Hello.. First Timer - Long Time Oxy Prescription Addict - MISERABLE! Want Out!!!

[LFB]

Hello.. First Timer - Long Time Oxy Prescription Addict - MISERABLE! Want Out!!!
Doctor dosen't acknowledge that it's an addiction, he feels I need it. I have had 5 major back surgeries and 3 hp replacements. It all started very traumatically 20 years ago.

Like most, I learned to abuse my privledges... have drug my spouse into the habit. (I didn't, she began and I enabled). Now, it;s all these years later.. I am still functioning, just the typical having to make sure I have my doeses to last the month and her.

The government is craking down, I see it in the not too distant future, Doctors don't want anything to do with prescribing the stuff any more. I WANT OFF! I quit drinking ANY alcohol cold turkey last year.. I was a 5th of vodka a day on top of my pain meds. (Plus, Xanex, Clamazapam, Pristiq, Ambien, and now, legal pot)

My life is a conastaint maintenance to avoid what I call , "The Icks".... plus spouse is on it too without as much strenght as I have. I cold turkied everything 4 years ago to pass a life insurance policy. It was hell, but I did it.

I am on here out of pure desperation... I have nowhere to turn, no one to talk too... I am functioninng, still making 6 figures, but I can tell that I am not near as sharpe as I was years ago.

Any words of advice, encouragement.. etc. I am insured, but can't really check into rehab for 30 days! My wife has legal rightys to be on the stuff.. she needs help as well! 8(

 

[mrflowers00]

you may want to consider getting on buprenorphine but look into it first and see if that sounds like something you would consider

 

[neversickanymore]

HEY LFB.. sorry you are in this spot.. but take heart.. allot of people here have been just where you are and are now living lives they had almost never thought possible.. If you feel like sharing.. how much do you use.. how much does the little lady use.. congratulations on quitting the booze

 

[ambien10]

Been in your shooes myself. I would recommend trying to cut down as much as possible until your in so much pain you can't take it anymore and eat muscle relaxers for a week or so. It will take the edge off of the first week and you will want to sleep as much as possible anyway. The first thing to remember is that the pills are the problem not the solution. They are a controlling parosite to you now, I know. I was mixing oxy and hydrocodone at an unbelievable rate when I quit and that's how I accomplished it. I would count that as one of the most influential accomplishments of my life. - drug free for 2 years next month.

 

[Fortheloveofnod]

2 words (buprenorphine and naloxone)
a.k.a suboxone

it will save your life as it did mine multiple times
it helps getting clean by providing a cushion you dont get high you just dont get sick and it allows you to feel normal

 

[LFB]

Thank you all for your words... it's a start. I don't know how to go about this. If it were JUST me, I would head to a hotel room for a week, and overcome with pot, sleeping pills and old fashioned withdrawals. It's not... I have a family, and as I said.. my wife is on it as well. Now here's the part you may laugh at... (not literally) I take appox 60 mg per day, and she about 50. This is not counting the over doing it on weekends that end up causing me to worry if I will run out.. or if the pharmacy will have 360 5 mg caps and 60 30's. This is the shit my world is.. I know many folks abuse the stuff and take in the 100 mg's. I have been on pain killers what seems like my whole life.. so you see, this is not really about getting very "high"... it's about maintenance. I find myself at work where I used to be a VERY sharp, well paid person with brilliant fresh solutions, unable to string thoughts together in the last few months. I was laid off at the beginning of the year. So I am contracting now, and interviewing for perm opportunities... I long to be sharp and have a good memory again. Sorry if this is a rant.. it's an outlet of a dark secret for me. I looked forward all day to see if anyone replied to my posting. So did you folks just ask your doctor for the suboxine? I know my doctor would give it to me.. we have discussed the day that I would stop for many years now. How can I get my wife off it? I imagine there are many folks in the same position .. this is a life style and I suspect other spouses have sim. stories. I guess what I am writing is, do you think it would be unusual for me to be upfront and just tell my doctor teh truth, or should I keep the secret from him and have her turn to another physician. My doctor is going to take it poorly when, if I tell him about wife. He has been a friend/doctor for over 20 years.. he even supplies my scripts from WA to me in AZ. This is all above board... so you see, he is going out on a limb to help me. The pharmacist, he goes out of his way to fill it.. all of this one day soon I imagine, will come to a halt, the way the gov is cracking down. I don't want to be caught off guard either.. when I stop, I don't want it forced.. it has to be my way... I did once before to pass a health insurance exam for life policy. I cleaned up in 7 days... and got "premium" coverage. (So I know I can do it!)

 

[twotoomany]

Try tapering. Go to 50 for a week, then thirty, then twenty...

It won't be fun. You've been in the game a long time. But you CAN do it.

You could try a suboxone taper too. I've used that plan once, and it was mostly painless. My habit was similar in size, but nowhere close in duration. I used a one week taper. Unfortunately, I've since relapsed. Maintenance may be a better plan for me, but if you truly want off, and think you can resist once you are, a quick taper could do the trick.