endorphins

hey everyone. I have a question for whoever thinks they can answer me. My dad is 41 and he has been taking vicodin for 15 years. he has recently stopped. he has been without for about 8 days now and is about to give up. My family keeps telling him to stick with it but he say's he just can't. The habit is so expensive and he'd been taking 10 or 15 a day. After taking these pills for that long can your body completely stop making endorphins? and is there a chance that it will never naturally make them again? i need to know this. is there any hope out there for my family and him? i believe that God is going to help us but is there anything that i can or any advice i can give my dad?

[gipsee]

He's almost there.  His usage was long term and a lot of pills.  After two weeks he will start to feel better physically but telling it as it is... it's no picnic.  

He is going to have to muster ever fiber in him to keep off the pills.   It does get better, but we feel lousy for a while after we go through the withdrawal.

He was prolly taking them just not to withdraw from them after a while those pills are useless and they could do a lot of liver damage.

Tell Dad to come on here and look and read... ask him to talk to any one of us about it... maybe it will help

gip

[orangefyre]

They stop yes, making endorphins. Becuase of the pills, they don't have to. But the opiate receptors are merely dormant. As soon as the natural endorphins get going again, they will be revived and work (usually) just fine.

[naturaljoe]

Wow. Vicodin for 15 years?? Does he have any liver left?

What happens with opiate addiction and tolerance is that, when in the presence of opiates/opioids, the brain produces more receptors. But, the receptors the brain produces do not work, they simply are there to suck up the opiates. Thats why you need more and more the longer you use them. When you stop, the endorphins the brain produces are spread over all those extra receptors, like butter spread over too much toast. After a little while, those extra receptors go away.

Cold turkey is always very hard, especially if your deep in addiction. With the whole family involved, I would suggest periodically reducing his dose, until he hits zero.