addicted to lortab

[feelinghopeless1970]

I am 41 years old and have been sitting here for hours reading these posts. I have rheumatoid arthritis. degenerative disc disease. 3 bulged discs with a tear in one. I was given a rx for lortab 10 almost 2 years ago and was taking 2 a day. that progressed to 4 and so on. Now I am up to 10 a day and i just want to stop. My rx only lasts about 2 weeks then i am having to buy and we all know how expensive that is. I have a wonderful husband who is aware of my problem and supports me 100%, although he does not know the extent of how much money i have spent on these pills. I am causing financial difficulties for my family as well as when i dont have the pills i am a horrible person. I am raising a 7 year old grandson that i love with all my heart and i want to be normal again for him. I am ready to start my journey to being clean and sober. I have tried several times before and never made it past the second day. I took my last  lortab at 6:30 tonight and already the anxiety has set in. Before when attempting to stop taking pills the mental anguish along with the actual physical pain in my back drove me to near insanity. i feel as if i am trapped in a no win situation. Go clean and suffer or keep taking and suffer other ways. I feel so hopless in this situation. God bless you all who have been strong enough to make it through this.

[GA_need_help]

Please don't feel bad about taking a Loratab.  We have to understand we will have times when we take medicine we don''t plan to or intent to.  Don't let it throw you off.  You have to function.  It is super hard to function when you don't sleep, and have a lot of pain.  Please be gentle with yourself
Marie

[rmrobbie11]

Hello. First of all happy new year. Second, I am currently going through withdrawals myself. I am only 64 hours clean. The worst part for me is nausea and anxiety. I can't seem to get the anxiety under control. There are medications you can take for anxiety I.E. Valium, Ativan or Xanax, but these meds are far more addictive than opiates. I found out the hard way about 6 weeks ago after I went cold turkey ( not by choice. My dealer ran out) The anxiety can be really hard but you can get through it. As far as your doc, I Agree with the others. Find a new doctor who will understand what you are going through. It can be hard also, but it is possible. Some docs do actually care about their patients. Oh did I mention I've been doing all of this detoxing while having a massive kidney infection. I just spent 4 days in the hospital. Good news was I got IV fluids. Bad news was the antibiotics they gave be through the IV, made me even more nauseas, anxious, gave me diarrhea, made me really agitated and gave me a small bout of insomnia. I'm sure some of it was the withdrawal, but these were also common side effects of the antibiotic too. I also tapered off my vicodin dosage. I did a slow taper and jumped of when I got down to taking half a 5/500 vicodin. Once in the morning and once at night. If you have the willpower this might be your best bet. But ONLY if you do. Most people can't and end up taking more. It is hard but doable. I wish you the best with getting off of these little monsters and keep posting here. There are lots of people here who can help you.

[novics]

I was worried about this too when I quit the pills; If I get a flareup now, I just take Advil for about a week and it seems to work out fine.

[feelinghopeless1970]

I called several drs today to try to find one that will support me through this and even after explaining the situation the earliest i can get into see one is Friday. I woke up at 4 A.M. in excruciating pain, took ibuprofen and went back to sleep only to wake up a couple hours later feeling the same. I am so ashamed to say that i caved and took a 10 mg lortab. I fell like a failure once again. But i havent taken 10 today as i have everyday for the past several months i have had 2  10's which is a huge cutback for me. Please everyone just keep me in your prayers. I want so bad to beat this

[lulu747]

I would definitely suggest seeking another doctor if yours in unsupportive.  I was told by a dozen doctors that I would be on pain medication for the rest of my life.  And then I found one who believed in me and also believed that narcotics are not a suitable treatment plan for people living with chronic pain.  It's a long road...I am so much happier here on the other side-everything feels possible again.  I wish you the best of luck tomorrow...Please post and let us know how it goes and how you are doing...Lu

[feelinghopeless1970]

Perhaps i should seek out a different dr. because my dr is not supportive in me coming off these pills at all. I have loads of family support and feel blessed to have stumbled upon this forum where i can actually interact with people going through or have been through this. So tomorrow morning i am going to seek out  a dr who is willing to support me in this as well. Thank you all so much

[feelinghopeless1970]

Thank u both for replying. I have spoken with my dr several times in the past about how i was feeling about being dependent on these pills and the response i get is  you need them or your pain will be intolerable. I have stocked up on vitamins, got a rx for 800 mg ibuprofen to hopefully ease some of the discomfort. To me the mental withdrawals are far worse than the actual physical, although those are horrible too. I just know i am ready to reclaim my life and not be a slave to these pills any longer. I am miserable really. Each day I start off taking one first thing just to get moving. I never thought i would be in this situation.

[lulu747]

Happy New Year and welcome...You've come to the right place.  Detoxing is tough and dealing with chronic pain is really tough-but both are doable with the proper support/medical help/alternative pain management in place.  I have RA as well as Crohns and Stage 4 endometriosis.  I was on opiates for a total of 5 years with one six month break.  I have been opiate free (I tried a taper and couldn't take the anguish and went cold turkey) for 27 days and I can honestly say I am feeling better than I have in years.  Yes I still have pain but it's manageable (yoga, saunas, hot baths, heat, tylenol arthritis) The opiates make your pain receptors fire more-and the longer you take them the less effective they are.  If you are detoxing look up the Thomas Recipe and see a doctor about clonidine (a BP medication commonly used in opiate detox) this really helped me...I am on a strict vitamin regime and feeling better every day.  There is a lot of knowledge and support on this forum-and if you can be honest with your loved ones, your doctor, and yourself then it makes the process a lot easier.  Let us know what you need.....Sending support....Lu

[Bkitty]

Hi and Welcome! You came to a great place there are a lot of people that will support you. Since you have pain issues,,what are you going to do to help the pain besides lortab. Have you spoke with your doctor about transitioning you to a non narcotic pain med? In the beginning the pain will be a 1000 times worse as opiates can cause hyperanalgesia-increased pain. Have you thought about NA or any aftercare to help? Im glad your husband is supportive. You know what the physical w/d is like,,just prepare yourself in advance. Its the mental part that gets everyone and you need to have a plan of attack in place. You can do this-get in the right mind set first ! I wish you the best~Bkitty

[GA_need_help]

Hi,  I am currently doing big taper myself.  And I think the first question is whether you can do a taper.  A lot of people can't because they get a little buzz from the drug and they have to morel they can't lower their dose.  The other option is cold turkey and some of the people here know a lot about itl  

Please write and let me know what you thinking.  I would like to support each other
Marie

PS  You can private message em