zandre

Hey everyone,

I've been here in the past for alcohol and was able to get off of it and stay off of it. I guess one good thing is that I've been able to stay off of alcohol but unfortunately I've gone and gotten addicted to Oxycodone, specifically 30mg Roxicodones (sp?).

I've started to ween myself down a little bit the past two weeks. I do not want to go on Methadone or Suboxone. I have heard too many horror stories about them, while I know it has helped a lot of people, it is still an opiate and I'd rather force myself through a weened off cold turkey.

I just know I have to get off of these damn pills. Beyond how horrible they are for me, I am DESTROYING my finances. I'm currently a college student and also own my own small business I started about a year ago. I've been working my ass off and all of my money goes to this stupid habit.

Before this, I had a problem with Tramadol but I was able to get off of that stuff fairly easily. I only felt like crap for about 2 days and I was taking a ton of those. However, Tramadol is only an opiate derivative so I'm sure this is going to be 10 times worse.

I'm just looking for some advice and ideas for getting off this crap.

finaltime

cold turkey is what I think is best! Just get it over with, the longer you wait, the harder it will be.

hdevil

I feel your pain z,
Ive been tryn to kick the roxi's for a good 6 months now, and I to am a full time student. It is madning. I also tried both cold turkey and home remidies neither has worked for me. I have an appointment with a medical profesional tomorow. I am just tired of playn doctor, and I know I cant do this on my own.

Good luck my friend

zandre

Thank you all for your replies.

I am definitely worried about withdraws and my new job.

I know this will vary widely on many factors, but for those of you that have been through Oxy withdraw how long did the worst of it take to get through? I just am looking for some personal experience from some of you out there.

Alcohol was no easy task to get off of that is for sure but I'm really worried about the opiate withdraw. I felt like crap getting off the sauce for a couple of days but since my doctor prescribed me something to help with the worst of it, it wasn't too horrible. Definitely bad but I feel like this is going to be so much worse.

Anyways, I will keep checking in from time to time especially once I start to detox. I'll need all the support I can get during that time.

I know how awesome it is here at SR so I'm glad I have everyone here.

justwant2Quit

Honestly,it just depends on how long you have been on them and how much you take. I was taking 160mg/day of oxycontin a time release form of oxycodone for 2yrs and my withdraws were bad up to a week of agony, then i switched to the roxies ir30mg 150 to 180 mg/day and weened down to 2 or 3 a day which wasnt good enough but the wds were not as bad but i couldnt work, no way. Ive been off them for 12 days now and the physical withdraws lasted about 4 days and the physiological wds are still going.Check with a doctor they know how to get you off the stuff. Remember the whole idea is to slowly cut back to allow your body to adjust to not having it. I ran out many times and suffered I DONT WANT YOU TO.

justwant2Quit

Honestly,it just depends on how long you have been on them and how much you take. I was taking 160mg/day of oxycontin a time release form of oxycodone for 2yrs and my withdraws were bad up to a week of agony, then i switched to the roxies ir30mg 150 to 180 mg/day and weened down to 2 or 3 a day which wasnt good enough but the wds were not as bad but i couldnt work, no way. Ive been off them for 12 days now and the physical withdraws lasted about 4 or 5 days and the physiological wds are still going.Check with a doctor they know how to get you off the stuff. Remember the whole idea is to slowly cut back to allow your body to adjust to not having it. I ran out many times and suffered i dont want you to.

Carbie

I typed for someone just a little bit ago my exact 2 week rundown...let me see if I can find it for you...now, I'm at almost 4 weeks now myself and feel great physically but my cravings are really bad lately...back to not being able to sleep because I just lay there for hours thinking about how much I want **just one* pill...sigh...its a process...for me tho, the physical part was done after a week and the worst was past by about 5 days....

Carbie

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ml#post3355276

Here's my post with my day by day breakdown of what I went thru...I was doin oxycodone, 10s, 15s, 30s...whatever I could get my hands on...for about 4 years at a dose of anywhere from like 60 to 75mg a day up to 240+ mg a day...depending on what was around and how much money I had at that time...I ate them for a while but took a real liking to snorting them...would even raill the percocets and vicodin id get occasionally with tylenol in them...burned like hell and probably tore my nose up but I didn't care...I was PAIN FREE!! Lol so decieved....anyhow, hope this helps some...good luck to you!

zandre

Thanks everyone.

I figured it would be hell for the first week. I guess my plan is going to be when I get a couple days off I'll probably attempt detoxing. I am hoping since I've only taking them for a couple months that the absolute agony will only be for 2 or 3 days so even if I'm feeling like crap I can make it through work.

zandre

I also drink a ton of fluids regularly throughout the day. I've read that opiates are water-soluble so drinking more fluids flushes them out of your system more quickly. It probably won't make any difference but a little bit of hope that it won't be as terrible is always a good thing.

Ugh, it was so stupid getting hooked on these things.

zandre

Well,

I may be forced into cold turkey detox sooner than I wanted to since I am trying to ween myself down a little bit to lessen the withdraws at least a little bit.

I guess it may be the best thing anyways since I may not be starting work until Monday or maybe even Tuesday. So that is at least 2 days of no work possibly 3 and hopefully by that the third or fourth day I can get through work. It is only going to be training so I won't be on the floor very much just reading and listening from what I was told.

I just really don't want to lose or screw-up this job because it is one I'm actually happy to be getting. My previous jobs have all been in fast food type places and I pretty well hated them. I started my own business and make decent money but I figured I'd apply a couple places I actually was interested working for. Plus, it always helps to have more jobs on your resume.

Well, I may be here a lot over the course of this weekend.

likehappiness

You can do this. I went back to work on day four and got through it. Not having to perform will probably save your butt. However the brain fog is rough so try to stay focused. There are many posts on here about vitamins and the Thomas receipe which for some helped...others it didn't. But make sure you replenish you system with some vitamins. You will also loose your appetite....don't worry it will come back but drink fluids, fluids, fluids. After day 4 things get better....good luck and DON'T USE ANYTHING DURING THAT TIME. You will prolong your withdrawal.

zandre

Thank you very much for the information.

I read a little bit about the Thomas Recipe and it seems like that may be the best bet I have for trying get through the WDs during a working environment. If it doesn't work at least I will still be going cold turkey with the opiates.

I haven't ever been through opiate withdraw so regardless this will be hell but if I can find something that will at least ease the first couple of days that would make me happy.

Thanks again everyone! SR is an awesome place and I am so glad I found it back when I was trying to get my drinking under control. This time I am going to try my best to at least post here daily so if I were to get a craving I could come here first.

Adalie

You can do this! You already overcame one addiction you can overcome this one too. I would try not to focus too much on how much w/ding stinks and just keep focusing on everything you have to gain by going through it. I also recommend that you try to keep your mind busy while going through it all. The fight is worth the end result, I promise. One step at a time and before you know it you'll be feeling better, gaining your motivation back, and making goals for the future. Keep your head up.

Good luck and no matter what keep moving forward!

*Adalie

lostgirl25

You can do this. It is so worth it. Move forward. Once you committ yourself to getting clean and staying that way life gets better. Not quite true. In the beginning there are w/d and the mind games but for me they only motivated me to never again go through the pain and consequences of what the pills were doing to my body and soul. You can do this. Use this forum when you need support and need to vent. It has helped many of us. Deal with the finances with the same commitment as soon as you can. You are so young and you have so much to look forward to.

zandre

Thanks again everyone,

I'm still weening myself down at the moment. I've gotten my habit down to half of what it was and want to cut what I'm taking now in half before trying to go through detox.

I am hoping that the Thomas Recipe will work at least a little bit to get me through the worst of it so that I can still work if I have to. I may not be on my game completely and I am going to be in a Sales position so it is kind of a high pressure situation. However, I've always been a very good sales man so I know I can do it.

I just don't understand how I can keep letting myself get addicted to crap like this. Not to sound arrogant but I am a very smart guy. I've always been an A student even while I was drinking like a mad man, when I was on the Tramadol, and now with these damn Oxys. Even recently with this job I got, I had applied for at a low position in the front of the store as a cashier. However, after the general manager interviewed me he told me he thought it'd be a waste to have me at the cashier and basically promoted me to a sales position.

I guess you could say I'm the dumbest smart kid ever when it comes to alcohol and substances. Oh well, I guess the only good thing I will be able to take from the hell I'm going to have to endure is that I won't want to ever let myself get addicted like this again.

SilverSparkCat

Hi Zandre!

I'm on day 16 of being Oxy free and I was on a much larger dosage for MANY more years....so if I can do it..so can you! I tapered off for about 4 days then went cold turkey. My suggestions:

1) lots of hot baths for the restless leg syndrome but if you're too tired for that then get some A535 or some other rub for the leg pain. It gets bad.

2) see a doctor if you can---I gave him a list of everything that I'd heard could help with wd. He prescribed me Valium and Tylenol 3. I started tapering off those meds within a week.

3) Ive never smoked pot in my life until I read that helped with wd. It was the single biggest thing that helped me get thru THIS final wd. I've probably gone thru a combined 50 days of wd over the last 8 years(always bc I had run out at the end of the month and I got them for free!) and I NEVER thought I would make it past 3 days. Ever. Thats how bad the wd was for me. IMO, the pot cut down on my wd symptoms by about 50%. This is just my experience and I understand that many could disagree with this( hope it's not against the rules). I stopped smoking as soon as the wd symptoms eased at about day 8. Again, this way isn't for everybody.

As others often say...you NEVER have to go thru wd again after this. Never. Good luck!

zandre

Thank you for your advice.

I guess the one thing that has me hopeful is that before I started taking the Oxycodone, I had a major problem with Tramadol which is an opiate derivative. I was taking a massive amount of it daily. It was so much that I don't even want to say it here because it is embarrassing.

However, I was able to get through that and I've heard that it can actually be worse than Oxy/Opiate withdraw. I know that as long as I can get through the first week I can make it.

I do have some Ambien which I've been prescribed for insomnia which I hope will be able to help me get at least a little bit of sleep.

To be honest, my biggest motivator to get off these is the money even more so than my health. It may be wrong but my health is just an added bonus. I want to be able to have money again for something other than these damn pills.

I have my own small business now, I just recently got this job offer which will be starting either today (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday). Thankfully, the first week or so will just be training so even though I might be in agony I can make it through. I figure I had to go to school with the flu sometimes when I had an important test or something and pushed through. This won't be too much different.

I just don't want to be calling into my new job sick the first week. I figure if anything if they see me in agony I can tell them it is the flu and they can just send me home.

I am planning on starting the detox this coming weekend. So I am sure I will be on here quite a bit.

YoungAndClean

Zander be careful what you wish for dude. Suboxone is extremely helpful when used for a short amount of time to cover withdrawals. I said similar things to what your saying about how I wanted to quit cold turkey and go through hell so that I'd wanna quit for good once I made it through. But I was thinking that with opiates still in my system. But once I got 42hrs-70hrs into withdrawals and the soul crushing depression and restless legs set in I was screaming at myself on the inside for thinking I could 'just tough it out.' If I were you I would use a temporary crutch man. You don't need to prove how tough you are by quitting cold turkey. Just my opinion and what ive learned through my own struggle with opiates. Good luck, and good job on wanting to free yourself, there's a much better lif waiting for you guarenteed.

blackstrat6

Hey Z! Glad to see you again, I'm sorry it's under these circumstances.. You can do this man!
Good job on the alcohol!