Addicted To Opiates And Trying To Kick Solo

I have been using oxycontin for about 2 years now. I have done up to 20 80 mg pills in 1 day. My tolerance to opiates is extremely high. Just yesterday I did 10 80 mg OC's and shot 2 grams of smack, and never felt a thing. I have been slowly getting worse and worse. It started out an addiction to vicodin for back pain. Now I do oxycontin, shoot smack, and on occasion smoke crack. I am a construction buisness owner who has been married to a non using wife for 20 years. I used to be a very happy ex crank addict. I fought addiction to meth for many years, and had been off of them for 10 years. It was the happiest 10 years of my life. Now I am caught up in this crap.I am going to try kicking my opiate habit by taking methadone starting at 80 mg the first day and dropping 10 mg a day until I get to 40 mg then dropping 5 mg a day until I get to 15 mg then dropping 2.5 mg a day until I am done. Does anyone have any input on this? I am doing this to help with the physical withdrawls, I know it is time to do or die. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
WELCOME! I don't know about tapering or methadone. But I do know you can quit for sure...You may consider however learning some basic tools to aid you in staying quit. Like some sort of treatment. Good job for making the step to admit you have a problem that is great. Someone well be along that knows some more about your situation. Just wanted to say hi.
Love,
Jane
Welcome Salmon,

Sorry about messing up your name.

Congratulations on your decision to save your life.

I have no experience with methadone. I took suboxone so I woulden't suffer from WD's. I went CT so many times I lost count. My attempts at quitting were a failure because I didn't ask for help.

There are people who will blame the "method" for failure (methadone or suboxone or...). The disease of addiction will make you fail if you let it. I'm sure your methadone plan will work if you stick to your plan. Are you seeeing an addiction specialist or going to AA/NA? I truly believe no one can do this alone. We all need support. We all need to understand addiction, what it is and how it effects us.

Congratulations again.

Catherine
Welcome & my heart goes out to you.I want to suggest getting into a Suboxone program.It has helped me stay off opiates & has allowed me the break I needed to start making better,healthier choices.It is I feel alot safer than methodone & can really make a difference.
More importantly,please know your not alone through this.This board has so much kindness & support.
It sounds like your tolerence is sky high so just trying to stop may be very hard,too hard Im afraid to say.
Please look into Suboxone.Do a web search,ask questions & learn all you can on it,.
I wish you well & I hope you keep posting you should not have to feel alone through this
molly
You really should behonest with your wife, you really need support through the WD, I could not imagine doing it on my own.

FELICIA
39 days
One day at a time
i think you may benefit form medical supervision...........

to monitor your detox...........

oxy , crack, is not a good combo for your heart honey.

big hug to you and big prayer for your right now..........

will someone please help here, with links and SUB info or AA.....

i am so glad you found this board........
please keep posting ok.........
we love to have you here............

i am thumper.

nice to meet you.

ps EDIT..................what is smack?
Here is information on suboxone:

http://www.buprenorphine.samhsa.gov/about.html

The National Council on Alcoholism.
Fights the sigma and the disease of alcoholism and other drug addictions

http://www.ncadd.org/

Alcoholics Anonymous web site:

http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org...Media=PlayFlash

Narcotics Anonymous web site:

http://www.na.org/
thank you catherine..........

*hugS*

sir..........

i was wondering are you ok..........

beacuse doing that much may be to much for you for withdraw........

can you go to the doctor? and get some help ...please

thumper
i hope you keep posting.......

Your welcome Thumper.

Where are you Sal??????

Catherine
Thank you all for input.I am sick as a dog right now with the flu, and I am trying to kick.what a combo, but oh well I need to make it this time. I have gone 9 days without opiates doing the taper method with the methadone, and buckeled to the temptation. I am going to try and be stronger this time. Hell I dont even get high when I use anymore.no matter how much. I am done. Thanks 4 the support I will try and post my progress.
Are you sure it's the flu? From what I've read here withdrawing from opiates can be like the flu...

Anyway, welcome to the board!
dear sal, i have been off opiates for 3 wks. i had to get away from home, kids, job etc. to detox the first week. i was assisted, but it still wasn't easy. i came home after first week. the worst was over, but there is still withdrawal. i'm nauseated, weak and ache all over. some days i feel better and then it hits again. i understand that the good days will become more frequent with time. i try not to over do it. i rest alot, but i also try to stretch, exercise a little and do some small chores. i've over did it a few days and that definitely increased the pain. so take it easy and remember it will get better. give your body what it needs to heal itself. opiates completely change the way your brain produces chemicals and it will slowly begin to work again if you remain opiate free. opiates wreck havoc on a human mind. i can definitely see clearer and focus more already and that is worth it all. i had forgotten who i was, because opiates altered ME. i pray god will bless you and give you a peace that surpasses understanding. ask HIM!
I am sure what I have is the flu. I have gone through withdrawls before. I have attempted detox many times. Because of my situation I feel the need to kick this habit solo. I will not go into much detail about it, but I will say I have given myself a time limit before going completley honest with everyone in my life and seeking profesional help. I will also say that if it comes to that I will deffinitley be saving my life, but risk loosing my 20 year marriage, my business, my house, and everything else I have worked so hard for all of my life. I think it is possible to kick this habit solo with sheer will power, determination, and tapering with methadone to get past the physical symptoms. I kicked methamphetamines over 15 years ago, and I say that I was about as deep into that as anybody could be. I was shooting meth at age 15, and continued until I was about 25. The time came where I decided that there was no room in my life for drugs anymore, and I put them down never to pick up again until opiates came sneaking into my life. I appreciate the input from everybody. I am interested in hearing from anybody who has try tapering off strong opiates with methadone. I ahve tried this several times and have been successful until I get down to about 20mg, and that is where I normally get weak and give in to the cravings. I am going to try and do something different at that point this time. Because I firmly belive that if you do what you have always done you will get what you have always got. So something must obviously change this time. Good luck and thanks again all.

Salmonsly
Hello Salmonsly,

I really admire what you are doing. You don't have to go through this alone. No one will know you are detoxing, not your family not anyone. Quitting opiates isn't easy.

Did you read the information about suboxone? A suboxone detox is private.

I also gave you sites on AA and NA.

You said you didn't get high from your DOC anymore. None of us got high anymore. We all used to keep the WD's away.

It's OK to ask for help. The only people that will know about this are the people you tell. I hope someone has done the same thing you are doing so that they can give you advice.
I did not use methadone to withdraw, I am using Suboxone and it leaves me with absolutely no cravings whatsoever. Maybe when you get to that certain point with the methadone you can switch over and try subs. I've heard from quite a few people that they had used subs to get off methadone so it's not an unusual situation. Also, you had mentioned that you wanted to try this alone but does that mean that you won't even talk to a professional or join a group? No one in your immediate circle has to know as far as losing your company, etc. Please update us on how you're doing - I'd love to talk with you more. Dawnee
Welcome. There are some great people on this board. We are all addicts, some clean, some not yet. I'm 5 1/2 months clean of Vicodin (except this week for a Kidney stone). And many people here helped me thru it. Its the best feeling in the world being free of those demons. You can do it. One day at a time. It sounds like you've reached your limit and are ready to quit. It will be tough but worth it.
Gina
Dear Salmon

If strong opiates includes Dilaudid, then i successfully tapered off of them..
I had a sky high tolerance too...didnt get a buzz whatsoever, and i was amazed that it was so easy to jump down from around 24-30 a day to taking 8 a day as my first day of taper..

ive heard others say this too...that its surprising how low you can go when your up that high, and without getting withdrawals...they didnt even hit me till i started going down to 6 and less a day....and to be honest..as miserable as they were...they were no where as bad as i had worked them up to be in my head...

Ive been posting here since last year and if you pull up my name ( alicap ) you can read the posts i did here while going through it each day...

I dont however know anything about the crank or whatever it is you also take...i can only tell you that from a pain pill stand point, i feel methadone would be way over the top in what youd need to get off the narcotic alone....

Tapering isnt easy but others here have done it and it sounds like you have done it in the past too...you just have to be 100% fed up and unwilling to go even one more day letting pills control your life....

In hindsight, what i suffered through in withdrawals was nothing compared to what i probably deserved for taking them for so long after my pain lessened..
Being or feeling sickly for a week or 10 days is a walk in the park compared to what you get back, and a price id pay over and over again to live the way i do now....no longer having to worry about taking pills every day...

You can do this...you know you can..

keep posting and let us know how its going..

What a great gift to give yourself for the start of a new Year 2007!!

Hugs

Ali