robertchicago

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right place. I am not even sure if anyone will even read this.

Today is the first day of the rest of my sober life from Heroin. My wife has been on it for about a year and I have been on it for about 3 months and I can tell you that it was never my plan to become addicted and I have. So yesterday we decided that we wanted our clean productive lives back and so we chose today to be the first day of the rest of our lives.

We are both trying to do this cold turkey with vitamins, our jacuzzi hottub and immodium. Any advice would be greatly helped. If all else fails I have a few subutex to ease the withdrawal. But I think I will save that for her.

Again any support, advice, and or words of encouragement would be appreciated. We really want to make it through this and be normal again.

Rob

stillsleeping

Hey Rob,

Am an alcoholic an coke abuser so can't help with advice etc on the heroin, but wanted to send you very warm feelings on what you're trying to do. And you're posting in exactly the right place - a lot of people are going to read this. It's 10:25 here in England, so you'll get all the British posters online through the day, then the States will wake up and get on board too. Australia, South Seas etc are already around. The more you post, the higher on the board your thread will stay (did that sound like Yoda?) so check in regularly and drop a line about how you're getting on. As well as saving your sanity, it will show people you're awake and needing a shout out. How are you feeling now?

Still
xxx

finaltime

Welcome!! You are in the right place!

Scolova

Welcome Robert,
I've never used heroin, always had a strong stance against it and some of the other illegal, strong drugs.. although alcohol had me enslaved for many years. A friend of mine grew up in that environment, seeing heroin addicts and their withdrawls. It doesn't sound fun at all, but I'm sure you two can do it, do it for yourselves first and foremost, not for anyone else. Kick the dealer(s) out of your lives and go see a doctor as well.
Best wishes to you both.

click85

Hey!
Great Job on initiating the first step. I was an opiate user for over 6 years and have been clean over 15days now. You guys are on your way. You have all the right tools use them to your benefit. I would also recommend some kind of sleep aid and make sure both of you drink lots of Gatorade and stay away from caffeine. You'll feel worse before you feel better so if you can take anytime off work I would recommend it. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the forums. You guys are not alone with this. Stay strong and keep posting. I know you guys can do it! Good Luck!!!!

keltie

No advice, just a warm welcome to you and your wife! You chose a wonderful community and will get lots of support here...stick around and be sure and let us know how you are faring!

Shining~Again

Welcome to the forum and hope you find your way back to post
progress. We're a supportive group, even with substances we've not
had experience with. We're commonly bond tho', through our addictions.
Cheers!

robertchicago

Thanks for the support guys, I am just going through the early symptoms and its not so bad yet but I know the worse is to come. Found out the wife gave up already and went into a stash she had. I will not falter, maybe after I am clean I can help her more. I been doing Tai Chi to keep my mind off of it so far. I will keep you all updated.

Thanks for all of your help guys.

LDT

Tai Chi is wonderful. I'm an alcoholic, and I can tell you Yoga saved my life. Inflitrate your body will all things healthy and you will actually start to CRAVE your new life style. Be good to yourself and feel proud for even the smallest step you take toward becoming whole. Good luck and keep posting. Reach out if you need to. I remember my first few days....it's now 13 months. And it's really good!

likehappiness

Robert... Cold turkey is very hard but it CAN be done. If you can do this it will show your wife that she can do it too. If she can taper down to make her symptoms not hurt so bad that will be good.

Good that you have immodium and vitamins cause you will need them. You are going to have the chills and sweats. Make sure you take tons of hot baths and showers. If you have to take 10 -20 a day....so be it. That is normal. You will also have restless legs and that is usually the worst symptoms along with the chills.

It will be hard for you to concentrate. Probably won't want to eat for a while but try if you can. Drink lots of gatorade or water. Good luck an keep us posted. Just short posts to let us know how you are doing.

Good luck and I will send a prayer your way for both you and your wife!! Thinking of you.

likehappiness

Sorry...didn't want to double post. Good Luck Robert and hang in there!

Marcus

Fellow Chicagoan fellow dope addict here. I have detoxed off many opiates before, but heroin by far the most (at least a dozen times). For me heroin withdrawals were more intense then say hydro or oxy, but they didn't seem to last as long. Hours 18 to 48 were the worst and then it starts to let up (and that was with a 2 gram a day IV habit). Length of use plays into it a lot and 3 months is less than most. I too thought I couldn't get addicted to heroin for some stupid reason and learned the hard way. While sleep is difficult that was the only thing that gave me any relief. I honestly did not have enough energy to make it in the tub. Even getting up to throw up was a chore. Laid in bed for two days straight sleeping for 20 minutes at a time. Just remember you are not a cancer patient or dying from a terminal illness it is what it is and you will get through it. My biggest problem seemed to be staying off. I wanted that high and needed to replace it with something otherwise I kept going back. You can do it. Just stay strong and don't give in. Convince yourself you can't and won't use. And get rid of the stash. That is a recipe for failure. You don't think rationally when you kick or when you are using for that matter.

Stopdropburn

Great job trying to break that life and start anew, I hope your wife can get on that same track. I've never used H, but pretty much every other opiate I have. I'm presently on Day 9 of Suboxone detox. Like they say, Days 2 and 3, and for me Day 7 were rough, but possible......a friend once told me long ago "No matter how bad it feels, just remember...you're not going to stop breathing, it won't kill you." At the time I was using pills, so I wasn't trying to understand it...but this time I had this site and a conscious decision to want to not NEED a drug to live everyday. Also, as was mentioned, you are a 3 month user, STOP NOW, before it takes another day from you or your wife, it will only get worse. Be strong, lots of vitamins and gatorade, and sleep any way you can - lack of makes you feel much worse, I know, and keep looking for reasons you want to be clean, be happy for yourself for doing this. Good luck and take care.

robertchicago

Guys thanks for the support, I am checking this from the hot tub using my phone, it seems to be the only thing that helps with the pain. If you guys don't hear from me its because I dont have the energy to log in on my computer.

I find that exercising paticularly running is awesome for pain relief but once the running stops hell resumes.

I will keep you guys posted and thanks again for the support.

Stopdropburn

@robert Good to hear. Be thankful you've got the hot tub....many people suffering w/d would sell their left toe for that...hot baths only work all day if your hot water tank can keeo up But it's good that you've got it, and also are running...both of which are great for blood circulation and the running will help get your endorphins and heart back on track. I can' "run" myself as my asthma is too severe, but I mountain bike and rock climb like a beast! Keep sticking with it, I'm on Day 10, you will be soon too. Take care.

Tryin2Recover

sup robert, i live near chi too brother. I would reccommend you check out an AA/NA meeting. The detox is the easier part, believe it or not. Learning to live without the dope is where the real struggle began, for me atleast. Best of luck to ya.

Captain1

Withdrawl is not easy but I can tell you from my own experience and others heroin is tough it is an opiate like oxy and other ect... Heroin will tear at you through the withdrawals but normally they don't last as long as synthetic opiates like oxy, fentanyl ect.. Heroin is dirtier from what my dr told and leaves the system faster compared to other opiates that attach everywhere.

I'm not saying it's not going to be ride but it is do able. The thing is being able to talk yourself through it. I don't think I could have a user in the house with me during those times. There's a lot of pressure plying with your mind that its somewhere in the house.

workinhard

I'm on day 7 from opiates. Its started off detoxing at hospital for boose. The nueses kept bringing me norco and sooner than later up to 25 tramadol a day in 3 months. Had a seizure and ended up back at hospital..... told the nurse I would be sick if I didn't take anything and she replied don't worry well keep administiring and you'll have a script when you leave. Luckily my neuroligist noticed I had a problem. He cut me off. Even the mus.relax. can't say its easy. I asked about taking suboxone.. he said it would just delay the process. Gave me ambien and told me to drialnk gatorade. All I can say is that opiate wd is terrible. I want to take just so I can feell ok and not sick. But reading here and just knowing that next time will start this all over again and will kill me is enough to help me feel a little better. Hang in. Also.. eating healthy has been helping.

Pandie

Welcome Robert!

Triple

Your not alone. I'm not a heroin user, but I am on day 6 of Oxy withdrawal, yesterday morning I took 2mg of Suboxone(all that I had as it was a gift from ex). I felt immediate relief from the horrible withdrawal after taking it, but woke up today feeling like crap.

I made it to the store and got a Red Bull and retreated to my den for a couple of hours. A good friend of mine just lost his uncle to cancer and I went and sat with him for an hour or so. He asked how I was doing, but I didn't want to talk about my problems even though he knows I am feeling like I would rather be unconscious.

I came home and ate some potatoes and ketchup. I feel well enough to post on the forum and that means a whole lot. I will be laying down and trying to sleep, but it is so hard to do, my mind just will not let me, and when I do sleep it is only for a couple of hours, and I always wake up from dreams of drugs, preparing them, waiting on them, getting them, getting ready for a bang and then......awake to this. I don't want to make claims, because I am my own enemy, but even as sick as I am, I have no desire to bang anything ever, ever, ever, ever, ever again, ever......

The suffering comes in waves sometimes, the days seem to have phases, when it is really bad I get in the shower, walk around the property, pick up the phone and make a quick call(not to talk about what I'm going through, just random calls to people who do not use opiates). Then, I repeat, eventually that wave will let up a bit, and I go to the shop and try to finish a bit more on one of my projects. It sucks, it really really does.

But coming here and reading each day lets me know that I am not alone, and that there are other people out there watching the same cable channels, missing out on the nice weather just like me because we did this to ourselves. (I feel like I have to really put the blame on myself, or I'l fall into some twisted self deception gimmick and I am honestly very mad at myself..if that makes any sense...).