sonic

Greetings,

I've had spinal issues since I was a kid. Over the last 5 years, my L4/L5 have become almost completely pancaked. The pain was just too much. Long story short (I'm sure you've heard it all before) the doc started me on Vicodin/percs/hydrocodone and then moved to oxycodone/oxycontin. The last two years, I was increasing my doses rapidly. In the middle of June this year, I realized I was doing a minimum of 140mg per day, and usually more like 200-300mg per day (even more on the weekends). By the end of June, I was snorting Oxy and would feel withdrawal symptoms after only 1.5-2hrs of not taking anything. I knew I was in trouble.

I've always had an extremely strong will. And for better or worse, I decided to quit, cold turkey. June 30th was my very last Oxy (or any prescribed drug, for that matter). Today I am 12 days sober. I detoxed over 4th of July weekend because I knew it would be the only 3-day weekend I would have away from work anytime soon. Wow, I didn't realize that I really needed a good week. But I did it, I fought through RLS (oh my god, I wanted to die due to that alone), massive diarrhea, crazy anxiety, etc. I had all those symptoms through the holiday weekend and actually went back to work on Tuesday without sleeping hardly at all the night before (even over-the-counter sleeping pills wouldn't work). That was one of the worst days of my life. I work in an office and it was all I could do just to hold my head up to look at my computer screen like I was working. I was absolutely useless. After the fourth day, my withdrawal symptoms started getting better (especially RLS) and I was able to actually do some work by the end of the week.

I thought (and still think) I was successful at quitting cold turkey. I no longer have any cravings or feel any withdrawal symptoms... except one. And that's where my questions start.

After about 7-8 days sober, all the usual withdrawal symptoms started to go away. But I started getting dizzy. Yesterday, I was so dizzy by the end of the day that I didn't sleep at all last night. Today, I started getting really dizzy at work... in a vertigo sort of way. It's like things are "swimming" around me and it comes in waves. I guess that is my question, is this part of the withdrawal, 12 days later? And if so, why would it get worse each day instead of gradually better?

I have a close friend who knows about my situation, and she actually suggested that it may not even be related. That because it's getting worse, maybe it's a sinus infection or something? I have no idea, I've never had one. Can anybody shed light on this? If it weren't for this dizziness (and the back pain) I'd feel like a million bucks right now! I'm not experiencing any post-withdrawal depression, I'm not having too much trouble concentrating at work (well, except when the dizziness starts) and I'd just feel like a badass for kicking this thing... if it wasn't for this damned dizziness!

FYI, I am seeing my doctor on Friday, so I will be asking him what he thinks it might be. He has no idea about my addiction and I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about the back pain, but that's something I'll have to figure out down the line. Unfortunately, it will probably mean getting back on Opiates/Opiods since those seem to be the only thing that curb the pain.

I've found all sorts of stories relating to the 4-7 day period during withdrawal, but I haven't read anything post 10-12 days regarding what I'm experiencing.

Geez, sorry for the book! I sure appreciate any help you guys can provide, this dizziness is driving me nuts!