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Lortab withdrawl syptoms?

I have been taking lortab for about two years now. I am trying to quit but dont know the right way to. I need to know if I need to taper down or just quit cold turkey. I wanted to know also about some syptoms of w/d. I have had heartburn for a while and its the craziest thing, i feels like a heart attack is going to happen. Is that normal? Also have been playing a lot of golf and wonder if sweating and drinking a lot of water will help get me through w/d. Any answers will help thanks
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182493 tn?1348052915
Try something... then see how it is.. Eating well will help.. lots of protein is good for rebuilding any damage the pills do to our brains.. they suppress our normal production of key neurotransmitters which results in depression, anxiety, and sluggishness when we quit taking the pills.. So eating right will help alot as well as supplements like amino acids and B vitamins
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Avatar universal
No I haven't. I will try though, I love to eat bad stuff. I wonder if eating right will help me also? I appreciate the help. thanks.
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Avatar universal
Have you heard of anyone having chest pain or heartburn as a symptom? Im young and in pretty good health, so this pain is kind of out of character.
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182493 tn?1348052915
Keep me posted... would love to know how it works out for ya.. If you need anything just post here
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182493 tn?1348052915
ITs not super common but I have seen people post here saying that they had that... so I would keep an eye on it but its probably your bodies way of adjusting.. We get pretty hyper tensive during withdrawl.. so chest being tight is normal.. heart racing stuff like that.. heartburn however.. is interesting.. Have you tried taking anything for it??  Tums, Rolaids, Tagament??

I am running out for a bit but wil be back later tonight..
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Avatar universal
Thank you. I will do this and get back to you.
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182493 tn?1348052915
Tapering can be done.. I did it successfully once.. and so have others.. Here is an article that has helped me and others.. Its basically info and then a taper schedule that you start spreading your daily doses out farther each day.. I recommed this one... Its slow enough that you should feel babrely any discomfort.. but proactive in that you and doing someting every day as opposed to dropping a half a pill out every week.. which others have done.

Time for some technical talk... One of the things which increases "dependence" is a spike in drug blood plasma levels. Addicts do this on purpose to get a "high". They do it by Snorting (Very fast delivery), IV Injections, Chewing up meds and taking on an empty stomach.

The above all produce the most amount of drug in the blood in an attempt to get a buzz. These spikes are one of the reasons we addicts get hooked faster than a COMPLIANT Chronic Pain Patient.

Being compliant means they take only as directed. The goal of compliance is to maintain an even blood plasma at the minimum amount to treat PAIN and NOT to produce euphoria (a high).

Since the blood plasma levels are lower, the levels of dopamine at the synaptic cleft do not spike so the receptor sites do not downregulate or decrease in number in response to the initially MUCH higher level of dopamine released as a result of spiking.

Addictive dosing behaviors, the large doses associated to Spike the blood plasma level, vs the lower low dosing and more often which is the KEY factor to the physical changes the brain makes which cause dependency.

Dependency is the actual physical changes to your body which cause withdrawal. Addiction is the BEHAVIOR of taking the drugs to get high, not as prescribed, and when not needed for clinical reasons. It is the un-manageable behaviors associated with lack of control.

Which comes first... Dependence or addiction? Usually it's addiction, but it can be the other way, but the key issue which causes the progression of addiction are the behaviors.

Addiction is what makes you take more and more, spiking doses, etc. This in turn increases dependence. The higher your dependence the higher the tollerance... Round and round you go. The addiction merry-go-round.

How to break the cycle? The only way is to change the behavior. That is a very difficult thing. Pain is usually a very good motivator. So is Euphoria. When the pain out weighs the euphoria one starts to consider breaking the cycle. Unfortunately the pain being eliminated by the drug is a driving force. Then the addict associated the RELIEF of th pain to the drug instead of the drug being the CAUSE of the pain.

SOoooooooo what to do? Break the cycle.

Many have to hit bottom to do that. That's the point where the pain of using overwhelms the relief of using. It's an emotional point which is different for different people. Not every one has to hit a bottom to quit. The sooner you quit the less pain and suffering you have to experience.

For folks who are on smaller doses and their disease has not progressed very far, they have not felt the extent of pain addiction can cause. Only conceptualizing how bad it can get may not be good enough to motivate a person early in addiction to quit.

Intellectually we know what lays ahead. We hear the truth from others, but yet we continue to use. It is not until we get a glimpse of the pain that lays ahead do we become to believe we need to quit. One HAS to believe that in fact addiction does lead to the loss of everything and eventually Jails Institutions and Death.

Addiction is a lot easier to nip in the bud physically but maybe not emotionally because one has not experienced the pain first hand. Some need more pain than others to quit. Some don't make it and end up end stage and their addiction wins.

If you want to get off of the pills you have to change your behavior.

1) STOP SNORTING your pills!
2) Stop spiking your dose!
3) stop taking enough to get high

You will never quit until you do that. Weather you can or not is up to you.

You have to come to a point where you make the decision you want to quit. The en you have to make a plan then you have to execute that plan. SIMPLE .... but not easy.

The solution from a clinical point of view for you at your point of addiction is so easy. A simple taper, and change the behavior. In short break the cycle.

How to do a taper is easy. Changing the behavior is the HARD part, but you have to want to change.

If you are taking 6 pills a day... then start taking them in even doses and don't take like 3-4 at a time. 24 hrs divided by 6 = 4 hrs. So only take one pill every 4 hrs. Then take 5 pills in 24 hrs. That's 4.8 hrs. Then 4 pills a day... break pills into 1/2's so you have 8 1/2 pills. and take 1/2 a pill every 3 hrs. Etc.

If you can't stick to a taper give the pills to a friend to dispense.

Mean while .. you have to start changing the way you think and the things you do... You should educate yourself... Good place to do all of that is NA or AA. It's FREE and takes up time. It forces you to be doing something other than sitting around with nothing to do and just thinking about using.

It's not the only way, but it's a good place to start. Take what you need from it, and leave the rest.

If you take the same amount or less every day and don't spike your dose you will eventually quit.

30 mg of Hydro can be tapered to 0 in 2-4 weeks painlessly. The PAWS will be minimal too.

The ball is in your court. We can not make you do anything. Only YOU can.

When you are ready is up to you. If you need to stay "out there" using and see for yourself how bad it will get that's up to you.

My recommendation.. Start to QUIT now! It will be a whole lot easier.



Helpful - 0
182493 tn?1348052915
If you are taking 4 per day then that is every 4 hours.. assuming you sleep 8 hours per day.. So for the 1st day you take them every 4 hours.. then the next day every 4.5 hours, then 5 hours, then 5.5 hours, and so on and so forth.. this gets your doses closer together slowly.. letting your body adjust to the lower dose which is the whole point of tapering.. to let your system adjust..

If you have any questions just ask
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Avatar universal
I take 3-4 10 mg a day. If I do taper off i really wouldn't know how to. I guess one a day then eventually work my way down from that. I don't think I have an addiction problem just had an injury and got caught up in the way the pills made me feel. The bad thing though is I do have an injury and sometimes I need a tab to stop the pain. I know if I got the right advice I could manage that.
Helpful - 0
182493 tn?1348052915
How many do you take per day?? There is no "right way " to quit.. Some people can taper.. some people take them if they have em and can't do it properly..  So they go cold turkey.. Is there a doc that can help you through this?? Have you ever tried to stop b4?

Let me know and I will help
Stephanie
Day 53 off opiates
Helpful - 0

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