Originally Posted by
thejuiceman 
and this isnt a "my friend" type of thread, as this is really about my best friend who went through the same stuff I did. I quit first, then him after he saw it could be done. Well lately he has done some perks or vics for a few days at a time, but then stops for weeks. His new GF (bad influence) gives them to him and he says he did them even for like 7 in a row once.
he says he gets no withdrawals after and takes break so its not a relapse, but I try to tell him its a slippery slope and just cuz you get no withdrawals, doesnt mean you stayed clean.
My question is, after being addicted for three years to oxy etc (a year longer than me) and then quitting for a year...how long would he have to be on them again to get withdrawals when stopping? Besides that, using them for any rec purposes, in my opinion, is a relapse and starting something dangerous...again. Thoughts?
To answer your question about how long it would take to use before you'd get withdrawals, I thought about what I was told by the nurse at my orthopedic surgeon's office when we were talking about stopping opiates after surgery.
These are some pretty hefty surgeries (total knee, total hip, ankle replacement, etc.) and so the doses are high and go on for about 3 weeks for "normal" patients who aren't addicts to start with. Even with this "normal" group, I was told that MOST of them would suffer withdrawals if they had not tapered from the drug first. That's the usual plan, unless you are like me and LOVED the drug and did NOT taper off like I was supposed to.
So, the short answer is "3 weeks". Of course, that is NOT the "right" answer, because people are different. My guess would be that someone whose dopamine receptors are damaged from previously high doses would get hooked faster and withdraw worse. How long that takes is anybody's guess.
I do think your friend is behaving totally irresponsibly by believing he is the exception to the "rule" of addiction. If he was addicted before, he has damaged dopamine receptors. He may have escaped scot free so far, but he'll get braver and braver every time he does this, and at some point he'll be past the point of no return. His girlfriend should be shot. (Figuratively, of course.)
FT