Hooked on pain killers, need advice.

[genarr3]

What, no response from the "cold turkey boys"? Maybe they're trying to find some scientific evidence that will support their bullshit comments.......Good luck!

Actually I'm speaking from experience, and I was taking alot more then he is. I was taking about 5 - 8 a day for at least a year and dropped them cold turkey.

Yes life sucked for a month or two but it's over now. I didn't have anything even coming close to resembling "life threatening" symptoms.

That's all the science I have.

 

[genarr3]

BTW - 3 pills a day isn't exactly a hardcore addict.

 

[therookie]

BTW - 3 pills a day isn't exactly a hardcore addict.

He is not taking 3 a day...Addict never admit to there usage. They kid themselve...Been there myself...Xanax withdrawel was terrible

 

[ad234]

Buprenex and clonidine...

Buprenex and clonidine will help.... Do a search on the web, there is alot of info. on these to help. Note, they are to help they NOT a magic pill solution, it's going to be tough. If he's only taking vic's, don't take methadone, methadone is the cure that is worse than the problem.

 

[acid_doctor]

Lone_AZ,
Sorry Bro. Didn't mean to offend. Being a physician with (for obvious reasons) a special interest in addiction medicine, I have never known or heard of a doc giving an addict narcs to taper themselves with. Obviously, it is done as in your case but I would think highly inadvisable in most scenarios as most addicts have no intention of tapering no matter what they say. My in-patient stay was only for 5 days of detox (tapering to zero), then 6 weeks outpatient counselling/education 4 nights per week. The whole thing cost me a whopping $1500 insurance copay. I agree that most people, especially those without insurance, cannot afford to go to an in-patient rehab, but believe me dude, outpatient detox just isn't going to be very easy for most people to find and I bet we can both agree that whatever it costs an addict to get sober will be a bargain compared to not getting sober. Since this is a disease, if you go to detox and get fired for that, you can sue your employer under the "Americans with Disabilities Act" and get any back salary and your job back. Therefore, most knowledgeable employers will accomidate this type of absence especially knowing that they will get a better, more productive employee back out of the deal. Reps and sets Bro. Reps and sets.

 

[Latamier]

Damn guys, your replies have been more than I ever thought they would be. I printed them out and showed them to him at the gym tonight. One hour after I got home he stopped by and we chatted for about another hour, and before he left he gave me two bottles of vicodin and three bottles of vicoprofen and told me to flush them. We watched as they went down and he looked as if he was about to cry. I really think that at that moment he turned his life over to someone else for help. He even asked if he could come to church with my wife and I this Sunday and Friday night to a singles dinner we are hosting. Wish me luck with him and any other advice would be great. Many thanks to all of you that have responded, you all really feel like family.

 

[justwannagetsum]

"Two medications which can help with vicoden withdrawal are buprenorphine and clonidine
My thoughts exactly. they have sublingual buprenex "buprenorphine"

 

[thx9000]

I have a friend...

(sorry so long...)

My roommate, and one of my best friends actually...Who quit Oxycontin almost cold. Went from at least 240mg ED for seven months to 80mg/dy to 40mg/dy to 0mg/day in just five days. That was his "taper down" period, five days...

Here's what he went through:

Before quitting:
--Lost 25% of his body weight while on.
--Spent about $2200/week (he was covering someone else habit too)
--Complained that he could never take a shit...Don’t know what that was about...
--Ended all friendships/relationships with non-users
--Only came to work about 2hrs per day, while his businesses sales fell 30% in a single month (didn't even care about this)..

After quitting (this is where MY hell began):
--Literally didn't sleep for 6 straight days. Physically couldn't even though he was exhausted.
--Cried CONSTANTLY for about 15 days. When he didn't cry he simply stared at the wall.
--Once the deepest depression ended and he got a little motivated, he became moderately self destructive and required almost constant babysitting.
--Diarrhea...Extremely severe diarrhea immediately after he eats lasted about 20 days.
--Headache lasted weeks.
--Sweating. For about three weeks he had to sleep with four towels b/c he sweat so much that he said it was like "it was raining in my room." He'd wake-up every morning and weigh 3lbs less. One day he decided not to drink water (make the sweating stop) he couldn't walk b/c his back (kidneys?) hurt so bad.

One month later:
--Upon waking up his fairly "happy," but by late afternoon he's basically depressed. Still stares at the walls a lot. Literally just sits in a room and stares. Says, "I have some good days every now and then..."
--Can finally sleep more than 5hrs, no more sweating. No more suicide talk.
--THIS IS BAD: occasionally has grey colored shit and lower back pain. Won't go see a doctor even though I've thoroughly explained just how much fun liver failure will be. Has passed six kidney stones...
--Strange rash (like hives) covers huge patches of his body then rapidly (5min later) disappears or moves to another part of body...

 

[Otis2]

He will need to start tapering down ASAP. Once he has gotten to the point where he is only taking 2 or 3 a day can he quit altogether. Take your time with the tapering too. After all it took a long time to build up to 10 or 15 Vics a day so it will take some time to taper down. You get no extra points for speed. I have done this several times with Ultram and it is no fun but much easier than quitting cold turkey.

 

[rattlesnake1535]

Hey guys, this issue hits very close to home for me. I was addicted to pain killers and muscle relaxers for 3 years straight. I got where i could take 6 to 8 valium and function not to mention taking 8 soma before class. This shit is for real and in my opinion cold turkey is not the real smart way to go if you have a real addiction. I overdosed when i was 17 and had a seizure, then a year later i decided to get off the shit cold turkey. That was a mistake b/c i had a seizure from withdrawls in my front yard while throwing a baseball around with my buddy. I know that kind of shit doesn't happen to everyone, but i spent the better part of 6 months going through tests to see if i had really fucked myself up and to check if i had epilepy. I didn't but now i am 21, off pills and look back on the whole thing as a learning experience. I think that the person with the addiction shouldn't go through it alone like i did. E-mail me with any questions!!!!