When does hydrocodone withdrawals BEGIN????

I need someone to help me with this situation I'm in. I've been heavily addicted to lortab 10/500 for over 10 years. I was prescribed the meds for an injury and before I even realized it, I was hooked. My tolerance has gotten up to 10-15 at a time. Right now I'm quitting cold turkey and it is not good. I'm on day 5 and i feel like I'm going to die. My family doesn't understand the seriousness of my condition and they keep telling me that everything is going to be alright like I have a minor headache or something. It's really ticking me off that they do not understand that I am seriously ill and they need to support me accordingly. I'm at the point where I just want to say forget it and take the pills. This the most horrible thing I have had to go through in my life, after all the meds made everything so easy. How can I deal with this without losing my mind?
Should I have tried to cut back first before I went cold turkey? Someone please help me I'm in a desperate situation!!!!

honestly, i think you should be fine. you are taking a dosage lower than what a doctor would prescribes. just in case, ask your physician before you do anything!!!

Try some black seed oil (Nigella sativa oil), it works wonders for one who is in the nightmare of opiate withdrawals.
It's also good to just take black seed oil daily anyway, it contains over 100 nutrients.
And there's been studies done that have proven the effectiveness of black seed oil in treating heroin addicts.
So give it a try, you won't be disappointed.
It also helps to reduce the cravings.

It all sucks, if you really want to be drug free (I'm on day 6 of no Norco) get your RX filled, know that they are there, cut your dosage in half for about a week, then just do it. Stop taking them, but be sure to have some Ambien around for sleep. Days are tough but nights can be tougher. I have read all the posts, some quite shocking, but we all seem to be in the same boat. I am hopeful, you really have to want to deal with whatever pain you have and get off the pills, you all really know they don't work anyway. The psychological dependance can be as bad as the physical dependance. Good luck to all who are trying to kick-it, it is NOT easy.

As for the Tramadol question. Tramadol is a non-narcotic pain medication. Relieves any pain without the effects of narcotics, and in the long run having any withdrawl syptoms. If u take the Tramadol you might still feel sick because there is no narcotics to help you feel better. My opinion is that just keep going with it. It you can get passed the 2nd and 3rd day, you should be fine from here on out. Hydrocodone is not nearly as powerful as OxyContin or Percocet, so in many ways the withdrawl syptoms are not as bad as they could be in other situations. No person ever wants to be depended on a drug everyday of their lives. So stay strong and continue with the kick!!! Withdrawl Symptoms usually subside totally after about 1 week. You may still feel a little weak going into the 2nd week, but after the 1st week you should be fine. After that, its all psycological, the mind can definitely play tricks on you!!!!

Folks, I was prescribed hydrocodone -- 1 bottle! and took 1 or 2 pills every so often. I definitely got high every time. Anyway, after stopping (running out, or maybe I flushed the last couple of pills) it was weeks! before I felt OK. Went through real feelings of despair and doom. Bad. Anyway, I think I'm very susceptible to this drug. I will try to stay away from it forever. Thanks.

I have a herniated disc in my L-4 area pushing out both sides at about 5 mm to the right last time I checked. My doc gives me them to have around just in case of a bad day of pain or for when my back fully herniates. Which it has 3 times in the past 4 years. My back gets sore at the end of the day and have noticed when I get home from work that I crave one. Sometimes for the pain, sometimes for the energy or the feeling. So my question is this...I take one pill a day at night. Most nights than not, how bad is that for my body?

We all want to quit opiates...ALL of us addicts, but unfortunately the horrible fear of withdrawal gets in the way everytime we think of quitting. To the above poster if you are taking that much your only hope is to either slowly taper (i dont know what thats like because i quit cold turkey because i am currently jobless) or look up a suboxone doctor and get on that sht. but the thing with suboxone is you only want to take them until you are done withdrawaling. some doctors will try to keep you on them forever which i dont agree with. the reason why is you're just replacing one drug that you have to withdrawal off longer for another. but if you only take subs through you withdrawal you'll be fine. suboxone takes a lot longer to withdrawal off of because it clings to your opioid receptors stronger and doesnt flush out of your body as easy as with methadone. (dont even fck with that sht methadone attacks your bone marrow). OR you can just bite the bullet and be a no limit soulja and withdrawal cold turkey. i know its frikkin rediculously hard but you and everyone else here can do it. i have completely withdrawaled from oxycontin and vicodin 2 times (not including all the times i tried to quit but relapsed on like day 6) and am on my third run. im on day 11 and starting to feel normal again. I swear this is my last time. or i sure fukkin hope so im tryin. you can do it its not impossible you just have to make a decision that you arent going to take the sht anymore. also for cold turkey withdrawaling look up the thomas recipe it helps alot ive been using that for the last couple days and it gets your spirits up. go out and buy 5-htp and l-tyrosine for depression, naproxen and potassium for leg pain and drink lots of water. also vitamin b-6 and vitamin C are good replenishers. hope this helps good luck to everyone out there who is suffering from these stupid frikkin pills doctors stupidly hand out like candy (assholes). and wish me luck too. :-) :-) :-) :-( :-( :-( :-D :-D :-D

:)

I agree don't start doing it to much. I am in a hole with the hydros now that i have never felt before. And I was strung out on oxy for a year so stop while you can and leave this drug to people who dont like it as much as we do.

I am so glad/relieved to have found this website, after reading the postings. I have been struggling with not using pain pills (Norco) in the prescribed way. If any of you out there are relatively new to drugs like this (Vicodin, Norco, Oxycontin) PLEASE use them 1) as your dr. prescribed, and 2) use them for PAIN. I am imploring you, from experience, to do this. I have a great job, two beatiful children, a great husband...and I have somehow become physically, mentally, and emotionally dependent on Norco and Xanax. I am ashamed of myself, and some of the things I've done to get more, when I have found that after two weeks, my 120/month supply is gone. I'm embarrassed thinking about it. For the slightest bit of stress, I take a Xanax. For the slightest bit of pain (or not), I take a Norco. How did this happen?? Instead of dealing with life, I take a pill. It's so easy to become this way...it's been about two years. I recently found out that my dr left and I've been assigned a new one. At first, I was thinking "this is the worst thing that could happen," knowing that this dr would probably not keep prescribing, as my last one did. Sure enough, at the first appt and after some discussion, he said he would like me to taper down and then off of Norco and Xanax (and remain on the antidepressant). I know in my heart he is right...so, here goes. I need to do this, I want to do this, I hope I can do this. I have to, for my health and for my family...they are beginning to notice problems...not in my work life or home life, because my one caveat is that I take great, wonderful care of those things..but I am not taking care of myself. Today, I have found myself situation where I've agreed to taper off Norco, I can refill in 4 days - which is when I will begin "tapering off." I did not want to admit to this new dr that I had already run out (!) and now, I am terrified and waiting for the withdrawals to kick in. My body is used to 6-8 Norcos a day, which in my opinion, is a pretty high amount. Panic about running out, panic about withdrawal symptons led me to ask my sisters and a couple of friends if they had any (for a chronic health problem they know about )..but I am so embarrassed knowing that they are probably seeing right through me and now are probably worried for me. But that's what addiction means, it means doing anything, risking anything, to make sure your stash doesn't run out. So. In a few LONG days, I will begin a rough ride. I don't even know how I'll get through the next 4 days with nothing, I'm terrified. And then a new fear is on my mind, the fear of trying to taper down successfully, and then fear of the withdrawals. It's comforting to know that there are lots of other people out there going through the same/similar thing...how did I get here? Please keep me in your thoughts. Thank you.

hi.

i can completely understand your fear about weaning off norco. for the past year and a half i've been abusing norco and lorcet to a pretty high level (the last six months or so i was ingesting about 300-350mg of hydrocodone a day) and am currently on day 12 of being clean. keep in mind that i didn't wean myself, i'm kind of weird i guess in that i have a harder time weaning myself than just quitting cold turkey. for most people tapering would be the way to go. if you had a more serious addiction i would suggest looking into a suboxone doctor near your home but that is a very powerful yet effective drug. it's a miracle for many people though who struggle with opiate addiction throughout their lives.

it's not going to be fun but believe me it could be a lot worse. your dose is strong (5-8 per day) but i was taking 5-8 before i got out of bed in the morning and i've made it this far.

i don't know how realistic this is with you but i would consider letting your friends and loved ones know about your situation and get whatever support you can from them. i know for me this has helped as much as anything. around my 10th day of detoxing i broke down and called my father telling him everything and although i felt ashamed at the time when i was telling him i did feel a great deal of relief afterwards. and he has been nothing but supportive of me, which i love him for. trying to overcome this beast of an addiction by yourself is very difficult. having someone to confide in has helped me tremendously.

good luck with your endeavors. it's hard but it CAN be done if you really want it to happen. i, as well as many other opiate users, would agree that we all found it entirely too easy to hide behind life's problems in a warm and fuzzy shell in the form of a pill and to break out of that shell is a difficult task.

as far as your problems with xanax i unfortunately cannot offer you any advice as it has never been a drug i've found particularly enjoyable. i do know that withdrawals from benzos can be very difficult so maybe take it one step at a time.

again, good luck.

Thank you so much for the information and the encouraging words. You are on day 12 and you sound like you are doing good (good enough to be on the computer, anyway) so that is good. I am probably not strong enough to stop cold turkey like you, and I'm afraid it'll be too hard on my body and mind, and do not want to miss any work...so, I will taper. Like I said before, the bigger problem is the fact that I just can't deal with any kind of stress - I know that's the main issue.
I will, of course, take your advice about trying to deal with one at a time...I don't think a lot of people realize that trying to stop taking Xanax is the WORST..I ran out one time, and it's like having the flu x 100. Anyway, I DID confide in my older sister, and she admitted that she has been worried in the back of her mind but did not want to think about it, because of the worry. I told her that w/ this new doctor, I don't have a choice, which I know is a blessing in disguise.
Congratulations that you are on day 12, that's amazing. You're almost there. Every day that I want to reach for one, I'll think of people like you who stopped cold turkey and are going on two weeks of being strong.

YOU WILL BE OK!!! The first time I took Hydro 10/500 (3-4 times daily) for about 5 years. I probably wouldn't have stopped even though I felt terrible about taking them and wanted to quit. I was just extremely frightened about withdrawal. I am a mom and was scared to death of my family finding out I had been addicted. The city I live in got really tough on docs who prescribe those meds though. It became impossible to get a rx anymore, but my doc did give me Suboxone. It is truly fantastic. I didn't even need to take the full month of the prescription. One month of it should get you off completely.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it for me. I went back to another doc a few months later to try to get Hydro again. It worked, but he only gave me a few, so I supplemented by buying them! I honestly thought the guilt and lying would eat me alive. I only took them for a couple of months this time. I have taken Ultram and Skelaxin this time and was over the withdrawl in 2 days. It's not that bad, and BELIEVE ME you WILL be ok. Fear of withdrawal can be worse than the actual withdrawal. Just hang in there! I only take over the counter meds for my pain now. I can't begin to tell you how much better I feel physically and mentally! I also take a multivitamin daily - you'd be surprised how much better they can make you feel.

I never had to tell my husband or family what I went through thankfully, but if they ever find out, I'm so glad I can say I quit! Anyone can get started on this stuff. It doesn't matter how old you are, who you are or what you do. Just remember, no matter who you are you can stop too. It's worth it! I promise YOU WILL BE OK!!!! :-D

10/325 is not weak, it is the second highest milligram you can get of hydrocodone, OXYCODONE goes up to 160...get your facts straight before trying to help someone...



and no, withdrawels differ from person to person, for example, mine occured 30 minutes after the high would fade, but my friend got his 2 days later (if he made it that long). But as for how many you take a day, it is a low dose, (for me, it's actually a normal dose for what's happened to your back) I actually take norco's myself for my back and goto medical school. Just in case anyone was wondering I don't take them to get high, withdrawels for me are inevitable....



and to the other, they don't make 10/500, they make 10/325 and 10/650

CORRECTION they don't make 10 500 norco, they do hydrocodone but the consistancy of ingrediants vary from norco to hydrocodone or lortab or percocet...tada