I had abdominal surgery. They had to remove 14cm of my colon which was badly inflamed due to diverticulitis. When I woke up, I was so doped up that I felt no pain. I even danced a jig in my room.
That evening they hooked me up to a hydromorphone injector for the inevitable pain. Every 12 minutes or so, I could give myself a shot into my IV. Hydromorphone is about 100 times stronger than morphine, so the doses were in micrograms. I was allowed, like, 5 shots per hour, and the machine could get loaded with about 50 shots. I kept a record of the shots in my Iphone Notes. I tried to space them further than 12 minutes, but I only decreased the frequency by a few minutes. I liked those shots. They worked. The nursing staff encouraged me to use this. They could reload the machine, no trouble.
Now the thing about colon surgery is, your colon has to get working. Those opiate shots very effectively prevent this. I wanted to get out of that place. So the next night, I quit cold turkey. I was freezing cold, and the pain I felt was not just from the after effects of the surgery, I am pretty sure. It was fucking horrible.
Now the things is, I was addicted. I did succeed in quitting cold turkey. My colon still didn't work for a day, so I vomited almost a gallon of green bile over the edge of my gurney. It was so much, it lapped up against the walls. Then my colon worked, and I got to go home.
But I was addicted, and I am a recovering addict, from that one time. And every nurse I mention this to says, "Oh no, you weren't an addict." They even quote some bullshit criterion for addiction, which I've forgotten.
I haven't had any problems since, and if I have to take oral oxycodone, or hydrocodone, there have been no problems or instance of abuse.
But I was an addict.