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I didn't realize that seeking help for her would be so hard. She doesn't have health insurance, a job, or an education. What she does have is a 3 year old and a 12 year old to take care of. I want the best for her as do most parents that care about their children. My 12 year old granddaughter has been begging her mom to tell the truth about her addiction so that she can get some kind of help. Finally, I had my chance to confront her without her denying that she has a problem. My worst fear was when she came out and said, "I think I have about a year to live. " My heart stopped beating I'm sure. She has been searching for help also, but no luck. She has now confided in me and wants the help that's what is important. She tells me she has been trying to quit, but the pain killer withdrawals are too much to bare.
Truth can hurt, but it will also set you free to get the help you need. Dear Robert and the rest of you there are people that care about you. People can care about you that don't even know you. Please don't give up. You are so worth it. You're cry for help is being heard and should I find a place or cure I'll be the first to let you know. Your life was produce for a purpose and the problems today are to lead you to just that.
Caring in New York
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I am addicted to painkillers too. I am also trying to quit know. I know it is hard, the withdrawal symptoms dont sound like fun. I am rooting for you. Trying to stop wont be easy. I once was without painkillers for 4 days, and I was dying from the headaches. They say that the headaches is acutally caused by the painkllers. Just know that you are not alone. You are welcome to contact me directly. It helps to talk about it, I found that out the hard way. Talking about it does help. Believe me. :D
Regards
Rensie
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best answers are from doctors.
HA! The doctors are the ones prescribing the drugs t then try to Baker Act you if you "act mental" while withdrawing from their prescribed "help" = drugs.
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You can make it, but it's hard. The obvious answer is to try to ween down on them, like going from 10 to 9 to 8 etc.
Another possible way is going to a doctor and admitting the problem and getting on Suboxone, it's supposed to help the withdrawal.
I've been through it and my friends have been through it. When you do get to this side, you'll be amazed, trust me
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This is great advice. Your most powerful tool in your body is your mind. Some other great things to do are to take saunas or steam baths, exercise even though you're not motivated and feel like complete sh*t. Suboxone is only substituting one drug for another. Niacin helps speed up your metabolism to get all the toxins out of your system, you will feel warm and fuzzy...it also helps if you drink cranberry juice with it. Milk thistle will help with your liver. Marijuana will help a little too, but use it in moderation and don't get addicted to that. Sleeping pills help a ton because all you do the first 5 days is toss and turn and sweat at night. It sucks. Sauna, water, exercise, and a great mental attitude that you will beat this is the best remedy. I have been addicted to all kinds of drugs, mainly pk's (hard ones and lots of them at that) since I've been 18, I am 30 now. It is a tough road but you have to remember that you will get through it.
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I have tried Suboxone/Subutex and methadone to quit and the easiest way is to simply tapper yourself off week by week its just that simple.
How to taper off of painkillers
Understanding Addiction
Preparing for change
Beginning the taper
After the Physical Addiction
Conclusion
How to taper off of pain killers
by C.J. Rhodes
Recovering Addict
Disclaimer: No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations utilized in articles and reviews. The programs and information expressed within this book are not medical advice, but rather represent the author’s opinions and are solely for informational and educational purposes. The author is not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury or health condition that may occur through following the programs and opinions expressed herein.
Understanding addiction
Tell differences of regular addiction and painkiller addiction
The ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) defines addiction as a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
When we understand what addiction is and what it does then we can begin to address the problems that we have. Many studies have shown that addiction can be herdatary and passed on from generation to generation but that does not help additcs much because we are already addicts. As addults with addiction we can take what we know to help our childeren and generations to come by keeping a close watch on this behaviour, and teaching our childern at a young age before it becomes a problem.
While addiction is the same no matter if it is drugs, sex, or food, the change our mind and body goes through when ceasing to use any longer differs greatly depending upon what our addiction was.
tell about withdrawl
Pain killer addiction is unlike any other addiction because of the withdrawl symptoms that come after use. Many drugs and other addictions have withdrawl symptoms but withdrawl from pain killers can be some of the most agonizing pain you have ever experienced in your life.
Lets take a look at what pain killers are made up of and why the withdrawl is so painful and uncomfortable when we quit.
Painkillers are classified as a type of drug called an “analgesic” which is derived from Greek meaning without pain. Pain killers are derived from the poppy plant that is used to create opium wich all painkillers are derrived from. Once this drug is made into a pill the pills release the chemicals to your brain and go to your opiod receptors. When these chemicals bind to your opiod receptors they then block pain signels to your brin from where ever on your body the pain is comming from thus stopping the pain. These drugs not not stop the problem from which the pain is comming from they meirly stop the sensation of pain, which is why if you are in pain and the drugs wear off you feel the pain again. Long term use of painkillers can trick the body into stopping its own natural production of opiats causing your body to have to start learning how to produce them all over again when you stop using. When this happens your entire body is affected and has to start functioning natually again whisch is why the withdrawl symptoms occer.
Unlike other addictions when you stop taking painkillers you have withdrawl symptoms that can be unbareable and last weeks or even months!. As I am sure you know from being an addict or knowing one some of the symptoms include:
insomnia
vomiting
restlessness
diarrhea
cold flashes
muscle spasma
tremors
anxiety
sweating
muscle and bone pain
hot flashes
depression
runny nose
sneezing
yawning
flu-like symptoms
extreme irritability
Because of these symptoms this is why it is so hard for an addict to quit. You can have your mind made up that you are not taking another pill but soon as the withdrwl symptoms set in a addict will go right back to using to avoid the horrible feeling of withdrawl because of how unbareable it can be. This is why painkillers are unlike any other addiction. Not to say that quitting any addiction is a easy thing its just that painkillers carry a slew of withdrawl symptoms after use and that is why it is improtant to have a plan of action if you are activly seeking sobiety from them.
explaine about the fear of it
Withdrwal from pain killers is a very difficult thing to go through and i wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. Aside from the physical torment that you have to endure from stopping there is also a mental side of it. If you have been using painkillers for any length of time which i asum you have wich is why you are reading this book then you know about the fear of stopping your use. I cant tell you how many times i sat up at night worried to death if i was going to make it through the next day and what everyone would think of me because of how ill i felt and how i just did not seem like myself. Then there was the anxiety of how am i going to get any sleep and be able to go to work or school the next day. Just thinking of going through withdrawls even to this day makes my skin crawl, and if you are like me it does to you too. If you take that anxiety of the withdrawl and turn it around into motivation it can be a strong reminder of what you have to go through once you get clean.
what it will make you do
Aside from the physical and mental suffering that you go through from the withdrawl you also know what it will make you do. Like most addicts I am sure you have hit rock bottom to the point you have been so broke that you begin to sell your possesions or you steal things from other people to sell for cash or to offer to drug dealers for drugs. Its not pretty but just knowing what you will have to go through if you dont get your drugs will deplete you of everything you own and destroy you relationships between your friends and family.
While not all of us are the same in our addiction, i am sure through out your addiction there have been several experiences in your life that you are not proud to mention. Because of the fear of not having your painkillers and worring about withdrawls this addiction can make you do some pretty crazy things. Some of you probly have been in more pawn shops, and plazma and blood donation centers then you ever want to see again. I know one of my “friends” back when i use to use there was not a thing he would not do to get money or pills for his addiction, weather it was setting other peole up to get pills and then robbing them for there money or going to stores to steal expensive clothing or electronics then selling them to other people or pawn shops and second hand clothing sores and the sad part about it was I was right there with him doing half the things he was doing because I had no money. The sad part about it all is that I had a job I would just spend all of my money on pills then when I was broke I had to find other means to get money, no matter if it was legal or illeagal.
Relate to the reader of the life that an addict goes through
I use to feel so bad about the things i would do when i was broke to get pills that i couldnt live with myself and I just wanted to go and do more pills just to forget about it and it just bcame a visious cycle untill i was sick of the lifestyle that came with the addiction. Now you may be saying to yourself I get my pills perscribed by my doctor and i dont hang out in the streets doing all that, i have a family, or i have a good job to the point where i dont ever go broke. That may be true but i am sure somewhere throughout your addiction you have done something you were not proud of and if not and you are simply seaking help to stop your regamit of what your doctor has you on then this book is still for you. No matter what your lifestyle is, how long you have been taking apinkillers, or what your method of use is : poping snorting, smoking, injecting, I am here to tell you that you can quit safely and I am here to show you how.
Convey the message that this is not okay and that there is help
If you have severe pain and you need painkillers then i will say this book is not the route for you. You may want to consult your doctor about non narcotic forms of medication before proceding any further. But if you feel like you are at your rock bottom and you know it is time to change your life then I am here to help you. The thing about rock bottom is that you will hear everyone speak about it when they refer to addicts but the truth is not everyone has a rock bottom. Take me for example, i blew through a very large car wreck insurance settlement, then lost my job, wrecked another car without maintaning insurance got very deep in debt, became homeless and still did not quit. For some people they do have a rock bottom and they can see and feel it when they hit it but those who do not must take a look at their life and ask them selves is this really how I want to live. When you look at the rest of the people in the world and realize that they live their life just fine without pills and with out the contant preoccupatioin of pills on their mind, dont you want that? As I said before if you look back on your addiction take a look at all the negative things that are assoiated with it and ask yourself is it worth it? Addicts usually have a disposition in life compared to other people weather it is natuarlly a chemical imbalance in your brain causing depression or anxiety. Or maby you had a traumatic event in your life that made you turn to pills to cope with life, whatever the reason this is one major reason I highly suggest speaking with a therapist or a phyciotrist to help you get to the root of what brought you to where you are in your addiction. Once you begin to understand the reason why you are a addict trying to self medicate a underlying problem on your own then can you further yourself through the recovery process and stay clean without relapseing and going back to mask what you are botteling up inside. Even if you cant afford to see a theropist or a doctor along those lines make the effort the best you can. I was seeing a theropist once a week at $30 a visit without insurance so it can be more affordable than you think, and you will not belive some of the things you will realize about yourself and learn along the way.
Weather you can see it or not there is a beautiful world without pills out there waiting on you all you have to do is make the effort today. You would not believe the person you are without the pills untill you make it there. I remember the feeling as I was recovering of being alive again. Its like you open your eyes after a long deep sleep and you could not belive that everything you were experincing was a dream. I forgot how outgoing and energetic I was and how much I loved to be outside experiencing life through activites like swimming going out for boat rides on the river where I am from and hanging out with friends and family and engaging in conversations that consisted of more than me just being in a pissy mood or too high to even hold a conversation. After I got clean I had so many people tell me that I seemed lioke a totally different person and it was like I was more happy about life in general, ready for anything that was thrown my way.
Preparing for change
taking steps to a no control sobriety
I call this method of tappering off of painkillers the no control method because that is exactly what you will be doing giving up all control of every aspect of choice for your addiction. Lets face it, if you are reading this book it is because you are helpless over your addiction and if you could have stoped by now you would have, right?
When i say that you will be giving up all control I mean just that, your daily choices, your finances, your option of choice over your life. You might be thinking that this sounds a little crazy or scary, but trust me I am very sane and mean not to scare you. I want you to give over the power of your free will and all your resources of fincances to someone you trust and whom is closest to you. Let me begin to explain what it is you will be doing.
informing everyone of your addicttion and how you will need there help
First thing first you need to get honest with those around you. Everone that you interact with on a daily basis wether it be your family mebers friends or co-workers and colleuges, you need to let all of these people first of all know about your addiction if they do not already and then explaining to them you are makeing the effort to overcome your addiction and that you will be needing their help and support. Now if you are like me and you are unable to tell the people who you work with about your addiction that is totaly understandable, mabey not ever single person in your life needs to know about your addiction and how you are trying to become sober, the main people you need to let know are those who love and care about you and most of all the ones that see you on a daily basis. If you have been keeping your addiction a secert from these people now is the time to put everything out on the table. There can be no secrets from here forth with those who are closest with you because these people will be the ones helping you, encourging you, and most of all giving you the support that you need through this experience. By letting this circle of people know what you are doing and putting it out there for them to know you set up a phycological safety net to these people and what I mean by that is that you and they both know what you are trying to achieve and now that everyone knows, you are holding yourself accountable for following through and delivering on the things you have told them.
Those without addiction will need to take controll
Among the people you have informed about your road to recovery I want you to pick one person that will be your go to person and that will be in contorl of your decisions through this process. This person should first and foremost be drug free in all aspects of their life. I am not saying that if they have a beer or two or a glass of wine or smoke ciggeretts they can not be your control mentor but if you have the option I would even choose someone who does not even have a smoking habbit because as much as they may be able to help you a person with a addiction to even ciggeretts will be able to sympothise with you in your times of need and may be that person who is feeling your pain as a addict and says to themselfs you have been doing so well I dont see what slacking up a little just this once could do. But if you only have one person that you think could help you through your recovery process and they happen to be a smoker so be it. Long as they know the goal you are trying to achieve and have a desire to help you they will be just fine.
handover all access to money
Your next step in the no control tapering method may sound a little scary to you but trust me this is the most critical step out of everything you do through out this road to recovery. I want you to hand over all access to your money to your control person that you have chosen and that you trust. When I say hand over all access to money I mean everything. Any debt cards, checkbooks, or cash you have on you right now.
What I want you and your trusted control person to do is to sit down and plan out what you will need fro each week financialy this includes everything from your bills to the food that you eat on a daily basis. If you have bills that you have to pay, which we all do set them up on automatic payment through your bank if possible. If for any reason this is not doable for you just lay everything out for the month that you need to pay to your control person and let them know the dates wich everythying must be paid and let them handle paying them for you. If you need to, which you probably do, give them your debt card and tell them your pin number so that they can pay these bills for you and for anything else they might need to buy for you. If you work and you usually buy your food everyday try buying the gift cards from where ever it is that you usually eat at from your local walmart or CVS store. If you do not buy your food everyday then go to the grocery store with your control person and buy the food that you need to make your lunch dinner and breakfast everyday. The whole goal of handing over your money here is so that you are not tempted to buy pills with your money, so handing over control to your money stops a major portion of your addiction, it takes away your freedom to buy your pills as you want keeping you on track to your enevitable sobriety. You may be asking, what about my pills what am I going to do as far as getting those so I dont get sick! I will address that shortly. Now you may be able to have control over your impulse to get pills and I applaud that but most addicts that I know that have money in there pocket are going to be buying pills. You can omit this part of the book if it does not apply to you but highly suggest that you follow through with every step that I give you so that you can be sure you will succeede with your ultimate goal of sobriety.
deletting numbers/ new phone
The next step that I want you to take is deleting any numbers in your phone that you have for people that sell you pills if you buy them on the street and from friends. To tell you the truth what I would really like for you to do is to get a new phone number but if that is not possible for you I understand. You at least need to delete any numbers for drug dealers out your phone no matter if you consider them your friends or not, you can not continue to have contact with those who use and sell because of your disease, it is only asking for failure. Even though you have handed over access to your money I am sure some of you out there have people that will just give you pills or drugs for free from time to time or if you ask the right way. Saying all this I do want to throw you a curve ball here, if you do not have a perscription for the pills that you take I would like for you to write down the numbers of all the dealers that you know on a peice of papper and give it to your controll person to hold on to I will explaine why soon.
hand over medication/attend doctor visits, script refills
Any pills that you have weather they are perscribed or not I want you to hand over to your control person to hold on to for you. Since you will be tappering off of these pills your control person will need to give them to you at the rates we will talk about soon. If you do not have any pills or are not perscribed to any by a doctor thats no problem i dont expect half of the addicts reading this book to have a prescription for the pills that they take.
help monitor you if they are clean!
Let your control person know that they will need to be checking up on you to see how you are doing. The whole point of this method is to tapper off of pills comfortably without haveing to go through much pain or sickness at all. By checking up on you and keeping a eye out for you they can make sure that you are following through with you atempt to get clean and be there for you to talk to you when you are having rough days. Lets face it, aside from the physical sickness that you can endure the other half of the addiction is mental. At first going through this transformation may be stressful to you and my make you depressed, this is another good reason why you should try to see a theropist through this tough time in your life so that you can talk your problems out with someone who is trained to handle someone in your situation. Your control person will be helping you out a lot so seeing a theropist or psyciotrist will also relieve some of the stress that they may have to endure from going through this hectic time in your life.
Let your control person know that you will need encouragement and positive reinforcement to stay strong through your road to recovery. Talk to them about their daily lives to see how they go through their days without drugs. The best way to start learning how to live life as a normal person again is by seeing how others live drug free. Notice or ask them how they handle stress or depressing situations. You have been selfmedicating your self for so long about everything thing that goes wrong in your life, its time to take a good look at how others handle this aspect of life and try to apply a helthy approach to dealing with unwanted situations in life.
take away any option you have to renig
With all of your safety nets in place take a look at everything I have asked you to do and try to find the loop holes in the steps. Can you find any way around some of the things I have asked you to do? I am sure many of you can and this is where it will take your willingness to block out all other ways that you can find to get pills. If you can think of any further step you can take to make sure you do not fall back on your promises and what you are trying to do then do it. I know that at anytime you can just say screw this im not doing this anymore this is too much work and tell your controll person to give you your access to money back but remember, this will be a 100% garente that you will become clean of pills but you will have to fight against your addiction to get your life back. It was a gradual progression to get where you are now, we are simply reversing the progression and adding some safety nets to ensure that you will succede.
seek counsiling if possible
I cant stress to you enough how benificial counsiling or seeing a theropist adn or shrink is through all this. I know finacially it is not possible for everyone. But when you have a trained professional talking to you every week about what you are going through and getting to the root of why you became addicted in the first place it will make you feel like you are actually progressing towards sobriety with a perpose. Not only that but once you truly understand yourself then you can control your behaviour, and maby you need some type of medication for anxiety or depression, or evn adhd. If you treat the root of the problem then you will truly heal the outer problem which is your addiction.
attend church or equal religious activity
The best way to ensure not only that you are on track with your goal of sobriety but you are on track with mind body and soul is by becoming active with different groups of people and orginizations to take your focus off of your old lifestyle. One of the most fufilling and rewarding forms of engaugement of being around others with positive views is by attending church. Not only can you go to church regualrly to recieve great messages from god that you can apply to your life as a tool for fighting your addiction but you can also use church as a way of occupying your time so that you are not tempted to be around the people and places that may be triggewrs for you and your addiction. Try to volenteere at your church to do something. Many churches need help with day care, husers, dinners and other church activites.
If you are not the religous type and feel that church is not for you not to worrie there are other ways to mentaly strengthen yourself. I got into a lot of meditation during my recovery process and found a great type called Falun Dafa. I have never been the type of person that was into this type of thing muchless yoga or anything like that but my theropist insisted I give it a try and have to say I would feel so clear minded and get such restful sleep at night when I would do it that I still to this day use it to destress myself and relax. If you would like to check it out the website that I use it is
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. There are many forms of meditation out there, you dont have to do the one that I used but I will admit I feel that it truely helped me in my recovery process and still does to this day. When I get angry, upset or if I have had a bad day at work I will come home and to my exercises for thirty mins, and I feel refreashed.
One of the most helpful tools that every recovering addict will tell you to try is exercise. When you exercises everyday weather its lifting weights or going for a run, you are retrainging your body to become helthy again and it can help you mentaly and physical to overcome your addiction. By exerciseing everyday you will not only aid your body in becomming more helthy but it will help you sleep better at night. You how if you have had a very long physical day and you are so tired that you fall right asleep when you lay daown at night? Well that is why exercise during recovery is so great. Even tho you will slowly be tappering from opiates to avoid withdrawls you still may have difficulty getting to sleep at night at that is where exercise plays a key role. Not only helping you sleep at night but exercise has been proven to make you happier. After comming off of opiates your dopamine levels will be very low. This is the chemical that makes us happy and the chemical that is released when we do drugs. When we do drugs this chemical is released at a higher rate than usual and over long periods of time it will take more dopamine just to make us happy after using drugs. This is one reason may recovering addicts feel depressed and end up using again. Because we want to feel normal or naturaly happy again we revert back to using drugs to get that happiness back. By replacing our drug use with exercise we will be more happy and may be able to prevent relapse by keeping ourselves happy.
do you need to get medication for a day/week/month?
One last thing that we need to look at before we talk about how we will be approacing the tappering aspect of getting clean is the amount of medication it takes you a day to feel normal. This will be different for every person and only you know what your use is like so I need you to take a look at how much opiates you consume in one day. You should base this off of exactly how much it takes you to only feel normal for the day, not how much it takes you to get high! If you are not honest with this part then you could throw your whole recovery process off by trying to tapper and stay high at the same time. You are doing this to get clean not to stay on opiates. One this I need to qickly point out is that I keep referring to the term opiates. That is because some of you may not be addicted to pills, you may be addicted to heroin, some type of patch, lolly pop, or even a liquid form of codene. This may be difficult for you to do but at this point you need to swith to pills. That is the only way that this method will work for you. If you can find some way to stay on your drug of choice I know for a fact that you can find some type of pain pills. I do not pramote any method of illegally obtaining them but lets face it anyone reading this book is most likely breaking the law in some way or another through their drug use, lets just be honest with ourselves here. If you are not taking pills and you are making the switch first find out what pain pills are accessable to you then based off that determine how strong of a pain killer you need. Do you need Oxycontin or do you simply need basic percocets or vicoden? This is your call and only you know what the equivilant will be. Second determine how many pills you will need a day like I said before.
Now that you know how much you need to take a day to feel normal you need to look at what is realistic as far as stocking up on you pills. Are you able to buy one day, on week, or one months worth of pills at a time. This will all depend on your finacial status and the availablity of the pills. If you need to prolong your recovery in order to get what you need so be it I understand. WHen I was a addict most days I would wake up and just hope that I could find pills that day so I know how tricky this can be. When you have the ability to buy what you need then come back to this portion of the book and pick back up where you left off at. Since pills are expensive lets just say we will try to keep one weeks worth of pills on hand, and two days before you run out try to get your next weeks worth lined up. The last thing you want to happen is yopu run out and you can not complete your tapper in the sceduled manner that we will be laying out. So nopw that you know what you need to do, do what you have to do to make this happen, wether it be waiting a week or two before the time is right to begin you know how to make this happen. I will point out that those of you have a prescription from your doctor for pain killers are in the best position because you will have the resources you need to make the tapering happen. One thing I want to point out is whom ever your controll person is do not make them get envolved in anything they do not feel comfortable with. To get your pills that you need you will need to be the one to do this so that you do not p[ut anyone elses life at risk. This is another reason I said you may need to write down a few numbers from your phone before you delete them so that you can ensure that you are able to obtain the pills you need in order to tapper with. Once you have completed the tapper and you no longer need the pills you will need to delete or throw away all numbers that you have saved that you use to get pills. This whole ordeal can be frustrating and take work but you worked hard to get where you are in your addiction so work hard just a little more so that you can become clean.
As you begin your tapper you will be taking only what you need to feel normal at first then once you start tappering your body will have to get use to the new dosage. I will be making this proccesss be as painless as possible but you may have some disscomfort as your body gets use to you new regement of pills that you consume. If you feel at anytime that your body is feeling any disscomfort or showing small signs that it is trying to go into withdrawls I will tell you about some over the counter medications that you can take to feel like yourself again. This first medicine is Immodium. Immodium is for anti diareah but it has very small amounts of oiates in it to the point where it is still leagal for over the counter use. You can not get high off the stuff but it will take away that withdarwling feeling you may get as you tapper. The rule of thumb on this medication is 60 pills for every 100 mlg you consume. so if you take 5 20mlg pills a day then you would take 60 of these. Now I know you may think that sounds like a lot but this is perfectly safe. I took 300 in one day and felt completely fine, the only side effect you may experience is constipation, but as most of you may know one of the side effects of pain killers is constipation anyway so if you have been constipated for days just stop taking the medication and you will be fine but I must say I never had a single problem with it at all.. Some people have said that when they take too much immodium they could not feel the effects of their pain killers so dont worrie about taking too much of it because you will have pain killers you are tappering with, this is more for use as you drop down to very few pills a day should you need it at all. The next medication is robatussin in pill form, plain robitussin no special kind. This can help with your respitory problems should you have them as painkillers can effect your respitory system cause difficulty breathing and other issues, take no more than 10 in one day if you are a 100 mlg a day user. This medication is just like icing on the cake and you may not need it at all. It helped me breath easier and get to sleep at night a little easier once I got to the end of my tapper. One medication that my be exteamely binefical is tagament. This medication slows down the pain killers from being boke down as fast in your body which keeps you from needing as much. Tke no more than 10 a day, average user should try 6 pills, this was a good amount for me and I noticed a difference in the amount of pain killers I needed a day as well as the frequency imediatly. Now with these medication to kepp in mind or on hand you have all the information and recources you should need to begin your tapper. Lets take a look at dosing and frequency next.
Beginning the taper
Tappering off of painkillers will be different for everyone so there is no right or wrong answers when it comes to doing it, as long as you are slowly going down in your dosage you are on corse to succeede. Here are the main two things to keep in mind when tappering. You will want to try and take down your dose ever 7-10 days, for some people dropping their dose after every seven days is a little too brutal thats why I say every 7-10 days. Find what works best for you and stay focused. There will be days and times that your body is telling you that this may be too much to handle but remember you are changing your life here and nothing comes easy for those who seek great change. Remember those over the counter medications I told you about, this is where they can come in handy so that you do not fall back to your old ways. The other rule to go by is every time you drop your dose you will want to be dropping by 25% each time. For some of you even a 25% drop could be unbareable, i know it was for me I was taking 10-14 30mlg roxies a day and the reduction every week was almost unbareable thats why i recomend that if you are taking a very high dose of opieates a day try to start off by dropping down 15% your first drop so that it may be more tollerable for you. As I said everyone is different so experiment with your first drop to see what you can tollerate just remember you have to be takeing your dosage down every 7-10 days or you are only cheating yourself oout of soberiety. Now i know I say go down 25% each drop but sometimes that can give your doasages some pretty crazy fractions of your pills to be taking so to keep it simple lets work with quarters and halves. If you are clueless when it comes to math as I was, to find 25% of what your taking multiply how ever many pills you are taking a day by .25. So if you are taking 10 pills a day of whatever it is you take 25% of 10 is 2.5, that is two and a half pills you will need to drop, which means you will now be taking 7 ½ pills a day. Like I said if this is too much of a reduction for you revert to the 15% reduction. I would highly suggest you do not go below 15% because after that you are only hindering your ability to get sober at that point. Since each person is different the tappering will probably take anywhere from 4-6 weeks depending on how much you consume. Another thing to remember is that your doseges need to be spaced out through out the day. You dont want to take all of the pills at one time and be in withdrawls by the end of the night. Once you find out how many pills you need to drop down to you then need to think about how many times a day do you need to take these pills. Usually the best rule of thumb when it comes to this is to go by what the bottle usually says. You know how it says take X amount of pills every 4-6 hours, well that is the same principle that we will be applying to your daily dose. I know this may end up giving you some odd numbers or leaving you with left over pills at the end of the day but just look at how many times a day you are taking however much you are taking a figure how many times a day you will need to take these pills. Let me show you how I did my tappering so that you can see an example of what I did.
week 1 (from 10 30mlg pills to 7 ½ 30mlg pills a day - 25% drop)
8a.m. - 2 pills
12p.m. - 2 pills
4p.m. - 2 pills
8p.m. - 1 ½ pills
week 2 (from 7 ½ 30mlg pills a day to 6 30mlg pills a day)
8a.m. - 1 ½ pills
12p.m. - 1 ½ pills
4p.m. - 1 ½ pills
8p.m. - 1 ½ pills
week 3 (from 6 30mlg pills a day to 4 ½ 30mlg pills a day)
8a.m. - 1 ¼ pills
12p.m. - 1 pills
4p.m. - 1 ¼ pills
8p.m. - 1 pills
week 4 (from 4 ½ 30mlg pills a day to 3 30mlg pills a day)
8a.m. - ¾ pills
12p.m. - ¾ pills
4p.m. - ¾ pills
8p.m. - ¾ pills
week 5 (from 3 30mlg pills a day to 2 30mlg pills a day)
8a.m. -½ pills
12p.m. - ½ pills
4p.m. - ½ pills
8p.m. - ½ pills
week 6 (from 2 30mlg pills a day to 1 ½ 30mlg pills a day)
8a.m. -½ pills
12p.m. - ¼ pills
4p.m. - ½ pills
8p.m. - ¼ pills
Here is where i got smart and realized it would be im possible to keep breaking these pills down and so i went and got 5 mlg pills for the rest of my tapper. If you are on a high mlg pills you will need to do this also so that you can continue to step down your dosage.
week 7 (from 1 ½ 30mlg pills a day to 6 5mlg pills a day)
8a.m. -1½ pills
12p.m. - 1½ pills
4p.m. -1 ½ pills
8p.m. -1 ½ pills
week 8 (from 6 5mlg pills a day to 4 ½ 5mlg pills a day)
8a.m. -1 ¼ pills
12p.m. - 1 pills
4p.m. -1 ¼ pills
8p.m. -1 pills
week 9 (from 4 ½ 5mlg pills a day to 3 5mlg pills a day)
8a.m. - ¾ pills
12p.m. - ¾ pills
4p.m. -¾ pills
8p.m. -¾ pills
week 10 (from 3 5mlg pills a day to 1 5mlg pills a day)
8a.m. - ¼ pills
12p.m. - ¼ pills
4p.m. -¼ pills
8p.m. -¼ pills
After my 10th week i just stoped and you may be able to stop sooner than I did, I simply tried to maintain my comfort level throughout the entire experience. You also may notice that it may not have been exactly 25% that reduced to each week, sometimes it was more sometimes it was less. There was no way I was going to sit there and try to maked it exactly 25% everytime because I would have ended up trying to take 1/16 ths of a pill sometimes and thats just crazy. Try to keep it simple and if you are on a strong pill trying to tapper once you get to the end try switching to a 5mlg pills if possible it gives you great percision over your tapper and allows you to get exactly what you need to tapper down each week. For me since I was on such a strong pills it took me longer to tapper, it all depends on what your requirements are. Those who are addicted but to very few mlgs it might only take you 4 weeks just remember there is no rush when it comes to tappering, slow and steady will win the race. There is also one other I will tell you before you begin your tapper. Since this is the no control method you may need to hand over all your medication to your controll person. Lets face it we are addicts and if we have a bottle of our favorite drug on us at all times 9 times out of 10 we are going to be doing more than we should. I know it may be difficult for you to go to work and need someone to bring you your medication at certin times of the day, you do not need to do that if you are not in the position to, but you should never have more than your days worth of medication with you, this will teach you self controll because you know that your controll person will not be giving you any more of your medicine that day. My girlfriend at the time helped me by bringing me my pills exactly when I needed them at the set times of the day that we disscussed because she know if i had a days worth of pills on me that I would do them all at one time, I was just that type of addict. Everyone knows themselves better than anyone else, you know what precautions you need to set up if you are like I was, so set up your tappering plan and get started on the transformation to the new you.
After addiction
Once you have made it through the physical side of addiction you will be slapped in the face with the mental side of the addiction. Many people have a acronym for Sober and that is “Son Of a b***h Everythings Real”. I though I would share this with you because once you stop using painkillers your brain will slowly begin to wake up and learn how to function all over again without the pills. Many people become restless and can not handle how real life feels because they have been using for so long that they relapse and go back to using so here are some important things to remember and practice when staying sober.
Staying away from triggers
Stay away from anything and anyone who will trigger your addiction. People most of all the you use to use with or buy from that you called your friends will play a big role in your sobriety. You remember how I told you that if you were buying your pills on the streets to keep a few so that you could obtain pills throughout your tapper? Well guess what its time to throw those numbers away or delete them out of your phone. No good can come from having these numbers to these contacts in your phone so do away with them now before it is too late. If you know that your old friends are still using you must make it a point to keep distant from them. They are not going through what you are going through so they will be the ones likely to allow you to backslide into old habbits. What ever you have to do to stay away from these people is worth it, ask anyone who has relapsed and most of them tell you they were hanging around old friends and ended up relapsing.
Not only people but places can also trigger urges to use again. I know that for me when I was a addict I use to smoke roxidone/oxycodone in every gas station bathroom in town so I know that when I stop and get gas I had better hold it if I have to use the bathroom because something as simple as walking into a dirty gas station bathroom would trigger my memories of when I use to use and make me want to go use again, so watch out for the places that you go. Aside from people and places objects may trigger your urges to use. Like I told you I use to smoke my pills so seeing a sheet of tinfoil would set my triggers off so I could not handle even seeing the stuff.
Keeping the right mindset
After the physical side of addiction you will most likely feel down at times and wonder why have you done all of this only to feel empty and depressed. It is important to keep a positive outlook on life because this is what will drive you into the direction you need to be going. I am not saying it is easy but to avoid the depression that can come after a heavy drug use of painkillers try surrounding your self with positivity. If you are a parent spend time with your kids, go to church or exercise. Get involved with positive organizations in your city that make a difference in peopls lives. The possibilities are truely unlimited with what you surround yourself with.
Remember you overcame this addiction for a reason. You didnt do it to look back on all the things you missed out on or could have done. Now is the time to make the change and do all the things that you wanted to do. Never look down on yourself, it takes a incedably strong person to go through what you have gone through and dont ever forget that. You have beat one of the hardest addictions to beat in the world, that should be something that you can be proud of.
If you start to get those thoughts crossing your mind telling yourself I just want to do it one more time or i am just going to do it on the weekends to relax you need to stop right there. As they say in recovery “1 is to much and 1,000 is never enough”. Think about it for a second, how many times have you only took one pill and said to your self that was good I dont want anymore for a long time now? Probably never because thats they way it works, you will never be satisfied with one or if you can be then you will only want to do it again and you will keep telling yourself just one more, and before you know it your hooked all over again. Is the troture and the mentall stress really worth it all over again? These are the things you should think about from time to time to remind yourself of the ungly side of this addiction, not just the fun/feel good parts of it. This may be a little redundent but stay away from what infuences you. You mind is weak when you first get off of painkillers and it is only looking for a reason to tell you it is o.k. to do them again so if there is anything that you feel may be a influence on you to do them, again, stay away! Watching a 2 hour long movie about guys snorting pill after pill will do no good for you, it will only tempt you and make you want to do them again.
Seeing the big picture
Take a step back from the whole recovery process and look at your life now, you no longer have to worrie how you are feeling that day do you need to go get more pills, are you going to have enough to get you through the day none of that you are now off the lease and are able to go out into the world and as you please. You will probly start to see that your relationships with others will improve because you are not sedated or snappy at everyone anymore from the pills. You now have time to get back into the hobbies and things that interest you that you probably have let slip away from you. You will get that twinkle back in your eyes and you will naturally feel better than any painkiller could ever make you feel. great sense of contentment will come over you and you will be ready for anything life throws at you. I can not tell how much this will play a role in bettering your family, for those of you that have kids this will give you the cahnce to be a parent all over again and make up for lost time. If you dont have a family this will give you the chance to get out there in the world and meet the someone who has been waiting for you to get clean all these years. I can not list all the benifets but the longer you stay sober the more you will realize what you have been missing out on and how good real life feels.
Accepting your new life and the new you
Now that you are beginning to live your new life it is important that you accept it for what it is and see how wonderful life can now be without opeiats. As manage to learn who you are all over again it is important that you remind yourself that you can never go back to the way you use to live. You must make yourself realize that continuing down the road of addiction will only set you back in your goals from life and make you unable to experince the life that you should have. While painkillers are helpful in moderation and with heavy administartion from your doctor I am a firm believer now that painkillers and opieats are one of the most evil things in this world, they will give you a false sense of bliss while they tear everything you love and care about away from you behind your back. Untill you realize how negative and evil these drugs can be you will never truely be able to start your recovery.
After some time you will start to realize your personality comming back. Depending on how long you have been using you probalby have forgotten who the true you is. I can not discribe the feeling you will get as you progress in your recovery. Its like you have been asleep for years and you have finally woke up from a horrible dream but you know everything is o.k. now and you feel relieved. Once you feel yourself comming back to the person you once were it is important to take time for yourself to get to know yourself again. You might realize there are things about yourself that you forgot about that you like. I have always been the type of person that loved helping others and doing things for them and I forgot how much I loved going to the park with my god daughter or having dinner with my grandmother. Its the little things that come back to you like this that make you realize you are alive again and nothing can stop you now. One thing thats rewarding is that other people will see a change in you. You will become more productive and friendly at work. You will no longer look like a walking zombie and just want to sit around all the time and other people will point this out to you. As soon as I got clean, a month into my recovery my boss brought me into his office and told me he saw a change in me and gave me a raise. I Am not saying the same will happen to you but I am saying people will notice so be ready for people to start inviting you out to events and things they are doing or your wife or husband not fighting with you as much anymore. So many great things will come from your sobriety that you never thought possible.
conclusion
In conclusion to everything you have read in this book I would like to go back over a small recap of some of the important things that you need to do to become sucsessfuly sober.
Remember Aaddiction is a dissease of the brain that has no cure but you can manage it. Set upyour no controll strategy takeing all aspects of finacial and social engagement away from your controll. Figure out what your daily needs are as a addict and set up a tapper plan that will work for you without having access to all of your medication. Stay on the path with your tappering and make sure the plan you have designed will work for you.
After your physical defeat remember to stay away from what tempts you and negative surroundings. Keep your head up and remeber after the physical it is all mind games. Make time for yourself and start to develop new positve habbits that will replace your old ones. Remember that relapse is part of addiction and it does not mean you have failed at all. It just means your fighting a war to get your life back at that was only one small battle that you have lost. You may think of relapse as only refering to addiction but did you know relapse is common in other diseases as well? diabetes, hypertension, and asthma all have relapse rates similar to addiction and infact hypertension, and asthma have higher rlapse rates than addiction does! So if you have relapsed dont look at it as you have failed that is part of fighting the disease. Some helpful knowlege to also know is that if you stay sober for at least 3 years your relapse rate will be cut by more than half, and those who stay clean for at least 5 years will most likely never use again. That should be a goal we are all trying to attain. I would love for us all to hit our five year mark and keep going. If relapse happens jsut get back up and repeat the process over, you dont have to live like an addict for the rest of your life you simply have to manage your addiction with abstinance. Wish you all the best with your addiction and I know that you will overcome this because I did even when I never thought in a million years I would. God bless you all and your road to recovery.
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