Done with DarvocetN

[WILLquit]

I'm 30.  Did one darvo a day since I was 18, but two years ago had surgery and was taking 10 a day to get rid of the pain.  When the pain was gone, I just kept taking 10 a day. (2 at a time 5 times a day).  I'm done.  I don't want to do this anymore.  It's killing me slowly, and I know it.  Not to mention the fact that I barely feel it when I take the 2 at a time, and if I don't stop now I'll be doing 3 at a time...that's just pushing it.  So two weeks ago, I cut down to taking 2 four times a day.  Then last week I started taking 1 in the morning and 2 two times through the day.  This past week, I've done one four times a day, and two days ago I did one in the am, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.  Yesterday, I managed one in the am and one in the early evening.  

I haven't really felt any bad w/d that I know of. I did have a racing heart last night, and I did have trouble falling asleep and wanted to take one, but I thought: if I get in the habit of taking them to go to sleep, I'll never stop.  So I just fought it out.  I also have a stiff neck, but I can't tell if that's from the w/d or if I've had neck trouble and just didn't notice it because I was so full of pills all the time.  

Is it normal to go from 10 pills a day for 2 years (with the occaisional recreational use of 12/14 a day) and not feel bad w/d when I'm down to 2 pills a day??? Did I just get lucky?  I mean, the psychological cravings are pretty severe, but physically, I'm not really struggling.  Is the worst yet to come??  I don't know what to expect.  I had less physical w/d cutting down from 10 pills a day to two than I did when I ran out when I was taking one a day, but thinking back, I'm sure the w/d back then was purely in my head.  

[WILLquit]

Thank you for sharing your story!  It helps to hear that I'm not the only one.  The terrible thing about my experiences with "overdoing it", is that they didn't sufficiently scare me off the stuff.  I just decided that I'm tired of this, and I hate being dependant on something, especially something that is doing so much damage to my body.  Kudos to you for going cold turkey.  I wouldn't be able to handle the w/d of cold turkey b/c I would be going through it alone and still trying to take care of my family.  I could never tell my husband.  He wouldn't understand.  But I'm going pretty strong still.  Sticking to my plan.  The racing heart is starting to come less and less frequently.  The tension headaches are pretty intense, but not unmanagable, and the terrible thing is that i was having these headaches just as often when I was on the meds.  In fact, I think the headaches I was having could very well have been because of the meds, and very rarely did they go away when I took them.  So they weren't really even doing me much good anymore.  Not that they ever did me any REAL good to begin with, but that's how they snare so many people,  I guess.  They SEEM to be doing wonderful things for a while, at least.  That's the danger of them.  I don't quite understand why doctors give them out so often knowing the terrible things they are capable of.

[Brrrrad]

I had an experience alittle like yours that scared me straight. I came home from work one night and took my usual 8 propoxephine as i have done for the past two years and in about and hour i knew something was`nt rite, i did`nt feel that "good feeling",so i took acouple more which i had done many times  before and with in acouple hours i tried to go to bed and my chest was racing, my arms and legs were heavy and i KNEW i went to far. Even though i had used more at one time before,So i woke my wife up confessed my whole problem and the next day went cold turkey.Well not easy my wife was totally awesome and helped so much. I`m not sure if you wanted all this but i hope it can give you some kind of help. Stay Strong  

[WILLquit]

Oh, and I also researched some natural remedies before I started to go to the really low dose of darvocet, and I read that fish oil is good for mood, joint ache, not to mention just overall health, so I started taking that a few days before I cut the dose of darvos down to 3 a day, and I also am taking ginsana for energy, and I'm taking calcium chews every day, and just overall focusing on my health.  I was using darvocet as an anti depressant, energy booster, sleep aid, pain killer, mood enhancer, a suppliment to my morning coffee, and just an overall cure all, and yet I wondered why I was feeling so crappy all the time!  So I'm wondering if all the extra stuff I'm doing has helped lessen the w/d as well.  I just feel so lucky that I'm not writhing in agony as I was expecting, and I'm not depressed (yet) as I was when I would run out when I was taking one pill a day for those 10+ years.

[WILLquit]

So I've noticed something else too.  Even though I'm having a little trouble sleeping at night, I don't wake up as exhausted in the mornings as I did when I was taking 10 pills a day, even though I felt like I was sleeping better when I was on the pills.

I'm wondering if it's because my body is not having to process all the toxins I was putting into it, or if it's some sort of placebo effect that will wear off when the excitement of quitting starts to fade...?

Anybody out there experience anything similar?  I know it couldn't be good swallowing all that acetaminophen every day.  I'm surprised my liver still works after all the stuff I've been reading.  I was so stupid!  I also found out that there's a fine line with darvocet between a superhigh dose and an overdose, and that as few as four pills at one time or six within an 8 hour period could kill a person, and I KNOW that once in a while when I was using them recreationally with alcohol I was popping at least 5 in a 5 hour period.  I think I may have even overdosed (though obviously not fatally) a couple times because even though I had only a couple drinks I'd end up puking all night long and being hung over the next day.  I just chalked it up to the fact that my alcohol tollerance must've dropped when I lost 60 lbs.  Now, I believe it may have been much more serious than that.  I was flirting with death and didn't even know it.  I also remember one time KNOWING that I had o/d on the pills by themselves.  I had a bad neck/headache, and I took 2, and they didn't help so 2 hours later I took 2 more, and one hour later I was still hurting, and I forgot the original 2 that I took was only three hours before, and I took another 2.  SO that's 6 within 3 hours, and my heart started racing, my pupils dilated (though I hear that fatal overdose causes pinpoint pupils), and I felt like my head was floating.  I was nauseated but didn't ever throw up, and I thought I may have been dying and I was STILL too scared to tell my husband what I had done.  I told him that I thought I may have taken an extra darvocet in my sleep.  (He knows I take them when I'm in serious pain, but he has no idea that I've been abusing them).  So it's a miracle that I'm even alive to find myself getting off these terrible things.

I've found that tylenol or advil are just as effective with relieving my little aches and pains as crappy darvocet (though I stick to one at a time and won't let myself take more than 3 a day because I want to get myself off of acetaminophen too).

[joann1975]

Sounds like you have made a great plan. Good for you. Have you checked out the health pages? As you can tell I am a fan...but I really do felt like they have helped me so much. You will just love the "clean" side of life.

Keep posting...it's a great place for support and information!

Take Care,
JoAnn

[WILLquit]

Thank you all for the encouraging words.  I took one this morning at 9:30, and that was my last.  My physical w/d have been a little more intense today, headache, racing heart, and just kinda shaky, but nothing really intense.  I will probably stick with two today (my second dose will be right before bed so that I sleep through any effects that it may have because if I feel the effects and remember why I like them, I probably won't feel as strongly about quitting!  I'll go as long as I can tomorrow, and probably take one in the middle of the day and let that be my one for the day.  I'll do that for two or three days, and for certain by this time next week I hope to be completely proxyphene free.

[shelly750]

Thats a  great start I wasn't strong enough to taper I tried 10 times or more.  Needless to say I had to turn to rehab to help me.  If I knew the pills were there I had to eat em.  I can say rehab helped me they treated me with suboxone for 5 days and for the first time ever no withdrawals!!!!  Today is day 12 with no pills this is a record for me.  I still have a long road ahead but go to outpatient therapy twice a week and N/A meetings a few times a week.   I NEVER thought I'd go without pills for more than a couple days.  Keep up the good work you can do It

[Brrrrad]

I also went from taking 12-14 propoxiphine(darvecet) a day for two years and went cold turkey. Know matter which way you decide to do this you CAN do this. This forum is great and the advice you get here will totally help if you apply it to your situation.
It is awesome you are doing this and the rewards are many. Keep on posting and Stay Strong!!!    brrrrad

[joann1975]

Welcome to the forum! You have made a great decision....one of the best decisions of your life!

I tapered from hydrocodone...slower than what you tapered and my wds were minimal as well. My biggest issue was stomach stuff. The neck is probably part of the wds b/c our pain gets worse at first when we quit then lets up. If it keeps up for awhile I would have it checked out.

It may or may not change when you get to 0. We are all different...I do hope this is the worst for you!

On the top right of the screen there are health pages. If you will read in there about the amino acids that will help alot! They will help your body restore what the drugs stole from it.

Best of luck and keep posting!
JoAnn