I'm nevous and afraid of what I am going thru with these withdrawals.

[cetiya]

I am getting off the Duragesic Patch, that I have been on for about 5 months. Took it off Monday morning.  My doc was great and game me a million Oxys to get off the Fentanyl.
  One of my main fears is this strange violent "twitch" , it just lasts a second, but it's scaring me, maybe I have something wrong with my brain?
  Also, I have a weird rash on my face and hand, a low grade fever and a sore throat. I did go to a walk-in clinic and they gave me a creme to put on my face and hands.

[needhelpnow]

The twitxhing and jerking spasms are completely normal. I have been in w/d and had them almost knock me off the bed! Don't worry. Also, you tend to be filled with anxiety during W/d so each small thing scares you. Stay clean!

[cetiya]

I just had another one and it's feels like I'm being electrocuted.  I hope it is normal, it never happed before all this.

[Expillman]

A million Oxys?  Even one Oxy frightens me.  If you take Oxycontin for any period of time, you will be PHYSICALLY DEPENDANT [not necessarily addicted] and will have to go through withdrawal.  Your brain doesn't know or care if you are using them for legitimate pain or not.  It will become dependant on the Oxycontin and put you in agony when withdrawn.

Please be careful.

[suzieneedshelp]

I agree those jolts of electricity-like scared me the most!  I was told it is your brain seeking the drug!  It says....where is it?  I can't find it...And your brain chemistry may be changed like mine was and so... it will keep seeking it til it gets it by deceiving your mind (my thinking was/ is controlled by the disease) into using... or those jolts will eventaully wear off..as you stay the course with help and support.  Using another narcotic is dangerous but wil relieve some withdrawal from the other.  Of course narcotics are all the culprit...so it figures taking another just replaces the first, thus your brain is happy receiving any narc drug again.
Peace.. Suzie

[cetiya]

I know how bad Oxy's are, I just needed something to make the wds a bit more painless.  I am aready tapering off and I should be able to do so depending how bad these get and for how long.  I started with 20mg every 4 hours and then after a couple days; just took 3-4 more, towards the end I'm taking two, but I am anxious right now, paranoid about a lot of things, body aches.  The only good thing is I have been able to sleep. That was what I was really worried about.
  I have every intention to be off the hard core narcotics for my pain by the end of the month  (June, that is)

[cetiya]

I hope that didn't sound bitchy, Pillman?  Now I'm not thinking straight and last message didn't read right to me!

[Expillman]

Not at all.  It would take a lot more than that to get under this hide.

[Expillman]

I just donned my Monterry Breeze FIFTY DOLLAR sun hat and mowed my back yard!  I am in HOUR 120 of OXYCONTIN FREEDOM!

I am regaining control of my life.

I am as strong as a horse, have all my hair and have genes of iron [My father is living, 97 and on no meds].  I am not religious, but I have danced with THE DEVIL and subsequently tossed him out of my life.  He has made attempts to regain control, but has been repelled and is now on the run NEVER TO RETURN.

I refuse to go into depression!  I am not afraid of death and was ready to face it if necessary.  Not that I relish the thought of dying and missing out on precious life, my grandchild growing up or new scientific discoveries, but I was ready to go to the mat with this thing, whatever it took.

Hey, I also believe in the power of positive thinking!

Seriously, I have always been a rapid recoverer from the flu or surgery or whatever.  I have convinced myself that this will also be the case with this unfortunate malady.

[Susie B]

Your comments are so great! It's wonderful to see someone doing so well. I've been showing them to my husband as he's struggling a bit through his 3rd week.  I think seeing such positive progress is really helping him. Thanks and good luck. Please keep posting. Its the first time I've smiled in a while.

[suummerrwwinnd]

Someone please help!!  Those nasty anxiety attacks are returning.  I don't know how to deal with them w/o chemical help.  This is week 6 of no pills.

[lovelyneurotic]

the funny thing about anxiety meds is that they help during the time you're on them, but once you get off it seems like your previous anxiety is worse than ever.  Are you getting additional therapy to cope? I hope so. Also, alot of doctors are now prescribing buspar for anxiety because it is _not_ addictive with less side effects. The only thing is you have to wait a few weeks for the drug to build up in your system and start working at its fullest potential.

[AmberHunter]

hang in there sweetie, it will get better most likely. have you considered trying an herbal supplement like valerian? you can find natural treatment for anxiety from a good health food store...

if that doesn't help then you would be looking at short term use of benzo's... klonopin is long acting and in my opinion a good choice... just don't let yourself get too used to them. i use them for anxiety and they have helped tremendously and i have not abused them once... nor do i take them everyday...

good luck to you,

amber

[terter]

My friend is an ex addict who needs back surgery and will be on some type of pain pills, My question is will she go through withdrawls if she takes pills for an extended amount of time?? I asked my mom and she said if you go back to the amount you were taking when you were an addict it wont take long (a few days)before your faced with w/d. She says she'll take them as perscribed but for back surgery she'll probly be on high doses of something. She was taking about 25 norco 10s and a butt load of soma a day. She says the doc will have her take 2 10's (norco) every 4 hours thats 12 a day (yikes) if she takes that for 2 weeks will she suffer w/d I know this is general but any help would be great. Thanks TER

[eyeswideopen]

Due to insurance change I started seeing new doc who knew right away I was addicted (even though I denied until the cows came home). It really woke me up though and know that I'm sober enough from the latest binge I really need some help.  Can anyone tell me what the next step would be to get off Norco 10's 5-6 per day for 3 yrs? Some other message boards I checked out really terrified me and made me rethink quitting. I'll check back this evening. Thanks so much for any help given, it is really appreciated.

[Expillman]

Thanks, Susie.  I, for one, will be happy to see this month of May 2003 roll off into infinity.  I lost my wife earlier this month and now getting off of pain meds has given me DOUBLE TROUBLE.  

I'm simply NOT going to allow this to drag me down for weeks and weeks.  I've decided I'm through with it and that's that.

[snowbunny1]

Hey, hows it goin? In reference to your question and all of the comments from everyone, I would have to say that I dont think it is a good idea to trade in one drug for another, I believe that this just causes more and more problems for someone that already has or had an addiction. There are probably many side affects that will come along with your twitches but in time will get better. Its always a scary thought about coming off of any kind of drug and I believe that you will be ok. Hang in there! snowbunny1

[Susie B]

My deepest sympathy for your loss, and even bigger kudos for your brave fight at this time. Maybe there's some magic in that $50 Menterry Breeze Sun Hat!

[Chezz2]

Terter,

Yes it is VERY possible your friend who is an addict will become addicted relatively quickly taking 12 norco's a day after surgery. Just part of how our brains work. It doens't take much, nor a long time.

Snowbunny- You can not come straight off the patch without tapering down to another med and then tapering again from there. It would be a living hell to just pull the patch off and call it quits. Fentynl is VERY strong.

Regards,
Chezz

[willowgirl]

YOUR POSITIVE OUTLOOK  IS SOOO UPLIFTING.  I THINK WE GET SO CAUGHT UP IN THE BAD THAT WE FORGET THERE IS AN END SOMEWHERE IN SIGHT BUT WE DO HAVE TO SEEK IT OUT . NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE ON THIS BOARD BUT SO MANY OF THE COMMENTS ARE ABOUT HOW  NEGATIVE  THINGS ARE AND HOW HARD THIS IS, I UNDERSTAND THAT CONSIDERING WHAT WE ARE ALL GOING THROUGH. BUT TO HEAR SOMEONE TAKE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS RECOVERY IS ALMOST A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. I WISH , HOPE AND PRAY I CAN FEEL THE SAME SOMEDAY. I DO BELIEVE WE CAN ACHIEVE OUR GOALS.  I JUST THINK SO MANY OF US DONT KNOW HOW TO GET THERE. YOU ARE VERY INSPIRATIONAL. AND I WISH YOU ALL THE LUCK.  I HOPE YOU KEEP MOVING FORWARD AND KEEP THE DEMONS AWAY. AND AS FAR AS YOUR WORDS ABOUT THE DEVIL.  I DONT THINK I KNOW ONE ADDICT THAT HASNT DANCED OR DEALT WITH THE DEVIL, UNFORTUNATELY WE SOMETIMES DO THINGS IN OUR WEAKEST MOMENTS THAT WE REGRET. JUST REMEMBER THE DEVIL CANT GET YOU WHEN YOUR RUNNING THE OTHER WAY AND NOT SEEKING HIM OUT.  GOOD LUCK ON YOUR RECOVERY. AND KEEP UP THE POSITIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SarpyJesse]

Positive posts and people are always the BEST way towards sobriety and/or becoming free of dependence/addiction -- That's what helped me the most!

Oh and one more thing... MY EARS ARE HURTING FROM YOU'RE YELLING YOUR POST OUT ON THE BOARD!~ Just making funny with you, Willow... I understand that some keyboards cannot type the lowercase, so I'm not going to assume that you actually MEANT to yell at us..... Hehehe

Jess

[Expillman]

I am in Hour 126 of OXYCONTIN FREEDOM.  After a busy morning and a short nap I decided to visit one of my favorite drawers of my big oak desk.  One week ago this might have read the drawer where the pills are, but they are gone now.  A few days ago this would have been unthinkable, I would have looked even more ridiculous crawling around  my house in severe drug withdrawal with one of these, but I digress.  Yes, only last Tuesday or Wednesday the prospect of doing what I have done today would be enough to make me burst into tears, but I have come a long way [baby].

I lifted the lid of my trusty humidor and selected one of my tasty Punch Rare Corojo Reds and headed outside.  I was not prepared for the absolutely exquisite rebirth of my taste buds after three years of  chemical dependency had apparently ravaged my senses.  I have never enjoyed a cigar more as I set on the patio under the azure canopy of the Cosmos and contemplated my progress, time and the universe.

Not being a dualist, it is my firm conclusion that this life is the only chance we have in this universe.  Compared to the great vastness of the cosmos, the ocean of deep time, my individual existence is a blip, a bubble in the foam on the surface of a flowing river. I am a momentary arrangement of atoms and molecules - an arrangement that lives and moves, to be sure, an arrangement that thinks, laughs, appreciates beauty, dreams, and loves - but a mere arrangement nonetheless, a transient state, an ephemeral gathering. Soon the blip will go out, the bubble will pop, the arrangement will dissolve, molecular bonds released by entropy. My consciousness will cease. But the molecules that once were me will still exist. The atoms that made up my body - iron, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, all the heavy elements forged in the crucibles of dying stars - will remain. Liberated from their temporary homes, they will rejoin the rest of the planet, taking new shapes, finding new arrangements, becoming part of other life. I will, in a sense, become merged with everything.

I will be the momentary sparkle of sunlight on the surface of a flowing mountain stream. I will be high in the stratosphere, near that ineffable boundary where life-giving blue fades to violet and black. I will be subducted into the planet's core and join the three hundred million-year cycles of the continental plates. I will be the intense red and yellow of a tree's leaves in autumn, the flash and swoop of a dragonfly's glittering wings, the sleek white bolt of a deer's tail, the brown feathers of a soaring hawk, the silver scales of a leaping fish. I will be in each drop of rain in a storm, each wave in the ocean, each breath of a newborn child. And billions of years from now, when our sun swells and blasts the Earth's atmosphere away, I will be there, streaming away from the charred remnant of the planet into space, to rejoin the stars that gave my atoms birth. In the fullness of time, I will become distributed throughout the entire cosmos.


Isn

[Thomas03]

that's a very lonely picture you paint of that empty drawer. Depressing. I hate drawers that don't contain Rx bottles. 'Don't believe in em.

Thomas

[Expillman]

Well, young man, tell me what you THINK, not what you BELIEVE, that is if your neurons are not to fried from abuse.  A crack across your knuckles for having the reading comprehension of a cherry clam and tact of a churlish troll.

[cetiya]

I'm so sorry about your wife. I admire your strength, that you havent given up on your desire to be sober.
I spent the morning at the ER cos my legs, arms and face all have this reddish rash on them, and my legs, from the knees down are extrememly swollen  The ER doc said I think you are having some reaction to the Oxy's and thought I should go back on the patch until I can see my pain specialist. Screw that!  Anyway he got a hold of my doc on call, who said "no way" so I'm on prednisone.
  Has anyone ever gotten a rash or swollen face or feet during wd's??
  so it's been 6 days since I had the patch.(of course I cheated, but still, at least I'm not at my doc's office begging and crying for my Fentanyl, or saying my dog ate it.)  I hope I can work this next week, I'm very spacy on these drugs, still being electrocuted on and off during the day, paranoid and anxious.  but I don't feel so alone after reading all these posts.