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as far as the methadone goes. where does your husband think the missing methadone is going? does he know that you are taking it from him. i know you must feel like **** for doing this but that is part of what we do. but part of what we can do is get sick and tired of lying and cheating to get high and we can stop doing it. you are most likely going to feel uncomfortable with either back pain or withdrawl... if you come off the methadone, even tapering down off of that small dose can be rather nasty but going without medication if you are really in pain is bad too...
getting honest with your doctor is a real good start, and if you haven't gotten honest with your husband yet, depending on your relationship with him, you might want to talk to him honestly about what is going on too...
good luck, hang in there, it does get better if you want it to.
amber
Be honest with your doc...maybe he/she can help with detox (non narcotic) meds. How long you have been dabbling in your husband's meth is also crucial. Maybe it won't be a big deal but you don't want to be feeling really bad with no back up-otherwise the meth is right there and you WILL sucumb to temptation. If you have been dabbling for a prolonged period of time...you may have a lot of discomfort. I'm on 22mg meth/day and I am small...I feel GREAT discomfor when without meth after 48hrs...but I have also been abusing narcotics daily for 1.5 yrs and have a history of abuse. If I was your husband, I would say "Take responsibility for yourself and get your own meth " Just don't hide behind your husband's problem. Not trying to be offencive-just honest. I have chronic daily migraines and take Naproxyn and recently a beta blocker...though I could get narcotics if I wanted. I was surprised to find...they work! ...give the non-narcotics a chance for your pain and please stop the meth: 20mg is not a little and the withdrawl need not be too bad if you stop now. You don't want to end up at your husbands meh clinic with him...or maybe you need to?!
I hope the best for you-its great you are admitting it....does he know?...I think you should be honest with him and have him hide it from you.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Robyn.
I started taking the Lortab for chronic back pain associated with my gastric bypass surgery. I had lost 70 lbs. in 4 months and my spine was out of whack. So I was taking the 5's, about 10 a day then moved up to the 7.5's and was taking 20-25 a day. I would stress and become a raving manic if I was even close to running out. SO that went on for 5 months, then I went to a Pain Management doctor, a/k/a Legal Drug Dealer. He prescribed Oxycodoine(sp? and Methadone 10 mg 6 times a day. I started taking the Meth and Oxy. on March 17th and had a reaction where my tongue swelled up and had over 100 blisters on it. The PM doctors answer to the was "Well, I don't think your tongue is going to fall off." So I stopped taking them and ended up in
up in a detox hospital four days later. I had only taken them for 11 day and went throught the worse withdrawls that my BF and I checked myself into the hospital for three day. I stopped on a Friday and had a 16 hour panic attack that took me to the ER. It was the worse thing the I have ever been through. Basically, I knew that it was time to stop and I was ready. I just knew that I couldn't do it alone. But please watch for the panic atacked and talk to you doctor because they can give you something to help, Catapris and Klonipon and Trazadone (sp's?) They are a life saver for all they your body goes through.
So there is my story and my advice. I hope it helps you or someone else out there. Thank you to all of the regulars here that have helped me so much!!!
Candi
Vicoaddict---I posted to you way down below. You will get lost in the woods down there, and I think you need some attention, darlin'---can you post up here? I'm thinkin' of you...peazy
I stopped taking the meth all together about a week ago and hate to be the one to tell you but the symptoms will not just go away in a couple of days, like other shorter acting opiates. I have allowed myself 2 Vicodan per day and a 5mg Valium to sleep, that combination allows me to function at work and sleep (sometimes).
While I understand the Doc means well, I have never had any luck finding a doctor willing to help an ex addict. I do not present myself as one would expect an 8 year heroin addict/12 year long term meth addict- so when I meet a doc for the first time I am greeted and treated like a normal human being. When the time comes and I confess my past I can watch their physical presence change and their heart/mind close.
While I am sure there must be some understanding docs out there I have never found one. It seems to unfair that the long term meth patients have no where and no one to turn to for help- other than online pharmacies (just what we need, right?)
I can offer you only this guidance- go slow, take it easy on yourself, who the hell knows why we ended up in this addiction circle and all that matters is that you have resolved to change your life. Do what you have to do- staying away from the heroin and resolving never to go back to a clinic is tough, but I do have hope that like my Mom used to say, "This too shall pass"
I wish you all strength, hope and peace
I'm 35 and have been on and off some kind of narcotic from percocet to heroin for 12 years. Currently I am on 22mg of methadone. I guess your right- I have changed my life but I can't seem to get the narcotics the hell out of my body and mind for good. I feel too tired of being sick-I don't know that I can go through it again. That's how it goes-get out while your still young and undefeatable. Congrads for getting away from the clinic.
I realize after reading the stories here that methadone has a longer half life so it takes longer to get it out of your system -- tapering sounds like a good route to go if it works for you and you can talk with your doctor openly about this.
Before this happened to me, I couldn't imagine how people became hooked to narcotics, but they are SO insidious and incredibly easy to become physically, emotionally and physiologically addicted to.
I have to say that I can equate with you in re: to going to your granddaughter's Mother's Day School event. I went to my daughter's orchestra recital (she plays the violin in her school orchestra) when I had run out the day before from the Hydro, and I was stifling the urge to cry and had to look down the entire time so as to not meet anyone's eyes. That is until she came on, and I was able to focus on her and her playing. I do think you're right that it's mind over matter to a degree and perhaps I was making it worse on myself that it should have been (my husband said that at least). I had to run to the bathroom just *after* she played and got pretty sick. I'm not saying this will happen to you, you may have an easier time with it since Methadone is a slower acting opiate and will take its' time leaving your body, maybe the effects right now won't be quite as severe.
In any event, my heart goes out to you. Post here when you can. I'm grappling right now with getting a renewed prescription. My 13 year old daughter actually kicked in her bedroom door last night, leaving a HUGE break in the bottom of it because she was told she couldn't go to the roller skating rink at 11:00 to meet some boys. I'm NOT going to let her hang out with people who can potentially influence her in the wrong direction, and I know personally these people WILL. I ran for the Klonopin and Soma (the only two meds I have left, except for the Codeine and I'm not going to take any more of that than I have to) because I felt a terrible panic attack coming on. Also tomorrow I'm visiting my Mom in the rehab facility and I don't know how that's going to work.
I'm sorry to go on and on, but I'm coming here in hopes that I don't succomb to the hydro. I think it's important for you to be able to understand your not walking in those shoes alone -- I know you have your own set of unique circumstances (and I feel so bad for you for having to go through this), but we are all suffering basically the same problem. My thoughts will be with you, and please keep posting.
I can totally understand about the 'wanting out to get wasted' bit. When you feel like you're feeling, I'm sure you're just looking for some type of outlet or escape, but then you wake up the next morning feeling like ****, huh? It's happened to me before too, so all we can do is move on and keep with that program, but find outlets that are easier on our bodies (and minds).
The depression part is exactly where I am too. I feel like I'm in a fog sometimes. It takes a big adjustment to get back to normal, but I do know that normal is a wonderful place to be and it's so worth all of the rough patches we go through to get there. We both need to keep our eye on the prize and if we deviate, get right back on track and not feel guilty (I try to tell myself this). Right now I'm taking just the bare amount of codeine to get myself through the day (15 mg. a.m., 15 mg. p.m.) and I'm feeling pretty sick, so if this reads as a little disjointed, I apologize. I'm wondering if just cold turkeying it would be better and not prolong the agony?
I just wanted to let you know that the depression does lift after a time (I remember last year when I was clean for 4 months), but I think talking to your doctor about the tapering and maybe taking another non-addictive med (Clonodine?) could be helpful to your taper. I hope your doctor's the sympathetic type who will work with you instead of making you c/t it without any aids. I have no experience with methadone, so it's hard for me to say exactly what the withdrawal from it from the dosage you're on would be, but I would imagine that they are all similar in one way or another, although some may be more pronounced or protracted.
Benadryl is supposed to help with sleep, but I'm unaware of any other benefits. If it helps you, great! I think I may just try it too.
Take care in the meantime, and keep us posted.
Alexis
Kerry.
1) be honest with those around you, especially a trusted doctor, and of course US!
2) don't be hard on yourself, you're only human and we all make mistakes
3) you're not bad people, you're good people that just didn't know much about how opiates work and how tolerance is built over time
4) research everything you put in your body before you put it in your body so you know how it may affect you in the short and long term.
5) take it one day at a time
6) learn about non-narcotic avenues you can take that will help you and do step 4 again :-)
This advice is coming from my heart.<3
CalMag (it's a powder you make into a drink) used by a couple people here (Feohmoon) who said it significantly eased their withdrawals. I ordered it on the internet
Natural Calm (same as above)
L-Tyrosine (rebuilds dopamine receptors)
L-glutamine (at least 200-300 per day/split the dose) for trauma, stress, enhances muscle recovery
Full spectrum amino acids (someone recommended "vitadone" for this one)
Milk thistle (1200-1500 mgs per day)
Alpha lipoic acid (400 mgs per day in split doses)
Triple strength fish oil w/ omega 3/6/9 (4000-6000mgs per day) for joints, brain and memory
Multivitamin with strong mineral component (in gel cap only for maximum absorption) 2 per day for 3-4 weeks
Valerian root (1000-1500 mgs every four hours) reduces anxiety, helps sleep
Melatonin (for sleep)
Zinc
My husband is not to the point that he is having withdrawals having reduced his dose slowly from 120mgs to 100 mgs over the last couple months, but we hope that with the help of these supplements he will eventually be free of methadone.
If anyone has any other things that have worked for them, we would love to hear about it.
I am definatly done.
I just found this page today and it has given me hope right now after rapidly drooping my methadone amount, I'm ready to take that road you guys so strongly went down. I just hope people are still on here to help.
I really messed my back up w/ degenarative disc. I was on Norco...like 30 a day. Then to Kadian, and now 3 1/2 years on methadone. I was on 120 mg Then, to 80mg, after that in 3-4 days I was at 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 within 2 weeks. Now, I on my 1st day of this w/d nitemare..especially not sleeping. Unfortunately, I don't have the means to ket clonopin etc but, I want to do this w/o a fall back now so I can remember this. I went through 2 to 3 days once w/d and I was freaking out like I starting getting really upset, the mad then happy within 10 mins. No sleep, my whole body I want to climb out of. BUT, reading everyone's story has given me hope and will keep coming back to let you know how I am doing.
Thanks everyone be back shortly I'm sure to strength.
Vinnie
Gabapentin is a good medication for W/D if taking for a short time but there are alot of side effects i have read about.
I hope this helps alittle.