Congradulations to clean time this week!!!!!

[MMT-Md]

Congradulations to you all!! I'm sure there has been some mental bumps and bruises this week, and I'm sure some that have healed as well. Stay strong and surround yourself with those people places,and things that truely care. I wanted to share a short quote by a person who I've learned so much from his name is  Dr. Vincent Dole " The goal is NOT abstinence; the goal is to become functional".
                Take care, Dr.Mike

[bmac]

From what I understand methadone is a great way to keep people
that decide they are going to use no matter what.It doesn't get you as high as other things but you are just mellow nodding alot,just living.For people that are on the streets using heroin and the like I can't anwser about that.I am a prescription
addict.I have had 6 major surgeries in 10 years and know all the doc's that have seen me.I had an endless supply of hydro or oxy.
As long as I did it their way I could get a RX every 2 weeks.The amount was up to me.I went to a friend who is a pain clinic doc and knows addiction.His job is to make it legal for me to stay doped up so I will not hurt society (my opinion only).He
sees people that are in pain and CHOOSE to be on opiates.
After my last operation I began to notice I was getting hooked once again on Lorcet.I went to him and begged him to get me off drugs.He put me on methadone.60mgs a day then after 6 months 40 mgs aday then 20 then 10.18 days ago I decided that this was killing me.I did nothing,laid on a couch and took methadone for a year.Later I learned from this friend the pain doc Oh,you can
detox now so I did.GOD it was hell.Can't imagine people on
180 mgs aday withdrawing.
If you plan on being a user the rest of your life.Methadone is a great drug.If you plan on getting straight don't use it to detox from something else.Sorry for the long answer but this question you asked means alot to me.Methadone and ME have ruined any chance of my marriage working out and has caused get pain in withdrawing.

[Tuss-ex]

I have been reading a lot on this forum, and it is VERY GOOD to know that what I have been experiencing can end on a positive note.  I won't lie that looks about a 1,000 miles away from me right now....

I have been addicted to narcotics for over 3+ years.  Even as I typed that it is hard to believe....  Most people who I have tried to open up to about my problem don't take it seriously because it is only a cough medicine (Tussinex).  Believe me I have come to hate it...but I can't seem to stop...how sad is that..

I have stopped 1.5 days ago (Cold Turkey).  I have done this before...  This time I have made an appointment with a head doctor who specializes in substance abuse. I just had to take some more Imodium (GOD I HATE THE RUNS).  I just wanted to thank everyone who post,  what I am going through is hard, but alone it is harder (impossible).  I will post again if anyone wants to know what made me hit the bottom...  Also, and this is important If you are on w/d and take imodium and you use again while on the imodium bad things can happen.  I know from personal experience...Lets just say I no longer have about 12' of my colon.  

Thanks again,
God Bless

[JSmith02]

Thanks for the thorough answer, bmac. I've heard enough not to go near methadone. I have been narco clean for about 2 weeks (an eternity by my standards), but after 30 years I would be blowing it out my rear if I said I had any sort of plan. The best I've been able to do is be grrrr "content" with what one doctor, also my friend and a truly great man, is willing to provide. That's my big victory. I don't chase the stuff and I sure as hell don't game the pharmacies (they've lost all sense of humor, anyway). Glad things are turning out so well for you. Oh, can you introduce me to your docs as, say, an old friend who saved your life several times? LOL

Thomas

[bmac]

if your in birmingham alabama I would love to introduce you to one of the docs I know,but remember they make such a great living and income because we as addicts give them our insurance cards.ever heard this one.Why can I get a RX for 60 lorcets
for $24.00 then withdraw go to shrink and get anti depressive
drug that costs $102.00.I asked my shrink this question and his answer was American is a capitalist country.Drugs that are
fun and very addictive are cheap.Then when you decide to stop you pay in more than with you health.Why do shrinks charge
$300.00 an hour when my pain doc charged me $32.00 a visit.
Drug addiction is big business,thats why pain clinics are here.It's a legal form of the pusher man.They just do it
under the name of medicine.

[JSmith02]

That's not JUST cough medicine. That is the ambrosia of Schedule III! Tussionex is hydrocodone delivered in a resin complex that breaks down constantly over 8 or more hours like having a built-in morphine drip. I'd rather have that stuff than Oxy. Anyway, everything you've read about Vicodin withdrawal applies to you. It's not surprising that you've got the runs. You're lucky, though, if that's your biggest problem. At least you can take care of that with an OTC med. BTW, how much Imodium did you take? I've known a few people that get badly constipated on a normal dose of Imodium, but none of them were members of Club Narc. I'd be interested in hearing your story, but only if you promise to tell me how you managed to get so much Tussionex. LOL. Gotta pry one of those scripts out of the doc's dead bleeding hand (another humorless bunch).

Thomas

[JSmith02]

I wish the entire medical apparatus were as fun loving as you portray them to be. But Noooooooo! Forge a script and the pharmacist calls the POLICE (again, no humor). The police take you to JAIL (even less humor). The JUDGE (humorless in the extreme) sends you to PRISON (utterly lacking in yucks).

That's the real problem as I see it. No humor. None. Just Silas Marner, sucking on a lemon pickled in vinigar, white coat, DEA badge in one hand, pills in the other -- Fuuuuuuuuck!

Sorry ... that Tussionex post got me jonesing big time. Should avoid those.

Thomas