NEW and seeking knowledge

[t-bone321]

Hi all. New to bluelight. Dont want to bore anyone so i will keep this as short as possible.Basically drug free at 32. Dont even think i had any weed in like 9 years. Never addicted to anything. Not really into drugs. Married, 2 kids, fulltime job and everythin . Going along just peachy. Well started having back issues over a period of 3 years. 4 herniations, sciatuca, degerate disc disease, arthritis bla bla bla. So i have been on oxycodone for 3 years. Over thr time my dosage has iincreased over and over. I honestly didnt know i was addicted. Yes that naive. Until after my last operation which was a success, one day i thought, i dont think i need these anymore. Im in no pain. So i stopped. I woke up in the morning not feeling that great. By 6 pm told my wife i was sick andwent to bed. I woke up at 1258 am. Lol i remremembe The time. Craping acid every 20 min. Aches,pains,didnt sleep rest of nite,sweats but the one that i just couldnt deal with was the restless legs. My wife took my temp and no fever. Had no cough. Had no sore throat. I was like what the heck is this. The constant violant jerking of my legs was scaring the heck out of the wife. I put in my symtoms on the net and heroin withdraw came up. I was like well its not that. Just as i was about to click to another page under the heroin link that came up was a word that caught my eye. Oxycodone. I didnt even know i was doing a form of heroin. So i went and tooka dose too see. I couldnt believe it. 35 minutes later and i was right as rain. Ive tried 2 otother times but cant maje it passed 37 hours. I have become scared as can be of wd. Now even the slighest feeling of it makes we freak. Since that day i have devoleped junkie behavior. Lying to doctor to keep scripts coming. Doing it diffetent ways. Im just cant even believe this happened to me. Sometimes i feel like just screaming. To be dependent on the pill to get out of bed is a feeling i dont think anyone can understand. If my day has events or family function i have to plan. Etc etc etc. I am currently on 240 percocet 10 mg a month and 240 roxicodone 30 mg a month. Please some one show me a way. Thank u

 

[flyhighk]

Welcome

Oxycodone is an opioid just like heroin. Both can be very addictive and most people who choose to get clean do so by tapering. It's much easier to taper than to stop suddenly. You may wanna look into suboxone or methadone.

NMI ---> Sober Living

Good luck.

 

[BlueSaffron]

Short of a detox program on methadone or suboxone, your best bet is tapering. Does your wife know the extent of your addiction? I totally know what you mean about being afraid of the withdrawal - once you've felt it, it becomes embedded in your mind. Regardless of what you decide to do to tackle your problem, what I'd suggest starting RIGHT NOW, today, is a taper program. You can start small - a journey of a thousand miles starts with a first step, right? I didn't do the math for how many pills you take, but if you usually take 20 a day, take 19. If even that sounds like too much, take 19 & 1/2. Do that for a couple days, then take 19. Continue on like that and you'll be able to cut your habit down a lot.

There's also the route of methadone or suboxone, which turn you over to being addicted to another drug, BUT, it's regulated and you'll have a taper program in place to eventually come off it. I'm on a methadone taper program right now, currently at 15 mgs, which is like, nothing. I should be off it in a couple months. When you get down to a low dose on your taper, you will start to feel some withdrawals, but it won't be nearly as bad as if you jumped off from your full habit.

So yeah, start today, just take a half a pill less than you usually do, and keep going from there. Good luck! It's hard, but many many people have done it successfully.

There's also cold turkey, but IMO at your dose I wouldn't do it. I'd taper and get my habit down a LOT before I tried.

 

[neversickanymore]

Hey Tbone and welcome to Bluelight. I would not go on methadone or suboxone until you have tried to make it through this.. you CAN do this and here are some medications that will help you a great deal.. hell of a thing, but everyone ends up paying the piper. Hope this helps ya out.

medications for acute opiate detox

The medications I would explore the use of for detox would be:
>Clonidine< DOSED EVER FOUR HOURS..

one of either
>NEURONTIN< >HERE< >HERE< >here<
OR >Lyrica<
OR >phenibut<

>A BENZO BUT JUST AT NIGHT<
>a nsaid<
>melatonin<
tylenol
Senokot S is a stool softener and laxative. If you do not want the laxative you can go for strait stool softenerDioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate.

(Opi Withdrawal) what is the best comfort meds for opiate w/d?

Your Personal Opiate Withdrawal Arsenal

The half life of oxy is about five hours.. so a good estimate for when it is pretty much gone from your system is 6 x 5 = 30 then add four days on so you will start feeling better after five or six days. You will then likely feal pretty good for a few and then you will likely hit the PAWS faze as you were in this medication for so long. these vary with the individual but six or seven months is a good average. Here is some information on PAWS.

PAWS LINKS
Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)
Post Acute Withdrawal (PAW) Excerpted From “Staying Sober” By: Terence T. Gorski
Post-acute-withdrawal syndrome Wiki

Exercise and Brain Neurotransmission
Neurobiology of Exercise
Exercise 4 Health, Mental Health, and Addiction vs. I worked all that out

Chemicals and supplements to recover from opiate addiction
Diet & Neurogenesis


it is a powerful thing to keep our thoughts possitive and here are some threads many of us use to help us do this.
Managing depressive thinking
Good things about being off drugs/getting sober
Share something POSITIVE from your day!
Today I Am Thankful For... Ver. 3: Earth, Wind and Fire!

Here is the mindfulness thread.

Anhedonia MEGA Thread


You can do this.. in a few days you will feal OK and then in a handful of months you will feal great and be free

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

If you want to stop you essentially have two options...either tapering down slowly on your current meds or an opiate maintainance therapy (buprenorphine or methadone the vast majority of the time), or stopping dead and using meds to control the withdrawal symptoms.

Of course, you can taper down so your dosage is lower and then stop dead at any point which should make the detox process correspondingly less harsh.

Your first decision (or your decision at any point henceforth if you are looking to get clean) is taper or stop dead and detox. Given the size of your current habit I would recommend tapering your dosage at least a little bit because that's quite a big habit. You've had a taste of how it feels, and it would have got worse than what you were feeling at the point you redosed. If you can arm yourself well with meds, are prepared for a bit of a battle and have the time off work/other commitmments you can get yourself through a detox now though.

If you choose to taper it's then a case of deciding whether to do it on your current meds, or whether to go to a drug clinic and do it on a long acting opiate. Both have pros and cons. You also then have the decision of whether to do a long slow taper or a quick one, and what that entails.

Not wanting to frighten you but lots of decisions coming your way pretty soon! Best thing is to do what you have done and try and get an understanding of your different options because there is no right way to deal with and addiction or physical dependance, it will be different for everyone depending on them and their personal circumstances. Get yourself as educated as possible and that way you can make informed choices and get through the process in the way you want to and as painlessly as is possible. Ask specifically about stuff you don't understand!

I'm not going to lie, it's not nice or easy detoxing from opiates, but it's worth it and can be done with a bit of determination (especially if you've got yourself prepared and know what to expect).

You may find once the opiates are gone that you do infact have some pain, which is a seperate issue that you will then have to try and address via other means with a doctor if you want to stay opiate free.

 

[need_a_change]

Hey man, I feel your pain. I am 30 years old with degenerative disc disease, 2 herniated discs and spinal stenosis. I had an operation on another herniated disc about 4 years ago as well. Been dealing with it overall for about 9 years and have been on/off opiates the entire time (about 3 clean years in-between).

Anyway, it sounds like they have you on a LOT of medication for what you're diagnosed with. I bet you experience a lot of rebound pain when the meds wear off as well? Are you in physical therapy at all? What kind of shape are you in? Any type of physical activity?

I'm struggling with opiate addiction and chronic pain myself. I am more of a binger (right now) than an ever-day maintenance user (which I was, for years). So I'm not sure if I'm justified to give advice, but if I were you I start to taper off the meds ASAP. Even if you were prescribed 180 Roxi's a month I'd still think that's too much for what your condition is. Maybe because up north they aren't as liberal with the pen as they are in Florida (no offense) but my current disc herniations and sciatica qualify me for disability and I still don't know any doctor up here that would write me scripts for half the amount of what you get. Taper as soon as you can and find the strength to do some sort of physical activity, whether it's a short walk around the block, stretching (especially hamstrings, hips... necessary to keep those loose for lower back probs).

You'll definitely get through this, it'll just take time. Keep tapering down and be strong/positive. Dealing with disabling pain is a bitch; as cliche as this sounds a lot of it is mental. Don't let it, and the meds, steal your life! You definitely can deal with the pain and be opiate free some day, trust me.

 

[TryingToGetBetter]

Check out those links posted by neversickanymore. I am 9 months in from a nearly 5 year opiate addiction and it's very important to learn as much as you can about the recovery process.

Good luck and know you can do this. I'll help you in any way I am able .