Addicted to narcotic pain killers?!
Question: I'm addicted to pain killers for 3 years now, my addiction happened slowly, but now I can't go a day without some kind of pill. Vicodin, percocet, morphine, codine, whatever I can get my hands on. I called a treatment center but can't afford it, and the state I live in offers no assistance. Tomorrow will be my first day of no pills, and I just want to know if anyone has suggestions on how to handle the withdrawls w/o medicine. Are there any herbal or at-home remedies to calm the painful withdrawls? I finally want to get clean, but I'm not sure I can do it on my own. Thanks for your help.
Answers: I'm addicted to pain killers for 3 years now, my addiction happened slowly, but now I can't go a day without some kind of pill. Vicodin, percocet, morphine, codine, whatever I can get my hands on. I called a treatment center but can't afford it, and the state I live in offers no assistance. Tomorrow will be my first day of no pills, and I just want to know if anyone has suggestions on how to handle the withdrawls w/o medicine. Are there any herbal or at-home remedies to calm the painful withdrawls? I finally want to get clean, but I'm not sure I can do it on my own. Thanks for your help.
Been there done that. You are in for a world of pain. It sucks beyond belief to stop cold turkey. If you can, contact a pain management specialist. Look those words up on yahoo and include your city and state. Find someone that prescribes suboxone or subutex. Write that down. I stopped cold turkey and it was the worst 4 days of my life. Sweating, nausea, vomiting, diahrea, insominia...deppresion. The next time I stopped I planned it out with a doctor in my area that was referred to me. He prescribed the above medication and within 30 minutes ALL OF MY WITHDRAWL SYMPTOMS WERE GONE AND I FELT NORMAL AGAIN. Not high. Normal. It is a miracle drug. Check out the website. www.suboxone.com I feel for you. You have to, I repeat have to be in mild to moderate withdrawl to take this medication. With nothing tommorow heading into Monday you will be in withdrawl and you have to muster up the energy to get out to the docs office and see him for this medication. Find someone that will take you same day. The longer you wait the worse it will be. You can email me at raydrzz @ yahoo .com if you have any questions. This is the way though. I was on meds for 3 years as well. When I stopped I was taking 20 norcos a day minimum. I feel normal now. I don't crave. If you have been on them for three years you probably are taking them so you don't crap yourself or get sick. At that point most of the high is gone. This medication suboxone will help you. The above poster is correct, methadone is an option but it requires daily visits to the clinic in the morning and is some nasty stuff. Give suboxone a try. Also, until then, lots of hot baths or showers. Scrub your skin with an exfoliate, drink lots of water and take a vitamin and mineral if you can. Get a sleep aid OTC to help you sleep through it if you have a few days off. Good luck and congrats. Living for yourself and not the pills feels good my friend.
try taking a whole body cleanse, this will rid your body of the toxins faster, also go to a health food store and ask, most stores have knowledgeable people who can help you. Congratulations on taking the first step. You can make it.
look up in the phone book for "narcotic anonymous' [NA] it is a group similar to alcoholics anonymous [AA] and they can help you. it is something that can be very hard to kick all by your self, so don't be afraid to look for help.
Withdrawals really suck, but I commend you for trying to get clean. You are going a great thing. In the past, what I have done is sit in the dark or low light as much as I can because even a little light would give me migraines. Drink as much gatorade as you can. You will lose a lot of electrolytes if you get sick and vomit. I try to sleep as much as I can during the day because at night I had terrible insomnia. Try to find activities to take your mind off of it, even if it is just watching your favorite television show on DVD or something. You aren't going to feel like doing much. You will probably get the chills, but your body temp will actually be warmer. Keep lots of layers on, even if you are sweating, make sure you are bundled up. Once you get through the worst of it and start to feel better you will realize you got through it and you will feel so much better. Good luck. I really commend you.
This is a VERY dangerous thing to do. I work in EMS (emergency medical services) and we routinely pick up patients that have tried to withdrawal naturally. Narcotic dependency isn't something that you can just do on your own, like curing a common cold. I congratulate you for admitting you have a problem and trying to seek help. Unfortunately, we live in a flawed society. I would take the advice of another poster who mentioned looking up narcotics anonymous (NA). They will help you get into a treatment program. Withdrawaling from narcotics can cause severe nausea and vomitting, electrolyte imbalances, diarrhea, enlarged pupils, tremors and most importantly, cardiac dysrhythmias. When you withdrawal, your body goes into a state of shock. Although you realize you have a problem (psychological addiction) you still have a physiological addiction. When you suddenly stop taking a substance, the body reacts in a violent way. That is why they have treatment programs. A drug called methadone is used. It is a narcotic derivitive but it eases the side effects of withdrawal. This drug is then slowly tapered. I HIGHLY suggest that you try and find a treatment program, but if this is not an option, then I suggest slowly weaning yourself off the drug. For example, if you take 100 mg of a pill once daily, take 85 mg for a couple days, then 75, then 60 mg.... slowly lowering the dose. You are going to feel bad during this time period, but it won't be as devastating as stopping cold turkey. This option won't kill you either. I have been on one too many calls of people withdrawaling. It is devastating to the body. Please seek help. You made the first step and for that, you should be congratulated. Good luck
Well the REAL man is on here now. And my sources? Me, I weaned off of 200mg's of Methadone a day in 4 months.
Weaning off fast acting conventional opiates is almost impossible to do yourself. I managed it because I was lucky and did not have to punch a clock. Weaning all depends on your degree of addiction or physical dependence. If you absolutely cannot get out of bed without them that is extreme, if you can do 24 hours without them and just have anxiety or mind games you can reduce the dose as suggested by that EMS guy, however if you are full blown dependant, it is not that easy. I know people that cried the blues just because they had a little anxiety and hershey squirts, and go running to a clinic, (amateur stuff) trust me it gets worse, so who know where you are. It gets so bad you cannot do anything, even walk, the withdraw is pure agony.
You say you can't do without them I assume you have a source. Conventional opiates should be reduced in dosage every three days and always down to a less peaking opiate. Example; Oxycodone (if your hit that high) Hydrocodone, and than darvocet. I done it all and your daily intake to sustain yourself is something you really need to know. STAY AWAY FROM ULTRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a OPIATE! and extremely lethal, it plays on serotonin and is a randomly hitting opiate, with a 9 hour half life, thus with this high dose of 50mg's a pill it takes up to 21 days to get out of you and trust me, if you feel this withdraw from ultram you will want to die. 20 times worse than the real stuff. E-mail me if you have a question, again depending on the degree of your dependence, try to wean down every three days. Breakthrough pain is the SAME as withdrawal.But you cannot give opiates to an addict, I got news for you, everyone in pain managment are.
Hydrocodone and oxycodone peak too high too wean in a physically dependant person, the narcotics half life is four hours which means exactly four hours later half that dose is in you, thus reduce dosage every three days coordinating this half-life factor into the routine, I don't care if it means crushing the damn pill and seperating it into equal parts. I did oxycontins and methadone and let me tell you, it is like going to hell. Pain pills are worse than Heroin by ten-fold. Also take Vitamin B-12 to re-build cells and eat proteins like crazy. Emergen-C is great being it has minerals in it and opiates deplete opiates out of the body. Suboxone is a NEW drug, I even know people that SNORT it and they say it cannot be abused! HA HA HA. Every new drug is a miracle but untested. Methadone is the most scrutinized medication ever made, no drug has been tested more (another medical fact), sub also hits receptors randomly, thus when down to the last 5mg's BEWARE! But this is all opinion, sub just has not been around long enough to really know the truth about it, FACT! And listen to us that have been there, WE know more than Dr's and pharmasists. If I listened to them, oh my God, they said it was impossible to get off that much meth in the time I did it in, well I did it. I was a patient not a addict and anyone that says they are clean and taking methadone or suboxone, THEY ARE NOT CLEAN! They substituted a short acting opiate for a longer lasting one. The longer those receptors stay filled, the worse your gonna be. And of course, Dr's are gonna try to put you on Suboxone, they can only prescribe that to addicts, Meth clinics can't .rememeber one thing, this is also a business like everything else, they will give you the sub and tell you your not ready to get off it, and ALL opiates need to be increased, sub/meth etc, telling you sub or meth does not is just a ploy! if you can tolerate the withdraw from the real stuff do it! and if you cannot, wean off the other stuff as quickly as you can if you want to be free. And PS;
They say three to 7 days withdraw. Yea right! Another LIE! Try 21 day to a month. Hydro for a fact can take up to 21 days. If you get that burning in your calves , you know what I mean.
Try to find activities to take your mind off of it, even if it is just watching your favorite television show on DVD or something. WHAT????????????????????????????????????...
You aren't going to feel like doing much. Love this answer. Depending on your degree, YOU CANNOT TAKE YOUR MIND OFF IT when every joint and bone feels like it is rusted, sweating like someone threw 20 gallons of water on you freezing and up non-stop for three weeks your withdraw can be so bad you will want to do nothing but pray, this is a low degree mental mind withdraw, small stuff, What I am saying is if you are there, what this person is talking about do it now! It gets 20 times worse than any of these people wrote.