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Hope everyone else is having a better day than I......that wouldn't be hard to beat at this point.
Then my ex picks today of all days to show up and act like a jackass. Geeeeeeeeeeeze.
Don't mean to break the thread here but I have a question. I posted a question 9/17 under Vicoden Cravings. I noticed today that Dr. Steve replied 9/23. Could someone please look at this. Is this reply to me? Because if so could someone tell me HOW THE HELL I STOPPED EARLY IN THE ADDICTION PROCESS WHEN I HAVE BEEN ADDICTED FOR 22 YEARS. I mean no disrespect Dr. Steve but I think I was way past early on anything, except my refills sir.
Shea
Just want you to know I am thinking of you today. Just remember at least you know what to expect and hopefully you know the worse will be over in 2-3 days. You are in my thoughts and prayers as I know this is a tough time. Remember how many people are here for you. Are you using Thomas's recipe and/or 5htp? Do you have valium or clonidine? You will get through this. Keep us posted.
Shea
If there is anyway you can stop now, DO IT before this train gets out of control.
This forum is a good place to come...lots of support here.
Well, I had a hell of a day yesterday. While trying to get the phone quickly, I bashed my head into an open cabinet. This knocked me off balance, sending me crashing onto the floor, right on my two lower discs, where I had the surgery. Oi!
It hurt. A lot. I forgot what real, crying out loud screaming pain felt like. I called my doc and he said to wait to see how I felt in the morning, if it was still really hurting I'd get it xrayed, and he told me to take a pain pill to get the inflamation (inflammation) and pain down faster, so we'd know sooner if I'd done any serious damage.
I debated for over an hour, then decided it was ridiculous of me to sit in extreme pain. I am not a martyr. So, I asked my husband to hold the pill bottle after I took the dose, and to question me severely if I asked for more later that night or today.
I was really nervous, and felt horrible about it. But, pain is pain and this was serious. I didn't really take enough to completely dull the pain, but it did help a little. The funny thing is, that I really hated how the vic made me feel. I couldn't believe it. After the initial rush, that lasted all of half an hour, I just felt like ****. Nauseous, drained, not my own vibrant energy that I'd gotten used to having back. It left me with a little headache as well. Yuck.
I thought it would trigger a desire to use more, but it seems to have only reinforced my desire to not take it at all. I'm very thankfull for that..I was so scared it would make me want to go right back into addiction hell. I value the clarity of mind and increased energy that being clean has brought me, and I don't want to loose that ever again.
I felt I needed to tell you guys what happened, mostly to keep myself totally honest. This is the one place where I get to be completely honest, and it would have felt wrong to not tell you guys this.
thanks for listening.
love,
WW
Gosh, i'm sorry about your head and your back, i hate when i do things like that!!!!!
I'm glad it worked out the way it did for you though. I'll tell you a story...
Last year in September, i had to go away to california for a work sales meetings. I had been taking oxys, but only very small amounts at that time. My husband told me over and over to make sure i brought some with me 'just in case' i went into withdrawal. I brought them, but refused to take anything. I went to my parents house the first 6 days or so, i had to drop my kids off with them in NJ before heading to CA. The first night at my parents' house, i woke with the creepy crawling feelings, and had insomnia. I felt fine when i woke up but continued to be a little on the tired side for the next couple days. By the time i flew out to CA, i felt great. I was there for 3 days. On the last night before dinner, i decided to 'party' alittle and i cut a 20mg oxy and ate about 1/3 of it... man oh man did i ever feel like ****. I hated the feelings, i felt so sick, plus one of my co-workers told me i really really looked tired almost sick. I realized that being away from them for almost 10 days, i really actually hated the feelings. Unfortuately, when i returned back home to FL around 'them' all the time again, i fell right back into it! :(
Stay strong, and almost 'remember' the yucky feeling!!!!
Good luck girl!!
Lv Jenny
I know the physical part of this will pass....but what about the mental? That's the part I can never get past.
I think getting divorced, going thru menapause and having to worry about going back to a job you hate and having money problems is way too much for a person to handle. I NEED MY LORTAB BACK...NOW!
Well, back to the couch to wallow in misery.
Jenifer, for some reason, posts do disappear sometimes, I'm not sure why. Maybe there is some censorship, but I don't think so. Try making your post again. You will always have friends here Jenifer..we all care.
Katie...I don't know what to say..I think that in order to face life after opiates, to deal with the mental part, it helps to have a ton of support. What works for one person won't work for another..but, what keeps me clean is: my spiritual connection (ie, my higher power), this forum, my therapist . In that order.
I do think there is life after opiates. Happier, healthier life. Just never give up hope, no matter what, and keep doing what ever you need to do to take really good care of yourself. That may sound trite, but it is not as easy as it sounds.
love,
WW
ps I'm leaving tomorrow for a week, so I won't be on the forum for a while. I'll probably get another chance to post tomorrow before I go though.
Have a great trip, I would say break a leg but...
I responded (in depth) to your post in the Xanax thread. Nice of you to inquire into my health - I'm working on it.
Frank Lee
Fortunately, today the pain was not unmanageable, so I did not take any meds other than ibuprofen for it.
It's wierd....I hate being an addict. I hate that I sat there and obsessed for an hour over whether to take a pain killer or not when I hurt myself yesterday. Any normal person could just take it and not have it have potentially damaging consequences.
At least this is showing me how precious my recovery is to me. Just a few months ago, I never thought I'd want to, never mind be able to, get off the meds. Now, I dread getting caught up in that cycle again.
I want to get to the point where the meds are just not an issue anymore!
You folks are such a godsend. Thank you for being there, and accepting my ramblings and my confusion.
lots of love,
WW
I looked for your post to me in the Xanax thread, but didn't see it. Maybe it got deleted? Seems a few posts here and there are getting deleted again. I'm worried about why that happens. I know our new posted Jenifer wrote her history and reached out to Thomas, but her post was deleted.
Take care Frank, you are an inspiration to me. :-)
love,
WW
write me at
***@****.
The only dot is in "dot-com". I'll look for it tonight. You must know, Jenifer, that I'm your friend for life. We've never met yet we've been through "the war" together more times than I can count. And you've always been there for me. I will answer with whatever help I can. I only hope it's enough.
Love,
Thomas
F> LEE
This 21-year old girl that i had mentioned earlier, was at my house while i was at disney world with my family two-weeks ago.
Seems my husband went to pick her up (with my car), and take her to buy drugs, then go back to MY house and shoot up and then talk for 40-minutes about all his sorrows and woos about his relationship with me!!!
I noticed a definate change in the way he was treating me, he was being so critical and nasty with me like he had some power behind him. I started getting suspicious and that's when i searched his cell phone and found her number all over it. Then i asked if he had gotten together with her at all while i was out of town, he admitted to it.
What the hell does some 21-year old junkie, who lives with her parents, who can't even take care of her child, who only knows how to strip for a liviing, know about life and relationships anyway. All she is doing is feeding into my husband's illness and self-pity by agreeing with him and listening to his complaints about life. He needs to be talking to a counselor, or someone who knows us both at least. He won't do that, because they always side with me because they know how he 'really' is!!!!!
I've put a stop to the little friendship as far as i can tell! There will be hell to pay if i find out otherwise!!!!
I get *ucked with, it's not a pretty site, never ever get my Italian up!!!!!
This isn't helping my problems right now, and all i want to do is get high when i get upset like this, i'm furious!!!!!
Any opinions, am i nuts??
Love Jenny
I remember several weeks ago you were so concerned about how to act when your husband got out of drug rehab. You wanted to be straight for his homecoming,etc. He has betrayed you in so many ways that I am surprised you are still associating with him on any level. However, I am not surprised that the human addict in you craves the relief that only one thing can give you. Remember, this is a short lived solution to a long term problem of betrayal and anguish. You deserve much better than that!
Maybe the answer is in staying clean and making a success out of your life. In the end, it would be sweet revenge in knowing that you are rising higher as he falls lower into the abyss of addiction and depravity. Please take care of yourself and pray for answers...they will come soon! J.B.
I know i must sound like a real idiot, but when a person has been with a person for over 20 years (more than 1/2 my life), he's really all i know.
He says it was all innocent, she was just someone who listened to him because he has no other friends. She still isn't the kind of person he needs to be talking to for advice.
As if our lives are full of enough problems with these drugs, he needs to complicate it further and cause more pain.
There are no easy answers, and i really don't know how to handle it exactly! I've made my concerns and my feelings clear to him, he will no longer communicate with this girl, he just needs to find other types of 'friends' to talk to if he needs to vent; she is NOT appropriate!!!!
Her boyfriend or guyfriend (whatever) is in jail right now, so i just wrote him a letter filling him in on what's been going on. He's an acquaintance of ours, and asked that we stay in contact with the 'girlfriend' while he was gone because she was going through a 'hardtime'! Well i made an attempt, and she screwed that up royalily as far as i'm concerned, so she best keep away or else i'm gonna have to roll up my sleeves!!!!! I may be small, but i'm fiesty!!!!!
Thanks again!
Lv Jenny
your friend,
Thomas
Jenifer
Jen, I don't blame you for being boiling mad! I know how I felt when my hubby became an online Romeo.
When we first got married...about 10 years ago...I was gone to aerobics (sp??) and when I got home he was sitting in the living room with the tv on but the sound on mute. I knew something was up. I quizzed him but he just swore he was "thinking." Then about 15 minutes after I got home the phone rang and it was some girl and she said "can I talk to **** again?" It was his ex wife. I was furious. Not so much that he talked to her...but that he lied about it. Made me think that there something more to it! We are in calif and she is in Florida....but it still pissed me off. He wouldn't give me her # and she wasn't listed....so I called his mother and told her we needed her # because we had to call her about their mutual house. So when I got the # I called the ex and told her to NEVER call my house again. Then I told Romeo that if he wanted her...get his ass back to Florida....otherwise knock off the secret phone calls.
I'm not much of a good one to give marriage advice....been married once and we're seperated now...but what I would do is let him know you ain't gonna put up with this ****! Sometimes when they think they are gonna lose the one they love, they get their act together.
My husbands family is located in Bradenton. Is that anywhere near you?
20 years is a long time. You said he is all you know...you are probably all he knows too. I'd be willing to bet that he doesn't want to lose you over some bimbo.
Please keep posting and let us know how you handle this. My heart goes out to you....I've been there, done that.
My husband was doing his secret calls at the same time my dad was dying. I made my dad my priority and put my husband on the back burner.
Hang in there, Jenny. Be strong and let him know you ain't gonna take it! I set up an email address for this forum....if you want to talk one on one, email me at ***@****
I'm here for you.
my little black book of drug laweyers and get me an MD. cindi do
you know any MDs with long writing arms? cindi how ya doing? i give
you a good talking to if it hadn't been me not answering your e-mail!
keep an angel on your shoulder!
kip
why is the pope catholic, does a bear **** in the woods? do they
do this togather?
i've been an iv drug user since i was 15. by the grace of the gods i'm 5o years old today. (no i've never emotionally matured, but wisdom has prevailed and slowed my little hot shot world down a bit).
jdw i do dope to get out of bed in the morning. i do it cause i
have to brush my teeth and wash my face. some days i do even more
cause i have to shave. drug addiction is a metabolic illness. it
is not a mentle disorder, or an organic mentle illness. i was once court odered to see a psychiatrist. this kind and concerned doc could find nothing wrong with my mental makeup. i just liked to do drugs (opiates- thomas watch out i love them as much as you do!). Now i will admit this is antisocial behavior, so is eating meat to some people. 35+ years of consuming opiates any way i could (eating, smoking, shooting, shoveing them up my ass) left me with just one real peoblem (besides the legal ones). in those 35 years i never thought about what i'ld do if i ever needed an opiate pain killer. now i'm 50, suffer from intractable pain from an old spinal injury i got when i thought i was in-
vinceable. time has slowed me down and given me the opperunityy
to examine my faults and this illness of drug addiction. i don't
know why you oe i have this disease. i don't know why many people
i used drugs with are dead and i am not. some of these people had
far more to offer the world than i did.
jdw welcome to this forum. there is plenty ofr room here for drug
addicts of all kinds. i use to post mor often than i do these days- you know the entanglements of work etc. can really eat up
the time i seem to have.
keep an angel on your shoulder!
kip
I quit cold turkey last Sunday and have been in rather mild WD's. My pain management has consisted of staying home and taking Naproxen and following most of your recipe. It works!
After four days without opiates, it's nice to have a clear head again! I think that my cellulitis is finally whipped and my legs look almost normal again. I've had to wear sweat pants for the past two months because I couldn't get my jeans on. Marty is fine and going strong.
Thanks for being here for us, Thomas. J.B.
JB: good to hear you're out of those sweat pants. You really should give Marty a chance to wash them ... (that's what my wife tells me about my favorite lounging attire). Just Naproxen after the percs and vics ... you're tough, though. I think all of us, you too, cindi, have proven that we can take a licken and keep on ... uh, eaten tons and tons of beautiful white vics and ... woops! Lost control there for a moment ... I meant keep on ticken, Doctor Steve, really (yeah, sure Thomas). Seriously, addicts and recovering addicts do take a pounding from life. If it isn't the consequences of our habit, it's oh so polite society's disdain and indifference (as they light up another cig and pour another martini). How many times have you dragged yourself out of bed Monday morning, in total withdrawal, dripping with sweat, and hauled your butt to work anyway? "Oh, you know, it's that flu going around."
Of course, the horror of Sept 11th makes everything else look trivial.
One thing that doesn't and never will seem trivial to me is the friendship I've been gifted with by JB, cindi and everyone (you know who you are and so do I).
Shea mentioned in a post above somewhere that she could see that I was respected here on the forum. If I'm respected for understanding someone's plight, or doing what little I can to help, or just making someone laugh when they're hurting and afraid, then I will accept that respect. Just so long as no one, especially newcomers to the forum, think my way of life and my 30-year habit is somehow "cool." If anything, I hope my tale is taken as a cautionary one by anyone who hears it.
What brings me to tears are the posters that say my "recipe" is the reason they were able to endure withdrawal and break free of this love/hate doom so many of us are burdened with. Of course, I know that the real credit goes to them -- and to the caring family and friends around them. But the image of someone "walking into the light" is a moving one to me. I always see myself somewhere back in the shadows bidding them farewell and wishing them good luck. "Now, don't let me see you here again ... But, should you return, I'll be here, ready to help you into the light again, and again ..."
I don't know where I'm going with this. I just wanted to send my love out to all my friends. We're all so fragile. Our time here is so short. Whatever I am or have failed to become, I am a human being who treasures all of you.
Thomas
About withdrawals; I've been through them too many times to count. The first time was the worst, mainly due to the unknown (panic,pain and terror). I can really relate to those of us who simply continue using because of that fear. As you called it, "Monday morning flu".
Though I lack your sense of humor and writing ability, I'd like to think that we have something in common. We have the problems of addiction and can share them with other addicts. God knows we are far from perfect, but we can still be of help!
Your friend, J.B.
I started with ridilin, percs and vics, then it to the loratabs, valuims and oxys these all came from football injuries. I started with one every 4hrs then 3 every 2hrs then to 8 to 17 a day. wasn't looking good. I treated every one like **** and ran all my chicken heads off. Thats when a angel fell from heaven and stole my heart she flat out told me that if i was going to be her man my drugs had to go. I struggeld with it for a minute then i finally got my mind straight and decided what i wanted more my drugs or her lovin. Here i am know a drug&gang counsler for all the people who want out of the game and want somthing out of life.
ps. life is way to short to spend half of it coming down.
Snake
What can anybody say to someone reading here that is fighting addiction? How can we help someone who has a few pills in their hand or a bottle of alcohol sitting next to them...or both? Where is that mind set now?
Forgive me, but I am angry with myself! All I know right at this moment is that relief is just a swallow away. All the ups and downs of my life will fade away for a while and be replaced by....nothing. I've decided to stay clean today, thank you! J.B.
Flee
haven't posted much lately. i guess i've sunk into not such a bad rut lately- 40mg. oxy-c 3 times a day. the spinal fussion had all
the aspects of healing up until i really hammered my head on the
underside of desk trying to plug diagnostic equipment into a local
area network jack. now any of you thatr know me, know i have a real hard head. but man my neck really swelled up at the fusion site.
now i know i'ld sworn off hospital and er rooms (big creep shows
at the very best), but went to one anyway. turned out the fussion was ok but i sprained my neck! any one ever SPRAIN THEIR *******
NECK? they gave me valium which helped some. also 20 percocet which
i threw back at the bewildered er doc. he couldn' understand i was
taking 20 mg more than his whole 20 percocets. as i was leaving
the man in the cubicle next to me started screaming someone stole
his pants, and i must've looked like the prime suspect. jees, i've been a drug felon and thief for 35 years and never once did
i think of stealing anyones pants. i mean one has to have limits--i did steal several rolls of toliet paper--ah the joys of youth! anyhow hospitals are creep shows and i plan on staying away from them. now if i could have a nurse like cindi-- well maybe not handling my drugs--ah **** i'm weak of will, so i guess i should indulge someone else.
cindi: add to that list of movies "Train Spotting" and "acid
House" (not out yet). Their both based on books by Irvine Welsh.
He is a scotish drug addict who writes of the junkys of edinburha
and glasgow. he writes in the venacular so it's a little hard to
get at first, but highly worth it! all you good people having
the jones or the post jones depression, pick up some books dam-
it. you can be unhappy, but you don't have to be unread!
keep an angel on your shoulder
kip
For 70's film fans, or Pacino fans, Panic in Needle Park isn't bad. I bet we've all got a film or two in our bios. Sid and Nancy ... ah the list does run on and on. Thanks for the images. That's about as close as I'm going to get to anything good tonight. Hope your neck feels better ... but, seriously, next time you're about to turn down Percs, drop me a line first-- what a sacrilege!
Frank L:
no one can say you're not fighting it. don't beat yourself up over a few norcos. it took years to get where you're at. it will take a considerable time to climb back ... at least your med-savvy and have access to a good doc. The only way I could do a detox or get an addiction specialist would be on insurance and my goddamn employer would find out just like that. Poof! El job-o el-gone-o! It costs less to stay an rx junkie these days than it does to get first-rate help.
Thomas
if you liked the movie "drugstore cowboy,"get the book written by
Jim foggle. He needs the royalty money as he doing life in WAlla-
wala state prision. you know the first 15 miutes of that movie were
so well done it still has me on the edge of my seat after watching
it 20 times.my hats off to gus vansant.
panic in needle park was also good. one of Pacino best rolls- but
it was dated well before my time ( $2.00 bags of H!!)
I've read everything of ervine welsh - his best is "Acid Housae."
The good doc is treating me with a dx of Chronic back pain and anxiety - damn accurate if not fully forthcoming. He is the director of a detox facility. I won't have substance abuse as a diagnosis, even though it is. Why? Because like you I would lose my job. I am very high profile and am the president of a state organization. Those of us with substance abuse problems (mine should really be valium deficiency) are clearly not the darlings of the pharmomedic complex.
Let's take an example. Dr. Steve would certainly not equate a nicotine junkie with a vicodin junkie. In fact, if Dr. Steve’s nicotine junkie smoked for 30 years and couldn't pass a pulmonary function test, Dr. Steve would be first in line to sign him up for medical insurance. Social Security disability would be there to. And the community, well poor guy but great citizen. Ditto for the sausage eater with cloged arteries. Now you and I would not get such kind medical support for our addictive drug of choice and Social Security does not, repeat not, pay drug abusers and the community - well kiss college good bye for my kids if the ugly news gets out.
You can tell I am still pissed at Dr. Steve for censoring my sobriety crowing earlier this week - waz up with that Doc?
I have more perspective today old' pal. But this corner of the ring is still bloody. Ready for another round today. Zipping up the gloves as we speak.
Peace
Frank
"been in the life." My wife sometimes has accused me of "loving
the life." now i'll be honest here, i've always looked at myself as
just an average "jumping bean," getting by. but now since Thomas
brought the term "In the Life," and my wife telling me "I love the
Life."-----**** it was like getting sartori (sudden enlightenment-
say a kick in your ******* eye). i never thought of myself as some-
thing from a book i read, or a movie i've seen! I guess it's pretty
much different when one get to see (or be) the real thing complete
with the emotional fragilitiys, the precious breath of individual-
ity that all humans tenuiously cling to. i guess when i lay my life
out and look at everything good and bad, right and wrong, hatefull
or loving....... i'm a unique mix of circumstance, good and bad
choices, and yes a drug addict. i never intended to end up a pro-
found disapointment to my parents, a loser in the eyes of many, i
was just reacting to circumstance with mostly bad choices. but
wait- what about the rest of me- god didn't build a total piece of
****---- i could go on and on.... i guess i'm mostly human.
keep an angel on your shoulder
kip
the love you can, it will come back tenfold!
cindi: i am not quite sure what i was about in my last post. I'm 50
+ years. if i'm lucky and don't die with a binky hype rig hanging
from my arm (full of blue clotted blood) i've got maybe 20 years to
go. What the hell is it about? Some days i feel as if my wife and i
are just characters from a Charles Bukowski story (Thomas you must
have read some of his stuff). mortality is chewing this old rats
tail off, and infinity is just beyond my feeble fingers grasp....
some days i just want to tie off and get blasted cause crying aint cool and its to damm much work. But the somedays there is a crak in the comic egg and i'm treated to a glance at the inner workings of this place in infinity we occupy.
I've said it before-
i used to awake bewildered
a small person in a small world.
now i awake bewondered still
a small person in ever expanding world.
keep an angel on your shoulder
kip
Yes, I actually have five grandchildren, Skip. The oldest will be eight on next Sunday. She is the daughter of my own late daughter who passed two years ago from epilepsy. My daughter's husband passed the year before due to some sort of uncontrolable infection while hospitalized at Scripps Hospital in San Diego.
Life is like that so enjoy every minute. All I really want is to be here mentally and physically for my wife and family as long as I can. My wife has terminal cancer but keeps on going like the Energizer Bunny. She's my hero. We have the ability to be heroes...all of us to someone, in some way. J.B.
did skipper want a good "cheer up" movie? It has nothing to do with drugs, but my wife and I always get a lift out of As Good as it Gets. Hellen Hunt is wonderful as a single mom struggling with life like real people. Nicolson isn't bad, either. A keeper. By James Brooks who did Terms of Endearment and made the Simpsons, among other great stuff.
To all my frieeeeeeeends!
Thomas
Yesterday, after thinking he had been clean for several months, I found out different. He was either out of our family's life or going for professional help. He wants to go on a methodone treatment and wants off of these pills, afterall he won't be able to get them anymore since I made threats of calling the law on the person supplying them to him.
Problem, we are on an HMO health plan and I called my counselor to see what the routine was, she said he needs to get his doctor to write a referral to detox. He doesn't want to go in a hospital, it would also severaly disable our family functions if he wasn't taking care of our little one (he's a wonderful father regardless of addiction) and he wants to do an outpatient treatment. We are concerned that once we call that all heck is going to break loose and be dragged into something completely different. He also needs pain management or atleast for the doctor to find a way to fix his problem, whether it be back surgery or whatever, which the doc has refused to further investigate so we have little trust in this doctor to be able to call for detox.
I guess this is the big step and we really need some help pushing forward with it. I'm not sure if there are patient rights that we should know about, like what kind of treatment he gets. He does not want to be institutionalized and forced cold turkey. He's tried it at home and it is like having the worst flu and being a grown man it sure did make him cry. I know methadone would work for him and he knows it too. I just worry about being HMO that they may not provide that kind of treatment and just put him through what he has gone through at home.
Please give some advice.
Thanks
It gets to the point that you can't worry about HMO coverage or the fact that your husband is such a good babysitter. This is a life and death matter for him, you and your child. Now quit making excuses and do some leg work. Contact someone in NA or AA for starters. They may be able to assist you. The point is, there are a lot of helpful people out here that can help you. Whether or not your husband can be helped is almost entirely up to him. Your support of him is entirely up to you! J.B.
THANKS