Opiate Withdrawals :: Loperamide Is The Best Remedy
Nov 12, 2011
Loperamide HCI is the best. It's an opiate. Just about all Anti-Diarrheal remedies over the counter have this in it. I used to suffer from opiate withdrawals when my perscription oxycodone was stolen from my locker at work. The withdrawals almost put me in the hospital. I researched the remedies in my medicine chest and came across an Anti-Diarrheal remedy with Loperamide in it; and I later discovered that this was an opiate upon thorough research----that's why it works. I took 20 of the 2mg pills and within one hour my withdrawal symptoms were completely gone. COMPLETELY gone! Since I was taking 40 mg of oxycodone I figured I'd match the dosage to the Loperamide and it worked. Nothing less than 20 pills of Loperamide did the job. I had to take at least 20----remember that----Depending on the dosage you were taking.
A lot of people have been trying this and it has helped them too. I wash the Loperamide pills down with milk to coat my stomach. I did get an upset stomach on it before, until I used milk. I'd like to also add that the Loperamide is NOT addictive either. You will not get HIGH from it so don't waste your time abusing it because nothing will make it work like that. And I don't want to read or hear about Loperamide being pulled from over the counter because someone died abusing it to try to get high.
I've been to Detox clinics in the past and nothing works like the Loperamide. Thanks to Loperamide I will never end up in Detox again. And one last thing... Loperamide kicked my opiate addiction for good. FANTASTIC! Stay away from Suboxone or Methadone because they are addictive. Oh, and if you are wondering if I'm still on the Loperamide? I'm not.
I've noticed the Loperamide (Anti-Diarrheal) products sold in Sam's and Costco for around $5 for 350 caplets. Way worth the price. I've also been told not to worry about side effects from Loperamide because you won't be on it too long and secondly, as far as it works for diarrhea, one 2mg pill works just like taking 20 pills. It won't make you anymore constipated. These prescribed pain pills that doctors give you will make you constipated too, and they contain too much Tylenol (acetaminophen) that's bad stuff. I'm glad there is something out there I can share with you that's affordable and will stop opiate withdrawals. Maybe some wizard will one day invent something that will give us that euphoric feeling back without withdrawals or side effects, but until then, get off the opiates. Good luck to you!
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I have had a long history of pain med abuse but oddly enough the two withdrawals I went through were for a synthetic opioid (Tramadol) and a substance/drug that acts just like an opiate but isn't one (Tianeptine).
I was taking massive amounts of tramadol from 2007-2009, 250 mg three times a day every day during those years. I finally decided enough was enough and quit cold turkey. I went through pure hell back then and used the internet to talk to others and use all of the remedies that were known at that time (vitamins, st john's wort, baths, etc.). These 'solutions' did very little and I was in a living hell every day for a good two weeks. We all know what that entails so there's no point in going over the details.
Fast forward to a couple months ago and I found this wonderful substance called Tianeptine. It's not scheduled nor marketed here in the US despite it being very effective for depression and it's effects are nearly identical to a good dose of hydrocodone or oxycontin. Since it's not regulated in the US, I was able to buy it on a certain popular auction website as well as through some online US vendors. Granted, they sell it as 'not for human consumption' but they know very well that their buyers are buying it to take it.
The dosage is only 12.5mg but if you take 80-125 mg or more you get a fantastic opiate high but it only lasts for a couple of hours as it's half life is very short (about two hours). I quickly picked up a habit of taking 100mg doses 3-4x each day for two straight months. I quickly realized I was becoming addicted to it and decided when I ran out I would quit it for good.
Just 3-4 hours after my last dose was last Sunday afternoon and I was already starting to have withdrawals. I expected to feel a bit tired and have minor cravings for maybe a day or two but nothing more. I was in for one hell of a surprise though. The rest of the day it was like my tramadol withdrawal all over again. I felt like I had the flu, was sore all over, felt incredibly depressed and tired, couldn't get comfortable, nose was running, etc. and so on. Then night came. I couldn't fall asleep at all and within literally 5 seconds of changing positions in bed I was immediately uncomfortable and rolling over again. No matter that I did, I couldn't get comfortable or fall asleep. This constant tossing and turning went on all night for 8-9 hours until I had to go to work.
I still felt like absolute garbage and couldn't even function at work. I was constantly running to the bathroom the previous night with the runs and I was still having that problem at work too. I went home sick after about 4 hours that felt like an eternity. I went home where I continued to relive the hell I went through from tramadol withdrawal a few years ago. That night (Monday evening) it was the same thing trying to sleep-- It simply didn't happen! I was so miserable it brought me to tears and extreme anger at feeling like c**p, not being able to get comfortable for more than a few seconds, having extreme RLS and not being able to get to sleep.
Tuesday morning I had to give up and get ready for work early in the morning. I felt just as bad as I had the previous day on Monday but I forced myself to tough out the day despite being horribly unproductive and each minute feeling like an hour. When I got home from work I decided to look up opiate withdrawal on the internet to see if there was any new home remedies since my last trip through this hell. I was shocked to find out that high doses of Imodium AD were all I really needed to be symptom-free from withdrawal. I immediately got in my car and drove to Walmart to stock up. When I got home I immediately took 4 of the pills. About three hours later it was time for bed so I took another 4 along with my usual Zantac, melatonin and doxylamine (I've taken these three things every night at bedtime for many years so this wasn't out of the ordinary).
I laid in bed watching my usual 30 or so minutes of TV until I shut it off and try to fall asleep. I was feeling a little bit better since taking all that Imodium but thought it could have been placebo so I was skeptical about it working and me being able to sleep for the first time in 72 hours. To my surprise, I was able to get comfortable right away, stay comfortable and fall asleep easy. I didn't have to be to work until the afternoon so I was able to try and sleep in. I woke up two times in the night to go to the bathroom but was able to quickly fall back asleep. Unfortunately I wasn't able to sleep any later than 7am but that did give me a full 8 hours of sleep so I was very pleased.
That morning on Wednesday I took another 4 Imodium followed by breakfast. I was feeling great and withdrawal-free for the most part. I didn't feel 100% normal but I was probably about 80-85% and felt that the reason was because I was still sleep deprived from only slept once in the previous three nights. I swallowed another 4 Imodium pills before heading out the door to work and was able to work at about 80-85% of my potential and was in a pretty good mood as well, which was 1,000 times better than how I had felt in previous days before finding out about Imodium!
I got off work really late and took another 4 Imodium and went to bed. I slept another 8 hours but was unable to get any more than that despite today being my day off. I got curious about some of the other supplements for withdrawal such as the Tagamet HB and Aleve. Although I have been feeling just fine from the Imodium alone, I decided to go out and buy some of these other OTC meds to see if they help. When I got home this afternoon from buying them I decided to take some Tagamet and Aleve followed by 4 more Imodium pills a few minutes later. I think they do indeed help the withdrawals even more and so it must be true that they aid in the Imodium's action in your body/brain. I can and will conclude that, in my case anyway, they are unnecessary as the Imodium itself is definitely enough. That being said, if you feel you really, truly need that additional little boost to overcome your withdrawals then by all means go out and buy some generic Aleve and Tagamet as well because I can confirm that they do help a little bit more! I would not say that I am 'high' or 'buzzed' off the combined feeling of these meds but I am definitely in a happier mood, withdrawal-free and with a bit of energy!
I know there are already 100s, if not 1000s of documented cases on the internet about these OTC medications being extremely effective for opiate withdrawal. I couldn't help but to include my story as well but I feel it's even more important for me to help spread the information that this "opiate withdrawal cure" also works for addictions to "opiate-like" substances as well, such as for tramadol and tianeptine! I sincerely hope my post helps out all opiate and opiate-like addictions out there that are giving people trouble in their withdrawal. It is absolutely crazy that these simple, common OTC drugs are so cheap and effective at overcoming your addiction!
In the two days I've been using Imodium (along with today's added drugs of Tagamet and Aleve) I have not had a bowel movement yet. That may be TMI but I feel it's important to give as much information as possible. I am not too concerned yet as I was only having a bowel movement a couple times a week while in my tianeptine addiction the past couple of months. Because my recent addiction was relatively short-term at just two months and the abuse wasn't crazy-insane, I am planning on tapering out my Imodium use over the next 2-3 days. I will update this post with any progress or further information I feel necessary to share. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!
Here's another breakdown of what you need to overcome your withdrawal:
Imodium AD -- Loperamide 2mg (get the Walmart or other generic brand). Take 4-6 at a time and if after an hour or two it's not enough then take another 4-6 until you find your right dose. When you find your right dose you'll know because 80-90% of your withdrawal symptoms will be gone!
Tagamet HB -- Cimetidine 200mg (get the Walmart or other generic brand). Take 1-2 about 30 minutes before you take your Imodium dose. Remember that you don't have to take this as well as Imodium itself is truly good enough but if you feel you need a little more than definitely invest in some of this as well.
Aleve -- Naproxen Sodium 220mg (get the Walmart or other generic brand). Take 1-2 about 30 minutes before you take your Imodium dose. Remember that you don't have to take this as well as Imodium itself is truly good enough but if you feel you need a little more than definitely invest in some of this as well.
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I've been smoking for about a year and a half on and off but more on then off. All summer long all day every day, every morning all day, and even before i went to bed. It's been about 2 days since i stopped and i wake up every morning a nervous wreck and eventually end up puking. I'm not gonna lie i loved being high, but i lost my dad a couple years ago and i think its possible sub-consciously that i smoked to forget about my issues. I refuse to start smoking again i'm avoiding everyone that does. But im in community college right now so puking really *** my day up, my appetite is in the *****, i get depressed i don't feel like doing **** how long is this supposed to last ?
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This is a nasty and tenacious skin disease that you have to really put a fight with in order to get rid of it. It will take a toll on you mentally and physically. I caught it and was told by the doctor that the most effective treatment was freezing as opposed to creams. At the time I only had a few bumps and the doctor froze a couple of them. The bad thing is the Q-tip she used froze an area about 5x as big as the actual bump and she didn't notice a few other bumps. This would come back to haunt me in the end because the freezing leaves scars and the bumps she missed ended up spreading more of themselves anyway. So I do not recommend you freeze these since there's other ways to treat them. Doctors will just brush you off since they don't know much about this disease and will just tell you to leave it alone or refer you to a dermatologist.
Here's how to get rid of them yourself...
As part of your medical kit you will need:
Bottle of rubbing alcohol
Bottle of Betadine (over the counter)
Box of Q-tips
Tweezers
Pointy art X-acto knife or needle
Magnifying Glass
Flashlight
Medical latex gloves
Tissue/toilet Paper
Thuja Oil (from Homeopathic medicine store, two 30 ml bottles)
Additional immune system strengthening items:
Thuja tablets (30c) - take 2 per day
Vitamin C
Multivitamins
Eat healthy, get good sleep, make your body healthy so it can fight off the virus
Procedure
The best time to do these medical procedure is right after the shower. The goo inside the bumps is most noticeable on wet skin. Fill a small container with a bit of rubbing alcohol and place a couple of Q-tips in it along with your tweezers and x-acto knife blade/needle. This is to disinfect your tools.
Use flashlight to light up your work area and magnifying glass to spot small bumps.
Put your gloves on and take the alcohol soaked Q-tip and rub it on all the bumps to clean and disinfect the skin area.
On bumps with noticeable white center take knife/needle and gently prick the top of them to expose the inside. Using the tip of the sharp instrument pry inside the bump a bit to try to pull out the white goo. Use the tweezers to pull out the white center. Once you grab it, place it on a tissue and throw it out. If you cannot pull out the white center, gently press or squeeze on the outter edges of it to push out the goo or a bit of blood.
Clean and disinfect your blade and tweezers after dealing with each bump. Remember, you don't want to spread the contents onto other parts of your skin.
Soak tip of Q-tip in Betadine and rub it on the bump you've just worked on. Betadine kills viruses and disinfects wounds. The bump will swell the next day but it's ok. It's just your body fighting the virus.
Do this for any bump where you can see a white center.
For smaller bumps without a white center you have 2 options...
Option 1 is gently prick the center of the bump a little deeper until a bit of blood comes out. What this does is introduces the virus into the bloodstream so that your body detects it and attacks it on its own. Apply betadine.
If in the next day or 2 you see white goo at the center of any of the same bumps you should repeat the procedure to remove it.
Apply Thuja oil to the bumps you've worked on twice a day. This will attack the virus in case there is still some inside.
Option 2 for smaller bumps is to soak a Q-tip in thuja oil and rub it on the bump. Thuja oil has antifungal properties and will slowly fight off the virus.
After procedure is complete, if don't want to stain your clothing, place a folded square of tissue paper over affected area. Remove it once area is dry.
Post Recovery
Bumps take a few weeks to go away and heal. Skin surrounding area may become dry and possibly develop eczema. Put lotion on area twice a day or more but take precaution in case there are still some active bumps you didn't spot. Continue to take Thuja tablets a month or 2 after you recovered to keep you immune system strong and fight off any remaining virus.
Observations and special notes
It may be possible to just apply Thuja oil on bumps and not cut into them at all but it might take longer for them to go away. I also feel you run the risk of having the white center pop accidently and spread to other areas if you don't deal with them asap.
DO NOT TAKE BATHS OR GO SWIMMING. Shower only and avoid getting affected area too wet. Don't even scrub the area with a luffa or other rough sponges or you may pop a bump and spread contents. General observations including my own suggest that the virus spreads to nearby parts of the body if soaked in water for too long. Thus why I said the best time to operate is after a shower since the white center portrudes from the skin more and the skin is softer.
Be careful if shaving near the affected area. If you cut into a bump by accident you can spread the viral contents. Disinfect shavers with alcohol after each use.
Use the flashlight to shine light in different angles on affected area. Even small bumps often shine and can be spotted that way.
There are often "sister" bumps close to a bigger one. If you kill the big one the little one tends to die soon after but it's best to treat both if possible.
Avoid touching bumps with your hands or other body parts since this virus spreads easily.
It's important to look for new bumps and watch the status of treated bumps daily in order to take action immediately.
I tried sudocrem for a few weeks but it didn't seem to do anything other than make mess. Do not use polysporin on treated areas for prolonged periods of time as there are side effects. Read up on them.
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I've had 2 depo shots and stopped last month. I've been constantly bleeding for the entire time i've been on it and after. Ive read similar post about women bleeding almost a entire year after stopping the shots. I switched to the shot after bleeding constantly for 2 years on the implanon implant in my arm. Do you know of any natural pills i can take to even my hormones out and balance my body back to normal. I do not want to put anymore hormones like other birth controls in my body. I don't want to bleed any more and i'd rather i never used any type of bc ever! I tried the IUD and that made me get constant barlothian cyst that was pain n my vajayjay! Someone please help me. ive done a bunch of google searches and cant seem to find anything to take. i seen something about agnus castus to naturally restore hormonal balance... but problem with that is most ppl use it to get their period back not to stop from bleeding... so i don't know what to turn to. I was always the type of person to never want to use BC bcuz i didnt like putting foreign things n my body..until i got pregnant with my 2 boys within 2 years.. so i used BC after i had my last son n march 2012. And i was right .. this BC stuff has messed my life up. My husband is irritated bcuz im not wanting sex any more and i used to love love like A LOT. Now im too tired all the time and not in the mood.. so i decided to rule out ALL FORMS OF BC PERIOD. i want my old body back. I don't even get wet like i used to.. i cant believe i have to use lube and im only 24!I used to b so wet like all the time for no damn reason.. SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME WITH SOMETHING TO DO!! The blood is ill smelling and sometimes brown and old blood.I have no STD's at all. Been checked twice in 4 month period.
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Anyone going through cannabis withdrawals?
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How long or short a time can Paxil withdrawals last?
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been depressed for 7 months. going through withdrawals of effexor. been tried on different antidepressants. now on prozac for 1 week.
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been on venlafaxine for 17 years. dr.took me off in three days. i think i was taken down to fast. been off since oct. still feel real depressed is my main concern. i am taking prozac for the last three weeks. anyone have any suggestions for me
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I could really use the support of someone who is going through SSRI withdrawal or has recently. After years of being on SSRIs my doctor is afraid Zoloft started worsening things and wants to try Lamictal. I am going through the worst withdrawals ever. Can hardly leave the house at day 5. To top it off the Lamictal is making me pretty sick. I'm obviously highly sensitive. Has anyone else had this experience?
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My doctor prescribed me to take Xanax 0,5 mg as needed for bad panic attacks.
The thing is that I've been having bad panic attacks almost every night.
My bottle consists of 30 pills and I still have a lot left.
I don't take it everyday, only when really needed. So more like every other day?
I didn't take it last night and I felt like I couldn't sleep and I feel more anxious.
Is this a Xanax withdrawal or me just being anxious? (I am nervous about an upcoming appointment)
I just wanted to know if 0.5 Xanax is enough to become dependent on it and suffer bad withdrawals like seizures or something.
I only take it once a day and it's at night only. I never abused it
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Ok so I was taking oxycodone painkillers for about 1 1/2 years for my back issues. 10 mg pills and I was only taking anywhere from 1 to 1 and a 1/2 a day. Never exceeded that. However I started getting nervous that long term probably isn't good on my stomach. So I lowered my dosage last week to 3/4 of a pill for about 5 days then I quit last Friday.
That's where the problems started. First 40 hours I felt like I had a strange low grade current running through my arms/legs. Not painful more like annoying. Almost like I just had to twitch or move my arms. That finally wore off and now I feel absolutely terrible. NO energy, NO desire to move, headaches for 3 days straight, I just feel like rolling in a ball and dying. And to top it off I awoke last night at 2AM and couldn't fall back asleep. So my long and drawn out question is...................Is this truly all from the withdrawals? I mean I am just having a hard time believing that this stems from taking pretty much 1 lousy pill a day. I understand 1 1/2 years is a long time, but 1 pill a day?
And then of course it leads me to my next question......How long is this going to legitimately last? I have been soooo tempted to just take a pill and get the pain over with but I really need to stay off of these.
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I have been taking Xanax 2mg about 6 times a day and 100mg of Zoloft for about 5 years. I am very confused now i knew there was going to be a bad withdrawal from the Xanax so i checked myself into a detox center to withdraw from it. I have not used Xanax for about 40 days now but i keep feeling like I'm in a daze and i get those electric shocks like my body is going threw a nervous breakdown. I was reading and these sound like withdraws of Zoloft. I have not felt the same since i checked into detox. I don't know if it's the Xanax or the Zoloft that i am experiencing all these withdrawals. I am not taking any of these medications. Can someone explain what it is that I'm going threw.
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I haven't been feeling too well lately so have been absent from posting it reading on these boards. I have a host of illnesses including severe osteoarthritis, mild spinal stenosis, Graves' disease (suffered and survived a mistreated thyroid storm), chronic pain, fibromyalgia, hypertension, LBBB (left bundle branch block in my left side of heart), tendinitis in my ankle, obesity, anxiety, major depressive disorder, etc. You get the drift. I also therefore take about 12 different types of medications equalling up to 24 pills a day I ingest. Oh and I also have anemia and some other female issues (i'm 52 years old)
Due to my latest complaints of severe nausea and lethargy my primary care physician advised me that he would like to see me first try to stop taking Naproxen. I currently take 500 mg twice daily. I stopped cold turkey on Tuesday night and today is friday. I am feeling awful. Please help are these withdrawal symptoms normal with even naproxen? I've been taking it for about a year and prior to that I was taking celebrex for about two years. I am not sure if I will feel better in a few more days of no more headaches and shaking and sweating and irritable bowel.
Has anyone successfully stopped naproxen and how long for withdrawals? And if anyone just decided that the risk of health issues arising from using naproxen was better than feeling pain?
I am using a host of other meds in conjunction with my pain specialist including a host of other opiates, etc.
Can someone help me? I don't know if I should just grin and bare it the worse almost over. Or should I give up and take it again. I don't want to be taking so many drugs any more. I'm feeling like they're killing me fast yet help with pain and daily living.
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Can Wellbutrin help with opiate withdrawal syndrome? I need to go off opiates real soon and I don't want to go cold turkey. I've been through too many already that nearly killed me. Does anyone have an answer or have tried Wellbutrin with withdrawal successfully?
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I'm a 36 year old male and I work as an executive for a global corporation (not trying to "show off" but it plays into my story a bit further down). I tried opiates for my first time at 18 (1997) when I had two wisdom teeth removed. The Dr. at the time prescribed me 30 500MG Vicodin's. It was love, rather infatuation, once the effects of the first pill kicked in. I know many of you have exactly the same story and you know that wonderful warm feeling you had the first time you experimented with opiates whether you received a legal prescription or otherwise. In fact, I could hardly believe how good I felt, no physical or emotional pain it was if I was laying on a cloud of cotton candy. I actually took that prescription as prescribed and enjoyed the 10 or so days I was on it. Once I was done, that was it, I didn't try it again for years but I never did forget how wonderful it made me feel.
Fast forward to 2003/2004, I started dating a girl whose brother was a pain management Dr. She worked at his practice on the East Coast and had loads of prescription medication at her house which her brother had given her from the tons of samples the drug reps would leave with him. At first I thought this girl was an addict but the funny thing was that she NEVER ingested any of these meds. There were Vici-Profen, Percocet, Muscle Relaxers, Seroquel, and injectable Dilaudid! Now I had never heard of most of the drugs she in a cardboard box in her closet but I had hear of Percocet and Vici-Profen. She gave me a few here and there just to get a little buzz every few weeks until later that summer when I was helping her carry a new dresser up the stairs of her two story house. The dresser itself wasn't "that" heavy but I twisted in just the wrong way as we turned the top of the stairs and felt a lightening bolt of pain throughout my entire body as I collapsed to the ground. I couldn't believe the excruciating pain I was experiencing (turns out I had torn a muscle in my lower back), this pain would be almost laughable compared to the withdrawal I would have a few years later.
To make a long story short, her brother the "Dr." was also heavily addicted to Dilaudid (which I never tried thank God) and wrote me huge prescriptions for anything under the sun. This lasted for a year or so until a medical board investigation almost shut him and his practice down for over prescribing narcotics. My cheap and easily accessible supply was almost immediately shut off. Keep in mind I was never into drugs prior to this, sure I'd tried weed and coke a couple of times but nothing really appealed to me, until the opiates that is. At this point I was used to eating 6 Norco's (Oxycodone 10MG) just to get out of bed in the morning and another 6 or so to round out my day. I had maybe 12 or so left when the Dr. cut me off, no problem I told myself worse comes to worse I'll have withdrawals for a couple of days...no big deal...YEA RIGHT!
By the morning of day two I was freaking out, I had a high position in another company at the time which demanded me to be at the office almost 100% of the time. This may not be obvious to most people but when you become an executive there's really no such thing as "sick-time". You have a number of responsibilities and are expected to go well beyond the call of duty. I was freaking out because as each dreadful minute passed I was feeling worse and worse. I did some research online and learned about the firs of two "miracle" drugs I ended up trying throughout my struggle to sobriety. It was called Methadone and it would take away ALL of your withdrawals. YIPPIE I thought, now I have a solution to this horrible problem (I'm sure you can see where this is going). So I drove my new BMW 7 series to the "clinic" which was in one of the worst neighborhoods I'd ever seen and I grew up in a major city on the East Coast (NYC). At this point however, I didn't care, I was barely able to drive that morning and I knew things would be getting a lot worse as time wore on. I parked my car worried that I wouldn't see it again and proceeded down the sidewalk to the dilapidated clinic. Along the way I saw a number of individuals which fit my "idea" of drug addicts. At this point my ego refused to even fathom any relationship between myself and these "addicts". In my head, since I hadn't (up to that point) done anything illegal to score my DOC I was "better" than these people.
I sat in the waiting room, feeling like death, for over two hours until I was able to meet with an Indian (form India, not American Indian) counselor who asked me my story. Well, I wasn't about to throw my Dr. under the bus no matter what questions this guy asked. He informed me that I would have to take a drug test and wait around for the results before he could dispense any Methadone. GREAT, I thought, the withdrawals were getting really bad at this point. A month or so later (it was really just an hour but you know how time crawls when you're hurting with withdrawals) the little Indian man proceeded to inform me that he could NOT give me any methadone that day because there were still opiates in my system. This made me REALLY freak out, I didn't think I could go another day feeling like this. "OMG, what the hell am I supposed to do, I took the morning off work to come here and I have to go back to work this afternoon!!!" I commented with a shaky voice. The guy basically told me he couldn't do anything for me until I tested negative and to try back the next day. After some further protesting from me he advised me to go to the ER which I did. Four or five hours later I left the ER with 15 500MG Vicodin and took nearly all of them that day which barely took the edge off. I was back at the Methadone place the next morning at 7:00AM (which was usually the time I was neck deep at work in the office). I finally tested clean for the opiates and was given my first dose of 45MG liquid methadone. Another, more powerful and terrible infatuation began that day. One that would lead me down the road to hell...
I struggled to make it to the dispensary every day and had to continuously come up with new excuses for work. Among the many "wonderful" things opiates have brought me is an uncanny ability to lie to EVERYONE in my life. To this day NOBODY knows that I'm currently an addict, no one!
As I was finishing the methadone treatment and my doses were minimized to 5MG, I started feeling withdrawals again although these were already much worse than the ones I'd previously experienced and I was STILL taking the methadone. I only had another dose and they would cut me off, I was on a 28 or 30 day program. I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with the hellish withdrawal that would soon follow so I had to think of a way of getting my hands on more. Now I was an upstanding citizen if you will up until that point and rarely did I have any issues with the law besides a speeding ticket or two so I didn't know any drug dealers to feed my habit. After much debate I knew what I had to do and it was really risky. I went over to my girlfriends house while she was asleep (I had a key to her place) and snuck in and "borrowed" the keys to her brothers medical office. I don't want to incriminate myself but let's just say I had an almost unlimited amount of prescriptions for methadone which I would drive to various pharmacies to have filled. *NOTE: I have altered some details of my story to throw off any authority figures out there looking for targets. I don't know if this happens or not but better safe than sorry I always say.
Fast forward another year, I was now taking as much as 120MG of methadone per day!!! CRAZY I know but I was an addict with an almost limitless supply. I had moved to another state a year or so later and my "method" for getting new pills was coming to a quick end. One day I found myself without ANYTHING and the following month was the most hellish experience of my life to date. I came closer to feeling what eternal damnation must be like. I had to quit my job because there was NO WAY I could make it into work in the zombie like condition I was in when withdrawing COLD TURKEY off 120 MG's of Methadone which I had been taking for the better part of two years. I also had to breakdown and tell two of my family members because I couldn't move let alone feed myself. Thank God that they took care of me albeit to say they were highly disappointed and shocked is a gross understatement! I had no choice but to suffer through this and other than taking a number of OTC sleeping medications (none of which worked) I did this the old fashioned way.
I promised myself once I came out of this horrendous ordeal that I would NEVER AGAIN USE OPIATES of any kind...famous last words. I was clean for about a year and then I started dating the craziest woman I've ever had the displeasure of knowing. She did everything to emotionally destroy me and it worked. I couldn't concentrate on work and I was having tremendous anxiety attacks. I went to a Dr. and was diagnosed with GAD (general anxiety disorder) and was prescribed Xanax. As I stated before I was never into any other drugs and this included benzos. I hated the Xanax because I could barely stay awake taking this stuff. I stopped and the anxiety continued, next time I visited my Dr. he prescribed Tramadol. He told me it was a mild non-narcotic pain reliever and it had some success as an anti-anxiety medication. I gave it a shot and low and behold I started feeling great again! Please don't think me an id**t, I did my research after taking the Tramadol and I was aware that it was indeed an opiate-like drug but I not only became an expert in lying to others but I mastered lying to myself like most other addicts. I started a regimen of four 50MG pills throughout the day but like most addicts I quickly outgrew this and began taking more and more. Soon I told my Dr. that I didn't like taking the "number" of pills I was taking and if there was a form of Tramadol that I could take only once or twice a day. As addicts we are naturally manipulative so I knew well beforehand what I was fishing for, Extended Release 200MG Ultrams. Sure enough my Dr. had an epiphany while hearing my story of angst and prescribed me the aforementioned meds.
The ER's are supposed to be swallowed whole and 200 MG's of the drug are consistently secreted into your system. I didn't want to wait this long so I would bite them in half which would give me one heck of a nice high. One a day turned into 2 and 2 turned into 3. At any one time I was taking 600 MG's of Tramadol and all at once. I did this for a year until I moved to another state yet again for a new job. I had roughly a months supply of meds and as I was running out I simply called my prescribing physician and told him I had moved and not had a change to find a new Dr. He promptly sent a well known national pharmacy a new script for 90 days...I was safe! It's funny though, no matter how many pills or DOC an addict has it's never enough and we are always stressed and worried about where and how we're going to score our next fix. As the 90's approached their end so did my cache of pills....I called the Dr. again once I was a day or so from running out and asked him to refill them just one last time. This time the answer was no and I began to seriously worry about where I would get my next fix. Now I've never known any real drug dealers especially in a new state so that avenue had always been closed to me and I wasn't about to drive around the worst areas of town in search of my DOC. It wasn't for fear of being robbed or killed but it was for fear of getting arrested. The biggest nightmare of my life is to end up in jail or worse yet, end up in jail while going through withdrawals...UGH!
I've always been quite the resourceful fellow and I decided to go to an Urgent Care. I talked of horrible back pain and even had my MRI slides from when I tore a muscle in my back, they had no idea the injury had occurred years earlier. I also told them that I didn't like "Narcotic" medications like vic's and percocet and I prefered something much milder and NON-addictive like Tramadol (Ultram). I would tell them what my previous Dr. had prescribed and they would happily write me a 30 day prescription relieved to discover I wasn't some "drug addict" hoping to score some opiates...little did they know. For those of you who don't know, Tramadol has is a much lower classified drug than say Vicodin. Most Dr.'s are so happy that a patient wants something other than a straight narcotic for pain that they write you a script for the stuff without batting an eyelash. After hearing the amount of 200's was taking one well-meaning although moronic Physician's Assistant informed me that Ultram now made a 300MG ER and I would only have to take one of those...SWEET!
I abused the Tramadol for the next couple of years when someone I worked with offered me some Oxy's and even Methadone...Like the id**t that I am I got hooked on those again as well. Fast forward another year, I moved once again to another state for a phenomenal executive job and lost my professional drug dealer. So what did I do now you ask? Same thing as before, went to a number of Urgent Care's got my meds and all was well until one fateful day last year. I pulled my usual routine at the Urgent Care but made the mistake of telling the PA to please give me something with little to no Acetaminophen. This must have raised a red flag for this guy and he told me he'd be back with my prescriptions. He came back and asked me the last time I'd taken any narcotic. I flat out lied to him and said my mom and given me a couple of yellow vicodin (norco) for the last coupe of days for my horrendous back pain before I could make it to the Dr. (hoping he would write me a script for that exact medication). He looked me straight in the eyes and said "You're lying to me". I had an instant panic attack but tried to keep cool although I'm sure my face turned as bright red as a ripe tomato. "Excuse me I responded, what are you talking about?" Well, it turns out that this particular state has a Federal program which tracks ALL of the controlled substance prescription any patient has at any given time and this PA had run my name so he had a list of the 250 or so Norco's I'd picked up just a month earlier, and the ones before that, and before that, etc. I was caught red handed so what did I do? Did I admit to lying and tell him I needed help with the problem...NOPE....I pretended to be really upset and that he must have mixed me up with someone else. He told me to leave and I said no, let me talk to your supervisor. He then said "Why don't we talk to the police instead?"...MORE ANXIETY..."Fine, I responded why don't we do that" and I followed him to the front desk while he actually called the cops (remember my biggest fear boys and girls me+jail=LIFE OVER. I actually stood there while he spoke to the cops and told me they were on their way and to wait in the waiting room. I calmly said fine and walked into said room where I made a hasty retreat out the back praying as hard as I've ever prayed for God to help me just this once. I was petrified the cops would arrive just as the elevator doors opened. Once I made it outside I was certain they would arrive when I walked up to my car. Let's just say I walked briskly across the lot to my car and "calmly" drove out of there trying not to attract any attention to myself. I have a fairly expensive foreign sports car which would be easily recognizable had anyone from the Urgent Care seen me drive in or leave. I made a left onto a major street and who do I see pull into the Urgent Care lot not 5 seconds later? That's right, a patrol car!
That friends and neighbors was a HUGE wakeup call, my life was mere seconds away from being over. I would have lost my job, my family and my friends. The next morning, again suffering from withdrawals, I made a number of calls until I was finally able to see a Suboxone Dr. that very day. I was experiencing pretty strong withdrawals by that afternoon but nowhere as bad as my methadone withdrawals a few years earlier.
The Dr. is a great, well informed guy...and VERY understanding. He put me one 16 MG's of Subutex and didn't give me a hassle over what I'd done to myself over the last several years. I've been on Sub's for the better part of a year until roughly 53 hours ago. It took me almost a year to tapper from anywhere from 24 MG's (yes, I know that's more than originally prescribed but I'm an addict, what do you expect?!?) to 0.5 MG's 53 hours ago. BTW: I was on the .5 for a couple of weeks before finally biting the bullet and stopping all together.
So here I am once again, in the first stages of what's sure to be a long, painful, and daunting experience. At the beginning of this epic novel I told everyone that I was an high-level executive for a fairly large corporation and this is where it comes into play. I do not have the luxury of taking ANY time off to recover except for weeks which are going to be difficult as well because I'll HAVE to spend time with a girlfriend who has absolutely NO IDEA that her boyfriend is a major opiate addict. No one knows my story other than you fine people, not my family, not my friends, not my colleagues, not even my Dr. knows the whole tale. I'm not an optimist nor am I a pessimist, I consider myself to be pragmatic. I've heard many people say that "God will never give you more than you can handle..." well, I don't really buy that because who would one then explain suicides? Certainly those folks had a heck of a lot more going on that they could handle. That's not me at all, I'll NEVER go down that road because I have to much to live for.
I guess I just finally wanted to share my story with someone, maybe someone reading this is going through the exact same thing or something similar. I know this is going to be horrible, especially going through this all alone and pretending everything is fine even at a meeting as I'm sweating like a w**** in church and feeling as though I want to crawl out of my skin but it's the price I have to pay. We ALWAYS have to pay in life, sometimes it's a little, mostly it's a lot, and sometimes it's with everything you have.
In closing, I do believe in God, there is too much wonder in the world for God not exist so I ask all of you to say a little prayer for me. I'm 53 hours into a long and perilous journey, I hope to see all of you on the other side.
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I am 34 I am married and have kids. I had gotten kidney stones during a pregnancy since doctors couldn't give me anything to help pass them I ended up taking vicodin 2 500 every 4 hrs. It was a prescription well I ended up giving birth and finally passed them about 2 weeks after delivery. By that time I got hooked I couldn't stop and I ended up buying off the streets. It started as 1 or 2 a day then ended up going up just to get the same feeling. I could take up to 12 a day sometimes and sometimes it would only be 4 a day. It was basically whatever I can afford. I never thought I could end up like this!!! From never taking anything to being dependent on a pill. I was spending all my money on these pills If I didn't use one day I would be sick I just wasn't me anymore. Finally 7 days ago I finally had enough and stopped. The physical symptoms are gone but it's the mental part now that's hard to deal with. I feel very anxious especially in the am because that's when I first started using. I have a lot of ups and downs through the day. I guess I was just numb to any feelings all day and now I feel very anxious. I wish I can push a button and skip this part of my life. I am so depressed but I manage to get up and do some things around the house. I tried to stop one other time and all I did was lay down and cried my kids thought I had the flu this time I am not doing the same mistake I am trying to be more motivated but I run out of energy fast!!!! I started taking a multivitamin when I stopped taking the pills. I take tylenol pm to sleep at night and started effexor for the anxiety which seems to be helping right now that's why I think I made it so far. I really just need to talk to some of you about your experiences and kind words
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Began smoking weed daily around a year and a half ago and have now quit. Into day 13 now and i'm experiencing the regular symptoms, but one that concerns me is the severe migraines whenever I exercise. I'm a fitness buff, always have been, and it's really stopping me. I'm having to take Ibuprofen prior to every workout, but it doesn't stop there. Little things like climbing the stairs or sex are causing me a great deal of pain. I'm super-fit (10 mile runs/12 rounds boxing/weight lifting, you name it), I eat incredibly well, and i'm always well hydrated. I know this is a common symptom, but it's really stopping me do the things I love. I'm not about to relapse, i'm much stronger than that, I just wanted to know if there's anybody out there who suffered the same and for how long? There's a lot of stuff about migraines during withdrawals, but none specific to exercise in regards to cannabis from what I can see. Anybody out there feeling the same, persevere.
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I've been smoking for 4 yrs everyday. I quit 2 1/2 weeks ago. My anxiety and tinnitus are through the roof. When will this go away?
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I stopped smoking Sept. 5th, 2006. I have been sick ever since. I smoked for about 38 years and I have never really been sick with the exception of a common cold, a couple of times a year. Now that I no longer smoke I have kept a cold and I don't seem to be able to clear my throat. What's up with this??? I thought I was going to slowly feel better and better. Is is normal?? Do others experience the same sort of health issues??
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I had to suddenly stop Inderal LA (propranolol) as they had stopped being made by AstraZeneca.
My Gp tried me on 3 others but they made me feel horrible.
Two weeks ago my Gp said to bite the bullet and just stop altogether.
Since then I've experienced horrible withdrawals.
My head feels like I'm drunk
I am getting funny feelings in my arms like inside shakes
When I sit or lay down my arms tingle then feel like creepy crawlies on them. Then I lose the sensation. They go numbish
My legs go all tingly then they feel heavy and numbish.
If I get up from sitting down or just walk a little around the house, I sit down and my heart is banging hard, not fast, just hard.
Can anyone relate to this after abruptly stopping a beta blocker.
I was originally put on them for aura migraines.
Oh and I have like butterflies in my tummy.
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