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A low dose works for him
Monday, August 06, 2001 By Virginia Linn, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Randy Klugh says OxyContin has helped him become his old self again.
In 1997, the West Deer resident suffered a severe whiplash injury when the Chevy pickup he was driving was hit from behind at a stoplight. The older-model Chevy didn't have a headrest, and Klugh's head smashed straight back into the glass window.
Doctors performed surgery to repair several neck discs, but he continued to have painful muscle spasms and excruciating headaches.
The sole breadwinner for his family, Klugh, 37, tried to work through the pain, but his taxing job as a heavy equipment mechanic aggravated his condition.
After he was referred to The Western Pennsylvania Hospital's pain clinic, Dr. Jack Kabazie performed several nerve blocks to deaden some of the pain, but Klugh still needed medication. He tried several drugs, such as high doses of Motrin or the narcotic analgesic Vicodin, but they were "ripping my stomach apart," because he had to take so many pills.
"Some made him into a zombie," said his wife, Sharon. "When you have a job to do or have three children, you can't be a zombie. You may be out of pain, but what good are you?"
Klugh once was in so much pain he nearly fainted when his oldest daughter gave him a big bear hug. There were times he could not hold his infant daughter and he had to quit coaching girl's softball.
Kabazie put him on 20 milligrams of OxyContin, a relatively low dose.
"Taking these meds, I turned into a normal dad," he said. "Without them, I stayed in my room and paced back and forth. He's [Kabazie] put me back on the planet."
His wife agreed. "It made him able to function at work, function as a father and not be all drugged up. Not to be in Never-Never Land."
He has taken a new job within his company that is not as strenuous and has been able to resume coaching softball.
Klugh said he feels bad about the abuse of OxyContin.
"It aggravates me because finally I find something that works for me, and it just happens to be the 'in' drug."
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