Quitting hydracodone.

[Toolman82]

I have not had any hydracodone for four days.  Been going through the withdrawls, they stink real bad.  I have two medium back injuries both high and low in the spine center.  I am an ex motocross racer.  I have been on vicadin for three years about say four to six a day.  Sometimes more when I am being stupid.  Now I am tired of it running my life, biggest problem is I can not sleep.  Havent slept in four days.  Missing work feeling guilty.  Oh and the pain is greater than ever.  I think we are not has careful with reinjuring ourselves because your pain is blocked so you think you can do stuff you shouldnt.  Help, I even tried some healh food stuff for the pain and some stuff to detox my body.  I just want to sleeeeeeeep  sooooooooo bad.  It is funny when I was younger and tweaking loved to stay up doing stupid stuff.  I wonder if the way past drug use has anything to do with my not sleeping now?  Help, Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[Tuckamore]

Hi Toolman,

Welcome to the Pain Management Forum of MedHelp. I am glad you found us. But I am very sorry you are having pain and sleep issues.

You asked if your "way past drug use" could be related to your inability to sleep. I am not a physician but in my opinion you are not sleeping for two reasons. One, obviously you are experiencing some withdrawal symptoms and two you are in pain. When you ,is those together it is no wonder you are having problems with sleep. Mollyrae and Sandee are both correct, OTC sleep aids are usually benadryl and if taken as prescribed they won't hurt you and may help you sleep.

The obvious question is why you were taking the narcotic's. If you are a chronic pain sufferer and you were taking them for the pain than you need to be evaluated by a physician. Many of us have CP that you cannot see. There are physicians out there that recognize this and will prescribe pain medications to ease your discomfort. You just need to look for them. It may be too early to determine if the pain you are having is something called rebound pain or if it is true pain. In several more weeks you should be able to short that out.

If you beleive you have an addiction problem than I too recommend out Substance Abuse Forum. They will support and direct you to facilities or places that can offer you additional support and help. Sometimes it may be difficult to sort the addiction from the pain. And I beleive that pain sufferers can unjustifiably label themselves as addicts because they require narcotics to control their pain.

You have some work ahead of you and some difficult days. But you sound intelligent and courageous, you'll make it. I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. Please let us know how you are doing. I will look forward to your updates. Good luck and take care, Tuck

[sandee1818]

Hi,
Have you tried benadryl? It may help you get some rest. As for the pain you have alreadt tried most of the over the counter things and yo know they will not even begin to help the pain like your meds did but you can take it to dull at least some of the pain.
Your correct about us being to secure when taking our meds we tend to over do it because the meds are numbing the pain. I think this is a big problem that alot of CP pts do not realize. I have always tended to look out for this in my case because when I was to have asome nerves burned I asked what is keeping me from huirting myself worse because the nerves will be essentially dead therefore I will not feel the pain I am suppossed to warning me to stop what I am doing before I injure myself futher.
Your very wise to realize you have a problem, but keep in mind that you will still have the pin and it needs to be treated. There are other ways to manage your pain besides narcotics.
I wish you the best of luck.
Also try some warm milk, I know its a very old remedy but it will not hurt to try it.

[Mollyrae]

Hello Toolman and welcome to Med Help.

I am sorry you have to face this but you've made the biggest step in admitting that you have a problem with narcotics. First I will address the sleep issue.
Get your self an OTC sleep medication, that will help somewhat with your sleep issues.

The second thing here is that we are a pain forum that deals with helping chronic pain members. The forum best suited for you is the "Substance Abuse" forum. The members there are familiar with your issues of withdrawal. Please visit them as they will assist you further.
Take care and good luck,
Mollyrae

[AnorexicHeart]

I was taking 400 mg of Ultram and cold turkey from that was alot worse. I self medicate with hydro when I can get it because I havent been truly diagnosed (no insurance or enough $) and you cant SEE my chrnic severe pain so noone believes me. Sometimes Id rather end my life than suffer anymore.

[Farmer201]

I have been on Oxycocet, Oxycodone and Flexeril since April 2005, (over 3 & 1/2 years).  On average, I am wide awake and in pain for 2/7 nights a week.  That means, staying up all day, night and day.  I discovered (by accident) that if I take motion sickness tablets, about 45-60 minutes before going to bed, they make me very sleepy.  I started taking them for the nausea, (from the pain) and found they did work well in making me sleepy.  I feel that they are not habit forming, they help with any nausea and make me sleep.  

I hope this helps and you manage to get some sleep.

Tracey