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Hydro Withdrawal - Cold Turkey?

I recently found out my husband is addicited to pain medication and done a good job of hiding it for some time now.  While several injuries have made it easy for him to go directly to doctors for hyrdos and relaxers it has gone far beyond to some extremes to obtain a"fix".  Its consumed him and our lives have been destroyed little pieces at a time.  I finally found some relief in asking him to leave and pray he finds his way to help. There have been so many lies i can't even believe he is trying to quit when he says it.

He said he can stop cold turkey .  Is that even possible when you average at least 60 pills a week?
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7671414 tn?1395660495
I just cried reading your post.She is right Inthedark&sad.If you choose to stay with him(and I hope u do) u have to be there for him.After all is said and done,when he is finally clean,you can tell him all u were feeling while this was happening.Now,if u decide to stay away,you can not blame him if he gets clean and decides if he goes back it might trigger a relaps.The best thing I can say for u both is to get some kind of counseling.Through your church or where ever you can and feel comfortable.he will go through hell but,so will you.I have been on both sides and neither is a picnic.good luck and  whatever u decide,you are not alone.I have been on this sight(writing) for only 3 days and feel so much better.
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Avatar universal
Honestly thw best way to quit is to wean off of them u will still have sone withdrawls but it won't be so bad when withdrawling from this medication u have to be very careful especially if u have other health concerns because ur blood pressure can become elevated and lack of sleep can put a lot of strain on ur body but if hes healthy I would still suggest at least taking one or two a day for about three days then juat stop taking them altogether. ...that was how I did it GOODLUCK
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Avatar universal
So I'm pretty new here, but I thought I'd share on this post.

Both of my parents were drug addicts while i was growing up, my dad eventually died of a heroin overdose...the first kid of 4 to die from the same cause out of his siblings. My mom, a meth addict untill her 6th stint in rehab broke her addiction when i was 12. The statistics standing against me have always pushed me towards being 100% drug free,( because I know my genetics made me a target)  ive always had that "ill be fine, gimme some motrin" attitude. Untill I fell victum to a dr with an open prescription pad and he told me i needed " to give myself a break" when i blew my rotator cuff and had my scapula detatch from my body. I'm a 25 year old who just went through shoulder surgery, 48 stitches, two bolts screwed into my arm, three incision points, and had to cut half my pectoralis major in half and grafted it to my shoulder blade. I am no stranger to feeling like I got hit with a freight train. That being said, I'm also a person that can handle pain, gone through two childbirths 100% natural.
Still, with major willpower, full comprehension of my chances of addiction due to genetics, and living through the most traumatizing childhood of watching my parents shoot each other up at the youngest of ages and being set on never being that way.....my body got hooked on opiates after just 4 months.

It never was a thought in my mind, took everything EXACTLY as I was directed, and I watched my tolerance, in coordinence with my dr's prescriptions go up, up, up, and I was screwed.
Every morning I woke up, I'd be in pain. Every night they put me to sleep. Every holiday, birthday, etc... I had to make sure I had my pills, because if I didn't I'd disappoint my kids by failing to deliver that special moment. I didn't get honest with my mom, (going on 14 years clean now) untill the day of my surgery. I told her everything, and how scared I was to become an addict. And not just a body stuck without a medicine, but a human being creating a psychological addiction. She had me from there, this past Saturday was 4 weeks, 1 day post-opp and I cold turkeyed my 100 4 mg dilaudid tabs.
Luckily, I found dilaudid to be less difficult to initially quit because the half life fools you, but by day two, I was crying, puking, literally felt like I was dying. I old MY husband, (who ironically has basically the exact same upbringing, except his parents still use) who ultimately don't believe me.
I had gotten so good at hiding my physical dependence that he literally, never even knew.
He immediately supported me 100% when I told him how much, and long I'd taken the pills. I can say today, at three days in full 100% detox, no tapering, no benzos, methadone. I'm okay, but it's been NO cake walk.
If it wasn't for the support of my family, friends, and my kids making me get up and hug them, I'd have relapsed.
BUT, I did use a few remedies that might help, but are a little unethical.
I got a legal club card, and smoked weed at night to knock me out, 800 mg motrin, peppermint tea for stomached aches, 5-htp for al around emotions, passionflower extract for bowels, sleep, and mood. And melatonin ten mg...like 6 at a time lol.
Along with water, Epsom salt baths, and legit....sunshine. I'm not looking to be judged, I know it sounds terrible, I should've known better, but with MY method, on just day three of cold turkey after a 100 pills a week habit, (that my dr left constantly filled) got me to feel well enough to snap into my life with minimal stomache issues, best mood, acceptable sleep and the best outlook to complete this hell of a recovery.

Keep the faith, if anyone knows the pain of negligence and lies its me and support is the one thing pushing me, AND my mom into recovery (I only hope I can say I'm 14 years clean some day)

Pushing him away is a mistake, addiction is NOT his fault, it's a moment of weakness that he needs you the most. Shield your kids, without leaving your husband alone to sufferer addiction, and possibly overdose alone.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
i do not pretend to know your house, you or your husband i can only tell you from my stand point and what happened in my house.

in the end you have to do what is best for you and your children and if you feel making him leave is the best then thats what you have to do.

me and my husband talked about this last night and his comment was, making him leave would have only made it worse and push him more toward the pills. Lucky we had something happen in our life that made my husband wanna get clean.

Good/Bad news is this, it will make him get clean, he will miss his family and wanna do it for you guys, bad news is he will feal as if he's lost everything and there's nothing to get clean for.

I was lied to as well, i've got 4 kids also, i was and still am pissed, but i've also been married to this man for 15 years and i just couldnt turn my back on him, if i wasnt going to help him get clean who would. I choose to take that on, i did my research and home work and these guys let me know what i was in for. Our family didnt know, my friends didnt know, i had no one to talk to other than here. But after 9 days of cold turkey im am glad i choose this path, my family is stronger for it. My husband is clean and i know without a shawdow of a doubt he would have done it for me also.

I'm here to help you not to tell you what to do, you as well as him can only decide that. I hope everything works out for you, no indiviual is alike so what worked for me may not work for you, then again it might.

good luck
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Avatar universal
The problem is that is the easy part the mental part after is the real problem........
The cravings that will come the lies and justification to use again......

addicts love to embelish pain they don't have head achs they have massive migranes.....
they dont have back achs they have 10 ruptured discs.............
they don't have small kidney stones they have Asteroids passing.........

addicts have to change everything about how they think.......a drug addiction counselor is a good way to start and most times inpatient drug rehabs to change the addiction thinking........

to stop using will be his problem and his only ........but after he quits then your support will be a big plus.......go to meetings with him N/A.............you should both go to Narconon together........
This will be a life long struggle and he will have to commit himself to recovery........

good luck
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Avatar universal
It is very possible at 60 pills a week that is around 8 a day.........
In the end I was doing 40-50 pills a day plus dilaudid and fentanyl....and sometimes heroin too......

At 8 pills a day C/T will last 5-7 days of bad flu symtoms.......
some amodium would really help some gateraid and some tylenol PM to help him sleep.....

It is very possible and probable that he can do it if he puts his mind to it.........
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Avatar universal
Thanks, that perspective is good for me
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Avatar universal
I struggled with a heroin addiction for 3 years in my early 20s until I got clean for 25 years, and worked my way through prescription pain killer addiction for the last 6 years.  I can tell you from experience that support from others is good to have once you've made the decision to get clean, because getting through the withdrawal symptoms is only the start of the battle.  But support from others isn't nearly enough until that decision to stop is made inside the addict.  

Like FLaddict said above, you have to hit bottom before you get yourself ready to stop.  And until you're ready to stop, really ready deep inside, all the good intentions and support from other people don't make a bit of difference.  It's totally up to him to make the commitment to get clean, and unfortunately that commitment usually doesn't happen until an addict suffers big loses.  

So I'd say make sure you take care of yourself and your children, and hope that your husband finds the strength he needs to make the commitment to himself.  If he does, maybe you'll find that you still love him enough to offer support.  And maybe you'll find that you don't.  Junkies don't just inflict loses on themselves, but also on the ones who love them.

I was the first born son to a family of 6 kids, and I was the brightest star of my family's galaxy.  But after I became a junky my parents had to make the decision to stop having me come around because it wasn't good for the younger kids.  Dealing with a lying, cheating, conniving junky is not an easy thing to do.  They made a decision that was best for the family and asked me to stay away from the house and the family until I got clean.  It was an incredibly hard thing for my mom to do, but even that wasn't a big enough lose for me to commit to getting clean.  I had to lose much more.

After I got straight and got my life on track, their arms and hearts opened wide to me again.  I'm again a star in my family, maybe even a bigger one now for having overcome my problems.  But some of my other relationships were damaged too badly to be repaired.  So only time will tell.
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Avatar universal
Had my husband come to me or admitted anything before i was burnt of all support, i would have fought for him tooth and nail.  Now i don't feel like i have the energy or its fair.  Am i not doing enough continuing to keep the children safe and focused, while he goes on his own to focus on figuring out his issues?  He worked but couldn't even contibute to his children. Nothing but lies.  I wish the best for him but there are more times then not were i just feel spent and unable to offer any more support.
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Avatar universal
are you there girlfriend?
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Avatar universal
also get rid of any pills that may be in your house make him do then same, there will be a time his body starts needing the pills and the mind games take over ok he will ramsack the house looking for something but you've got to take care of that up front.

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Avatar universal
grr i just wrote you this long post and its gone oh well try again.

i know how you feel, last week i found out my hubby was taking 15 a day for a year and i didnt know it. I thought what he had was the flu but after a strange phone call and some research i found he was having withdrawls, called and confronted him and he finnally broke down and told me the truth. He said a friend had gotten arrested and he scared him enough to quit, so he had been cold turkey for a day. he was scared to tell me but when he finnally did he said it was the best thing he could have done.

i know your angery right now, your sad, feel like crying, dont know where to go from here, wanna lash out at all who might have known and didnt tell you, i know g/f i've been there just last week. i told someone yesterday i think i need more counciling than he does cause im just so angery.

but your first priority right now is getting him off those drugs, i choose to help my hubby, i did alot of research and found this place, man i dont know what i would have done without it. my hubby didnt want me telling anyone not even his family so all i had was here.

we are 8 days tolday cold turkey and im not gonna lie its hard.

flu like symptons, leg cramps are the worse, unable to sleep or eat, diehere, throwing up, skin crawls all apart of it. day 2 i went and bought a sleep aid non pain med and non addictive and it helped alot it allowed him to rest at night. now day 8 legs are still sore and no engery but all in all good day.

i know its hard and i will not tell you what to do, but right now your hubby needs support and love. mine said he was scared to tell me afriad i would make him leave and when he found out i was there for better or worse it gave him the strength to keep going. we are better and closer for that.

im here for you cause just last week i was you. if you wanna talk please feel free to i will help you in anyway i can.

but if you choose to help you husband, you can not nag or gripe, you cant yell at him, you have to support him one hundred %. I rubbed my husbands back and legs till he feel asleep, i laid over the toilet with him while he puked, i keeped him going and you will have to do the same ok, no 1/2way, your either in it for the long haul or not at all no 1/2 way.

remember your first priority is getting him off and keeping him off, you can yell when thats done g/f .
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182493 tn?1348052915
OK, withdrawal symptoms include sweating/chills, restless legs, flu like symptoms, diarreah. its like the flu time 10plus. usually lasts about 5-7 days for the accute symptoms longer for the lingering depression and sleeplessness..

no just quitting isn't enough, there must be some kind of after care, therapy, meetings of some kind. you are right its really about the behaviors associated with addiction. the addiction is just another symptom of what is wrong.
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Avatar universal
What are the withdrawal symptoms? How long does it last? How long till its out of the body?

Is just quitting enough or is it necessary to work the 12 step program and understand why you behave the way you do?  It seems to me that over the years the addiction has taken on different phases and the lying and cumpulsive behaviors have always been there so there is some real knowledge to be gained.  Trying to believe in the programs but don't know what i don't know.
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Avatar universal
What are the withdrawal symptoms? How long does it last? How long till its out of the body?

Is just quitting enough or is it necessary to work the 12 step program and understand why you behave the way you do?  It seems to me that over the years the addiction has taken on different phases and the lying and cumpulsive behaviors have always been there so there is some real knowledge to be gained.  Trying to believe in the programs but don't know what i don't know.
Helpful - 0
182493 tn?1348052915
welcome, 60 pills a week is alot, however there are people here taking 20-30 a day so if they can quit so can your hubby he just has to really want to for himself and not anyone else.. asking him to leave was a good thing, the more he loses hopefully the faster he gets help.. he will have to hit his "bottom" and everyone's is different. Mine wasn't that bad.. wasn't over spending, wasn't stealing money or lying to my hubby, I had just had enough of it.. Now its almost been 4 months with none and it was worth it..
Best of luck to you
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