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[lessthanavg8300]

As I head into this surgery I want to cover all my bases and make sure I understand every risk aspect.

One thing I hadnt really given a lot of thought to is the toll the medication you take every day could have on your body, specifically your liver/kidneys.

Anyone know about the standard drugs and what the potential long term risks are?  Surely opiates cant be good but also blood thinners, muscle relaxers, etc.

Also Id like to get off any opiates as soon as possible.  Did anyone do lengthening without them?  Or is that pretty unreasonable considering the pain levels.  So many people get addicted and I dont actually like how they make me feel.  I took 1 or 2 in my life for something else. 

[LONFemurs2021]

If you're relatively young with no pre existing conditions I wouldn't worry at all.
Yes, your liver and  kidney enzymes will be elevated throughout the process. Is it of any concern, no.
I was provided with 5 pain killers, I can't remember all of them but I remember the ones that work, which was Voltaren and Tramadol. Anything else didn't do jack  .

You won't experience any kind of withdrawals symptoms after cessation of Voltaren.
You might experience some very mild withdrawals after cessation of tramadol as it's an opiod, depending on how much and how long you have to take it. Personally I experienced 1 night of some minor cold sweats after using it for 1 month, basically nothing of concern.

I can only speak from experience from doing LON, but yes, it's completely unreasonable to go through LON without pain killers. I saw some precise patients who managed with very minimal amounts.

[RealLostSoul]

That question is one of the few ones I actually must say is an underrated instead of overrated concern. The medication took a much bigger toll on me and my body than I ever thought and nobody on here said anything about this. I am in my early 20s so being young wasn’t it.

Now to answer. Can the meds damage organs (to what extent is the question but let that be put aside for a moment)? Yes. Definitely. No doubt it’s bad for your stomach liver kidneys.
You take stomach protectors but it’s still hard on you.
There are very very few people that do lengthening without any medication. Realistically you will be on some dosage of opiates until the end of lengthening. But most likely after the first 6 weeks or so you will reduce the dosage, and probably get rid off some meds. The less the better. And a lower dosage goes a long way. When I was taking so many pills a day in the first month I felt it took a huge toll on my body. I even had bad stomach pain a few times (never skipped the stomach protector). After reducing I felt much better. Reducing the opiate was the worst though, withdrawal is definitely underrated here (but since you only take a WHO II opiate you can do it with just feeling terrible for a week or two instead of needing methadone - someone asked me this. No you won’t need methadone obviously).

The protocol is pretty standard for most major surgeries you would get but you do take opiates probably for longer. The liver can recover well from this. You won’t get cirrhosis of it. I think in the end you won’t have long term effects but it does take a toll on you more than I thought it would.

[lessthanavg8300]

That question is one of the few ones I actually must say is an underrated instead of overrated concern. The medication took a much bigger toll on me and my body than I ever thought and nobody on here said anything about this. I am in my early 20s so being young wasn’t it.

Now to answer. Can the meds damage organs (to what extent is the question but let that be put aside for a moment)? Yes. Definitely. No doubt it’s bad for your stomach liver kidneys.
You take stomach protectors but it’s still hard on you.
There are very very few people that do lengthening without any medication. Realistically you will be on some dosage of opiates until the end of lengthening. But most likely after the first 6 weeks or so you will reduce the dosage, and probably get rid off some meds. The less the better. And a lower dosage goes a long way. When I was taking so many pills a day in the first month I felt it took a huge toll on my body. I even had bad stomach pain a few times (never skipped the stomach protector). After reducing I felt much better. Reducing the opiate was the worst though, withdrawal is definitely underrated here (but since you only take a WHO II opiate you can do it with just feeling terrible for a week or two instead of needing methadone - someone asked me this. No you won’t need methadone obviously).

The protocol is pretty standard for most major surgeries you would get but you do take opiates probably for longer. The liver can recover well from this. You won’t get cirrhosis of it. I think in the end you won’t have long term effects but it does take a toll on you more than I thought it would.

Appreciate this very detailed feedback; its a huge help.  Does all the meds make you loopy?  Like would you sound a bit off on a phone call with your family?  Im going to call my fam but am debating how long after surgery I should wait to not ring any alarm bells.

[lessthanavg8300]

Thanks for this.  Glad there isnt huge withdrawl symptoms.  Im going to try and limit my meds as much as I can tolerate.  But also understand that lack of sleep is detrimental to your health as well.  So will just find the right balance I suppose.

[RealLostSoul]

Appreciate this very detailed feedback; its a huge help.  Does all the meds make you loopy?  Like would you sound a bit off on a phone call with your family?  Im going to call my fam but am debating how long after surgery I should wait to not ring any alarm bells.

Well yes and no. Right after surgery you are pretty zoned out but a few hours or a day after it‘s possible I would say. You won‘t sound goofy or anything. Opiates are different to benzos for example if you ever took those you know how they change you. You can definitely think and speak clearly on opiates especially after a few days when you already have a tolerance. I must say though the first 4 weeks post op or so I had short term memory problems. My GP warned me of this, he said it‘s highly likely after such a long anesthesia (LL is not the longest surgery ever but it‘s a bit long compared to other visceral surgeries, especially tibia LL).
I am not sure if it was from the anesthesia or from the cktail of many different drugs and no opiate tolerance yet. Probably a mixture of these 3 things but anyways looking back I texted with a few people and forgot if I already said that to this or that person and repeat myself multiple times. Something that never happened before and now doesn‘t happen anymore. I also couldn‘t play a new video game with a friend 3 weeks after surgery. I couldn‘t remember anything lol. I think 3 months post OP when I finally was able to study again (yes, on tilidin). It‘s still not 100% like before but possible. I am sure once I am totally rid off all meds and recovered from the extreme exhaustion that this process brings, I will recover 100%.

[LONFemurs2021]

Thanks for this.  Glad there isnt huge withdrawl symptoms.  Im going to try and limit my meds as much as I can tolerate.  But also understand that lack of sleep is detrimental to your health as well.  So will just find the right balance I suppose.

Hah, sleep disruption is something you just have to accept. Even with the tramadol+opiod combo.
From personal experience, lack of sleep and all the pain killers made me "zombie" like a few times, but it's fine, it's just for a limited period.

[Body Builder]

What medications?
Except from anticoagulant shots and some lonarid N for the forst month after my surgery I've never took anything else except from some depons a very few times.

Nooone need heavy medication for LL except some painkillers that doesn't need to be very strong, at least after the first weeks of the surgery.
And of course some painkillers won't cause you any major problem at all in the long run.

[RealLostSoul]

I know no patient who stopped painkillers during lengthening. Reducing yes, stopping no. Maybe one out of a thousand will but being realistic no. And saying there is no strong painkillers after surgery is ridiculous lmao.

[OzBoy39]

Some of my finest work recently was performed under tramadol lol.
I had the worst nights when trying to get off it after having taken it for almost 4 months.

As of today (I think 3 weeeks off it or so) I’m very clear in my mind, but my energy level are probably half as what they used to be. Not sure if it’s that or if it’s just the consolidation/recovery of the body.

In any case, as others have commented above, no issues in taking them (you sort of have to) but really don’t do like someone I’ve met who used to take them for “the high”. Stay as low a dose as possible throughout the lengthening and if you feel like you wanna get off it, please for the love of G_d do not cut off it cold turkey. Taper it off gently