Iam curious how many people on here have gone cold turkey from their addiction to pain pills....... I work in the addiction field and have stuggled with addiction for years. Today Iam clean and have been for a while now.
I have gone cold turkey before and I have used sub........
The last time was cold turkey and it took me about 7 days to get where I could function half way normal and soon hit meetings where I continue today to stay sober. This is part of a research paper Iam doing for a class on addiction I know it depends on how much you have done etc. But those that would share I would apperciate a quick overview of what you went through in going cold turkey.
Thanks
I went cold turky i was doing anywere from 10 to 12 80mg of Oxys a day...for 2 years........... went home weighin 92 pounds and looking worse than death... i was absolutly deathly ill....... i threw up about 200 times the first night no joke, and about the same for a week strait, didnt eat hardly anything except gateraid for about a month couldnt keep it down..... couldnt walk for about two weeks cold sweats and muscle aches for about a month and it took about 6 months to even feel somewhat normal and have energy to even walk around outside.......
anything else you need to know?
pants
anything else you need to know?
pants
I did CT. It was pretty uncomfortable but not dabilitating. Took about a week or so before I felt fairly normal. I didn't take a whole lot though. It was prescribed for pain. I became dependant on it fairly quick. I couldn't imagine it if I was taking the amounts I know some people take. Pretty easy to see why the addiction/use gets out of hand though. To be honest, this board helped me a lot. I first joined it about a month after I started taking it because I was kind of concerned about it and started to feel like I actually liked it. Uh Oh... I knew absolutely NOTHING about it and through the help of a lot of kind people here (some of which are still here), they pretty much convinced me that it wasn't in my best interest. Oh ya, it was Vicodin.
hi
i will share with you what i went thru going cold turkey...
first of all i dont recommend it, the agony is awful, i did relapse after doing cold turkey and i also relapsed after going thru treatment at a rehab facility that doesnt believe in the use of suboxone, i am doing well today after finding a facility that uses suboxone and the sub spared me of all the agony one goes thru in withdrawals,
cold turkey was like this for me:
as the anticipation of what cold turkey is gonna feel like when the day arrives and as i am looking at a pill bottle with only a few left i would start to feel very depressed and irritable, i would always have to fight with myself not to pick up the phone and play my doctor for just "one more refill"
as i swallowed my last pill and still under the influence of vicodin, my brain would tell me you can handle this, it wont be so hard....
of course i never could do the taper route so the next morning after taking my last pill the night before was COLD TURKEY DAY UGH!!!!!!
it would start out like this..... as soon as my eyelids opened the morning of cold turkey day the first thought that came to my mind was pills! the same thought i would have when i had a good supply of pills, i would be so happy that i had a good supply and would get up out of bed take my pills and look forward to the day having fun because i had that supermom energy from vicodin.
since i have decided to go cold turkey, a feeling of doom and depression would come over me and i wouldnt get out of the bed, my kids would be like whats wrong mom?
nothing in the world felt like fun so i would be angry and pout in my bed.
as the days went by, the energy level in my body was drained, talk about exhaustion... i would be so lethargic i could barely walk, i remember being so tired that i couldnt even reach down to fill my dogs water bowl. so nothing got done around the house nor did i go anywhere, i had to call off work because i couldnt physically function because of the exhaustion and depression. your body gets so use to having a stimulant, take it away cold turkey.... awful agony!!!
then i would get this awful feeling of electrical pulses going thru my body where it felt like you would lose your mind, and then the charlie horses! i got them so bad one night in my calves...i woke up screaming bloody murder until the muscle spasm relaxed.
as time goes on then its time for insomnia to come for a visit! doesnt this all sound like fun?? then of course the irritability comes and then there is a feeling of no hope for the future, how can i live my life with out a chemical is the next thought. that is why one goes back to using, to relieve themselves of the agony, but we all know its a viscious cycle if we go back to using again.
that is why i am such an advocate for suboxone, i never had to go thru one of those symptoms.... i will be clean 120 days in jan!!!!! i never could make it past 30 days before.
hope this helps with your project you are working on...spoken from the true mouth of an addict! julie k-9 lover
i will share with you what i went thru going cold turkey...
first of all i dont recommend it, the agony is awful, i did relapse after doing cold turkey and i also relapsed after going thru treatment at a rehab facility that doesnt believe in the use of suboxone, i am doing well today after finding a facility that uses suboxone and the sub spared me of all the agony one goes thru in withdrawals,
cold turkey was like this for me:
as the anticipation of what cold turkey is gonna feel like when the day arrives and as i am looking at a pill bottle with only a few left i would start to feel very depressed and irritable, i would always have to fight with myself not to pick up the phone and play my doctor for just "one more refill"
as i swallowed my last pill and still under the influence of vicodin, my brain would tell me you can handle this, it wont be so hard....
of course i never could do the taper route so the next morning after taking my last pill the night before was COLD TURKEY DAY UGH!!!!!!
it would start out like this..... as soon as my eyelids opened the morning of cold turkey day the first thought that came to my mind was pills! the same thought i would have when i had a good supply of pills, i would be so happy that i had a good supply and would get up out of bed take my pills and look forward to the day having fun because i had that supermom energy from vicodin.
since i have decided to go cold turkey, a feeling of doom and depression would come over me and i wouldnt get out of the bed, my kids would be like whats wrong mom?
nothing in the world felt like fun so i would be angry and pout in my bed.
as the days went by, the energy level in my body was drained, talk about exhaustion... i would be so lethargic i could barely walk, i remember being so tired that i couldnt even reach down to fill my dogs water bowl. so nothing got done around the house nor did i go anywhere, i had to call off work because i couldnt physically function because of the exhaustion and depression. your body gets so use to having a stimulant, take it away cold turkey.... awful agony!!!
then i would get this awful feeling of electrical pulses going thru my body where it felt like you would lose your mind, and then the charlie horses! i got them so bad one night in my calves...i woke up screaming bloody murder until the muscle spasm relaxed.
as time goes on then its time for insomnia to come for a visit! doesnt this all sound like fun?? then of course the irritability comes and then there is a feeling of no hope for the future, how can i live my life with out a chemical is the next thought. that is why one goes back to using, to relieve themselves of the agony, but we all know its a viscious cycle if we go back to using again.
that is why i am such an advocate for suboxone, i never had to go thru one of those symptoms.... i will be clean 120 days in jan!!!!! i never could make it past 30 days before.
hope this helps with your project you are working on...spoken from the true mouth of an addict! julie k-9 lover
I'm not sure how many times I went ct, just not by choice. Much of the misery was that I was obsessed with how to "fix" the problem or just counting days until I could.
When I ended the madness, I tapered down and then jumped off. No fun at all but I had the right attitude. I was just working through what I had to to get to the other side. Aside from the restless leg thing, I think the feeling of impending doom was the worst thing I felt. All of that seems insignifigant in comparison to the elation I felt from a sense of freedom.
xxxxxooooo
When I ended the madness, I tapered down and then jumped off. No fun at all but I had the right attitude. I was just working through what I had to to get to the other side. Aside from the restless leg thing, I think the feeling of impending doom was the worst thing I felt. All of that seems insignifigant in comparison to the elation I felt from a sense of freedom.
xxxxxooooo
I've done it several ways but the last time was CT.
Our brains are fascinating pieces of equipment.Memory is one of those elements that can effect everything we do.
I've gone through many w/d's and each time they were exponentially worse.
It's not always related to how long or much you were using.It's definitley related to what you remember.
In your mind you build up this expectation of how bad it's going to be and sure enough,it is.If you have blown completely out of perspective,it will be so horrendous there will be no way you will do it.
No doubt it is bad.You are as sick as a dog.....but,its doable and not life threatning.
My last time using was the shortest,least amount of drugs and the most painful.
Good Topic
Our brains are fascinating pieces of equipment.Memory is one of those elements that can effect everything we do.
I've gone through many w/d's and each time they were exponentially worse.
It's not always related to how long or much you were using.It's definitley related to what you remember.
In your mind you build up this expectation of how bad it's going to be and sure enough,it is.If you have blown completely out of perspective,it will be so horrendous there will be no way you will do it.
No doubt it is bad.You are as sick as a dog.....but,its doable and not life threatning.
My last time using was the shortest,least amount of drugs and the most painful.
Good Topic
When I got clean this time I was taking xanax and fioricet and drinking. My thinking was I would go thru w/ds every time I ran out so it was time to run out for good. I had detoxed from vicodin c/t a few months before but was still abusing xans and fioricet at the time. It was still bad and the only reason I quit was that I didn't have access to any. The xanax withdrawal was so bad that I don't know if there was any from the fioricet. But I dragged myself to a meeting every day and went thru it all on my own. I didn't sleep. I used a lot of immodium. I felt like hell but I did it. I'm very grateful I did it without seizures because I had them coming off xans before but was on wellbutrin at the time. Now they know that's not a good idea. Anyway, it took about 3 months before I felt human again but I wouldn't have done it any other way. A full night's sleep took much longer. If I didn't have AA, I would still have the memory of that final withdrawal to remind me to never, ever take a benzo again.
Thank You all so very much for sharing. This not only helps me with my own addiction. (Knowing I never want to go thru it again) but helps me understand addiction more. The class Iam taking is on addiction and we have to give up something you love for six weeks to see what its like to go thru withdrawls.
Most are sugar, some sex, etc.
This was not a problem for me for I had gone cold turkey and had used sub...
I wish all of you success with you addictions. I know for me I must wake up everyday and turn my life over to my higherpower. For me, my life had became unmanagable by me. I was selfish, arrogant, if things did not go the way I wanted them to go I would have a fit and end up using. The 12 steps have helped me to react differently with the same situation..
Soberpants thank you for sharing that.... I felt your pain as I was reading that. I went thru the same but not as long...... I was able to somewhat function after 7 days, but I used a lot of vitamins and supplements, chriop. acupunture a natural pathic dr.
All of your stories you guys are valuable. I welcome anymore input or anyone else to share. I work with people on the streets and all this information will be put in a format that might help someone some day. Of course it will always be anonymous. In addition to help me with my class. Its funny the people in my class that are not facing a substance abuse problem such as us have no idea.
I have always argued with higher ups that no way a person that has just gone through college and learned about addiction can be as helpful as someone that has the education and the real experience.... All that you share will be to help other addicts..
Kat, Tim, 12 stepper you all are on to something there that Iam going to write about.. The expectations of what its going to be like can make it worse don't you think? We can overthink it?
Thank You
Most are sugar, some sex, etc.
This was not a problem for me for I had gone cold turkey and had used sub...
I wish all of you success with you addictions. I know for me I must wake up everyday and turn my life over to my higherpower. For me, my life had became unmanagable by me. I was selfish, arrogant, if things did not go the way I wanted them to go I would have a fit and end up using. The 12 steps have helped me to react differently with the same situation..
Soberpants thank you for sharing that.... I felt your pain as I was reading that. I went thru the same but not as long...... I was able to somewhat function after 7 days, but I used a lot of vitamins and supplements, chriop. acupunture a natural pathic dr.
All of your stories you guys are valuable. I welcome anymore input or anyone else to share. I work with people on the streets and all this information will be put in a format that might help someone some day. Of course it will always be anonymous. In addition to help me with my class. Its funny the people in my class that are not facing a substance abuse problem such as us have no idea.
I have always argued with higher ups that no way a person that has just gone through college and learned about addiction can be as helpful as someone that has the education and the real experience.... All that you share will be to help other addicts..
Kat, Tim, 12 stepper you all are on to something there that Iam going to write about.. The expectations of what its going to be like can make it worse don't you think? We can overthink it?
Thank You
