Aa
I think I need some support...
I just recently started to tapper off hydrocodone... I have been taking them for two years. It is my thrid day of tappering and I honestly just don't know what to do anymore. I want to be off of them completly. But my dr. and everyone else says that I shouldn't just stop cold turkey. But I have been through this before (detox), and it totally was horrible. I don't know what to do. I want to be clean and over this like now. I absoultly hate feeling like this. Can someone please give me some advice on what to do. Thank you so much!!!
Thank you. My doctor isn't being nice about anything. It is a pain management doctor. I called and told her that I am having trouble sleeping and that my stomach hurts really bad and I feel like I have to stomach flu. She told me to basically just deal with it. I am really thinking about going to my primary doctor and telling him that I have the stomach flu so I can get something to help. I just don't know what to do. I have tried sleeping pills but I still only get a few hours of sleep and feel HORRIBLE!!! Is it going to get worse once I am completly off of them?
I need help... Why is no one responding to this... I look at the forum and everyone else gets answered but not me. Please I don't think I can do this alone!!!
-Kelz325
-Kelz325
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
If you read my profile, you'll see that I am in recovery myself. Most of us who have been 'stuck' on opioids tried many times to stop. Eventually we were desperate enough to make it through the withdrawal, but then found that the relapse rate was very high-- and that it is very difficult to stop for good on one's own.
You didn't get addicted in a couple days, and you cannot detox in a couple days either. The impulsive moments when you want to be clean are a start-- but you need to look deep inside for the desperate desire to change-- and then take the dramatic steps necessary to make the change.
People can find sobriety who completely give themselves to a recovery program-- as long as they continue to use the program, intensely, for the rest of their lives. If you make excuses for why you are different-- why you don't 'need' to do the AA or NA thing, for example-- then you are not ready to stay clean, at least in my opinion.
BUT... we now have Suboxone. That medication allows for people to find sobriety, including some people who would never get there any other way. There are those who consider people on Suboxone to be less than 'clean', but after witnessing a number of deaths of young people from opioid dependence over the years, I say 'hogwash' to that-- being on Suboxone is 'clean enough.' There is a shortage of docs who prescribe in many areas, as docs are limited in the number of people they can treat with the medication..
The one problem in your case is that you are 'only' on hydrocodone. Suboxone is a very potent opioid-- about as strong as 60 mg of oxycodone. So as far as tolerance goes, it would be a step up the tolerance ladder for you to go on Suboxone. But the main issue with addiction is not the amount of what you take; it is the obsession to use and the constant sickness. Suboxone would likely help eliminate those things-- at the cost of raising your tolerance. A number of studies show very clearly that those who take Suboxone for 'detox' only-- for less than 6-12 months-- are using again within a year. In fact, all of the several studies looking at the issue show very high relapse rates, even 100% in one large study-- a number that one rarely sees in any medical study , and in any medical specialty.
You didn't get addicted in a couple days, and you cannot detox in a couple days either. The impulsive moments when you want to be clean are a start-- but you need to look deep inside for the desperate desire to change-- and then take the dramatic steps necessary to make the change.
People can find sobriety who completely give themselves to a recovery program-- as long as they continue to use the program, intensely, for the rest of their lives. If you make excuses for why you are different-- why you don't 'need' to do the AA or NA thing, for example-- then you are not ready to stay clean, at least in my opinion.
BUT... we now have Suboxone. That medication allows for people to find sobriety, including some people who would never get there any other way. There are those who consider people on Suboxone to be less than 'clean', but after witnessing a number of deaths of young people from opioid dependence over the years, I say 'hogwash' to that-- being on Suboxone is 'clean enough.' There is a shortage of docs who prescribe in many areas, as docs are limited in the number of people they can treat with the medication..
The one problem in your case is that you are 'only' on hydrocodone. Suboxone is a very potent opioid-- about as strong as 60 mg of oxycodone. So as far as tolerance goes, it would be a step up the tolerance ladder for you to go on Suboxone. But the main issue with addiction is not the amount of what you take; it is the obsession to use and the constant sickness. Suboxone would likely help eliminate those things-- at the cost of raising your tolerance. A number of studies show very clearly that those who take Suboxone for 'detox' only-- for less than 6-12 months-- are using again within a year. In fact, all of the several studies looking at the issue show very high relapse rates, even 100% in one large study-- a number that one rarely sees in any medical study , and in any medical specialty.
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