Its That Time! October 2014 Roll Call!!

[ActingBrandNew]

Hey everybody! Its time for our monthly roll call. Its good to see so many new people on the forum and always a pleasure to log on and see the old faithful members that have been here for years sharing their wisdom. Ive been clean for 4 years and 8 months and I still get a lot out of this forum. Their will always be somebody who says something in a certain way that just resonates with me. Recovery is a lifelong journey and I'm blesses to be on it.

So, without further ado, its that time! On this thread, we introduce ourselves and share our various lengths of clean time and for those in AA we will be politically correct and call it sobriety for you :) It does not matter how long you've been clean...1 day or 20 years, we would love to meet you and hear about it. Matter of fact, you dont even have to be clean to post here. Nope....lurkers are encouraged and welcomed! Let this be the icebreaker thread for you! So I hope we get a lot of people this month...it seems like we get less and less now. Don't want this thread to die off because its a great place to share hope and encourage others.

Much Love,
ABN

[msdelight]

I missed this!  398 days off percocet. Yay! Feeling good.

[winks67]

5 days off vicodin and today was hard but tomorrow is gonna be good!

[momof2_26]

58 days clean from methadone. I've noticed my sense of humor is back and I laugh more easily since I've stopped methadone....like I'd lost my personality during active addiction. Did anyone else notice something like that? I don't think I'd even noticed not ever really being happy when I was on it.  

[ActingBrandNew]

Congrats to everyone...Im going to bump this. Hoping some more people decide to share!

[newlife52]

210 days......waited to post until I was FINALLY starting to feel better! (I was on hydros for 19 years)

Next...quit smoking!!

[addict3]

Congrats to everyone on their clean time!
2365 days here.

[mommymarieme]

Congratulations everyone!! Keep up the good hard work!! It gets sooooo much better! Living life is absolutely amazing :) 388 days clean! Thank you everyone!

[clemno]

Day six free from Oxycodone. I am hoping the worst is over. It has been 8 yrs and at 55 yr old, it's not easy. I am thankful I found this site. I want to want to do things again without needing pills to make me feel like it. I don't even know if that makes sense. Thank you!

[MLD61095]

Hi, I'm brand new to this forum and I am SO thankful to have found you compassionate loving people! I'm a 44 yo healthcare worker, Mom to 4 beautiful kids, and wife to a wonderful man! I went on opiates for pain back in 2006 shortly after being diagnosed with RA. I had already been dealing with chronic pain for a number of years and just could not work another 12 hr shift on my feet, and then come home and take care of 4 kids, ages 2 to 17. My husband works out of state and for 16 days out of the month, I'm a single Mom. Over the years I developed a serious opiate addiction, and eventually was confronted by my family. I immediately started seeing a therapist, had my husband and sister lock up all my meds and dole them out to me, had my Dr. Switch me from Fentanyl 100mcg patches to methadone for pain. I accepted that I am an addict, and I need and will always need help to manage both this disease and my chronic severe pain. My Arthritis is so debilitating that one day I stepped Into my car, when I shifted me weight to my left leg to get in, my knee dislocated, bent backwards, and I went down. Ofcourse, I tore my ACL, and several other ligaments/tendons in my left calf. Anyways...I don't feel sorry for myself, really I don't! Lol, just giving some history into my situation. My hope is that maybe some day I can cut the pain meds out completely, or at the very least, cut them back to an as needed regimen. I was in an auto accident when I was 18, the trucks tire blew out and sent it rolling, throwing 3 of us threw the windshield, and I woke up out in a field but couldn't remember why or how I got there. Definitely one of the scariest moments in my life! One passenger died, and 2 if us were transported to a nearby hospital where My family was told I had broken my left hip, left leg, left arm, and had suspected massive internal injuries, on x-ray all they could see was cloudyness. I was transferred to a much larger hospital, the ambulance ride was so painful, because they suspected internal injuries, they could not give me pain medications. It was the most excruciating pain (I had 4 babies a la natural) imaginable, and I went atleast 12 hrs w/o pain med. when the new hospital staff did the necessary tests, the cloudyness was gone, and there was NO signs of internal injuries! By the grace of God in my belief!!!!  He saved my life! So..... Needless to say, I have ALOT of Arthritis from those injuries as well, and the back injury is why I have the severe muscle spasms that until my Dr put me on Soma, I would end up at the ER or in his office for IV pain meds to try to relieve the pain of muscle spasms. So....I kinda need the Soma but I HAVE to conquer the temptation to misuse it when I wanna "check out" for the day when life gets tuff for me. I also suffer from chronic severe Depression. I also ofcourse know how dangerousness abusing Soma is and that it could absolutely kill me! So...there are 2 choices here...either get the Soma abuse under control as I did the opiate abuse, OR stop taking the Soma all together and have ER visits take over my life again. : (((  any advice is very very welcome!!! I'm just so happy and relieved to have found all of you this time around! Sorry about how long the post is and believe me! I left a lot out! Lol

[EvolverU]

94,1760 minutes off opiates. (Some effortlessly & some one second @ a time -- all of it worth it!)

Thanks E!

[clean_in_ks]

My tracker says 838 days which means I've been clean for 2 YEARS and 3-1/2 MONTHS!!!

While getting off opiates was the hardest thing I've ever committed to doing in my life.....it is the biggest gift of FREEDOM I've ever experienced in my life as well.  If you're scared to quit....that's normal....but I was also scared NOT to quit... for I knew I was surely killing myself.  

Thanks ABN for keeping this VERY IMPORTANT thread alive!

[Turnthecorne]

On day 5 of methadone free life!!! Did a slow taper from 100 mg and went to 3 mg and jumped!! No cakewalk but I will make it! My worse symptoms are by far NO sleep and the RLS but I must say day 3 and 4 were worse than day 5 so far !! Many thanks to my dear friend Gnarly for his encouraging words and wisdom.  God bless all and take care!!!

[Sonrissa]

Hi ABN & all.  I am between 6 & 7 months, I think? I'm not very good at tracking the days. It's always one day at a time, and just for today, for me.

All the best to everyone!

[NeverAgain127]

10 days off oxy.  I still feel pretty terrible,but I'm not giving up.  SOOO glad I foud this place.   Thank you!

[gyspy09]

57 days sober from alcohol!!    :)

[glassguy]

85 days for me NO MORE Norcros!!!! :-) :-) :-)

[Sarah11212]

8 days shy of 2 years here!

[brandiroars386]

374 days!!!  Whoo ooohhhhh hoooo

[bama88]

Two years one month and two days .....doing the right things will lead you to the right places

[Whyme1116]

196 days!!! Feeling great. Congrats everyone!!!! xo

[weaver71]

828 days free of street methadone

Insomnia was the hardest part at first, but I think dealing with my moods has been the greatest challenge overall. The progress feels slow and not so steady, but it's still better than living as a slave to pills, dealers, secrecy.

Being off methadone is nothing like I thought it would be, so I had to learn to watch my expectations closely, about everything. And I must always remember, we place progress over perfection, ever reminding us to place principles over personalities.

Thanks for being here, Every ONE!

[ActingBrandNew]

You had back surgery and took the meds as prescribed, Id claim your year too! You dont have to start over because of that...life happens. You didn't abuse the pills. Congrats on your clean time! Sorry your pain is coming back:(
Hang in their!

[Amandag78]

Im also trying not to smoke cigs anymore, but im loosing the battle.
Its so hard, our smokes for a carton (6 pks of 30) cost $150 Aus $'s and i buy 2 cartons a week.
But i will attempt this final hurdle very soon.

[vicki595]

Hi everyone! Thanks for keeping up with Roll Call, Evan!

I have 4 years and 6 months. My life is good and I feel good nearly all the time. I'm very fortunate but I had a lot of support along the way. I know this can't be done alone and I hope everyone is making a plan for recovery care if they don't have one already!