Been on xanax for 10 years. Been on vicodin for 3-4 years. Doctors is now, because of the reclassification, trying to slow and then stop my usage. I'm developing symptoms at the mere THOUGHT of not having a go to med when in need. I'm a full fledged addict, with 10 straight years of consumption. Is this how treatment centers get business? Had sleep paralysis the other day, after doing a double and not taking my precious....it's such a hypocrisy, with these medical professionals, I know wassup, how you can roll a 20 hour shift and bounce back with a double 12 hours later....norcos, adderall, all the rns and pcts dope up....
hey man, I thought I'd share a little from my personal experience.
The first one is that habitual use of pain killers is dangerous. For most they are highly addictive. They lose effectiveness over time which means you require higher and higher dosage to get the same effect, but the effect is still never the same. I went through a period where I had near unlimited access to narcotic pain killers and I felt myself getting dependent.
I don't suffer from chronic pain, so I can't speak from the perspective of someone that truly needs them in order to cope day to day. If I was in that boat I'd be working closely with my doctor(s) to try and figure out something that works long term.
As far as Xanies goes, I went through a period in life where I could fall asleep, but would wake up a few hours later and could not fall back asleep. It was due to anxiety and stress. It felt like electricity was coursing through my brain and my brain would not shut off or calm down long enough for me to sleep. I was miserable. I went to my doctor and she tried a lot of things. Ambien, Lunesta, and then Xanax. The Xanax worked wonders for me. I got a solid 8 hours of interrupted sleep and it felt great. I did notice what I call a "Xannie hangover" the next day but a cup of coffee seems to wipe that out quickly.
The thing with this was, the xannies started to lose their effectiveness for me after about 2 weeks of use. I went from .5 mg per day to taking 2 mg per day. I was not happy with this and stopped taking it cold turkey.
Right now I sleep great and I am able to manage my stress and anxiety levels. This is going to sound like some really basic shit but here is how I do it.
1) consistent (and early) bed time. I used to stay up until 12am or later every single night. This is part of what was killing me. I now try to get in bed at 10pm, read, watch TV, wind down and fall asleep by 11am.
2) consistent (and early) wake up time. I used to sleep until 7:30 or so and rush out the door to work. I now get up between 6am and 7am (usually on the earlier side)
3)morning workouts. I work out 6-7 days a week (usually running) in the mornings. This has helped regulate my sleep.
4) gave up coffee. this was tough, and I resisted it forever. I told my doctor that I only had 1 cup in the morning and it was no big deal. She explained that with the super long half life of caffeine (over 12 hours) even if you drink one cup in the morning, you still have caffeine at work in your system in the evening. For most people its not a big deal. For me it used to not be a big deal, I used to drink coffee at 5pm daily before evening workouts. I had to give up my day to day coffee habit, now I use it very sparingly. 1-2 times per week, usually before a running competition so I get the benefits it provides to endurance athletes.
5) identify the root cause of your stress and do your best to manage that. This is the hardest part, we don't usually ask for stress and anxiety, it is a by product of things going on in our lives. For me it was work and a major transition. A new boss. uncertainty about my future. constant pressure and deadlines on a daily basis. I had very little control over this, I was looking for new jobs, but over time I was able to tweak things enough at work to get it to a manageable position. things are better now, but I dread the day they return to the days where I had so much stress I could not sleep.
TL;DR; Give up Coffee, go to bed early, workout in the mornings, try to manage the root causes of stress in your life.
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