vicodin withdrawal ?'s

[goat44]

Hi. First I want to say thank you for listening to me. This board has been a godsend to me. This is the first time that I have posted.

I am a little embarrassed to post my story. I am a 34 year old mom and I have 2 children. I have never used or tried any drug in my life, aside from vicodin. I have been taking vicodin 7.5 for about 2-3 years everyday. I would take 2 of them at a time every 2-4 hours, for a total of anywhere from 12-20 pills a day. My love for vicodin began with a severe toothache. I noticed that these pills made me feel normal, the way I should feel everyday. They gave me energy to get through the day. Before I knew it, I was hooked.

I took my last fun dose of vicodin on Tuesday, March 3. It is now one week later, march 10th. I went to the doctor and I told him that I am always tired and I have lack of energy. I did not tell the Dr or anyone about my addiction. The doctor gave me a prescription for provigil. I swear that this is what has helped me get this far. I was afraid to mix vicodin with the provigil, so I decided that this was my day to quit the vicodin. I must be honest and tell you that on day 2, I took half of a 7.5 vicodin at two in the morning. The restless legs were intolerable. After I took the half, I was able to sleep. On day 4, the nausea, slower breathing, restless legs and the sweats, cold and goosebumps were so bad that I had to take 2 pills. Day 5, was much better and day 6 was not so good, but the nausea, sweats and most physical symptoms were gone except the restless legs. Last night, I tried to go to bed at 8pm and could not fall asleep because of the rls, so I took half a pill at 12 and slept to 5am. Right now I feel good and it is very early on day 7, but my legs still hurt.. In 7 days, i took a total of 3 pills, 1/2 a pill at night for 2 nights and 2 pills at one time for relef. . Normally, I would take over 100 pills in a week.
Can someone tell me if I continue to take 1/2 a viccodin at night, will this hurt me. Will it do anything to bring back those initial withdrawal symptoms. Am I cheating by doing this. Please remember, I am not getting high off of this and I do need to sleep because I have 2 kids. How will this hurt me down the road.When will the restless leg syndrome stop. I also have a few 0.5 ativan pills. Someone told me that these will help, but I am not sure how they will help. I know that they are for anxiety, but to be honest I think the provigil has controlled that part. Will the ativan help me sleep at night. I have never taken any anxiety or depression meds before. The only meds that I take is 200 mg of provigil in the morning.
Does anyone know when I will feel 100% normal again.

If you are trying to quit hydrocodone, I strongly recommend the provigil. The provigil helps with the energy and anxiety.

Thanks so much for listening to me. I really look forward to everyones advise.

[Danny750]

Hi. I'm 10 days off of the vicodin 7.5. I was also taking them for 3 years everyday about 8 a day sometimes more. First it takes time. The rls for me is gone but I'm still sleeping erradictly becuz my mind kind of woke up. I've been up since 3:45. But I do sleep on other days. I took a muscle relaxer a couple of days in the beginning.  As far as taking any of them you probably need to stop completely. That's a lot of pills to take. I also have 2 kids and I have back pain from surgery and joint problems and I'm learning how to deal with that without the pills. You may not take them to get high but taking that many is a problem. It takes time to get completely clean as I am learning but anything is better than killing myself with these pills especially for my kids. Good luck. You'll find a lot of people helping on here. Dan

[bionic_man]

Goat,
First of all enough of feeling ashamed.  You care enough to get clean and if you think of the number of posts you'll see on this website, can you imagine how many people out there continue to abuse narcotics and never try to get help?  Besides, you're human, like me you started taking opiates for a physical condition and it became the norm vs. the exception.  From your post it appears you're informally tapering off the Vicodins.  I'd been takin 120 mg of Oxycontin for 3 years and I went to my doctor and told him I wanted to be off completely and he lowers my dosage each month.  The plan is to be completely off by June 1.  I did try the Cold Turkey thing but the withdrawals were so bad and I have to work so I knew that wasn't working.  It's my experience that everytime you take an opiate your brain get's it's fix however if you can put up with the lessened withdrawal symptoms and can control yourself enough to take only one every so often until you completely taper off, that's the easiest way to do this.  Everyone has their own way however you've made the first step by realizing you need to get off of them and you should feel so good about that.  You'l be a better wife, mother and overall person when this is over and you'll have a whole new appreciation for folks who have a hard time overcoming their addiction.  I used to be one of those people who thought addicts were lowlifes, little did I know I would be one myself and talk about eating humble pie!!  Addicts are generally good people who have an addiction or dependance brought on by a physical problem.  Anyway, good luck and continue to post.  It always helps me and there are some good people on this site.  If you ever need a friend, just drop me a note.

Bionic Man

[broknbck]

wow, that is great!
what kind of drug is provigal? anit-depressant?  seems to be helping pretty good, huh.
so you had quite a habit there and if you are only taking that small of an amount and never going higher, it is like tappering off the hydrocodone. try to scatter the days inbetween too. alot of people will disagree with me, but even the pharmecutical company that makes them tells you to not just stop taking them. they are meant to be weaned off of slowly and the recovery is not as bad. i weaned for 1 month before quitting completely and there was not much withdrawl when i quit. recovery was good. it is now 15 months off and no problems or cravings or depression.
best to you. it sounds like you are on your way. i felt back to myself within 3 weeks of quitting. like i had never taken a pill ever.

[joy11159]

Good Morning I'm glad your posting! I also am a mother of two grow girls and I used vics for 15 years and I always told myself they did'nt know. I was a single mother and I totally understand where your coming from. Today is my 14th day clean and I could'nt taper off I tried I was taking 20 to 25 aday and I thought I had it under control I had back surgrey in Oct 08 everything went great I had a great reason to keep useing and I could tell my girls I needed them! To make a long story short I took to many and ran out,I called a hotline and told them what was going on and I was going to try to go cold turkey . They did'nt wantme todo that but all I couild think of is what will my family think of me! When I took my last pill I lost it! I was so scared to be without them. Then my daughter called and said I'm coming to get you which she did and I will say it was a God sent I went though a med detrox I felt like I was done for. But I'm not I'm still clean and now theirs no pain at all. So please don't feel ashamed keep posting on here because their is great people that will listen and talk you though anything! If you ever want to chat I don't work and my hubby is on all different shifts Coal Mines.So I'm bymyself alot Thank God for this web site. Hang in their your going good!!

[scaredmom330]

please don't feel bad about yourself. There are so many in your shoes right now. I think it is ok to taper of the vicodin, but have you heard of hyland restful leg? it is for restless leg snydrome,  and it is OTC you can get it at walgreens or GNC..also if you tell your dr he can prescribe something just for rls that is not a narcotic. also try hot baths and bananas I know that sounds crazy but bananas helped my rls alot. take care and good luck. you are fighting the fight and there is alot of support here just for you...also check out the thomas recipe and amino acid protocol at the bottom of the page. I have heard they work miracles during detox..

take care my friend

[goat44]

Thank you so much for all of our words and support. One of the hardest things to deal with is the secretcy. My family does not know this. I have been blaming all of this on the flu and pms. I feel like I have gotten this far, why upset anyone. I am going to try the Hylands today. Hopefully it will work right away. I am overwhelmed by the support that I have received from you guys. I will keep checking back for more advise.