What to do about Energy

[OxyDout]

I have been swaying on the fence with trying to stay sober. I have finally been clean for a couple of weeks. My question is, what do I do for energy? or what can I do to make things better. I find myself Nodding off at work, and that can't happen. I am miserable today, i don't know what to do. Someone please help, I'm on my fourth cup of coffee.............

[GOD]

Hi, Caramel....

This may be some stupid questions, so forgive me if it sounds that way....

Anyway, you said you've been on Prescription diet pills for 5 yrs, and just got off of them about a week ago..

The question is: has the same Doctor prescribed these pills for the whole 5 year period, or have you had to go from doctor to doctor to keep getting the prescription?

AND, Was the intent of being on the prescription diet pills to lose weight for the whole 5 year time? and did they make you lose weight?

If the answer to both those questions is that the Same doctor prescribed them over a 5 year period for weight control.......

You have a jim-dandy of a malpractice lawsuit against him...

but if you are like a lot of us, and got out of control with an addiction, your best bet is to see an addiction specialist to plan your best road to recovery... If you have been lucky, and not had horrible withdrawals, get on a good vitamin regimin that includes b-complex.. that should give you some short term relief of lethargy... and, most peoplle that I've come into contact with that are struggling to get off of any sort of speed or uppers [including diet pills] have had a lot of luck with starting a good program of exercise in the mornings to help get going....

I am NO EXPERT, but these have been my experiences.. I hope that some more people will post to help answer your questions!

Good luck!
Jess

P.S. congratulations to YOU is deserved for getting OFF those little speeders!

[Caramel]

I just need a little advice.  I know we are not supposed to post a new question here, but my question is about energy.  I have been on prescription diet pills for 5 years, and stopped taking them 1 week ago. What can I do to start feeling like living again?  I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow morning, and I wonder if he could give me something non-addictive to help. Any suggestions?  PLEASE....

[angst]

I doctor hopped for my stadol ns until my OB/GYN told me he knew that I had a neurologist prescribing my pain medication.  I never got into legal trouble.  The insurance company I had contacted my OB/GYN.  Pharmacies do that also sometimes.  I did know one person who got into trouble with the law.  He had a couple or more doctors prescribing Lortabs for him.  He had to come to court mandated NA meetings for a while.  He came to our group with a paper to sign and shared why he was there.  He never addressed it as a sign of addiction.  I'm sure he had chronic back pain, so he said.  It is a ***** when you cannot get adequate medication without getting into a pinch.  I always had some contacts, but I paid a higher price that way.  I had chronic pain.  I still get the vascular headaches once in a while, but I live through it.  I learned not to be scared of the pain.  I do not hurt much on the methadone.  I have plenty of nervous energy without chemical assistance.  Although I take a pretty high dose of xanax 2mg QID, I still stay awake about 18 hours or more a day.  Trazadone helps me sleep late, but it does not get me to sleep.  The doctors will not give me anything else to get to sleep.  I'm sure I'd become dependent, if they did.

[tlk]

About doctor shopping: I worked in law enforcement for the past 5 years, and we never, ever arrested anyone for this. For forging scripts or calling in their own, yes. But it is very hard to prove doctor shopping as fraud. I've been caught doing this, and the doctor scolded me but that was it (didn't stop my using, either). So I would say not to stress over this, it is the least of your worries. Of course, you didn't realize that you were doing something called "doctor shopping," you were just looking for adequate pain relief, is what your lawyer would say, if it ever came to that, which it highly, highly unlikely. If the cops did come knocking, and you showed that your doctors knew about it now and you were in rehab of some kind, that would be the end of it -- just remember your lawyer's advice and you can honestly say you didn't know it was illegal until you got clean and started reading up on this stuff. Hope that helps, not hurts.

[mrmichael67]

I wanted to answer your question about doc hopping.  As far as the law is concerned, doc hopping is fraud.  If the cops come into play, they will obtain a sheet that will list all prescriptions for controlled substances that were filled in the US by you.  Each single prescription is capable of being a single charge.  Most people in the medical profession are not into busting their patients.  They catch people doc hopping all the time and it usually goes no further than that.  You would have heard something by now.  As far as that sheet goes, usually the cops will bust you for the charges in their jurisdiction.  They can and often do call other agencies if something pertains to them.  If the dover police catch you, they will bust you for scripts filled in their town.  They then might call say, allentown and tell them you had prescriptions filled in their town and let them deal with that.  And, so on.  Usually, people who get nailed end up writing their own scripts or calling in schedule III and that is when the hammer usually goes down.  If I were you, I would relax.  Just keep doing what you are doing and let the record show that you are making an effort.  Just remember, any pharmacy can find out what you had filled anywhere just by a couple of keystrokes.

[oh please already]

thanks= I AM sorry i went off on you-you didnt deserve it ,i just had my panties all in a twist as grandma would of said .

[oh please already]

GWH-your doing great-much better then i could,theres a song-did you every know your my hero? flakey I know but true.Anyway I ve got a great secret for motavation=find a ignorant self justifing  judgmental person-tell them your trouble=then sit back ,think about  what they have to offer and  you will find the energy to move ahead,just so not to be like them, proving that god gives us what we need-you'll be so outraged and stuck with wonder that anyone could be so...whats the word im looking for..?that time will pass unnoticed and it will be that much more time without thinking about a pill or putting on in your mouth.lol    YOU ARE DOING GREAT but you need to remember the differance between a addict and a person in pain.. a addict takes the meds for the buzz,with out any thought of the effects on your life.A responable person in pain takes what they need to get by and doent abuse what he has.   :)

[RaspSwirl]

Yawning...maybe it could be because of the lack of energy, and lack of oxygen would cause lack of energy...you said you were depressed, have you sought treatment for that?  If you have, maybe they put  you on an antidepressant?  I know that alot of those have yawn as a possible side effect.  Both Paxil and Celexa made me yawn like crazy!  So maybe it is that?  I don't know...

[hippy]

farscape tonight looks good.
ive been resting the last 2 days.
I always watch farscape and startrek with my son.
it's a tradition ,started watching startrek with my dad way back when spock was the man.
1m on day 15  , doing well.  thanks  michael.

[skipper]

it's kip here reporting from the hinterlands of pain and total nar-
cotic nesd... not really so bad as all that...my neck pain has surpassed my toe pain (which is still bad), so things must be re-
turning to what they were before. went with ir up to her momma's
house (90 miles north) and slept  the whole way up, while there,
and most of the way back. now i just want to shower, change band-
age and watch far-scape. anyone care to place a bet i stay awake for far-scape?

gwh:
how's the knee? i've had a lot of knee trouble earlyer in my adult
life. believe me, it's a piece of cake compared to spine trouble!
but that usually doesn't happen till later on in life, so enjoy be-
ing able to do most of the things you want to do while you still
can!! get back up and at it as soon as your croaker (doc) will let
you. i don't want to hear any reports of malingering so you can get
more poision, OK.

keep an angel on your shoulder
kip

[FinallyLiving]

Hey dive!
Thinking about you, wondering how your detox is going. I hope all is well, and getting better.

Prayers to you and all on this board.

-Me =)

[hippy]

As shakespear said. THE GUILTY MAN RUN'S WHERE NOBODY CHASE'S HIM
.
so take it easy ,what to be will be. Just stop doc hopping from now on. Im sure other's on this site have more experence on this subject. I have read some post on it.
Try not to get allguilt ridden about it raght now, and keepyour eye'e on staying clean. Guilt,like dishonesty is the gasoline
that fuels addiction.
As we stay clean thing's mostly get better and better. So if that stuff in the past rears it's ugly head deal with it then .
feel guilty and bad then and then only.
Right now focous on the positive.
IM sure someone on this site will share thier insight on the doc hopping and it's ramafication's.

                           peace/ just 4 two day    machael

[oh please already]

hi everyone!I cant believe how far ive come in the last few weeks and i have to say,its all because of you people,Ive had a rocky road,on then off again then on but im ready to try again but this time will be different because im not so terriffed of the furture,if nothing else my typings better but i still need to learn to spell,anyway sorry to change the subject but I am very worried about something people keep writing,is doctor hopping a crime? If u were using all the meds yourself and not dealing? And how do u get caught? and what will happen?Ive closed all my doors to meds by either getting busted or confessing now,but will someone come knocking at my door? So please either set my mind to rest or can someone tell how it will happen so I can be prepared.Now that i stopped(it was only 2 weks ago)should i worry? thanks all :)

[FinallyLiving]

26 days free, today. And I have a question for all the narcotic recoveries now in process. The past couple of days I have had a bout with yawning that is driving me crazy! Now, I know that is a symptom of withdrawal, but I had it early on.... but now it's back with a vengence. I read someplace when one yawns, it means they need more oxygen or something like that. Maybe this goes along with my exaustion recently? Anyone, feel free to post your expiriences or knowledge about this and if there's anything I can do about it. It's driving me batty. I also plan to buy some L-Tyrosine today, as I have NO energy at all.... suddenly.

However, I am still going... and I'm happy, mostly depressed that this yawning won't stop!

-Me =)

[IrishRose]

Cant spell worth a damn today. I meant L-Tyrosine not l-tyronsine for godsakes.

[rowanshyne]

GWH and KIP!
Here's your local neighborhood nurse (the other one.  hey, cut meagin and me a little slack here, we're doing the best we can 'til Witchy Woman gets back!)
LISTEN TO MEAGAIN!  The pain will go away faster and the healing will happen faster if you take your pain meds as ordered. It's true, it's not an excuse it's a fact.  You CAN get on top of pain.  If you take your *prescribed* dose every four hours you will get on top of it and be able to drop the dose.  If you try to fight it you will lose your minds.  Face it, FACE IT, you are addicted, handling the pain isn't going to make you *more* addicted, that's like being a little pregnant.  You're just martyring yourselves and *there's no point*.  Please; you guys come here to learn as well as to help.  Yes, you're both going to have to work at it again.  What are you trying to prove, and to whom?  One day at a time and one *thing* at a time.  Believe me, you're letting yourselves hurt for no *good* reason.
Kip wrote:
"...sometimes i need someone else to tell me that, to kick my ass
when i allow myself to slip into the dedpths of moras and dramatic despair..."

<wren, centering in on Kip's wrinkly ol' ass> {KICK!} aaaannnnddd touchdown!

It's okay boys, you're allowed to be real live people.  Just this once though, K?  Now, please, please, stop being foolish.
Okay - here - I'm giving you my official permission as a medical professional (and all around good kid) to *take your medicine*!
<pant, pant, wheeeeeeze, gasp!>  Don't make me do this again.  I'm pushing fifty, I'm overweight and I smoke.  Now, be good boys, quit whimpering and take your nice, nice medicine.
Besides, I'm a witch and I'll turn you both into toads if you don't mind me.  So there. Humph!

IRISHROSE
Geez, you must be an absolutely lovely person.  I can just sort of feel it.  You feel warm and snuggly.  Tell Kip to take advantage of that. May he be playing "This little piggy" with you soon.  Thank you for the info on the L-Tryptophan, I'll be getting some in the next few days.  Also is it CLONODINE or KLONOPIN that helps?  I've seen both here.
My email is:

***@****

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I spent all day today with the Blues and came here to whine a little myself, then I found "the boys" in utter agony and being macho, and The Little Mother came out.  Thank you gentlemen.  You did me a world of good.  It gets tiresome feeling weepy when someone says, "Say, is that snow?", and I burst into tears.  I *like* snow!

The rest of you consider yourselves tucked in and a kiss planted firmly on your brow.

BB,
Wren

[IrishRose]

Hi Rowanshyne, I will e-mail you later, right now I'm off to visit my mom. I know it was probably a typo in your post, hey mine is chock fulla them too, but it is L-Tyronsine, not L-tyrtophan. Very important difference. Clonidine and Klonopin may both be used in detox depending on the circumstances. Klonopin, a benzodiazapine is used to control the restless legs,sleep disturbance and overall jitteriness that accompanies withdrawal. Clonidine is an antihypertensive agent that is sometimes used in detox with varying degrees of success. Don't ever, ever mess with the clonidine on your own. Hypotension, shock could result of self dosing with that. I'm leery as hell too of self medicating without medical supervision of using benzos ( Klonopin, Valium etc)although I know a lot of people do it. Take care will talk with you more later. IR

[OxyDout]

Once again, thank you all so much for all the posts. I really do appreciate it.

Skipper, looks like we are in the same boat, however, I haven't been doing this as longs as you. I had 6 surgeries in 2.5 yrs. How awful is that, and I will tell you right now, I absolutely refuse to accept the fact that I will need another surgery, **** that, no way in hell, I will cut my leg off, I'm dead serious.

Anyway, Your a lot stronger then you think you are kip so keep up the good work, and stay off that foot.  Remember, there is a high percentage of us who would have taken your oxy's and perks after your "toe job" yet, you decided to go through a detox......??????? If that isn't mental and physical strength, well, then I don't know what is. Your a huge inspiration to me so please keep working at you.

I have to re-read this thread to see who I need to post to.........sorry.

GWH

[Frenchee]

I am on Effexor....It is helping. I am just really tired of my daily headaches. I cant get rid of them. To be completely honest, I miss the highs....But I know that I will be ok and that I am on the road to recovery. It is a slow process but I AM GOING TO MAKE IT.
I am glad to see that you are doing better. I am thinking about you. Take care and keep in touch.

[oh please already]

your killing me here. I am going to give you my nurse talk and then my addict talk ,please listen.DO NOT KEEP YOURELF IN SUCH PAIN>studys show that post op pts(and thats you right now) recover much faster with much less complications with good pain control,then people without,as a matter of record,if you check that packet you got from the hospital,youll see that now there ios a 4th vital sign.blood pressure,resp.pulse,and pain conrol,it is actully a medicalcy regonized fact and right of all pts,you could sue if u dont recieve the pain control you need,thats why everyone kept pushing meds on u,they are liable,ok and now my addict speech I am truely convinced that if my pain had been adequitly addressed and I hadent been left in pain it never would of occured to me to take more then precribed.I used to watch the clock,afraid to put a pill in my mouth one minute early,and then came the day i couldnt take it anymore, so i took an extra,I didnt die,so then I took anthor and so on.If I hadent remained in pain I wouldnt of obcssed about it,I would of had the treatment i needed and then moved on.Stop punsihing yourelf,you had someone cut open your leg and that REALLY HURTS,no one thinks you are a failure for taking what you need,as a matter of fact <YOU and some others here are my heros,and i admire you greatly,so give yourself a break because I am  :)   laura

[hippy]

i feel bad about your pain,i know untill someone goes thrugh it
themselves ,it,s hard for them to understand.
my experence with really bad pain like yours is  like being trapped  in box of pain. or like being trapped under water, and not beig able to breath. I always felt like it was never going to end. the only thing that helped was sleep if i could get any.
After i got my sholder operated on last year , i kept thinking to my self .I should have not gotten it done .the pain before the operation was not as bad as the pain right after the operation, witch lasted about 4 weeks. then everything was OK
after it all healed up.
It,s always good to have a mentor in these situations , someone
the likes of kip. somebody who has been there and done that.
peace. and get a liquid vit for energy, or a energy bar

[confused.grl]

I am going to tell you the same thing that you told me 2 weeks ago, DONT LET YOURSELF BE IN PAIN, it wont kill you to take the pills if you use them for pain only. I just stopped taking the methadone that i was perscribed after surgery, i have taken less that half the script and i found that i could stop after the pain stopped, that was my biggest fear, but 2 days later and i'm feeling great.

[IrishRose]

Rowanshyne- you can take L-tyrosine with Wellbutrin. It is the SSRI type of antidepressants that you should avoid combining the two ( i.e. Paxil, Prozac). OLP's are an iffy thing. It takes forever to get Bup that way, most if not all comes from other countries. It's kind of a crapshoot, let me know and I can e-mail you some more info about that if you want.

GWH- listen up, don't hurt yourself with hurting. You cannot heal, physically, emotionally, spiritually if you are in godawful pain. So let up with the self ass thrashing about taking pain pills. Yes you made some progress prior to this recent setback and you will make progress again. You have lost nothing but time, but did gain some knowledge along the way.

Take care all. IR.

[OxyDout]

Thank you Irish Rose and everyone else, I feel like IR and Kip are the mother and father, and or brother and sister of this forum, you guess are absolutely incredible and you mean A LOT TO ME. Which is the reason why I'm telling you all this story about what happened to me yesterday. This is a TRUE story. I had been talking to a few people about my addiction and then of course, one kid had to say, "No, you don't need Detox, you don't need anything, thats for heroin addicts." so then I go through the whole "we are just as bad as any addict" and he complete just doesn't want to agree with me. So, I told him about this forum, (didn't give him the web page) and he said, "why do you go to a dumb ******* crackhead posting site" then I really started getting pissed off. In anycase, the point is, #1 you all are just as good as anyone else and don't let anyone ever tell you different. Addiction is addiction no matter what the drug. and #2 I will be here as long as I can to help anyone and everyone make it through this because I don't want to be on the same level as the ******* who I was arguing with it.

GWH