Opioids just quit got a question...

[socalrollin]

so i just quit norcos again. i realize finally there is no "only on the weekends" or "once a month" using that is going to work for me. im over it.

i do have a little question for some of you more experienced user and ex user's. heres some basic backgroud info first. ive been struggling with an opiate addiction, "mainly hydrocodone" for about 6 months now. the whole six months ive been going back and forth only quitting for a maximum of 10 days at a time and using for 14 days at a time. well i had a pretty tramatic experience this past weekend which made me quite cold turkey thank god. it was nothing but pure hell, but its over now. im five days absolutely clean and the withdrwals are gone. the only thing i notice still and hate is that i keep waking up at like 5:00 am all restless and cant go back to sleep. i just toss and turn thinking of all kinds of stuff. basically its like anxiety.

heres my little question. how long if ever until i can sleep till say 8:00 maybe 9:00 am or wake up feeling all comfortable and happy again? i was never like this before and i dont like it.

 

[CitioKid]

10 days to two months for the sleep to be normal.

Probably somewhere between one month to five months before you wake up and feel "happy again."

 

[socalrollin]

really that long? damn...

 

[Dr Pepper]

Its all in your head really. Get excited about something. Its just hydros anyway.

 

[NoPromiseMade]

^It may be "just" hydro's but that doesnt mean it's not hard and that doesnt mean that they dont make you feel good if you have a low tolerance.

It's an opiate and therefor not something to fuck wit.

 

[CitioKid]

When I came off a eight month hydro/codeine habit (about 200mg a day by the end) I was back to normal sleep by day 10.

I was sober for sixty days but didn't improve much depression-wise because i went online and fantasized about pills all day and was convinced i was going to relapse. i also didn't excercise or keep myself busy.

i have now been sober 60 days from opiates, but i am doing all the things i didn't do before, and i am starting to feel happy again already.

 

[Droppersneck]

Ive never quit long enough to realize if you can ever be happy with out being on opiates. How long does it take?

 

[CitioKid]

I've been an opiate addict for six years - starting when I was 17 years old.

Longest I was ever able to quit before now was 60 days four years ago, whereas now I'm approaching 70 days.

I think if you force yourself to excercise everyday, don't spend hours of idle time online (one thing i have a hard time not doing), and keep yourself busy, you'll be back to normal in 2 - 4 months.

If you fantasize about getting high and have lots of idle time, it may take 6 months to a year.

All i know is, no one has ever gotten clean off of opiates (or any drug for that matter) for the long term and regretted it.

I remember when I was a kid and I saw movies about heroin addicts, I would say to myself "why don't they stop? they are obviously destroying their lives." then I became an addict and realized why we don't stop - the high feels good and we feel like shit when we stop and can't see past the few months of darkness.

If you were told you had cancer, and could cure it by being depressed for a few months, wouldn't you do it?

 

[socalrollin]

very good point. thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[CitioKid]

I think my "addiction" is a very intelligent, handsome business man that speaks to me with such conviction and grace. No ones inner addict is freekin gollum with a creepy, sinister sounding cackle, it's always a very reasonable sounding voice.

Even now, two months into it and doing so much better, I'll get up to leave my house and the reasonable business man will say (british accent) "Come on Max, you need energy to go see your friends, let us together both go and give you a little boost? It's the right thing to do."

Aka i wanted to go to skid row and shoot up heroin.

So yeah, remember your addiction is actually gollum....

 

[socalrollin]

wow... very well put. thank you citio kid. I love the way you put things.

 

[Znegative]

Ive never quit long enough to realize if you can ever be happy with out being on opiates. How long does it take?

you can. I've been clean for nine months. if you really work on yourself, and not just lay around all day thinking about getting high, life can become really great. I curse myself everyday for fucking that up, because now, I simply just cannot seem to get clean.

 

[JamtasticX]

I liked the post about the inner addict, although in my case I'm the sexy buisnessman and I'm making the addict get high I mean..

One of the best things about opiates for me was sleeping. i have horrilbe sleep problmes, nd that helped so much, so wasn't good when I realize I could get amazing sleep with opiates.

People often ask about the worst part of the withdrawal for them, to me its sleeping. I'd stop opiates in an instant if I could just sleep comfortably

 

[CitioKid]

I think all addicts have that reasonable voice. It sucks.

I remember when I relapsed after going to rehab a few years ago as a teenager and the businessman appeared after 60 days of opiate sobriety.

"Max! You're seeing your aunt tonight! You need to get a job and make some money, and well, god damn it, you need to be in a good mood tonight so she'll offer you a job! Come one, I'll drive you down to Broadway myself if I have to, this is for the best. Just this one time so you can enjoy dinner and get a new job. It's the best thing for your recovery. Come on, let's go now. Theres no time to think this through, we need to go - now!"

Asshole.