A newbies personal vivitrol experience

[Rashley416]

I had a original newbie thread. But I don't know what happened to it. I may have accidentally deleted it trying to add this.
Anyway I'm a long time follower. Just decided to join and share my story.

Hi there!
So as I said in my newbie introduction. I've been a loooong time stalker of BL. Just recently signed up and felt compelled to write a little somethin somethin on Vivitrol. The once monthly 380mg naltrexone injection.
I've noticed that most of the threads dedicated to vivitrol are dated back several years,when it wasn't used for opiate addiction as much as it is now. I know drug courts, criminal judges,jails and rehabs are using vivitrol as a tool to maintain sobriety.

That's how vivitrol was brought into my life. Ive been a long term IV drug user. DOC being Perc 30mg. October 2016 I violated my felony probabtion. After 3 months in jail,they agreed to release me on the vivitrol injection. Which was given to me before I even left jail. I've had 13 total. My last one being December 6th. So I feel that I can give some decent personal information on this shot and it's effectiveness when used how they want you to. By that I mean,no cheating  trying to get high during the entire 12 month recommend length.
So I'll start by saying.This shot did not help me with cravings as much as I had hoped it would. Id say the first two weeks I didn't have many issues but,at the end of every month,around the time I'd be due for my next shot the cravings would be worse. I'd also get mad belly cramps. Almost as if I was detoxing again. Also depression was a major side effect along with insomnia

Now that I'm on day 32 post shot,my cravings are through the roof!
I've actually tried sniffing 1/4 of a 30mg perc yesterday. With little to no effect that I could tell. Wondering if IV would bring on a stronger sensation. I should have a low tolerance by now,so I decided to start with a small amount.
I know it makes no since for me to go back to it. But I can tell you I have felt like a prisoner in my own body for over a year. For your mind and body to want something so desperately,and physically can't is a terrible feeling for a addict.
The fear of going to jail for 4 years kept me from trying to break through my shot each month. But now that it's over the cravings are driving me insane!
I will say had I not been forced to take this shot I wouldn't be where I'm at now. I've held a job for a year, I drive a nice car and actually have insurance on it!
But over all, It's not for someone who isn't ready to quit.

Thinking about recording my timeline on when this will actually wear off after taking regular shots for a year.

Let me know if you'd like to see something like that.

Also please dont lecture me on recovery and you've been clean for so long yada yada. Thanks ?

 

[CFC]

Nobody here's going to lecture you - that would be complete hypocrisy

Thanks for sharing your story. It must feel weird in the situation you describe.

I wasn't entirely clear if you're saying you want to stay clean, or basically get back into the former addiction?

I do think I know the best forum for this though: Sober Living

I'll undelete your old thread, and move this new one over there. If you think you'd rather have it elsewhere though, feel free to let me know. But the folks there have a lot of experience and knowledge in these subjects, so should be able to help you and share in your story.

Thanks!
CFC

 

[Rashley416]

Honestly I'm not really sure. I just know that my cravings are so strong that I'm having a terrible time controlling them.
I think back to what my former addiction got me and what I have now I don't want to loose.
But my mind is wanting that rush of happiness so bad,it's become an obsessive thought that I can't shake.
Thank you for your help btw!!!

 

[cj]

You should think about getting on Suboxone or methodone. Either one will control cravings and hopefully stop you from wrecking your life

 

[Rashley416]

You should think about getting on Suboxone or methodone. Either one will control cravings and hopefully stop you from wrecking your life

I've actually been looking up Suboxone clinics around me. That would definitely be an option for me. I just can't deal with myself right now. I feel like a nut case.

 

[LopLover]

As a longtime Suboxone user--who has also used both methadone and Vivitrol; it was called Rexia then, 30+ years ago, but it was the same thing, naltrexone. here's my experience with all of them. (By the way, congrats on your decision to kick cold; that is quite impressive!) I'd advise against methadone, personally, for someone relatively young, For some people, mostly those with long histories of opiate addiction who haven't succeeded at other forms of treatment, it's a Godsend. For someone still capable of kicking without help, it's better not to go there.

I'll get to Suboxone in a minute. First, it sounds like you have a problem with free time. Most of us, once we get clean, find that we've spend an awfully lot of our time on our addiction, and we HAVE to fill that time, and that place in our mind and spirit where addiction lived, with a suitable substitute, as the AA Big Book claims. Have you tried any sober support or does that sound appealing to you? Even if you got clean by yourself, it's nice to have friends, or at least acquaintances, also focused on staying clean, who understand cravings, whether you decide to do Sub or not. I do AA personally, even though I haven't drank alcohol for over 30 years or shot heroin for 20. My last big relapse was prescription drugs, but there's really no difference between any of them. The point is that the substance--or behavior, for shopping, gambling, or sex addicts--does something beneficial to the individual, and they continue to do it even when the consequences become negative. That's the definition of addiction. With opiates, there's also physical dependency; the need to increase the amount to get the same feeling, and physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms when one tries to quit. So all addictions are essentially the same, in that respect, and all support programs work--or don't work--for most addictions.

There are also all kinds of other forms of support that aren't just for addicts. Since you already exercise, ramp it up. Exercise makes your brain produce endorphins, which you are depleted in after using any kind of drugs, as the drugs have been producing them and your brain has become lazy and forgotten how to do its' job. That's part of why pretty much anyone in new recovery is depressed. Eventually your brain will get back to work, but you can jump-start it with exercise. Lifting weights works best for me.

Suboxone: Sub won't get you high, except maybe at the very beginning, so if you are chasing that feeling you first got from Roxys--and we're all chasing that first great high, the one most of us chase for years, decades, lifetimes, and that drugs, alcohol, and behaviors can only give us ONCE--it won't solve your problem. Some say there are non-drug ways to keep that rush coming, but my decades of experience have told me that there is no drug or combination of drugs, street, prescription, or designer, that provide that feeling I've experienced one time from my drug of choice more than once. And believe me, I have spent probably millions of dollars and about half a century hunting for SOMETHING that will give me an experience that is even close to what I felt ONE TIME, at about eighteen years of age. Never got it again, not once.

Sub made me feel normal. I was strung out on Oxys, Vicodin, and Tramadol when I started, and mostly terrified of the withdrawals that I was facing if I quit cold. If you're currently addicted, they want you to be in withdrawal to avoid precipitated withdrawal, which you'll get if you are under the influence of another opiate. If you are already kicked, you don't have to worry about that. It worked really well for my withdrawals, and then it made me feel normal. That's about the best I can say about the 'feeling.' As soon as my withdrawals went away, so did my craving. It might be the thing for you. Most people do report that their cravings are gone, as mine were.

BTW, neither methadone nor Vivitrol took them away. With the Rexia/Vivitrol, eventually I wanted to use again, and like you, had no legal problems any more, so I came up with an excuse--headaches is what I told my doctor--and quit taking it. I used in 2 days and felt nothing, then did the same the next day, and got high. And was off and running... With methadone, after 7 years, I spent about a year detoxing, but when my dose got very low I started craving and began using again. I got a dirty UA, got kicked off with a 30 day detox, and because it's a long-acting drug (as is Suboxone) the withdrawals lasted for many months. And the tolerance was so high from the years on methadone, I could never actually get high. I switched to drinking, because I could at least pass out. It was not a great time in my life. That's the reason I tend to tell people to give it a lot of thought before getting on methadone.

However, Suboxone is also long-lasting, meaning that when you do decide to get off it, if you do--and most people do--it will involve a very long taper, and at least some withdrawals. There are different schools of thought about it, though. Some say if you taper slowly enough, you can get through with no withdrawals, others say there are some, no matter what you do. It's something you should know before you make the decision, but take peoples' horror stories with a grain of salt. They're out there, alright. But remember, people that don't have a really bad experience generally don't post about it--it's only the ones that really suffer that write about it.

Sorry this is so long--writing about it brought up some memories. Congrats on kicking the Roxys, and best of luck with whatever decision you make. Hope to hear more from you wherever on the forum they put these posts. I post pretty regular on Sober Living. ~namaste~

 

[Rashley416]

As a longtime Suboxone user--who has also used both methadone and Vivitrol; it was called Rexia then, 30+ years ago, but it was the same thing, naltrexone. here's my experience with all of them. (By the way, congrats on your decision to kick cold; that is quite impressive!) I'd advise against methadone, personally, for someone relatively young, For some people, mostly those with long histories of opiate addiction who haven't succeeded at other forms of treatment, it's a Godsend. For someone still capable of kicking without help, it's better not to go there.

I'll get to Suboxone in a minute. First, it sounds like you have a problem with free time. Most of us, once we get clean, find that we've spend an awfully lot of our time on our addiction, and we HAVE to fill that time, and that place in our mind and spirit where addiction lived, with a suitable substitute, as the AA Big Book claims. Have you tried any sober support or does that sound appealing to you? Even if you got clean by yourself, it's nice to have friends, or at least acquaintances, also focused on staying clean, who understand cravings, whether you decide to do Sub or not. I do AA personally, even though I haven't drank alcohol for over 30 years or shot heroin for 20. My last big relapse was prescription drugs, but there's really no difference between any of them. The point is that the substance--or behavior, for shopping, gambling, or sex addicts--does something beneficial to the individual, and they continue to do it even when the consequences become negative. That's the definition of addiction. With opiates, there's also physical dependency; the need to increase the amount to get the same feeling, and physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms when one tries to quit. So all addictions are essentially the same, in that respect, and all support programs work--or don't work--for most addictions.

There are also all kinds of other forms of support that aren't just for addicts. Since you already exercise, ramp it up. Exercise makes your brain produce endorphins, which you are depleted in after using any kind of drugs, as the drugs have been producing them and your brain has become lazy and forgotten how to do its' job. That's part of why pretty much anyone in new recovery is depressed. Eventually your brain will get back to work, but you can jump-start it with exercise. Lifting weights works best for me.

Suboxone: Sub won't get you high, except maybe at the very beginning, so if you are chasing that feeling you first got from Roxys--and we're all chasing that first great high, the one most of us chase for years, decades, lifetimes, and that drugs, alcohol, and behaviors can only give us ONCE--it won't solve your problem. Some say there are non-drug ways to keep that rush coming, but my decades of experience have told me that there is no drug or combination of drugs, street, prescription, or designer, that provide that feeling I've experienced one time from my drug of choice more than once. And believe me, I have spent probably millions of dollars and about half a century hunting for SOMETHING that will give me an experience that is even close to what I felt ONE TIME, at about eighteen years of age. Never got it again, not once.

Sub made me feel normal. I was strung out on Oxys, Vicodin, and Tramadol when I started, and mostly terrified of the withdrawals that I was facing if I quit cold. If you're currently addicted, they want you to be in withdrawal to avoid precipitated withdrawal, which you'll get if you are under the influence of another opiate. If you are already kicked, you don't have to worry about that. It worked really well for my withdrawals, and then it made me feel normal. That's about the best I can say about the 'feeling.' As soon as my withdrawals went away, so did my craving. It might be the thing for you. Most people do report that their cravings are gone, as mine were.

BTW, neither methadone nor Vivitrol took them away. With the Rexia/Vivitrol, eventually I wanted to use again, and like you, had no legal problems any more, so I came up with an excuse--headaches is what I told my doctor--and quit taking it. I used in 2 days and felt nothing, then did the same the next day, and got high. And was off and running... With methadone, after 7 years, I spent about a year detoxing, but when my dose got very low I started craving and began using again. I got a dirty UA, got kicked off with a 30 day detox, and because it's a long-acting drug (as is Suboxone) the withdrawals lasted for many months. And the tolerance was so high from the years on methadone, I could never actually get high. I switched to drinking, because I could at least pass out. It was not a great time in my life. That's the reason I tend to tell people to give it a lot of thought before getting on methadone.

However, Suboxone is also long-lasting, meaning that when you do decide to get off it, if you do--and most people do--it will involve a very long taper, and at least some withdrawals. There are different schools of thought about it, though. Some say if you taper slowly enough, you can get through with no withdrawals, others say there are some, no matter what you do. It's something you should know before you make the decision, but take peoples' horror stories with a grain of salt. They're out there, alright. But remember, people that don't have a really bad experience generally don't post about it--it's only the ones that really suffer that write about it.

Sorry this is so long--writing about it brought up some memories. Congrats on kicking the Roxys, and best of luck with whatever decision you make. Hope to hear more from you wherever on the forum they put these posts. I post pretty regular on Sober Living. ~namaste~

I appreciate you taking the time to tell me your story! I can relate with everything you said. You definitely understand where I'm at right now.
The fear of going back to jail I've been living with for a year is over with. My vivitrol program is completed. So hear I am standing here twiddling my thumb,like what do I do now?
My every move has been watched for a solid year. So my natural instinct is to do whatever the heck I wanna do! Which for a addict like me is get high! And like I said it's become a constant thought.
You hit the nail on the head with the way I use my time. I've noticed if I'm doing something,working or running errands. I'm mostly okay and don't think too much about it. But like right now,I'm laying in bed watching TV and the urge is more then I can handle.
I hate this,I truly do

 

[tuck3838]

Im also on the vivitrall shot and im about to attempt to break through it with suboxone tonight has anyone ever sucsefully done this ??

 

[tuck3838]

My suboxone withdrawl wasnt that bad i was on it for 8 years the worst part is the depression after getting through the initial withdrawl

 

[Jabberwocky]

Im also on the vivitrall shot and im about to attempt to break through it with suboxone tonight has anyone ever sucsefully done this ??

I've never done this but theoretically it seems possible. I'd think you'd have better luck trying to get something out of tramadol rather than buprenorhine, but either way good luck. Perhaps create a thread in Other Drugs to discuss it, as it would be more suitable than here. Thx!