What are opioid painkillers meant to feel like when they’re effective?

Im the same way! Anxiety meds, pain meds, antihistamines, etc. don't make me drowsy at all! Once i got all three of those types of meds post open abdominal surgery, all IV, and no drowsiness even then. The nurse was nervous as I am a very very small person lol she was surprised I wasnt passed out after she gave all the meds. Most of the time I'm really glad that meds never make me sleepy because my daily fatigue is bad enough, but it has been a pain a few times when ive been given meds that were /intended/ to make me sleepy as sedation for a procedure with no effect. 4 mg IV ativan before a procedure did nothing to me... And i hadn't taken my 1mg prn dose at home in months because my anxiety was doing well so it wasn't tolerance! Similar thing happened with versed (and i think fentanyl or some other pain med as well) that was supposed to make me sedated for a different procedure and did nothing. And ambien might as well have been a sugar pill bc it had zero effect! The one thing that did help my insomnia was low dose remeron (antidepressant at high dose, insomnia med at low dose) which is great because that is a med that can be taken long term without issue as opposed to other "sleeping pills" like ambien. Also the funny thing is when i was a kid I was scared to take my prn anxiety meds in fear they would make me dizzy/cloudy head/not in control, so it was a good thing for me when I realized that doesn't happen to me haha

Sorry for rambling lol I just found it interesting that someone else also doesn't get sleepy from meds!

/r/ChronicPain Thread Parent