep. You might check with your doctor.