hydrocodone addiction? Need advice...

coug · 10-26-2003, 01:43 AM

In april of this year(2003)I had TMJ surgery done. Afterward my doctor wrote me a presciption for Roxicet liquid since my mouth was wired shut I couldn't take pills. I actually wasn't having crucial pain but decided one night to go ahead and try the Roxicet, and so began my addiction. That was followed by a second bottle, then to generic hydrocodone pills from the same surgeon. After about the third time of asking him for a refill I was cut off. "Sorry try taking 800mg of ibuprofin instead". And so I searched and found a source to get my next bottle of hydrocodone from. Out of respect for those in search of more rather than getting help I'm not going to offer that source.

To make a long story short, it's been a little over 5 months and I was up to 4 or 5 pills a day of 10/650 hydrocodone. I never remember taking more than 5 because I feared the amount of acetaminophen I was taking daily more than the actual hydrocodone. For the past 3 to 4 days I've taken no more than 3 pills at 5mg(my 10mg pills split in half) hydrocodone each. So a total of 15mg of hydrocodone a day. I'm a very determined person and when want something done really bad I'll do it. My biggest fear isn't being off the hydrocodone and back to a normal life, but it's the possible W/D's I'll have once I completely stop.

Any advice, encouragement, how fast should I taper? Am I trying too quickly? It's been roughly 8 days and I've gone from 40 to 50mg down to no more than 15mg total.

Philster2003 · 10-26-2003, 10:44 AM

Coug, Its great you recognized your problem early before it really got out of hand. Going from 50mg to 15mg in 8 days is a steep taper but if you were able to do it without to much pain that’s a good thang. Usually 5-10% every 3-5 days is rule of thumb. You can easily taper of 15mg. I know you are breaking the 10mg in half. Break a 1/2 in 1/2 if that makes sense lol So if you are used to 15mg per day then go to 12.5mg per day bu breaking one of the halves in 1/2 and taking that. So you take 2 of the 10mg pill 1/2's and one 2.5mg 1/2. Then 3-5 days later try and go down another 2.5 and just take 2 of 10mg halves. If you stay this course in now time you will be at 0. Without having to go thru the pain of CT and W/D's.

Make sense. And don’t worry about life without pills, its wonderful as you will see. The pills are false niceness, real life without pills is reality and goodness. You will be amazed at how you will find that you really had a good life and were able to operate very well without pills.

Good luck

phil

coachgal · 10-26-2003, 11:15 AM

Hey Coug,
I think that is great that you have recognized the danger of these pills. You are doing sooo good. If you have already been able to essentially go down to 15 mg a day(as of 3 weeks ago, I was taking 40 10 mgs of hydro a day), if you go down a few mg a week or every 3-4 days, the withdraws may not be so bad, but you will have some..go to health store and ask them for some products that will help with narcotic withdrawal. Many of the posters here have tapered successfully or gone C/T and made it, and they were taking a whole lot more than you are. You can do this if you really want to, but you have to want it as these pills will take control before you know it. I could not taper, so I am using Suboxone to help with the cravings/ and it also helped with the withdrawals, but I still felt very tired and depressed...i am better today, but there are some days that I still don't feel like doing much. Give yourself credit that you have gotten this far...
Good Luck,
coachgal

coug · 10-26-2003, 05:43 PM

Well, I guess I can't honestly say I'm not feeling any W/D symptoms. Then again I've never had the symptoms listed out for me but I'll tell you what I've been experiencing.

-For approximately the past 8 days I've had what everyone tells me is a tension headache which comes and goes, but I think has gotten weaker the past 3 days. The first full day I felt it I had to lay down in bed. I can't remember if I started to taper before or after the headache so I'm not sure if it's due to the hydro taper.
-About the same amount of days I've been colder than normal. I turn the heat up at work where I'm usually freezing everyone else out. I turn the heat up at home which is something I rarely due.
-I can say that I do feel the depression symptoms because the other day at work I literally almost started crying listening to some depressing hold music on the phone. At the same time I missed my girlfriend so much within the first day of her trip(she went on a short 2 day trip for school) that when I called to leave her a message on her voice mail I almost started crying, I was literally holding back the tears.
-There have been some instances of anxiety which in turn made the headache worse but thankfully those aren't happening too often. And those were usually caused by my own thought processes.

If anyone thinks these are the symptoms of W/D let me know, specifically the headache thing. It's what bothers me the most.
If you have a list of hydrocodone withdrawal symptoms I'd like to see them. Also if I am experiencing W/D how long does it usually last? When can I expect to be free from them?

OBXboy · 10-26-2003, 05:59 PM

Coug-
I've never experienced the headaches, but can vouch for feeling too cold and feeling especially emotional, particularly when I am thinking about my lovely wife and wonderful son. My primary w/d symptom is insomnia. I did a taper with my last refill of 10mg pills and feel only the insomnia. from what I have read from others, my metabolism has made me lucky this time.

In adition to the above, you could experience diarrhea, flu-like symptoms, and continued "low" feelings for another 2, MAYBE, 3 days and, suddenly, magically, unexpectedly--things will look a lot better. This is my experience, anyway.

If you allow the use to continue, the W/Ds are apparently a lot worse. For the health of my liver, I took hydro holidays during my use and can recall only one really bad w/d. BUT, it was so bad, it lives as a reminder with me, I use that memory as the seductive thoughts of getting high on hydro sneak into the sieve that my brain is right now. If I can plug up one leak a day, I will be grateful.

Gook luck to you!