lortab

[Jim]

I've been taking lortab 7.5 for about 3 months. About 8-10 per day. I think I'm going to have to go cold turkey to stop. Will my symptoms be really bad and how long will they last. I'm hoping not too long since i've been taking for so short a time.
Thanks!

[Tim to Patrice]

sorry not getting the CP thing. Yes, I have three bulging disks in my lower spine which press to varying degrees on my spinal cord. I can go from morphine-level agony to enteric aspirin-level pain. The last couple of months have been good to me and I can actually handle the discomfort with 1000mg enteric aspirin 3 times a day. Compared to most of the CP's I know, I'm relatively pain free, which makes cleaning up my opiate addiction that much more do-able.

I talked to someone at UCLA and all they'll do is put me in a double-blind study where I have a fifty percent chance of getting a sugar pill. Forget it. I want real treatment, not experiments.

While bup looks like it will get here sometime this year, I'm tired of waiting, asking, begging, getting hung up on, and therefore have designed a 13-day taper program for my combo Darvon/Xanax habit which I honestly think I can do. Than I will be AA material. I'm looking forward to going to some meetings, but not while I'm full of drugs. I've also lost contact with the people I knew and have to establish some new relationships and regular meetings. And, yes, I will include some NA meetings as well. I'm sure there are some wonderful NA meetings and I hope to find some of them.

You see, I'm in the rather lucky position of having severance pay from the job I blew (see other posts, etc), and my new job doesn't start, potentially, until the 1st of the month. This gives me a 2 week therapeutic window with all the bills paid, free time from wakeup to bedtime, plus I happen to live in beautiful hill country overlooking the Pacific ocean way down here in South Orange County - perfect for walking and hiking.

Like the "coward" said [he won't give himself a handle - go figure] I have the knowledge and the opportunity to begin my detox and recovery while free of the usual 9 to 5 obligations most of us are always dealing with. I'm so good at dispensing the advice -- now let's see if I can take my own direction and really clean up my act. This is, quite literally, the moment of truth for me, and I have only to put up or shut up. I promised "coward" I wouldn't post anymore on this forum until I had chose and followed through on a treatment option. So that's exactly what I'm doing: Tomorrow, I refill exactly the amount of Darvon and Xanax I need for the 13-day taper, no more, no less. It's now or never. I'm excited, yet there is a tom hunching down in a dark corner of my mind scared to death. But I'm going to do it anyway.

I will keep the forum informed, no bullshit -- if I revert to a higher dosage than my taper schedule calls for, I'll "fess up" and you can all fall upon me like a pack of wolves. Whatever it takes.

Wish me luck. Go with god, Patrice, I'm a long-time student of all the world's religions and so don't have one particular frame of reference or another, but they all have wisdom to give and strength to draw from.

Take care.
tom

[tom to Patrice]

I'm not sure what 'CP' means, so I'm not sure what to do with that statement. You are correct: I'm planning on doing the bup without medical supervision simply because there isn't any offered here by anyone outside of an in-house commitment place.

There's a big buprenorphine training coming up for California docs to use bup.

check it out:

http://www.csam-asam.org/

Someone offered to get the bup detox kit for me recently and send it to me but I fear she's developed cold feet or perhaps has run into some sort of roadblock. I'm a little worried because she's suddenly stopped communicating with me at all, which mystifies me if nothing else. I just hope it doesn't mean SHE's relapsed. But, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.

As far as the AA conference goes, it doesn't look like I'll have any sort of sobriety by then and wouldn't feel right about attending. Thanks for thinking of me, though. Perhaps we'll meet on another occasion.

Enjoy the conference. Good luck to you and your husband in your continuing recovery.

your friend,

tom

[Gina]

Hey girl--I took your advice and told the nurse at the clinic that I think I need an increase. She told me to fill out a request form and to be specific as to what I was feeling. I told her I have been putting this off cause I didn't want to go any higher but it feels like it wears off early. I have trouble sleeping straight through the night. I explained about the cravings etc. I think I metabolize it quickly. I did find out that if you work out you can actually sweat it out of your system. I have been taking it easy at the gym. When they first increase my dosage as they have in the past everything is fine for about a week then back to this. Hopefully, I will find a dose that works longer than a week. I remember that my counselor told me about a guy who was there for my 10 months and was using the whole time. They increased his dosage by 10mgs and he's been fine ever since. (not using) The counselor couldn't figure out why he didn't ask for an increase. I understand: We are drug addicts and don't want them to think we are just trying to get high off the meds. That's how I feel.

[Patrice]

Hi Tom

I will pray that this works for you Tom.  One question I have, is the person you are going to do this with a doctor?  Any detox not medically supervised can be dangerous.  I only want the best for you Tom,do it the right way, for you.  I know down deep in my gut that I will have to have a narcotic in my body for the rest of my life.  That was a deciding factor, along with Dans help in picking MMT.  See Tom, I like you have CP and if I just detoxed, I would start hurting again, and then start taking the pain pills, then the cycle begins.  I admitted it in my NA meeting last night, and some people didnt respect my decision.  Thats ok, because all I know is I am no longer sticking needles all over my body.  Please let me know what happens with your trearment, ok?  I care about you and only want to see you happy joyious and free!!  Just like the fellowship tells us we can be.  In NA we only have one promise, and that is freedom from active addiction.  So if the MMT keeps me from my best friend heroin, then I believe I will have that freedomm.  thank you for being there for me, and putting up with my sorry ass.  LOL.  I hope to talk to you soon.  Oh and you never answered my question, since you live in Southern Ca, will you be at the AA conferance next month?  My hubby and me would LOVE to see you there.  So PLease lt me know iff you are going, ok?

Love your sister in recovery

Patrice

[J.B. to Gina]

I think that your friend is right on the money.  There can be no recovery without a foundation like NA or AA or some type of after care for the addict.  You can't just tell these people..."well you're clean now and goodbye, that'll be $3500"

It just doesn't work that way in real life!  J.B.

[J.B. to Gina]

I think that your friend is right on the money.  There can be no recovery without a foundation like NA or AA or some type of after care for the addict.  You can't just tell these people..."well you're clean now and goodbye, that'll be $3500"

It just doesn't work that way in real life!  J.B.