Please help me

[brookles]

hi---iam an opiate addict who has struggled for about 3 years with addiction.  6 months ago i was addicted to o.c. and started taking suboxone to help with withdrawls which ended up in me just getting further addicted to subxone...my supply ran out and i was forced into detox which i succesfully went through and was able to stay clean for about 3 months...My phschological addiction however has recently gotten the best of me and I am currently abusing oxycontin.  I usually only take about 40mg a day----i get 80's and split them into 4ths and crush and snort them...i desperatly want to get off the drugs but everytime I try and go cold turkey thinking that it wont be so bad because i am not taking that much daily i end up relapsing because the withdrawls are still so bad.  I was wondering if you had any advice on how to possibly wean myself off...would taking less and less each day for like 5 days work or would it be just as bad as if i just completely stopped today and tryed not to take any more at all....i really want to stop badly..i dont have medical insurance so going for professional help isnt really an option currently...plus the fact that i dont want to loose my job..or my relationship with my family because they are not supportive in helping my get help..they found out about my suboxone addiction and basically said come home when your clean...so i dont particularly want them to find out im hooked again..dont think i could successfully get off the drugs with that added stress and depression.,...your advice would mean the absolute world to me.  
thanks
-addicted and miserable

[mustangchik]

can you avoid withdrawl from percocet if you take fentanyl patches?

[J_cee]

Well first of all its good you want off, so good luck in how ever you do it. All I can add if you want to here or readed is what I have done. 2 years age I was lost in the oxycotin hi & seek game and I was good at it till the money run out. My wife gave me a card with a few words on it and a 211 phone number so I tryed everything I could think of trying to get off the drug by myself with no luck at all the more I tryed the worse I seemed to get so I called the 211 phone # and the lady on the other end gave me a methadone clinic name and address so I went to it. The best thing I ever did for myself. I have been free of craving's ever sense. Life is so much better now, my wife and child love me again my family and friends like me again. I'm back at work making money and not spending it on drugs. This is the treatment that has worked for me. If it is for life so be it. I like myself again. Do what works for you but do something. Get help your not alone in this, the people in your life that care about you will help you, if you help yourself. God and family were my answer.   Good Luck!

[Ella789]

  This has been a very disheatening discussion for me.   When you tell someone, "Yes, you can detox, and you can get clean, but you will be mentally ill for the rest of you life."    Did I misunderstand ?    

Being opiate free for the past 4 mos. and encourageing others to get clean.   I just don't know if I want to do that anymore after this because I do not have the fortitude to tell them that they will suffer unless they take another synthetic opiate.  I was hopeing to hear that some day, I will not crave anymore, I will not want a pill anymore.  I am still recovering and trying to have an opiate free life.  Still craving and trying Naltrexone.  I want to be well, better,  pre-opiate well.   So, now you are saying that a person who was addicted to opiates needs to take sub. for an extended period of time"?  How long,.........  does it take away the craving?  Will I need it for the rest of my life?   This really kills me to think that.........  

Reguards
Ella

[J_u_D_e]

I advise you to undergo a ************** plan that can give you appropriate medical detox program for a particular substance abuse.  Getting into a transitional sober living can be a great sign of recovery but it is very important for relapses to be prevented to gain consistency in your rehabilitation program.

[notgoingdown]

Thanks for the answer.
What I meant about there being a difference was not so much in the narcotics but rather that a person will not be able to get clean without help if they are on a small daily dose of hydro the same way that a person needs help if they are doing large numbers of oxy per day. My question is really about the whole relapse & recovery being the same with hydro and in the early stages as it is with oxy after the addiction has progressed.

Or is it possible that when you hear of the person who was abusing hydro and realizes it and quits them (truly quits) could it just be that these people were physically dependent. Different from the person who remembers from the first opiate they took that it gave them that instantanius feeling of 'rightness' and they LOVED that feeling even long before they were physically dependent let alone addicted.

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

There is no distintcion between the various narcotics. And virtually every addict feels that they are "different" until they study addiction and realize that we are all the same......

[notgoingdown]

I have seen the comments about how overcoming opiate addiction without help is not possible and how opiate addiction is revolving door of recovery & relapse on here many times. I  have used your comments when talking to my husband about his addiction and he always tries to use the story that he is 'different'. I know this is a line of BS and all but sometimes I do wonder....

When you say these things do you mean them no matter what kind of opiate is being abused? My husband is still doing just vicodin 7.5 (to my knowledge nothing stronger). I wonder if you mean these words to the person who is addicted to vicodin the same way you mean them to the person who snorts oxy's?

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

You are asking for something that just is not possible-- people cannot simply stop opiate addiction without professional help.  It is the same as expecting a woman to fix her breast cancer-- without professional help.  You are seeing things in a very distorted way that is common in addiction-- your idea to 'taper yourself off' for example has been tried by millions of opiate addicts over the years-- it DOESN'T WORK.

When a person takes Suboxone properly, the person is no 'addicted' to it.  You might be physically dependent, but if you take it correctly, with the help of a good doc, you can eliminate addictive behavior.  Proper use includes taking a big enough dose to stabilize your use and maintain remission of your addiction, taking it once per day in the morning, and NEVER taking it in response to need.  In those cases you extinguish the conditioned obsession to use opiates, and the Suboxone eliminates addiction itself-- the desire to use.

If you have a job and insurance, Suboxone is usually covered by insurance;  even without insurance, the meds would cost $150 per month (one suboxone per day), MUCH less expensive than oxycodone, and much less likely to get you fired or in other trouble!