Should I still be so sick?

[codean]

15 days ago now, I decided to quit taking codeine completely. Prior to that I had been taking a lot but I did spend the final 2-3 weeks tapering down to a poin where I felt it was feasible to do it. The first couple of days were pretty rough, but actually not as bad as I expected. The worst element has been not being able to sleep. Now 15 days later, I am getting some sleep, (which is way better than say a week ago) but I have no contorl over it, I can't just go to bed at a normal time and sleep, it just happens when it feels like it - normally about 6AM at the moment - which is ery nearly etting up time!. I was hitting the OTC sleep meds quite hard but that made no difference so I don't bother much now. After 9 days, I decided that enough was enough and took some immodium - which I wasn't really that keen to do becaue I figured it was all part of detoxing. That one dose gave me a day or 2s relief but since then the griping stomach etc have been right back with a vengeance. I got on the scales today and discovered I've lost nearly 20lbs in the past couple of weeks. I find it really hard to eat although I haven't actually been nauseous much.

Basically I'm incredibly lethargic, still have bowel trouble and just generally feel wiped out. I really thought things would be much better by now. I know I feel better than I did at the start, but that's not saying much! At least I can eat and slep a little now, so progress has been made but I never imagine it would be this slow.

Do you think this is normal and still a part of the wd or have I more likely picked up some sort of virus or something just as a result of being generally run down? I have been to see my doc to explain how bad I was feeling (but I didn't give the reason.) So far, I haven't had any help from the doc really. She sent me for tests but 6 days later I still have no results. I don't know whether I just have to roll with this for a while longer or whether I need to be trying to force myself to eat more and try to adjust my sleeping pattern by pretty much staying up round the clock and trying to go to bed at a proper time tomorrow....
In the past, I could normally get to sleep whenever I wanted and I'm finding this pretty hard. I don't plan to give up trying to quit but I just wondeed if anyone could offer an opinion on whether still feeling so bad so long afterwards is normal or not?

[jimgreg]

you can make your own electrolyte's drink loo it up on google..its water baking soda and sugar..if you dont have anything else also potatoes have alot in them..this will last ussaly 16 days then its the mind game for a few monthes  it will get better if its been 15 days..you will get up 1 day and notice the phiscal symptoms better.. butt the mind is another story not real bad but it has to recover as well it will  good luck..

[carr]

Codean, its not me telling you that. Its a fact. Read PAWS so you know where you are headed and what may or may not be. All I can say is suck it up and stay clean. It didnt take you over night to get this way and its gonna take longer than a few weeks to get back to good. You're gonna hear lots of things that you dont want to. At least be aware of the possiblities. Withdrawals effect everybody differently yet we all go through the same stuff. Good luck with life, I wish you well.

Peace and Love,

Carrie

[codean]

that's some way to reassuring - I used to have no trouble sleeping at all. \my dose was pretty high - around 1800mg/day for about a year, building up to that over a year or so previously. I'm pretty sure \i'm ok with the fluids and electrolytes, I'm staying on top of that. It's just sleep and food and the feelings of lethargy, general yuk and pretty low mood. I keep reading people saying t'll all be over in a week. Not my experience...

[worried878]

foods low in fat..easy to digest..and plenty of fluids..specially gatorade and stuff with electrolytes...i never had any trouble sleeping...opposite for me...some do some dont...some have it a week and some never have insomnia..some people have had insomnia all their life so when they quit drugs they will still have insomnia...if u r a normaly good sleeper then sleep patterns usually return to normal within a month for most...u r on a weaker drug than many,,,i am not sure of ur dose...buit it takes a lot of codeine poills to equal a lortab or a oxy...u will do this...sleep aids will help..sleep is important to recovery

[codean]

Carrie, I do not want to hear that in a year's time my sleep will still be screwed - I'll read but I'm not sure I can fathom how bad that might be. Hel it's been just over two weeks already and I'm struggling...

Remar, I'm trying to eat, last couple of days I have at least managed some chicken and rice. With respect to the nutrition drinks, I have had some but the one's I have are milk based and the doc told me to stay away from dairy for now - I think that was just becuase she was thinking I might have some kind of bacterial infection in my stomach/intestine but I suspect I probaly haven't - all these physical effects are probably simply explained by the wd. Maybe I should just bite the bullet, ignore the non dairy advice and se what happens -- can't be any worse than it already has been... Perhaps tomorrow I'll go shopping if I can find the energy....

[remar]

If you can't eat right now get some Boost drinks. You need nutrition. You can buy them at the grocery store or Walmart. I hope you feel better soon. Take care. Remar

[carr]

Push the fluids. Maybe lay off the vitamins a bit as that could be tearing ur stomach up as well. Vitamin C is a detoxifier. So it helps you detox as well. Not sleeping is par for the course. When we take drugs our chemicals in our brains deplete and stop producing seratonine and dopamine. Both control pleasure feelings and sleeping as well as a list of things. It can possibly take 6-18 months to get back to normal. Its called PAWS...post accute withdrawal syndrome and we all go through it. You can find this on the internet as well as in the Archives here on medhelp. .Read them. It will give you more information than we can. At least you will know what your in for. Remember we are here for you anytime you need us. Check out PAWS. Interesting reading for sure. I am 7 months clean and sleep eludes me still. So, you are not alone my zombie friend. lol..good luck and remember, one day at a time.


Peace and Love to you,

Carrie

[codean]

Hopefully, I'm not dehydrated, I've been taking in gallons of electrolyte drinks (nasty!) plus isotonic sports drinks and of couse lots of water. Food is more of a problem but it is getting better. I'm taking aminos, vitamins (including ester-C) minerals - I don't really know what more I can do. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that no sleep + no food = dog tired.  
I tried to get things checked 6 days ago, they took a bit of everything at the hospital.  When I saw the list of things they wanted I offered to just leave my undies, They didn't thnk it was very funny. So instead I was punctured wth needles, did unusual things with jars and eventually got to go home again. 6 days later do I have any results? Big fat NO. Man, they reven ecognise my voice now when I phone to ask if they have them yet and don't even bother asking for my name. ********

[lboogie7729]

EmergenC is good stuff! The first few weeks for me I drank endless cups of herbal teas, detox teas, sleepy time tea, stress relief tea, with honey. I had to have my coffee in the morning and the only other thing I had to drink was water, constantly! I had lots of vegetable stock when I didn't feel like eating, cereal or fruit like pineapple chunks, bananas, oranges, and I ate salad a lot. Yogurt is still a must for me and Kefir, if you can find it is awesome for the digestive system. Worried878 is right, 2 weeks is a long time and you've got to be dehydrated! I hope you shake this soon, your body needs to get some rest for crying out loud! You know I'm rooting for you!!!

[worried878]

I think excessive runs after 2 weeks is perhaps a bit overtime...from codeine..1 week...maybe 2 weeks max..u might shoulda tried imodium a while back cos dehydration will make u sick as a dog...and if u have had the runs for all this time that could very well be where u r at...get a check up...drink some gatorade or sumpin with electrolytes...and drink til u overflow...i picked up every bug in the universe after detox due to the toll it takes on the immune system..so that could be the case as well and is why vitamins and tons of C..like EmergenC are important during detox...could be either but in either case..push fluids and get checked if this doesnt correct itself very soon..congrats on ur clean time!