Aa
Help coming off the pain pills
I am so scared... I realize this is the 1st step and I must continue on with my commitment. Honestly (thats always the best) I take about 8 to 12 lortab 10s every single day, and have for about a year. I have been taking the pills at smaller amounts for 4 years before that. I get a perscription for some and buy the rest from a friend. I hate that I have managed to get to this place in my life. I figured I would stop taking the pills last Saturday. I did, but that was hell. Chills, fever, couldnt breath, couldnt sleep, and just pure hell. So by Sunday I choose to take 4 10s. I did the same Monday. Still had withdraws but not near as bad. Today I am trying 1 and a half pills for the whole day. Its pretty bad, but I need to do it. I have told my husband so maybe I can have a little support. Only he is more of an enabler. He has been around addictation is whole life and the best way for him to deal with it is to ignor it. So he is no help. I dont have any real reason for getting like this. I had 2 surgerys on my back and 1 on my arm. Every time I had the surgery it was so I could stop taking the pills. That didnt work. I see the doctor tomorrow and though I hate telling him that I am addicted, that is what I will be doing. I hope he will help me come off. My question is... how long at taking so many pills will it take me to stop withdrawing at only 4? And can I taper off this way? Is it even safe? I was really hoping I could go to 4 10s for 2 weeks, 3 10s for 2 weeks, so on.
Hi, I also am struggling with addiction to pain med. I take the Norco 10-325 and feel if I dont take them I have no energy or motivation in any way. Unlike many people that take them due to injuries and for proper use, I got hooked because my father took them for his pain from cancer. He is now hooked and cannot do without. I have just started my researching to hopefully find some information that will aid in coming off this medication. I also stuggle with addiction to alcohol. This is not the life I want to live and I just hope to get some positive feedback.
Liz,you hang in there you can do this thing,I swear you can. All of the things that you are experiecing,while not very enjoyable or anything else is completely normal and the reason I know this to be true is because I am going through alot of the same things as well as alot more,trustt me. I am beginning my day 4 and it is pure H-LL so I feel you.I have been scared,overwhelmed,on an emotional as well as physical rollercoaster that seems to never have an end but I know that it will end and my body as well as yours will get back to normal. Afterall,it took a little while to get where it s currently and it will be a process to get it to return.Stay strong,confront your fears with the knowledge that thtas what it takes to make the change. Keep your head up and your courage up because it takes courage to go where we are choosing to go and I know in my heart that it is the right course,the only course,the only option. You can do it,I have full faith and confidence in you The chemical changes that your body is going through,whle tough,is normal. It doesn't make it any easier to go through but it will get better,it just takes time and thats the hard part to keep from dwelling on but it does but your day 4 is the first steps in yor "journey" to a healthier body and mind and by me telling you these things is helping me to deal with my own set of broad spectrum occurences,if that makes any sense. Hang in there my Friend you CAN do this. It WILL get better.
Michael
Michael
Just need a pep" talk- i am having a yucky start-feel very out of body?-i suppose this is part of withdrawl?-Also has anyone had feelings of "restless" arms? Went to sleep with it and woke up with it even worse?-Very strange feeling in limbs---AM worried about day 4-will i be worse? Any thoughts will be very helpful-Hugs to everybody out there............I have not felt "good" for so long-I am afraid that i never will--
Hi I am brand spanking new here as of this morning so i apologise for any mistakes.
I should go and read the forum rules to be sure~
Still I wanted to say a bit more to encourage you and let you know you are in human company...hahaha whether it is "good company" or not, well we all TRY to be Good, I think!
I was brought into an opiate addiction when i was deeply in love with a man who was a heroin addict from early teens in Italy. I was one to experiment with every sort of drug in my youth, but had been very good as a young mother and not done any substance for many years, (except a little alcohol) and did not see this coming...
but one day while he was off to work i asked my "junkie" neighbors to give me a dose of what they were doing and that, although it didn't hook me...allowed him to be sucked back in to an addiction he had left behind for years, while living in Hawaii.
After his addiction took him over, I became a part of that dance while raising my three young boys. I'll have to admit we made a poor example of parents while we were intoxicated. i was constantly napping and in the bathroom, being sick. He was a chef and made all dinners as he had before, just as delectable and healthy for my children...but I had no appetite. I later discovered that my tolerance was so low for that drug, that I had virtually been getting an overdose each time I used.
Through those 2 1/2 years of his nearly constant use, I quit many times...I went through cold turkey detoxification so many times, it isnt even funny. That is why i suggested it so readily, I think. Upon leaving the post i wrote previous, i thought maybe your design, to taper off, is best...the other way a beast. hehe
So~ Please just follow your plan and know I am with you heart & soul. I nearly lost my life a couple of times, when i was "playing with fire".
Addiction is so rampant in so many countries, I feel that we need an international wake-up call. to stop all this craziness. But so far as getting caught up in addiction, just don't feel bad. That is so common, and so easy a trap to fall into.
So far as calling ourselves addicts...that may or may not be the best way to look at our lives. I personally always had trouble with that label during NA meetings but learned to say that was who i am, so I could start the clean up process... YeT I am also a mom, an artist, a loving friend, a sister, daughter, a swimmer, a dancer, a hard-worker, and more...why would we want to relegate ourselfs as so one-dimensional?
If not to nip the addiction in the bud an then move on to better focus on our other "facets" of personality?
On the subject of facets...a diamond needs to be cut & shined before the sparkle can be admired...it isnt anything special without all the work put into it.
Blessings~
I should go and read the forum rules to be sure~
Still I wanted to say a bit more to encourage you and let you know you are in human company...hahaha whether it is "good company" or not, well we all TRY to be Good, I think!
I was brought into an opiate addiction when i was deeply in love with a man who was a heroin addict from early teens in Italy. I was one to experiment with every sort of drug in my youth, but had been very good as a young mother and not done any substance for many years, (except a little alcohol) and did not see this coming...
but one day while he was off to work i asked my "junkie" neighbors to give me a dose of what they were doing and that, although it didn't hook me...allowed him to be sucked back in to an addiction he had left behind for years, while living in Hawaii.
After his addiction took him over, I became a part of that dance while raising my three young boys. I'll have to admit we made a poor example of parents while we were intoxicated. i was constantly napping and in the bathroom, being sick. He was a chef and made all dinners as he had before, just as delectable and healthy for my children...but I had no appetite. I later discovered that my tolerance was so low for that drug, that I had virtually been getting an overdose each time I used.
Through those 2 1/2 years of his nearly constant use, I quit many times...I went through cold turkey detoxification so many times, it isnt even funny. That is why i suggested it so readily, I think. Upon leaving the post i wrote previous, i thought maybe your design, to taper off, is best...the other way a beast. hehe
So~ Please just follow your plan and know I am with you heart & soul. I nearly lost my life a couple of times, when i was "playing with fire".
Addiction is so rampant in so many countries, I feel that we need an international wake-up call. to stop all this craziness. But so far as getting caught up in addiction, just don't feel bad. That is so common, and so easy a trap to fall into.
So far as calling ourselves addicts...that may or may not be the best way to look at our lives. I personally always had trouble with that label during NA meetings but learned to say that was who i am, so I could start the clean up process... YeT I am also a mom, an artist, a loving friend, a sister, daughter, a swimmer, a dancer, a hard-worker, and more...why would we want to relegate ourselfs as so one-dimensional?
If not to nip the addiction in the bud an then move on to better focus on our other "facets" of personality?
On the subject of facets...a diamond needs to be cut & shined before the sparkle can be admired...it isnt anything special without all the work put into it.
Blessings~
Hi. You are doing well I think for tapering. You will feel some withdrawals when you completely stop, no matter how many you are doing in my opinion. If you really want to stop, when you go to the doctor, tell him what you are doing and maybe he can give you some of that clonodine which everyone says eases the withdrawals? I was taking approx. the same dose of lortab you are, and came off pretty quick from a 10 a day, think i went to 2 then 1 then stopped in 3 days, first week was heck on wheels, 2nd week a bit better, by third week really alot better. no strength and mentally challenging but now at day 116 or so, i am doing really great! You can do this, Dont be a slave to pills any more. It is really so much better when you're not doing them. I wish you all the luck, and stay here so we will know how you are :) God Bless
I never recognized myself as addicted. My husbands daughter was arrested last week for calling in her on meds (felony). I called her an addict. 3 years ago his son killed a girl (DUI). I called him an addict and still belive he deserves his 2 year sentence. I suppose I stayed in denial while labeling them. Kind of funny really. My husband has been around all kinds of addictations and all he does is offer more liquor or more money to but the pills. Before I even started using the pills I knew this about him and it drove me crazy. But for now its worked for me. I can have any amout off money for more pills and he sees no problem. I DO. I have 4 children, and they deserve to have a drug free mother. 1 grand daughter and she deserves for me to be off the pills. I suppose my husband should have a wife mad at him again for helping with addictions. I really tried to just stop. I cant handle that. It was worse than any flu I ever had. I am not as sick now only taking 1 and half pills all day. Actually I feel like I wont need but another half tonight. Maybe the same amount tomorrow. I dont know yet. I dont mind taking less than what I had planned, but I wont take more.
Sandy
Every one giving advice and just knowing people care will keep me working on this and I thank every one
Sandy
Every one giving advice and just knowing people care will keep me working on this and I thank every one
While you are in the throes od detox, you may want to go out and buy a book or two, it does not have to get expensive...spend some of that money you'd have used for your lortab? I want you to feel better! This is the gist of my suggestion...Nutritional support is huge, and I hope that you might try it. Even finding ideas online since you already have a connection (i assume)...look into super-foods...healing foods, foods that help you to detox and so on.
One more thing is here are a few great books i have on my shelves, you may appreciate knowing about:
Earl Mindell's Food as Medicine (Earl Mindell R. Ph., Ph. D.)
The Microbiotic Path to Total Health by Michio Kushi
Lick The Sugar Habit by Nancy Appleton
SuperFoods (Steven Pratt, M.D., Kathy Matthews)
Prescription for Nutritional Healing (James F. Balch, M.D., Phillis A. Balch, C.N.C.)
I have last bit of (hopefully) wisdom, coming from experience, getting off chemical substances.
Bite the Bullet & just go through the "hell" for about a week....then over the next few months your body will recover slowly to a more healthy state.
I know it may sound harsh but I never even considered an alternitive to just leaving drugs behind cold turkey, when the time came to leave behind an acquired addiction to heroin once.
Leave the quilt i think you may have behind with the drug...it will not serve you honey~ What will serve you is perhaps NA and a support group, who if you go seek them out in advance, you may find they are so happy for you, that you are really willing to change, that they will network and come by during such a challange, while you are "kicking" and help you in many various ways...i cannot be sure, but i have been around NA and AA for many years and i can see that many may love to help you, within these lovely groups of recovering drug or alcohol users. Only they can truly understand what you are facing, and help you along, with real life experience!
( It so does not matter how we got where we are, for now, it matters that we see the problem give ourself a reality check, form a plan to get out, and eventually reach our goal, through whatever ethical means.)
Wishing you the very very BEST!
T.K.
One more thing is here are a few great books i have on my shelves, you may appreciate knowing about:
Earl Mindell's Food as Medicine (Earl Mindell R. Ph., Ph. D.)
The Microbiotic Path to Total Health by Michio Kushi
Lick The Sugar Habit by Nancy Appleton
SuperFoods (Steven Pratt, M.D., Kathy Matthews)
Prescription for Nutritional Healing (James F. Balch, M.D., Phillis A. Balch, C.N.C.)
I have last bit of (hopefully) wisdom, coming from experience, getting off chemical substances.
Bite the Bullet & just go through the "hell" for about a week....then over the next few months your body will recover slowly to a more healthy state.
I know it may sound harsh but I never even considered an alternitive to just leaving drugs behind cold turkey, when the time came to leave behind an acquired addiction to heroin once.
Leave the quilt i think you may have behind with the drug...it will not serve you honey~ What will serve you is perhaps NA and a support group, who if you go seek them out in advance, you may find they are so happy for you, that you are really willing to change, that they will network and come by during such a challange, while you are "kicking" and help you in many various ways...i cannot be sure, but i have been around NA and AA for many years and i can see that many may love to help you, within these lovely groups of recovering drug or alcohol users. Only they can truly understand what you are facing, and help you along, with real life experience!
( It so does not matter how we got where we are, for now, it matters that we see the problem give ourself a reality check, form a plan to get out, and eventually reach our goal, through whatever ethical means.)
Wishing you the very very BEST!
T.K.
That is great that you are doing something about this now. Only you know how quickly you can taper off of the meds comfortably. Also, you have to figure out whether drawing it out for months will be harder or easier for you. Tapering is hard because it is very easy to be tempted to just take one more. The biggest thing that helped me was to make a plan and stick to it...no matter what. I also doled my pills out into little envelopes for each day so I wasn't tempted. I flushed some of my meds and locked the rest up and gave my husband the key. I was able to taper from 10/day norco in 2 1/2 weeks and have been off of them for just over 2 weeks. Even if you end up going through withdrawals, just know that they don't last forever. The first week is tough, but it gets easier after that. You can do this if you are serious. And the people here are more than happy to help and support you along the way. Good luck.
I apologize for taking up alot of space on the thread with a little bit of my story but it does seem to help me in dealing with evrything that I know you are dealing with. Together we can all stay strong and use this forum as a means to help eachother wth the struggle and to build eachother up and stay strong. It is an hour by hour thing for me as I am sure it is for you.
Michael
Michael
Trust me I feel your pain. I am not very good at giving advice but maybe it will help just knowing that there is someone out there with very similar issues as well as struggles dealing with coming off of an opiate. I have been taking narcotic pain medication since 1996 after a car wreck. I have had several accidents of some sort or another in the past 20+ years,so,like yourself,have a legitimate reason for takng them. Regardless of the reasons,we all seem to have gotten to this point in our lives where we are faced with extreme circumstance of some form or another. If I can,let me tell you that your daily dose is not as high as mine. For the past year I have taken 20-21 Norco 10/325 every single day,accept for the days when I found myself to be almost completely out with no way to get more and trust me when I say NO WAY to get more until my "script" was due to be filled again. So your dose is not so bad :) If you are interested in hearing anymore of my story I will be glad to post more. B.T.W I started tapering 3 days ago thanks to my Wife being my "doser". It's tough but please stay strong and keep posting. This is my first but hopefully not my last. I think it definetly helps.
Your Friend in the pain,Michael
Your Friend in the pain,Michael
Thank you so much. I dont want to take any any new drugs about as bad as I want off the ones I am on now. I will try stopping a bit sooner than 2 weeks inbetween amounts. I just feel like I will stick to that plan the best.
Sandy
Sandy
Good for you!! Telling your doctor is HUGE. He/she will probably have a few ideas. Also,there are some meds that will help with withdrawals that he can prescribe.
Good luck to you...Be brave!
Vicki
Good luck to you...Be brave!
Vicki
Hey there,
Welcome. Your first reduction to 4 /day was significant that is why you still felt the wd's.
You will start to feel much better within a few days while still taking the 4. When you feel normal again, going to 3 should not produce nearly the dscomfort you feel now. I urge you to take 1.5 in AM and 1.5 in PM when you go to 3. I think your plan is sound and safe but you don't need 2 weeks between reductions. Try 5-7 days if you feel good.
You can ask your doctor about it since you will be speaking to him. That is a brave move and shows you are serious about stopping.
Great job!!!! Hang in there, you have a plan!!!!!
Goodluck!!!!
bob
Welcome. Your first reduction to 4 /day was significant that is why you still felt the wd's.
You will start to feel much better within a few days while still taking the 4. When you feel normal again, going to 3 should not produce nearly the dscomfort you feel now. I urge you to take 1.5 in AM and 1.5 in PM when you go to 3. I think your plan is sound and safe but you don't need 2 weeks between reductions. Try 5-7 days if you feel good.
You can ask your doctor about it since you will be speaking to him. That is a brave move and shows you are serious about stopping.
Great job!!!! Hang in there, you have a plan!!!!!
Goodluck!!!!
bob
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Addiction: Substance Abuse Community
Is treating glaucoma with marijuana all hype, or can hemp actually help?
If you think marijuana has no ill effects on your health, this article from Missouri Medicine may make you think again.
Julia Aharonov, DO, reveals the quickest way to beat drug withdrawal.
Tricks to help you quit for good.
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
