Norco withdrawl

[cindykauffman]

I started taking darvocet at first until they tore up my stomach and then , norco 5 mg x 4 /day, for a year now.  I do have pain, pinched nerves/nerve damage in my legs. And also hepatitis c.  Naturally my pain mgmt dr. doesn't know about the hep c.  I jusst wanted the darvocet for a month as I was trying to come off a year long suboxone habit and couldn't do it cold turkey.
I've told my dr. that i wanted to taper off these narco and what he instead did is put me on 10 mg....increased the dose???  I am taking currently 5 mg/4 xs a day.  I am always sick, never feel good.  The pills make me feel lousy and now, at age 50, really can't imagine/don't want to suffer 3-4 days of no sleep/withdrawl....For a  few days a month I take the new suboxone 8 mg sublingual strips.  Then i feel great, nno stomach upset, I can sleep for hours and for at least 7-9 days after ward (only take 2 strips, stretched out over 3-4 days).  I have no withdrawl symptoms and very happily, feell like a normal person, something  I have longed for for a long time.  

As suboxone has a long 1/2 life, stays in your system for a longer time than most narcotics, I don't know if this happy period of taking nothing and not experiencing withdrawl would last, as I always have Norco on hand and always, like a complete idiot, go back to taking them.  I have experienced a 20/day Percocet withdrawl when I was 30 years old.  All I really remember is 3 days and I felt fine.  I do recall not sleeping but it wasn't nearly as frightening as stopping these norco seem to be.  The addiction to norco is naturally physical but of course, psychological too.

I only have enuf Norco left for a few more days.  I don't want to make another Dr.'s appointment and continue this insanity for another month.  And unfortunately, I don't really have enough to taper down, maybe to 3 at 5 mg a day but that's it.
It's not good to take the tylenol in these norco becauswe of my hepatitis.  This has been going on for a year and i feel like such a failure.  On Jan 17 of last year i took my last daily suboxone and my intention was to get a weaker narcotic to get off the suboxone, rather I find myself going back to the pain mgmt dr. every month.  I HATE living like this, but I am my own worst enemy....

It seems as though alot of people on this forum have a problem w/norco withdrawl.  Can someone advise me.....would I be ok if I got  2 of the 8mg suboxone "strips" (not as strong as the pills, it seems) and spread them out over a few days?   Would I then, if I didn't go back to the norco be ok, as in no more withdrawl?  

I am literally sooo sick and tired of being sick and tired......thanks in advance for any advice!  I'm damned if I take the norco as they do make me sick and well, probably very damned if i don't.  I just wish I had the courage to go thru cold turkey detox..

[cindykauffman]

1237 clean days....congratulations a million times over....no we don't live far.  Do you still smoke?  Another bad habit I can''t seem to stop.  I used to be such a strong, strong willed person but 20 plus years of addiction has kinda got me by the *you know what's^^  I'm very willing to go to AA (no strong NA in this area) but there are AA meetings just a few blocks away and think I'd need the  "aftercare"....thank you again for responding to my ?  and GOOD for you, you must feel like a million bucks!!

[cindykauffman]

Thank you for responding....I am soo very sick when I wake up....4;30 AM every morning, except the few days I'm on the suboxone merry go round, then I'm good, can sleep, etc.  Up very very very nauseous and just lie on my back till 7 ish so I can take my first 1/2 of a 10 mg norco.  I broke down.  I couldn't imagine, even after coming off a bad heroin/suboxone habit years ago, the 20 / day perc habit 20 years ago, living thru even 3 days like I feel in the a.m.
So I made another dr.'s appt.  If I get to see the ACTUAL Dr.  (so many PA's there) he'll give me a detox schedule, but what's that....you still suffer everyday at some point.  I just can't stand the way I feel at 4:30 when I wake up like a clock, that nausea is overwhelming.  

I thank you for offering me support and I know eventually I will take you up on that as I can't stand living like this, I'm not getting any kind of high from the norco, they make me tired, i hate them.  But I am seeing the dr. on friday (for more :(((( what a horrible disease addiction is .....and am gonna get 2 strips (suboxone strips) next week.  What I'm wondering, tho is because they have a long 1/2 life, if I did spread them out over a few days, cut them, as they're like little pieces of crepe paper, sublingual strips.....would the withdrawl from everything end?  After I take them, like I said, I'm good for a week or longer, then my roommate will ask for a norco and i think, what the hell, maybe I'll "feel something" if I take a 1/2 and then the merry go round begins again.  I swear, if the suboxone could get me off this horrible drug, I'd throw the norcos away.  Just want so badly to feel normal.

I really think it's harder now....you would think a heroin/suboxone habit would have been harder to beat than the norco but it's not and I think the hepatitis could have something to do with it.
I know that suboxone is a  powerful drug and was on a suboxone program at one point.  for 6 mos and then hospitalized, they wouldn't give them to me in the hospital rather put me on seroquel at night and believe it or not, it took care of the bad withdrawl, i felt almost nothing.
I still take seroquel, to sleep, it's the only thing that prevents me from being awake all night, going thru this damn norco withdrawl.  Maybe I'm just looking for someone to tell me, yeah.....take the suboxone for 3 days and it'll all be over.  I don't know if this is true, but if anyone knows if it is, willl you PLEASE let me know?  I am desperate to get this over and don't seem to have it "in me" to go thru 3 days of that nausea, etc, etc.....

WHere do you live, btw?  Maybe we actually know each other :)  ...just kidding!!

[IBKleen]

Hi & Welcome,

I really have to advise against the Suboxone. What I am hearing is that you are going back and forth between them and the Norco. It's a merry-go-round and no time like the present to get off and stay off. Besides, unless the Suboxone is prescribed by a doctor and the complete program is followed, it is dangerous to play around with it.

If you go cold turkey, the physical withdrawal will be basically over by the weekend. Do you think you can do that? We can help you with moral support and suggest some things that can ease the withdrawal.

Stick around, this is a great place for support.

P.S. Howdy neighbor!! I don't often run into someone here that lives so close.