Justamess

[justamess]

I'm new to this site! I am not an addict but my body built a dependence to 40mg of percocet over the course of 6 years. I've never abused my meds but due to workers comp denying to cover pain management anymore I had no choice but to quit cold turkey. It's been a living hell with the anxiety and increased pain but I don't crave the percocet like I have read others to do. I can't sleep especially in my bed and I have a difficult time just being inside my home. The withdrawal would be easier if I didn't have the anxiety and could sleep. The pain has increased but from my understanding as a nurse that lessens with time...... but how much time? It's hard when no one understands what your body is feeling when they've never experienced it firsthand. I have the option to continue to go to my pain management dr but I don't want to ever want to experience this living hell again. Can someone help me to figure when it stops completely and I feel normal again? I thought 4 days and I'd be back to myself but my last dose was 10mg percocet @9:30 am Monday morning. I still have the lower gi distress, increased pain, and major anxiety. Thank you for any help or encouragement possible. B

 

[MoodAltar]

Oxycodone is metabolized pretty fast by the body - like 4 hour half-life (heroin has approx 8 hour half-life, methadone up to 90 hours), so my GUESS would be no longer than 3-7 days to kick the awful darkness of physical withdrawal (which is what it used to take me to kick junk). I kicked a 15 year methadone habit last year, and I don't think I could've managed it without ahem, 'medical marijuana' (shucks, I used the non-med mj too haha). I found eating it better, as it comes on slower and has more of a body stone - which you will most certainly appreciate. In addition to giving you relief from anxiety, and the sorta heebie-jeebies, I always found that weed just sorta lifted me outta that woeful "poor pathetic me" frame of mind....I'd suddenly find myself eating ice cream and grooving on music. I used Melatonin for sleeping - the sublingual ones - and took a couple per night. I usually avoided benzos ('usually' meaning...sometimes) but generally found that melatonin actually WORKS as long as you're lying in bed (on couch, whatever)with your eyes closed, and trying to go to sleep. Indicas worked better for sleep for me. DON'T stay in the house - go out if possible....go to your local pool and sit in that fuckin JACUZZI man, seriously. I used to like driving when I was in opiate withdrawal - or rather, sittin in the passenger seat (well, maybe not on the 3rd day, which I always found to be the peak) - and not drivin to like, Saskatchewan, but like simple driving errands....find a buddy who's got some errands to do (make BUDDY do the fuckin errands tho - you stay sweating in the car, haha) and just tag along - bag o' "medical" mj, couple litres o' gatorade, tunes - you're moving, scenery is changing, you're distracted, play some tunes (try to avoid Jane's Addiction and that Seattle stuff, lol). Go home, and watch some light-hearted bullshit summer movies - some Molly Ringwald 80s buffoonery (nothin heavy - no Breaking Bad or Sopranos...no Trainspotting!) The worst part for me was always thinking that something AWFUL was around the next bend - but it's usually pretty gradual: your SPLEEN ain't gonna suddenly RUPTURE in the night or something - it's just a gradual descent into shittiness - which you will be able to handle - then a gradual ascent OUT of shittiness, and hey, it is definitely doable, and you'll get through it - yay human spirit!!
And my advice is to stay off the pain meds if you can - I know in Canada that some Docs end up prescribing methadone for chronic pain (when oxycodone, hydromorph, etc become ineffective) - methadone is something I STRONGLY advise against. I spent 15 years on it, and it is crippling, LIFE-consuming stuff. All my advice here is from my experiences kicking heroin, NOT methadone - THAT was a different withdrawal process altogether (shudder). Don't get me wrong, I am NOT against opiates (I love 'em), but addiction is a rough road (altho opiates do not necessarily mean addiction - DAILY opiate use, sure). One of the pain Drs here where I live - a dr who used to OVER-prescribe narcotic meds - has had success managing pain with vitamin D supplements...Vitamin D, maybe some Vitamin MJ, and hey save them opiates for the rare occassions when the pain's just too much - or not.
Good luck bro

 

[MoodAltar]

ps - old-timer junkies (I don't use term derogatorily) used to distinguish between "stomach habits" (oral ingestion), "blood habits" (IV), "lung habits" (vaping, or smoking), etc. According to their wisdom, stomach habits are harder to kick b/c the drug, having been administered orally, has had to pass through more of the body to get to the blood, and so has to pass through more to get OUT. (iv is most direct, 'plugging' or rectal-admin is second and smoking third, nasal, then oral....this corresponds to bioavailability). I'm not sure about this theory, but my methadone habit was a "stomach habit" and it took a long time for me to kick that shit, BUT I was on a high dose and had to wean, AND methadone has a SUPER long half-life: 24-60 hrs (I've read up to 90!) before the body even BEGINS to break it down. However, after 10 mg Oxy you should be seeing the light SOON
STAY the COURSE!

 

[justamess]

Thank you both for encouraging words! I have found that during the day when I can get out of the house with someone it does help but this nightmare of trying to sleep is what's killing me. I keep expecting it to get worse with the physical withdrawal symptoms because I've been fortunate to not have the nausea and the imodium has helped with some of the diarrhea. Yesterday was by far my most painful day. I've got a botched surgery for left shoulder three fucking times and 6 blown cervical discs that I refuse to have surgery on. I never plan to take another pain pill because I've always heard it makes it easier to stay on them. It's definitely been a hell I've never imagined. Today is a week since my last percocet. I pray the end is near.

 

[justamess]

I've made it through the withdrawal part. Now I'm an emotional mess... I cry for no reason and I lack any energy. I didn't realize that the percocet is what made me feel so energetic because prior to them I was full of life and energy. Do you know how long that part takes to go away?

 

[Bearlove]

Welcome to the site -

When you need to start a sentence - 'I'm not an addict but' it should be a quick slap to the face. Of course there are going to be a million reasons but ...if you have a dependence, you can't just stop, you have a reason not to stop etc.

 

[justamess]

I guess I don't feel like an addict but rather physically dependant, for 6 yrs. I've not had anything for pain since June 6, @ 930 am(10 mg percocet). My pain isn't getting better and I can barely work my 3 day work week. My house is a wreck, my laundry is piled high, and I have a lack of motivation to care about any of it right now. I spend my days caring for others and it's not leaving much energy to care for myself when I'm home. Can anyone help me with a time frame of when the pain eases? The gi distress is still present, I still sneeze a million times a day, and my pain is increased to the point of not wanting to continue this journey. Any and all help is appreciated.