Help me stop this Madness

[Horseaholic]

Im 54 years old and have been taking Norco 10/325 for over 5 years.
I now at times must take 5 or 6 a day simply to function.
Was prescribed originally for severe back problems that have left me disable.

I want to stop this madness and need to know what to expect as far as withdrawl.
I will be doing this alone any help would be appreciated?

[NeverAgain127]

Hi,

I'm 52 and took prescribed oxycodone for 8 years.   I agree that you should tell your doctor what you are doing, because you took these pills for a legitimate medical reason.   Do you still have back pain?  Will it come back once you are in full withdrawals, and if so, how will you deal with it? These are questions that you and your doctor need to be addressing together.

You are on the low end of the scale in terms of amounts, but...in your fifties it is a totally different ballgame than when you're 20-something .  Our bodies don't rebound like they used.   (I remember when I could have 2-3 glasses of wine on a work night and be fine the next day.  Now?  Forget about it...I'm sick for 2 days.)  

Read as much as you can about this.   A lot will depend on your physical constitution, but you can expect the usual suspects:  muscle pain (esp in your legs), cramping, nausea, diarrhea, watery eyes, and...around 2 weeks clean, you MAY develop a cough.    Not everyone does, but it happens with some folks--opiates suppress a lot of our normal bodily functions, so when they are removed from our physiology, we "re-bound" sort of...

-Our GI tract is slowed down---so we get diarrhea
-Our cough reflex is suppressed--so we start to cough
-Our pain receptors are quieted down--so we get aches & more pain

I felt lousy until day 16, but it is a small amount of time when you consider I took these meds for 8 years.

I do not agree this is all mind over matter (sorry james)  I think this is a very real biological response to our body's adaptation to a medicine we have incorporated into our daily life.

Today is day 20 for me.  I feel a LOT better than day 10; a worlds' difference.

You are a mature adult; I'm sure there have been trials and tribulations you've endured...this is just one more, and it will be definitely OVER in a few weeks.  

Do not give up, but at the risk of sounding redundant, please Do consider discussing this choice with your physician.  They are there to guard your health....Good Luck, my friend.  You'll be fine.

[Pat1956100]

James, those pills are going to be calling your name.  Ask anyone.
You feel strong now but one moment of weakness and you're back at it.
Get rid of those pills now.  It's very dangerous to be hanging onto 10 pills.  Willpower has nothing to do with it when they are that close.  That is why we tell people to cut all ties because we know how hard it is to say no during a moment of weakness.
I really hope you take what I say seriously.

[PurrfectlyKrazy]

p.s. don't be embarrassed....I've done that a few times.  If you hold your mouse over any names that post in the forum it will give you some stats on the person you are talking to :-)

[PurrfectlyKrazy]

I'm a her :-)...but you can call me whatever you want ;-)

[Jameskeenom8171992]

Purrfectly crazy is a great person so I would listen to him!!! That being said I found its better to find someone that's going threw the withdrawals the same time you are that way you can relate to someone a little bit more often. I was taking a lot more than you were and I'm on day 4 of being sober and today I have a lot of energy i don't know how but I do I feel normal today so I feel like tomorrow will comeback and hit me hard but il be on this site for months and months. Let me know how war far you are on cold turkey and I do disagree with one thing I have about 10 hydros in my room and I don't feel like taking them it's all about will power it's all in your head get mad at those pills excuse my language but **** those pills. You'll make it I know the withdrawals sound bad and I'm going threw them right now and my legs are crazy bad I take a bath every hour just to ease my les last night I actually slept 6 hours so maybe that's why I feel a lot better today who knows just set short term goals 1 week mark then when you get there set a goal for 10 days then 2 weeks then next thing you know your active feeling better exercise a bit easy healthy. That's my state of mine stay positive knoe god will get you threw this 1 week of suffering for year and years of happiness think like that god bless!!!

[PurrfectlyKrazy]

If you are very serious about this you have to go further than just not asking for another script from your doctor...you need to tell your doctor you are addicted.  Trust us all here...if we don't cut off all of our supply in every way shape or form it is too easy to go back...especially in our most vulnerable first months.

[Horseaholic]

I got it. Thank you very much.
I will keep you guys posted.
At the moment im mad at the world. I have taken one a day for the last two days when I normally take up to five so I think the withdrawl has already started. Ive had alot of pain in my legs but nothing I cant live with at this point.
Thank you again.

[Horseaholic]

I dont get them off the street.
My Dr prescribes them and ive made up my mind to never ask for another refill.
Ive only taken 1 today and already starting to feel a little rough at this point.
I normally take 2 the moment I wake up in the morning just to get out of bed.
I have gotten rid of everything so tomorrow will be the begining to the end of this madness.

Even if I wanted to get a refill I couldnt for another week or so.
So looks like cold turkey for me.

[PurrfectlyKrazy]

Okay, you should have the PM right now.  I advise to listen to everyone who has detoxed and is clean now off the same DOC (drug of choice) that you have.  They will tell you what worked best for them and what didn't.  You can use the sheet I sent you as a guide.

I'm 55 years old and detoxed 82 days ago from around 150 mg of oxycodone daily with the help of this forum.  I live in a small town...no detox center, no help of any kind.  I lurked in this forum for a while and finally figured out that if I was going to get any kind of support it was going to be right here.

So you are not alone and as long as you keep posting here you will never be alone.  You will always have support and we do not judge.  You can tell us anything...I can guarantee you someone here has been through the same thing.

My biggest advice outside of the withdrawal relief is to post.  Post as often as you need to.  Post when something new comes up symptom wise, emotionally, whatever.  If you post we can support and help you....if you stay silent our hands are tied and we don't want our hands tied...we want to reach out to you and give you the help you so desperately crave.

Please come back and tell us more about what is going on with you, how you are feeling, etc.

Prayers and Love from our MH Forum/Family

[IBKleen]

Hi & Welcome,

Glad you found your way here. The dose you are on is a doable detox. I would recommend tapering but if you are alone that will be very hard. The temptation alone is difficult. Normally you have someone hold them for you and give them to you according to a schedule. Think..do you have someone in your life that you can confide in and trust to help you?

The other way is cold turkey. For that I have to strongly suggest that you cut all ties. I assume you are getting them off the streets so you will need to lose that contact. Delete all numbers on your phone and detach yourself from everyone that ever game them to you.

The withdrawal (physical) will take about a week and I won't lie, it is not pleasant. But if you let us know what you have decided we can guide you through this, support you and give you some tips on home remedies that will ease the process. Often times the anticipation of going off the drugs is worse than the withdrawal itself.

We are here to support you. Let us know what you think you will do.

[PurrfectlyKrazy]

Hi and Welcome to our forum!  You've come to the right place for support and advice.

We can't say for sure you will get this and you will get that for WD symptoms because every person is different but we can help you with symptom relief...we can give you tons of support and I will PM you a list with some suggestions to help with withdrawal symptoms.

It is a tricky thing...for instance...dehydration is always a biggie so drink lots of liquids....some people have horrid insomnia, some people get some sleep.  Some people get over the hump at day 3, some at day 5, some at day 7.

I'm not going to lie and say this will be easy...but I will say it will be easier with the help of everyone here so please keep posting, listen to those who have been on the sober train for a long time...they know what they speak of.

I'm going to PM you that sheet and will be back to check in with you soon.

You've taken the first step...and you are not alone...you have a lot of people in this forum who will stand beside you!!!

Hugz