Hi starado,
Do you have enough medicine left to do a slow taper? If you try to quit cold turkey, it's a pretty miserable experience, but if you have the ability to taper it shouldn't be too bad. Just take it SLOW. I tried to quit cold turkey from vicodin, but the opiate withdrawals were horrific. The people on this board advised me to taper. Once I started to taper, my body started to feel normal again, and I was able to get almost completely off (I'm still at 1/2 tab a day, but it I'm on the home stretch now.)
Also bear in mind that you have an important job to do, and too fast of a detox will impair you both physically and mentally. If you have an understanding physician, definitely talk to him/her for advice on how to taper so you can still live your life and continue do your job *safely* (emphasis on safety, since you're a firefighter).
If you still have chronic pain from your injury, that pain could resume as you taper down, so you might also want to see a doctor to talk about alternate pain management. You might not need it at this point, but opiates really mess with our pain receptors, and can make pain worse at the start. I've gone through a horrible time with rebound headaches that ended up worse than the headaches I was treated for in the first place. That pain can drive you right back to the pills, so do talk to a professional. You don't want to have to do this more than once.
Best of luck to you. I'm really sorry that this happened. You got injured performing a heroic act, so whatever you do, don't beat up on yourself for becoming dependent. If you can fight fires, you can fight lortab. Hang in there. You CAN do it.
