Stop the addiction thread

[Renee]

Make sure though to mention to your doctor if you ask about Chantix if you've had problems with depression. It isn't a problem for everyone but Chantix can screw with your moods pretty badly for some people. I'd be cautious about going on it if you have a history of depression or suicidal ideation and don't have people in your life to keep an eye on you and see if your emotions change while on it.

Just a heads up.

It can also give you some pretty vivid nightmares as well. I had to stop using Chantix because of that and the sometimes severe queasiness it gave me, especially after the morning dose.

[Shantel]

I have recently started trying to break an addiction, and it is my narcotic prescription, I have cut down as I havent been in really bad pain prob because I have been off my feet and relaxing because of the grs surgery. But this is what I am having issues with.
I can make it through the whole day without taking any of my pain meds, but at bedtime if I go to sleep,without the pills, well the best way I can describe it is, night terrors I wake thrashing and tossing for the best descriptive way I am going to refer to the breaking dawn part 1 towards the end of the movie after bella dies and there is flash's of her screaming and well you get it if ya seen the movie but if I take it before bed I caan sleep  its horible, I have the pain meds because of heath conditions and I have been taking them for a year maybe more now, as well as others but this one effectsme like this and I dont want to feel like I am a slave to it, I am also taking zoloft and am going to work on stopping it as well as it was only really needed for a short term...

I really hope I break away from this med

You might need to get some outside help to get you off the pain meds. A former girlfriend was addicted to oxycodone and didn't like to sleep alone, was afraid of the dark, kept lights on and the bathroom fan running all night because of the dark things that she insisted visited her in a completely darkened room. That was the side effect of her long term addiction, it opened a door for those frightening visitors. When you decide to get off Zoloft you have to ramp it back down slowly. When you are prescribed an antidepressant they usually ramp up the dosage level, when you get off you have to ramp it back down slowly or you will have some miserable side effects. Been through it with some other type so I know and prefer to be as pill free as possible these days. Good luck!

[Joanna Dark]

Its horible, I have the pain meds because of heath conditions and I have been taking them for a year maybe more now, as well as others but this one effectsme like this and I dont want to feel like I am a slave to it, I am also taking zoloft and am going to work on stopping it as well as it was only really needed for a short term...

I really hope I break away from this med

A year is a long time to be on opiates. You're going to need to ween down from them or get a two week prescription for suboxone or some typee of quick methadone detox. I can tell you it only gets worse, much worse. The fact that you can sleep without them is a good sign however. Insomnia is one of the principal features of opiate withdrawal. So maybe a detox is not necessary. Does you back hurt? Your legs? I really hope you make it thru this. If you need to talk, feel free to PM me. Iknow more about opiates then I care to acknowledge.

[Shantel]

A year is a long time to be on opiates. You're going to need to ween down from them or get a two week prescription for suboxone or some typee of quick methadone detox. I can tell you it only gets worse, much worse. The fact that you can sleep without them is a good sign however. Insomnia is one of the principal features of opiate withdrawal. So maybe a detox is not necessary. Does you back hurt? Your legs? I really hope you make it thru this. If you need to talk, feel free to PM me. Iknow more about opiates then I care to acknowledge.

Atta girl Joanna, we're here for each other, We want Calico to be a successful, happy girl and enjoy her life ahead. kudos!

[Ltl89]

I have recently started trying to break an addiction, and it is my narcotic prescription, I have cut down as I havent been in really bad pain prob because I have been off my feet and relaxing because of the grs surgery. But this is what I am having issues with.
I can make it through the whole day without taking any of my pain meds, but at bedtime if I go to sleep,without the pills, well the best way I can describe it is, night terrors I wake thrashing and tossing for the best descriptive way I am going to refer to the breaking dawn part 1 towards the end of the movie after bella dies and there is flash's of her screaming and well you get it if ya seen the movie but if I take it before bed I caan sleep  its horible, I have the pain meds because of heath conditions and I have been taking them for a year maybe more now, as well as others but this one effectsme like this and I dont want to feel like I am a slave to it, I am also taking zoloft and am going to work on stopping it as well as it was only really needed for a short term...

I really hope I break away from this med

Make sure not to go cold turkey on any pain medications or opiates.  What you are facing is physical withdrawals from an opiate.  If you have been on them for a year, you will need to ween off it slowly.  I know a friend who used to occasionally take pills when they felt really depressed about their GID. They wouldn't do it often and would go months without taking anything. They never went through anything really bad until recently.  They started to take a pain reliever of some sort and took it daily for 3 months straight in order to feel better and not worry about their gender issues.  Well, that was a huge mistake and made things worse for them.  When they decided to get off it, they went cold turkey.  It was incredibly hard physically and their emotions came running into them. Tapering can make things much easier and manageable.  If you could do that, I would advise you to talk to your doctor about this.  There is no shame in going through this, so don't feel scared to get help if you are having problems. Also, if you still have bad pain, there are alternative ways to deal with pain and different medications which could be prescribed.

I would also mention that SSRI's like Zoloft are known to have discontinuation side effects.  It is best that you slowly tapper off the medication under the care of your doctor.  To be honest, the dream thing can very well be related to zoloft as it has a direct impact on your serotonin levels.  It is not uncommon for people to have vivid dreams while taking an SSRI or a SSNRI.  There could also be an interaction between medications.  Please check with your doctor.

In case you are taking tramadol (ultracet) for pain, please don't interact it with Zoloft.  Tramadol has an impact on serotonin levels and can cause serotonin syndrome when mixed with an SSRI.  I doubt you would be prescribed both together, but just wanted to throw that out there as a precaution.

I wish you lots of luck.  Hang in there things will get better with some time and effort. Hugs.

[calico]

Thank you everyone for the advice, zoloft I have been on and took myself off before so I know how to get my self off of it, shouldnt be a problem.

now the norco that is a different thing as I am positive it is whats effecting my sleep, if I do not take it I have the night terrors and stay iin a state between sleep and nightmare state untill I take it.

The pains I have are because of digeneratiive disc disease/scoliosis/sciatica/O.R. - today alot of my pains started coming back    I think because I am becoming more mobile that the pain is starting to return. I need to have surgery on my back/spine but curently that is a high risk proposistion, so now it's all a waiting game, I hope when I have this perticular surgery than I can get off more than just the norco....
aand in the mean ttime I need to get over my fear I can go have grs but when I am faced with a 13 hour spinal surgery... I am very unasure/afraid ..... 
but all in all I do love my life now, just wish I didnt have to face such problems
Thanks again everyone

[calico]

Calico-

i have back problems similar to yours, a damaged disc between L4-L5, causing some nerve compression.  If the back surgery is going to be an MRI guided localized injection of Prednisone, there is an alternative to know about.  My insurance wouldn't cover the MRI version, it is very expensive to tie up an MRI machine for 12+ hours.  What they did cover was an oral administration of a high level dose of Prednisone, kind of a shotgun effect.  Oral Prednisone is kind of a yucky experience, about 1 week of kind of bizarre reality, nothing too odd but fitful sleep and I tried to eat everything in sight.  At the end of it tho, my sciatica and many other small aches and pains were gone.  They have slowly returned over a year, but still not back to the excruciating levels.  My doc is very slow to hand out steroids but maybe i can get a redo later in the year, with even more progress at the end of it.

I have had 6 multi-level epidural injections, they did cortisone/prednisone the first 2 times until the test came back positive for O.I. then no more steroids directly in the spine, they have gave me predinisalone which is a higher powered drug a couple times due to issues after the injection, all the dr's tell me is I need to have surgery and that all they can do is try to make me comfortable for now untill then. before the norco I was taking liver killing amounts of aleve/naproxen so they had to put me on this which i'm not taking alot of, which i supose is better, but to a point. My Dr's were a lil upset that I havent got this surgery before the grs (which they are still unaware it was what i had), they pretty much said if i do anything wrong then i could be in a wheelchair for life but to me the grs far outweighed my back.. btw I am going to have multi level discectomy l3,l4,l5,s1,s2

[calico]

kk, Sounds like I'm in back surgery kindergarten compared to you.  That is a lot of surgery to deal with, I'll say a prayer and God Bless.  Keep us posted.

definate I'm a survivor   but i am bummed a lil that the pain is returning now after surgery well... I guess good thing dont last forever especially with medical problems.. 
my hopes are after the surgery I will be in good shape or atleast a more managable shape, thank you for the prayers

[Cindy]

OK I'll bite,

Whiskey.

I lived in bottles of it, morning, noon and night.

I could and did drink two bottles of scotch a night and go to work the next day.

Now? Occasional glass of wine and a cold beer when the heat is on.

My new addictions? shoes, clothes, handbags, jewellery, lingerie.

Oh and my major addiction.......Living my life and enjoying every damn second.

[calico]

OK I'll bite,

Whiskey.

I lived in bottles of it, morning, noon and night.

I could and did drink two bottles of scotch a night and go to work the next day.

Now? Occasional glass of wine and a cold beer when the heat is on.

My new addictions? shoes, clothes, handbags, jewellery, lingerie.

Oh and my major addiction.......Living my life and enjoying every damn second.

I dont see anything wrong with those new addictions at all cindy!!

[Shantel]

OK I'll bite,

Whiskey.

I lived in bottles of it, morning, noon and night.

I could and did drink two bottles of scotch a night and go to work the next day.

Sounds like a normal Aussie to me doll, Aussies are world renown for their propensity to bang down a few and remain standing long after the others had dropped! 

[Jess42]

I'm not or never have been addicted to anything. In my younger days I snorted a lot of coke, a lot of meth, smoked a lot of weed which isn't addictive anyway. Done ectasy, went away many time on LSD, took a lot of trips with Mario and Luigi by eating mushrooms. Smoked Peyote, took dalatids or whatever that synthetic morphine is. Could not stand needles so I never mainviened. I never OD'd and when the time came, gave everything up without a second though or withdrawal symptoms.

Now I drink but have no problems with it. I smoke and gave it up one time without gaining weight and then decided that I truly enjoyed it and started again. We all gotta die sometimes and if cancer don't get you a mad man or idiot driver will. Or for that matter just old age.

I guess I'm just lucky that my personality is the type that isn't easily addicted to anything. All I have done has been for the reason for fun and when what I was doing stopped being fun, I stopped. I would like to have a big hooter right now but with drug screens and such, that's out of the question.

[Shantel]

C'mon Jess,    anyone buys into that and I have a bridge for sale! If you're a user then you're a maintenance level addict, been working with addicts for years I recognize the comments and have a huge internal BS detector, most don't recognize their own story as BS.

[Jess42]

Yeah Shantel, but I am serious though. I had to stop all the partying when I joined the military. Even smoking cigarettes. I never had a problem with withdrawal symptoms or anything else. Could be that basic training is better than rehab.

Same thing now, my doctor put me on clonazapam and told me to step down from xanax. Well I stopped the xanax cold turkey with no ill effects. Like I said though, everything I did I did to have a good time except for Mary Jane and that was just purely enjoyable. So... maybe I didn't developed a dependancy on these certain drugs because it was just purely a good time deal and I didn't need them to cope.

I had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome and the surgeon prescribed me way too many painkillers. After the third day I didn't need them anymore but... I did finish them off. Made me feel good you know. But afterwards my body didn't need them. It will be thesame thing with my left over xanax, I will take them until they are all gone ( I made for sure I didn't need them for stepping down gradually) so no I take one full one and mixed with the clonazapam, wow. Talk about relaxation.

So yeah, No BS. I haven't been addicted to anything except nail polish, short skirts, makeup and lacy underwear.

[Shantel]

OK Jess, good for you! Few are capable of getting off any of that stuff...~ Shan ~

[Asfsd4214]

Yeah Shantel, but I am serious though. I had to stop all the partying when I joined the military. Even smoking cigarettes. I never had a problem with withdrawal symptoms or anything else. Could be that basic training is better than rehab.

Same thing now, my doctor put me on clonazapam and told me to step down from xanax. Well I stopped the xanax cold turkey with no ill effects. Like I said though, everything I did I did to have a good time except for Mary Jane and that was just purely enjoyable. So... maybe I didn't developed a dependancy on these certain drugs because it was just purely a good time deal and I didn't need them to cope.

I had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome and the surgeon prescribed me way too many painkillers. After the third day I didn't need them anymore but... I did finish them off. Made me feel good you know. But afterwards my body didn't need them. It will be thesame thing with my left over xanax, I will take them until they are all gone ( I made for sure I didn't need them for stepping down gradually) so no I take one full one and mixed with the clonazapam, wow. Talk about relaxation.

So yeah, No BS. I haven't been addicted to anything except nail polish, short skirts, makeup and lacy underwear.

With all due respect, if you were on clonazapam you did not go off xanax cold turkey. The two are cross tolerant, taking one will mitigate the withdrawal symptoms from the other. No amount of training changes the biological reality that benzo withdrawal ranges from uncomfortable to potentially life threatening.

The body chemistry is what it is and there are limits to how much you can mentally control it. I've done the xanax cold turkey thing before. It's playing with fire friend, be careful not to get burned. Because I absolutely promise you, in the right conditions you can.

[Ltl89]

I'm not or never have been addicted to anything. In my younger days I snorted a lot of coke, a lot of meth, smoked a lot of weed which isn't addictive anyway. Done ectasy, went away many time on LSD, took a lot of trips with Mario and Luigi by eating mushrooms. Smoked Peyote, took dalatids or whatever that synthetic morphine is. Could not stand needles so I never mainviened. I never OD'd and when the time came, gave everything up without a second though or withdrawal symptoms.

Now I drink but have no problems with it. I smoke and gave it up one time without gaining weight and then decided that I truly enjoyed it and started again. We all gotta die sometimes and if cancer don't get you a mad man or idiot driver will. Or for that matter just old age.

I guess I'm just lucky that my personality is the type that isn't easily addicted to anything. All I have done has been for the reason for fun and when what I was doing stopped being fun, I stopped. I would like to have a big hooter right now but with drug screens and such, that's out of the question.

Everyone of us is different and responds differently to medication/drugs.  I will say, however, this is a major deviation from the norm.  A lot of people become easily addicted to these things.  Even if you emotionally don't need it, some drugs will get you physically. Morphine is certainly one of those drugs.  It has very little to do with personality when it comes to opiate addiction.  After regular use of opiates, your body learns to need the drug and then starts to have physical withdrawals when you stop taking it. The pains and sickness that people go range from acute to severe depending on the dosage and how long the abuse was going on for.  Most people should avoid throwing caution to the wind because they are likely to fall into these problems even if they didn't expect it.  Some are lucky for a while, but it isn't worth the risk.

Yeah Shantel, but I am serious though. I had to stop all the partying when I joined the military. Even smoking cigarettes. I never had a problem with withdrawal symptoms or anything else. Could be that basic training is better than rehab.

Same thing now, my doctor put me on clonazapam and told me to step down from xanax. Well I stopped the xanax cold turkey with no ill effects. Like I said though, everything I did I did to have a good time except for Mary Jane and that was just purely enjoyable. So... maybe I didn't developed a dependancy on these certain drugs because it was just purely a good time deal and I didn't need them to cope.

I had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome and the surgeon prescribed me way too many painkillers. After the third day I didn't need them anymore but... I did finish them off. Made me feel good you know. But afterwards my body didn't need them. It will be thesame thing with my left over xanax, I will take them until they are all gone ( I made for sure I didn't need them for stepping down gradually) so no I take one full one and mixed with the clonazapam, wow. Talk about relaxation.

So yeah, No BS. I haven't been addicted to anything except nail polish, short skirts, makeup and lacy underwear.

Painkillers taken for a few days even one month straight isn't necessarily going to lead to addiction.  However, those who are on opiates for a while become physically  dependent on them.  In fact, it becomes dangerous for people to go cold turkey off of some of these meds once they have such a dependency.  This is very true for opiates and benzos. As the poster above me mentioned, you're not going cold turkey off of xanax because you are taking another medication in the benzo family.  It is very risky to go off a benzo cold turkey after taking it regularly for quite some time.  You can actually have seizures and face many other severe problems.  It in't too uncommon for people to be hospitalized because of issues with benzos.  I don't think anyone would like to go through that. 

Having said all this, you may be a lucky person and won't ever face problems.  There are people who have gone cold turkey with no problems.  Personally, I know people who have gone cold turkey from xanax without issues.  But, please be careful because most people do face problems with these meds if they abuse them for recreational purposes or go cold turkey when quitting.  And you could one day as well even if you never did before.  Nothing is written in stone, but it is always wise to follow safety precautions when it comes to drugs.

Sorry if I came across as preachy.  I just don't want anyone to get hurt because I have seen too many people suffer and destroy their lives from drugs.  So, I do wish everyone be careful.

[Devlyn]

Let's remember the point of the thread, which is for people to discuss beating their addictions. This site will not tolerate bragging about recreational drug use, if you wish to do so, try the High Times website.

[Jess42]

Let's remember the point of the thread, which is for people to discuss beating their addictions. This site will not tolerate bragging about recreational drug use, if you wish to do so, try the High Times website.

Sorry Devlyn. I didn't think that I was bragging about recreational drug use but looking back I see that it comes across that way. Go ahead and slap me in the head, I deserve it.

To everyone else my deepest apologies becasue I do know that drug addiction is a very serious problem and many people get psychologically and physically addicted really quick, especially with narcotics and opiates.

All I was saying is that I guess I'm lucky in that I have never become addicted to anything up to this point. But addiction isn't limited to prescription or illegal drugs, nicotine, alcohol or caffiene. I know people who are addicted to food and eating. I know a girl (family memeber) in her early teens that is pushing 260 pounds and gaining. Already has high blood pressure and a candadate for chilhood diabetes. She eats normally when with everyone else but at night she is gorging in secret. Much like an alcoholic will hide a pint of alcohol in the toilet tank. She has an addiction just as serious, in my opinion than any drug. I also know and have known people that are addicted to adrenaline rushes. They drive like they are maniacs, do things that put themselves or others in danger. I had a friend like this one time and he pretty much killed himself trying to take a 30MPH curve at 65MPH just for the feeling of the adrenaline. I hope this don't come across the wrong way but thank god it was just him because there very easily been a family of four rounding the corner at the same time he missed the turn. Adreneline rushes can be just as deadly as drug abuse.

Again, my sincerest apologies if I caused offense because that was not my intent.