Oxy withdrawal

  • Thread starter Thread starter kathy44
  • Start date Start date
K

kathy44

Guest
I am worried about my husband. He went cold turkey off of oxy, 80mg, 8-10 times a day, 21 days ago. He quit his job, because it was to close to his buddies, and he knew he had to quit, since he has lost everything, including our home. He still is weak, depressed, can't sleep, and his body hurts. This man is 41 years old, and beat cancer twice, but i am scared something more is wrong with him. I do not know what to do to help him, and i don't know what withdrawal is suppose to be like. Please, help me to help him, i'm scared to death.

Need advice
 
Hi Kathy,

I just want to say, you are a great woman. You are supportive regarding your hubby's addiction - not everyone can be, and its completely justified if one cannot support this disease. Its hard for others (non-addicts) to really understand what we (addicts) go through. I commend you :)

I'm glad to hear your hubby is doing better. Wish him luck for me, and I hope the road ahead keeps getting better :)

Love,
emsmom
 
I'm not sure exactly what the length of withdrawal is per the dosage of drug you were on...but if your nurabers are correct he was on 800 mg of oxy a day??? How was he even alive? I'm sure it's going to take more than 3 weeks before he'll feel anywhere near normal or achefree or not tired. That's a really big dose of oxy. I take oxy for legit pain, and I'm on a large dose, but my total a day is only 80mg.

Hopefully someone else here will chime in on the timeline of how long the side effects of withdrawal last.
 
Hello Kathy,

When I entered Rehab in July '08, I was taking about 800 mg of Oxy a day. Roughly 10 80's, for about 3 months. I built up a tolerance very quickly, looking for the high.

In Rehab, I tapered off of Oxy. The withdrawals were pretty bad but I had support every day. It took two weeks for the taper to end, and after that I was fine. I didn't have a detox period after I took my last pill - I guess the taper worked.

If your hubby cold turkeyed 21 days ago, I would think he'd be feeling much better by now - at least the initial withdrawals should be over.

Of course he'd be weak (those pills gave me an enormous amount of energy). Depression is completely normal right after detox. Pain is also normal cause the pills blocked any pain he was having, for so long.

So, you can be supportive by telling him "the worst is over" and "it will only get better." Every day clean from now on, will get better and better for him. It takes time though, so be patient. He was strong enough to detox cold turkey, I'd think he can do anything now :)

Good luck,
emsmom
 
Dear Emsmom,
I think every addict deserves a chance, and also deserves a huge hug for kicking the habit. No, I do not understand what an addicts goes through or how they feel, but what iI saw him go through with withdrawal is something I never want to see again, but I do know it was a lot better then having to bury him. He is a great person, kind and loving, and was and is always there for me. I am sure all addicts are great people, it took him becoming one to open my eyes, and we have to keep in our hearts the person inside of the addict, that is the only thing that kept me going, the person he really was and is again. Now we will pick up the peices of our lives and rebuild! That's all we can do. Congratulations to you, I assume you have a child, and I know you wouldn't want your child to see you like that and do the same. Right now I am also helping someone else go clean, so far she is doing great. I would have never ever expected her to have an addiction. Go Luck, and thank you for your message. God Bless and keep you strong, YOU DID IT!!!!!
 
kathy,

Your story is amazing... I just read this now and I realize you posted a few days ago already. I just wanted to say that I too think you are an amazing woman. You stood by and helped your husband thru one of the single hardest things he could ever go thru. Especially with what he was on.. I can't even begin to imagine how bad his w/d were and I thought mine w/d were bad. I think he and you should both be so proud of yourselves. What an amazing accomplishment and it really gave me a lot to think about. I am now 61 days pills free and it just cements in my mind why I made the choice to become sober!

You keep up the good work and it sounRAB like you are doing everything perfectly! You must be one hell of a woman! That is all I can say!

You and yours will be in my thoughts and prayers!
~Secrets
 
Hello Kathy

I am sure you are very worried about your husband and have no doubt that he is suffering greatly at this point. His dose was very, very high and even though I walked off a much lower dose after a long, long taper, it was very, very hard on my body and brain.

Going off cold turkey is a plan that works for some. There is nothing wrong with it at all. The suffering will be greater and stronger than tapering and so the withdrawal symptoms are going to be very pronounced. The inability to sleep was a long lasting symptom for me and made evry thing else seem even worse. Lots of leg jerking when I tried to lay still. There was also lots of anxiety that went along with withdrawing. And depression... that was probably the very worse symptom for me and many others.

However, there are many, many things we can do to help ourselves during this pretty horrible time. Lots of hot baths during ther day calms the body and the mind for short perioRAB. I aslo took Magnesium as a supplement to help calm my nerves. I took two doses of 250 Mg... one in the morning, one in the evening. And, most importantly.. most importantly... I forced myself to move. Short walks at first, then longer ones. I moved around the house, foercing myself to sweep the floor even when evrything in my body and head rebeld against doing it. I had learned from others who went before me that exercise was a huge key in helping speed up the process of healing and restoring. Exercise helps speed up the process of our brains producing the natural chemicals that we need to function and feel normal.

Another thing that was vital for me was mental support from a professional. For me, that was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who helped me discover underlying causes that were all interwined with my abusing pain killers. In every drug abuser, there are things in our subconscious that so greatly contribute to out misuse of drugs. We are hiders... hiding from grief and hurt and past experiences.

I am also a cancer survivor. The year before my own journey in cancer treatment, I cared for both my parent and an uncle who were all diagnosed with cancer the ytear before within three weeks of one another. My dad and uncle died on the same day, my mom survived. As that ended, I was diagnosed. Oh, I was so brave and thought I had handled these adversities in life with true grit. Not so. I was stuffing down a lot of hurt and grief and eventually the pills allowed me to escape from facing it all. I hurt for my family, and I hurt for me. The pills also led me to a breakdown so total that I became non-functioning. Totally.

However, as I came off the pills, I began to heal not only from the pill addiction, but also from the grief and hurt of all that had happened. It is the mental and emotional healing that allows us to change our thinking about pills and hiding. The depression that had been hovering for so long, that became so magnified in withdrawal, did indeed finally lift. Today I am whole again and functioning happily. It can and does happen.

Please, Kathy, feel free to ask any specific questions at all. I have given an outline only of what my experience was. I gladly share any details because I so want others to know that it is possible to become whole again and enjoy life again.

With all best wishes
reach
 
Thank you so much for the replies. Your information was a huge help! God Bless all of you for being so strong. I have never seen anyone withdrawal before, and I hope I never have to again. He is doing much better now, but still having problems sleeping. He has beat cancer and leukemia , but he didn't think he had the strength to beat this. He said it reminded him of his leukemia, which was the worse. His pain killers went into his main arteries, through two inserted tubes, called Hickman lines. I guess that is why he was able to handle so many mgs. of Oxy. I wasn't with him back then, this is a second marriage for both of us. He was on suboxine, but he said it worked for a few weeks, then his cravings were back, and guess what he did? The doctor kicked him out when he failed his urine test. I stayed by his side and tried to help him, but I couldn't tell when he was lying to me anymore, so I gave him a choice early one morning, either quit his job and clean up, or I was not coming home anymore. I don't know why, but I guess he knew I wasn't messing around anymore. He called me and told me he quit his job, come get his keys so he couldn't drive anywhere. I work not far from home, so I could run back and forth to check on him. My daughter would come home from work at lunch and check on him too. He would call my cell non stop, but at least I knew he was fine. The second and third week and this week, he came to work with me. There is alot he can do there, and has helped out alot, but now he has gotten alot of his strength back, so he will go get a job. Everyone that knows him wants them to work for him, even though they know about his problem. He has always been one of the best in his field. I know I will worry, and I know I have to trust him again, this time I know alot of the signs, and I'll be watching him. His withdrawal was bad, and he said that he would not want to go through it again. I hope he remerabers the pain. He said the first week is the worst, after that, you know you will make it. His chart at the doctors now says "NO PAIN KILLERS".
Good luck to everyone trying to quit. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!! Thank you to my angels for your replies. I am proud of you, and you should be too!

Thank you,
Kathy44
 
Thank you! You too, are amazing. I was told that he would only clean up if he really wanted it, and I guess he did!!! I really think that addicts do try to go clean, but are scared, so they can't accomplish it. I only know how hard it is by being with him, but the addicts are the ones that really know just how bad it is, they, feel the pain. It is 28 days today, and I am so very proud of him! Congratulations on your victory too!!!

God bless you and keep you strong,
Kathy
 
Back
Top