Happier days??

[bravenewgirl]

Is it true that once you take the steps to be clean that a person can be happier without them?? I hear so much about the depression that comes along with this disease it just seems impossible that I could actually feel happier without these "happy pills". I want to believe its better without them but just seems like i won't be??!!! Any comments or advice please feel free to post. Thank u!!

[candy_17]

I use to have myself convinced that I couldn't even function without my "nerve" pills much less be happy. I can tell you after 39 days clean that was complete BS....typical addict thinking. If you want to be happy, you will be, if you want to be miserable, you will be, choose wisely.

[kyle505]

Go see your doctor. If you have legit depression issues, that's the first call you should make. The pills are for pain management, not to control depression. However, the longer you use them, the more depressed you will feel without them. People who post about depression after getting clean either have real depression issues (and may not know it) or they have not been clean long enough. We're all different - some are free of the depression and anxiety that comes with detox before others.
After 15 years of using, shuddering at the thought of life without pills, I am finally 9 months clean, and I'm here to PROMISE you that life without meds is wonderful. Sure, there are good days and bad days, but for me a bad day clean is sooo much better than any good day using.

[bravenewgirl]

HI IBKleen, yes i did have problems with being sad and depressed before taking the pills, once I took my first pill...i was hooked all the sadness and icky feelings about my life went away, everything seem to be great, no worries.  Then one year later everything has changed, my tolerance for them (sometimes i just cant believe how much a persons body gets used to these pills when I first started a 5mg would last all night) has greatly increased, the amount of money I am spending has greatly increased, my mood swings have greatly increased, my anxiety and worry about running out of pills has greatly increased.  Overall, pills are controlling my life in everyway.  I plan to go ct at the end of this month as I took off some days of work just to beat the horrific wd's that i am expecting.  Just hope I can do it, i feel the depression when i don't take as many or lower my dose, im so afraid of sobriety, sounds stupid i know,but I am.

[akitagurl12]

i have been off pills for months now, and i am happy not to be a slave anymore.  Most of the battle for me has been recongizing when my thoughts are lies and when they are true.  Any thought that tells you that you can't be happy without something is a lie.  The high you get from drugs eventually will stop having any sort of reward and you will simply need it to keep the withdrawal symptoms away.  And after awhile even doing that will start to get harder and harder.  Don't give drugs any credit.  They do not make you better or your life better in any way, shape or form.  That is the biggest lie there is.  After some clean time, your emotions should even out, and you might not be happy everyday, but it is a much better trade off to no longer being in that vicious cycle of craving, using, guilt, shame, seeking...  Somedays having my freedom from that is the ONLY thing I have to be happy about and it is enough for me.

[cleanguy]

Read up on some natural ways to help with that depression that may happen... there are options out there. I too am aware that PAWS is a possibility, but im not afraid of it. If it happens, im ready with therapy and just knowing i can beat it. Look into 5htp... but read up good, you can't have it with anti depressants. I've had good results with it. And yes, im much happier now than on pills. The torture of not knowing if i would have enough or running out period would make me a very unhappy camper! All the best, Andy

[Jimmy1975]

Wow my friend truer words were never spoken ! Well said !!!!!

[Free2agoodhome]

Happy ...?

..maybe first week I was on them..after that all I was doing was chasing a feeling,,,,,trying to keep the high alive....counting pills, cutting pills, buying pills, rationing pills, countdown marathon till pill refill....how attractive..no wonder my dating life went to crap....i felt like a million,,,but prob looked like death warmed over....the problem with happy is I could not stay  high/happy...... after an hour ro so  happy was gone,,,,,so guess what?  back to the medicine cabinet to ensure I would run out early...

try clean for a while,,,...you'll be a beleiver in no time..

[Norco1947]

Hi BNG , Like that name ,
You need to start thinking 100% positive .
Look in life the glass is half full or half enpty it's all what you make of it .
Your so young you can do anything you want live happy or chase pills & end up very sad & alone , and look 20 years older then you are
. After awhile pills stop makeing you feel good they only make you sick from then on , They make your brain panic all you live for is pills .
I have been Norco & all pain pills free for just 28 days .
No i'am not 100% normal yet ( never was ) , but it's comeing back i feel it day by day now .enjoying things again .
Getting out of bed in the morning to do things i want to do is different then it was . Not sick the 1st 2 hours every morning makes me HAPPY .
Not being so cranky all the time makes me HAPPY.
Shareing the whole day with my wife , family , and friends without the up's & downs ever 3-4 hours or needing to carry or to go home for pills makes me HAPPY .
Only You can make you happy .
People in the hospital praying & fighting for their life would give anything thing to have it as easy as you have it. what you need to learn is to value yourself & what you do have  .... Ron

[selfinduced]

Hands down, I am a much happier person pill free. All I got from taking those pills (vic) were fake energy. What I sacrificed was years without connecting mentally with my beautiful family, going to endless time consuming Dr. appts, w/d's every other month that I had no idea what they were,anxiety when I was running low. Not being able to look people in the eye. constantly sick from low immune system due to poor nutrition while on pills, worried I would od or my family would find out,,,,,,the list goes on...HECK yeah, there is no comparison for me. I'm HAPPY, HAPPY HAPPY now.

[smiles4eva]

I once called them "happy" pills or "treats".  They turned on me and I became very angry all the time.  Very unfortunate because I have chronic pain and no longer can use them as they are intended.

[IBKleen]

I'm a little confused so bear with me...you take the pills to be happy? What about before you started on them...were you happy?

I don't believe that depression is a part of the disease of addiction. Some people may have been depressed before taking the pills and the pills altered their brain chemistry. I have seen that. I have also seen people that were not depressed before taking the pills and once taking them they altered their brain chemistry thereby producing depression.

Whichever case you are the pills won't work forever. In fact they will turn on you and usually produce the opposite effect. They are designed for pain, not mood elevators so the effect will be short lived.

I don't know anything about your story. Are you looking to get clean?