• TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT

Biting the bullet

Opioids are opioids are opioids.. The biggest difference is the half life and the ROA, for the most part. Fent is way more dangerous when mainlined versus taken as an epidermal. I think the majority of people using heroin started out using pills, I've seen so many people, myself included, progress from eating vics to smoking oxy to smoking h to injecting h. I didn't take the last step, but I'm not sure I wouldn't have in time.

Is this your first time trying to quit?

Typically the acute WDs last about 2 weeks, so if you can make it through that you will be past the hardest part. The rest is just about developing healthy ways of coping and a healthy lifestyle. If you think a maintenance program will benefit you, it might be worth talking to a counselor at a opioid replacement clinic. Again, if you can go without I would think that is the better option, but some people say that a maintenance program helped them achieve lasting sobriety and a healthy lifestyle.

It might be helpful if you look into PAWs, or post-acute withdrawal symptoms. They are things like Psychosocial dysfunction, Anhedonia, Depression, and Impaired interpersonal skills. A lot of times people can make it past the acute withdrawal symptoms but get discouraged when facing PAWs.

Irritability is pretty common, it may be beneficial to let those who are close to you know what you are going through. Even if they don't understand addiction, it may help them understand your behavior. It can serve as a chance to educate them on some of the withdrawal symptoms. Simply saying "I quit taking my medication and some of the side effects are anxiety and irritability" might be enough to help them understand your behavior. It doesn't make it ok, but when things calm down and you apologize it might help them to accept it. The truth is that this is something you are experiencing, like it or not, and there isn't much you can do about it beyond pushing through. It's too late to avoid it, things have already been done. In reality, you are addressing a difficult problem, which should not be frowned upon. Currently, your options are to face your problem and go through WDs, or ignore it by taking more opioids and let things get worse.

It's a difficult time socially. I think most of us find it very embarrassing to talk about. Ultimately we can not control the way other people think, and it doesn't do much good to try to. We are not shaped by the image of use in other peoples' mind.
 
It definitely helps to talk to people who can relate. And no, this isn't my first time I've gone through this probably dozens. So before id had my surgeries if i was in the hospital and got the good stuff, after i left id feel sick about 3 days and feel fine afterward and only minor sweating, feeling kinda tired but i could still function and again after about a week I was ok, but I'd gotten avascular necrosis (basically my hip bones deteriorated from lack of blood flow, I felt every bit of it) a few yrs back. That's when the scripts started rolling in. Then it got worse and I had surgery on the right hip first, went home with hydromorphone (my doc) and morphines, but i was legitimately in pain. About 6mons later the left hip goes, and i had surgery on that one about a year after the first. I spent a total of 2yrs on crutches, I'm talking it hurt to put the pressure of laying down on my hips because how do you not put pressure on your torso in bed, and you have to sleep. The meds helped but the pain..... So now i can walk, the surgeries were definitely a success, without the scars you'd never know anything happened. I walk, can run a small distance, swim, and i absolutely love working out and I figured it was a good Idea to do that anyway to be in shape. Health wise I'm great...but then physical therapy ended, I still get the prescriptions but I'll run through a 2wks supply in 3 days. They don't last as long as they used to, so instead of 8mg hydro every 8hrs (which used to have me feeling great the whole 8) it's more like 12mg every 4, and the last hour is pushing it. The sweats and thats where my bone pain and cramps usually start. My hips. The very reason im in this situation. When otherwise I can go to the gym and do sets of 10 on the leg press with no problem (besides the obvious post workout pain, but I've grown to love and appreciate that) so I did have a reason to be on them, but i dnt like being a prisoner. Going crazy when I have my last few pills, like well you might as well enjoy it. Knowing the week of hell I'll go through until it's time again, spending money I shouldn't on immodium just to not feel SO bad. I do have a few issues upstairs but they are usually situational know what I mean? I dnt usually just wake up depressed or angry, it takes a trigger. And being in withdrawal exasperates every symptom psychologically I have. The angry emotional outbursts, the anxiety when normally I dnt feel anxious, the helplessness and I do actively try not to spazz on people but sometimes someone will say the wrong thing to me at the worst time. And as far as apologizing yes I do. When I know I flipped on someone and that I was wrong, I apologize. Well my family is used to me acting out so they dnt take it to heart. I mean like i don't call names or hit them, just yell a lot and a really short temper but yes I do apologize for my behavior. Even at my worst the person who isn't an addict is still in there you know. And yes I read about paws here but it's not something I ever experienced thus far. I'm sure I will this habit is some years old now. I had my first surgery in 2013 and have been on these meds almost daily since then. No, this isn't my first time quitting or trying to. Literally dozens. But like i said they didn't used to last as long. I'm at the point I get literally all the withdrawal symptoms people talk about and it gets worse by day 3, not better. I felt ok this morning, some cramping but a shower helped and I took a naproxen, and i do notice that too like i never got up to doing hundreds of my a day, but the fact that I've been doing them steadily for years now. I smoke bud too and it helps with the insomnia, at least for a few hrs but i always wake up throughout the night. And then I'm worried about what if i do successfully quit, and need pain meds for whatever reason? It took my surgeon a long time to ok my surgery because of how young I am, and still active which he encouraged of course but they wont last forever. That scares me and the city I live in isn't the place to try and buy new drugs. The dealers will be able to tell in green and who knows what would happen. I just don't like where i see this heading. I definitely miss the days where looking back now the withdrawals were a piece of cake. Id sweat and feel off for less than a week and it was like nothing ever happened. No cravings, nothing. Now the first day is ok, but by day two I'm pulling my hair out, can't sleep, stomach all messed up, having to shower and wash my hair 3 and 4x a day because im not sure if other people can smell it but i definitely can. Literally soaking your pajamas but not being able to come from under the 3 blankets because I'll freeze. Going to emergency rooms just to make the pain stop, it works, but all the while knowing I'll have to kick again tomorrow. It's really sucks
 
Yeah getting off opiates never gets easier with time, instead it only seems to get harder.

So you mention you have, or had, a legitimate reason for taking opioids. Have you been able to go an extended period of time without opioids and still remain functional? I know you said some of the pain from your surgeries comes back while you are WDing, but does it continue to remain unmanageable while you are sober?

I've met a few people who wound up dealing with opioid addiction as a result of medication for chronic pain. It can't be an easy place to be, I'm sure. At some point a decision has to be made: is it better to live with some of the pain or live with the addiction? It's not an easy decision, I imagine, but unfortunately a lot of doctors perpetuate the lie that a person won't become addicted to opioids if they are really in pain... that just isn't true.

Cold sweats are pretty annoying.. I remember having my ac set at 65F because I was sweating so much but then I'd get shivers and wrap myself up in blankets, then start sweating and kick them off.. just back and forth constantly. There are some things you can do to help minimize the WDs or make them more bearable, but some need to be done with caution. Some more simple things that aren't risky are things like staying hydrated. You lose a lot of fluid and it is difficult to eat and retain food so water is probably not enough to replace the salts, so something like pedialyte can really help. Removing stress can really help with triggers.. if possible maybe take some time off work and avoid situations that cause stress or worry, really just focus on bettering yourself. Comfort meds can help with some physical and psychological symptoms. Benzos can help with anxiety and insomnia but they can also be really addicting.. if used it shouldn't be for more than 1-2 weeks. Immodium can help as well. There are other drugs as well but I'm not really familiar with them, but I see people talking about them a lot in Sober Living forums on the site.
 
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