any advice for opiate cessation

[cynicalslave]

Hey everyone I am new to this online community. I have been addicted to opiates off and on for about 3 years. Mostly recently, within the last year. A couple of weeks ago I had my appendix removed and have been on painkillers ever since(about 3 weeks straight). I am serious about getting clean but I don't have very much support. Beginning tomorrow I am going cold-turkey as I have taken the last of my morphine today. Yesterday I didn't take any thinking I could put aside and save it for a rainy day(stupid of me because i am an addict). Anyway, I am sick of being a slave to this ****. I need help and support. This is weird because I've never reached out to anyone before.

[cynicalslave]

Right on. Thanks so much to both of you. This is day five. Things are kind of better. Jonesing is maybe less frequent. I haven't been sleeping too well. Even with ambien, which is wierd because I always heard it was hard-core. But I guess it's not exactly what my body wants.....Well I'm gonna go check out that Thomas recipe stuff and see if there's anything that might help. I've had to go to work everday since Monday(I'm clean as of Sunday) and it kind of *****!!!! Ha Ha duh....It's work!

[Migrainer]

Hey!  I am new as of today.  I am using Suboxone to work myself off of a four year pain medication addiction.  So far, I am surviving for the most part with no bad side affects.

However, for someone like you, I read about this "Thomas Recipe" that a lot of users had heard about and wanted to find.  I got the link and read it.  I'm sending it to you JUST in case it is something you might be able to handle.  I am a single, 47 year old divorced Mom and yet we all know what it is like.  So read this recipe and see if ANY part of it could help you, K?

Migrainer

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Addiction/Thomas-Recipe-Re-Posted/show/16?cid=66

[cathy5841]

hey, dont give up it gets better.  i have a journal entry on time that really puts into perpective.  keep going one minute at a time....you can stay clean this minute...

[cynicalslave]

Thanks. Well this is day four. I've managed to keep a good attitude the last few days, but man was today different. I felt okay for most of the day, just the usual symptoms, but near the end I was having a really hard time maintaing a good outlook on life. I felt coming home and crying in the shower. Of course by the time I got home I just felt numb. Now I just feel crazy. Life is a ball!

[Cavimom]

GOOD to see you still have a sense of humor... thats a GOOD thing!  Craigslist personals are too funny!  I will admit my hubby and I read them all the time... Isnt the internet GREAT?!!   You will feel better SOON  I came off 10 yrs of percocet CT in 7 days .. I felt like I had the Flu days 2-6 then I woke up OK one day ~ then slept 7 hours the next night.. WOW What a relief!  Keep cruising and Keep smiling.. Sounds like your on the right road!  Congrats!  Feel better.....Kim

[cynicalslave]

Ha Ha yeah romance novels are lame. The only author that comes to mind right now is Chuck Palahniuk. His books are so twisted(most notably "fight club") and cool. I wish he had more (check out "Choke" and "Lullaby") because I've read them all!! Mitch Albom's books are good too. I like memoirs a lot also. If there's any cool books you could recommend that would be sweet, as I currently have no book. So.....to fill the time I am going to read personal ads on craigslist because that **** is funny!!!!

[troubleinohio]

hey sorry to hear you are now feeling the full WD's.  It ***** so bad, I know. I had a bad vicodin habit for years too (and other opiates i used to substitute when i couldnt get my vics- the usual run of the mill pills - darvocets, T3's, MS contin, percocets etc) Anyways, take the bull by the horns and get yourself through this. You can do it. If I quit, anyone can. I was bad off. Its a long road but you can make it.  You say you like to read? what kind of books? Im an avid reader myself. What authors do you like? Maybe we can swap book recommendations. I know reading helped me through some WD's alot. Passes the time and takes your mind of your misery for awhile. Let me know what genre you read. I mostly read horror/suspense but also non fiction as well. Pretty much anything but romance **** LOL.
HOpe you feel better soon buddy.

[cynicalslave]

OMG You guys! I've been up since 4:30 a.m. I'm going nuts! I even took ambien last night but I still woke up restless, achey, short of breath, horny and depressed. What I really want to know is if my old interests will return. All I have now is this flood of undirected emotion. I miss reading, playing my piano, being a nerd in general. I think that's why I started doing drugs: because I hated myself so much. I'n high school I was the kid who ate in the library. The teachers would read my papers to the class and stuff(which made me so much cooler.....) If I could do it all over again, I would be proud of who I was and hope I still am. This is day three. How many more days until I find myself?(like anyone can answer that:)  

[worried878]

welll...gosh that is a hard one...the drugs are helping you so why quit?    i doubt i would be posting on an addiction forum if they were helping me and all was well/hunky dory and all....so there must be a problem somewhere..or maybe not..if there is not a problem then there is no reason to address it....if it is a problem then there is a reason to address it....

[cynicalslave]

Yeah i hear that. The past few years I have done almost every drug (mostly a lot of coke, ecstasy, pot, pills, shrooms, etc.) but I have always held a job. And that is almost the problem. I've just suffered a lot emotionally and mentally I guess, but I have always been a functional addict. And that does make it hard to quit. So this time I'm doing it for me, my family, and my old self. I'm tired of depending on drugs and worring about my next high. Enough is enough. The real obstacle is maintaining that outlook and not succumbing to what I call "the drug monster" (ha ha that's cheesy). Good luck to you and everyone else. Oh, and me.

[marie1425]

I went to one AA meeting with a friend (just as support, I don't have a problem with alcohol) and the main point they were stressing was "You are here because your life has become unmanagable due to your addiction".  Well for me, my life on these drugs is NOT unmanagable...and that is the biggest problem.  They help me stay awake to study, they make me happier more friendly at work, I'm more attentive in class, and if something goes terribly wrong during the day, it doesn't even bother me.  I've been through a devistating break up with my boyfriend this year and I guess I sort of use it as my antidepressant.

It's just hard to quit something that you feel is helping you

[worried878]

help on the forum with questions from someone who knows alot about drugs isa always needed..what  r ur obstacles to keep u from quitting?  we all know there is never a "good " time to quit

[marie1425]

This is my first time posting in this site, well any site for that matter.  I too have been addicted to opiates (norco and vicodin) for over three years.  I quit about a year ago but it was primarily because I quit my job...I am a pharm tech (you can put two and two together).  I am trying to quit again, but it seems like there are a thousand walls in front of that goal.  Maybe by talking to people on this site who have/ are going through this I can find the strength to do it for good this time.

By the way, I am a pharmacy student and have worked as a tech for 4 years so I might be able to help with any technical questions you or anyone may have...

[worried878]

good 4 u...if we dont make changes then nothing ever changes (:

[cynicalslave]

Thanks for responding. Well this is day number one. No opiates. I really don't feel that bad. I will probably start feeling sick tomorrow,(I usually don't start feeling like **** till about 24 hrs.) but we'll see how it goes. I don't usually use morphine (I definately don't shoot it, needles freak me out!) either but it was all I could kind find for the last few days. I've been off and on (mostly on) opiates for the last six months. But for the last 3 weeks every day (thanks to my surgery. Damn hospitals!) One major life change I've made is breaking it off with my gf. I had been clean for over a year, until I met her and began relapsing. She was never serious about wanting to quit(probably because she gets free oxy every month) and I had been since the beginning(I was obviously too weak), having already been down that road. Just goes to show that a lot of it is who you hang out with, not that I blame my behavior on anyone else. Anywho, I'm rambling probably due to the anonymity of the internet. So yeah thanks to all for your support and listening to my sappy ********.

[wannabefree330]

You have taken the first step and that is admitting you are an addict and that the drugs have control not only over you, but your entire life.  We were all there once.....or several times.  many of us continue to struggle.  But posting proves that you are serious and want out.  Avis gave you great advice....read the health pages (lower right corner of this screen).  There is invaluable info there.  You  will have many of your questions answered just by reading there.  It will also tell you how you can make withdrawls more tolerable.  It isn't easy, but it sure as helll beats being a slave.  You can do it, as many of us have.  Keep posting especially when you are deep into withdrawl, we want to help.

[worried878]

addicts prove themselves to be addicts when they try and successfully put narcs aside for a rainy day...doesnt work!

quitting is a matter of wanting it bad enuf to get it done...most do not have an awful lot of support because many hide it so dont feel alone....going to ur local meetings is the best bet and posting here....unless ur circle of friends consists of a bunch of recovering addicts, then most have little or no support..that is why we seek out those who have been there or are there right now...u may even know someone with a problem but likely they r hiding it as well
the health pages have tons of good info for tapering and amino acid replacement to help with quitting...morphine is not a usual drug of choice but can be...unless u use it IV...90 percent of quitting is mental..so if u r ready to do it then u can do it....cut off all supplies, all refills, all connections and most of all, flush any u have left if u r gonna ct..if u r gonna taper then write it out, make a plan, pick a QUIT day, prepare for it ands tick to it...keep posting as there is alot of support here