LIVER PROBLEMS FROM LONG TERN VICADIN USE

[vicaddict]

HI everyone...hope you are all doing well tonight.

Now although I KNOW that tylenol is horrible for your liver, and even more so with the constant use of it and or the vicodin.

What I am worried about is this, and have been for some time..one would think it would have been enough to make me stop long before now!

What are the chances that I have ruined my lover by the vicodin use. I did ask my dr. to check my levels oh about 6 months ago., maybe even a little better than that. I asked him to as I had read it was bad for the liver taken in access. He said my results were normal, at that time.

When I see my Dr on Monday I also am going to mention it to him again when I let him know just how much of these things I was taking.

Now steadily I would say...almost the past yr maybe yr. and a hlaf since I started on these heavily. IE: 8-10/day...some 5/500..some 7.5/750.
I am now quite scared I may have done serious damage. Anyone that has had any damage to the liver from using?

Thank you in advance.

[CRIMINAL]

i started using in 1998 but didnt get my liver enzyme levals checked till 2003 and luckily at the time they wer fine so i kept using. then 2years later my levals wer slightly elavated but i didnt care and again kept using..now recently when i got tested in 2006 my liver enzyme levals are now double and tripple normal levals!! the doctor told me iv done alot of damage to my liver, (luckily i dont have hepatitis) and i must stop now or *eventualy* end up with liver failure

[vicaddict]

Hun..you have got to stop. God that sounsds so hiporcritical
(probably spelled wrong) coming from me.

But me just like you..when I had my levels checked last..it's like hey cool no big deal..I can still play. But "eventually" that play is going to come to an end...either by our choice or the demons.

I am hopeing the Dr has given you something that can help repair the liver..unless there isn't anything that can help with that.
I know the liver can repair itself given the poison is no longer being fed into the body and that no major damage has been done.

Sweety...you are way too young. You have proven you can stay clean...you can do it, I can feel it. The next 20 day mark think how proud you will feel...then 30..then say hey this time I am going all the way.....imagine the feeling that alone will bring. I know it is all so much easier said, and as I always say..I give good advice yet don't take it myself. But I really hate to see people suffer like this, and I hate that I am where I am too. But only we can change it. But I also know all to well how hard it can be to be addicted to something and not be able to give up it's hold. I really hope you find a way out for good this time, and have the healthy happy life you deserve..I honestly do and I am praying for you.

[zaane]

Yes. I survived liver failure from overdosing on the acetaminophen in my vicodin. My body was going into congestive heart failure and I was in a state of confusion. I Could not even figure out how to dial a phone.  Lucky for me, the liver has the ability to repair itself. My doctor told me that in all her years of practice, she has never seen a liver bounce back like mine did. She was convinced that I would be on the liver transplant list by the time she came back the next morning.

[vicaddict]

Wow zaane....there were angels over you hun! Amazing story. But, at least you are here to tell it, right!

How did that happen? I mean was it an over time thing, or did you take too many at once type of thing?

Glad to see your still here, thought maybe you left the building. :)

[memily79]

this might be too little too late, but get you some milk thistle.  it works wonders, not only does it strengthen and help for future problems, it has been show to repair minor damages as well.

[creek]

My God, this is so educational.  I have only been using this site for a few days. I too have known for years I am overdosing on tylenol daily.  Why do I feel "it will never happen to me" and yet when I go to sleep at night I regret not treating my body with more respect.  I'm killing myself slowly and I don't have enough common sense to stop.

[memily79]

if it were common sense, it would have been over a long time ago...

[CRIMINAL]

yes the liver can regenerate itself but it can only regenerate itself so much..like my doctor told me "hes sure i have perminant damage with the kind of levals i have"  but also told me if i stop now i should be okay.

[vicaddict]

Awsome hun! Thanks for the information! Is it in a liquid or capsule? I imagine it would be by vitamins in the drug store??

[zaane]

Yes. Just from this minor relapse I can feel my liver "squeezing" right this second on right hand side right below my rib cage.

[vicaddict]

Wow...so amazing and so scary! WHat did I do to myself. All thsoe times I took 8 pills in a day..like Creek said..she knew she was od'ing on tylenol daily why didnt that make her quit. Ditto to that one. Although, I never thought of it that way..I thought it was an over-time process. But given the amounts I took in one day...man.

[vicaddict]

Hun..please go see that specialist!!! Please?

[vicaddict]

When did you relapse last hun? You probably did tell me..but I have been back and forth between numerous posts tonight, sorry if you did already tell me.

Have you been to see a dr for this yet???

[CRIMINAL]

i keep procrastinating lol..il get there..

[vicaddict]

Ahhhhh, we do have alot in common! lol....but do please go.

[nefesh]

oh no... away I go...down the drain?...I been taking about 7500 mg. or more Tylenol daily with my Darvon for years because that's the easiest way for me to get the darvon, can't get enough percocet which has less tylenol per... is that more or less than what you guys are talking about??

[Greif06]

It is all of our hope taht everyone will recoer from their addiction. Statistics are frighting. For those of you taking more than 6 viks a day there is a simple process to eliminate teh tylenol. This is not the forum to discuss this method but you can google. I always took vics and percs only after extracting APAP or tylonol. I hope you all make it, but if it takes a few more years get rid of the tylonol which will kill you. Any opiad without Apap etc is schedule 2 and no doctor will give it to you unless you are terminal. I have beeen off any opiad for just under a week. It was hell quiting but worth all the pain and suffering. I still have sore ankles but thats all.

[The Hobbit]

So, how much tylenol do you have to take to constitute liver damage? I have heard that the golden number (toxic level) is 2000mg (4 pills in my situation). I have never taken over 4 pills because of this number. Do you think that I could still have done damage to my liver simply because I usually take 3 at one time? I hear of people taking 10 or more pills and I am shocked. For those of you whom have suffered liver problems, how many were you taking? Do you have any medical information to put my mind at rest?

[zaane]

When my liver went into failure I was taking 20 vicodin ES a day.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that my addiction would take control of me like that. I used to be a 6-10 a day person for years, but it finally beat me.

[pillhead299]

THis is scary to me, I knew that it was bad for my liver but just didn't care because I wanted to use.  I am not exaggerating here I was taking at least 10 5mg percasets at one time just to get the "high"  that I was used to and those had 500mg acetaminophen, and then I was taking about 20 pills a day to keep from getting the wd.  It was horrible and i never would have imagined that I would ever be taking that many, last year around this time I was taking about 4 5mg percs.  Do you think that I have done liver damage?  I am going to ask the nurse at the clinic what she thinks.  It's scary to think that it might already be too late to stop the damage.  

[fit_hits_the_shan]

Yea hey everyone.  I've been surfing around different posts looking for this exact subject.  Here's the spill. I am 24 and have been taking hydros for about 3 years. It started innocently enough with just taking 2 or 3 every few weeks. Now it has become a horrible all consuming nightmare I can't wake up from.  I currently have to take 12-15 5/500 just to get relief from the w/d's, that only helps me for about 3-4 hours and then I take more. I prolly take close to 30 5/500's in a day and I never seem to actually get a buzz.  I know I'm killing myself and thanks to Zaane I now know what that bulging knot on the right side of my abdomen is.  I don't see any end to this without professional help, don't have the willpower to go through w/d's and get off this horrible candy created by Satan.  Does anyone know what the whole Methadone Clinic thing is like.  PLEASE HELP.........

[mr.lucky66]

I heard that new controls on these hydro/tylenol pills will be coming. They are too easy to get and too many people are getting hooked on them and damaging their livers. The sad part is that these drugs aren't even strong narcotics like oxycontin or heroin and you get a little dope and a lot of tylenol. These boards here are full of people hooked on vicodin more than anything else and I hope they make them harder to get with no refills. I would rather see people take oxycontin than vicodin for their livers sake. They would be way more addicted but not as liver damaged. I would really like to see people get through detox and not get re addicted as I did so many times. Here on these boards we are fixated on detox WD and not as focused on not taking these drugs AFTER DETOX. All the best

[SCAREDSTRAIT]

I HAVE BEEN TAKING 10-12 750'S A DAY FOR OVER 3 YEARS AND AM SCARED ABOUT THE DAMAGE I AM CAUSING. HAD ANYONE EXCEEDED THIS AMOUNTS AND PERIOD AND HOW MUCH LONGER DO I HAVE BEFORE I SEE SERIOUS LIVER PROBLEMS? I FEEL MY LOWER BACK HURTING WHICH I KNOW IS A BAD SIGN. ANYONE PLEASE???