Overcoming Vicodin Addiction

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It was an instant when I was addicted to Vicodin, and I didn’t know what in the world to do to stop the cravings for it so I could get free. After countless attempts to get off the pills, I finally figured out exactly what it takes to get over the hump and QUIT for good!

This article briefly covers the procedure to overcome the problem of Vicodin addiction.

It was an instant when I was addicted to Vicodin, and I didn't know what in the world to do to stop the cravings for it so I could get free. After countless attempts to get off the pills, I finally figured out exactly what it takes to get over the hump and QUIT for good!

First, a caveat: I was NOT severely physically addicted to this drug. I loved it for the high it gave me and was a HEAVY recreational user, but, boy, was it a problem – enough of a problem that I was starting to buy Vicodin online ($230 a pop), I wanted them so badly, taking rent money to do so.

But just to let you know that I didn’t have to go through heavy physical detox; it was more the mental anguish type of detox, which is no fun either!

So, since you’re reading this article, it’s probably safe to assume you want to quit taking Vicodin. You’ve decided you’ve had enough of this seductive little drug. It’s running your life and you’re tired of it. You want more than anything to be free of the control Vicodin has over you.

But you need to know that quitting is not something to walk blindly into. You need a solid Plan of Action. You need to know what to expect. You need to know exactly what to do when intense cravings to take Vicodin come up. Simple white-knuckling it isn’t going to get you far.

Maybe you’ve tried to quit several times, as I did (COUNTLESS times I tried to quit). That was an eye-opener! I’d start out in the morning wanting MORE THAN ANYTHING to make it through just one day clean. Then, wham, something happened in my brain and there I was shoving four or five Vicodin down my throat.

What went wrong? I was baffled by how this could happen! And I’d end up feeling devastated and stupid because I couldn’t seem to get a handle on this thing, couldn’t follow through for one measly day!

After many trial runs, I finally came up with a solid plan, a kind of road map to take me through the dense forest of getting off Vicodin. I found a couple of things that worked in a huge way to lessen or deaden cravings, which made it SO much easier to make it through the first critical week.

One of my tools was an acupressure technique I’d learned, where you TAP on the acupuncture points instead of pressing on them. Wacky-looking as hell, this technique actually saved my life, because when I did it consistently every single day, my desires to take Vicodin went down by a whopping 75 percent.

It was a weird sensation: when I used this tool, it was just hard to think about taking Vicodin, what it would take to score, getting them down my throat. So I quit thinking about it!

That was my very first line of defense.

I also knew from having tried to quit before, that one thing for certain is that cravings for Vicodin ARE going to come up. There’s no getting around that! I needed to know what to do WHEN they did come up.

I devised a set-in-stone action plan of exactly what to do when they do come up so that I could handle them, one craving at a time.

When you’re getting rid of an addiction, your goal is to make it through the first dicey days when the cravings will probably sometimes feel like more than you can bear, until you reach that point where the cravings have calmed down and you can take it or leave it.

If you have a solid plan of attack for each one that comes up, your chances of making it through the first dicey days are A LOT greater!

Because, as you know, it only takes ONE craving that you cave into to ruin the whole thing, and set you back into taking the pills once again (and hating yourself for it).

So you need to know how to detect the cravings from the very SECOND they start festering in your brain (before they’ve reached the point where you’re phoning for a script refill or on the way to the ER, or whatever you do to get them), and you need to have a very powerful plan in place to combat them, each and every time they come up.

The tool I used was a written-down reminder list (mine was several pages long) of the horrible things I’d experienced while addicted, and the wonderful, joyous rewards I could expect if I got off the stuff. This “script” also saved my life, because every time I used it, it worked to take me through an intense craving, without giving in!

(Plus, it also makes it SO MUCH EASIER if the cravings can be made less in the first place. The acupressure technique made the cravings much, much less, which of course made walking through the first critical 10 days so much easier for me. )

In my experience, the more clean time you have under your belt, the more reluctant you are to throw it away, so you keep on going, buoyed by success.

So these were the two main tools I used to get clean. I had a solid plan of attack, and I had to stay paying attention and to keep my mind on where I was moving, and I finally made it.

Written and contributed with our great appreciation by Brooke Collinson

Pain Pill Addiction

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