How to stop my Opiate addiction?

thorn105
#1. January 12th, 2009, at 11:13 AM.

Um, go to the methadone clinic. I know how your mom feels, but I better understand how an opiate addiction feels. You could have seizures from the withdrawals and DIE. Go to the clinic. Here is a website that has a section called “the dark side” where people talk about opiate addictions and what they are going thru as they come off it. It isn’t like the NA meetings, which in my opinion reinforce the negative. Go to Bluelight.com and put Opiate addictions in the search and you will find lots of people in the same spot you are. Good luck, my friend. Mother Opium is a bitch and then some.

Ok, I’m just going to add here, that the withdrawals from this drug are PHYSICAL and very painful, as well as mental. There is nausea, diarreha, headaches, insomnia,extreme anxiety, and the danger of seizure. Maybe I am not understanding what this other girl was saying, but I’ve been down this road, TWICE, and I know what it is like. Anyone who tells you your withdrawal is only mental has NEVER experienced it, and should not be commenting on it. The very REASON they have methadone clinics is so p[eople will not die from withdrawals when trying to kick this addiction. There is NOTHING “good” about this addiction. Email me if you feel like it

amber
#2. January 13th, 2009, at 8:34 AM.

This drug grabs people VERY VERY fast and there are good and bad parts of this addction.The bad part is that the addection is all mental not like other drugs that cause pain after stopping use.I am going to be honest with you the best thing I can say is you have to have the desire to stop and then and only then will you be free from the drug.You can’t stop for money reasons,family or even health you have to really be sick and tired of being sick and tired.Although people rarely talk about it this is the fastest growing drug of choice on the market(RX).If you would like to talk in more depth about this please email me at..Best of luck to you.My heart breaks for you.

indigo
#3. January 14th, 2009, at 2:16 PM.

*sends hug* I spent 2 years on and off of opiates. Comming down sucks.

There are several route you can take. The first is a safe, medical detox with methadone. There are doctors that can moniter you, and help you deal with all the fun pain and nausea of getting off of it. Methadone is usually not a life long thing, my friends have used it for about 6mos. The pain problems are not the methadone. Long term users of opiates have lost their ability to make natural endorphins – those are the chemicals you make to deal with pain within your own body. Without them, you hurt ALOT. You can get into programs without her knowing, your doctor can’t tell her if you say not to.

NA was not helpful to me either. And I tried for 4 months…..I am not religious, (spare me the “spritual not religious comments” out there – The Our Father is a Catholic prayer!) and I really felt that the program was full of excuses, and ways to rationalize “slipping up.” I wanted to be off of drugs and booze forever, not one day. Lol. I ended up going back to drinking to deal with the people whining, attacking me, and hitting on me at meetings. But it is an option. I’m sure there is someone out there it works for…. probably someone who was a christian / calvinist to begin with :p Personally, I’ll take my chances with dying alone in the gutter (their promise for people that leave) rather than be told I’m worthless and to pray on my knees for forgivness.

Or you can just stop. This is what I did. I don’t reccomend it – I didn’t know at the time I could die from withdrawl. But I just quit cold turkey. So did a pregnant friend of mine. I told myself I wasn’t doing this anymore. The end. I stopped accepting any excuses to use pills. I felt like hell…. sick, tired, depresed. I just kept repeating to myself “it’s the drugs leaving my system.” The cravings DO stop in about 2 weeks – after a few weeks, the physical need for a drug has passed. Cravings are just YOU wanting to feel good again.. since the drug is associated with feeling good, you WANT it bad…. but it’s not like, physical. YOU have control of your mind and body. Not the drug.

Since you’re on so much, please, please, talk to your doctor. I dont’ want you to hurt yourself withdrawling. There is also the chance your doctor can give you something other than methadone to taper you off.

While I don’t reccomend support groups – find some one you can talk to. Just anyone that you can vent to that will keep telling you they love you.

Also, do you have like, a hobby or something you enjoy. I paint, and knit and rollerblade. Find things you really like and DO them when you think about drugs. Keep focusing on doing something other than taking pills.

Get outside – sunlight ups your vitamin D (naturally) and makes you feel less depressed. Exercise….. any way you want, you don’t need a gym membership. But it’ll kickstart the endorphins, and again, help the depression.

Good luck! I hope you find the help you need.

PS. everything causes cancer, even french fries if you read the right study :p

StopDrug P
#4. January 15th, 2009, at 11:37 PM.

Your addiction history is short. Methadone is an option, but in most cases I think it’s a last resort for those who simply can’t ever feel normal again and may need something, possibly for life, just to feel normal. Methadone is expensive and EXTREMELY restrictive on your lifestyle. Methadone is also bar none the hardest pain-killer to kick by far because it lasts so long. Being that it can be weaned can counteract much of this but it’s still very hard. Unfortunately many clinics are typically very cruel in the way they treat people as well.

If you have insurance & really don’t want to try the rehab/sober lifestyle I would try out “suboxone” first with your relatively short addiction history. It’s basically “methadone-lite” and you can be prescribed a 30-day TAKE HOME supply relatively shortly after starting. Compared to going into a clinic every single day and “earning” take-homes. In fact I believe suboxone works better. It doesn’t work well on cravings for everyone though so you’d have to try it out. Usually those with addiction histories such as yours do very well on suboxone. Go to naabt.org and find a doctor. Call around and look for one that has an affordable rate. Getting on subs isn’t cheap! (but if you have insurance 85% covers subs so in the end its about the same as methadone).

Gather up a list of what the doctors charge and what their terms are for how they prescribe etc. Unfortunately many of these doctors want nothing more than to suck the money dry from people, but there are good ones. Either way suboxone isn’t cheap to start on. The closer to metro you live, the better choices you’ll have. Doctors don’t accept insurance for this (which is good in its own sense). Suboxone itself is still patented until about a year from now and is super expensive if you’re insurance won’t cover it, but still can be around the same as ‘done if you do your homework and average the cost out over time. Most doctors overprescribe it BIG time and you can often get what is really a 2-3 month supply from “one months worth” which is great if you have insurance.

By the way, if you’re really in search of some sort of “buzz” the legal way neither methadone or suboxone will be what you’re looking for. Suboxone has an even longer half-life than methadone and is not easy to kick either, but is a good deal easier to kick than methadone.

Methadone does not cause cancer!

The truth is there is NO BEST cookie-cutter plan. You need to find what works for you. At the end of the day it’s your life and if NA isn’t what works for you, then so be it. Some type of support system is something you should have though.

I highly recommend at least TRYING suboxone first. Methadone definitely has its role, but it really controls your life too. After a while, you wanna go no a trip or something but don’t get enough “take-homes” you have to and fill out paperwork and get an approval or go to a clinic in the town you’re going to for “guest dosing” driving in day after day, just to feel some normalcy. Want to go hang out at a methadone clinic on your romantic trip with your SO or something? Not trying to be negative, just want you to udnerstand the harsh reality.

Methadone is typically for those in very deep as it is extremely hard to get off of and very controlling of your life.

By the way stop paying $1/mg for oxy you’re getting ripped man! Oxy is one of the more expensive pahrms too, if you can find something else financially it’d save you a load. Of course don’t mess with H if you’re trying to quit.

If you really want to get clean and off everything give it a serious go somewhere for kicking, it only gets harder.

The reason you feel so bad when stopping is because your brain takes a good amount of time to repair itself. Opiate abuse causes your brain to multiply its pain receptors, then when you go without they initially go nuts (withdrawal) and then afterward they slowly start to go to sleep very slowly. The brain also stops producing its own endorphins as the same rate as it did before. So when you stop you have all these extra receptors that need pain relief and your brain not producing hardly any of its own to top it off.

So it’ll probably take you a several months off to start feeling completely normal again after using. Many people believe at some point the natural production of endorphins gets to a point that it can’t be repaired & this is why people need something like methadone for life, as even years off of opiates they don’t ever feel quite normal. A year in you should be fine and do alright.

If you do decide to get on a maintenance program do yourself a big favor and at least try suboxone first. Methadone as a last resort. If you really want to stop at only a year in go to a detox center at least once or twice before going on methadone in my opinion.

If you relapse, just get back on, its part of recovery.
is a good place to discuss this stuff. It’s not a forum about getting clean so much, but there are particular forum areas dedicated to doing so. However, in some cases it may be best to avoid anything that reminds you of using. Not many people understand addiction so it can be helpful to discuss it with those who do. If nothing else you can find out some information no getting started on your road to sobriety/maintenance in your area.

Good Luck

ALSO as someone has already pointed out, the person who said opiate withdrawal is all mental obviously has no clue about this subject.

Furthermore, someone mentioned you could have seizures from withdrawal. You can NOT have seizures from OPIATE W/D. They must be thinknig of Benzo W/D.
Opiate WD is NOT directly life-threatening although it sure feels like it. In the cases where someone dies from opiate WD is from INDIRECT causes, almost always dehydration. Being in a medical setting for detox is definitely ideal, but the vast majority of the time you’ll survive outside. If it’s a methadone detox (and possibly subs) you definitely should have someone attending to you. Since the WD lasts SO long things like dehydration become very serious. This is becoming a big problem in places like prison when people are forced to cold turkey and provided with zero medical attention. Many are dying in prison as a result.