Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Xanax
by Dan, Nov 21, 2000 12:00AM
I have been on Xanax - 2mgs a day for 9 years. In July of this year I started coming off this drug. Today I am down to .5mgs a day. But my problem is I can't seem to get any lower. I try to reduce (.37mgs a day) but the withdraw is so bad I go back to .5mgs. Any suggestions on how I can continue reducing the dose without the withdraw?
Related discussions
-
Oxycontin Withdrawal Symptoms - Can anyone help or recom... (159 replies):Can you help, please? My doctor prescribed Oxycontin a...[more]
-
how long will the withdrawal last from hydrocodone? (166 replies):I am on day 9 of my detox from hydrocodone 10/650, about...[more]
-
Hydrocodone Withdrawal (169 replies):I have been taking hydrocodone for about 2 1/2 years at ...[more]
-
What is the best way to detox from narcotic pain killers... (188 replies):I began taking pain killers recreationally two years ago...[more]
-
How to withdraw from long-term hydrocodone use (138 replies):I've been taking hydrocodone for the past five years, an...[more]
-
Catalytic anti-bodies? (78 replies):Has anyone heard of a antibody being developed that cons...[more]
-
Oxycotin Detox (111 replies):This board was suggested to me by a friend and I am so g...[more]
-
Withdrawl from Oxycotin (110 replies):I have been on a different pain killer for the past 7 mo...[more]
-
physical withdrawl (82 replies):After years of pain medication for chronic pain I have h...[more]
-
In the middle of withdrawl, need help!! (115 replies):I’m new to this forum. I just discovered it. This is l...[more]
Post Comment
Related Communities
Recent Videos
Related Expert Forums
Recent Activity
Most Popular Trackers
RSS
Expert Activity
Community Members
Most Viewed Health Pages
Sincerely,
Dan...
Check this forum for other postings on benzos. You can read about people who have experienced seizures. This is not something to be taken lightly. Good luck.
Sincerely,
Dan...
The chest and stomach muscle contractions from the benzo seizure were powerful enough to leave me with two compressed vertebra in my upper back. The muscle and nerve damage in my chest was so extensive that I could not walk upright for two weeks and had to literally crawl to the bathroom on my hands and knees.
It took more than a year to recover from this experience. And, as I said, I still have two compressed vertebra which will never heal.
If that doesn't convince you, how about the nurse I know who bit her own tongue off during a benzo-inspired seizure? True story.
You came to the right place. Everyone here has, is, and will be going through the same thing you are and that is what this is all about.
Vicky, you said you were sorry yet you keep this going by making comments in your last post that NOBODY else seems to want to answer "sicks" question. Maybe because you are the only one sitting here checking on the posts, waiting to attack someone else. My god you are sick in the head woman. GROW THE HELL UP!
You are not worth this. I hope nobody else responds to your posts and argues back with you. You have a serious attitude problem!!!!!
(I'm just clarifying this because there are other folks out there who have professional and academic experience with addiction and/or medical concerns. Not just so-called-"Doc"-Dan)
Dan...
Peace Everyone
To the person who told me about Dr. Lance Gooberman,(sorry, the threads are so long to scroll through) I called his office, its a 3 hour drive from my home, and the nurse said they were only there in the morning. Have you actually been there? How long did it take from where you live and have you relapsed?
I have to get up and do something every day, whether its work, or take care of my animals, or go places, so I can't be zonked out on clonodine. There is no easy answer for me, is there?
Happy Thanksgiving ( and I didnt have to use the "eff" word to enforce that statement)
Maybe Vicky has more then just an addiction problem? She seems to stick her nose in everywhere she can and she cannot wait to jump down someones throat for asking a simple question.
She is as nasty as good ole vicodin girl A>K> Hydrocodone queen!
See ya peeps later
How sick to boast that you have been an addict for 10 years, like you deserve some trophy for being "the person addicted for the longest time award". And how do you know that you hold the title anyhow? That statement you made was almost like your cry for some kind of sick recognition for your long time addiction.
Get a life. Go make your stuffing for tomorrow or bake a pumpkin pie!!
Will someone get off their high horse and answer the question that is asked by so many of us.
Can we get off these pills and how long does it take? I am taking 2 mills every night and feel like hell when I try to even taper off.
At one time I tried stopping altogether but did not sleep for 15days.
PLEASE HELP!!!!!
Hey, Brian, check this out about Immodium:
"Mechanism of Action: .... Although loperamide is chemically related to opioids, it does not exhibit analgesic or opiate-like effects, even at high doses. Tolerance to the antidiarrheal effect of loperamide has not been observed, and it does not appear to produce physical dependence."
This is an extract from a monograph on the best site I've found yet for straight drug info:
http://cp.gsm.com/fromcpo.asp
Just curious.
Thanks hope ya'll had a good Thanksgiving!
I've been reading this site for several weeks and feel I've gotten to know seveal of you - even though I've yet to post a note myself. Your stories have been a genuine inspiration to me...Lynn, Brian, Neena, Brighty, especially...I can sense the concern and compassion you have for eachother and others, and wanted to say thanks for helping me keep it together through a battle of my own. It's encouraging to hear how you are trying, to read when you make progress, and how you all deal with times when there's a setback too. I really felt alone this past year, and though I knew there must be others out there in a similar condition, it is good to know they are keeping it together as they progress.
I've had BAD problems with pain pills for several years. Started a long time ago as a result of numerous racing accidents and related injuries. For about 15 years, the trouble was limited to percocet and vicodin, at 'reasonable' quantities -not more than 10 pills a day, and limited by access more than anything else. (That was all I could get RX's for.) I was careful to ration my pills, because I knew I couldn't function without a few to get oit of bed, a few more at mid day, a few around dinner, and a few to go to sleep on. I went through withdrawal more times than I can count....when a planned source fell through, or an early refill was denied. But I never went more than a few days without, and that didn't happen more than once every few months or so.
In the past 4 years it's gotten way worse. After a few bad car wrecks and more injuries (auto racing this time) I've escalated my use of pills to a point I can't see a way out of other than to give up. The quantities I am dependent on are so high, withdrawal is no longer something that I could tolerate - I have no doubt it would kill me or I would kill myself before lasting even a day.
Vicodin doesnt touch my pain, nor does Percocet, or anything else except large doses of morphine or oxycontin. I feel backed into a corner into a situation I created but cannot correct, and have no clue what to do about it. If I didn't have a wife and kids I would have ended things several months ago. The only way I can deal with it it to put it out of my mind and go on, but I know that's not the answer because nothing changes then...
I now am at the point where I need at least 320mg of Oxycontin an hour before getting out of bed, that much again at mid-day, and 160mg or so again at night. And that's a minimum. I have hit 15 pills and as many as 20 once or twice(80mg Oxycontin or similar total mg in the 40 or 160mgs) a day, and that's a reduction from this spring where my use was 25-35 per day. I know that may sound unbelievable, but it is true. Honest it is.
I am hoping there's someone else out there who has a similar experience or knows someone who has because I've never found anyone who came down from those levels or the amount of time I've been using opiods.
This year I've drained my savings, lost a few good doctors (including an excellent family doctor that took care of my kids for years), and got myself into legal trouble (a first for me) too as a result of seeing 2 docs and a few questionable scripts. That still isn't resolved either, and is another large problem to deal with....but another story I guess.
I tried detox. Went into what was supposed to be a 3-5 day inpatient stay, and 10 days later was released with the Doc stating "this is as good as you're going to feel". These so called professionals admitted they had no exerience at the levels I was taking, and the most they had seen before was someone taking "as many as 10 80mg per day, but not every day". I was consistently at 3 times that! They treated me just as they did everyone else, except doubled my clonodine and phenobarbital for 7 days. When herion addicts were leaving in 3-4 days and I was still screaming in withdrawal after 9, it should have registered with me that they weren't doing enough. The Doc told me to come back in 10 days for some counceling and try NA or AA meetings as soon as possible. Well that wasn't good enough. I couldn't have possibly driven or sat through a meeting in my condition. That I made it home at all isa miracle. I came home, laid on the floor and cried til my wife gathered up the kids and gave me 2 hours to "get my act together" when she would be home again.
I don't blame her...the kids hadn't seen me for 10 days..and the Docs at the Detox told her I would have the drugs out of my system by then, so to her, I should have been better. But I wasn't. The pain was back 1,000 times worse - to a point where my mind felt like it was going to explode from trying to deal with it. I was so shakey it felt like I had drank 10 pots of coffee, I was throwing up, and went for my gun locked inn the garage. Fortunately it was gone. I then called a friend for help. I took a single 80mg Oxycontin, and within 30 minutes felt like a new person.
I quickly found that Detox had taken care of a lot of my tolerance problems, and instead of 6-10 80mgs at a time, 1-2 would do the trick. No buzz, but no pain either. I felt wiped out from all the benzos they gave me in Detox, but with little pain, I was able to get back to work and lead a normal life again.
Unfortunately 4-5 80mg pills a day has escalated to 10 per day again (over 3 months)and I am deathly afraid I will be back where I was before if I don't get a handle on this quickly.
Problem is, I do have legit pain...bad pain....and with nothing, I cannot function. That 10 per day is a legit scrip. But the Doc recently said he wanted me to cut back, so I am going to have to. But with that, comes the pain again. And probably withdrawal. And I live in constant fear he will cut me off all together....
Everything I read about addiction states I can no longer safely take pain meds, but without I am definately not going to make it. I need to work, to be a dad, a husband, etc, I am the sole support for the family so toughing out a withdrawal is not an option. If 10 days inpatient didn't touch it....what will??? If I knew 30 days would do it for sure, I could probably arrange it. But I don't know that. And my 'gut' tells me it won't...after reading the many posts, I am convinced I destroyed my body's ability to make endomorphins probably forever. Which means I will never get better, right?
Does anyone out there have any advice or experience that could help? I am SO scared!!!
BTW - Vicodin is 5mg hydrocodone which is synthetic codiene that gets into your bloodstream faster than codiene (T#3), so the Vicodinnis definately stronger. My expwrience from years ago was it took 2 Tylenol #4s to equal 1 Vicodin, and a t#4 has 60mg of codiene versus 30mg in a t#3, so that's the relationship. (Vicodin ES is 7.5 mg hydrocodone and Vicodin HP or Lortab 10 is 10mg hydrocodone)
Have a good evening and thanks again!
I just left a post to you from one of your posts you made at the end of October about your migraines, I think the name of the topic is question about vicodin/darvon or something like that. I didn't want it to get lost because you posted so long ago, so please go back and read what I just posted. I had some ideas on your headaches and some questions to everyone on being treated at the ER less seriously if you are a woman.
Beanie
When I was arrested for rx forgery and thrown into the county jail detox ward in 1993, I was using 75 to 100 Vicodin 5mg's a day (yes, I said 100)! I was removing the Tylenol before I consumed it, but my urine was then being bottled and sold as Tussionex Hydrocodone cough syrup. (now you know why Tussionex is yellow!)
Sorry to joke, but some things are so bad you can't address them without paying homage to this deity of ours that allows such things to happen in the first place.
Opiates are funny in that tolerance at a certain point seems to make dosages almost irrelevant. Let's just say you've turned your body into an oxycodone metabolizing factory and leave it at that.
I think you already know you're going to need the full 90-day residential treatment program. There just is no way around it now. I think you should start lining up just such a situation now. And since this all started with what sounds like a constellation of chronic pain issues to rival Evel Kniviel (are you sure you're not him?), you surely should start by finding the best pain management/addiction specialist you can afford (or promise to pay later, whatever it takes).
It also sounds like there's a wife situation that might have to be put on the back burner for at least the 90 days. There's just no way you can cope with the emotional load of maintaining a marriage and deal with all you're about to be facing.
The thing is, you're going to need to address these different aspects one at a time. A good 90-day detox and recovery program is the only thing that's going to give you a fighting chance with all this load you're carrying. Don't try to solve it all at once. That will just break your back (if it isn't already). Take this on in stages, my friend. Get truly detoxified before you try to solve all the other issues. A man can shoulder just so much at a time.
But don't let the dosages discourage you. It's all relative when tolerance enters the equation. The solutions are the same. They just may need to be spread out a bit more, that's all. I came back from 100 vics a day. Of course, I can't play the violin now - but, come to think of it, I couldn't before I started using, either.
Get a hold of the big book of AA and read the biographies therein if you want t see what some people have overcome with the help of they're fellow addicts. Believe it or not, but we've all been where you are right now. The dosages your fixated on ultimately don't mean squat. This disease we share isn't much interested in quantity.
I don't know your life story, but it sounds like there's going to have to be some amends made to family, friends and employers somewhere down the line. But that's what the 12 steps are for. (don't think about them now, though, first things first)
Tom, you're not alone in this struggle. Not for one second. The right 90-day program will include 90 meetings in 90 days and those meetings will introduce you to the community of us addicts and alcoholics that, whether you know it or not, you've already joined.
There is a way out of this hell you're in and all you need to do is stand up, say your name and offer your hand. We will take it and lead you out of hell just as you will be leading us out.
Your enemy now is your isolation. Go to the first AA meeting you can find (the drug of choice really doesn't matter - most alcoholics are pill users, too). Introduce yourself and tell the meeting you're there for the first time and don't know what to do next. I promise you the response you will get will change your life.
There is a nobility in suffering and a profound power in the fellowship that flows through AA meetings that can bring you life and redemption, no matter how low you might feel yourself to be right now.
Pick up the phone and make those clinic arrangements now. It's the only way, but it's a way that can and will save your life. Good luck. I will look for your posts on this site and will always listen and respond to you. (just to keep things straight, spell yourname Tom wit a capital T to distinguish it from my posts as "tom.")
Get started now, Tom. It's time .
Confused,
DAn
ps:DSM III code 304.0 ??
If the person has CONTROL of his addcition this may be possible. The clinic offers support and watches very closely to make sure the patient is not increasing his/her dose for other reasons. A good addiction doc may provide this supervision. But most pain doctors will not act in this manner. Pain/addiction doctors may
a solution to this problem but these doctors are not at the average person's disposal.
Dan.
Without drugs- To fell a sence of accomplishment. One might take up a hoby, or seek a rewarding career. With drugs you can just take a pill and sit back or do something small around the house. That is just one of many examples.
After you take them for a long time you loose the ability to become self-motivated. The only way you know to feel anything is to just take your pill of chioce. Thats why when you stop them you don't feel anything, you just want to lay around the house and not face up to anything. When quiting drugs it is a whole reshaping of how you conduct your life. You have to learn how to feel happy, concerned, interested, motivated feel love. Any emotion you can posibly think of has to be relearned, all over again or sometimes even learned for the first time. It is a hard battle but I can say this. When you achieve happyness on you own rather than with drugs it is a deeper feeling, a feeling of treu happyness not the fake happyness from some drug.
My precription will come in 3 weeks and I will take it again. I am just now doing things without the drugs and doing well, but I look forward to that next fix. I hope some day I will get sick of this rollercoaster ride and quit but I am just not ready yet.
Success to all of you
Oh, and Dan? You can take you mild disgust and shove it up your ass, you judgemental son of a *****. Happy Thanksgiving.
I have considered a 30 day program, never gave much thought to 90 days though, because 30 isn't possible right now. One piece I left out is unfortunately my legal problems are far from resolved and I have to be in court in a few weeks. Am facing several big charges and one nasty prosecutor who would like to see me on the top of the "10 Most Wanted" list. He just REFUSES to accept that I could possibly have been taking the amount of drugs they have documented, and insists I must have been selling them. Nothing could be further fromm the truth - there isn't enough money out there to pry these pills out of my hands! Fortunately for me, he didn't do much a job investigating and the quantities he has documented arent nearly the true totals, or my job would be even tougher.
With all the $$$ I've layed out in legal and medical bills this year, and a stay-at-home-Mom/wife, I have no choice but to keep working to try and stay afloat.
Once this is over and I PRAY I get probation, I may consider some sort of longer term treatment program. The time I lost in Detox and aftrwards trying to find a Doc to help was all I can afford to take off for a while though...for more reasons than just money too.
When I decided to go to Detox I asked any questions and was assured that like you said Tom, the quantities were not going to affect my treatment - basically and addict is an addict is an addict. I was given promises that I would suffer severe withdrawal for 3-5 days and then it would start to improve. Told me to expect to be able to work again in 2-3 weeks at the outside. Said I might not be sleeping well yet, but I could expect SOME sleep at least.
They weren't even close. With twice the top dose of phenobarbital, clonodine, uptram, and whatever else they give for Detox (280mg of Pheno was a number I recall), I was STILL up and pacing the floors for 10 days straight. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE else in the Detox unit would wait for their midnight dosing and catch a few hours sleep. Not me. The nurses confided that they had never seen anyone ever suffer as I had. And after 10 days the Detox MD said "this is as good as you're going to feel for a while" as I cried and wanted to die.
Not to discount at all a 100 Vicodin/day habit Tom, but it still isn't near a the quantity of oxycodone I was taking just to stay level. Doing the math quickly 100x5mg of Hydro=500mg of hydrocodone. 30x80mg of Oxycodone is 2400mg - and mg for mg, the Oxy is stornger. My point isn't that one is worse of more painful, but that there just are very few people with experience at those levels, and I haven't found them yet. In fact, I have yet to find anyone with an Oxycontin habit of as little as 5 or 6 of the 80mg pills per day for any length of time (say 3-6 months at those levels) that has been successful in getting clean. Thats what scares me so much!
Geez, I feel like I am dominating the site here with my problems and am sorry for it. I sat silent for weeks and now can't stop typing!
I do sincerely feel for anyone with an adiction (addiction) to these pills - whether Oxy, Morphine, Vicodinm Codiene, or even Ultram. MAN this is tough! My humble advice for anyoine out there struggling is stop now before it escalates, because the longer you wait, the harder it gets. (Guess that's what you all told me huh!!??)
I still am scared...ok terified. But a little better now that I've "spoken" to people about it. Does that make any sense?
Thanks again for all your time and advice.
John B.
This thread sure is diverse... wonder if you'll see this. I am curious ... are you talking about Lance Gooberman in Merchantville, NJ ? Anyway, how long have you been using the buprenorphine and how do you take it.. and how often ?? How long do you project to continue with it ? You may have explained this elsewhere but I can't find it. Just curious... ands I think this will be helpful for others to know also. I am happy to hear you are meeting with success. God bless you. Love, Brighty
This thread sure is diverse... wonder if you'll see this. I am curious ... are you talking about Lance Gooberman in Merchantville, NJ ? Anyway, how long have you been using the buprenorphine and how do you take it.. and how often ?? How long do you project to continue with it ? You may have explained this elsewhere but I can't find it. Just curious... ands I think this will be helpful for others to know also. I am happy to hear you are meeting with success. God bless you. Love, Brighty
Thanks for your advice. I am taking Amitrylline 25mg tab. one at night. The problem here is that my local hospital does not have Prozac, which I used to take, without any side effects.
I am getting better each day, and sleeping a little better too. How or when I should reduce my dose of Xanax I will discuss with my doctor thi coming Tuesday as I will be out of tabs then.
Thank you so much for your interest, it really helps me to know that my symptoms are not going to last forever.
Long term or short term,methadone IS your answer my friend.
Dan
This is a good site to get drug info. Thanks to who ever posted that for us.
John B.
My heart goes out to you, Tom. With all this on your plate, you're also sole support of your family. I was in the same position and I kept telling myself that, regardless of how much help I needed, I had to "stand and deliver" to keep a roof over my family and milk in the fridge. But you know, it was just more than I could shoulder, no matter how responsible I felt or how much I blamed myself for everything. An hour after my wife left with the kids, I finally just reported to the detox ward, and four days later, the residential group home run by the court-appointed electronic house arrest outfit, and put myself in their hands. All the things I thought would fall apart without me somehow didn't. In my absence, relatives and friends came forward to help my family and I was able to focus on my immediate problem. Because it was an electronic house arrest program, after a few weeks I was able to resume work while living in the group home. Funnily enough, my employer never had a clue any of this was going on.
It sounds trite, but the way I got through that period was by applying the One Day at a Time" principle to everything I did, every single day I was in the program. I don't mean this just in terms of not using drugs, but in coping with all the other challenges I had in front of me. Sometimes, I got through the day by focusing on just the next hour, then the next, and so on. Repairing your life is like building a pyramid: impossible to do when thought of as a whole - but very do-able when attacked block by block by block.
Ask your lawyer about the residential program. Usually, if you don't have anything too bad on your record already, the DA will let you plead down to a suspended sentence with residential house arrest as part of your drug treatment plan. Good luck, my friend. Post anytime you want to talk. I'm usually around and there are plenty of other good folk here with lots of good ideas and more than a few words of wisdom to share.
Dan
One question on take homes: are they dispensed in little sealed beakers, like the little coffee creamers, in, say, a MacDonalds breakfast? Sounds like you have to guard those things with your life once you get your week's supply ... I still must admit to not liking the daily reporting aspect of the clinic. I know it's too important to let that stop me, but maybe it would be worth asking about LAAM to cut down on all the commuting. I certainly am looking forward to stabalizing my body chemistry and handling my pain with a safe, clean, reliable solution. I have a phone interview with the director of the Third Street Clinic in Santa Ana on Monday. I'll keep you posted. Take care.
I don't need methadone myself, but I was wondering what the liquid tastes like?? is it nasty tasting?? I can't take my soma or xanax without drinking it with coke because the pills are so bitter tasting, don't know why they don't put a coating on them..anyways, how is methadone for treating chronic pain? does it work better than other opiates, like vicodin or oxycontin? or do you have to not be able to control your intake of those before you would even be considered for using it for severe chronic pain? Thanks, Beanie
What he has yet to mention is that I got caught because I ADMITTED to my primary Doc of my problem and asked for advice. If it were a business, why would I admit it and go to Detox??
The advice I got was to go directly to Detox, which I did within a few hours. If I had just gone to Detox without calling my Doc, or if I had not told my Doc how I was getting 3 times the amount prescribed, I would probably not have legal problems now.
I was in Detox about 12 hours when they came to arrest me. Nice Doc, huh? My wife was a saint. Within a 24 hour period she learned I needed to go away to Detox which I then went to, a half day later she came home to a house destroyed by the police with a search warrant, had to hire an attorney, bail me out, and drove me right back to the Detox center.
Anyway - you aren't the first to recommend a 90 day program. My atty wanted to suggest it to the judge too, but I nixed it. He didnt argue too much when he gave me another bill, and I explained if I was away for 90 days I would have no money to pay him these extra charges, and I'd probably lose my job too.
I would think of a way to make the time if I only could be sure it would work. But I'm not convinced it would. I'd rather try another short 7-10 day deal with this new buphenormine stuff. Have any of you had personal experience with it?
And what is LAAM you refer to? I've tried methodone for pain relief before - 2 x 100mg at a time I believe if I remember right - but for some reason didnt stick with it. Might be an option.
I did do something today that I read about on this site. Doc gave me a month's supply of my meds, so I filled them and gave them to my wife. (..of course I took out 10 pills for myself as a reward for today, but I gave her all the rest and my Oxyfast too!) She will not give me more than the bottles say, and I'm not getting them anywhere else, so this may be a good interim solution. I may regret this tomorrow but it seemed like the thing to do.
Thanks again everyone for writing. I read this stuff for a long time before posting the other day - I bet there are many, many people reading this that are helped or encouraged because you take time to do this.
By the way - went to see 102 Dalmations today. Save your money. Even the kids were bored with it.
One last statement. Never use methadone to achieve a high. That is why some people say negative things about it. They enter a program to replace a drug that was getting them high and most clinics are very observant. And will not allow dose increases if they see you are buzzed. Be honest with the prescribing doctor at the clinic. Be prepared to give up hydrocodone. You will only be allowed(thats up to the clinic doctor)to take prescription meds that are narcotics rarely and at prescribed doses. Another thing I forgot to tell you about. You asked me about employment drug tests. Did you worry about that in the past? Methadone shows up as methadone-not an opiate. I know this because when they give random U A 's they always know if I am taking hydrocodone>> opiate positive. An opiate positive can and will cost you $$$ and a removal of take homes. Prescritions on file will save you though. After I started methadone,ALL my chronic pain went out the window. I have to stop typing Duty calls. My best to you. Dan...
Dan..
ps: sorry if I HURT your feelings no name. Mine aren't hurt.
DAn..
Several years ago I had access to most any drug you wanted. I was a nurse on a surgical unit. My using started with Buprenex and stado and gradually over a year escalated to well over 600 to 800 mg. of demerol, dilaudid, etc. I was busted and sent to rehab. Thank God. the initial withdrawals lasted 2 weeks and cintinued for the next 6 to nine months. I have no recollection of the first 3 days in treatment. I could not do it alone without medical help. please do not try it....get professional help. when you pop 10 vics a day or percs the withdrawals are baby withdrawals. like you i was on massive doses. the nirses in treatment referred to me as a walking pin cushion and could not believe the drugs i had in me.....No, I am not boasting, now when i look back I am scared as hell. I too live with chronic pain, A few years ago i did the percocet thing from the hospital and was arrested in alot of trouble. Today i still live with the pain and yes i do take vicodin or ultram on occassion. I have to be extremely careful and really thank God that my dr. won't give me more than 10 at a time or whatever because I nver want that obsession to return. Please do not do this on your own. cindi
I went to my doctor and leveled with him about my struugle with pain and the fact that I am a recovering addict. Thankfully he understood my problem fully. He said that there is a big difference between drug abuse and being drug dependent. I also take meds for diabetes and high blood pressure, therefore I am dependent on them for my health. The same goes for pain meds. But to be on the safe side I have let my wife have control of the pain meds. I still do not trust myself with a full bottle sitting around! Recently(last week)my doctor said that he wants me on a longer acting narcotic, possibly Oxy Contin because the short acting drugs like Lorcet and Percoset are too hard to deal with as far as getting the level of pain killing correct. I told him I would consider this but that specter of addiction was always in the back of my mind. The point of all this is that with proper supervision, even hard core addicts can be successfully treated for chronic pain as many studies have shown.
Be well!
In my area we have schedules for AA and NA meetings. They will state if they are non-smoking, open(you can bring guests and even children), closed(alcoholics and addicts only), even straight or gay meetings, women only, men only, teen, etc. So it's all pretty much covered. My group is AA closed, smoking and adult. Many in the group are addicted to both alcohol and drugs so I feel very comfortable there and that is very important. I tried NA but had a hard time connecting with the group. You have to get around and find your home base and make friends. Once you have made some friendships, things start to fall in place and it gets much better for you. The fellowship will tend to keep you very busy and focused on recovery. Give it a try, it's free!