self-detox vs. seeking medical help

[Unregi]

Hi all, I have an honest question for people who have had success in kicking their pill addiction &/or heroine addiction: I am seeing TONS of conversations on here about kicking your habit all on your own. many are using other combinations of pills to curb the symptoms.

Has anyone had help from a doctors office? If no, what is preventing you from seeking the care of medical professionals?

Is it too much time away from work? Have they turned you away?

Has anyone had success with Suboxone, Vivitrol or Methadone?

Just wondering if there is another way

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

I've gone the mdone route, took me two times back when I was an iv opiod addict.

Treatment is costly time consuming and not on your terms what so ever.

I recently kicked a month long run via the hospital and prescription by simply tapering my dose i.e. low increments at steady intervals.

Avoid other drugs as a detoxing mind is a weak one and its easy to catch new habits.
( this happened my first mdone attempt and I left with a huge carisoprodol and diazepam/aprazolam problem.)

Are you detoxing? Would you prefer home to medical or vice versa? What's your dose and drug of choice?

 

[Kawasaki88]

Hi there!

I think this is a super important question, and you will probably find it is different for everyone, but let me share my experience a little bit. I have had help from a doctors office. I got very addicted to Xanax and Ativan, to the point where if I ran out of my prescriptions early, I would need to go to the ER just to prevent myself from having a seizure. Rehab or a doctor's help can range from 14 to 28 days, and sometimes longer. One thing I learned is your life is worth the time it takes to get better, because without your health you wont have a job or anything period. Typically as long as you have insurance, they will not turn you away. Call them up and ask questions. If you are super afraid of missing too much work, just go to detox which is about a week or less, then do out patient groups. This will ensure that you get the treatment you need while coming off of your drug of choice without dying.

 

[Not_A_Drug_Addict]

My preference is smoking heroin. In the past I've taken suboxone/subutex to help with the withdrawals when I couldn't get ahold of a dealer or it was dry etc (so I would do that when it wasn't really my intention on quitting) when my addiction was in its peak I'd even take a bunch of tramadol to cushion the blow of withdrawals (yuck ?) but when I had eventually set out to kick I did it cold turkey. I didn't ease or wean off of it or take anything opiate related. The most I did was smoke a little weed a few times during that first week but not as much as I would have liked to. I had timed it out the where I'd run out of the rest of the sack I had during my lunch break at work on my Friday so I'd have two days to just be able to stay home and not have to do anything or go anywhere but I ended up calling out on my Monday anyway. After that I Had to go to work and even though it was pretty awful (that's putting it lightly) I had to boss up and push myself to work through the withdrawals. Sadly, one thing a lot of people don't warn you about it that it's pretty easy to become obsessive with keeping track of how long you're clean for and doing that is harmful based on how much you're still thinking about the drug, thus making relapse more possible. After I think 3-4 weeks I ended up buying a sack with the mindset like "It's been enough time to where I've been clean and as long as I don't binge I won't get sick so if I do it every now and then it's alright'" and for quite sometime thats pretty much how it went so it was alright but that's a very versatile slippery slope. Obviously after awhile I started to get careless until I inevitably got hooked again but for a brief period of time with withdrawals not nearly as intense (both in comparison to how it previously was). Again, I cold turkey it with a little help from smoking some weed. This time im going to really be kicking myself if I make this same mistake more than two times. The thing about just stopping like that on your own is I believe I've read that it's easier to relapse but I honestly feel like it's totally doable to quit on your own rather than go out of your way to seek medical or professional help. Also methadone is even more addictive and hard to get off of and it's easy to get addicted to. As somebody said on here already, when coming off of heroin it's very easy to latch onto a different drugs. EXTREMELY easy. I ended up doing after the first time I quit and started drinking a lot more. You could end up adopting a new habit to a drug that you would least expect. Some people are more likely to do that than others but just the fact we are addicts in the first place makes it easier to fall into that hole. But on the contrary some benzos would do you wonders during the peaks withdrawal. I didn't even consider weaning off the stuff because I'm just being honest with myself and all of you, that's probably gotta be one of if not the most difficult way to get clean unless you've got extremely good self control but if we had that we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place lol. That being said it's not impossible at all, but I'm sure we can all see how that way can be a hit or miss. When it all comes down to it it's like the first 4 or 5 days that are the most challenging and painful both physically and mentally. After that it starts to ease up and get better. Get through those first days and you can do it easily in comparison and in those couple of intense days you do learn alot and it builds you up just going through it and you and everyone else that knows has this whole new level of respect for you. But even after my ridiculously long story I want to put out there that I'm not discrediting anyone who quits with extra help, just the fact that you're quitting in general is impressive and everyone is different. All I'm mainly saying is is that if you feel you can do it on your own you probably can. It isn't easy and is pretty miserable but the way you feel after the first week makes it all worth it.

 

[Unregi]

I've gone the mdone route, took me two times back when I was an iv opiod addict.

Treatment is costly time consuming and not on your terms what so ever.

I recently kicked a month long run via the hospital and prescription by simply tapering my dose i.e. low increments at steady intervals.

Avoid other drugs as a detoxing mind is a weak one and its easy to catch new habits.
( this happened my first mdone attempt and I left with a huge carisoprodol and diazepam/aprazolam problem.)

Are you detoxing? Would you prefer home to medical or vice versa? What's your dose and drug of choice?

No, I am not detoxing, my cousin recently passed and I think he was trying to kick it on his own. Not trying to do the "swim" thing. Just truly want to try to understand & create open conversation around the subject - because when you are gone, you can't speak for yourself.

I live in the US in one of the areas that are in the "epicenter" of the opioid crisis. I have seen so many dying. And I have witnessed my cousin's struggle. The only thing I can think is that he had too much shame or pride to ask for help, maybe a combo of both. Maybe he was just afraid he would be criminalizes for it? I don't know. I know the detox centers are so packed they have 2-4 week waiting lists & who can wait that long? So I have takes to pain dr's & primary care docs & asked them if there are other options.

I am not a Dr. But I like your advice to "avoid other drugs as a detoxing mind is a weak one".

I believe he was trying to self-treat / come off of opioids with DMT. He ultimately took his life. He wrote me a note... so I don't know I just feel obligated to share this like I said because you can't come back & tell anyone anything once you are gone. I do believe he had mental health issues too, but really, who doesn't?

Thank you for your insights & comments. It helps me a lot. I used to self medicate with just about anything that was around. I cut it out 10 yrs. ago & quit alcohol 2 yrs ago.

 

[Unregi]

Hi there!

I think this is a super important question, and you will probably find it is different for everyone, but let me share my experience a little bit. I have had help from a doctors office. I got very addicted to Xanax and Ativan, to the point where if I ran out of my prescriptions early, I would need to go to the ER just to prevent myself from having a seizure. Rehab or a doctor's help can range from 14 to 28 days, and sometimes longer. One thing I learned is your life is worth the time it takes to get better, because without your health you wont have a job or anything period. Typically as long as you have insurance, they will not turn you away. Call them up and ask questions. If you are super afraid of missing too much work, just go to detox which is about a week or less, then do out patient groups. This will ensure that you get the treatment you need while coming off of your drug of choice without dying.

Thank you so much for sharing this! It give me hope that you took these steps & found a safe option.

We're you nervous to call? How did the people on the phone treat you when you called? How long did it take to start seeing your care provider?

 

[bomber]

I quited heroin cold turkey. Just a little later I went to an outpatient program just to make sure I would stay clean. But I found it rediculusly strickt, it didn't stay on quiting drugs but changing your personality in a way that you wont do it again. But to do that, according to the program,you have to stay away from things like going out late at night, having a drink, breaking any law and things like that. According to the program, if you are not the kind of person who works as much as possible, avoids any kind of danger, calculates everything before he does anything etc you can't stay clean.
Well, maybe it works for others but it wasn't for me. If I want to stay clean, I have to do things that make me happy.
Im clean for 5 months and relapsing is a rare thought in my mind and comes only out of pure nostalgia, but Im pretty sure if I enter the program again, relapsing will feel again as the most reasonable thing to do.

 

[treezy z]

I would try it yourself first, if (and only if) you have a nice bed/apartment. much better than laying on a slab for a week staring at the walls not sleeping.

If temptation gets to you when you try this then the detox is a good option.