Recovery Almost 3 Weeks Sober & Have Concerns

[Dirty30s]

Hello Everyone,

A few years ago I started smoking oxy 30s (10-15 a day) and for the past two year progressed into smoking the fake 30s w/Fent & whatever else they threw in it (15-20 pills a day). I lost my dad in April and my mom is disabled so I chose to quit so i could step in to help her get around and use my extra money to help pay her bills instead of getting high, plus I hated having something hanging over my head. I wasn't the heaviest user, but it was still hard to kick with the usual opioid withdrawal symptoms. I work from home, so I was able to take a couple days off before my weekend and tough it out for a few days before I started using small cut strips (2mm wide) of suboxone 3 times a day for two days and gradually worked my way down to none over a 5 day period. Lost about 15-20lbs during that period as well.

Now it's been almost 3 weeks on nothing but tylenol for my occasional pain and tylenol PM/ZzzQuil to fall asleep. I'm still not having solid stools, still not feeling well rested after an 8-hour nights sleep (I used to be able to function on a few hours), still sneezing and my biggest concern is I'm very weak and easily tire out/run out of steam. It's a process to get out of bed in the morning and I have enough energy to sit at my desk and get through an 8 hour shift. I used to do that and then go outside and do a brake job and two oil changes and still have the energy to make dinner, etc. Now I can maybe do one thing after work and I feel like my legs can't hold me up anymore and I'm concerned if I should be doing something different other than just trying to get through the days or do i need to give it more time?

Any help or wisdom from experience, etc is greatly appreciated.

-M

 

[Jabberwocky]

Congratulations on getting sober, especially given your situation. I'm sorry for your loss.

What's your diet like? Do you exercise? Both are incredibly important during opioid recovery.

Is there a reason you're losing weight? People typically gain weight when they quit.

I suspect this may be a large part of this issue.

You are likely experiencing some level of PAWS as well, it starts getting better after a month. Diet and exercise speed up the process.

Also, do you take any supplements? I'd suggest a few, black seed oil, B vitamin complex, possibly L-dopa, etc. They can help a lot, but don't go crazy with them.

I wasn't the heaviest user

I just wanted to say that 15-20 pills a day is a very heavy habit, which makes your sobriety even more impressive. That's equivalent to like 1g+ of heroin per day.

 

[Dirty30s]

Congratulations on getting sober, especially given your situation. I'm sorry for your loss.

What's your diet like? Do you exercise? Both are incredibly important during opioid recovery.

Is there a reason you're losing weight? People typically gain weight when they quit.

I suspect this may be a large part of this issue.

You are likely experiencing some level of PAWS as well, it starts getting better after a month. Diet and exercise speed up the process.

Also, do you take any supplements? I'd suggest a few, black seed oil, B vitamin complex, possibly L-dopa, etc. They can help a lot, but don't go crazy with them.


I just wanted to say that 15-20 pills a day is a very heavy habit, which makes your sobriety even more impressive. That's equivalent to like 1g+ of heroin per day.

Thank You, It's been tough but I'm definitely doing better than i was two weeks ago. Most of my weight loss was from the acute symptoms when I had no appetite and was sick, however I'm eating lighter now and have cut out desserts and sweets that being high made me consume a lot more for some reason lol. My usual day is getting up between 6-6:30 having some fiber-one biscuits with coffee, lunch is usually a sandwich or meat around 12pm and dinner is usually somewhat of the same or chicken around 6-7p and if I'm hungry later on in the day i might have some fruit. I usually don't have time to devote to exorcise, but I do have access to a treadmill so I can shoehorn it in if needed. But I do go out after work and shop or visit someone to get out of the house at least once every couple of days.

PAWS sounds very much like my current symptoms but good to hear it's temporary. As far as the supplements, I was taking a once daily vitamin, but have stopped during withdrawals because i thought it could be making my gastro issues worse with the lack of eating during those few days. Now i just eat light because I feel like what ever i eat causes discomfort. I've been weary of other supplements because i don't understand what they do and there are so many kinds.

I never knew that was equivalent to 1g+/day, wow, compared to others i knew were doing double that, but they were bigger/taller too.
I also tend to not develop psychological dependencies on substances if that makes an sense, but of course struggle with the physical as anyone would.

Thanks again for the info!
-M

 

[Dirty30s]

It is now October and I'm happy to report I'm doing very well and back to normal, finally able to save money for something else.

Finally took a trip to FL in July without fear of getting sick for the first time. It was freeing to be able to do that again. In a few days i will be doing a 20 day trip around Greece.

Thank You to everyone on here for all your help!
-M

 

[kreativsniks]

Hey,

I wanted to thank you about popping back in here and updating your status; perhaps it's just me, but I know I frequent this forum usually when I'm feeling down, need some kind of venting out or emotional comfort/understanding from others who hover around these forums. Rarely after sobering up for more than a month I visit.

So it's nice to see somebody, like you, who after being a heavy addict with a hard substance has managed to turn your life around so quickly and get back on track. You saying about finally being able to save up some money and being able to travel resonated so much with me, but I still have a struggle to win, so .. yeah.

Thanks for letting us know and sharing your experience

 

[Dirty30s]

Any time! This wasn't my first try by any means, so stick with it and be safe. You should come out on top eventually!

-M