9 days free! A week and 2 days is not much time at all but this short span is the longest I've been free from pills in almost a decade. Still not getting much sleep but the other WD symptoms are easing up considerably. My back pain is still there but I'm getting used to it.
@ Ivan: Maybe I'm ADHD, bi-polar and socially unacceptable. I'll bet that every single person in this country could be found to have some condition if a doctor was properly motivated. I'm not dissing your circumstances but I've gotten along like this for almost 60 years so I'm not looking for a reason to take any more meds. I'm not knocking them and I know they work for many folks but I can't stop being reminded by the laundry list of contraindications that the pharm industry warns potential customers of. "if you experience thoughts of suicide, swollen lips, open sores, sore throat, earache, loss of appetite, high blood pressure or bleeding from the ass......see your doctor immediately". Well maybe not all that but you get my idea. You are a sage of sorts in these parts Ivan and I value your many contributions but I'm looking to avoid any more meds if at all possible. Also, I don't trust doctors. Unless they were prescribing me narcotics!
To show you all how determined I am to break this dependency to pills I will now don my nomex suit because I know some folks out there will flame me big time for my plan of attack. It would have been easy to just ditch all of my scrips but I wanted the break into freedom from pills to be on MY terms, not the pills. So I've got fresh scrips of my pain meds sitting right on my dresser in plain view. I walk by them every morning when I get up and I smile while reminding myself "I don't need them and I will not take them today". So far so good. I know, I know. Wait till PAWS sets in some will say. Well I say that beyond the physical WD's and obvious hurdles there, the rest of the journey will depend on what happens between my ears. I am absolutely determined to break this wicked reliance on pills. They removed my pain but they also took so much more out of my life. Life can be painful but if I try and take that pain away all the time, what else am I removing? Emotions, cares, desires, motivations, determinations, decisions, thoughts, plans....I could keep going on an on. I wanna start the next chapter in my life getting reintroduced to the whole human condition that I've effectively insulated myself from all these past years.
To all those who have struggled with opies like me, know this, when you are truly ready in your mind to live a life different from the one you have now....then you have overcome the first big hurdle. The rest will come in time if you really want it and work hard as hell. One day at a time. Or like some have said, "one hour or minute at a time". My time free from pills is short but I swear to you all that I'm already feeling and seeing the benefits of my recent decision. In spades! All the best to everyone.