What is the worst drug to have withdrawals from?

[LundiMusic]

ALCOHOL!! Ive withdrawn from diazepam, codeine, cocaine, and mephedrone and alcohol destroys them all. The pysical part is a nightmare and i usually relapse about 3 days into that, but if i make it through, then i have 1 day of peace, and then the depression, boredom and intense cravings kick in like a truck. Ive only managed to survive that part once and thats now. Ive been off for a month which is a record but still cant go near a bottle of wine.
I didnt see that one comin in a million years!

 

[n y m u s]

ive been to rehab 4 times and seen many people detox from alcohol, (also seen people and myself detox from alcohol and other drugs) and imo alcohol does not cause as much pain. i disagree lundi. id put it in third behind heroin withdrawal (ive been doing it for two years) and methadone withdrawal at first. fuck methadone.

 

[f'n a-hole]

Out of things that I've actually been "addicted" to...

1) Hydrocodone
2) OxyContin
3) Alcohol
4) Suboxone
5) Cocaine
6) Marijuana

Addicted is in quotations because I don't even consider Marijuana being an addiction. Cocaine is purely a mental addiction as well, AFAIK. I smoked pot every single day of my life from the time I was 15 until I was about 22. Got pneumonia and literally could not smoke it for a few weeks, and afterward I figured why bother? I didn't enjoy it anymore and it was costing me (at least, what I considered at the time) a fortune.

Cocaine I only did regularly for about 2 years but it was likewise very easy to stop. I was kind of smart about it... I was still young and trying to be conscious of how much my life was spiraling out of control, and when I hit a certain point (8 ball a day) I said that's enough of that and put it to rest. Still did it every once in a blue moon after that, and still will on occasion... but since that time I've never done it more than 1-3 times a year.

Suboxone was my most recent addiction, capping a decade long spree of opiate use and abuse. I tried to get on it intermittently over the course of a couple years, finally stuck with it about 6 months ago and quit nearly a week and a half ago. I never took a lot of it (usually 1-2mg/day) and tapered down over the course of a couple weeks. The withdrawals were nothing AT ALL like the horror stories I've heard. They were seriously mild or at times nonexistent, and I have no lingering depression or unbearable cravings a scant 10 days (or so... not sure exactly) into this. I think if you use this stuff right, or in other words - not at all like most doctors who prescribe it deem "the right way" (e.g.: starting out at a ridiculous 16mg/day) - it's super easy to come off and amazingly effective at providing a bridge back to normalcy.

Alcohol was very tough, though moreso mentally than anything else. I did get the shakes for nearly a month after I stopped drinking, but the overwhelming feeling of total worthlessness and wanting to kill myself constantly was what really sucked. If I wasn't upping my opiate addiction to insane levels at the same exact time, I never would have got through this so perhaps it should rate even higher. This was my very first drug-of-choice and I was a hardcore drinker from the time I first picked up a bottle. I'd actually say being addicted to opiates was a better reality for me than being an alcoholic. I did way more stupid, insanely dangerous things... made more incredibly bad decisions... ruined more relationships, hurt more feelings, and did more psychological damage to myself being a drunk than with all my other insane substance abuse COMBINED. I'm still in complete amazement that I never got a DWI or killed anyone driving like a maniac. It's been long enough that I can have a beer or shot and not wig out, in fact ever since I quit I've never really even gotten to the point of being DRUNK, drunk... though if it was up to me, I wouldn't drink at all. Most times I just will because I'm in some kinda social situation where I feel like an asshole not having a beer in my hand.

OxyContin and Hydrocodone may as well go together, they're essentially the same thing/same withdrawal. I put Hydro above Oxy because I never went through a full Oxy detox (1-2 days of that hell at most, then back on or on to Subs). Hydrocodone I only went through the horror because I didn't realize that Suboxone existed at the time, I had a BS drug possession charge, was getting piss tested as part of a pre-trial counseling/probation thing and they were about to throw me in county lockup if I came back with one more failed test. Once I beat that (literally one week later, haha) it was right back to the pills! -- anyway, THERE IS NOTHING WORSE IN THIS WORLD. For those who have experienced it, you know exactly what it is. For those who haven't, it's indescribable. I think actual physical torture may be a better fate since you at least know you'll probably die at some point. Every muscle in your body aches, your mouth tastes like someone shit in it constantly, you wish you could rip your skin off your body from the cold sweats and temperature fluctuations, your limbs can't stop moving, if they do you want to rip them off too, there's a sickening feeling of death and hopelessness at the core of your body and mind that eats you up every second of every day for over a week - and once that's gone? You still want to do nothing but get high. The anguish your mind and body goes through with opiate withdrawals really changes you as a person, it's incredibly tough to get back to being happy about anything after the only thing that has made you happy for so long has been those fantastic little pills. Like I said, I did this shit for about a decade - started out taking 1 or 2 Vics a day and really didn't increase or feel any WDs for a good half of those years. After that? It gets really bad, really quick. You have no idea it's even sneaking up on you. I think I've squashed those cravings a good bit and it'll get easier as time goes on... but I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE I will do these drugs again at some point, like an asshole. That feeling is just too good. If I won the lottery, I would do this shit every day of my life and die in 15 years happy as a pig in shit. If somebody told me I could ONLY do opiates or ONLY fuck and get my dick sucked for the rest of my life, I'd have a really hard time choosing option #2. I probably wouldn't. For those that have no experience and can't understand why this stuff is so bad - think about that. This is a drug that's bond is so powerful it can short circuit the most essential basic human instinct to reproduce and survive. If it can do that, think about what else it can do!

Sorry for the INCREDIBLY long post, I tend to get very wordy... although hopefully it adds some perspective for people in similar circumstances. I promise that will be my last ever complete history of drug abuse posted on here, LOL.

PS - Til this day the only thing I have not successfully kicked is TOBACCO so perhaps that should be #1? I've never stopped long enough (no more than a day, LOL) to even get withdrawals from it, so I didn't add it into my list...

 

[f'n a-hole]

BTW - (shit, I'm sorry... I'm getting sick of hearing myself talk too) - I never went to rehab, AA/NA, drug counseling (did have that court mandated shit but that was a joke and made me more of an addict), let my family know about my problems or have been under a doctors supervision (always bought my Subs on street) and looking back over that whole thing? Shit, I have had quite a time. Anyway - point here is, YOU CAN QUIT ALL THIS SHIT on willpower and dedication alone. It's tough, and in retrospect probably not even preferable, but I think falling into things like rehab or finding Jesus is just another crutch that's gonna let you down in the end. The world is a cold, hard, shitty, ruthless place - accepting that and realizing that you don't have to kill yourself because of it is, at least IMO, the #1 step towards overcoming addiction.

 

[Flowpeel]

I'm with n_y_m_u_s, fuck methadone :[

 

[Warp Renegade]

GBL withdrawls were a bitch. No sleep, feeling like I needed to rip my skin off, being too tired to move but too aggitated to sit. The worst part though was that I quit taking it because I knew I was going well over the top with my usage and as I have other commitments I really needed to stop. I didn't want to, I REALLY didn't want to. I quit and I felt like I was grieving for it. It was like a close friend had died and I knew I was never going to be in their company again.

Opiates were also a bitch. After I stopped using GBL, I thought I would be able to use Opiates respoinsibly but as I'm sure a lot of you know, addiction creeps up on you. I didn't see it coming at all. Then I quit them and it was about 4 weeks of feeling like I had really bad Flu. And it HURT too. I mean really hurt, physically. I got moe cravings due to the pain rather than addiction. For 4 weeks I sat in pain (mainly on the toilet of course :D ) needing to take a pain killer but knowing I couldn't take the kind that would make the pain stop.

I've not had withdrawls from anything else, I'm sure Benzo addiction would be a nightmare.

 

[SAMCRO]

RLS so bad that it prevents any and all sleep + the constant yawning is a bitch too. Basically everything hurts and annoys the hell out of me. Its crazy too b/c I remember that I used to be able to deal with the wd's fairly well but after many years of use I've now found that I am the biggest baby ever when it comes to being dopesick.

 

[JustaChippa]

Anybody remember when they were fairly new to the opiate game, & found themselves dopesick for the first time? I do. I had probably been using regularly for maybe eight or nine months, & I realized I was in pretty deep, but had never been dopesick before.

Well, one night, my usual guy wound up not being able to come through. He said he'd have more the next day, and while I wasn't happy about it, I figured I'd be OK for a night. I happened to have one Darvocet (ugh!) in my posession, so I took that to get through my evening at work as best I could, & then drug myself home. I took a hot shower & then went to bed.

That is when I realized how badly I had betrayed my body, & that it was now going to betray me back. Sleep was almost impossible to come by, & when I did manage to fall into some sort of sleep, I would kick myself awake with that RLS. I had the weird dreams, the anxiety, & had to run to the bathroom several times till I realized I needed a large dose of the immodium I always kept on hand in my medicine cabinet.

The next morning, it was all I could do to get ready & drag my hurtin' ass into work. Hours later, my friend finally showed up with my Lortabs. I have spoken of him on here before: he was a friend before he was a dealer, & always took really good care of me. Well, he felt so badly that I'd had to wait for my pills that he would up giving me 20 Lortabs, & refused to take any $ for them. I finished up the rest of my work day as a much happier camper, but it was that weekend I came to realize what a hold opiates had over me, & had to acknowledge the fact that getting off that ride was going to be lots harder than I had ever realized. Of course, that was not the last time I would ever experience being dopesick before I made the decision to get off that sorry merry-go-round.

 

[Charles Ferdinand]

You know, I've never ever felt withdrawals from SNRI, SSRI or wellbutrin.
I don't feel withdrawals from Lyrica or tramadol either.
But while on benzo wd's I had 3 psychotic breaks and depersonalization.

 

[halfoz]

last year i was in a horrific car accident and was hospitalized for about a month and a half. the amount of opiate painkillers i was prescribed was 80mg Oxy 2x/day, 6 Norco/day, 4 percocets/day, and then some lidoderm patches, benzos, other stuff. during this time i also had two extensive (3hr+) surgeries and associated drugs.

had never messed with opiates before. when i was released home from the hospital there was a bureaucratic mistake with my prescriptions and i went for a week with no meds at all.

i had no idea i was in withdrawal, but it sucked like nothing i've felt before. constantly going from feverish to freezing, everything tasted like total shit, body aches, severe restlessness, sleeplessness, irritability, confusion, cognitive dysfunction, shitting this green watery diarrhea nonstop. had no idea when it would end.

eventually a home health care nurse sent me to the ER. one shot of morphine in the butt and everything got instantly better.

i'm still on a lower dose of oxycontin to this day to deal with the pain of my injury and to help me work through the physical therapy. i dread the thought of even 1 day of wd.

several year of hardcore meth use produced absolutely zero withdrawal symptoms, other than sleeping almost constantly for a week, gaining something like 30lbs in 30 days, some depression, and no energy, but i felt healthier every single day.

tobacco withdrawals sucked hard. that was not easy. took about 3 weeks in total, but the first 5 days were the worst. for total amount of torture, it compared to the opiate wd's.

 

[grizz88]

Man, fucking H. shitll burn you up, esp if you try n come down on suboxone for a few weeks. i cant even fuck with the shit anymore dead serious

Whether it be psychological or physical, What is the hardest drug you've ever tried to stop doing? Could be pain medications, could be DXM or anything.

I would just like to hear some stories, experiences or opinions

 

[RavinRaphael]

meth or benzos hands down period

 

[unsettled]

whichever one you're most addicted to, mentally, physically or both.

for some it may be coffee.

for me it's benzos then opiates.....the benzos are mostly physical for me, I need them to function. The opiates are both Psychological and Physical but as hellish as they are to quit I feel they're easier to come off of.

 

[pally pete]

Benzodiazepines.

 

[Gormur]

zyprexa

i had constipation, lack of appetite, flat emotion, anxiety, tremor, tardive dyskinesia (involuntary movement), brain zaps, back pain, insomnia, vivid nightmares and hallucinations for 3 weeks after discontinuing the shit

The hallucinations lingered on a bit longer, which was pretty unpleasant to say the least. Often my surroundings would change color/hue, objects morphed and changed shaped.. i saw flashing lights in darkness and spiders everywhere

I think that one tops all other w/ds i've gone through.. at least mentally. Physically, probably MDA (daily use for a month) then morphine. Physically and mentally, probably zolpidem.. then short-acting benzos in second

Just thinking about high-dose zolpidem w/d makes me feel nauseous

 

[dirtyoldman]

the worst

Whether it be psychological or physical, What is the hardest drug you've ever tried to stop doing? Could be pain medications, could be DXM or anything.

I would just like to hear some stories, experiences or opinions

for me it was ROCKS.

I kept thinking how easy it would be to do a drive thru and cop on the way home.

 

[IvvySaid]

Oh my days... Heroin WD is hell. I just kicked for "the last time" (which is what I say everytime of course) and it sucks, no matter how many times you go through it. This last time I was doing speed balls for about two weeks prior to the detox and it actually made things much much easier, less intense. But heroin alone, I honestly wanted to fucking die.

The second or third day is the worst. There is not one symptom that I would call my least favorite either, they are all terrible. First the bitch comes out in me. Then sneezing like crazy, runny nose and slight muscle cramps. They all get progressivley worse of course, and like thats not enough...

Stomach pains kill me. Throwing up feels like you are trying to dry heave every internal organ out through your mouth, and since I can't eat, the stomach acid is just icing on the cake. Sleep is practially impossible to attain, I want to cut off my legs and curl into a ball, then stretch out as much as possible, lay on my stomach, no, my side, then change positions 500 more times until I realize I am about to shit my pants. Oooh. then The sweat comes, my PJs get soaked all the way through with sweat, then I am so cold I feel like I am laying on a glacier naked, until I get to be 1000 degrees again, back and forth all day and night. All the while you just want to get comfortable and sleep, but if your get lucky enough to fall asleep, you wake up covered in sweat, on the verge of puking, or shitting out your entire intestinal tract.

Yep, Heroin WD is extremely umpleasant, and for me... not very lady like, as you can see. I really hope this is my last go at it. I dont know how many more nights I can go through the above repeating "I just wanna die" and "just cut off my legs!" quite loudly, and alone.

 

[34-dihydroxyphen]

I would venture to guess methamphetamine, due to the long term effects it has on the dopamine system and the amount of time necessary to recover.

Or perhaps benzodiazepines. I hear those withdrawals make you wish you were WD'ing from heroin again.

In my experience, only being dependent on nicotine, various opiates, and SSRI's I would have to say poppy pods. Holy shit did that feel bad. Those were the withdrawals that got my ass to a suboxone doctor and made me quit. If I had to withdrawal like that, it really wasn't worth it anymore.

SSRI withdrawal sucked, but seeing as how they made me feel dysphoric and suicidal I was 100% committed to getting off of them. I had to ween down a bit, but it was doable. I would say that nicotine is way more difficult, considering the strong motivation to smoke.

Oh, and caffeine is a bitch. I grew up addicted to it, and still am to this day, but when I was in juvie we weren't allowed any caffeine ever. The entire six months I was there I just didn't feel right without it. I doubt I could ever end my caffeine fix, but it helps me function so I have no intentions of doing so.

 

[Gormur]

I would venture to guess methamphetamine, due to the long term effects it has on the dopamine system and the amount of time necessary to recover.

Definitely one of the worst, psychologically and physiologically

MD(M)A w/d is much worse tho (after weeks of daily use). I had horrible dissociation for weeks

 

[TheTwighlight]

Alprazolam (8 year addiction), Tramadol, Gabapentin, poly-drug w/d of all different kinds (i've never been hooked on 1 thing).