vicodin withdrawal

[pillsuck]

     I have been tking vicodin now for a year. probably 10 pills of the 5/500 a day lately. I soooo want to stop. I took 6 yesterday and 2 today and I have 3 left.  In the middle of my plan to quit i started getting a horrible cold today but i know i can't take any cold medicine cause it will just make my jitters worse. i keep thinking is life that much better without the pills.  I am soo scared about the withdrawal.  I don't know how bad they are going to get. I am on dialysis and i am wandering if that will speed up the detox. I hope it does.  no one in my life knows i am even taking these pills.  I guess thats why i am here.  just to share cause no one knows about it but me.

[beclou]

I've only been taking 4 - 5 vicodin for 8 days after oral surgery.  Today's the first day I haven't taken it and I have a headache, dizziness and general depressed feeling.  Can this happen after just 8 days, or do you think it's something else?

Thanks

Lala

[slowprocess]

I started withdrawl a week or so before you, and pretty much have been going through everything you have word-for-word.  At this point, my symptoms are the horrendous flu-like ache that just won't go away, sleep problems and the fact that I am ALWAYS exhausted.  That said, it does seem to get just a little bit better every day.

As for the depression, I really, really can't express how much seeing a psychiatrist (especially one with addiction experience) has helped me, but even a regular doctor would probably help, given that pretty much every MD treats depression.  Two weeks ago I was an emotional mess, to the point where I would just break down and need to go to a bathroom to wait-it-out.  Lexapro (and just added trazadone to try and help my sleep problem) has started working for me, but the simple fact is that probably antidipressent, tied to just talking with a doctor FULLY AND HONESTLY about what was going on helped immensely.  Psychologists can also be a wonderful help from my understanding, although bear in mind that they can't prescribe antidepressents.

I actually found your post randomly off of Google and just really empathize so I wanted to add something that may be of help.  I know what you are going through (like everyone else here), and while you may not need it, spending some time (and money) on the depression part of withdrawl REALLY is helping me and I hope it can help you.  I still feel physically pretty miserable...but I'm at least starting to think this is worth it.

Cheers mate and I know things will start getting better for you.

[pillsuck]

does this depression go away.  I just can't imagine ever being happy again.  i just sit hear cause i ache and have no energy and every moment seems like forever.  i can't remember what it was like before the pills. i don't remember being happy. surely i was. i quit a few years ago and went through hell and i remember saying to myself after it was over how great i felt and that i couldnt imagine that i had felt so depressed while going through the withdrawals. right now i remember saying that to myself but i just cant imagine feeling good ever again.  i keep thinking what if this feeling never goes away. do you people who have quit really feel better? do you have energy? is life really better without the pills?

[GoingToMakeIt]

Feeling like you have the flu is part of the w/ds. I came off of Vicodin over 2 months ago. I know you can do this. Keep posting. It helps you get through the rough parts. If you still have the 3 pills. Flush them and make some fish happy. Go through with this and quit. Prolonging this doesn't really help. You are not taking that many pills that this can't be done. Good Luck.

[pillsuck]

this sucks i feel so crappy. my girlfriend keeps asking why i am so figity and i keep saying its from the cold medicine. i took trazadone (50mg which is normal) 6 mg of valium and 1mg of lorazapam to get through the night. i only woke up about 3 times feeling so jittery and my girlfriend said i moved around all night. my sheets are soaked because i sweated so much. my head feels like its going to bust open. i wish i could take some ibuprophen but i am in kidney failure. i wont be able to stand this if it gets much worse. thank god i have the valuim. it takes the edge off but i cant take very much because of my kidney failure. thanks everyone for the encouragement. and thanks to everyone else posting what they are going through. i dont feel so alone in this.

[monkey0401]

hi i am posting becasue of a friend of mine. he decided to quit vicodin this  week. he was taking about 15-20 pille M360 a day. he is trying to taper himself off of them. i am trying to get him on here he should talk to you

[CleandUP]

Welcome, I joined last week after c/t I am on day 6 and feeling better. Only things that I may feel is the chills sometimes and a little depression, like What do i do w/myself? Keep your mind occupied, being a fulltime student helps me w/that

[Clamity2]

Oh yes they do suck. I was on them for 6+ years vicodin. Then oxy and anything I could get near the end. But thank God you don't have to miss out on more life than you have, like so many of us have. I think you did GREAT to wean down so quickly.
Your question about the dialysis helping??  In my opinion it will. My cousin is on kemo and he had a blood transfusion because he felt so toxic. It made him feel much better.
IN ANY EVENT. DON'T USE AND STAY WARM. This too shall pass in just a few days you will feel so much better and in a week or two you will be looking back and smiling at what a big deal you made of the withdrawal monster. It's like childbirth. (not as painful for sure) but so worth it.

[flmagi]

Welcome to the forum, you've found a great place for support. Everyone here is great and very caring. Keep posting and read lots of posts, you'll learn alot about our addiction. We're all here to help, so hang in there. You"re making the right decision to get clean.
Magi

[allaboutmary]

Welcome to the forum. You are doing the right thing.  Please trust me when I say.......yes life without the pills is much better.  You have not been using to long or too much so this should go a little easier.  If you continue it will get much worse. You will eventually have to take 3 times that amount just to function , they will stop giving you energy and ruine your life. Please, please get off them now.  Also there is a good chance you don't have a cold. Early on in my addiction I would run out of pills and think I had a cold. I didn't figure out it is part of detox until I came on this forum. During detox you will have many flu like symptoms. The worst should be over in 3-4 days, but it might take a month or so to get your energy back. Please be patient.  You will get better. Keep readng and posting on this forum. It will help alot. We will be here for you. Stay stong and get this over with now.      Mary

[oxyaddict420]

Welcome to the forum, and I know it isn't easy just to admit your own deamons and addiction out loud, and especially to strangers right?  But we are not really strangers, but more like people that have been there and done that many many times(in my case anyway).. So as far as your addiction goes in my opinion that is not a high dosage of pills to come off of, and also Vicodin is one of the easier ones to detox from(only compared to say tramadol, oxycontin, kadian, fentnyl patches, methadone)

I was taking as much as 400mg-even as high as 600mg or more of oxycodone in a 24 hour period and then do it day after day until I would run out.  Trust me that is the gods honest 100% truth.  But enough of me, DETOXING IS DETOXING!  It is no fun and it hurts physically and mentally as well.  So I just want to prepare you for whats to come, and a little of what to expect.

First 4-5 days are going to be the worst physically.  You will have diareah(the sh!ts),shaking,RLS, cramps, hot and cold spells, feelings of just creepy crawly skin, bones ache, NO SLEEP, tossing turning, cold sweats ETC. So just expect those OK?  The best ways to help with this is to use the "thomas recipe" you can find it under the members name "GoingToMakeIT" and then look in his journal posts(you can find it easy) But in the meantime take alot of HOT HOT BATHS OR SHOWERS!  

Then there will be the mental part.  You might have horrible thoughts, uncontrollable emotions, crying, depression, lost wandering mind, hoplessness,ETC.. So the best thing for this I have seen people posting around is to find something that can take your mind off things( reading, singing, sewing, typing, ANYTHING THAT HELPS!)

DO NOT LET THIS SCARE YOU!!  All this is normal for opiate withdrawl.. YOU WILL NOT DIE!  You will actually live, and then after about 5 days on day 5-7 at some point you will have a breakthrough day where things just feel WAY BETTER!  You will feel great compared to before..  The sleep will take some time to get back because it is usually one of the things that takes a while to get back into rythem.. So SLEEP AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE THROUGH DAYS 1-5!  Then it should be downhill from there.  It might seem like the longest week in your life, but just imagine ONLY 1 WEEK OF PAIN FOR AN ENTIRE LIFE OF HAPPINESS AND SOBRIETY!!

YOU CAN DO THIS

YOU WILL BE OK

I AM HERE FOR YOU

I CARE ABOUT YOUR LIFE AND SOBRIETY!!!