Ive been there
I had the same habit as you when I quit, 2 30mg roxis a day, and even though a lot of people take much more than that, quitting is still VERY difficult. The biggest challenge is going to be the mental cravings. If you taper properly like I will explain in a minute, the physical symptoms will be minimal but the mental "desire" for the high will be hard to cope with.
You need to take it slow, OF you take 60mg a day, I suggest reducing your dose by 1 mg each day, so that in 60 days you will be clean. To reduce by 1 mg, you need to get an oral syringe and dissolve the pill in water. The syringe will have milliliter markings on the side so you can just divide the mg's by the ml's to get accurate dosing.
60 days sounds like a long time but any faster and you will be dealing with bad physical symptoms. I also strongly DO NOT recommend suboxone. I was on subs for 6 months and coming off them was harder than coming off the oxy's for me. Also with subs, tapering is very hard because of the half life so your almost guaranteed to have WD symptoms when you come off. Also my new doc (very smart caring guy) told me that he never uses subs on people younger than 35 because everyone under 35 he's put on subs in the past ended up relapsing, he said its because since subs are an opiate they don't reverse the addiction, the only maintain or strengthen it.
After you are clean, think about getting the naltrexone shots. You get it once a month and it blocks your opiate receptors completely. This allows your brain to "rewire" itself to its natural, artificial opiate-free state and effectively erases the mental aspect of addiction.
Like I said, the mental part is the hardest. What worked for me was to keep as busy as I could during the day, also working out releases endorphins which are natural opiates which will help with coming off. SO keep busy during the day and tire yourself out so that when its time to go to bed you fall asleep easily. ITs not easy and 60 days is a lot but its better than years of addiction or death!
Basically, if you taper like I said, keep yourself busy, and start naltrexone after you are drug free for about a week, you can get back to where you were before you ever tried an opiate.
Also some more bad, but necessary news. Coming off opiates is hard, but what can be just as hard as the problems that follow getting clean. You expect to feel so much better when you are finally clean but the truth is most people end up feeling very depressed for a long period of time afterwards (a year). Naltrexone helps speed up recovery buts its still a challenge. Since you haven't been an addict for many years, you will likely recover much faster but still expect things to get worse before they get better. Also don't make the fatal mistake of waiting, every day you g without starting to quit makes it a little harder to quit. There is no "right" time to quit besides as soon as possible, so GET MOVING!
I apologize if I seemed judgmental at all, I tried not to be. Addiction is a very real disease just like diabetes or cancer and probably kills just as much people, yet few people have compassion for addicts like they do for a cancer patient. You have everything going against you in this battle but that just makes the victory so much better!
One more thing- a note on NA/AA and rehab. NA or AA programs work differently for addicts. Some people are saved by the programs, but others like me hate it and get nothing out of it. I can say that its definitely worth a try and you really have to go all the way with getting a sponsor and stuff before giving up, but its ok if the program just doesn't work for you. My doc actually told me that most of his patients don't find AA/NA helpful. Also, NA and AA both work with ADDICTION, you can go to AA without an alcohol addiction and vice versa. NA is a younger crowd (under 25) and AA tends to have older people so where ever you are more comfortable is best.
As for rehab, unless you want to go to a 2 year program on the other side of the country, DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!! Those 28 day programs are scams, my doc told me he's never heard of a patient of his or his colleagues that went to a 28 day program and didn't relapse within 2 months after coming out. 28 days is simply not enough time to treat any addiction. He told me the only rehab center that work (he named two in the entire united states) are the big expensive ones where you go away from two years AND are also treated with a naltrexone type medication. I cant stress naltrexone enough, addiction is a chemical problem in the brain cause by drugs, so you need drugs to fix it. Abstinence only works if you remain abstinent, you can be clean for 10 years and relapse and within a few weeks you will have the same addiction that took you years to build before.
So in conclusion, the ONLY way you are going to get clean permanently is to take your time, taper slowly, and once you are off opiates, start naltrexone. Additionally you should see a psychologist for talk therapy because you will probably need help adjusting to life now that your clean.
So again, I'm sorry for all the bad news but you need to know the truth, and I can personally guarantee you that if you take care of this now you will be doing yourself the biggest favor of your life.
Of you have any questions on the recovery process, PM me.
My last dose had begun to wear off so this is no small event.
