Hi Hun,

Please do yourself a favor and start your own post. Go to the top of the page and hit the post a question button. You can copy and paste what your wrote here. I don't want to see this post get lost as it is very old. If you need help, let me know.

How do you get someone to realize this problem if they have it?  My wonderful girlfriend has marfans syndrome and has taken norco's since she was 13 (shes almost 26) for them.  When she met was the only time she kicked them in her life and for the first three months, bliss.  Then she started again.  She seems bipolar, but without the cycles.  Just mean and crazy until she does something so bad that I or family or friends don't care anymore and leave.  She blames it on bipolar disorder which she does not and will not get treated for and a bad past.  She will be in love with me one day, and I am a worthless piece of sh*t to her for the next three weeks.  Sex life is down the tubes unless she is feeling low and like I'm gone, and she tries to control me in whatever way possible.  I think its a mix between vicodin abuse and mental problems.  She has a history of drug abuse, and although she is clean besides the norcos (she takes about 7 to 10 15's a day) she had a eight year hardcore cocaine addiction.  No idea what to do.  she won't quit the norco's or see a physician.  Any ideas of what may be going on?

Will it is the vicodin then.....emotionional, moody, b*tchy......that's  me!  It's no wonder I cant make any friends lol   I can't thank you all enough!  I needed some feedback and I got it.  So I am on my quicky taper.   Had 2 yesterday and having 1 and a half today.  Some withdrawal such as cramping, loose stools and hot flashes or goose bumps.....unpleasant but tolerable.  Motivation level is high :)

bless you all

I was on vicodin before my surgeries. I didn't have an addiction problem with it but while I was on it I was more emotional. My sister had to take them for three months when she has surgery and she felt the same way. SO...either vicodin does make you emotional or my family is just crazy. lol

It's nice to "meet" you and I wish the best for you. Take Care...LS

Thank you all for the replies :)

I too am lathargic and unmotivated.  The engery I once got from the vicodin is long gone!   Yes I do agree there is underlying depression, but the vicodin only masked it and now it no longer does that.  In fact now I believe it is exasperating it.  I am sick and tired of living this way. That is my motivation.....I want a life!  This is no life!   I need, no want, to get out and be a part of the community.  Make some friends, join a gym.... whatever!   cant get very far even if I have the desire, rare anymore,  because I have to make sure I have a pill or two to take wherever I go.  they have bacome my ball and chain.  

I tried just taking them when I needed them for a while last fall. But that was short lived.....lasted a couple of months.  I am afraid It is all or nothing for me now so my plan is to quit completely.  So I am now officially on my taper.  Good luck to you all and once again thank you.

Oh, the mood swings on painkillers! I never realized how bad they were until I stopped. When I was on pills, I was the moodiest bi*ch ever! I was rude and "short" with my husband, totally impatient with my son and stepdaughter, and looking back, I'm ashamed. For that ONE HOUR, at the most, when the pill had just set in and I felt high and great, I was the happiest and nicest ever! After that, forget it. Now, I am literally a completely different person. I have been off of pills since Dec and was on them since I was 16 for endometriosis, so I am still getting used to the person I have become without the pills. They absolutely made me moody...don't even know if the word "moody" is strong enough! You are not alone!

I hear ya on most of this.  I, too, before I started taking the hydros regularly (i.e., two or three 10's a day, plus a lorazepam (2 mg) at night for insomnia), was VERY involved in my children's schools, our church, the community, etc.  Lately (past couple of years actually), I've become more and more lethargic.....about everything.  I just want to sleep so much of the time.  It's not that I FEEL depressed -- I'm not moody or having crying jags or anything like that -- but I wonder if I am....???  Why would I feel so lethargic and tired all of the time?  I think I've probably been fooling myself about it though.  I kept saying it's because I have two young children (6 and 8) and I'm getting older (will be 47 next month).  BUT, in reality, and if I face the truth, could it be the lethargy and not really caring to be out of the house doing ANYthing are the result of the hydros???  I don't feel like this feeling is normal for most people.  The nice weather is here (live in Chicagoland area), people are outside doing stuff and enjoying the summertime.....and I'm content just to lie down on the couch and veg out for most of the day.  I feel like I've really gotten myself into a rut and I can't seem to pull myself out of it.  I can't even remember how many years ago I took my first hydro (legit, for daily chronic headaches and migraines).....but gradually, over time, it's gotten to the point where I now take them whether or not I have a headache.  The thought of not having at least some in my purse at all times just terrifies me.  I want to be able to ONLY take them for the pain when I need them.....but at the same time, I want to take them everyday and I'm not finding the motivation I need to quit them.  I don't believe I have much strength in this area.  I am an iron woman when it comes to toughing out physical pain.  Any doctor I've ever had for any reason has told me that I seem to have a VERY high tolerance for pain.  Yet, when it comes to these hydros, I'm as weak as they come.  How do you finally get to that point where you actually have the motivation needed to quit, whether c/t or tapering or whatever???  Do you just have to hit that certain point first?  Or is it more of a mental determination?  I feel like I'm just floundering and am on a slippery slope.....but I can't find that necessary determination to make the choice to quit.  I lie to myself and tell myself that I can go on like this for a LONG time still.  I can take 2 a day and just live my life "normally" until I die at a ripe old age.  Obviously, that's not true.  2 a day won't be the same a year or two or five or ten from now.  How does one find that desire to just quit this???    

Your mood swings and isolation sound exactly like me!! Up until I started to take my hydro (legitimately) I was very active in my children's school and I cooked and cleaned and I was very social. My children are out of school now but even so, I am not half the woman I used to be! The pills make me so lethargic and sometimes paranoid that I just want to stay home in the dark by myself.

Fortunately for me I have people in my life that would force me to get up and get out.

After a while I realized that my problems were because of the meds and not some obscure mental disease, however, I do suffer from depression and I self medicated and in the begining it worked...in the begining...but in the end it ended up kicking me in the ass.

I did what you are doing...tapering. That seemed to work the best for me. My disease acts up maybe a couple of weeks during the month so for me to be on pain meds the other days meant I was abusing. At this point I am sticking to my plan of only taking when I need them and no more. So far so good but I know that if I was not vigilant about it I could very easily slip back.

Remember, life does get better. Good luck to you. E

If you have beeen taking these for years and not needed them you my have been taking them to cover up another problem like bi-polar.  Alot of bi-polar self medicate with alcoh or ddrugs and are never diag.  But your tolaerance my have gotten up to a point that the amount isn't effective any more and so you are have some mood swings.  I think maybe the second Dr. these days think everyone is bi-polar!!  Will your Dr help you taper?