Some people may think posting openly about my earlier medication is a bad thing, but I’d like to think different.
For those of you just randomly ending up here, here’s what you need to know:
The summer of ’08 I suffered a herniated disc (L3-L4). That, combined with my already narrow spinal canal was not a good combination.
In the beginning, I could walk a few hundred meters without showing any warning signs.
That quickly dropped to a few dozen meters, until I finally couldn’t walk unsupported at all.
Enter the crutches and my doctor who prescribed my OxyContin (the first drug that actually helped relieve some of the pain).
Late autumn I could barely move around my apartment even with crutches. Standing up was OK for roughly a minute, and sitting down was completely out of the question.
In other words, I spent every single hour of every single day, week after week in bed, taking drugs to help manage the pain while I waited for surgery . As you may imagine, I got addicted.
Luckily, it was “only” a physical addiction, as evidenced by my rather successful attempt at getting clean after the surgery.
With that said, I did suffer pretty bad withdrawal, and today I found a short diary I kept through it all.
My hope is that someone going through the same thing will read this and realize they can get through it, or at least know what they have ahead of themselves if they’ve just started detoxing.
I firmly believe that had I had access to something similar, my paranoia had been minimal, and I would’ve been able to quit sooner.
Good luck, and if you have any questions, ask ‘em!
Cheers,
/ oscar
Hey there,
I’m currently doing my best to quit my relatively small dose of 40mg – 60mg (40mg time release, 0-20mg quick release).
I’ve had a rather annoying (to put it mildly) herniated disc since last summer, and only managed to get into surgery a few weeks ago.
While I did contemplate trying to go cold turkey (which, for some asinine reason my doc suggested), I did my homework and realized it would be easier to wean myself off them.
Today is my.. 5th? 6th? 7th? Clean day.
Roughly two weeks ago, I got to meet my cousin again for the first time in a way too long while (what with me having been locked up in my apartment, him being out working and traveling), and I told him I was trying to quit ahead of schedule.
That day I went from 40mg to 20mg time release with a few side effects: the sweats.
I did make sure to exercise a lot (which, for me, meant less than a mile walk, since I’ve been bedridden for months), and sleep came easy.
I hoped the rest would be as easy as that, but oh boy was I wrong.
I waited a week or so to let things stabilize, and so they did. I still had the occasional case of the sweats, but all in all I found the situation more than bearable, so I tried going to 10mg (5mg twice a day), and UGH that was horrible.
The first night I didn’t fall asleep until around 5am thanks to the creepy, crawly feeling in my entire body.
The second night, I realized it wasn’t happenstance, and oh was I upset.
I was punching the bedroom wall, punching the bed, punching myself(!), crying, letting out the odd scream.. at 4am, and I was sweating more than old cheese.
When I realized what was happening, I popped two quick release 5mgs and fell asleep after an hour.
Luckily, I have very supportive friends, and one of ‘em was nice enough to take me to lunch.
This, of course, involved a bit of exercise, allowed me to get out of the apartment and generally just focus on other things.
I did take a 5mg pill an hour or two before going to bed that night, but other than that, I’ve been clean.
I think.
Now, today (does 5am count as “day”?) I’m on somewhere around day five to seven.
I’ve lost track, but I’m sure I could piece it together if I wanted to.
The past three or four days I’ve had less than four hours of sleep per 24 hours.
Friday, for instance, I woke up at 10am.
The short moment of sleep I had after that was 9am – 10am, sleeping for an hour in a tub of nice warm water.
I also did catch an hour and a half around 5pm Saturday.
As I said earlier though, it’s now 5am, and I’m showing no signs of sleep.
My body is definitely tired to the point of exhaustion.
My brain wants sleep, but it refuses to relax, and so here I am sharing my tale.
In a few hours I’ll be going to see my doc (at least, that’s what I’m telling myself.. we’ll see.) to see if she can give me something to help me sleep.
I do have diazepam at home, but I desperately don’t want to use it.
I also have sleeping pills (Propavan; propiomazin), but they do absolutely nothing for me atm; though I do know they helped a few months ago.
Of course, I still have a lot of OC (both time release and quick release) at home, and I am tempted.
Right now, there are three things that make sure I don’t take ‘em:
* An overwhelming urge to regain my social life
* An overwhelming urge to start my physio (starts on Tuesday, and I’m seriously hoping it’ll help with the whole non-sleep thing)
* A huge desire to go on a holiday trip in a few months, and I can’t legally bring my OC with me.
Also, I almost forgot.
I consider myself somewhat lucky in which side effects I’m suffering.
I sneeze a lot. As in, probably 10-20 times an hour.
I visit the can on average every two hours with minimal results other than a very, very sore behind.
This lack of sleep, along with the restlessness.
In other words, no nausea, no vomiting etc.
I’m hoping it stays that way.
Hey there,
I’m currently doing my best to quit my relatively small dose of 40mg – 60mg (40mg time release, 0-20mg quick release).
I’ve had a rather annoying (to put it mildly) herniated disc since last summer, and only managed to get into surgery a few weeks ago.
While I did contemplate trying to go cold turkey (which, for some asinine reason my doc suggested), I did my homework and realized it would be easier to wean myself off them.
Today is my.. 5th? 6th? 7th? Clean day.
Roughly two weeks ago, I got to meet my cousin again for the first time in a way too long while (what with me having been locked up in my apartment, him being out working and traveling), and I told him I was trying to quit ahead of schedule.
That day I went from 40mg to 20mg time release with a few side effects: the sweats.
I did make sure to exercise a lot (which, for me, meant less than a mile walk, since I’ve been bedridden for months), and sleep came easy.
I hoped the rest would be as easy as that, but oh boy was I wrong.
I waited a week or so to let things stabilize, and so they did. I still had the occasional case of the sweats, but all in all I found the situation more than bearable, so I tried going to 10mg (5mg twice a day), and UGH that was horrible.
The first night I didn’t fall asleep until around 5am thanks to the creepy, crawly feeling in my entire body.
The second night, I realized it wasn’t happenstance, and oh was I upset.
I was punching the bedroom wall, punching the bed, punching myself(!), crying, letting out the odd scream.. at 4am, and I was sweating more than old cheese.
When I realized what was happening, I popped two quick release 5mgs and fell asleep after an hour.
Luckily, I have very supportive friends, and one of ‘em was nice enough to take me to lunch.
This, of course, involved a bit of exercise, allowed me to get out of the apartment and generally just focus on other things.
I did take a 5mg pill an hour or two before going to bed that night, but other than that, I’ve been clean.
I think.
Now, today (does 5am count as “day”?) I’m on somewhere around day five to seven.
I’ve lost track, but I’m sure I could piece it together if I wanted to.
The past three or four days I’ve had less than four hours of sleep per 24 hours.
Friday, for instance, I woke up at 10am.
The short moment of sleep I had after that was 9am – 10am, sleeping for an hour in a tub of nice warm water.
I also did catch an hour and a half around 5pm Saturday.
As I said earlier though, it’s now 5am, and I’m showing no signs of sleep.
My body is definitely tired to the point of exhaustion.
My brain wants sleep, but it refuses to relax, and so here I am sharing my tale.
In a few hours I’ll be going to see my doc (at least, that’s what I’m telling myself.. we’ll see.) to see if she can give me something to help me sleep.
I do have diazepam at home, but I desperately don’t want to use it.
I also have sleeping pills (Propavan; propiomazin), but they do absolutely nothing for me atm; though I do know they helped a few months ago.
Of course, I still have a lot of OC (both time release and quick release) at home, and I am tempted.
Right now, there are three things that make sure I don’t take ‘em:
* An overwhelming urge to regain my social life
* An overwhelming urge to start my physio (starts on Tuesday, and I’m seriously hoping it’ll help with the whole non-sleep thing)
* A huge desire to go on a holiday trip in a few months, and I can’t legally bring my OC with me.
Also, I almost forgot.
I consider myself somewhat lucky in which side effects I’m suffering.
I sneeze a lot. As in, probably 10-20 times an hour.
I visit the can on average every two hours with minimal results other than a very, very sore behind.
This lack of sleep, along with the restlessness.
In other words, no nausea, no vomiting etc.
I’m hoping it stays that way.
