I had about a 20/day habit for about a year and quit cold turkey. I got through it but after several weeks, I still had very little energy. I ended up getting back on the Lortabs so I didn't lose my job.I soon was up to 35/day. That is when I did the following:
I bought body cleanse at The Vitaman Shop. My theory was that if my body was detoxing itself, I could help speed up the process. This DOES NOT lessen the symptoms of W/D's. The product is called Detoxitech. I make a shake with it and grapefruit juice (simply grapefruit or fresh squeezed, not minute maid b/c there is sugar, etc.) three times a day for 5 days. I have read that citrus is great when cleansing the body. I also drank lots of water and ate steamed broccoli at night with lemon juice. I CONSUMED NOTHING ELSE FOR FIVE DAYS! The point of it all was to get as many unnatural things out of my body.
I know not everyone can do this, but I went camping alone so there would be no stress or pressure, or temptation to get more. I also took The Bible and Chicken Soup for The Soul and read them for inspiration.
Sleep was virtually non existant and I had the runs bad, but I stuck to the plan. No Xanex to sleep, no Tylonal for pain, nothing. I was really difficult as most of you know, but I did it. On the sixth day I felt pretty good, not great but good. In my opinion, after 7 days I felt like I was as far along as somebody who had been clean for about 35 days. I could already see shades of my old self again as far as energy goes. In week 2, I started jogging and maintained a healthy diet to keep the energy up. At the end of a month I felt like I used too. The hard part was psychological, but I told my wife so she gave me support and inspiration through it all.
I am coming up on two years and I am really happy. I am not criticizing any method, but what got me through was putting less into my body and giving it a chance to heal itself. I felt like taking sleep aids and ibuprofen would slow my body's recovery. Hopefully this can help some people to regain their lives like I have. And if you feel like you have to take other stuff, by all means, just get through it and stay strong. You will come out the other side feeling like you can do anything in the world. Best of luck to everybody.