New here and need advice

Mellie310 · 05-04-2006, 01:05 AM

Hi,

I'm new here and I need advice from somebody. I am a recovering alcoholic, have not had a drink in 14 years. Last year I found out that I had 10 bone spurs on my spine which cause excruciating pain. My dr. put me on Hydrocodone, which did nothing for the pain, but I loved the way they made me feel. At first, I took them as prescribed, 1 every 6 to 8 hours as needed. Then I thought, if one makes me feel this good, how good would I feel if I took 2 at a time, and it just snowballed from there. I started taking 4 at a time, then about 2 hours later, maybe another 3, then a few hours later another 4. I took between 8 to 10 of them a day. I noticed that I was having dizziness, not really dizzy I guess, just felt kinda "off" somehow and I was constantly tired. I've been doing this for about 9 months now, and of course I was having early refills, but my husband takes Tylenol w/codeine AS NEEDED, and when I'd run out of Hydro, I'd sneak into his Ty 3's. One day I took 7 of those all at once and got very sick. I also take 8 to 10 mgs. of Xanax per day, all at once.
My question is this............is this too much Hydrocodone and Xanax, or am I just thinking that it is. Also, can Hydrocodone cause this sleepiness and off kilter feeling?
Please, help me, as I'm scared of the way I feel these days. I've been trying to taper off of the Hydrocodone, but am having a little trouble, mostly with mental cravings and leg pain.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Melanie

bridgetmark · 05-04-2006, 03:30 AM

Melanie,
You are overdosing on the tylenol in the hydrocodone pills and that is causing the sleepiness and yucky feeling, is my guess. Max in a day (not all at once like you are doing) is 8 pills of the 7.5/500's that I take. I don't know what your are taking, but 4,000 mg is the absolute most tylenol you should have in a day. You need to be really careful, because all of that can really take a toll on your liver. Now, I don't know anything about the Xanax, someone else will have to answer that one.
It's great if you are trying to taper off the hydrocodone, you'll notice the less you take, the more the yucky feeling will go away. I'm on a slow taper now, and am down to 5 a day, over the course of the day and I'm feeling really great about it and not really having any w/d's. Every 5 days, I drop one hydrocodone pill (I'm taking the 7.5's). I'm doing this with my physician, he's been great. Good luck to you, keep coming to these boards, they're great!
Bridget

mpvt · 05-04-2006, 08:52 AM

You are running a very high risk of going into respitory failure taking that much of a benzo and mixing it with an opiate.You need to get professional help right away before you die in your sleep.Good luck....Dave

Blasterboy · 05-04-2006, 11:02 AM

Mellie, are you still going to AA, or did you stop that some time back. It seems to me that you're in a fully blown relapse. I take pain meds and benzo's for a pain issue and have none of the type of thinking that you talk of at all. Maybe this is because I go to AA, talk to my sponsor, keep honest (like you're been now,) and keep a spiritual maintenance. You know the deal, we're all one drink from a drunk and this using of drugs leaves you a lot closer to that next drink and it's also very dangerous. Please find the strength to step out in honesty at your local AA group or even go to NA if you can find the strength to do that, you certainly qualify now.

Really your life is at risk from all this and it's way to precious to be in such a position again. Gods saved you before and he'll do so again, but it is a two way deal and you have to walk the walk for God to guide you along the way.

Love in the Fellowship

Mike

Mellie310 · 05-04-2006, 01:32 PM

Hi guys, and thanks for your replies. I'm not doing very well tapering off the Hydrocodone, my dr. is weaning me off too fast I think. He cut me from, let's say 9 a day down to 6 all at once, told me to take 6 for 2 days, then 5 for 2 days, then 4 for 2 days, and I just think it's too fast like that. I'm not sleeping much at all, and when I do, it's very restless sleep, and I don't sleep very long, and my legs hurt so bad!!! Then, right after I get through with the Hydro w/d, he's going to wean me off all that Xanax, and I dread that, as I've gone through benzo w/d before and it was hell. I'm so scared that I almost want to stay on the pills rather than go through withdrawal, but I'm just so sick and tired of feeling bad all the time that I know I have to do it. There have been nights that I had trouble breathing while falling asleep. There have been many nights that I'd take 10 mgs. of Xanax, 3 Hydrocodone and 2 Skelaxin all at once. Those nights were bad, and I'd wonder if I'd even wake up the next morning. The mental cravings are bad right now too. I've been taking 2 at a time for about 4 days now, and I talked my husband into letting me have another 2 last night, about an hour after I took the first two.
I'm so scared, and I don't have any support system around me, husband is more concerned about what's for dinner and how early he can get to bed at night, I don't have any friends here, however, I did find an NA meeting and I'm going to go tonight. That's going to be hard too, because I haven't been to one in years, my ex-fiancee and I used to go to them together, he was the love of my life, but because of my catching him smoking marijuana when we'd both just gotten out of treatment, I dumped him. He eventually started dating this woman, who everybody knew was no good for him at all, I won't go into all the details, but he'd constantly kick her out and we'd get back together, that went on for 11 and a half years, and I just loved him so much. I always held out hope that eventually he'd get rid of her for good, but I knew that he was scared of her, she'd threatened to kill both of us, so he kept taking her back. Well, last Christmas, he told her to get lost again, and instead of leaving him, she murdered him. So walking into an NA meeting is going to bring back so many memories, and that's going to hurt. But it's what he'd want me to do if he were here, and I'm going to go ahead and do it. I can't believe this has happened, I can't believe I blew 14 years of sobriety, I was so proud of that.
Well, I'm rambling, I tend to do that when I'm scared, and I'm sorry. Would it be okay to post here if I have too much trouble? I hate being a burden on people.
Again, thank you for your replies, and I wish all of you good luck in your journey towards recovery.

In His love,
Melanie