Addiction vs dependence

[Crayondreams]

Hi everyone! I'm a 27 year old female who needs a little guidance. I have been using Percocet going back and forth between 10s 15s and 30s. It started about 8 months ago when I started a new job with high stress, talking to people who were suicidal and having issues with drugs and it gave me such bad anxiety I would crash as soon as I got home crying and a mess. I turned to Percocet to get energy after work and just help with the over all feeling of anxiety well I'm ready to leave it alone and return back to my normal self. I started off taking them orally then moved to snorting. I never do this between the hours I am at work and I usually don't start thinking about them until I get home and have to turn into a wife and mother. My question is is this addiction or just dependency? Is this something that I can kick cold turkey with an everyday use of 8 months? I've been reading so many stories on here I finally got the courage to post. Any help would be appreciated...

 

[scarlet_tunic]

It seems like you're dealing with a lot--a stressful situation at work and then being a wife and mother after work. Maybe you can look into using herbal supplements in order to relieve your anxiety?? I use kratom in the evenings. But when I don't have it I use chamomile tea.

 

[Seimboz]

I think you could kick it with just 8 months under your belt. To me it depends on your mind set and your situation in life. I love opiates because they didn't make me feel anything which when I was stressed and depressed it was perfect. I was a cook in an expensive restaurant using percs xanax weed and drinking daily. In and out of work I found it especially difficult to quit cold turkey after 3 years in my stressed situation but I managed it so when I made changes in my personal life that's when the bad cravings went away. But I still crave here and there.

 

[scarlet_tunic]

I think you could kick it with just 8 months under your belt. To me it depends on your mind set and your situation in life. I love opiates because they didn't make me feel anything which when I was stressed and depressed it was perfect. I was a cook in an expensive restaurant using percs xanax weed and drinking daily. In and out of work I found it especially difficult to quit cold turkey after 3 years in my stressed situation but I managed it so when I made changes in my personal life that's when the bad cravings went away. But I still crave here and there.

It is easy to get dependent on opiates / opiate-like drugs (i.e. kratom) even if you're not stressed, just to give you a sense of how strong these drugs are. I am a case in point here. Nightly dependence just developed with increased usage. I went from 2 to 3 to 4 to 6 nights a week. Now I only take a break when it hasn't come in the mail. I'm not proud of it. But I am saying it's easy to get hooked even without any stress or mental conditions.