I know this post is going to be long, but please bare with me and read it all!

Hi, I'm 21 years old and me and my boyfriend are both addicted to lortabs. Taking them makes dealing with everyday stuff so much easier. We have been using for about 4 years, and at first it was an occasional thing but then we got a steady, cheap hook-up and it became an everyday thing. Generally we won't go for more then like 1 or 2 days without using and on an average day we take around 5-10 pills at a time (depending on how strong they are, or how many we can afford that day, today I took 7 lortab 7.5's) We also take perc's, and if we cant find lortabs or perc's then we will take whatever else we can get (usually it's just lortabs and perc's tho) When I started taking them I of course only took 1 at a time and now I'm up to taking a lot more. Sometimes they would make me sick and I would occasionally throw up a couple of hours after I took them, but it didnt happen all the time. In the end of June I started getting really sick, and I started throwing up every single day, usually multiple times a day too. I lost a bunch of weight and dropped down from around 120 pounds to 106 because of all the throwing up. If I don't take any lortabs I get really sick, I start sneezing, I feel really weak and it's hard to even get up and walk or get dressed or cook food or anything! I'm pretty sure the longest I have went without them for a really long time is 2 days. Maybe 3 at the most.. It's becoming really expensive and I ended up having to quit my job because I was too sick to work with all the throwing up and feeling weak. If I take lortabs it gives me energy and I dont feel depressed, but when I dont take them I can hardly do anything but lay in bed and I feel anwry and depressed and sad... My boyfriend is the same way. He also gets sick after we havent taken them for a couple of days. We finally figured it out and put 2 and 2 together that we were prob getting sick from not taking them, as opposed to having a cold or the flu as it commonly feels like.

I took some on Friday, and then I didnt take any on Saturday or Sunday and on Sunday night I felt like I was going to have a panic attack.. I was really stressed out, my body hurt, I was really weak and it was hard to move and I was suppose to be starting a new job in the morning on monday and I was just feeling so overwhelmed all the sudden, I started panicking and it was hard to breath and I felt super depressed and just started crying uncontrollably. I'm so sick of living like this, I have to lie to my mom about where we are going when we go to get lortabs, I have to lie about why I am sick all the time.. I have to lie about where my money goes. I dont want to be sick anymore.. I want to be normal again. I used to have tons of energy and I would always keep my house clean and go to the gym and want to hang out on the weekends with friends but now I never have energy to do those things unless I take lortabs. I dont know where to go for help. Me and my boyfriend both want to stop taking them and get our lives back but sometimes I feel like I dont really want to stop! I like them so much. I love how they make me feel... But yet I hate being sick.

Are there ways to make the withdrawls easier? Is there something I can do to ween myself off them? How lond does one typically feel sick for after you stop taking them? I would like to find out more and hopefully gain the courage to stop taking them. Please if you have any help or words of wisdom at all I would appreciate it very much. I just want my life back!! Also I would like to know of the dangers of abusing painkillers, I know they are bad on your liver but I dont really know the full extent of the dangers involved. Maybe if I was aware of the danger it might be an incentive to quit..

Thank you for reading this.

All I can say is there are lots of posts on here where people have been through the same or are currently right in the middle of trying to quit. You are so young....that definitely helps. You bounce back quicker.

There is really no magic bullet for withdrawl. I think tapering down as low as possible and then jumping off cold turkey is best. This is what I did. But..it is different for everyone and you'll get other opinions. To manage symptoms most people use over the counter aids and just hunker down for a few days to get through it. Advil, Immodium, Vitamins, Fluids, Hot Baths...read through some of the other posts on this issue.

As far as what you are doing to your body, the Tylenol in Lortab can certainly harm your liver in the quantities you are using. The best way to find out if you have any problem is the see a doctor and be honest about the problem. If you find a good physician sometimes they can help with the detox process as well. The fact that you are vomiting and loosing weight when you take the pills does not sound good..it certainly isn't healthy. Probably the pills causing this. I remember I used to have times if I took too much at once I would get very sick...that was toward the end of my using. You reach a point where you keep chasing that high and you never get it back. Trust me..it doesn't get better.

After a while the pills don't work the same anymore..sounds like you are finding that out. Either you escalate and use more or stronger drugs, you overdose, you remain a slave to the little amber bottle or you make up your mind to stop. You are willing to go to any lengths to get and use your drug, ask yourself if you are willing to go to any lengths to stop.

You both are so young and already addicts....I am 40 years old and a single mother and have been through many years of addictions but sobriety as well. Stop now while you can!!! Go back to school , get your career going and travel, etc. Trust me when I say there is more to life than hydros. I use to think the same thing had fun and could do anything in the world while on hydros. It will creep up on you and before you know it, you're on a 20+ a day habit just to feel normal. I got to a point of 35+ a day habit and I became a recluse. :eek: Oh boy, do I know the throwing up thing...i lost 25lbs from it but I was also an athelete and that could have contributed to it as well.

You know what really scared me straight? I like you, got on these boards and read and read. Then one day, I read from a poster's wife that came on here to give everybody a thank you but wanted to let everybody know that her husband died from pills overdose. I cannot forget it and it was around Christmas time and they had young children! :( It was so so sad and somber that whole day on the boards. My heart sank when I read it because he was trying to get off the pills and came here for support but in the end he OD. I can't remember the poster's name, it was something like "dad or father something".


As you know hydros have tylenol in it and your liver can only take 4 grams (4000mg) a day so eventually it can lead to liver toxicity.

Please just read the boards and quit while you can. Being jobless is the best way and doing either cold turkey or Subutex may be an option for both of you. You both can do it together. Don't be scared to be sober, you both sound so incredibly bright and already have great personalities. Its not the hydrso that give you that, it just seems like it enhances it but its you.

Good luck and take care. :cool:

Thank you for the replies. I'm actually going to start going back to school in January, but I'm worried with the whole feeling too weak to do anything that I wont be able to do work and school. And I did read a bunch of threads last night about quitting hydro, most of what I saw was to do the taper down method and me and my boyfriend have talked about that but I just dont think we could do it that way, I think I would still end up craving more and getting sick once I stopped. Like I said before I haven't gone longer then 1-3 days tops without them for so long that I have no idea what I would feel like after a week or two of not taking them.
I actually think that's pretty sad that I have been taking them that steady for the past couple of years, I didn't even see it coming and now here I am stuck with this stupid addiction that is physically, emotionally, & financially draining.


And my mom's good friend from when I was younger actually had a problem with painkillers, she would go to the doctor and make up any story she could just to get some... She also died from them. So death isn't far from the back of my mind.

Tabs, Oh sweetie you are so young and have so much life ahead of you.....how exciting to be going back to school! It is very encouraging that the two of you have realized that you have a problem and want to stop.....that is the first step. You now need to set your mind to it and go for it!!!!!!!! You can do it! I know first hand just how you feel and how scary and frustrating it is of the unknown of not knowing how you are going to feel once you are off the pills and have all the toxins out of your system. Scary huh???

Is there anyone the two of you can trust to tell them about your addiction and maybe have them hold your pills for you while you attempt a slow taper? Have a taper schedule in place and have this person dole only the exact amount of pills out to you per day?

If you dont think a taper is right for you then seek out a doctor who can help you. Maybe you could go on the Suboxone or even Methadone. There are options.....seek help and go for it! Just think, you could be clean and feeling great before you start college in January!

I hope you both find what you are looking for!

ValleyGurl

hey, I know how you feel. I am 24 and have been addicted to them since I was 15. In that time tI have taken pills almost daily. I got clean for five months, but went back to using.
I went to the doctor today and admitted everything, that I am up to almost 15 a day. He started me on methadone. It seems to be helping. Go to the doctor and get help, this addiction doesnt get better or go away on its own.
I wish you the best of luck, my husband and I are going through the same thing.

I'm just afraid of replacing one addiction with another.. I dont want to start using methadones (which I have taken before, actually) and become dependant on them instead of lortabs.

Tabs....I agree. Today is the first time I have ever taken methadone, and they make me feel better than the lortabs did, I am afraid that this isnt going to work, I want so bad to stop this, I am on 5mg I am supposed to take two tablets twice a day for they first two days, they one tablet three times a day for three days, the one tablet twice a day for three days and then one a day until they are gone (i have a script of 30)
It has to be set in your mind that you want to stop, and I do, I havent taken more that prescribed so far. Wish me luck too!