I have been clean from oxycodone for over a month. I wanted to post my story to encourage others that this CAN be done--even if you are a chronic pain patient and feel that narcotics are your only hope.
In April 2012, I was six months pregnant and woke up one more with excruciating, unidentifiable pain. No one knew what was wrong with me, and so I suffered horribly through the remainder of my first and precious pregnancy until delivery. I had a beautiful, healthy little girl, but my pain and medical condition worsened quickly. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness of unknown origin and the quality of my life, with a newborn on my hands, quickly declined. Frantic, my husband and family urged me to seek out a drug or some magic bullet that would take it all away, and so, before I knew it, I was on 900 mg of Neurontin, 90 mg of Oxycodone/Oxycontin, and 3 mg of Ativan. These drugs merely took the "edge" off the pain, but intuitively I knew they were making me sicker and sicker and sicker. Before I knew it, I was addicted to Oxycodone and experiencing odd rebound pain. I was also in tolerance with the Ativan, waking in the middle of the night with horrific anxiety and electrical spasms on top of my original autoimmune pain and the demands of a newborn baby.
I was sick of drugs after two months, and knew that if my body could get sick seemingly overnight, it could also heal. And so I started looking for the root of my autoimmune illness in holistic medicine, and found an incredible healer on the west coast. My husband and I flew to LA to see this healer, and within six months of herbs, probiotics, clean/restricted diet, meditation, rest, and a lot of support from my family, I began to notice some improvement in my original autoimmune pain. I began having windows of relief and my hope grew.
At this point in time, I began weaning from the Neurontin (100 mg every two weeks), and the Oxycodone (5 mg or however amount my body would allow). I began a water titration from Ativan with the help of the Ashton manual.
The Neurontin taper was very easy. The Oxycodone taper was very hard. I widdled it down to 2.5 mg every 16 hours (suffering sickness and heart palps and so much pain) and then I JUMPED and went through moderate acute w/d of heart palps, mild insomnia, night sweats, nausea, and "dope" sickness.
As of today, I am clean of Neurontin, Oxycodone, and have titrated Ativan down from 3 mg to .75 mg and going strong.
I am healing my autoimmune illness from the inside out, rather than suppressing it inward and pushing it deeper with drugs that only left me broken and addicted and suffering and that never really did much for me anyway.
These drugs can be useful, but are not a solution in many cases. It feels so good to be free of 2 of the drugs--especially the opiates--and I will never take another painkiller again.
The remainder of the Ativan is my next challenge, but I wanted to post a success story in the making, if only to provide hope and courage and a bit of bravery to others stuck--for whatever reason--in the hell of addiction.
Be brave. Dig deep into yourself. Your body is a beautiful machine with the capacity to heal.
Much love to all.
In April 2012, I was six months pregnant and woke up one more with excruciating, unidentifiable pain. No one knew what was wrong with me, and so I suffered horribly through the remainder of my first and precious pregnancy until delivery. I had a beautiful, healthy little girl, but my pain and medical condition worsened quickly. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness of unknown origin and the quality of my life, with a newborn on my hands, quickly declined. Frantic, my husband and family urged me to seek out a drug or some magic bullet that would take it all away, and so, before I knew it, I was on 900 mg of Neurontin, 90 mg of Oxycodone/Oxycontin, and 3 mg of Ativan. These drugs merely took the "edge" off the pain, but intuitively I knew they were making me sicker and sicker and sicker. Before I knew it, I was addicted to Oxycodone and experiencing odd rebound pain. I was also in tolerance with the Ativan, waking in the middle of the night with horrific anxiety and electrical spasms on top of my original autoimmune pain and the demands of a newborn baby.
I was sick of drugs after two months, and knew that if my body could get sick seemingly overnight, it could also heal. And so I started looking for the root of my autoimmune illness in holistic medicine, and found an incredible healer on the west coast. My husband and I flew to LA to see this healer, and within six months of herbs, probiotics, clean/restricted diet, meditation, rest, and a lot of support from my family, I began to notice some improvement in my original autoimmune pain. I began having windows of relief and my hope grew.
At this point in time, I began weaning from the Neurontin (100 mg every two weeks), and the Oxycodone (5 mg or however amount my body would allow). I began a water titration from Ativan with the help of the Ashton manual.
The Neurontin taper was very easy. The Oxycodone taper was very hard. I widdled it down to 2.5 mg every 16 hours (suffering sickness and heart palps and so much pain) and then I JUMPED and went through moderate acute w/d of heart palps, mild insomnia, night sweats, nausea, and "dope" sickness.
As of today, I am clean of Neurontin, Oxycodone, and have titrated Ativan down from 3 mg to .75 mg and going strong.
I am healing my autoimmune illness from the inside out, rather than suppressing it inward and pushing it deeper with drugs that only left me broken and addicted and suffering and that never really did much for me anyway.
These drugs can be useful, but are not a solution in many cases. It feels so good to be free of 2 of the drugs--especially the opiates--and I will never take another painkiller again.
The remainder of the Ativan is my next challenge, but I wanted to post a success story in the making, if only to provide hope and courage and a bit of bravery to others stuck--for whatever reason--in the hell of addiction.
Be brave. Dig deep into yourself. Your body is a beautiful machine with the capacity to heal.
Much love to all.
. I'm trying my best to stay off heroin & it's hard, but definitely possible.