fentanyl patch to hydrocodone to ?

[friendlyfreddy]

well here goes....
about 3 years ago i was diagnosed with a herniated disk in my neck that caused INSANE pain. for this i was prescribed the 100 patch. the pain was so bad i wore 4 at a time labled 1-2-3-4. i was nodding out and still in very extreme pain. this went on for two more years as i declined neck/back surgery. about 6 months ago my wife came home and found me on the floor unresponsive and not breathing.....OD. very bad. was narcained (sp) back to life by the EMT. at that point i quit useing the patch and went to hydrocodone 10/325 for the last 6 months. now im trying to kick the hydro as i am moving to puerto rico and need to have my **** together when i do it. i was taking hydro anywhere from 5-10/day...sometimes more. so in essence i have been on narcotics for the last 4 years. i am struggling with quitting. i have hydro's in my dresser i could take at anytime. its been 24 hours since my last dose which was 1/2 a pill. i thought i would be in for terrible withdrawls but googled "nuerontin (sp) opiate withdrawl". i was surprised to find it is used to ease withdrwals. by this time without nuerontin i would feel like absolute crap. however, i have been doseing w/ nuerontin and have found that it actually works! no RLS, no sweating, no shaking or vomiting. i just feel kida out of it and sleepy which is way better than the alternative. the onl;y real symtom i have is strange poopies. but that is just mny body flushing and i can deal. the hard part is the mental thing. what i mainly wanted people to know is that YES NUERONTIN WORKS TO EASE WITHDRAWLS.
i am ready to take my life back and i know i can do it if i have the pills in front of me and i dont do them. it wouldnt be possible without the neurontin....i would have caved in by now....maybe. i am pretty tough about kicking as i have done it a handfull of times at home on WAY harder stuff (fentynal).
but here i am making my first post looking towards sobriety. ANY advice or support would be much appreciated. i do have cronic pain but i would rather live with the pain than not live at all on pills and such.
i do have some good herbs and 5htp and multi vits which i havent taken yet. can 5htp be taken with nuerontin? should i just stick with the nurontin? sorry for rambling but thats what i do......thanks all and hello from the depths of despair and dopesickness. much love to all.....
freddy

[friendlyfreddy]

thanks everyone for your support and help. yes...everything i take is prescribed by my doc. even the nuerontin. yesterday i flushed the pills in the dresser. today i told my doc i wont be needing another hydro script. i feel VERY fortunate to have been able to do this so easily. i mean fentynal to hydro was my choice as i knew SOMEDAY i woulsd stop. that day was saturday....and today i fell...well....not too bad. went out with my wife to run some errands. that would not have been possible if detoxing from duragesic patches. so good move and a pat on the back to myself. i have also lowered my dosage of nuerontin to 300mg TID. much more reasonable.
also added flexeril to the mix...prescribed of course. my only issue is i havent slept in 2 days so the doc gave me a 9 day supply of temazepam with no refills. i happily accepted and it felt good to hear him tell me he was proud of me for doing it....

again...thank you all for your concern,input, and most impotantly kindness.
much love to you all
freddy

[ifeelfine999]

I am also taking Neurontin, which was prescribed to me by my doctor. It was given to me for nerve damage pain.Now before being prescribed the Neurontin I was taking about 8-10 Vicodene a day( for about four years) .Which the Doctor also knew about. The Vics, did not really help with the pain. ( I had multiple injuries due to a bad accident, broken bones, two surgeries, etc). The Dr. started me out on a low dosage of 100 mgs. 3x's a day and then slowly raised my dosage up to 600 mgs. 3x's a day.At that point he wanted me to start to taper the vicodene, going down one pill a week. I did not follow that tapering plan instead I just stopped taking the the vics because I was tired of being tied to those damn pills. And yes you are right, they do work. I am now 13 days clean from the vics, and the only problem I did have in the very beginning was some stomach issues which just lasted for a couple of days. But as IBKleen said I do hope you are getting these pills prescribed to you by a Doctor. When it is time to come off of them you have to be very careful, you have to taper off of them with the help of your Doctor. I have not had any side effects from the Neurontin at all, at least not yet and I have been taking them for a few months now. But I have read on this forum that some people have not had success with them. Wishing you all the best.  

[justneedtotalk]

Welcome......You are going to have to get rid of those hydro's in your dresser!  You might not be tempted now because the "newness" of quitting is stronger than the withdrawals but soon you will be REALLY tempted to take them just to get a moment of piece.  I am extremely glad that you are making the decision to quit.  The next few weeks are going to be difficult but manageable.  You are lucky that you stopped the Fentanyl and are only detoxing off of the hydrocodone!  Hydro withdrawal is a lot less in severity compared to the other.  Yes....start taking the suppliments immediately and try to get some mild exercise as soon as possible.  You are correct in the fact that your body is attempting to flush the remaining chemicals out of your body and by taking the suppliments and drinking LOTS of water you will speed up this process.  The suppliments and exercise helps speed up the healing process.  You have trained your brain to respond to a chemical so it stops producing its own endorphines.  Your brain will need to learn to produce these chemicals on its own.  This process is actually fairly quick but the lasting effects linger for a while.  I too would be nervouse about the Neurontin.....It might seem to work now but you do not want to worsen the situation.  I do promise you this though....within the next couple of weeks you will start to "sober up" and you will truly know what it is like to be sober and it is wonderful....The moment that I will never forget is when I was hanging with my wife and 2 year old daughter and we were just laughing and laughing at a particular situation and then it hit me.....I was having fun and enjoying myself sober without the use of pills!  It was a glorious event and made my determination to stay sober even stronger....Life on pills is no life at all!!!!  Good luck and God bless!

[IBKleen]

Freddy, where did you get the Neurontin? Please tell me that this is prescribed by a doctor? If not, you need to see a doctor. It can be dangerous to ct off of this medication, as you are at risk for seizures.

Please see your doctor and do this properly. You have come this far.

Let us know how you make out.

[kjersey]

I have taken almost every type of pain medication Fetanyl pops, Oxycontin, Dilaudid, etc. At first; I was prescribed for a very minor injury at the age of 19 (way over prescribed) when I hurt my back at work.  I had never heard of painkillers at the time and never had done drugs.  Well slowly I got very addicted to the pills and started buying them on the street and stopped attending college after getting my two year degree.  After moving to Florida I decided to change my life.  I joined a Methadone clinic (as Suboxone and rehabs are thousands of dollars and my withdrawals were horrible).  Two years later I am detoxing off of my methadone (medically supervised).  Since I have become sober I am almost finished my Education degree, bought a new car, got an apartment, and work like crazy.  Being clean will change your life, you will have more money, be healthier, regain any relationships (if you lost any).  Quitting the way you did must have been very difficult and you must have strong sense of self to be able to do that.  I used Methadone to help me (contrary to what some think it doesn't make you high and helps you to regain your life).  If you ever find yourself relapsing I would suggest rehab if you could afford it or Suboxone because rehab gets you completely off mediccation and Suboxone isn't as strong (Methadone makes you tired if you are at a high dose).  Good luck, and stay strong.  Change your phone number if you bought it illegally and stop hanging with ANYONE that does drugs.  Exercise! Eat healthy! Going to church or volunteering helped me to feel like I was giving back and making up for time lost.  Get a hobby or pick up an old one like an instrument, dance, bowling or whatever!  Take supplements and five hour energys on days when you only feel so=so.  I will pray for you good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!