Vicodin Recovery - Starting Week 4

[Wannabehappy]

Hello, this is my first post on a forum of any type. I have been reading some of your trials with vicodin withdrawl and I must say it makes me feel better to know I'm not alone or going through something not normal. Actually it isn't normal because we wouldn't have gotten hooked on the stuff if we realized how devastating the withdrawls are.
So, thank all of you for your posts.

I'm beginning week # 4 tomorrow 10/27/09. I still have mild diarrea, severe but short lived headaches, nausea and occasional vomitting. I have restless leg and it has manifested itself tremendously since I quit. Most of the body aches are finally gone. But they were very bad two nights ago. The insomnia is still here but that's another story of addiction to add insult to injury. Unpleasant feelings come and go more with less frquency than week # 1 but sometimes they are just as intense. I thought I had more problems than normal until reading some of your posts. This forum media may be more theraputic than we think.

My daily habit for 8 years was 2-4, 7.25/500 hydrocodone a day. Normally it was 2-3. But the real problem I believe is the 8 years. It has been more emotionaly challenging to quit than I had thought.
I will post more later, but I wanted to begin and join the group. Hope I can help some of you. I have other addictions so I have all kinds of empathy, sympathy and first hand knowledge.

Happy Trails all, "wannabehappy"

[Callie79]

Congratulations on your recovery!!! I am in week 4 and it hasn't been easy.. if i didn't have anxiety from this.. this whole process would have been a lot easier.. I just want to know if that ever goes away... i can take waking up earlier than normal.. just not liking the anxious or guilty feelings about stupid things.... Your past your week 4 now.. does it get better???

[Wannabehappy]

Hello, Callie79.

Congratulations back to you for getting in to week # 4. I'm on week # 6 now and it is finally getting to feel like I'm going to return to normalcy very soon. In fact, with the exception of some insomnia it is pretty much over.

Week # 4 was a tough one for me becuase I thought, "Well this has been long enough! Why am I still having these roller coaster withdrawls?"

I'd have 2 O.k. days that weren't too annoying and then, Bam! I felt like week # 2 again for a day.

Vicodin is some very powerful stuff. I had mild hallucinations for a couple
of hours early last week. (that was the beginning of week # 5) I don't know where that came from. Well, yes I do; it came from some traces of the poison Vicodin still screaming to stay in my mind and body.

If you have read my posts to PainsofXavier I suggested warm baths. They really work. Short term but they work. Sipping hot herbal tea is a new fad of mine that helps as well. PainsofXavior and Denon both agreed about the baths.

Go turn it on, get in and relax. Tell me later how it feels afterwards. It really works. After you have relaxed and you begin to "Fidgit" start occupying yourself with something you like or need to do. Writing on this forum is a huge help to me as well as doing some chores around my home that I've let slide. Do little positive things to help yourself be better at something. Get better at your hobby, academic interests, do some overtime play with your pet(s) or children in your life. Perhaps make a seniors life a little easier and enjoyable. Helping others really helps me. But that's true for most people.

That's why I'm so long winded on these posts. I'm helping myself and hoping that something I write will stick on you and helps.

One last thing. Have you noticed a phenomonen that time seems to be moving slower now that your off the Vicodin?

Be strong and be good to yourself. Go take a bath. Shop for a rubber duck and an inflatable bath pillow tomorrow. Wannabehappy

[Wannabehappy]

Callie 79

Sorry I did not address your feelings of anxiety, guilt and just "stupid things" as you put it. Well I have and had those same emotions. We are addicts and we feel guilty about it.
Anyone who's been or is in our shoes feels the same. If they say they don't they are just in denial. I have other addictions (alcohol) which I am also going through withdrawls on. Most of us who are easily addicted have more than one bad habit. If vicodin is your only (poison) then you are almost to the end of the rainbow!

You need to feel very proud of your recent accomplishment which is not easy. It's very tough.

I believe those feelings are common amongst all of us and those negative feelings will fade away. Just always remember how murky and dangerous time can be. It may lull you in to the false sense that you can try the poison again without negative effects. Wrong!

The very definition of insanity is doing the same things over & over and expecting different results. I have picked up the bottle so many hundreds of times and expected myself to be able to control the consumption of it. It just doesn't work. That is another of my "Stupid things". But, I'm in control now!

Hang tough! You are near the finish line. God Bless you, Wannabehappy

[reachout]

Hi

Just wanted to put my own 2 cents in here. Smiles.

I learned to think of each symptom that comes with withdrawal as a symptom of healing, not of suffering. Each period of anxiety that came, I reminded myself that it is all part of the healing process. The symptom passes and we are yet another step closer to healing our bodies, brains and souls.

Please don't despair when the legs bounce on the bed or the mind is fretful... these things do abate and eventually vanish. They begin to occur less frequently and pass more quickly. Step by step, day by day, we heal. and once the healing has happened, we can look forward to the rest of our lives being so much more normal than they have been in years.

Take care, stand strong, and continue to heal.

reach