billsmith26

About a year ago I went cold turkey from a perc and vicodin addiction and stayed clean until about 3 weeks ago, Nov. 21st. Back then I was taking around 50-60mg pf percs or vikes, and I did that for a period of several months, probably 8. Anyway, on Nov. 21st I started abusing 30mg Roxi's, taking several a day. Then after about a week of that I started chewing OC's, usually 4 40mg pills, all in one dose in the morning. I have to stop this NOW! What I would like are some responses on what withdrawal will be like, tailored to the amount and time period I have been using. I know that is a lot of oxycodone, but since it has been for a relativily short period of time (3 weeks), what will my withdrawal's be like? I have the next 5 days off work, but Saturday I do have a family outing I have to attend for a few hours. I am really scared, so please let me know what to expect. Im hoping it wont be as bad as my last cold turkey since it's been a much shorter time period of abuse. The amount is what has me so scared!!!! Please load me down with all the information possible, I really dont have any idea what to expect with this since it's so diffrent from my other experience, my thoughts run the gammit from thinking it will be a mild 3 or 4 days diarehha and night sweats to thinking its going to be a near death experience! As you can tell, I'm freaking out. I do have about 10 klonopins to take if needed, I know about switching addictions, but I'm not worried with becasue I generally hate the way they make you feel, and they always make me really, really tired, but I thought maybe taking a few while going through this may help with sleep and the anxiety. HELP!!!

newsandi

Hey Bill, Hang in there you seem to already have a idea of what is going to happen. I did the whole cold turkey thing about 2 months ago and I had a pretty severe opiate addiction. I took just about anything that I could get my hands on. Out of the 10 years, I had very few days that I didn't have something from the time I woke up to the time I laid my weary head down. If you have those days off, you will do fine. You will have the bathroom issue, the night sweats, leg cramps, back aches and feeling like total ****. But it normally gets better after a few days. Just hang in there, stay home and rest as much as possible, drink plenty of water and keep posting here. This site has helped me alot to stay focused and to see that I am not alone. I promise more people with more knowledge will come along. Hang in there.

bval

I hate to break it the news to you but ... you're pretty much gonna be hating life here in the near future.

The short time period involved, the clean time you had ... it's irrelevant. Your withdrawals are going to be much worse this time. I don't mean to freak you out, and it WON'T be a 'near death experience', don't worry about that. But you are looking at a worse withdrawal, probably roughly 2-3 times as miserable as the last one was.

If you'd like me to explain why this is, from a medical perspective, I'd be happy to do that for you, lemme know ...

The good news is that it's not likely to last really much longer than the last one you had, maybe a day or two more would be my guess. It's very good you have some time off, and I would suspect you'll have to play saturday 'by ear' as they say. Can't promise you you're going to be doing too well on that day.

Take a look at my advice on the Roxys and Oxys thread by 'its the devil' and you'll see my best advice for dealing with this situation.

Keep posting, lots of us here have been through what you're looking at, and it usually helps to talk to people who understand when you're going through this crap. Good luck, you CAN do it, it's just gonna be ... rough. But it'll teach you a lesson that hopefully will last you longer than a year next time ... hopefully, it will last you for life, because that is really your only option here if you want to avoid this situation happening again in the future...

billsmith26

certainly bvaljalo, go ahead and explain why it's going to be worse. i want ALL THE information i can get. i knew the clean time i had etc, was irrelevant, but i just wanted you guys to know i had been there before...... sorta. now the reason i explained that i was only using for a month is because most people do it for much longer than that before they try to stop. i have known this was out of hand for a couple of weeks, just wasn't able to pull the plug. i dont really want to get into an explanation, but announcing my problem to the family isnt really an option, neither is rehab. however, aa/na is, and i do plan to take advantage, if i cant make it i will post and read on here. will i be able to play it off as the flu? will the klonopin help? as mentioned above, abusing that will not be a problem. am i going to be a complete shut-in or will i be able to get out and do a few things during the day? since it's going to be different/worse, i need a whole slough of new information. how long will the withdrawals last, and what time period can i expect to be the worst (i had my last fling around 11am this morning)? i am VERY skinny, and my metabolism is through the roof, will that help it go faster? last time the restless hands and feet, and the lack of sleep associated with that was the worst symptom. think that will be the same, and what are some good treatments for it? is it common to vomit during this type of detox or mainly just diarrhea? im so anxious, nervous, worried etc., about this i want all the information i can get. might as well be the truth, even if it isnt pretty. also since i really CAN NOT mention this to my family any words of encouragement will help. please reply, ill use anything, if your reading this thinking "i dont know if i should reply to that dudes post or not," DO IT! thank you all.

Doug

What are you going to do if you don't like what you hear Bill?

billsmith26

Well, I'm certain I wont "like" what I'm going to hear! It has to happen though, so.... Im not trying to gather information I like, just information to arm myself with and half-way know what to expect. I'm not trying to talk myself into this being pleasent, for example when I said I thought it may not be as bad as my last CT because it had been a shorter time period, that was compared to a lot of stories you read, like the "Oxy's and Roxi's" thread, where the fellow had been using these for 8 months. I KNOW it going to suck, I'm just looking to arm myself with support and information.

windysan

you are in good hands here bill. many of us have gone through. i'll let others explain hell to you. i've done it twice today and i'm tired. i wish you the best. stay hydrated, use lomitil and ibuprofen, buy 2 cartons of cigs if you smoke, try to eat(Ensure protein shakes are good), sex helps when and if it "arises"(learned that in the Permanent Midnight book), try to rest. you'll wanna die but you won't. good luck.

billsmith26

well, thinking about it, the time period you use has to have something to do with the difficulty of recovery/the level of withdrawals one would experience. for example if you use for 3 days, withdrawal isnt going to be as bad as 3 months, right? regardless, i have to do it, i was just thinking about that statement.

bval

Wow, you got a lot of questions. I'll give you my best guesses and facts where applicable.

First off, review this thread ...
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ates-work.html

LOTS of useful and applicable information there as far as what's medically 'going on' for you. Bottom-line, my friend, once we become addicted, we don't ever go back to not being addicts. And this disease, ESPECIALLY with opiates, will return back to the same point that we were at when we last stopped using opiates VERY QUICKLY ... if we start using them again.

Its no coincidence that, after taking a year off and messing with some oxycodone ONE TIME ... hold on ... think back now to when you were making the decision to take that first pill after all that clean time ... when you did it, you SWORE to yourself that it was only going to be that one time, didn't you? And now look at what ACTUALLY happened ... it's now a month later and look where you are.

Well, as I say, it's not a coincidence this happened the way it did. The thing you must understand is that ADDICTION DOES NOT HEAL. It's never cured, it never goes away, it never really even weakens much. It lies in wait. That's all it does when we're not using. It's just ... waiting ... for us to f**k up ONE TIME. And then we are right back where we started IMMEDIATELY as far as the cravings for the drug goes, and the truth is, for some reason, it's usually WORSE.

It's like the time we took off from using really only slowed down the progression of the disease, it didn't stop it altogether. To be more specific, MOST people when they 'fall off the wagon' as it were after a period of sobriety find that they VERY quickly need just as much to get high as they did when they stopped the last time, and very quickly after that begin to use considerably MORE than they ever did the last time. Which is what happened to you, AND exactly what happened to me, and I've probably heard the same thing from at least 100 more people at NA/AA meetings over the past 6 months.

And unfortunately for all of us, we remain susceptible to the same (or worse) withdrawal effects we had the last time ... after only a few times of using opiates to get high on, as well as the same cravings. It all goes very much hand in hand. The above thread I mentioned, in it's talk about 'dormant opiate receptors' explains why this is pretty well I think ...

Had you really only messed up that ONE time ... it wouldn't have probably been that bad of withdrawals. But three weeks plus, doing twice the amount you'd been doing ... I'm sorry, but as I say, we remain forever susceptible to QUICKLY returning to the exact same brain state of 'actively addicted' FOR LIFE if we take opiates EVER AGAIN.

You've simply done dope for more than enough time, and had more than enough dope during that time, for your brain chemistry to have returned to right were it was a year ago. Sorry man...

Now, this being said, the clean time you had, and the short time (relatively) you've been on the stuff MAY help the withdrawals last a SHORTER period of time than they did the last time. That's something to hold out a bit of hope for at least. It's POSSIBLE anyways. But the intensity level I'm afraid will be worse because you're coming off of twice as much this time.

Now, for the other things ... yes you should be able to play it off as the flu, the symptoms are virtually identical (long as you can keep from blurting out the truth out of fear and depression, anyways). Yes, the klonopin should help a little bit, but you'd be well advised to keep them for the nighttime when you want to sleep. You only have 10 apparently, so that'd be the best use for them if you ask me.

There's SO MANY posts about 'what will help' that I'm going to have to just direct you to look around SR.com a bit. We talk about this ALL THE TIME.

As we do about 'what symptoms to expect', but here it is again, abridged version:

Depression, sense of hopelessness, general fear and anxiety, insomnia, anorexia, dyspepsia, 'the runs', hot and cold flashes, goose pimples, frequent yawning, sneezing, shaking or twitching legs, thrashing about in bed while trying to sleep, slightly increased blood pressure and body temperature, moderate pain (seemingly everywhere, but esp. in the back), abundant nervous energy accompanied by complete lack of motivation, random crying jags, constant craving for your drug of choice to relieve the symptoms, and lastly ... quietly wishing that someone would please just shoot you and put you out of your misery (well, that last one happened to me anyway ...)

The worst of it should start maybe 18 hours after your last dose of oxy and probably last about 96 hours. After that you should start feeling noticeably better most of the time, although you'll still suffer 'waves' of feeling crappy and hurting once in a while for about 1-2 weeks after that, but those will not be ANYTHING like the first 6-7 days, and you should be fine to work and what not.

I would plan on doing basically nothing for at least 5-7 days. It will be unlikely you'll feel like leaving your house except maybe to go to meetings of AA/NA, which would be a GREAT idea, esp if you can't turn to your family for support.

Also, LOSE YOUR DEALERS NUMBER(S) - PERIOD! Try to make sure you don't have the cash on hand to score. It's going to be VERY difficult to withstand the cravings you're gonna have, so don't make it any harder on yourself to resist them than you have to...

Lastly, no I don't suspect you'll have any vomiting during this experience. You ain't that bad off in your addiction (at the moment) ...

Good luck and let us know how it's going!!!

billsmith26

Thank you so much for that information! That made me feel so much better having that in hand, as opposed to being completely scared about not knowing what was going on! I now know what you mean by saying it's going to be just as bad....and although not pleasant, I can handle that as I have done before, even if it's a little worse. And a good point about the money. It's not a very good method and I wouldnt recommend going this way, but I spent ALL my money on this little binge, so that wont be a problem. I've got the Immodium, the Advil PM, those few Klonopins, some Phenegran in case of nausea, movies and tv guide, and lots of my favorite food and drink. I dont remember the back pain from before so much, but I did get a few headaches, and the runny nose was really bad, as well as those dang restless legs/insomnia. Ahhhh, this is gonna suck! Yall keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

windysan

reminds me of one time i was kicking alone on the couch and while puking/crapping/hallucinating/cramping i was somehow watching The Graduate then that old B film Robinson Crusoe on Mars. whew, glad that's over.

ccgirl

BV, I had a question for you, but I posted in on It's the Devil's thread. I don't even have the excuse of being high, lol.

Oh, it was topic related though (she says as she tries to get her sorry self not looking so stupid)

Its the devil

Hey bud I hear your pain. I am going through the same thing right now! I am on day four of this journey and I feel a lot better then past three days and nights. I Am still haveing withdrawls. Which I am sure most people in the everyday world would flip out about if they had to experience what you are going through. BV has great knowledge and words of wisdom that will help you get through this! Just be humble enough to listen to the words. Also along with all the medical suggestion to get off the OC's. Comming on here and letting it out! No matter how you feel is another great way to help you through this rockie road. May your addiction die with the rest of ours. ~PEACE~ ~MUCH LOVE~ ~KENNY~

PS: Go to You tube and watch some videos from a man named Euphorial. That will help you relalize what you dont want to become. And what can happen if you let this run your life.

billsmith26

im okay after 24 hours, but i know i havent really got started yet. im sure the bad stuff will be kicking in later this evening.

newsandi

You are doing fine. I think alot of people get so hyped up about what the withdrawals are going to be like and that they are sooo terrible that you will just die and I have seen here that sometimes they really are not that bad. You got 2 days, yes "they" say day 3 and 4 but everyone is different and everyone handles things different. This is unique for you and just keep going forward and before you know it, it is over and then the hard part kicks in. Learning to live without the buzz. That is where I am and I actually feel pretty damn proud of myself. Keep posting and you will get thru this, I promise.

exjunky

That's such a great start you wouldn't believe it.

Want to hear something pathetic? I once tried to quit cold-turkey and I lasted a grand total of FOUR HOURS. I mean, I still was a little high off my so-called "last shot" when I went out to buy more. I made some excuse in my mind that I needed to go out shopping for supplies but I was too weak to manage that, without "one last shot to ease the pain."

When finally I really did quit, I was blubbering like a baby after 8 hours. After 16 hours I was out of my mind. And at the 24 hour mark (still no sleep of course) I was begging my girlfriend for "just one more pill". She had them so well hidden, a DEA swat team wouldn't find them.

I'm not saying all this stuff to scare you, or to boast about how big my habit was. The point here is that when I hear you saying "I'm OK after 24 hours" I see somebody with 100 times more willpower than I ever had. And I got through it.

windysan

amen

billsmith26

Well like I mentioned earlier, this isn't my first rodeo. I do believe a lot of times the anticipation of how bad it's going to be causes people to mess up, by perhaps feeling something that isn't there, or feeling worse than they actually do. The brain is powerful thing, and I feel that if you can keep a good attitude and not dwell on how miserable you might get, things will go more smoothly. Here at 27 hours nothing much is going on except that "nervous, yet useless energy," as it was described. I do know that it's early in the running though. I have been to the bathroom very few times in the last 3 weeks, so I know the diarrhea will be coming soon, along with the runny nose, because that is something I am infamous for experiencing. Those are things that help to get those toxins out of your system though, so even though it sucks, it is really helping. I plan to try to view those as a blessing in an unpleasant disguise, and after I let it go for a few hours to get it out I'll start popping some Immodium. One minute at a time, and hopefully things wont get too intensely horrible and I can wrap this up sooner than anticipated!

bval

I gotta agree ... if you'd had a nights sleep and it's been 24 hours and you're not doing that bad then things are looking good for you man ... although the 12hour time release of oxy's, if that was the last thing you took, would cut down a bit on how much time you've actually been without I can tell you that for me, 24 hours after MY last oxys I'd have been a complete basket case. Maybe you'll get lucky and prove me wrong. That would make me happy actually

vicoprincess93

all i can say is i'm glad Oxy wasnt my drug of choice. I got some of that **** once and gave it away after knowing what it can do. But i'm not saying Vicodin is good.