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Quitting/Tapering Thread.

footscrazy

footscrazy

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Hi all,

This thread is for anyone who is quitting or tapering off any drug, and for those who have gone through the process, either successfully or otherwise, to post their stories, questions, comments, observations and experiences.

Have you managed to stop a habit that you felt was getting out of control? How did you do it? What were the hardest parts, and what information do you wish you'd known beforehand, that would've made it just a little bit easier? What advice would you give to those going through the same thing?

Have you managed to stay off? If you have, how did you do it? If not, what made you use again? Are you happy with the decision you made?

Or are you trying to quit, or taper down? Any questions, comments or observations you have are most welcome here. If you're cravings are getting wild and you'd just like a bit of support and encouragement to keep on keeping off, this is the place to get it.

This thread is for all us Aus DDers, and although I highly recommend The Dark Side, there's something to be said about getting Aussie-centric advice and support from our awesome Aus DD community.

*Please note, this is not the place for judging other people's use, whether that be their drug of choice, ROA, lifestyle, or anything else. Any posts looking down upon or judging someone else's situation will not be tolerated.* Likewise, discussions about the morality of drug use, stereotypical drug users, or drug legalisation are not appropriate here.

I'm currently half heartedly trying to cut down the amount of pst I do daily. Although I found methamphetamine much more addictive than opiates, the physical addiction to opis can be a real killer - even if I'm not mentally craving I have to use consistently so I don't get sick, and it can be hard to taper when I know using just a bit more will get me nice and high.
 
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OoOoooO first in! yus. Great thread!

I just quit smoking. For the millionith time. Had crazy insane anxiety attacks from withdrawal, they lasted almost 2 weeks. Just feeling better now.
Plus I have sooo much more money, that should stop me going back. I miss the energy kick soo bad though! I've felt half asleep since I quit.

Trying to have a break from opiates too. Just a tolerance break while my silly chronic pain isnt too bad. No withdrawals as I absolutely refuse to go
through that hellish shit ever again.=D
 
Its been just over 3 weeks since my last pipe (meth), its resulted in me increasing my usage of weed, but the ups and downs of life as a tweaker is just entirely not worth it. The highs have been fucking incredible dont get me wrong, but being a slave to this deviant drug mentally sucks ass.
 
Is this pertaining to problems unique to Australia?
I second TDS, very supportive bunch over there, it's much different to the rest of BL. No 'triggering' nor judgemental posts, just support and advice.
Hope everyone is doing well.
 
No, it's not for problems unique to Aus.

Good work smokedup and brighton!

brighton - how do you compare quitting smokes with quitting opies? You often hear that quitting cigs is one of the hardest things to do; I'm not a smoker, so it's hard for me to say how it'd compare to quitting something like meth or opies.
 
In my experience, I've never become addicted to tobacco nor have I experienced any w/d because I've never been a heavy smoker (a pack will last me a few days)
What I can say is that I have no trouble quitting, nor do I get any real cravings, for what it's worth.
 
I'm not scared to quite smoking, I've done it numerous times. 6 months, 12 months+ on a few occasions. I'm shit-scared of quitting opiates though, there's nothing that painful that I have experienced (after a broken neck, lacerated liver, collapsed lung, slipped disc... ongoing back problems etc.) that I am scared of apart from opiate withdrawal. Quitting smoking is nothing, really, even though I'm still smoking. If I went to jail, I'd fucking quit if I had to and put up with it. It would suck, but I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm now tapering methadone, and I'm always, always scared that something's going to happen and I won't be able to get my next dose. Whenever I pour it I hope to fucking satan, or buddha or anything really because I'm not religeous at all, that I don't spill it. I'm constantly scared if I'm away from home that some kind of natural disaster will keep me from my medicine and I'll be sick. I can't fathom dealing with it again, that's why I'm on methadone. After so many hours of what I would call the worst pain I've ever felt, the perfect torture for an enemy, I don't want to even think of being subject to that again. I'd rather jump off a cliff.
 
footscrazy said:
No, it's not for problems unique to Aus.

Good work smokedup and brighton!

brighton - how do you compare quitting smokes with quitting opies? You often hear that quitting cigs is one of the hardest things to do; I'm not a smoker, so it's hard for me to say how it'd compare to quitting something like meth or opies.
Click to expand...

i guess quiting opiates was physically harder, but i was just coming off them for pain, with a lil recreation from time to time.
Quitting ciggies, i totes had the opiate PAWS ...extreme anxiety that lorazepam would'nt even help. i ended up drinking a lot and having a bit of kava and DHC just to cope....

i found ciggies to be harder to come off, the whole routine of them, the way they are so ingrained in my life, especially with partying =D
 
opi8 said:
I'm not scared to quite smoking, I've done it numerous times. 6 months, 12 months+ on a few occasions. I'm shit-scared of quitting opiates though, there's nothing that painful that I have experienced (after a broken neck, lacerated liver, collapsed lung, slipped disc... ongoing back problems etc.) that I am scared of apart from opiate withdrawal. Quitting smoking is nothing, really, even though I'm still smoking. If I went to jail, I'd fucking quit if I had to and put up with it. It would suck, but I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm now tapering methadone, and I'm always, always scared that something's going to happen and I won't be able to get my next dose. Whenever I pour it I hope to fucking satan, or buddha or anything really because I'm not religeous at all, that I don't spill it. I'm constantly scared if I'm away from home that some kind of natural disaster will keep me from my medicine and I'll be sick. I can't fathom dealing with it again, that's why I'm on methadone. After so many hours of what I would call the worst pain I've ever felt, the perfect torture for an enemy, I don't want to even think of being subject to that again. I'd rather jump off a cliff.
Click to expand...

It sounds horrible. It actually freaks me ther fuck out - if you don't mind me asking, what sort of dose did you quit when you dealt with that sickness? Since I've been using daily I've never gone a day without so I've only ever experienced the very beginning of wd symptoms. I have no idea how sick I would get if I stopped cold turkey now.

brighton said:
i guess quiting opiates was physically harder, but i was just coming off them for pain, with a lil recreation from time to time.
Quitting ciggies, i totes had the opiate PAWS ...extreme anxiety that lorazepam would'nt even help. i ended up drinking a lot and having a bit of kava and DHC just to cope....

i found ciggies to be harder to come off, the whole routine of them, the way they are so ingrained in my life, especially with partying
Click to expand...

Hmm, I can def associate with the psychological aspect being hard to beat. I found that the hardest bit about meth, that was an absolute psychological mindfuck that was extremely hard to break away from. IMO it's the psychological aspect that is the most insidious and perverse aspect of addiction; it's hard to fight against your very own self to quit something, because any reasons you can find to quit, you can also find reasons to keep going.
 
footscrazy said:
It sounds horrible. It actually freaks me ther fuck out - if you don't mind me asking, what sort of dose did you quit when you dealt with that sickness? .
Click to expand...

My habit was at least a gram a day when I was in preservation mode, 4 points to wake up with, 3 points at lunch, 3 points before bed. I'd use more when I had just picked up or had excess/whatever. 5 point shots 4 times a day, occasionally more when stressed out/depressed about the complete fuckup I'd become and how losing everything was imminent etc.

I tried to quit myself many different times, from different doses. I'd taper down as much as possible, then run out and get to the second or third day of agony in bed and just say fuck it all, score an MScontin or Oxycontin to shoot so I could get the energy to score my H. The best I did was tapering with OxyNorm 20's. I cut down to 40-60mgs a day for a few days, then jumped off that. Again, once the withdrawals reached their peak, I was too mentally weak when I had money in the bank to go all the way and caved in again.

I guess ruining myself financially was the only way I was going to get on a program, I couldn't work without H therefore in order to get work and get my life back on track I had to keep using. Another interesting point is I worked harder and for longer hours than I ever had when I could afford to keep my habit going, which was obviously a catch 22.
 
the most difficult thing I have quit would probably be benzos. I was using about 50-60mg of valium a day for a 2 month period. not a huge amount compared to some people on here, but definately enough to be in a world of hurt if i had to stop cold turkey. I ended up going to the doctor and being put on a tapering plan, with pharmacy pick ups every two days because i didn't trust myself.

it was hard to say the least. I had no appetite, was a nervous wreck, felt so nausous I could barely function, chronic headaches, insomnia, sweating and shaking. it took me about 4-6 weeks to taper off completely. I have used benzos since then, but have made sure never to use them for more than a few days in a row. i learnt my lesson.
 
Well Ive never really been addicted to anything. Some people can do this. Some people can take the same amount of drugs as another person and watch them get really sick, and be fine themselves.

But youre right. There was no reason for me to post in this thread.
 
^ addiction isn't unique to some people. nobody is immune to it. it is not a weakness or a biological flaw. if you think you're not susceptible, think again.

i find it interesting how different folks have different tendencies to addiction - for example, footsy's battle to kick meth seems to have been harder than it is for some, and some people find tobacco harder to quit than opiates, and vice-versa.
i wonder how much of this comes down to preference, to the amount being used or to biological factors?
i guess that if you dose anything daily, it gets harder to quit than something you take a few times a week (like many people's meth habits). my experience with cutting meth use out of my life was challenging but not impossible - yet i only took it once or twice a week.
if you seriously love a drug - or perceive that it helps you with problems in your life - i imagine it is more of a struggle than something you have a love/hate thing with.
i have not had a quitting/tapering battle for some time, and try to maintain a sustainable level of addiction. quitting is a scary thought, and something i contemplate having a part in a serious life change (for the positive).
much respect to those of us who are fighting this battle as we speak; all power to you :)
 
As spacejunk said, you're not immune to addiction. Some peoples last words (not literally) have been "I'm sure I won't get addicted" and then you fast forward and they've got a massive habit.
It's extremely arrogant, not to mention dangerous, to act on the assumption you're not going to get addicted to something.
I think there are multiple things to take into account as far as people being affected differently. I mean there is preference. Some people like stimulants and really won't get addicted to opiates for a lack of desire, just as there are people who like opiates and have a smaller risk of getting addicted to stimulants, although you put either in somebodies body for a sustained time and they have no control over physical addiction.
That being said, there are people who like both stimulants and opiates and can (and have been) addicted to both.
I also think hereditary things come into play. Like, my auntie was an alcoholic (quite badly) and although my cousin can drink alcohol fine, I've known of other people who seem to have more of a disposition to becoming addicted to a substance simply because their parent was. That's not even including the social/external influence of things you grow up/situations you put yourself in.
There is the "3 day rule" or simply not taking anything 2 days in a row in an attempt to keep addiction at bay, but psychological addiction doesn't give a fuck whether you wait a couple of days or not.
I mean it also depends on your lifestyle. Come people become so consumed by their addiction that they disregard previous priorities and become the manifestation of their desire.
There are, on the other hand, functional addicts. There are people who lead relatively normal lives whilst feeding a habit, because they've got the means to do so and have different priorities.
On the note of influences, if there's a lot of a particular drug floating around, I'd say you're more likely to become addicted/harder to quit than a drug that isn't as popular, because when there are lots of people using the drug you're addicted to, quitting is even harder.
Good luck to anyone trying to kick a habit. Here's a proverb that might help you; This too shall pass.
 
I've smoked less than 10 cigs a day for over 40 years and am off to the doc for my Champex this week. I've stopped successfully a few times over the years by lighting a joint instead of a cig and pinching the end out after a toke so's not to be so ripped I couldn't function. Alas, I've weakened each time so here I go again. Have any readers here stopped smoking cigs using Champex or similar meds? Any idea whether it will have any impact on smoking bud?
I'm keen to make it work and know it's going to be the hardest thing I've ever done. I quite enjoy a smoke at certain times and fooled myself over the years that I'd be ok because I wasn't burning a pack+ a day. Like a dick I'd not really thought about how mrs. losthippy would cope with me copping a tobacco-related disease or life-limiting complication. She's tried to convince me to give it away for decades and I've sneakily nodded my head and ducked out to have one. I don't mean to get sentimental here, but my selfishness has affected her quality of life (and that of our kids) in more profound ways than I imagined as we've gotten older. We've been married a lot of years and I hope I've got the spine and willpower to get through the next month and ultimately hang out with her for a good bit longer, clean of this particular addiction.
 
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^ ive tried to quit using champix, i lasted about 4 days, another drug you can try is bupropion however i dont think its anymore effective and it also lowers your seizure threshold.. i think the main ingredient needed to quit anything is shear willpower and discipline. also getting a life away from drugs is a big help, just going out and distracting yourself with other things you like doing but may have given up for drug use. ive turned my withdrawals into a kind of game, it gets a bit crazy when your sick and delirious but i find it kind of helps to distract me. the easiest way to start is to just say 'ok i wont think about using until ive thought about .....' (for me its thinking about how financially fucked i am and how im going to deal with). that seems to sober me up and usually i can dredge up the willpower needed to make it through another cycle of wanting, using, regretting. you really have to want to quit, especially if the drugs you want are easy to get, its frigging difficult to quit if the little voice in your head is still asking for more and theyre right there for you, thats why i think quitting smoking is so hard. im halfway through a suboxone and valium withdrawal and its taking everything in me to keep from going either crazy or cracking and using again, luckily im financially destitute after 2 years of heroin, speed and benzo addiction to be able to afford to maintain a habit anymore so im taking it as my chance to get clean. just getting clean is fuuucking tough with physically addictive drugs like opiates and benzo's, i found speed to be really psychologically addictive but at least other than a week of fatigue and depression after a binge the withdrawals are pretty easy. with amp's i find i just need a month or so off them and i start to forget about them, i find i can really enjoy anything other than speed or meth when im using them heavily and i think this is a massive factor in the cycle of abuse with them, once im off them and cant just enjoy life a bit more i dont feel that same burning to use them like i would for a week or two after a solid binge. i guess its kind of the same with everything, "this too shall pass" is an awesome little mantra to get you through the tough times, i plan to use it. ive spent most of my day thrashing around in bed trying to sleep through my withdrawals which is pretty much impossible with benzo and opiate withdrawal but i was so sick i didnt have the energy for anything else. i just tried to distract myself by playing the distraction game against myself (turns out im quite the opponent, me and me are very evenly matched) and listened to the radio and had a nice hot bath. hot baths fucking rule for opiate withdrawals, they loosen up your back and legs and help you relax as well as distract you, i cant recommend them highly enough. also i find having a cleverly stocked medicine cabinet helps a lot. be smart and do your homework and dont stock anything that is going to cause more trouble than your already in i.e. dont stock up on a shitload of xanax for opiate withdrawals or you'll get a nasty surprise. hah i had a friend who was trying to kick xanax and he told me how he tried use temazepam to help him sleep not realising it too was a benzo. duh. i keep a stash of snuzaid (diphenhydramine) and other drowsy antihistamines to help me sleep, atenolol to help with the anxiety and increased blood pressure (this can cause problems if used to often so i only take it when i really need it, luckily it doesnt cross the BBB so not recreational), ibuprofen for the aches and pains, clonodine if i can find it to help with the rougher parts (this too is addictive but can really helpful for the peak of withdrawals and valerian root extract to help with sleep and relaxation. time really is your worst and best friend with withdrawals, if you can make it through and find someway to stop yourself from caving in and using again then you have the recipe for success.
by the way this is a great thread, thanks footsy and you other guys for your much appreciated input, this thread could really help out a lot of people.
 
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