Am I out of the woods?

[notfunanymore]

I have been using painkillers off and on for 30 years. Things got out of control this summer after being on a high dose of oxycotin after a skiing mishap. The pain pretty much went away and my Doc cut me off so I turned to the street for pills. They started costing too much so like a fool I turned to heroin to keep up the "high" at a lower cost. After 5 months of abuse I switched to subs. That was in November of 2008 and I weaned myself down from 16mg a day to 1mg a day. Stayed on 1mg for about a month and my supply ran out. No, I was not getting the sub from a Doc, but from a friend who had weaned himself down but never told his Doc and he sells the rest. He charged $15.00 for an 8mg pill so I did save money by not going to a sub Doc (stupid I know but I did save money and there was a 4 week wait for the sub Docs around here) I have been lurking here for about a year and have read all the posts about coming off sub. Two days after my last 1mg sub I started to feel bad and got a script from my Doc for 30 7.5mg hydros which I took for a week, tapering down the whole week until I took only 1 two days ago. I never felt bad on the hydros for the week. It has been 50 hours since the last hydro and 10 days since my last sub. I don’t feel great though I don’t feel as bad as the stories I have read here. I knew that I was playing with fire when I returned to hydros but it seems to have worked and I just want to stay clean.
   My question is am I out of the woods or is the worst still to come. Like I said I don’t feel great, I am a little sluggish and I have a headache and only slept 6 hours  last  night and 7 hours the night before. I don’t expect to feel normal just like that and I figure I will feel like **** for a while, kind of like a mild cold, not the 2 week “flu” I have had before. What do you guys think?

[worried878]

yey..me too...was about 2 months or a bit more before my energy returned to normal levels...and this is what we gotta plan for just in case..if we expect to feel a bit sluggish and know that it will pass..it can help us make it over the crucial 90 day mark

[road2recovery]

I agree with all...First starting sub at that amount and going down to 1mg is great, then you tapered again...No matter the method, you did it.. IMO you may have some sleepless nights, but i think you will do good...Please get out and excersise, keep you mind busy busy,  also find some aftercare...Let us know how it goes...
good luck...

[toxictome]

I would say the worst has already come. I tapered off hydros and while it wasn't pleasant...it was what you are describing. Headache, rls, fatigue, body aches, mood swings, depression, etc.  

I found pushing myself to exercise  and staying busy really helped w/ all the symptoms.
It was about 9-11 weeks until I felt really good. I had good days and not so good days...just like the days are in real life.

I have 11+ months...and life is GREAT!!!!

Buckle up and enjoy the ride...and let it remind you where/what you do not  want to return to!!

GOOD LUCK!!!   and like worried said....aftercare is the key to STAYING clean.

[worried878]

i would agree...u may feel sluggish forr a while and that usually applies to anything u wd off of after using for a while...exercise and eating right can help along with supps...meetings or some type of aftercare is usually the way most stay clean..it really does help and i found that it is true what they say..that getting clean is the easy part..staying clean takes alot of work..good luck and if u r willing to do the work u will do this

[flmagi]

Interesting, I heard of a few people that used pain killers to come off the Sub. My guess is that you won't get any worse withdrawals at this point. Good luck to you and stay clean.

[heathag]

Just wanted to tell you congrats on wanting to be clean. Im not sure about being outta the woods. I tried like yourself a couple different times to quit and every time i did was different for me. Somebody on here will prolly be able to answer your question better than me! This is a great site for support. Just keep posting and lifting your head up. ~heather