opioid withdrawal, suggestions for successful recovery

i called to make a appointment to see my methadone doctor but he wont be in until tuesday, the other doctor there won't be there till friday, so im gonna see him then to get some clonidine. i wish there was something i could take for the pains in my stomach, like seriously my guts are killing me most of the day. i just want to be off this c**p. i feel so close but yet so very far

Actually I dont' have to tell the pharmacist I'm a junky, they already know!! They have flagged me for years, even though I have been nothing but upfront with everyone!

I was talking about a healthfood store, not a pharmacy! On Friday get the Clonidine, try it on Friday night, see how that works for you! I find it too strong for the day time - I can't drive or barely put a sentence together - it is VERY strong - but not in the way a "junky" wants!

Your stomach is acting up from the withdrawls - it's common to get the runs with all of this! THUS it's best to be in control of your cleansing over the drug withdrawl just making you poop everything out!

You are VERY close honey, it took awhile for you to become an addict, and you CANT become clean overnight - it will kill you! Gravol is also great for the jitters and your stomach - BUT they want your name for that too - well they do in Alberta! So get some - and if it works tonight or tommorrow - ask your doctor to perscribe this too for you! They help with getting you to sleep too!

Melatonin is a wonderful natural way to get to sleep - my eldest has ADHD and he is ALL over the place, so he takes this at night and it helps him sleep! So the cuc's didn't work for your eyes?! Try getting them as cold as possible then put them over till your eyes either feel better or the cukes get warm, then replace them again! 2 days ago I had to use it again because I was REALLY wanting my pain meds! Look at it this way OK? I am an addict for life - as I will ALWAYS need pain killers of varying degrees! You DONT/WONT so after this you wont have to keep going through all of this c**p, like I do on a daily basis! I'm not saying that you shouldn't complain, I just wanted you to know that some of us CANT get off stuff - of one type or another! Have you also tried drinking Tang by itself? I know that sounds crazy - and I'm sure you are getting irritated with my "whacky" ideas, BUT your brain doesn't know - try it and see!

oh yeah i knew what you meant, the health store. im way to jittery and shy or paranoid orwhatever you want to say so i wouldn't feel right going in one right now but i should atleast to try that melatonin stuff. i drinks that sleepy time tea and ive tryed valarin root too help me sleep for 3 or 4 hours a night but they seemed to lose there effectiveness each time.
gravol is, or was atleast , sold OTC here in ontario so i will definitely try that thank you.
i am certainly NOT sick of your suggestion at all, in fact your the only one that i talks too about these issues , i've leaned more from you then my own doctor
so last night was a bad night for me so thats where the ' junky ' thing came from.i was grumpy so i lashed out i meant no offence to you or anyone and im thankful for not having to take any med's for life and i recognise that, that was an insensitve comment to make and iam sorry.

are you going to watch the new show on TLC channel tonight at 10pm ? its called addiction , i dont no if its worth watching or not, im gonna check it out.

It's OK Richie I get it!!!! I just want to let you know what I was told by my ANGEL of a doctor! He believed in many ways to attack the situation, drugs, also herbs and other therapies! I truly know that without him I would be dead! I was on 300 Percocet, 150 Percondan, Clonazepamn, Gravol, Cymbalta, Matalazone etc. etc. etc. This was a month!! When I was coming off of the Percs which was HELL he even had me on Fentanyl patches - used for terminally ill cancer patients - I had such a build up it was like having a water patch! The taking the methadone - and let me tell you I GET that feeling about going into someplace and having to have that "LOOK!"! I am a 45 year old housewife, 2 children married for over 20 years, I wear my long coat, hair done, nails done etc etc etc. And THERE I was standing in line with homeless people, prositutes other addicts, pointing to my polaroid picture on the pharmacy wall and drinking my tang with ALL the Junkies - including myself! I would park around the corner - and PRAY that no one I knew would see me! I would get into my Suburban and drive home to pick up my kids and do the groceries! They said "well you can have the drinks sent over to your local pharmacy!" Can you imagine the same scenario in SAFEWAY!!!! 8-| XD ;-) I was the president of my youngest sons playschool group for crying out loud!!! ;-) XD XD Plus I'm a patient and healthcare advocate here in Alberta, so that would NOT have looked good! Because people recognize me from the paper or tv! That would have been something for youtube!!!! LOL

actually yesterday there was a boy on Dr. Phil who was/is addicted to percs! It is a horrible drug! And here a little girl died after ingesting her dads tang/methadone!! so it is HELL! And I understand the stigma plus the disease! Another thing I want to mention that many doctors dont is this! When you become an addict, you are more prone to being an addict with something else! Could be smoking, drinking, shopping, sex, and a dear friend of mine turned orange from ingesting TONNES of carrots!!!! honest!!

Just know that it WILL get done and you will learn from this! I have LEARNED so much with standing in those lines with the so called "junkies" the only difference between me and them was I got to drive away and go home! I would have given it ALL up for that dam drug! I said totally to the doctor that IF he took me off them I WOULD get them some how! One of the guys at the clinic even asked me to trade my unused Fentanyl for some Percs! I was SO disgusted! You and I are NOT him! We are different, he was looking for some poor soul who was having a hard time - to do a "trade!" he wasn't at all interested in getting help!

So hang in there OK? I might watch the show, sometimes its a bit close to home - you know?

wow 300 perc's, thats insaine, 10 a day? lol crazy i took 10 perc's at once couple times , when i was out of oxy's, and couldn't find any.
see i just took a few here and there before i got injured on the job in 2006 but sortly after i managed to get into a pain clinic and i worked my way up to 40 mg oxy cotin 3 times daily and 10 mg oxy cotin 3 times daily, i had convinced my self i needed them for my sciatica pain in my leg but eventually the pain speacialist started to lower the amount of mgs after i had surgery, eventually i was getting them from the streets which was the worst times of my life , i lost alot , i saw alot. to awful to mention. but luckily i got out of that lil town and didn't look back,
thats when i started the methadone. so fortunately i don't know anyone around here who could get me any pills even if i wanted. which i dont. i don't talk to anyone at my clinic unless i have too. my clinic is prity simple in and out.

yeah iguess i have addictive personality my mom drinks every day my father smokes lots of pot every day and i do both and cigaretes ect. so i guess the chips were stacked against me from the start eh but still my parents NEVER exposed me to pills.... i really let them down and you no what, i still am to this day , by being on methadone. i remember saying'ah, ill only be on it a year tops and it's bein 2 years and i havent held a job longer then a few months since. awful eh , luckily i met a girl and she loves me she works hard a basically supports me , but shes never been on methadone so its hard to talk to her about it. its like every time i would set a goal to get off, i would fail ,lol, its brutal to feel your letting everyone down but shes cool shes patient and im lucky for that.

Totally get it honey! I would shake and vomit - infront of my kids and their friends - sometimes I took too much and they were TERRIFIED! We were also about to adopt another boy, he came from a VERY bad background - and his pathetic mother actually was going to bring up my addiction! I HATE to say this BUT the occaisional joint can help you too! OR a cookie! I take them quite often I LOVE My baker!!! LOL I have the approval of the Feds so I'm OK with that! I HATE the smell of skunk, so I don't want to grow it!

Just remember this, it isn't YOU who has let your family down, it's your addiction! You didn't want this - what sane person would ? No one knows how CRAPPY it is to be hooked OR get off! It is VERY hard! I refused to believe that I was addicted! I will tell you a funny! I consider myself pretty intelligent person, and quite street smart etc. So I was in a BAD way with the shakes, my skin peeling, my eyes burning etc, and I went to a walkin clinic, this really cocky doctor said to me "You know I think you are addicted to the drugs!" I replied "Well I CANT be addicted because I feel better when I'm on them!!!!!!!" o.O ;-) XD My regular brain was like o.O 8-| And my addicted brain was like "Yes that's right!" LOL Then a good girlfriend and I went to see the movie Ray and I started shaking while Ray was shaking on the big screen!! I leaned over to my girlfriend and said "I think I am addicted!" She replied "Yes I know, we ALL know" After she told me that all of my friends had been phoning each other and emailing each other about their worry about me, they were afraid to bring it up to me! BUT finally saying "I am an addict!" is SO freeing! I don't know if you feel the same way!? I NEVER got addiction before, my dad was an alcoholic, he and my mom and my sister smoked their faces off! I was an alcoholic at 14 and drank till about 21, but I didn't really think of myself as an addicted personality! I AM now!!! God help me If I ever went to Vegas!!!! ;-) XD XD

I can talk anyones ear off - obviously right?! ;-) - so when I was at the clinic or doing that lovely pee test! I would talk to others to find out their stories and see if there was any hope! I saw these people as the humans they are, and what they have to endure everyday, and realised that this could be me with no problem at all! It is a TERRIBLE drug - but unfortunately one of the best for pain! Not all people on it get addicted of course, but the company hid just how addictive it was! So if that is in you - either from experience or Genetics then it WILL grab a hold of you! It WILL be over soon, and then you can get back on your feet, try and get out as much as possible - DONT lock yourself away, like I did! It's AWFUL!

naw i guess i don't agree with you when you say its freeing to say im a addict. im the type of person who buries stuff way down, and then i try and just move on, right. i might be an addict today but next week i won't be. i havent heard or read anyone else say that tho. i always see ppl saying im a addict 200 days recovery or 200 hundred days clean or watever right, basically people are like im a addict for life and that something they have to live with..... that dont make no sense to me, but will see, i sure my opinion may change when im clean right.

the addicted show was scripted in some parts, it was cool to see the girl go thru the recovery process. intervention show a person all messed up at their rock bottom and then suprises them with a ultimatum the some elevator music comes on an its 6 months later and the persons there 30lbs heavier say ah you can do it to and blah blah blah. so this show is i lil different that way.

i have locked myself away tho i am totally anti social family friend i dont care i dont go out to see anyone, i wont even awnser the phone most the time. anxiety is something i had made fun off when someone i met would say i get panic attacks or bad anxiety i would think yea ok watever they are faking it to not have to work, o get sympathy from ppl. i understand better now that its serious and dibilitating.

When you see the doctor tommorrow, tell him that you are having anxiety and depression - you ARE deprressed by the way, due to you hiding away from life! I TOTALLY get that by the way! Ask him for Clonazepam - for the anxiety, and Cymbalta for the Depression and also the Clonidine for the shakes! I think these 3 will TOTALLY help you! Without these I swear I would have done myself in or be on the street by now! I take about 25 pills a aday 14 for pain and anxiety, sleep etc, and the other for the effects of the 14 LOL!! honest!!! I take Gravol, Anti reflux, irritable legs etc. ! And this is nothing comapred to what I was on! I think in total I was on about 43 pills a day at the height of my addiction! I had Oxycocet (Percs) Oxocodone (percs) Hydromorphine, 2 types of anti anxiety, depression, anit inflammatories, nausea, shakes, and the id**t would put me on antibiotics for the shakes! Said I had an infection! When I went to the Angel Doc he said I was "Opiate Toxic" And that is EXACTLY what was happening! I couldn't go near a window, in the sun I had to wear sunglasses inside, my skin peeled off, my hair fell out, my eyes were yellow, and my gums bled!!! THANK GOD I was already married!!!! ;-) XD XD XD 8-| BUT I was HAPPY!!! With my little stash of "Happy Pills" I looked like c**p but felt great!!! ;-) XD

I stopped counting the days after the 1st year, it is a VERY strong thing to announce the amount of days! Doesn't 200 days being clean, sound SO much better than 6 months? It's an empowering thing to do, when you say it to people and own it, it brings back a lot more power that you have lost to the dam addiction! You WILL feel the same way I promise! Right now you think they are nuts - as I did - I used to think "How come they just can't stop, smoking, drinking, toking, gambling etc?" NOW I know! The reason why they say you are an addict for life is basically because it is true! Do you know what is in the bottom of my purse?.... 1 Percocet!!! It will ALWAYS be in there, you know why? beccause it is my truth and my medal for standing up to it and that it no longer defines me! I will NEVER take it, that I know! BUT I know that if i ever had to go back on them, it would be SO easy for me to be back there again! As most addicts will tell you! ALL it takes is "just once!"! and that can be another reason why we lock ourselves away! 1. So people don't catch on to our dirty little secret 2. So we don't get tempted 3. So we don't have to pretend!

I went to a Chronic pain centre and one thing all addicts have in common is ROAD RAGE!!!! I could actually kill someone it is AWFUL! It's that sense of someone running your life again! You can't shout and honk at the pills, but your sure can with complete id**t strangers! Do you find that too?

So tommorrow, write down what you are experiencing, what you want, and write down his answers and make sure you don't leave without having and getting what you need from him OK? Both verbally and by medication! Let me know how you make out! Good luck honey!

how much clonidine do i needs? 1 weeks worth? 2 weeks? are they expensive? i pay for my drinks an medications so i dont wanna get a months worth if i dont need it? i wanna work again soon. writing these things down would help me i bet cuz every time go to see a doctor i just want out of there as soon as possible lol
depression, hmmm naw i dont wanna be saying im depressed, i do get super upset and i beat myself up ALOT the first thing i say when im feeling like that is that im a junky and im uselss ect. and as for the anxiety well, im really hoping it goes away after im off the methadone.
iagree that the reason i lock myself away is so idont have to lie or pretend. im sure a cuple weeks after i stop taking the methadone i will burie this whole experience deep down and ill put it way behind me i wont introduced myself and say hey im richie im in recovery im 245 days sober or watever. you know what i mean? it just doesn't make sense to me too do so. yeah i dont drive but i can imagine ROAD RAGE would be a hugh problem for me, since ivee been on methadone i have found i dont think before i react. ill just blurt out watevers on my mind even if its rude or uncalled for. if i drove and some jerk was gonna cut me off id spped up and put em in the ditch so fast, iand i know thats not right. i shouldnt let ppl get to me like that

It's just that you don't want 1 more thing - person or pill - to be over you!! It is an UNREAL sight to see 30 40 people being asked if they have road rage and we ALL put our hands up! I'm talking from bikers to old ladies! you ARE depressed honey! I swear you are! It's not an embarrassment! And it's not permanent! The pills take away your sense of enjoyment - seratonin - so thus the anxiety and the locking away! Also you don't go on to a street corner and shout out "I AM RICHIE AND I AM AN ADDICT AND HAVE BEEN CLEAN FOR 245 DAYS!!!!!!!!!" ;-) XD XD XD XD You say it to yourself - that 1 step at one day at a time thing! I would say "9 months and 3 days!" I used to know the hour!!! The pills I stated aren't for EVER they are just so you can get off of this c**p without being a problem for it! I need them because of the drugs I'm on! I don't care! Hell If it wasn't for them I would have shot people already!!!! ;-) o.O XD XD XD It's the only thing keeping society safe!!!!! LOL God made someone to make these pills Rich! So who are we to go against Gods plan!!!!! LOL ;-) I always say "I chose the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!"!!! ;-) So don't worry about what people think - they don't need to know a thing! This is YOUR life and future! so keep it quiet, and he's a doctor and wants the best for you OK? He WILL know that there is a huge possibility that you will have anxiety or depression! Also the herbal place can help you with this too! I know I'm a kook!!! ;-)

seriously bambi that is a obscene amout of pills your taking. your knowledge has been invaluable but at what expense? that like a pound of pills lol seriously tho are you ok? do you have canser? im sorry you have too take so many pills like that. i would never leave the house if i had to take pills every 2 or 3 hours sheesh..... you in the public alot? and you have kids tooo holy... im 28 i would love to have kids but im obviously not ready for that yet.

seratonin will come back though right? i sure hope so. i certainly miss enjoyin a cold beer, or the touch of my women. if im depressed it starts with seratonin and my lack of it lol

I have a cancer syndrome that creates constant skin cancer, and boney growths on my spine, hips, shoulders! It sucks but there is FAR worse in life! I time them so they hit by the time I get somewhere! If I'm talking to you on here and all of a sudden my spelling and typing looks Russian - you will know that it has hit me! I've been on them 9 years now, so I'm a pro! This is how I can help others - I get it! I functioned with Fentanyl patches on for crying out loud! I just had to because of the kids! IF I didn't have kids or they had moved out, I think I would be in a worse position where I wouldn't have gone anywhere! I am also VERY blessed that I have MANY friends in my life that wouldn't allow me to wollow and demanded I got out there! And I did! So that is how I got over this and continue to function as a VERY happy member of society - with road rage!!!!! LOL

It's ALL in the way you look at it Richie! There are ALWAYS people in FAR worse states than us! That is my phylosophy! When my youngest son was born disabled, at first I was devestated, then as I walked through our Childrens hospital and saw all the other little angels with FAR worse problems then my child! I raised him that way, of course he has every right to be pissed off and upset! You HAVE to allow yourself to be bummed, yet not allow it to get overwhelming to the point of not living! We do NOT have the right NOT to live! Does that make sense?

As I have told people on here - thinking about suicide - "You do NOT have the right to take your life and stop living, when someone is dying and just wants 1 more day!" It kind of puts things into perspective! My mom died of cancer and she fought to the bitter end to live! And if she had asked me to end her suffering I would have! So I looked at her strength, and NO ONE who isn't terminally ill, has the right to die! It's ALL in the way you look at it!

well im inspired by you strength. and im glad your friends didnt let you hide away thats a really good thing.
yeah i guess you right about not having the right to kiil themselves, i get mad at myself alot but im definatly to affraid to kill myself, i remember having a few really rough patches where i thought like that. but i couldn't .... i hope not anyway.
i at a point where its all or nothing tho. im bettin the farm, im goin all in, counting on the fact im gonna get clean from methadone and basically start over. you know when i type this and read what i have wrote it seems like my out look is a little flawed but we will see.