10 days off pain meds

[Brad L.]

I have had a weekend addiction to narcotic pain meds for several years and am trying to quit. It has been 10 days since I took a pill. Up to now (or 10 days ago), I would take a pill on Friday night and it made the evening so much more enjoyable. Then all day Saturday I'd look forward to taking another pill (or two) on Saturday night. However, this became a habit and I began to realize that I couldn't get through a weekend without the pills. Last weekend was the first in a long, long time (over a year) when I didn't take any pills and throughout the entire weekend I was agitated, bored, anxious and depressed. Its not like I didn't expect those feelings, but they were stronger than I anticipated and made me realize the full extent of my addiction. Now, the thought of a weekend, and a social situation like a party, without the weekend pill dosage looks really hard to endure. I don't want to go back to the pills and but I'm having a hard time imagining my weekend without the extra charge that the pills give me. What can I do to resist getting another prescription and going back to the pills? I don't have withdrawal because the dosage is pretty light, but the psychological withdrawal is way worse than I expected.

 

[GettingClean]

The psychological withdrawal has always been the hardest for me! Sure the physical withdrawal sucks ass but is really nothing compared to the hell your own brain can unleash on you. I'd say What's helpful to me is changing all your old habits where you used to use. So if you usually go to parties on weekends and get high then you may need to stop doing that and replace it with something that will wear you out enough to stop craving it so bad like hiking. I've found that even though my body is tired during withdrawal my brain is NOT and some sort of exercise helps to stop it thinking so much. But whatever u do keep busy even if it's just a video game. Good luck!!