It happened approximately two years ago. At first I thought that I ate something that didn’t quite agree with me, but as the pain lasted for two more days and eventually moved from the center of my stomach to its right lower part it became evident that I was suffering from appendicitis. I was rushed to the hospital and the day after had my appendix removed. I was told that if I have waited for another day or two it might have been too late.

They kept me for observations and after another four days they released me with instructions to rest and prescription for Vicodin. Even though I know that this kind of surgery is pretty much a routine one I was still a bit scared, when something like this happens your mind starts to ponder some questions you didn’t pay much notice to before. Combined with persistent pain, and monotony and helplessness of resting this can create powerful anxiety.I must admit, the first time I took Vicodin I did it just as much to reduce that anxiety as to relieve the pain.

And it worked, fabulously so. The pain was numbed, it didn’t disappear completely, I was still marginally aware of it, I felt something similar to gentle pressure where the pain used to be, but it didn’t bother me. It was still present but suddenly it seemed benevolent, or at least irrelevant. This alone would have helped me with the anxiety, but that’s not all that Vicodin did for me. It brought on a slight euphoria, something like a soft high, some kind of pleasant lethargy and indifference. It didn’t take me long to fully recover but I’m sure that even that short period could have been a lot more unpleasant if I didn’t have Vicodin to help me through it.