Be careful with opiods

[alanwest09872]

I really just need to get this off my chest. About 5 years ago I fell on a metal spike it damn near killed me. Well over the past 5 years I was subscribed Opiods (lortab hydracodone oxcotone morphine you name it there all opiods and I have taken them all. I wanna warn everyone about the dangers of these medications. They are great when you are hurting bad but you cant take them forever.

To start off I wanna say how addictive these medications are. 60 percent off all the people that take opiods get addicted. They say if you take 3 a day for a week you will have a slight addiction to them. Its just slight. The problem is you start taking 3 a day and they make you feel great but then you realize that great feeling that you had doesnt last as long as it used to. So know you take 4 a day then 5 then 6 and so on and so forth. Till you are hardcore addicted to them. I was up to 20 a day. I spent all my money on getting them from anywhere and everywhere. That happy felling they used to give goes away and all you are left with is needing to take so many pills a day just to stop you from having withdraw feelings.

Getting off the pills is the hardest the withdraw is terrible. You get vomiting diarrhea RLS depression cant sleep and the pains is horrible. Last but not least you get uncontrollable cravings for the drug. Its life being hungrey all the time and only one thing can stop it and you know what this one thing and its so hard not to go back to using.

There is one thing that I wanted to mention in 20 percent of the people that get addicted it get sever depression and can cause bipolar personality. I believe I am one of these 20 percent. My depression didnt start till after I was on the medication for over a year. I couldnt leave my bed for anything. I couldnt go out and meet new people. It killed my sex drive. I didnt want to have anything to do with women or sex. All I wanted was to make sure I had my pills ready and available.

I am now 14 days clean and I feel great. I have another 4 weeks of major withdraw to go through then I should be in the clear. Since I stopped taking my life has really improved. I guess the moral of the story is be careful. Dont ever take that extra dose even if you suffering stick to the normal dose. Dont ever go over it because it will just end in a vicious cycle. Please be careful!!!

Ps. When I first started taking the medication I remember saying "I dont have an addictive personality Ive never been addicted to anything in my life" Well I was wrong dead wrong. These medications just make you feel so great and all you want is that feeling to never end. Well it does end. It ends with addiction. You become a different person then you used to be and its just not worth it.

Well thats it for me. Forgive all the spelling and grammer errors I am horrible at anything to do with spelling and grammer.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Good for you. I was hooked on opiates too although not to the extent you were. The 'hangover' from withdrawals is truly horrible. Hang in there.

 

[Saint Nick]

Wow buddy that's pretty intense. Stick with it. Don't be afraid to get help if you need it.

 

[alanwest09872]

thanks for your guys kind words. I made it past the big hurrle. The first 4 days are the roughest after that its all down hill. I actually have pills ready and available to me and I have no want to take them anymore. I found life is better not being in a daze all the time.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

thanks for your guys kind words. I made it past the big hurrle. The first 4 days are the roughest after that its all down hill. I actually have pills ready and available to me and I have no want to take them anymore. I found life is better not being in a daze all the time.

Firstly, congratulations for getting out of the cycle. It's very difficult to take that first step. The smartest thing you can do is to get rid of those ready pills and delete phone numbers, stop seeing doctors, etc that will prescribe you these pills when you need them. Make them unavailable to you. Change your surroundings. That will make it easier - but not easy by any means - to forget the drugs.

 

[alanwest09872]

Firstly, congratulations for getting out of the cycle. It's very difficult to take that first step. The smartest thing you can do is to get rid of those ready pills and delete phone numbers, stop seeing doctors, etc that will prescribe you these pills when you need them. Make them unavailable to you. Change your surroundings. That will make it easier - but not easy by any means - to forget the drugs.

a friend is actually holding onto them for me. I could get them at any time but I am making that choice not to. Hes probably just going to end up selling them since I dont want them anymore.

Im on the 14 day and things are going good. I still have diarrhea and I cant sleep at night but those are the only two symptoms I have left from the withdraw. Im so excited I just cant hide it im about to loose control and I think I like it. I feel like a new person. I can actually leave the house again. If I keep going on this up swing I could have a job and going back to school in the next 6 months and stop having the goverment pay me to sit at home all the time. Im just so happy now. Alot of the anxiety and depression have seemed to just go away.

 

[RKS]

Good luck to you.

My wife and I have had knee surgeries and always had bottles of opiods that people wanted to buy from us since we never used more than a few each. I thought that was weird but some were offering a lot of money for each pill.

 

[alanwest09872]

Good luck to you.

My wife and I have had knee surgeries and always had bottles of opiods that people wanted to buy from us since we never used more than a few each. I thought that was weird but some were offering a lot of money for each pill.

ya I used to pay 4 bucks a pill for each. now I can save my money. I hope your knees are feeling better

 

[chin311]

Nothing like a hydro and a beer! Jk.

Congrats on getting clean, was rough im sure.

I've had them prescribed with different surgeries but they never really "did" anything for me, helped with the pain a little but no sort of 'high'. Plus they make you constipated haha

 

[alanwest09872]

Nothing like a hydro and a beer! Jk.

Congrats on getting clean, was rough im sure.

I've had them prescribed with different surgeries but they never really "did" anything for me, helped with the pain a little but no sort of 'high'. Plus they make you constipated haha

Well theres some people out there that dont get the same effect. The high it gives you is incredible. Your on top of the world at least t hats what it did for me. If I had a chance to do it all over again I would never have used the drug in the first place. There are some people that are super sensitive to the drug. I think I am one of those people. It effected me in ways I cant even describe how good they made me feel when I started to take them. But know that I know how it feels to be clean I am much happier. I swear upon god I will only ever take another opioid if I get a kidney stone and thats it. They give you morphine when you get a kidney stone.

 

[marmasatt]

Congrats man. Addiction is a bitch. Stay strong.

<----- weening off Vicodin as we speak

 

[Megatomic]

Someone very special to me was hardcore addicted to ativan. When she was forced off of them (doctor refused to refill, didn't even get weened off) she wanted to die. Literally. It was terrible to witness and to be the one to help them through that kind of torture was almost unbearable. I truly can't imagine the anguish the one coming off the drug endures...

Congrats on cleaning up your life alan, you have my respect for doing this on your own. Keep up the good work. You too marmasatt.

 

[Pia]

Thanks for sharing man. I hope full, continued success for you. It's important you don't beat yourself on the head for the past.

I don't know anyone with substance abuse problems, but my own life is pretty disordered in other ways (compulsive behavior / nonbehavior is probably the best short description) and some aspects of addiction sound very familiar to me. I take a drug to be able to work, but it doesn't work all the time, not even close.

This may be ignorance talking, and I don't want to downplay the trouble you have had, but I would rather have the drug problem because it has a clear-cut treatment (not taking any more). Even if it hurts, you know you'll be fine if you stick to that one thing.

Alas, we cannot choose our problems. We can just deal with them.

 

[alanwest09872]

Thank you guys for all your kind words. Believe it or not it actually helps knowing that people are supporting me. This is the end of an era for me and a new beginning. Now if I could just get the diarrea to stop and get a good night sleep I would be fine.

 

[Trey22]

Glad to hear you broke the cycle.

I was up to 16 to 20 Norco tabs a day (ruptured L5 and refused surgery).

I quit cold turkey (should of eased off in hindsight), but beat it by family support, sheer will, and the prospect of a happier future. I was miserable and in emotional agony while I was on the pills, and didn't even realize it.

Your sleep patterns might take a while to get back to normal. But when you get your first good nights sleep and feel you didn't even move once during the night... ah man, there's nothing as delicious-feeling as that.

 

[nanaki333]

Glad to hear you broke the cycle.

I was up to 16 to 20 Norco tabs a day (ruptured L5 and refused surgery).

I quit cold turkey (should of eased off in hindsight), but beat it by family support, sheer will, and the prospect of a happier future. I was miserable and in emotional agony while I was on the pills, and didn't even realize it.

Your sleep patterns might take a while to get back to normal. But when you get your first good nights sleep and feel you didn't even move once during the night... ah man, there's nothing as delicious-feeling as that.

just out of curiosity, why did you refuse the surgery? i got fusion on my back and it was the best thing ever. i'm not gonna lie, the recovery period is incredibly painful, but the worst of it is over after about 2 weeks.

 

[GoNiners!]

I took Percocet for the first week after my shoulder surgery and stopped taking them because I was worried about something like what you desribed happening. I ended up turning in half of my first bottle into the pharmacy because I didn't want it in the house and I didn't want to flush it. My coworkers were telling me I could have sold them for $10-$20 a pop. Crazy stuff!

I have never done drugs so the feeling of euphoria that the Percocet caused was so strange and quite frankly, good. I can see how a person could easily get hooked on something like that.

I have been taking Temazapam for my insomnia for the last 3 months and I have read that it can become addictive when used over long periods and I am so conflicted about stopping. I am finally sleeping relatively normally for the first time in my life.

Congrats on making the break.

 

[alanwest09872]

I took Percocet for the first week after my shoulder surgery and stopped taking them because I was worried about something like what you desribed happening. I ended up turning in half of my first bottle into the pharmacy because I didn't want it in the house and I didn't want to flush it. My coworkers were telling me I could have sold them for $10-$20 a pop. Crazy stuff!

I have never done drugs so the feeling of euphoria that the Percocet caused was so strange and quite frankly, good. I can see how a person could easily get hooked on something like that.

I have been taking Temazapam for my insomnia for the last 3 months and I have read that it can become addictive when used over long periods and I am so conflicted about stopping. I am finally sleeping relatively normally for the first time in my life.

Congrats on making the break.

Good for you I wish I would have done that in the first place. I wish to god I could go back in time and stop myself from takeing the medication. I am now on day 15.

 

[marmasatt]

Good for you I wish I would have done that in the first place. I wish to god I could go back in time and stop myself from takeing the medication. I am now on day 15.

Again, congrats. What is the physiological time frame to break dependence, do you know? Isn't it like 30 days without something, and you basically kick the habit? Or is that a misconception?

 

[alanwest09872]

Again, congrats. What is the physiological time frame to break dependence, do you know? Isn't it like 30 days without something, and you basically kick the habit? Or is that a misconception?

Its 6 weeks total to get rid of the bulk of the withdraw from opioids. The only thing that remands is depression which isnt effecting me as bad because im already on antideppresents.

 

[Skillet49]

Glad to hear that you've been able to stop taking them. Keep it up! And thanks for sharing your story. It's too bad many don't understand the dangers of those meds.

 

[Howard]

I admire your dedication. Godspeed.

 

[Redfraggle]

I had an emergency c-section and they gave me percocet when I was released from the hospital. I didn't get any sort of euphoria (but there are so many crazy hormonal things going on right after birth, I can't be sure I wouldn't in another situation). However, I also forced myself to stop taking it sooner than I probably should have because I was freaked out that I knew it was addictive and I didn't want to pass it on to my newborn either. I kept the few left for emergencies, and then I threw my back out a while back. I took a couple so I could get through until seeing the chiro, and then I was good again. I vague recall feeling sort of high that time. Definitely not the extreme you describe, for which I am thankful.

I'm glad you are getting yourself clean and I hope the world continue to reopen to you and be kind.

 

[alanwest09872]

Now on day 16 I think I am just going to keep counting down the days on this sight till I hit week 6. That way I can keep track of what day I am on. Thanks again for your support guys reading words of encuragement really helps. I know I can do this now.

 

[alanwest09872]

Now on day 17 diarrhea has stopped completely but I am still getting only 3 hours sleep during the night.