Trying to get off percocet/vicodin.

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Recovery2008

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I am a 20 year old female, and I've been taking percocet on and off for the past two years. It started with an injury at work, I had never taken any drugs, and hardly ever drank before my injury. They prescribed me 5/325 mg. percocet for the pain, but I never abused it, and strictly took it only for pain, for the first I'd say, four months. I than moved out of state, and was off the percocet for awhile. When I moved back out to the state I was injured in, I began working my old job and was than injured again, the pain in my back returned and was worse then ever. I was prescribed percocet, the same dose and began taking it, twice a day as directed. Then after me and my boyfriend of 3 years broke up, (he cheated on me) I began taking four to five a day, not just for the pain relief, but for the nurab feeling it gave me, it took my mind off everything and helped me cope. That's when the addiction, I'd say started. When I was forced to move back to my home state, I began to panic because I had to get off of them, so I started stealing them off my mother, and started seeing a doctor at my homestate when I could no longer sneak them from her anymore (she caught on, and locked them up) he prescribed me 5/500 vicodin and I was taking up to 5 or 6 a day, when I was only supposed to be taking 1 or 2. I began faking more pain, ovarian cysts, tooth pain, getting them off of other people, more and more emergency room visits, urgent care visits. I am so ashamed of myself...I want to get off of these pills, I feel like I want to, but mentally my head loves and craves the feeling these pills give me, I feel like I can't stop. I don't know what to do, my doctor here won't prescribe me any more vicodin, I have no access to anything from anyone else, so I'm at the end of the rope right now. I want to see him, and ask if he can help me taper myself off, but I'm not sure how to even ask, or if he will help me do that. I've done online research and read the horror stories of the withdrawals, body pains, headaches, nausea. I feel like I can overcome that, but it's the depression and the mental part I'm scared of. If anyone could offer some advice, or some worRAB of wisdom, I'm all ears. Thanks for reading.
 
What Suboxone does is it fills your opitate receptors with Bupenorphine, which is also an opiate but not a full opiate antagonist like Percocet or Vicodan so you won't get high. Since those receptors are filled with the Bupe, even if you took any other opiate they wouldn't do anything for you. You have to be in the first stages of withdrawal to start but literally after 20 minutes my withdrawals were almost gone. Some ppl stay on it for a very short period of time and some a long time, it really depenRAB on what you are comfortable with. I have been on for 18 months and plan to start my taper in six months. When it is time to come off, the Dr will taper you very slowly. You will probably have some w/d but nothing even close to percs or Vicodan and if you have a good Dr, they will give you meRAB to help with that. I know that it saved my life and I also know that some ppl don't agree and say to gocold turkey. I tried that many times but the depression and anxiety was far more than I could handle. I probably could have done the physical part cause it doesn't last too long but the mental part I just could not do but thats me. Feel free to ask anything you want. Good luck and one day at a time, LinRAB
 
Hows it goin Recovery2008? Your story realy hits home, I can completey relate. I never was into drugs and only drank occansionaly. When I was 24 I had to have knee surgery and then had it again six months later. For me it was a bad time to get introduced to pain killers because of what I was going through emotionally and mentaly. Which was my wife had been having an affair on me, and I had been with her since we weir 14, so anyways not only did I figure out wow these perscriptions don't make me physically hurt but they also make me feel ok mentally and I can cope with everything I am going through with this stuff. Same as you started of with the suggested dose. Then it progressed into finding out other people I knew where taking opiates, so I started getting them from other people. Same as you started stealing them from my mom, and giving her excuses why I needed them. I got diagnosed with diverticulitis (stomach issue) which caused abdomenal pain, in which I exaggerated the pain. When really it is something I can deal with without pain meRAB. Anyways the usage progressed into I was taking what I called a cocktail which is Vic's, Muscler Relaxers and Valium, and I was taking a lot daily and I mean a lot. Just like you I got to the point of shame. It sucks how bad this stuff takes you away from the person you actually are. I know you don't feel like anything other then pills can bring real happines, but I PROMISE you things can go back to the way they where. You can feel normal again. Those are some of the key things to remeraber when going through a withdrawl (things can only get better), and even though you will feel depressed and life sucks, your gonna have to stuff in your brain that all the mental and physical hurt from withdrawl will go away. If you have a strong willpower and self discipline then you might be able to quit cold turkey, but if you realy honest wanna stop and don't think you can by yourself, then you should check yourself into somewhere for about a month. Only you know what you are capable and not capable of, so just be honest with yourself. I personaly have quit numerous times and everytime it is cold turkey, so if you go that route and want feedback on what to expect just let me know. I'm sorry you have to go through this and I hope you the best and I PROMISE PROMISE if you quit, a month from now you will feel like a new person.
 
Hi, You will find a lot of support here. And you can check out previous posts by doing a search. I have a blog about tapering off of Percocet if you want to check it out. There is a detox plan at the top of this board that I also used. L-tyrosene will help with the depression and blahhhs. I agree that this is the hardest part. But it passes and you get your energy back and good mood. You can get on the other side of your addiction. Many of us here have.
 
I totally agree with a lot of what you said Alldone, however, when you say having strong willpower and self discipline then you can go cold turkey. That is the part I disagree with. It's almost like saying, hey you have a kidney stone, there is medication to help but if you just have strong willpower and self discipline then you can get through it without the help of medication. The medication is out there to help with the withdrawals so you can be of sound mind to start treatment on an outpatient basis. Not everyone neeRAB inpatient but I agree that some ppl do. If the medication is there and won't make you high, takes away the withdrawal and cravings and keeps you from using because if you do while on Sub it won't even do anything then why not try the medication. It's up to you Hun and to each their own, I just know that Sub has saved my life and returned me to the person I was before I started using and in doing so, I was able to go to outpatient treatment to learn why I got addicted and relaspe prevention. I still go to meetings because I love them so much and it's nice to talk to ppl who truly understand and I don't feel so alone in this fight. I know we all agree on something, you can do this and I know it. Some of us were so deep in the hole of addiction that it seemed like it was a lost cause to even try to get clean but we did and I know you can as well.

Remeraber it's one day at a time, one hour at s time, one minute at a time and sometimes one second at a time but you can do this. *hugs* LinRAB
 
Hi there, your story sounRAB just like mine. It started out as a true pain issue and escalated into deep addiction. I was taking upwarRAB of 25-30 Percocet 5/325 a day knowing that with that much Tylenol I was killing my liver but I didn't care, I needed my pills no matter what. I went to countless ERs, urgent care clinics, Drs and Dentists to get my pills. I am red flagged at almost every hospital within 200 miles of me. My husband would drive me to hospitals in different cities every few days and finally one day I looked at him after I told him I needed to go to another place. This time I really looked at him and saw that this was it. My addiction had broken him down and he thought this was all because of pain. He now says he kinda knew there was a problem but didn't wanna admit it himself. Well that day I swore was the last day I would put him and my three year old girl through this. I was done, truly done this time so I researched opiate addiction online and decided to go on Suboxone. I know many ppl don't agree with it but Suboxone saved my life. I went in to the Dr in full withdrawal and they made me comfortable and gave me my first dose. I am not exaggerating when I say that within 20 minutes I was already starting to feel like my old self again. We finally reached a dose that worked for me and I then started meetings and intensive outpatient treatment. I have been clean since May 17th 2009 and have never felt better. There have been ups and downs of course but I take it one day at a time and some days one minute at a time. You can do this but you have to really be ready and have that want and need. Btw, I am 29 so not too much older than you. Good luck, LinRAB
 
I just want to say that I AM happy and feel great and my clean date is Sept 30, it doesn't take all that long. I have lots of energy. I have already wrapped my kiRAB presents and the tree is being decorated today and it's only the 16th of Noveraber. I move through my days gently not driven as much as possible. I remeraber when all I did was lay on the sofa and watch movies all day when i was dotoxing. I know it's scarey. It was for me because i had to cut off my supplier: my doc. and I have fibromyalgia flares and the thought of going through them without the percs was something that kept me on them because they were in the house for "pain flares". Yeah right. Well I have some pain but it's nothing like what i imagined. I actually hurt more when i was on the percs. I found a journal from 2005 that contained a taper schedule. So it's taken me 5 years to finally get off of them. I feel good about myself. I don't have to take a pill every 5 hours, I am no longer constipated, I stopped drinking which i started when i started taking the percs. I sleep well. I wake up happy. It's all good. So look at the positives. And hey life is too short for all that fear and misery. Also, getting outside in nature helps, it really does. Just do it. Keep posting and we'll go through this with you. You aren't alone.
 
I am on 100mg of percocet a day, I have been for about a year. If I go cold turkey on this amount what can I expect, and is there a chance I would be able to do it and quit for good? Can I DIE??! I am sooo scaried. Just want my life back! Any tips???
 
Thanks to you both for your replies. When you stopped this medication how long did the depression last? I am dreading this but since I'm so young I NEED to get off this medication because I can't let this control my life any more. My boyfriend has moved out of state to relocate for his job so I'm going to have to do this alone with no support. I'm so scared of getting off because I don't know how I'm going to do it alone and how this depression is going to affect me. I'm hoping my doctor will understand and taper me off of this, so that I will not have to deal with the heavy withdrawals, physically. I know the depression will hit me hard because even when I'm waiting for my next "dose" I can feel it set in and that's all I can think about. What keeps me going is that I was happy before these pills, so I am hoping I can learn to be me again, and happy clean and sober. It will just take some time to get used to it. I am still having pain in my neck and my back, but hopefully I can find a non-narcotic medication to take when the pain gets severe. The Suboxone you were talking about can you give me more information on this, how it works and how long were you on it for? I just want to be me again, and not have to rely on pills for my "happiness."
 
Look for a doctor who uses SUBOXONE. I know several people who were injured and became addicted to vicodin, it's very common. Suboxone is a drug that tapers you down from the vicodin but it cannot be abused. It's safe and effective. Check it out, see if it's something you're interested and good luck you can do this :)
 
Dear Recovery:

Have you thought about maybe seeing a mental health doctor for the depression issues? It really helps. You have to get off the pain pills obviously. You are way too young to be using anything for chronic pain unless absolutely necessary. The possibility of addiction is too great. I know because I started at 40 with very ligitimate reasons to use oxycodone (which is what is in percocet) and now I am plagued with addiction and pain. I tried to taper down but the holidays and the stress of it messed me up. I currently get my script but I am going to try to at least cut down from 4 to 3 or maybe 2 a day. I just can't stand the pain. I am going to have injections. Hopefully that will help. we are all here for you. We are all in the same boat. I just hope we can keep each other from sinking.

oxygirl
 
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