what happens

what happens to a person that was taking 20 to 30 10mg percocet and 10 10mg methadone every day for 7 years and just stop

[Julia M Aharonov, DO]

Withdrawal from narcotic addiction resembles severe and very prolonged case of flu.  I don't mean a cold; I mean the kind of flu that killed millions of people in a pandemic of 1918.  The symptoms include malaise, confusion, diarrhea and vomiting, fever, body aches and muscle cramping, severe anxiety, mood swings and irritability, rapid heart rate and breathing, sweating, runny nose, shivering and tremors, anorexia and weight loss. Shall I go on?  Whereas the flu lasts 7-10 days, this can continue for as long as 4 to 6 weeks.  Once the acute symptoms have passed, the residual depression, insomnia and listlessness can linger for months.