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Effects of Lortab abuse
Four years ago I was taking pain medicine (Lortab) for a kneck injury. I had taken this medication for a back problem also about 2-3 years prior. After my back got better I continued to take this medicine on and off because I liked the way it made me feel. I finally quit taking it all together because it was so hard to get it and I knew it was becoming a problem. Then I hurt my kneck pretty bad in a car accident and was prescribed this medication again. It took me about a year to recover from my kneck injury. I then quit taking the medicine again and got back in the gym and lost weight and everything was seemingly going well. I worked as a sales manager in the car business for most of my adult life and this was what I was doing at the time. Out of nowhere I was fired from my job (totally unrelated to any drug use - wasn't the first time in this business - this job is a very volatile position and everyone I had ever worked for had been fired atleast twice!). By the time I was fired I had recruited my uncle to sell cars there and he and his wife had sold their interest in a business they owned and moved to AL from GA. Needless to say, this caused alot of stress for me. I quit working out and started using Lortabs again - only this time, I was buying them off the street. I could not afford to use them everyday at $8/pill but I was using them whenever I could afford to.
Meanwhile, my uncle, myself, and a friend of the family who happened to have moved to AL as well began to try to figure out what we could do. So we bought a convenience store that was closed and reopened it. At about the same time I moved my wife to AL (Background - I had dated this woman before going to AL and married her 6 months earlier to help with her immigration but we had decided that we would not move in together until we were really ready to "settle down"). So here I was - now married and living with my wife for the first time and starting a business that had been closed. Needless to say, the stress level was pretty high. I went from on and off using Lortab to using it everyday. I found a source which was a salesperson that used to work with me and I trusted him. For the next 3 years we ran this business, opened another location, moved my parents down to help and were doing pretty good. For these three years I took Lortab EVERYDAY. I had the 10's and my daily regimen was the same - I would take 1/2 pill when I woke up and 1/2 pill every 2-3 hours the rest of the day for a total of atleast 2 pills and max 3 and 1/2 pills per day. Everything I read said that I would "get used to" the dose and have to add more and I read that people who go to rehab take as many as 10-20 of these aday! I never "got used to" the effect and never had to take a higher dose - on occasion I would take a whole pill but I never so much as took 2 pills at one time - mainly because I didn't want to look drugged up as I was running this business with my family. I felt I had "control" over taking this medicine and was in no danger. There was another unintended good result of taking this medicine. I grew up around alot stress in my life - without describing everything let me just say that there are numerous drug addictions and enablers and mental conditions in my family. I was also fat growing up and never "fit in" at school. By the time I was around 17-18 years old I was having some pretty major anxiety and depression - a psychiatrist had prescribed my Buspar which made me feel like I was losing control and I quit taking it and quit seeing the doc and joined the Army! Although more confident when I returned from the Army training, I was still just as anxious as ever and having a problem dealing with it. In college, before joining the Army, and in the car business, after the Army, I had turned to alcohol and drugs (cocaine, pot, LSD, xtasy) to help deal with the stress and anxiety. I never got "addicted" to anything but I always had to be drunk in order to deal with a social setting.
When I started taking the Lortab, my anxiety and depression almost dissapeared! I was taking a somewhat low dose and I was feeling great! During the day, the Lortab would give me energy and focus and at night I would go to sleep pretty easily. Everything was good and I didn't feel "drugged up" ever. I thought that I would take this dose forever. I was concerned with the effects of this medicine on my liver and kidneys as I had read the damage that could happen. I also knew that I had family that took Tylenol or 800 MG Motrin everyday and everything I read said that under 4000 MG Tylenol was ok for me to take. The relatively low risk was worth the reward of such a balanced mental state! The third year of taking this dose I started getting another side effect. I dieted on and off over this three years and lost and gained weight - end result was I was overweight but not obese. One of those diets was an injection of this hormone that effects the hypothalmus and makes the body release fat stores while taking in only 500 calories aday. I did this for about a month while still taking the Lortab. I started getting these heart palpitations. It was scary and I quit the injections immediately. The symptoms got better but did not go away completely. I actually even went to the ER twice because I thought I might be having a heart attack! Everyone said, quit using tobacco (smokeless) and quit using caffeine and everything will be fine. They never knew about my Lortab use. Over the next 6 months or so the palpitations became worse and more frequent. I did research online and could not find anything definitive but I did read that taking that much NSAID's everyday could affect the respiratory system and cardiovascular system so I correlated the symptoms with taking the Lortab. I decided to quit the Lortab, so I cut down to 1 per day for a week and then stoppped altogether. I suffered extreme desire for the Lortab for about a week and then it kind of went away, although I still wanted to take it and did take 6-8 total pills over the next 3-4 months but nothing consistent. I haven't had any in over the last 3 weeks. Here comes my question:
First of all, since I quit taking the medicine, I haven't been able to sleep hardly at all. I get maybe 2-4 hours of sleep at a time but nothing consistent. My anxiety level has exploded. We sold our businesses and moved back to GA to open a new business but we have not been able to get it open yet so it has been 7 months now since I have worked. Money is very tight and my wife and I have had problems paying bills, etc. This has caused stress on our marriage as well. We bought a new house when we got back to GA and spent all the cash we had. I have not been able to sleep in the bedroom more than 4-5 nights for fear of someone breaking in (irrational I know, but the truth). I have a constant ringing in my ears which becomes way more evident at night when it gets quieter. I have a recliner in the living room and I sit there and watch tv and use computer to about 4 or 5 in the morning and finally fall asleep for a couple of hours. This is becoming a big problem for my health and for my marraige. My wife sleeps on the couch beside me in an effort to support me but she is getting real close to being fed up with it (remember, she doesn't know about the Lortab use). I have been to the doctor and he gave my Xanax which knocks me out and gives me that "drugged up" feeling and I can't take it.
I am really beginning to think that I may be better off using the low dose of Lortab that I was using than to keep going in the direction that I'm going in. Which is worse? Strain on my liver and kidneys and maybe the heart palpitations occassionally - or - the anxiety that had virtually dissappeared while taking Lortab, the total lack of consistent sleep and stress on my marraige, and the constant ringing of my ears? Any advice?
Meanwhile, my uncle, myself, and a friend of the family who happened to have moved to AL as well began to try to figure out what we could do. So we bought a convenience store that was closed and reopened it. At about the same time I moved my wife to AL (Background - I had dated this woman before going to AL and married her 6 months earlier to help with her immigration but we had decided that we would not move in together until we were really ready to "settle down"). So here I was - now married and living with my wife for the first time and starting a business that had been closed. Needless to say, the stress level was pretty high. I went from on and off using Lortab to using it everyday. I found a source which was a salesperson that used to work with me and I trusted him. For the next 3 years we ran this business, opened another location, moved my parents down to help and were doing pretty good. For these three years I took Lortab EVERYDAY. I had the 10's and my daily regimen was the same - I would take 1/2 pill when I woke up and 1/2 pill every 2-3 hours the rest of the day for a total of atleast 2 pills and max 3 and 1/2 pills per day. Everything I read said that I would "get used to" the dose and have to add more and I read that people who go to rehab take as many as 10-20 of these aday! I never "got used to" the effect and never had to take a higher dose - on occasion I would take a whole pill but I never so much as took 2 pills at one time - mainly because I didn't want to look drugged up as I was running this business with my family. I felt I had "control" over taking this medicine and was in no danger. There was another unintended good result of taking this medicine. I grew up around alot stress in my life - without describing everything let me just say that there are numerous drug addictions and enablers and mental conditions in my family. I was also fat growing up and never "fit in" at school. By the time I was around 17-18 years old I was having some pretty major anxiety and depression - a psychiatrist had prescribed my Buspar which made me feel like I was losing control and I quit taking it and quit seeing the doc and joined the Army! Although more confident when I returned from the Army training, I was still just as anxious as ever and having a problem dealing with it. In college, before joining the Army, and in the car business, after the Army, I had turned to alcohol and drugs (cocaine, pot, LSD, xtasy) to help deal with the stress and anxiety. I never got "addicted" to anything but I always had to be drunk in order to deal with a social setting.
When I started taking the Lortab, my anxiety and depression almost dissapeared! I was taking a somewhat low dose and I was feeling great! During the day, the Lortab would give me energy and focus and at night I would go to sleep pretty easily. Everything was good and I didn't feel "drugged up" ever. I thought that I would take this dose forever. I was concerned with the effects of this medicine on my liver and kidneys as I had read the damage that could happen. I also knew that I had family that took Tylenol or 800 MG Motrin everyday and everything I read said that under 4000 MG Tylenol was ok for me to take. The relatively low risk was worth the reward of such a balanced mental state! The third year of taking this dose I started getting another side effect. I dieted on and off over this three years and lost and gained weight - end result was I was overweight but not obese. One of those diets was an injection of this hormone that effects the hypothalmus and makes the body release fat stores while taking in only 500 calories aday. I did this for about a month while still taking the Lortab. I started getting these heart palpitations. It was scary and I quit the injections immediately. The symptoms got better but did not go away completely. I actually even went to the ER twice because I thought I might be having a heart attack! Everyone said, quit using tobacco (smokeless) and quit using caffeine and everything will be fine. They never knew about my Lortab use. Over the next 6 months or so the palpitations became worse and more frequent. I did research online and could not find anything definitive but I did read that taking that much NSAID's everyday could affect the respiratory system and cardiovascular system so I correlated the symptoms with taking the Lortab. I decided to quit the Lortab, so I cut down to 1 per day for a week and then stoppped altogether. I suffered extreme desire for the Lortab for about a week and then it kind of went away, although I still wanted to take it and did take 6-8 total pills over the next 3-4 months but nothing consistent. I haven't had any in over the last 3 weeks. Here comes my question:
First of all, since I quit taking the medicine, I haven't been able to sleep hardly at all. I get maybe 2-4 hours of sleep at a time but nothing consistent. My anxiety level has exploded. We sold our businesses and moved back to GA to open a new business but we have not been able to get it open yet so it has been 7 months now since I have worked. Money is very tight and my wife and I have had problems paying bills, etc. This has caused stress on our marriage as well. We bought a new house when we got back to GA and spent all the cash we had. I have not been able to sleep in the bedroom more than 4-5 nights for fear of someone breaking in (irrational I know, but the truth). I have a constant ringing in my ears which becomes way more evident at night when it gets quieter. I have a recliner in the living room and I sit there and watch tv and use computer to about 4 or 5 in the morning and finally fall asleep for a couple of hours. This is becoming a big problem for my health and for my marraige. My wife sleeps on the couch beside me in an effort to support me but she is getting real close to being fed up with it (remember, she doesn't know about the Lortab use). I have been to the doctor and he gave my Xanax which knocks me out and gives me that "drugged up" feeling and I can't take it.
I am really beginning to think that I may be better off using the low dose of Lortab that I was using than to keep going in the direction that I'm going in. Which is worse? Strain on my liver and kidneys and maybe the heart palpitations occassionally - or - the anxiety that had virtually dissappeared while taking Lortab, the total lack of consistent sleep and stress on my marraige, and the constant ringing of my ears? Any advice?
I have read that most UA's don't even test for Vicodin because it shows up differently than heroine would. But, you said you are on probation so they are probably testing for everything, huh?
I have read that Vicodin stays in your system for about 3-5 days depending on your health - for example, if your liver and kidneys operate normally it shouldn't take more than 5 days for it to be out of your system
I have read that Vicodin stays in your system for about 3-5 days depending on your health - for example, if your liver and kidneys operate normally it shouldn't take more than 5 days for it to be out of your system
I'll tell you what I did - I cut down to 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night for about a week and then through out what I had left which was about 14 pills. I had an intense feeling of dread while I was cutting back and I remember thinking "what if I can't get out of bed without a pill", "what if I can't carry on a conversation with people without a pill", "if I throw these out and I really, really need one, they won't be there". The bottom line is that I prayed that God would give me the strength, and, honestly, although I did have cravings, my worst fears were just in my imagination! I was able to function just fine even the next day - the biggest problem I had was the craving
If you cut back over the next three days to 1/2 in the morning and night and throw out what you have left at the end of the 3rd day and pray that God give you the strength to cope, YOU CAN DO IT! Just remember what you have to lose and use that as motivaiton!
If you cut back over the next three days to 1/2 in the morning and night and throw out what you have left at the end of the 3rd day and pray that God give you the strength to cope, YOU CAN DO IT! Just remember what you have to lose and use that as motivaiton!
nissa honey...ya need to get rid of the pills. your freedom depends on it...you can do this..
I'm used to taking 80-100mg per day, I took 80mg friday, none for 36 hours, then foolishly took 20mg today, and still have 100mgs left to take but I have to be clean by feb 27th or i'll lose everything!!!
It is also important to note that I do NO other drugs. I rarely drink - maybe 2-3 every two months or so. I don't even take herbs. I do however use smokeless tobacco and I drink an above average amount of caffeine. I very seldom drink energy drinks but I drink alot of can sodas. Does anyone know of Lortab being prescribed instead of benzo for anxiety?
I really need help getting off vicodin and don't know how! I've been buying them illegally, I am on probation now and lost my husband and don't want my daughter and job to be next!! I have 10 left, remember ILLEGAL pills, and I want to stop!! I had about 36 hours clean and gave in!!! I need help and need it now!!!
I guess that I am justifying the use of the Lortabs. What I'm saying is basically that I think the relatively low dose that I was taking I think would be ok if it was able to eliminate the anxiety and insomnia. What do you think? And, also I wanted to know if these heart palpitations could be caused from taking the Lortab? Thanks for your interest
Hi there! You've brought up some interesting points in your description of use...
In answer to your question: It's been 3 weeks and that's great. However, sleep is always the last to return to normal and anxiety is the last to go away.
I really hear what you're saying about going back to the Lortab and in a way, I can't blame you. How about giving it another week and evaluate again? To help promote sleep, pick up some Alteril. It's all natural and will calm you as well.
Post back with questions. We're happy to help!
In answer to your question: It's been 3 weeks and that's great. However, sleep is always the last to return to normal and anxiety is the last to go away.
I really hear what you're saying about going back to the Lortab and in a way, I can't blame you. How about giving it another week and evaluate again? To help promote sleep, pick up some Alteril. It's all natural and will calm you as well.
Post back with questions. We're happy to help!
welcome to the forum...i read your post and am confused at what you want to do. i get the fact that the benzos give a drugged up feeling they do it to me as well. as for the loratabs are you asking if it would be ok to use instead of benzos? or are you justifying a reason to return to loratabs? help me out and explain please....
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