Hi Alice4jam, I guess my first question would be, what were you taking the pain pills for in the first place, (why were they prescribed to you?) Do you need pain meds? like a chronic condition that causes pain? or just take them recreationally? because those are some heavy duty pain meds, I know because I take a couple heavy hitters myself & have for several years. I have a pain managment doctor that I see every month, when and if I am ever to stop taking these meds for whatever reason my doctor would wean me off of them in a controlled manner, it is dangerous to do otherwise. Do you have a regular doctor that knows about being on these meds for so long, if so you should talk to him/her about getting a referral to either a pain management doctor, or a methadone clinic where you can be safely weaned off the narcotics. As for reversing any damage to the brain from these meds I don't know honestly, as for the body, I can only tell you what my doc tells me, because these type of narcotics are filtered through your kidney's, water is your best friend, I drink 100 ounces of water a day, (yes I said 100) it helps to flush them of the toxins that build up from taking these types of meds. I hope this has been helpful and wish you the very best of luck.
Can an addict reverse engineer the damage done to the brain and body through drug abuse so it doesn't affect someone's longevity?
I have been on oxycontin/oxycodone on and off for almost 10 years. Started with one 20 mg a day and by the end, I was on 240mg. a day, 3 80 mg. I went to work and functioned but average. I have gone cold turkey many times being sick in bed for a month, walking around in a robe all day, looking like a zombie.
I didn't eat for 2 weeks, no sleep and had this horrible burning in my stomach/esophageous from vomiting non-stop upon forced withdrawal. I had what my partner called "psychotic breaks" where I was talking to people who were not there. I wanted to die and thought that death would be better than this kind of pain. I never felt that depth of physical insanity before. My mind went on fast forward, recalling images, random and disconnected ideas and events all night long. I lost total control of my life. Maybe in one sense that was a good thing but the pain and suffering?
When I was in therapy in the 90's, my therapist thought I would benefit from seeing a psychiatrist. I was a clean and sober person and people knew me as a person who would even hesitate to take an aspirin! When this psychiatrist got done with me, I was on everything but the kitchen sink. Prozac to Adderall. I do not have ADD/ADHD. I was always able to concentrate and stay focused. I was athletic, fast reader and had a good memory. Well, Adderall is an amphetamine and I grew to like the fake "energy" it gave me. In the beginning, I trusted this doctor and thought she knew what was best for me. There goes that absurd and undeserved trust in authority. I thought I was functioning like perfection only to realize I had become an automaton. Not feeling anything, just performing and doing like I was in some kind of race.
After she threw me to the curb because I was "treatment-resistant,"I went looking for that chemical alteration. My brain chemistry was already altered and it needed some kind of fix. Well, I found it
and lost parts of myself. I am sorry I ever touched that first pill. Who knows what my life would be like now? I am sorry that I gave over my resonsibility to my self to someone else. And here I sit, 10 years later still struggling with this addiction.