Hey,

Make sure you are taking time for yourself! It is so easy to get burnt out and exhausted when helping a family member through something like this!!! Make a list of everything that helps you relax. I don't care if it is taking 5 minuets by your self to make your favorite tea or spending 10 extra minuets in the show just to relax. Eat good!!! Sleep!!!! Get away for just a little bit and spend sometime alone. You say your husband has not slept in a really long time I am assuming that means your not sleeping either. It is so easy to get exhausted and run down and then the exhaustion turns into frustration. You and your husband can get through this I know you can!!! My sister is on day 8. I know what it is like to watch someone you love go through this and to have to sit there and feel competely helpless. Her are some things that have helped me...

Take care of yourself!!!!! Eat Sleep spend quiet time alone!!!

Remember your husband is human. There are going to be good days and bad but eventually the good days are going to start out numbering the bad.

Sit down with your husband and come up with some sort of plan. Try to minimize free alone time. Schedule fun things to do. I know it has been very helpful for my sister to allways have a full schedule of things she can do to keep her mind busy and off of meds.

Do fun things just the two of you. Take a couple hours each week and do something that both of you enjoy. Go to the beach, go see a movie, go out to dinner. Remember what it is like to just have fun again.

Have a plan for when things get tough. My sister has a list of family and friends that when ever things get really tough she can pick up the phone and call them. Most of them have no idea what she is going through it is just mostly for her to be able to talk with another human and try and keep her mind off of the meds.

And most importantly I am going to say this again.....

TAKE CARE OF YOU!!! You are no good to your husband exhausted and frustrated. Hang in there babe! There are better days ahead.

Also there are a lot of really smart people on this site. It helps to be able to read and hear what they have to say. A lot of the ideas my sisters uses to help minimize W/D have come from this site.

Hey Hun, this whole process takes time, everyone is different. Some can start feeling better within 10-15 days...But others can take alot longer. This is normal for the body to be in pain, i am on day 23 and let me tell you my back still hurts like crazy. I have bad headaches EVERDAY...In the first 14 days for me i also have not slept and i mean at all, think i got like maybe a total of 6 hours in 14 nights. This was the hardest for me, i felt so damm tired but could not lay down, someone here recommended that i try "Melatonin" it's an over-the-counter sleeping pill. you can get it at any drug store. I wish i would have had this from day one but i didn't get it until i was on day 13...My hubby went and got it for me and it really helped me. Some people here say it did not help them but most of them i talked to said it helped.

This takes time sweetie, and alot of work, But it can be done. If you can get him some of this "Melatonin" and try using a heating pad at night behind his neck and on his legs. This will relax him a bit. Also get some "Vitamin B Complex" i started taking them for energy and i have noticed a bit of difference.
Give him 3 bananas or so throughout the day, has potasim in it and will help to ease the RLS at night...Taking long hot baths before bed is a good idea also.

With all this it should help ease him a little better than what he is now.

Just remember this takes time and everyone is different, but i can say he is almost there, 11 days is a big deal...within another week he should be so much better.

If there is anything else you need just give a holler...

Good Luck
Hopeless

There are a lot of things I really can't make assumptions about, and not know any particulars of the situation, I can on generalize.  Many withdrawals last for a long period, 21 to 30 days aren't that unusual, and the recover is even longer, sometimes it takes months to get the body and mind healthy, and years of fighting to stay clean.  Be proud for what your husband has done, he has made a chose to make his life better, and he has decided that the suffering is worth the reward.  You to must be willing to realize that everything is changing, and that everything is going to change, and that the rewards are much more than the difficulties you are now facing.
  
"Though the times seem bleak, and the clouds are gray, beyond all of that lies blue skies, and sunshine to warm your soul."

As always.
I wish you the very best, and Keep the faith,
Ren

hi honey i feel for you and your husband, he should start to feel better soon most  on the site say 3 to 7 days but i didn't feel really well for 3 weeks i'm on day 41 right now and still do not have lot of energy but i hurt less, just nomaral aches and pains of a 38 yr old. I was having major muscle pain and my dr. gave me a shot of ketorolac (geniric name i think) and then pills for 5 days, only to be taken short term. Also lived on motrin to help with the pain and headaches. I'm sure you have tried everything you can think of, the main thing is that he stays strong and doesn't give in. Have you tried Melatonin to help with sleep? Its a vitiam that helps the normal sleep pattern. It works for me probably doesn't work for all but its something to try if you haven't already. Hope I was a little help if not aleast know  I'll be praying for you and your hubby. Take Care Terri

Hi girl,

Here is a link that tells it like it is... there are 2 chapters and the second chapter has all of the pertinent information.

http://www.hbo.com/addiction/thefilm/supplemental/629_opiate_addiction.html

For me, I had to go on suboxone.  There was nothing else that would work.  The video is a little alarming in that 90% of people will use again if they don't go on some sort of replacememt therapy.  I know that I would have if not for suboxone.... and I went to a formal detox and a program!  The suboxone gave me my life back!  I can work, funtion, feel normal.. all of that.  It maybe that he has to do that..... you can also go to the suboxone website and they have a couple of videos there.

Best to you
Fish

I am just starting my day 11 without hydros and it is still rough for me.  I don't know when he will get better.  You have two options though as I see it, be as supportive as you can or leave.  Men are naturally babies when they don't feel well or hurt, and maybe he just needs babied.  I really don't know what to tell you, but you are in my thoughts.  Good luck to both of you.