This is a very helpful forum but most of the posts I'm reading are a few years old. I wanted to share my experience about vicodin. I started taking them about 5 years ago and since I knew well the effects of too much tylenol, I quickly started using 10/500 or 10/325 tablets. At my worst, I took 8-10 per day of these pills. In the beginning, it was for euphoria. 20 minutes after taking a pill, I got a woosh and could stand up after work and work for 4 hours more at home. I remember I was trying to sell my house at the time, so I could clean and paint and repair after working a long day. At first, I only took them in the eveing, then started in the early after noon and at some point, when I must have experienced my first withdrawal symptoms, I started taking 1-2 when I woke up. I cannot believe how quickly I was addicted, because I tried not to take them daily for fear of addiction.
I have wanted to be off these pills for at least a couple of years now and couldn't do it, because I would be to sick to go to work. The first time I tried to quit, it wasn't that bad. I called in sick 2 days and by day 3 I felt back to normal. It was so easy that I went and got another prescription that night and told myself I wouldn't take too many this time, just once in a while. That never works.
I have felt so guilty about taking these damn pills and I felt so weak that I couldn't control my use. But I think I now understand that these pills are different than say Tylenol #3 or Darvocet. It's the euphoria that causes the addiction and that's why the vicodin is the drug of choice for so many.
Anyway, I tried to taper down and in many ways I was successful, but not very quick. I went from 9 a day or even 10 down to 5 or 6 tabs per day and wanted to taper myself off, but it's really hard when you get to the lower doses. I thought I could do it, but I don't think one can if one is an addict.
So I asked for 1 week off from work, and I am a professional, so that takes time. It took me 3 months to get that week off. We set our schedules months in advance. My boyfriend was staying with me and I had to get rid of him (well he has his own home to go to and it's nice) for the week so that I could do this. Sunday was his last day here and so that was the last day I took a pill because I didn't want him to know what was going on. I was SOOO scared, so nervous, wondering if I could do it. I had tried so many times. My boyfriend was angry at me for making him go home, but I knew what I had to do, and maybe some day he will understand.
Anyway, today is Friday and lord knows how I did it but I feel a hell of a lot better. I used a lot of motrin 800 mg tablets for body aches. I used some Zyrtec for the sneezing. I use a little loperamide for the loose stools. I drank a lot of fluids and took a good vitamin. And I took ambien at night to sleep, though I woke up every hour still.
Somehow, when one reads the long lists of withdrawal symptoms (fatigue, goose flesh, diarrhea, nausea, sneezing, body aches, skin crawling, etc, etc, etc) IT DOES NOT FULLY CAPTURE THE SHEER HELL OF IT!
I haven't been getting high off those pills for about a year because I cut the dose down for the past year, so essentially I was just keeping withdrawal at bay (though withdrawal seems to come at odd times if you ask me). That is one thing that helps a little. I can't really remember the last time I got high from the pills and so I don't miss that too much. I notice that I thought I was getting arthritis really bad because every morning I was so stiff and now I notice this is gone after just a few days. Could be the motrin, but somehow I think it's more than that. My body feels younger.
Anyway, just wanted to share. These posts are great to read and I've been reading them all week and I learned a lot about addiction and its power.