Vicodin withdrawal symptoms...how long?

[ALreins]

I am a 40 yr old male and I have been taking 2-4 Vicodin a day for the past three years. A medical doctor prescribed it for me after it was discovered I suffered bone degeneration in my lower 2 disk vertebrea. At the time I thought little of taking a prescription painkiller. Now after my first 6 days of no longer taking Vicodin I am realizing how powerful of a substance it actually is. I'm having withdrawal symptoms I didn't expect. Light headedness, the runs, blood pressure going up, and general fatigue. Lots of fatigue. And some irritability. I am hoping that these symptoms begin to decrease soon. Well, they have gotten better than it was in the first 2 days. I am still wondering how long I can expect to have these side effects of withdrawal?

[Dso999]

Great comment.  I'm day 2 of my first withdrawal and it is the worst thing ever (15 -20 10/325 Norcos a day for 4 years)!  It is very comforting to know how many people are going through this besides just me.  You do feel very much alone and depressed as I've come to find out.  I have no one else that can relate with me on this and was a nice breath of fresh air reading your post.  Thanks again for the tips and info on how to make recovery a little bit easier.

[48Candles]

Hi AnGie, Just wanted to say good for you and i hope you are doing very well now. Took a lot of guts to do what you did and you should be very proud of yourself. I to am a addict and am trying very hard to get off i am going to trying weening off but i do not have very many so that will not be easy. But this is a great with lot's of cool people with the same problems and it sure helps to talk to some one who knows what you are going thru. If you have any advice i could sure use some. Thanks for sharing your story, and i hope you have a wonderful life after this!

[pillssuck2012]

Thanks Ben727....I did that.  I really appreciate your help!!

[Ben727]

Hey. Do this: Select all the text you just posted and copy it (control-c or command-c on a Mac). Go to the top of this page and hit "Post A Question". Type in a title and then go to the body area and paste your post from here (control-v or command-v on a Mac). This is an old thread and you'll get a lot more support if you post a new thread. -B

[pillssuck2012]

I have a crazy pill addiction and I need help. When I was younger I was told I had scoliosis. It had always bothered me but I was young and could deal with the minor pain. The addiction started 2 yrs ago when I slipped and fell off of a deck. Went to the ER and they said that I had bruised my tailbone and my lower back really bad. They gave me a script for 15 5/325mg percocet.  3 days later I followed up with my family Dr who prescribed 60 vicodin. Then another 40 vicodin a few weeks later.  I was hooked. :(  My Dr wouldn't give me any more when I asked for more after that.  God bless him!!  I should of stopped right there!! But I was still in sooooo much pain, so I went to a chiropractor a couple months later because I couldn't stand the pain any more.  The 3 times that I went there and he adjusted my back I left bawling my eyes out.  He then ordered a bone scan and MRI.  I had broke several vertebrae and several ribs according to the bone scan and MRI. The bones didn't heal right because nobody knew they were broken. I also was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, which didn't have anything to do with the fall.  But the fall started to send shooting pains out into my shoulders and up my neck due to the degenerative disc disease. The pain was excruciating and I didn't want to go back to the chiropractor because it just made the pain worse.  He ended up sending me to pain management.  Biggest mistake of my life!!!!!!  The pain management Dr prescribed me 60 vicodin. (2 a day for 30 days)  I took them as prescribed for the first couple months. Then I started taking more and more up to 4-6 a day because as we all know you end up building up a tolerance.   I eventually told him that I need something stronger. So he switched me to percocet 5/325mg (2 a day for 30 days).   Again I started taking them as prescribed for the first few months.  The percocet made the pain go away for about 3 hrs at a time.  So I started taking them every 3 hrs instead of every 12 hrs.  I was taking up to 5 of them a day.  Obviously I ran out before my next appt. so I started buying them off of a friend, who got them from a friend, etc.  Now I was taking 10-15 of them a freakin day!!!!!!  WTF???  I was spending over $1,000 a month on these stupid things!!  When I couldn't find any or ran out I would go through the crazy withdrawl. (sweating, restless legs, absolutely no sleep, crapping my brains out up to 20+ times a day....that's gross I know but everyone on here knows what I'm talking about, mood swings, depression, etc.)  Every time I would go through that for a couple days, before I could get more, I promised myself I would quit doing this to myself!!  But as soon as I got that call or text I would run out immediately and get more.  I got so sick of all of this s**t I ended up calling my family Dr and told him what was going on. I asked him if he could put me on suboxone, cause I heard that helps with the withdrawl.  Apparently he couldn't prescribe suboxone.  You'll never guess what he did......he gave me more PILLS!!!  40 vicodin......Really???  I tell you I have an addiction to pain pills and you give me more?!?!?!  Anyways, I was supposed to ween myself off of them (4 for 4 days, 3 for 4 days, 2 for 4 days, 1 for 4 days and then stop)  Easier said than done!!  But I did well and I took the pills like I was suppose to.  Until the last day.......My boyfriend is also in pain management for a herniated disc.  He gets 120 10mg percocets a month.  He got them the last day of me weening off of them. So, I started taking the percocet again of course because I have no will power....up to 5-10 10's a day.  When I can't get percocet I can usually find vicodin.  I go back and forth between the two. I can't do this any more!!  I have decided that I am completely fed up with this and I want to stop!!  I have vicodin left that I am going to try and ween myself off again instead of going cold turkey cause that is absolute HELL!!!!  My boyfriend is going to quit cold turkey.  We promised each other that we wouldn't go back to pain management to get any more or try to find any more on the "street."  I hope and pray that this works!!!  Wish me luck!!  And good luck to all of u!!  PILLS ARE THE DEVIL!!!!  I HATE THEM!!!!

[Donna7920011]

im on day 3, 72 hours and im hardly getting any withdrawals at all. ive been taking hydrocodone 10/325 about 2-4 a day for the last year. I really thought this would be worse. given i am achy and have a mild headache and very minor leg cramps but nothin too bad. does this mean i wont get the nausea and stuff.? I mean isnt day 3 supposed to be the worst or do i still have more to come?????