Hi Lou. This is the right place to be. Welcome to the group! I signed up for this forum just 3 days ago and I have learned so much in those few days it's unbelievable. I don't know much about Vicodin, my drug is Percocet, but I do know lots about the mental and physical withdrawals, since I'm experiencing them first hand, even as I type this.
My original plan was to go cold turkey from 10mg/day of Percocet down to 0 mg. The people on this group convinced me that might not be the best approach. The withdrawals would be worse. I had tapered from 60 mg/day to 10 mg/day with moderate success and only moderate withdrawals before coming here. But, at 10 mg/day for 3 weeks my withdrawals continued.
The best approach is to taper down as fast as your body will allow you. You will probably have withdrawals and that part is hard to cover up. I have both a mental craving for the drug and the physical withdrawal effects, while I'm tapering down. Yesterday out of a dead sleep I jumped out of bed with all of the withdrawals hitting at once, plus an unbelievable craving to take another pill to make them go away. I fought through it. It all comes down to YOU making the choice to fight it and doing whatever it takes to control your craving. I fight my cravings and withdrawals by walking around my house.
I'll be here for a while, since I'm still taking the Percocet while I taper down and my full blown withdrawals have yet to be seen once I go to 0 mg/day. I'm not looking forward to that day, but I want to get there because then I know I've almost reached the end.
The best advice I can give you in my short stint on this forum is to read the other posts. Learn from the other people in the group who have already experienced what you are going to go through. We are all here to help one another, especially during the hard times. Let people know how you are doing, what your thoughts are and ask questions.
Welcome to the group!!