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Tylenol 1 addiction, can it be beaten? Any advise?
I have read this forum over and over and most posts on this topice are older and the individuals trying to kick this habit haven't updated us so I have no idea what works.
Here's a bit of my background. I was diagnosed with Crohns disease in 1996. Obviously the doctors felt pain meds were the answer at that time and to be honest, they still do. But after a year or so of struggling to cope with my new illness and after trying many, many meds for pain, the disease I found on that was easy to get and I could still work on it. The poison was Tylenol 1. I had finally found a "cure" in my mind that allowed me to cope with everyday issues like my disease, family, work, stress etc. The problem was I was increasing my dosage up to 30 a day. I would take 15 when I woke up, usually around 4:30am and 15 more at around 8am then I wouldn't have anymore the rest of the day. I STILL do that, 14 years later. How I am still alive is beyond my but I am and I have realised I need to stop, NOW but I don't know how.
Here's another problem.
Before this addiction, I used to have a hard time getting up in the mornings(lazy), I got a cold 2 -3 times a year, I got the flu once a year. Since this addiction started, I wake up with no alarm clock, wide awake at 4:30 am everyday, no fail and here's the bizarre part, I have not had a cold or flu since, not in 14 years.
I was a "player" in my youth(I am 40 now) and I had no family to care about until recently when I settled down with an amazing, beautiful woman and now I want to quit. But I hear too many horror stories about it, what works, what doesn't, what to expect etc. The problem is no one who reported this here has actually really updated us and told us if they kicked it.
i have actually read if I quit cold turkey, it could kill me. Not sure if it's true but I'm not ready to find out, it would kind of defeat the whole purpose of quitting.
I live in Canada and it was fairly easy to get the T1's but in Alberta, it is getting harder. We have "Alberta Netcare" here that tracks everything about your health through your healthcare number. Recently I was declined from buying the T1's due to this new system Alberta has in affect and that's when I finally woke up and "smelt the coffee" and realised, I have to quit or I am gonna die. Everyone is starting to figure it out and that means it is bad.
So here I am, looking for help in the one place I never dreamt I would, the internet but I have to start somewhere and when I read the posts here and realised there were so many others like me, I just felt this should be where I, now WE all should be able to come, share experiences and try to help each other through this.
I am thinking that the weaning off way may work better for me. I am more scared of the withdrawl than re using.
I kicked Alcohol and Marijuana fiarly easily once I set my mind to it so I am hoping this addiction to T1's will be the same.
So please, anyone with advise who has been through this addiction and kicked it, could you please post. Tell us what worked, what didn't.
I need help, I know it now, I just can't lose my family, my awesome job or my friends over it and going into a rehab center, will lose those for me.
Thanks for listening to me, it took a mountain of courage to do this, I hope it will be worth it.
I can't wait to begin!
Day 1 starts tomorrow, I am going to log here what I do and I am starting the weening process tomorrow by deducting 2 tablets at each dosage so I will be down to 13 at 4:30 then 13 at 8am, right bfeore wrok. I will do this for 3 days than deduct 2 more and so on.
Thanks again for any help!
Cheers!
Here's a bit of my background. I was diagnosed with Crohns disease in 1996. Obviously the doctors felt pain meds were the answer at that time and to be honest, they still do. But after a year or so of struggling to cope with my new illness and after trying many, many meds for pain, the disease I found on that was easy to get and I could still work on it. The poison was Tylenol 1. I had finally found a "cure" in my mind that allowed me to cope with everyday issues like my disease, family, work, stress etc. The problem was I was increasing my dosage up to 30 a day. I would take 15 when I woke up, usually around 4:30am and 15 more at around 8am then I wouldn't have anymore the rest of the day. I STILL do that, 14 years later. How I am still alive is beyond my but I am and I have realised I need to stop, NOW but I don't know how.
Here's another problem.
Before this addiction, I used to have a hard time getting up in the mornings(lazy), I got a cold 2 -3 times a year, I got the flu once a year. Since this addiction started, I wake up with no alarm clock, wide awake at 4:30 am everyday, no fail and here's the bizarre part, I have not had a cold or flu since, not in 14 years.
I was a "player" in my youth(I am 40 now) and I had no family to care about until recently when I settled down with an amazing, beautiful woman and now I want to quit. But I hear too many horror stories about it, what works, what doesn't, what to expect etc. The problem is no one who reported this here has actually really updated us and told us if they kicked it.
i have actually read if I quit cold turkey, it could kill me. Not sure if it's true but I'm not ready to find out, it would kind of defeat the whole purpose of quitting.
I live in Canada and it was fairly easy to get the T1's but in Alberta, it is getting harder. We have "Alberta Netcare" here that tracks everything about your health through your healthcare number. Recently I was declined from buying the T1's due to this new system Alberta has in affect and that's when I finally woke up and "smelt the coffee" and realised, I have to quit or I am gonna die. Everyone is starting to figure it out and that means it is bad.
So here I am, looking for help in the one place I never dreamt I would, the internet but I have to start somewhere and when I read the posts here and realised there were so many others like me, I just felt this should be where I, now WE all should be able to come, share experiences and try to help each other through this.
I am thinking that the weaning off way may work better for me. I am more scared of the withdrawl than re using.
I kicked Alcohol and Marijuana fiarly easily once I set my mind to it so I am hoping this addiction to T1's will be the same.
So please, anyone with advise who has been through this addiction and kicked it, could you please post. Tell us what worked, what didn't.
I need help, I know it now, I just can't lose my family, my awesome job or my friends over it and going into a rehab center, will lose those for me.
Thanks for listening to me, it took a mountain of courage to do this, I hope it will be worth it.
I can't wait to begin!
Day 1 starts tomorrow, I am going to log here what I do and I am starting the weening process tomorrow by deducting 2 tablets at each dosage so I will be down to 13 at 4:30 then 13 at 8am, right bfeore wrok. I will do this for 3 days than deduct 2 more and so on.
Thanks again for any help!
Cheers!
The best way to decrease any opiate is to do it weekly. That way you have a few days to adjust to the change and a few days of "normal" on the new dose. Start by looking at the dose u are currently taking and then calculate what a 10 - 20 percent reduction per week would be. Then set a day to start. Give your pills to someone or get the pharmacy to dispense them daily. When u get to the last 20 percent of your dose (say, u are only taking 4 pills a day), u could even divide that into 4 weeks and just slowly taper off at the end. So in the end, it takes several months, but to avoid withdrawal, and to make it easier psychologically, this is the only way to go.
I as well Live in ALberta(Calgary specifically)and I to found the same thing with this net care crap...I have the same poison(T1's) and I know for a fact I cant function without them,I have chronic back pains,neck and elbow and some days ,well most cant get out of bed with out them...I have tried the T3's but I work with heavy machinery and they make me loopy when I take them..It has now gottin to the point where I get a full on grilling from the pharmacists every single time and actually got refused by the walmart guy because he said I was killing my liver....It has been about 8 months and taking 6 at a time 4 times a day so 24 a day!...I have times were I can feel it on my liver but I have gottin it checked and no issues and tried to get something lighter but of course to every doctor I am just a crack head wanting more dope when really all I want is to be pain free...I have tried absolutely EVERYTHING,spent thousands on physio,chiropractors,pain reliefs,hell if there's a gadget I have tried it..Its frustrating but I know the pain in the *** to get them isn't worth it but now its a matter of survival and what going to all pharmacists until one just sells me some?..Its frustrating and I feel your pain fella!
Well day 2 has begun and so far so good. After dropping 4 pills yesterday, I felt lightheaded, had some pain in my chest, my heart fluttered a bit, had shortness of breath and sure enough got a headache. All this started around 6pm, 10 hours after my last dose. I thought 4 pills wouldn't make all that much difference but it did. I slept fine but woke up with a headache. Wow, this is going to be alot harder than I hoped. Instead of dropping 4 more today, I am going to cut out 2 and make the taper more gradual, I don't want to shock my system to much. It felt weird last night, it was a scary feeling.
But I remember these feelings as well when I quit booze and pot, especially the pot.
The hardest part was thinking about it. But it sure helped to come back to this website, read all the other addicition posts etc and see the positive comments etc and see the posts where people are clean. That kept the motivation going strong.
Day 2 and I can tell already this will be a loooooooong day.
But I remember these feelings as well when I quit booze and pot, especially the pot.
The hardest part was thinking about it. But it sure helped to come back to this website, read all the other addicition posts etc and see the positive comments etc and see the posts where people are clean. That kept the motivation going strong.
Day 2 and I can tell already this will be a loooooooong day.
P.S.
It feels good and really helps to talk about these posts, not sure why, but it does help to vent so to speak!
It feels good and really helps to talk about these posts, not sure why, but it does help to vent so to speak!
Thanks for the posts so far!
To answer some of the questions,
I have been to a doctor and asked for a complete work up on my blood, I do every year. I have never been told I have any issues, I even ask specifically if my liver, heart and kidneys are all good and they have always came back good.
That is as strange as not getting the colds or flu for over 14 years. Maybe they aren't checking hard enough?
As far as getting a doctor to prescribe T3's, that would be a very easy thing to do with having Crohns disease but I don't know if that would work. I need to be able to work and function and my experience with T3's is that I can't work, I dont think well and I get severly itchy. That's kind of why I switched to the T1's, it is easy to function.
In fact having Crohn's disease allows me to get pretty much anything I want for pain meds. But I am not sure the "high" is what I am looking for and I'll explain.
My wife had a big surgery on her foot a few months back and was prescribed Oxycontin / Percocet for the pain. She was prescribed 80 of the pills for the pain as well as anonther pain med that Istarts witha T that I can't remember it's name. i think Tramacet? 80 of those as well. (It was a BIG surgery,lol)
Well, she only took them for the first couple days then she didn't feel she needed them anymore and she turned to normal Tylenol. She still has 90% of those pain pills left just sitting in the medicine cabinet and I could take them anytime I want but I haven't, I have no desire to. I stick to the T1's. Is that weird? Wouldn't an addict take those meds without hesitation? I almost think I take the T1's out of habit more than addiction.
I'm not sure where everyone who replied is from, but here in Canada, especially Alberta, doctor's don't really help with addicition, they refer to counselling. They wouldn't prescribe a drug for this purpose.
I actually think the T1 addiction is alot worse than we know, it would have to be for Alberta to put a limit on Schedule 2 drugs like T1's. You are only allowed to buy 200 tablets a months now in Alberta and they monitor it through your health care card and in fact monitor ALL your medical history through a program called " Alberta Net Care".
Recently I went to a pharmacy to get some more T1"s and instead of the pharmacist asking me why I need so much or offering to help, he tried to embarrass me in front of alot of people by saying they can't sell me anymore and that I need to get help because I am an addict. They don't even do it privately, they just blurt it out like we are some kind of criminal.
The problem is I wasn't embarrassed, I just laughed and said "Ok, see you in 8 days when you can't refuse me." I went to another pharmacy across the street and they sold me the T1's without even questioning it. That is however when I knew the time to quit had come.
One thing I want to mention about this Healthcare Monitoring in Alberta, is this to me is a massive invasion of my privacy. I don't think anyone should be able to see any of my health records without my prior consent, it shouldn't be there for any 16 year old kid who works in a pharmacy to log in and look it up on a website and see EVERYTHING about my healthcare but it is happening now in Alberta and there's nothing we can do about it.
In a sense, all this monitoring is going to do is force people into the streets to get their drugs. It really, truly is easier to get Pot, Cocaine, heroine or Crack on the streets here in Canada than it is to get prescribed or over the counter drugs. Sad but true.
So back to my progress report. And as I said, I am going to post here frequently, to describe what happens, what works, what doesn't until I have kicked this so hopefully whoever reads this can se my experiences to help guide them through their ordeal of quitting. Man, I can't wait to start living life free of these pills! I really am excited about this!
I woke up this morning with a different feeling, a feeling of excitement, looking forward to stopping this horrible habit. So far after deducting 2 pills, it hasn't felt any different.
I will say however my mind KNOWS there is a difference. I can see now I will have the bigger fight with my mind than my body over this. It's all I can do to stop myself from going to get those 2 pills I feel I should have. It's been over an hour now and I am still struggling with this. But my body doesnt feel any different except for an excessive amount of saliva in my mouth. not sure what that means?
My plan is too ween of as much as I can until thanksgiving long weekend when I will stop entirely and if there is withdrawl, hopefully it won't last more than 3 days. I know if I can quit for 3 or 4 days, I will not restart. The hardest thing in quitting booze and Pot was that first few days but I got past that so I know I can get past this too, hopefully.
Thanks for the advise and posts, please keep them coming, keep the stories of your experiences coming, it really does help to read about it, to see I am not the only one out there going through this. Please people, don't stop.
Thank you so much!
To answer some of the questions,
I have been to a doctor and asked for a complete work up on my blood, I do every year. I have never been told I have any issues, I even ask specifically if my liver, heart and kidneys are all good and they have always came back good.
That is as strange as not getting the colds or flu for over 14 years. Maybe they aren't checking hard enough?
As far as getting a doctor to prescribe T3's, that would be a very easy thing to do with having Crohns disease but I don't know if that would work. I need to be able to work and function and my experience with T3's is that I can't work, I dont think well and I get severly itchy. That's kind of why I switched to the T1's, it is easy to function.
In fact having Crohn's disease allows me to get pretty much anything I want for pain meds. But I am not sure the "high" is what I am looking for and I'll explain.
My wife had a big surgery on her foot a few months back and was prescribed Oxycontin / Percocet for the pain. She was prescribed 80 of the pills for the pain as well as anonther pain med that Istarts witha T that I can't remember it's name. i think Tramacet? 80 of those as well. (It was a BIG surgery,lol)
Well, she only took them for the first couple days then she didn't feel she needed them anymore and she turned to normal Tylenol. She still has 90% of those pain pills left just sitting in the medicine cabinet and I could take them anytime I want but I haven't, I have no desire to. I stick to the T1's. Is that weird? Wouldn't an addict take those meds without hesitation? I almost think I take the T1's out of habit more than addiction.
I'm not sure where everyone who replied is from, but here in Canada, especially Alberta, doctor's don't really help with addicition, they refer to counselling. They wouldn't prescribe a drug for this purpose.
I actually think the T1 addiction is alot worse than we know, it would have to be for Alberta to put a limit on Schedule 2 drugs like T1's. You are only allowed to buy 200 tablets a months now in Alberta and they monitor it through your health care card and in fact monitor ALL your medical history through a program called " Alberta Net Care".
Recently I went to a pharmacy to get some more T1"s and instead of the pharmacist asking me why I need so much or offering to help, he tried to embarrass me in front of alot of people by saying they can't sell me anymore and that I need to get help because I am an addict. They don't even do it privately, they just blurt it out like we are some kind of criminal.
The problem is I wasn't embarrassed, I just laughed and said "Ok, see you in 8 days when you can't refuse me." I went to another pharmacy across the street and they sold me the T1's without even questioning it. That is however when I knew the time to quit had come.
One thing I want to mention about this Healthcare Monitoring in Alberta, is this to me is a massive invasion of my privacy. I don't think anyone should be able to see any of my health records without my prior consent, it shouldn't be there for any 16 year old kid who works in a pharmacy to log in and look it up on a website and see EVERYTHING about my healthcare but it is happening now in Alberta and there's nothing we can do about it.
In a sense, all this monitoring is going to do is force people into the streets to get their drugs. It really, truly is easier to get Pot, Cocaine, heroine or Crack on the streets here in Canada than it is to get prescribed or over the counter drugs. Sad but true.
So back to my progress report. And as I said, I am going to post here frequently, to describe what happens, what works, what doesn't until I have kicked this so hopefully whoever reads this can se my experiences to help guide them through their ordeal of quitting. Man, I can't wait to start living life free of these pills! I really am excited about this!
I woke up this morning with a different feeling, a feeling of excitement, looking forward to stopping this horrible habit. So far after deducting 2 pills, it hasn't felt any different.
I will say however my mind KNOWS there is a difference. I can see now I will have the bigger fight with my mind than my body over this. It's all I can do to stop myself from going to get those 2 pills I feel I should have. It's been over an hour now and I am still struggling with this. But my body doesnt feel any different except for an excessive amount of saliva in my mouth. not sure what that means?
My plan is too ween of as much as I can until thanksgiving long weekend when I will stop entirely and if there is withdrawl, hopefully it won't last more than 3 days. I know if I can quit for 3 or 4 days, I will not restart. The hardest thing in quitting booze and Pot was that first few days but I got past that so I know I can get past this too, hopefully.
Thanks for the advise and posts, please keep them coming, keep the stories of your experiences coming, it really does help to read about it, to see I am not the only one out there going through this. Please people, don't stop.
Thank you so much!
Even though you don't see too many posts about tylenol 1's there are plenty on here about vicodin, oxy, percocet, etc. They are all opiates so everything is pretty much comparable. They say the tylenol 1's are one of the weaker pain meds and should be easier to stop but when it comes to going through withdrawals it may still be difficult. No matter what someone has been taking they seem to think their withdrawals are always the worst because they know what they are feeling.
I tapered vicodin in the past and got through with little to no withdrawals. It does take a lot of willpower to do so. It can be all too easy to talk yourself into an extra pill for the day. If you find this is happening to you your best bet is to flush the rest and just go cold turkey. I've been through cold turkey quite a few times and off of a very high dose of oxy in the past and I'm still here. You should be fine to go cold turkey as long as you don't have any other health issues.
Check into the amino acid protocol which can be found in the health pages. It lists some vitamins and supplements to help your brain and body heal faster. I would start taking those right away while you taper. Also be sure to exercise, eat healthy, and push the good fluids.I feel exercise helps the most as it gets our brain to start producing endorphins again.
As Vicki mentioned, go get some blood tests done. When I was using there were times I took enough tylenol to kill an elephant. There were many days that I took over 18,000mgs of acetaminophen a day, no joke. I can't believe I'm still here. I did get lab work done and everything came back fine, even my liver enzymes. I thank God for that everyday!!!
Keep coming here for support. We will help you get through this.
Best of luck to you!
Brian
I tapered vicodin in the past and got through with little to no withdrawals. It does take a lot of willpower to do so. It can be all too easy to talk yourself into an extra pill for the day. If you find this is happening to you your best bet is to flush the rest and just go cold turkey. I've been through cold turkey quite a few times and off of a very high dose of oxy in the past and I'm still here. You should be fine to go cold turkey as long as you don't have any other health issues.
Check into the amino acid protocol which can be found in the health pages. It lists some vitamins and supplements to help your brain and body heal faster. I would start taking those right away while you taper. Also be sure to exercise, eat healthy, and push the good fluids.I feel exercise helps the most as it gets our brain to start producing endorphins again.
As Vicki mentioned, go get some blood tests done. When I was using there were times I took enough tylenol to kill an elephant. There were many days that I took over 18,000mgs of acetaminophen a day, no joke. I can't believe I'm still here. I did get lab work done and everything came back fine, even my liver enzymes. I thank God for that everyday!!!
Keep coming here for support. We will help you get through this.
Best of luck to you!
Brian
Hi~ The first thing you need to do is get with a doctor. You need to have some blood work done and a check on your liver function. You've been taking over 6 grams of Tylenol a day for a very long time. Over 4 grams a day is toxic. You've been lucky.
Do you think you can switch to Tylenol 3 for your taper? You'd be getting a lot less Tylenol and maybe the doctor can okay that for you.
Good luck~
Do you think you can switch to Tylenol 3 for your taper? You'd be getting a lot less Tylenol and maybe the doctor can okay that for you.
Good luck~
Welcome to the community, you will find this is a very supportive place with tons of great people. Personally I have no experience with T1 however as someone said earlier an addiction is an addiction. I think that your taper plan sounds like a good one, that is if you can have the strength to follow it. I tried a taper and it was a joke, the 1st time. The 2nd time I just told myself when I went to take my meds, I am taking these so that I don't get sick, not to get high. It was easier for me if I kept repeating that every time I took a dose. Eventually I got down to where I felt comfortable "jumping off" the meds.
Anyways, someone will come along with T1 experience and help you more than I have. Good luck and keep posting, keep close to the community. It helps.
Anyways, someone will come along with T1 experience and help you more than I have. Good luck and keep posting, keep close to the community. It helps.
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