when will I feel better??

[pookie1103]

I have taken fiorinal with codeine for my migraines/tension headaches for well over ten years now and have been completely clean for eight days now. The withdrawl symtoms had subsided a lot the seizures, the shaking hands, cramps, diaharea......peice of cake as far as letting go, but the incredible insomnia, leg cramps and weird sneexing fits and the massive leg cramps are pushing me to just can this and mission to free my life of what I felt as drug seeking behavior and I can handle any truth, but I want to know when I may get my life back together ....

[Devonlee]

Ambien can be safe for very short term and occassional use. It is highly addicting and hard to get off. If taken for more than a week or two or if you take more than perscribed with drawal symptoms include:

nausea
dizziness
REBOUND insomnia (can last for weeks)
seizures
body shakes (RLS)
Hot and Cold Flashes
Vivid Dreams and Hallucinations

The list goes on and on. And while taking it you can experience those symptoms also. People have amnesia when on it and do crazy stuff.
All that being said I take it occasionally and have no side effects but I take half a pill a few times a month as needed. It works great for some but I wouldnt calll is "safe" or "non addicting" at all

[sierragold]

my doc told me ambien was safe and not addicting. any info on that???

[my_mayberry]

yes...as vicki said....NO SLEEPING PILLS. i'm sure the person who suggested it was suggesting it under the impression that this is an opiate...but it's an opiate/barbiturate combo. the barbiturate aspect of this drug often tends to be more addicting than the codeine...especially since both drugs potentate each other. actually, even aspirin will potentate the butalbital. in short, you're detoxing from a fairly heavy duty sedative....you don't want to add a replacement. i made that mistake! don't do it. it helps short term, but the help it offers is only an illusion. it ultimately ends up making things more complicated.

melatonin is a good idea, although ask a pharmacist to recommend a dose. with melatonin, more isn't always MORE. for some people in the anxiety/depression forums, taking LESS tends to offer more benefit. its a paradoxical effect for some people at higher doses.

in any event, you say seizures? i hope you don't mean to say you're having seizrues? if so...you need to find a better way to do this. you can't control seizures. they are the worst of the worst when it comes to withdrawal and you can't prevent them without a good taper. are you having them? or have had them recently? if so...you should NOT be doing this on your own. you could have one after reading this and not wake up. there's no way to know.

[vicki595]

Pookie~~    Get some Melatonin (an amino acid) take two or three before bed to help you sleep. They work pretty well. Also,Hylands Restful legs for the cramps and RLS.

I wouldn't even THINK about a sleeping pill or rx sedative of any kind. Not for you!  You're just getting past the barbiturate addiction and any benzos would bring you back to square one. They hit all the same brain receptors...

You'll begin to feel better soon and by two weeks,much better. But,truthfully? It will be a good 3 months until you're great!

[ihatevicodin]

Post a new question and you'll get more responses to your question. What I can say is there is no easy way to stop using something your brain thinks it wants. Patience is the name of the game. Today is my third day not taking vicodin for my shoulder and I have to say I'm already doing better. It's true, my dose was not terribly high, but I was definitely starting down the 'use more and more' path so I wanted to just quit before I became some damn statistic. Keep tapering the dose down, or you can quit cold turkey. You won't completely feel better until you actually stop drinking the cough syrup altogether so throw away whatever you have left as soon as possible and take a few days off work so you can lay in bed and feel like crap and take lots of baths. It'll pass. After that, get yourself into therapy so you can dig down into the reason you would drink codine cough syrup every day to begin with. What are you trying to escape?

Good luck dearest,
-J

[medicos]

i have been taking codeine based cough syrups for the past 15 yrs or so and have been trying to free myself from this addiction for the last 2 to 3 weeks. Earlier it used to be 350 to 400 ml per day but now it will be 100 to 150 ml.Although,it was painful to tapper off dose for ist few days bt somehow i managed.I am continuosly feeling bad flu,chest congestion,cramps and aches.All these symptoms are making it difficult to stop to use the drugs completely.Moreover,i am unable to concentrate on my work. Any help from anyone for reducing the symptoms will be appreciated.I really want to clean myself and i wanna live a normal life.This site has inspired me to get rid of this dirty addiction.With regards.

[ihatevicodin]

Congrats on 8 days! I'm on day two. What will you do to treat your migraines now? That's pretty rough. Is there something else your doc can give you that doesn't include opiates for that? Just curious.

If you can handle it, I recommend sleeping pills. You'll feel zonked and unfocused at first, but you should be able to get some sleep and it should relax your body overall. I suffer from insomnia, have all my life, so I'm not recommending the sleeping pills forever because they are awful for you. I would just say if you can't sleep and its a temporary issue, the sleeping pills will drag you down over all and reduce the anxiety symptoms.

The other thing is exercise. I took a short walk today and I was so fatigued when I got back from that little excursion I could barely make dinner! If you aren't exercising, get on that. Even if its a walk around the block a couple times.

Keep up the good work.

[dominosarah]

The sneezing is normal and will go away in time along with the insomnia.  Bananas will help with the RLS.  Time will be your friend right now.  Hot baths or showers will help the aches and pains.  Stay away from caffeine right now too.  

Congrats on 8 days!!  Keep hanging in there as you are doing great!!         sara