CLuTcHiT

Hey everyone,

I am new here and hoping with good support I can make a final recovery to a 5 year struggle. I have been off and on prescription drugs now off and on for 5 years. My main drug of choice is Lortab, and Tramadol. I guess all these years I have had an under cause to why I seem to get back on the drugs and I think I have finally realized the main issues and have done everything in my power to change them. Work was one issue the constant stress, and in my line of work you would need to preform. Sales jobs are tuff. I thought for the longest time I wouldn't be able to preform if I stopped taking them and last year I committed to stop them and see how I would do, turns out I did better.. Recently though about 5 months ago I had some issues with my stomach that caused me great pain and I found myself on them once again. It started off where I needed them for pain but soon found myself taking them even though the pain was gone, I was hooked.. It started with Tramadol taking anywhere from 6-10 a day 50 mlg's and about a month ago I found myself upgrading to Lortab ( Vicodin) I was taking 4-5 a day 10/325. I realized that I needed to stop and I was addicted so I made the choice as of 2 weeks ago I would quit. I ran out and went 1 full day without them the next day feeling worse took myself to a local dr and got 10 more. I tried to do the wing off thing but Didn't have the will power to do so. For the last 2 weeks I have got it to where I have only been taking 3 10s a day so 30 mlg of the hydrocodine. I took my last dose at 7pm today and have no more. I need to kick this and get through these withdrawals. I know it will be tuff considering I know what to expect where I was going through withdrawals 4 days ago. The depression for me is by far the worst and what I'm fearing. The physical sucks very bad as well where I know I will be going through cold and hot sweats, Not being able to get comfortable, RLS, runny nose, back and leg pain, headache, not being able to sleep. However for me the deep depression is the killer. I'll feel that nothing is interesting, even watching t.v will be hard to do, I find myself talking a lot, feeling of a dark blanket over my head. It's absolutely dreadful! I'm really hoping that you guys can help me through this and kind of cheer me on as I go through the hell to come. I do have a question.. I know everyone is different but as a general ball park with 3 10's a day of lortab, does anyone know about how long the physical will be and the mental depression? I guess I'm hoping someone here may have had the same dosage as me and gone off of it cold turkey like I'm doing and may have an answer, kind of a light at the end of the tunnel mental boost for me. Thanks guys!

I had this posted originally on the new comers forum part but felt with other posts it would do better here

Leemzer

I have now been off the EXACT Lortab dose as you for a little more than 2 years now, and I too took them for about 5 years. I remember feeling SIGNIFICANTLY better after about 4 weeks….and each week thereafter for about 3 months. I have felt good ever since. It WILL pass. The first couple of weeks are the WORST, but your mood WILL lift. Just keep telling yourself the mood you are in is artificial and part and parcel to the process. Best.

CLuTcHiT

Well for 5 months on and off it's been tramadol. The last 2-3 weeks it's been lortab I've been taking 3 10 's a day up till yesterday for last 2 weeks so I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.. I really don't have anything to help as far as benzos or muscle relaxers, just promethizine to help with stomach and sleep does anyone have experience with the promethizine? Does it help with sleep or will it just keep me up feeling like crap but really tired? Any thoughts?

CLuTcHiT

Well I have hit my 24 hour mark! I'm looking forward to my 48 hour mark on no lortab so far I am getting a headache my body is feeling heavy, my back starting to hurt and legs but it's very bearable so far.. I know tomorrow will be worse as the previous times have shown, I know I will wake up feeling crappy headache body sweats, feeling hot and cold etc...I do have a question if someone can help. I took my last lortab yesterday at 7 pm I slept well last night, but I know it causes people to have a hard time sleeping. My question is when does that usually begin? Day 2? Day 3? I know that withdrawals from lortab peak at 72 hours and I was only taking 3 lortabs a day of the 10s for 2 weeks. Before that I was taking 4-7 tramadol pills everyday for 5 months. Did the lortab maybe help with the tramadol withdrawals a bit? I'm curious because I have never come off of both..

CLuTcHiT

It's now 11:37 on first day without anything and my head is killing me! I'm so depressed right now and find no joy in anything I do... it's very scary. Before when I had gone off this stuff depression wouldn't start for 3 days after no pills. I'm feeling very dizzy and lightheaded and very forgetful. It scares me to know what is to come tomorrow. I took some promethezine to help me sleep wish me luck.....

finaltime

Go through and read my threads if you need reading. This is hard and time feels like it has stopped but you will get through this. It will pass. I wasn't able to do it alone, tried for ten years. Even now only a couple weeks sober again. This time I'm going to meetings and got a sponsor. Are you doing this alone? If you have support please reach out. Keep in touch

Leemzer

Remember what I said: the negative down emotions are NOT real, I promise. I found the first 5 days to be the hardest. Do whatever you can do. I remember my stomach being really torn up and crazy sleep but you can do it. Can't offer medical advice but I did take some over the counter medications for sleep after talking to my doctor.

You could be WAY worse off. You are not in horrific shape if you are on 3. A friend of mine was on 10 and we quit at the same time. His 10 was exponentially worse than my five.

You will feel SIGNIFICANTLY better after 7-9 days. Just hang in there. Watch movies. Drink lots of water. Let yourself heal. Take lots of showers if you were sweaty and gross like I was. And above all: please realize those desperate, negative emotions are NOT real---they are the Lortab screaming as it is being released from your body. One day this will be a distant memory. I promise. Hang in there.

CLuTcHiT

Wow so I'm on day 2 I'm approaching my 48 hour mark without pills now in about 4 hours and I must say I really thought it would be worse today but it wasn't. I got up this morning felt chills down to my bones and some stomach cramps but I pushed myself to get to church today and let me say I feel a lot better then this morning! I'm sneezing and have runny nose but no really bad body aches or headaches so far.. Is that really strange? Could it be this us as bad as it's going get? Or is the worst still to come? Could it be because I pushed myself out today and was occupied that I'm not feeling the full effects? I don't have the runs yet either. I was told 72 hours is when it reaches it's peak, if that's so I feel very lucky because I can stand this. However last night was horrible! Tossed and turned all night a bit of rls and headache etc.. I don't think I slept but 3 hours .. I'm having a positive outlook and trying to stay busy to help with the depression. I am preying that tomorrow I feel even better then today and a speedy recovery. WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

OpioPhobe

Clutch - I would always peak from OC or H by 72 hours. Lortabs may be a little different, but I don't have much experience with those. When my habit was lighter it was even sooner than that, but 72 hours to peak was the max coming off those. I found the withdrawal at night to be significantly worse than during the day. The kicking and tossing around when trying to go to sleep was bad. During the day if I was able to push myself and keep my mind occupied it was still unpleasant but it was bearable. It was hard for me to get the motivation to start doing something, but well worth the effort once I got going.

If it starts getting bad again at night you might try a hot bath. That would help me with the RLS. By the way, 3 hours might not seem like much but I think it is great for the first night. Keep plugging away. It doesn't last forever, and you won't ever have to do it again either.

CLuTcHiT

Yes I will try the bath tonight if it gets bad again. Do showers work as well? And that's great to hear the 72 hours is peak! I have done some research on the lortab peaks and it says 72 hours as well. I will try and push myself tomorrow as well to do something to help, it's so hard to do so but yes I agree totally worth it if you can get going

OpioPhobe

I actually found baths to be much more effective than showers. For one, in the shower I had to stand the whole time, which was exhausting. The leg / bone aches would be much better when I submersed them under the water in the bath. The hot/cold flashes would go away with a bath, but in the shower I would still feel cold even when the water was piping hot.

TiredEnough

Clutchit, I came off a ton of hydros and it's very doable. The wds seemed to last a little bit longer than oxy (but a little less intense) but after a week you should be out of the woods on acute stuff. Just get that 5-7 days in and you will be solid.

Tram wds were pretty nasty too from what I remember. I downed them all day if I couldn't find any norcs or percs. They were rough to stop even when my supply came in. Watch out for them.

CLuTcHiT

So everyone I have hit my 72 hour without pills! wow this morning was a bit tuff but as soon as I got up and out doing things it was as if all physical sigh s were gone! But holly cow today was the first day I got the extreme low energy and felt literally like I had weights tide to my body, just very very sluggish and the depression was still bad. I think at this point my physical withdrawals will start to Improve dramatically but the sluggishness and depression is what I need to deal with now. Does anyone have an I idea how long the sluggishness lasts? Will that improve in the upcoming days? Thanks for the replays guys your words help so much and I'm so exited to hit 4 days sober at the end of day tomorrow.

cleaninLI

Hey clutchit!
You're getting there! You are already at the 72 hour mark! Yay! It's all downhill from here buddy! You went through the worst of it.

Just to give you a little tram info. There is an SSI ingredient in those so that could be the cause of your depression. If you feel your depression worsening or hanging on too long you could go see a Psych Doc. Perhaps there is a SSI that doesn't include an opiate that he can put you on. That would certainly relieve your depression and bring back your energy. There are many of us who needed an AntiD after our run with opiates. It doesn't have to be forever but it could help you to feel better in your recovery.

Another good thing for depression is exercise.....that I can't stress enough! Sure, you're going to have to push yourself, but with a little shove into the gym you are going to see a marked improvement in your energy levels. I know, it's the LAST thing you feel like doing right now. But trust me, it will help those achy legs.........you will sleep so much better, too.

You're doing great! Keep it up!

cleaninalabama

Way to go Clutch! 3 days is huge. I second what clean said, exercise will help more than anything else. Especially with the relatively mild habit that you had. Get out and run a couple of miles and you will feel better than you have in years. good luck

OpioPhobe

Clutch - sluggishness would set in around the time that I was able to sleep for >4 hours unaided. I remember that specifically because I kept thinking about getting some sleep to feel better only to wake up with terrible fatigue. I used to call it my "lead suit" because it felt like weights were tied to me. If I didn't do anything to try to combat it would be roughest for 5 to 7 days. However, NY and AL clean are spot on with the exercise. That is the number one thing I found to combat the fatigue.

There are a few different things you can try though. In order of effectivenes for me they were:

1) Exercise - doesn't have to be preparing for a marathon, but the more you can safely push yourself the better. This provided an immediate and lasting benefit.

2) Diet - avoiding sugars or other foods with a high "glycemic index" (i.e. those that cause a quick spike in blood sugar). Some foods that woud help me were: peanut butter (on whole wheat toast), peanuts or any other type of nut, any vegetables, fruits low in sugar, and a ton of water. There is a website called nutritiondata dot com that shows detailed stats for pretty much any food you can imagine. You could try that if none of the foods that worked for me appeal to you. Also, I would eat throughout the day at smaller increments. I even carried around a can of peanuts so I could eat something every hour or so. Those helped with the fatigue because I wasn't having to deal with so much of the ups / downs during the day from sugary foods. It was much easier to feel leveled out during the day.

3) Coffee - This one had it's pluses and minuses. If there was an obligation that I had where I couldn't be fatigued to perform it I would drink coffee. It would provide a short burst of relief from the fatigue and then I would feel more fatigued later unless I drank more coffee. Even with that big negative though, there were definitely times when I wouldn't have been able to perform essential tasks without it (e.g. being able to prep my children's food). It may be effective as a last resort.

4) Avoid Alcohol - it is essential to do this anyway since we are addicts, but any alcohol would make things ten times worse. In my opinion, drinking alcohol in early withdrawal is probably the worst thing one can do (except for taking more opis of course).

Oh, for the depression I found a positive attitude, exercise, good music, and funny movies to help. I don't think I could overemphasize the impact of a positive attitude. It goes a long way with trudging through withdrawal.

CLuTcHiT

Wow! The support here is amazing I'm sooo grateful for the advice and help! here I am day 4 and last night I didn't sleep at all I fell asleep fine but woke up an hour later and could not sleep rest of night, I think around 6 am I feel into a light sleep then 830 came around and I had to get up for the day. the last 2 nights I have slept somewhat well because I took promethizne but I didn't want to take it last night because I didn't want my body to rely on medication to help me sleep, I paid dearly for not taking it with a side of no sleeeep. How do u guys feel about this? I don't want to suffer by not sleeping but I don't want to rely on a medication to help me sleep. Seems like a lose lose today I also started with the runs badly! When I had this issue before I was having the runs day 2. This is weird. My physical affects are going down accept for runs! I been getting out keeping occupied and playing basketball for exercise. It's been helping tremendously with depression and keeping mind off of it but still a battle. The other thing is my wife went to hospital today because of a arm injury and I'm sure they gave her meds. I'm trying to keep the demons away that tell me to just take 1 of her pills, it's tuff...I find it so hard now that she will have meds in house. God give me strength....

OpioPhobe

Clutch - I don't have any experience with promethazine. One thing I would say about sleep in general is that getting even 1 hour was an accomplishment at certain points. You may have better luck tonight coming off of the night before of little sleep.

As far as the digestive issues go, I never was too worried about the runs. After so many years of the opposite problem it was good to be able to go! If it reached the point where I was getting worried about dehydration I would take loperamide (Imodium A-D).

Does your wife know about this issue? Is there any way she can keep control of the pills and make sure they are away from you?

CLuTcHiT

Very great full !! My wife didn't accept any medication because she knew it would be tuff for me, I have such an amazing wife! Today I took my wife Out on a date lasted all day, it was amazing! I could still feel the depression though pretty bad and around this time at night it gets worse. I think it's because I'm stressed out about not knowing if I'm going to sleep or not and I know if I don't sleep that gives me more time alone with my thoughts and I found that makes it far worse for me. I feel alone at night not being able to talk to anyone and knowing my wife is asleep so it sucks bad for me. I try and watch t.v but it doesn't help much. I almost just wanna take a promethizine pill just to make sure I Get some decent sleep but then again I don't know if I should, that stuff makes me very drowsy loopy.

godsent3

Clutch, I know the feeling of not sleeping, and then when night falls you stress about weather you will or not, vicious cycle! Once I decided to get off the hydros and started reading how hard it was to get off benzos(cause I had never taken them) I decided that the few the dr have for anxiety were not an option, I didn't want to go from one to another, so for literally the first 2 weeks I slept maybe 3-4 hours but it didn't seem like it because of the sleep I was use to(even before pills) but I kept in mind, that my body would crash when it was ready, I couldn't even relax enough to take a nap or watch tv during the day, the anxiety was pretty bad for me But once it started getting better, I felt so much better, I'm only 65 days clean today and it's still getting better just pray every night that God will grant you rest and the ability to endure and watch how much the power of prayer will get you I'll keep you in my prayers and God bless you!