YouGotThis
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2018
- Messages
- 1
Hey all. I'm just your classic story of getting hooked on your dying Mum's cancer morphine/ oxycodone IR. Bit of clean time after that, dabbled here and there, transitioning to heroin a couple years down the line. Hit it haaard for the best part of a year and been in recovery since October 17. I have had a few relapses, sad to say but then it's generally accepted as recovery goes, so...
Here I am in PAWS -again- with the crushing, god awful anxiety that seems to be most severe in the morning, and as the day goes on the more tasks I complete (showering, dressing, maybe doing laundry, youtube yoga video, lame attempts at jogging round the park but I'm craaay weak right now) the anxiety will finally subside into a manageable slightly hyper-vigilant state. It is torture, and anyone going through this I really feel for you right now. Baby steps! Little, tiny baby steps.
The last time I detoxed was in October, unexpectedly, being caught in London with no contacts and running out of gear too soon. I was using A LOT, at least 3 half g bags a day. So 1.5-2G / day in the realms of. I was in a strange city and within 8 hours of my last dose I was crawling up the fucking wall. I had no benzos no nothing, it was brutal. I think the PAWS for me lasted about 3 weeks to a month in that scenario, and I didn't have any comfort meds to help me cope. I was exercising for hours a day just to get 5-10 minutes of relief from the chest crushing unrelenting panic... A month later, the panic was for the most part, gone. I was thinking about detoxing but gradually, this whole shebang caught me way off guard and I was terrified of the WDs, since I couldn't find any forum posts where others had detoxed from the amount I was using. So I used only exercise, and eventually it subsided. I wasn't even eating that well, and I generally drink half a bottle of wine a night. So even though it took a while, my brain did sort itself out after a few weeks.
This time, I was only using about .5g a day so the WDs were pretty much fine for me, probably 'cause of how I felt last time. Though the PAWS anxiety that hit me on day 4 is just as bad as when I was using 1.5-2G a day. I don't want any more H this time around, or benzos. I didn't use anything for the first day, but I used promethazine and Kalms together today and sure, I'm tired, but I'd rather be tired than anxious.
So I'm 5ft 6 and bout 58kg, I took 40mg promethazine and 4 Kalms night time strength tablets this morning. Double the recommended dose, but I'm supposed to be going to some orchestra thing tonight, and there's no way I'd have even considered it before these kicked in. Both of these meds are OTC and just incase they might be helpful to anyone going through PAWS, I wanted to give them a shout.
Obviously i'd recommend trying the 'recommended' dose first before doubling down.
Here are a few other livesaver tips for PAWS I've come to use over the years.
-Wear clothes that are comfy but you don't need to change them if you have to leave the house - sweatpants/ yoga pants and a big jumper for example.
-Try and get in the shower every day or the bath. If you can't manage it, try to just brush your teeth and wash your face in the sink.
-Get yourself some easy to cook food. There will be a time when you can change your diet and eat healthily, but right now you just need sustenance. Eat whatever the fuck you want and whatever you can.
-Breathing exercises. These seemed utterly pointless to me, but honestly, they DO HELP I promise.
-Yoga With Adriene on Youtube. Super slow, super clean, at your own pace white person hairdresser yoga. This I think is the most helpful thing. If you can just sit on the floor and play one of her videos and try to do 5 minutes of a video each day, you'll find yourself completing some and they help ground you and stop you spiralling into a crazed anxious and depressed state.
-Write how you're feeling either on a word doc or on paper. Do it for 5 minutes. Sometimes you might go on for an hour and after a while you'll focus on it and your anxiety will be totally manageable during that time. Keep distracted, is what i'm saying.
-exercise of any kind that makes you sweat for at least 20 mins.
-Getting outside, even if it's just for 5 minutes try to get outside at least once a day. By the time the evening rolls around you'll feel much better for it.
Not sure if this would be better posted elsewhere, feel free to move it if so.
If anyone has any words of encouragement or advice to add please do!
-Recovering addict from Scotland.
Here I am in PAWS -again- with the crushing, god awful anxiety that seems to be most severe in the morning, and as the day goes on the more tasks I complete (showering, dressing, maybe doing laundry, youtube yoga video, lame attempts at jogging round the park but I'm craaay weak right now) the anxiety will finally subside into a manageable slightly hyper-vigilant state. It is torture, and anyone going through this I really feel for you right now. Baby steps! Little, tiny baby steps.
The last time I detoxed was in October, unexpectedly, being caught in London with no contacts and running out of gear too soon. I was using A LOT, at least 3 half g bags a day. So 1.5-2G / day in the realms of. I was in a strange city and within 8 hours of my last dose I was crawling up the fucking wall. I had no benzos no nothing, it was brutal. I think the PAWS for me lasted about 3 weeks to a month in that scenario, and I didn't have any comfort meds to help me cope. I was exercising for hours a day just to get 5-10 minutes of relief from the chest crushing unrelenting panic... A month later, the panic was for the most part, gone. I was thinking about detoxing but gradually, this whole shebang caught me way off guard and I was terrified of the WDs, since I couldn't find any forum posts where others had detoxed from the amount I was using. So I used only exercise, and eventually it subsided. I wasn't even eating that well, and I generally drink half a bottle of wine a night. So even though it took a while, my brain did sort itself out after a few weeks.
This time, I was only using about .5g a day so the WDs were pretty much fine for me, probably 'cause of how I felt last time. Though the PAWS anxiety that hit me on day 4 is just as bad as when I was using 1.5-2G a day. I don't want any more H this time around, or benzos. I didn't use anything for the first day, but I used promethazine and Kalms together today and sure, I'm tired, but I'd rather be tired than anxious.
So I'm 5ft 6 and bout 58kg, I took 40mg promethazine and 4 Kalms night time strength tablets this morning. Double the recommended dose, but I'm supposed to be going to some orchestra thing tonight, and there's no way I'd have even considered it before these kicked in. Both of these meds are OTC and just incase they might be helpful to anyone going through PAWS, I wanted to give them a shout.
Obviously i'd recommend trying the 'recommended' dose first before doubling down.
Here are a few other livesaver tips for PAWS I've come to use over the years.
-Wear clothes that are comfy but you don't need to change them if you have to leave the house - sweatpants/ yoga pants and a big jumper for example.
-Try and get in the shower every day or the bath. If you can't manage it, try to just brush your teeth and wash your face in the sink.
-Get yourself some easy to cook food. There will be a time when you can change your diet and eat healthily, but right now you just need sustenance. Eat whatever the fuck you want and whatever you can.
-Breathing exercises. These seemed utterly pointless to me, but honestly, they DO HELP I promise.
-Yoga With Adriene on Youtube. Super slow, super clean, at your own pace white person hairdresser yoga. This I think is the most helpful thing. If you can just sit on the floor and play one of her videos and try to do 5 minutes of a video each day, you'll find yourself completing some and they help ground you and stop you spiralling into a crazed anxious and depressed state.
-Write how you're feeling either on a word doc or on paper. Do it for 5 minutes. Sometimes you might go on for an hour and after a while you'll focus on it and your anxiety will be totally manageable during that time. Keep distracted, is what i'm saying.
-exercise of any kind that makes you sweat for at least 20 mins.
-Getting outside, even if it's just for 5 minutes try to get outside at least once a day. By the time the evening rolls around you'll feel much better for it.
Not sure if this would be better posted elsewhere, feel free to move it if so.
If anyone has any words of encouragement or advice to add please do!
-Recovering addict from Scotland.
