Am I addicted to lortab? What's happening to me :(

[computer_nerd]

I have endometriosis (incapacitating pain once a month when it's "that time").  Probably not the worst thing but for a few days I'm not able to function or move much, it's very disruptive to my life.  I found a solution when I was prescribed Lortab.  I would take about 4 a day during those few days and find ways to still get things done somewhat.  I have been using this precription for about a year.  As expected.. even with very little use it did become less effective.  So I moved on to taking 1.5 pills at a time, to 2, where it still works somewhat.  

I also have jaw pain when I wake up some days, my TMJ has been getting worse but I just try to ignore it.  It's not severe enough to take anything for, the thing that stinks is not being able to eat when I'm hungry.  But it's not much of an issue, except once in a while when the pain is bad.  But thats not an everyday thing.  

This month has been once thing after another, strep throat, then a nasty sinus infection, then a bladder infection..  then the time of the month came and my jaw was acting up throughout.  I was sick of feeling so horrible and took the hydrocodone here & there as a fever-reducer with the perk of not feeling so horrible.  Then it was that time of the month, which was unusally awful so ofcourse I took some then.  Some days when it wasn't so bad I would only take 2 pills.  (7.5 mg hydorcodone/500 mg tylenol).  For about a week I took 4 every 24-hour period.  

[kiwi512]

Hello. :)  I've started a blog about breaking free of Lortab addiction. I was addicted to them too.

http://kickingtabs.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

I journaled my whole ordeal; the withdrawals, recovering, etc. and "life without Lortabs".

I hope to encourage you and perhaps you too can make a blog to inspire others as well.
If you do decide to, please let me know! I'd like to keep in touch.

Thanks, and take care. :)

-Kiwi

[dmurphyixi86]

help i am on loratab 7.5/500 I have been suffering with a non union of the left femer fracture for 10 years with no medication other then the bottle of jim beam! I recived a 3rd sergery two years ago and have had a constant supply of tabs it started 30 a month up to 90 a month now i am at 120 7.5/500 I have for the last mont been coming up 2 weeks short. I eat them all in two weeks. I for the 1st time spent 50 Bucks for 15 7.5/500 now i know i am hooked i also get 60 valium  5mg for anxiaty and 30 tramazepam 30mg to sleep and 30 Poovigil 200mg to stay awake I used to weigh 490 lbs but had lapband done dec.30 2008 i am now at 334lbs i also take Pristiq 50mg a day for deppression. seems to be working a lil all's i do is sit at home scared to leave except for dr. appointments. and if i get the 1 hr earlier to make sure the is few people as possable or i will leave and rescedual. My md said he would give me 120 10mg tabs but insurance will not cover at the 5$ copay I just received a 50k settlement and have acces to stronger pills but have not tried them yet. today is the second and i have an appointment on the 8th i broke down crying to my wife and she dismissed it i was crying i dont do that even when people i care about die. witch has been happing alot latley 13 people so far. I think it was the pristiq. i really need help i am violent on them and off what do i do? help help help me.

[Dave11]

I am on my 5th day of cold turkey withdrawal from taking 6-10 7.5/500 Lortabs a day for the last four months and taking them off and on for 5 months prior to that. Lortabs aren't weak they are an opiate narcotic and can cause withdrawal after taking them for just a few weeks.
The detox part of the withdrawal is when you get the flu like symptons - cold or hot sweats, running nose, the runs, fever and the cravings and lasts around 3 - 5 days, then it may be another 7 - 14 days or more of having sleeping problems, boughts of depression, tiredness until it starts to get better.  
I am starting to feel better than I did yesterday, but I still have aways to go before I sleep normally and don't get depressed and get my energy back.  For me and I'm no doctor, I believe cold turkey is best as going through it gives me a memory of why I don't want to go back to abusing this drug.

[ScottQuit021907]

I'm no expert, but you may be suffering from some withdrawal (w/d) symptoms, and they may even be really bad. Withdrawal intensity depends on the dose, duration, AND the person.

If you are suffering from w/d and don't want to use the meds anymore, just stop taking them. You should start feeling much better within a few days and certainly within a few weeks.

Are there non-opiate meds such as Midol that can help with the endometriosis?

[computer_nerd]

i have taken anywhere from 15mg (2 pills) to 30 mg a day (4 pills), every day.. since feb 15th. Not including today.  I have the bottle right here and I'm trying to ignore it.  :(

i will be honest, it HAS been a bad month.  (the sicknesses etc).  i'm also losing my grandmother and have been fighting this feeling of depression that has been trying to creep up on me (this may have something to do with why I wandered away from taking as directed).  

I had a drug problem in the past with pot, a mental addiction, it wasn't hard to shake.  Other than that I don't drink/smoke becuase I feel my life is better that way.  

Yes.. for the past week or so I have noticed that within half an hour I feel normal again.  And if I don't give myself some, I begin to feel like i have a lowgrade fever, and I begin to panick--I start thinking about the simplest thing and either my heart starts racing or I feel like crying.  I still haven't taken one today and all symptoms are steadily getting worse.  

I've also had no interest in sex for the past month..  which isn't normal. So depresion may be a possibility.. but..  this anxiety is rediculous.

[JayT]

Don't get yourself in our position;  stop while you're ahead.  Soon, (as in, a week or two from now) four won't do it and you'll move to 6, and so on, just to feel "normal."  Don't do it.  Read these posts.  We're suffering right now because we didn't stop when we saw that we were becoming dependent.  Ween yourself off of them now by tapering down, not going up.  And stop soon.  Trust me.

[computer_nerd]

I know that you are right..  

I just wanted to say I hope I didn't offend anyone when I said I didn't want to become an addict.  I mean, I don't.  For obvious reasons. I have read your stories.. And I can see how much it hurts.  And I decided to post here becuase I could see that you are genuinely good people, and amazingly strong. And I figured maybe you'd know what the heck my body is doing right now.  I just can't believe I did this to myself.  My doctor warned me about the Lortab.  It's habit forming.  Seems like everything is these days.  I had no problem taking it as directed the past few months, but I should never have started adjusting the dose myself.  My excuse?  Pain sucks.  There's only so much you can take.  IF there is an answer a few feet away, who wouldn't take it?

I don't know what happened.  All I know is that I can't stop.  1 week turned into 2, 2 into three.. and then one more day, and one more day..   I'd rather stop tomorrow than have that horrible feeling today.  And then tomorrow comes in the form of a 'today' (it never happens any other way) and the process repeats.  

I figured you were the best to ask advice from.  I'm not comfortable telling my doctor about it.  And I want to stop before it becomes an even bigger problem, and even harder to stop.  

I just can't get over how it happened.  In the past I had a prescription to take oxycontin 20mg once a day as needed for a few weeks and NOTHING HAPPENED!  No addiction, no withdrawal.   Granted I didn't take it everyday.  

I thought Lortabs were weak.  I'm just bewildered, and I feel incredibly stupid. :(

[tink1517]

i to have endometriosis. i'm 32 and had a hysterectomy at 27. i started taking lortabs like you yrs ago, usually at that time of month or after sex. anyways about 5yrs ago i began taking daily, and quickly became an addict 10-15 10/650 a day. it got out of control before i knew it. sounds like your having minor withdrawals. that hot/cold, sweats, anxiety all part of withdrawals. the good news is because you are taking such a small amount, you arent having the withdrawals i'm sure you've read about here.

Question? have you been taking them every day and for howlong? how many everyday?

it's good your realizing whats happening now, before it gets out of control. i'm sure most here wont agree w/ me, but if you want to know if it's w/d's take a pill,wait 15-20 mins, if you feel like your old self after that. then you'll know it's the pills making you feel bad when your not taking them. post back to me please and let me know how your doing.

p.s. had a hysterectomy at 27, and now suffer w/ chronic pain almost daily. word of advise. be careful before having any surgerys done, even laporoscopies, each one will creat scar tissue, and i think enough scar tissue in that area myself can be more painful than the Endo itself.

keep me posted,
Tink

[computer_nerd]

Oh my god is that why my nose has been running all day?!?!  I don't know wether to laugh or cry.  I've been pissed off thinking my sinus infection was back.  

You are very brave to be doing it the cold turkey way.  I'm about to crack as we speak and my withdrawal is more than likely much less than yours.

Good for you.  I admire your courage & (envy it at the same time).  *sigh*

[computer_nerd]

ok i re-read your post.  I completely missed 'the runs'.  Very embarassing to say, but that explains a lot right about now.  That's been 3 times so far since lunch time.  I guess this really is withdawal then.  :(

Funny, I was having the opposite problem the past few weeks.

[Dave11]

Yeap, the hydrocodone makes you constipated, but once the drug is getting out of your system it changes fast.  I hear that opiates make you retain water and once you start in w/d the water starts to get released.

[computer_nerd]

and how.  eww.  

the thing i can't stand is .. this feeling.  i mean its a conglomeration of symptoms obviously.  but i feel, strangely empty, on top of it all.  i'm missing my spark.  (cheesy huh).  

my kitties must think i'm losing it.  going to the bathroom every 45 minutes or so, changing the A/C every 15 minutes.  having two blankets on and then kicking them off.  i've never felt so bizarre.  it's like i've lost the ability to regulate my body temperature, and sometimes i don't know if im hot OR cold.  i seriously can't tell.  is this normal???  i googled and saw that people usually just feel cold?

i can't sit still.

im eating a ton of chocolate becuase i really don't have an appetite.  i took ibuprofen for the headache and got some caffiene in me, this just gets worse by the hour.  should it be doing this?  my last few pills were last night.  

i think im going to take some though.  

i pretty much suck.  :(

[computer_nerd]

I can't shake this feeling that I'm about to snap!  I keep panicking for no apparent reason.  I keep thinking something is wrong with me, that the past few days of tylnol is going to kill me or something, (from what others tell me, very very unlikely).  But I can't stop this anxiety!  It's rediculous.  And that headache is back.  I feel generally indescribably 'icky', and the prescription bottle is a few feet away, and I have a hunch if I took one I would feel better.  

But when will this end ? :(

I think I only have 8 left.  I haven't taken one yet today.  It's already 5:45PM and I feel so 'weird'.  Cold one second, hot the next.  Im franticly trying to distract myself from the panic but I don't even feel like doing the things that usually make me happy.  I keep crying too.  

What the hell is wrong with me?  What should I do??  

I'm sorry this is so long.  I've just been holding it all in, avoiding everyones questions of, whats wrong with you today, and pretending I'm fine.

[computer_nerd]

All in all I took lortab from about Feb15th until yesterday.  The other day, something strange happened.  I couldn't sleep.  I kept feeling strange head rushes while trying to fall asleep and would have to shake my head to get rid of the weird feeling.  It was like a zap.  Very bizarre.  I slept in that day, and woke up and kept turning down the A/C.  By the time it was to 65 and I still felt like I was sweating, I started to think maybe something is wrong.  I felt very nauseous and sat down to google my symptoms.  I started having a panic attack, and realized, gee, I've taken a lot of tylenol over the past few weeks (never more than 2 grams in any 1 day, but consecutive days).  So I started having a panic attack.  God it was awful I hadn't had one in years.  I went to the hospital and they ran some tests.  Liver function was fine.  Thats when they found the bladder infection.  I was relieved I wasn't dieing.  But that whole day I was having the most intense headache of my life.  

So I went home and took some Lortab :(  Not a lot.  But 1.5 so my head wouldnt feel like it was exploding.  

Since then Ive been taking 1.5 in the morning, and .75 at night, just so make sure those feelings won't come back.  But..  thats not helping the situation.  I do not want to be an addict.  I don't even drink.  It's driving my crazy to have this feeling like someone else is in control of my body.  And then I read these forums and realize the amount I've been taking is nothing compared to everyone elses.  How could I even be addicted???  

Two days ago I began having severe chest sudden chest pains.  I had a friend run an EKG on me, and it was pretty much ok, a few slight abnormalities but nothing that would need me to be transported to the hospital ofcourse.  There were signs of a possible first degree block, signs of electrolyte imbalance/dehydration, and something else pretty minor.  THe chest pains mostly stopped today, I've only had maybe 1/10th of what I had yesterday.  But..