When does life become normal after oxy, perc, tab, withdrawls?

[wifeofanaddict]

My husband is nearing the 14th day of being clean.  I am wondering when life will become normal again. Or will it every be normal again? Sometimes I feel like life was normal when my husband was looking for pills all the time, and snorting pills all the time.  Our life is different now, its better but its odd.  Its odd because our routine has changed, we have money now, we have noninterupted time together, the phone isn't ringing off the hook like it used to.  I am wondering will I get used to the quiet atmosphere in our house.  My husband gets so crazy sometimes trying to sleep(because its so quiet) he starts arguments with me.  Give me some advice, Please.
How do I deal with this and how do I help him deal with it?

Thanks,
wifeofanaddict

[Hinkster]

groovy girl very well written and good solid reading.

ABU22
Theres not much you can do (boy do I hate sayig that cause I'am
in the very exact boat.) Was running low on my meds this week so I started on the receipe. Well I ended up eating all of my L-tyrosine so now I'am out of those I think they might have helped.
In a pinch you can try Neurontin you will have to tritate yourself up to pretty high doses but they seem to do okay. I'd love
to help you but I just can't and its killing me cause of all the
grear people in these forums who bust their buts to help and care about
people like you and I.
Good luck I sure hope something works out.
Tom

[oh please already]

clap  clap   clap -  well said - clap   clap  clap

[groovygirl]

criminal activity can also come in the form of dr. hopping, which many on this forum have experience with.  lying about pain to your dr. is also not right, but most of us have done it.  more than a few here have talked about going thru friend's, family's and stranger's medicine cabinets - that's stealing.  i'm not judging ANYONE here - i am guilty of all of the above.

my point is that people who are on medication for a real pain condition, and they are taking it as prescribed, should not be made to feel that they are doing something wrong or should they lable themselves as addicts.  part of the big problem is that people with real pain are having a harder and harder time getting what they need because of people like me...addicts, who abuse the system to get what they need.  there needs to be a distinction between the two...i'm making my point - you are making yours.  that's what is great about this country - freedom to speak!

[Mace]

I understand and appreciate your comments concerning addiction, and by no means do I pretend to understand the dynamics of addiction, however I don

[lanas]

Honestly, in my own experience, the hardest part is yet to come, but YOU CAN DO IT.  I quit in February (with one very short set back that I don't even count against myself).  It took me almost 8 weeks to begin to feel more normal again.  This apparently is much more extreme than what most people experience, so you proably won't have to wait this long.  However, everyone tried to tell me that I needed to "get up and do something, anything."  Well, all I could think was that I could hardly get up out of the chair to walk 2 feet to get the remote for the TV, how the heck was I supposed to "Do something?"  But you know what?  Everyone was right.  I found that when I DID do something, I DID feel better--oh it didn't take it all away, but I did do better.  Do I miss the energy I had with the vicoprofen?  yes.  But am I enjoying not being irritiable?  YES.  Am I enjoying not worrying every day where the next script is coming from?  YES.  Am I enjoying knowing that I am clean now?  YES.  I look better and am really feeling better--and it is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.  And you know, I thought of something about a week ago that really hit home to me...  I'm an attorney and have represented a few clients on death row.  Now these guys stay in a small cell 23 hours a day.  They are let out one hour a day (which is when they are also expected to shower, make phone calls, etc.)  Twice a week, they get to go outside.  And here I am, whining and feeling sorry for myself because I don't want to have to go anywhere or even get out of my chair to cook dinner.  Perhaps not the best analogy, but it made me realize that I started abusing these drugs and that I can get my life back--and if takes some pain, then it takes some pain.  A couple of months is really nothing in the whole scheme of life.  Hang in there, it gets better--and for most people, it gets better after only a few weeks.

[groovygirl]

i've done a lot of research on this...plus i know several people who take oxycontin as prescribed for pain.  there is a difference between physical tolerance and addiction.  anyone taking narcotics will become physically tolerant and need larger amounts over time to get the same effect - they will do this as prescribed.  

"This is what distinguishes the pain patient who is tolerant to and physically dependent on morphine, from the addict who is also tolerant to and physically dependent on heroin. Both are self-administering an addictive drug several times a day. But while the addict takes his drug to get high, "mellow out," and largely avoid life, the pain patient takes his drug to get on with life.

This apparently subtle distinction between the contingencies surrounding drug use lead to a remarkably different outcome for these two different kinds of users. Heroin addicts are lost to themselves, to their families, and to society. Not only can't they work, but they are almost certainly engaged in criminal activity, and they are at high risk of a variety of infectious diseases, including hepatitis and AIDS. Indeed, intravenous drug users have become the major vector for the spread of AIDS into the heterosexual community in this country. Current estimates are that more than 55% of addicts in New York City are HIV positive. (16)"

"Pain patients, by contrast, couldn't be more different. Being on an opioid allows them to interact with their families, to get out of hospitals, and to go back to work. Indeed, their efforts to maintain their health are in marked contradiction to the utter disregard addicts show for their health. If we wish to equate addicts with pain patients, the more appropriate comparison is with the under treated pain patient."

"Because of the meaning of drugs in an addict's life, drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition. Because of the very different meaning of drugs in a pain patient's life, drug addiction rarely, if ever, occurs after opioid use has stopped.

"The conclusions of this discussion are clear: (a) dependence and addiction are not equivalent to each other; (b) patients who become dependent on opioids during the course of medical therapy rarely become addicted to those drugs; and (c) in managing pain with opioids, there is little need to fear addiction.

Tolerance to opioids is rarely a problem because it is possible to continuously increase the dose. Dependence is only a concern when prescribing drugs with antagonist properties and in managing withdrawal."