I am not sure anyone will be reading this but I would like to post my nightmare with lortab. I have been addicted to lortab for about two years. I have gotten to the point of taking 5-7 at 7.5 at a time. When I take them the world does not seems so bad. My fiance is away over seas for the fifth time which is stressful in itself. Not to mention two boys and a job that completely depend on me for everything. When I had pills it took me out of my hostile reality and put me in a happy place but when I run out thats it. I am on my fifth day without and it is hell. The physical pain is getting better but the mental still haunts me violently. I have no energy and feel so depressed all I can do is sleep if I am not at work and forcing myself to function. It is very sad to need these pills to feel just a little happiness. Although I know the withdraw symptoms will go away, I feel very ashamed to know that if I could get more medication I would do it all over again. Everyone has an outlet....I chose the wrong one. Any suggestions?  

Hi!

This post is from 7 months ago and these folks are not here now. this will get throw into archives. You need to start your own post. Go to the top of this page and hit the Post A Question button. Type what you did here. that will start a new one. See you out there....

I have been reading everyones posts and it all sounds just like me. I started taking lortab when I was in my second year of nursing school because I fell down my stairs and broke my foot. At first it was innocent and simply for pain but then I realized how much I liked them and I began taking them simply for pleasure. Before I knew it I was taking 5-6 7.5 tabs at a time 3-4 times a day! Addicted? indeed. I am now 30 years old and I have been addicted for about 2 years. I am a registered nurse and therefore I cannot confide in anyone as I can lose my nursing license. I am scared to death and I have tried several times to quit but the withdrawl symptoms are so intense that I cannot even function. My husband recently decided that he wants us to have another child. I almost feel as though he has made this decision because he thinks it is a way to get me off the pills as he is the one and only person who knows of my issue. I also want a baby but not until I can get off the pills. I presently am attempting to wean myself from them. I have tramadol as well but they make me nausiated. I have cut myself down to 5 pills once daily instead of three times daily. Starting tomorrow I will try 5 pills every other day, then 4 pills every other day and so on until I am free. Will this work? Has anyone every tried to wean themselves off? I NEED to quit, I feel as though my life depends on it. My father passed away at the age of 50 from liver failure due to alcoholism and pill popping. I am so afraid that I will suffer his fate. I also have to have IVF done in order
to conceive a baby and when they draw blood they will descover my addiction, I dont want that. Does anyone know how long lortab can be detected in your blood? I want to be clean when they test me. Thanks for listening, any input or just encouragement is greatly appreciated.
nurseinNC

thanks punk really needed that information as tommorow will be day one for me and im scared to death. i just need somthing that will help with the withdraws like  i said i have a really demanding job and sometimes work 15 hour days i hope i can do it and and if anyone is praying pls pray for me and i will do the same for all on her thanks alot

Thanks eveyone, Im glad I decided to do this. I need people like you guys. That was what I was talking about taking was 10 mg for 4 days of methadone. If that will get me through the worst part that will be great but I will still need the support for the cravings. I have two precious little boys, 4 and 2 and they are my inspiration and reason to keep moving forward plus my mom went into cardiac arrest from an opiat overdose and that was the scariest thing I have ever seen. Im also going to try to the thomas method. We'll see how strong I am. My husband can be supportive sometimes but sometimes he just get impatient with me. It is definitly a crutch. Im prescribed klonipin for anxiety.......will that help for any of the WD? I just feel stuck and Im ready to begin my life ...........again!

By the way I forgot to mention that I was taking about 5 tramadol's a day but that is a lot less then I was taking lortab. So doing that will help the WD's not be so bad, still there but not as intense right? Im so sorry for bugginh you all with all these crazy questions. But yea I went one week without a lortab and only tramadol. So thats a start right???

hello all. I came across this site trying to find some help god know's I need it... I became addicted about 2 years ago it wasnt bad up intill about 8 months ago when i started having to have 5 or more 10  a day to function.. now I have to have them just to get out of bed and im spending all my money and things are getting really really bad.

I have a 2 and half year old and a very hard job im an assistant manager of a banquet dept so i work long hours and its very demanding and have to have energy.. also I have to be able to take care of my son and I"m going threw alot with his father that I just split up with and he is going phyco so he doesnt help also my mother just passed away so im under alot of stress and can not get threw the day with out any. I really want to stop its messing my life up bad.

Ive tried and I cant go cold turkey I get all the withdraw systoms that u could possible think of so I was wondering what that was maybe it can help..

I have also thought about outpatient help but like I said I can not due to my babys father he can use that against me and court and I really dont need that right now...please help thanks

what is the thomas thing? It's a recipe to help with WD symptoms, it may not eliminate them but it will help, lots of people on here have said so from experience. Go up top to the search engine and type in THOMAS RECIPE and it should pull up your info you are looking for.

Good luck
punky

You WILL NOT have withdrawals from methadone if you only take 1 ten mg pill per day for about 3 days. I've done it several times. It WILL get you through the worst of the hydro withdrawal and is easy to stop, at least in my experiences.

I can't speak on if you take more methadone than what I described above, but have gotten through hydro withdrawals many times with only a few methadone. I usually wait until the withdrawal symptoms begin, like around 24 hrs after my last intake of hydro, then take 1 ten mg methadone. That last for approx 24 hrs. I have actually only used one pill for the entire process before.

I still get my monthly script of hydro, always run out early, so have done the 'methadone way' many times. It works.

As a warning, I have heard that methadone can be very addictive, although I don't know why. I've also heard the withdrawals are hell, but have never experienced them.

Good luck!

I will pray for you. That's what gave me the strength to talk about it in the first place. I was terrified and still terrified. I havent come completly off of them yet but I am very soon. I had vascular surgury about a week ago. Let me know how the thomas recipe is for you. Like I said Ive heard good things about it. My job is demanding too. Im a restaraunt manager and bartender and I have to children under the age of 4 and Ive gone back to school to get my degree so I know what you mean when you talk about every day life.

Good luck to you and let me know your progress each day and how you feel.
Punky

Also I saw something about a Thomas Recipe? Does that really work for withdrawls? Ive even been without lortab for about a week but Ive been taking tramadol in its place and thats basically the same thing only with a little less codine...................Im so tired of this feeling of stress.

Methadone is not the answer, yes it will stop you from withdrawing from the hydros but then you will w/d from the methadone

Good Luck

Thanks, Yea I dont want to do that either because I heard that is the worst kind of withdrawls. I have to do so much in my every day life that I dont have the time to take off to "recover". Does the Thomas method really work? Im just ready to quit! I cant wait to feel free again!

i wish you luck.. and i would agree with the others about the methadone. its not a good way to get off of hydrocodone for sure. and be careful about trading on addiction for another for sure. as far as the energy levels go ive seen some on here say it takes over a month to really feel like their energy is returning. i am like you and have no choice but to do my daily activities no matter how i feel. i haveent had much energy, but some of the things in the thomas rec. helped me with that so far. good luck and holler if you need anything

Welcome to the group.  Your story sounds so much like many of us.  You've defintely come to the right forum.  Clonidine works well for the withdrawal symptoms and you can ask your doctor for that.  It is prescribed both for WD's and blood pressure.  Also be aware of the search engine at the top of the page.  You can do a word or person search..... there is a wealth of information here in the present and the past.  

I feel it is best to come, "clean" with your doctor and pain med problems are not new to them anymore...  give that a shot??  They know what to do and can help with meds if going cold turkey is not happening for you
Best
Fish

Hello and welcome.   Wow! 1 week that is awesome and I really think youare through the worse part of the withdrawals.  How much tramadol are you taking?  Have you been taking it for just one week?   You are right that the tramadol is addicting and should be stopped as soon as possible.

I used tramadol for ten days after quitting vicodin (norco) and afterwards the withdrawals were still there but it wasn't as bad as going cold turkey.  

Take less and less tramadol each day until you can stop but I wouldn't advise taking the tramadol for more than 3-4 more days.  I think I took it longer than I should have.