gnat
03-06-2006, 12:51 PM
OK, here's my story. Sorry it's so long.
I was taking 1-2 norco's a day, for chronic back pain and fibro. I ask the doc for something stronger and he gives me avinza 60mg. I couldn't take them regularly - daily because of constipation. SO I take them every other day for about 3 months and request a change. He then goes to 40mg Oxy's 3 times a day! Woooahhh... So I indulge a little to start with, 2-3 a day for a week then cut it back to one a day.
Well when I quit down to one a day I was hurting every single day, but I would force myself to wait until that magical 12pm each day to dose. The withdrawels were pretty damn bad... I was bed ridden for a whole week pretty much. So I thought this would subside, as I attributed it to stopping avinzas immediately and then placating that withdrawel with alot of oxy's... and then dropping down to one a day. Wrong. It just didn't seem to stop, even though I still took my 1-2 norco's a day with it, when needed. So I found some 10mg percs and decided to break down my doses and taper some more to get off the oxy's for good. IMO there isn't much point in taking something that causes more pain than it helps. Now I understand that if I took 2-3 a day as I'm presribed things probably wouldn't be that bad but I would be a blubbering, scratching idiot, and I don't want that.
So I taper down to one 10mg perc a day and automatically my norco intake goes through the roof to fight off withdrawels. I run out of percs which is ok, and planned. Naturally the norco's suck at maintaining so I go to 6 a day usually taking two at a time no matter what and wanting two more two hours later. When I look at it in terms of mg's it's not much different... I was taking about the same amount. People are glad to trade mg per mg of hydro for oxy, which I still had - just wasn't taking. Yay for self control.
Now I've hurt daily for a few weeks and then got my hands on some methadose 10mg and some endo 60mg morphine sulfates. I take one of the morphines and I felt good all day... I didn't really feel the pill, but I didn't hurt a bit. The next day comes and I still didn't hurt. All through work and into the evening (6pm) I was ok. But it was early in the week so I didn't want to start withdrawing yet - I take another 60ms, and later I take 1 methadose 10mg. I kinda felt the methadose, but not the morphine. I felt great again, all the next day and at 6pm on Wed. I took about 45mg of MS. Alright, I feel fine still... and it's been a few days since I have had any hydrocodone. Fantastic, I bet if I take one more morphine and then stop I won't have many withdrawels from the hydrocodone as it would have mostly dissapated off my receptors by then.... well the next day came (thursday) and I still felt fine at 6pm. I decided to not take my 30mg dose I was going to take.
I thought for sure on Friday I would be a mess, since I've come to know and expect these intense muscle/bone, finger, leg, back pains when changing dosages. I did have some diahrea, but used immodium and took flexeril, soma, and neurontin at night to sleep. I felt ok the next day, a little lathargic but I got some things done. Then Sunday morning came and I was awake, doing dishes by 8am! What the HELL??? I went on to work on my old car, and a ton of other things. I felt a little achey last night but I just took ibuprofen and neurontin and it seemed to go away.
I wake up today - Day 5 and while I haven't gotten much done at work, I have been quite a busy SOB. I still have MS, methadose, and hydrocodone in the house, and I haven't touched it. My g/f just opted to try my little switcheroo treatment and she's on day two of MS and not really hurting.
I've been taking norco's or hydrocodone for about 3 years now and I'm really blown away at how easy this was to make the final stand. I was so ready to board myself up in the room (figuratively speeking) and sweat it out. I did have a few days of withdrawels but they were mild compared to the withdrawels I had while taking my meds.
Now, I know the battle is not won, and I never really made the decision to quit completely, forever anyway. I still get my meds, and I'll still probably take them some but it won't be a daily thing for sure. I know I know. I know exactly how it gets to be a daily thing. There is a real reason for me to take them daily, I just felt like I was taking too much daily, and it was making me hurt. This isn't worth it for me so I stopped to get things back in order. I " chipped" for 2 plus years on very low doses of hydrocodone without building a tolerence. It wasn't until I was put on the long acting meds within the last 6 months that things got a little crazy. I was still able to get off on 10mg hydrocodone after 2 yeras. I've always had a very strong sense of self control when it comes to these things. I'll suffer it out even if the pills are in my pocket if that's the decision I've made.
Now any ideas on why it didn't hurt that much? Was it because it was the oxy that was the primary source of my pain in the previous weeks? I think it was, the withdrawels are so much more harsh than that of hydrocodone and I noticed this almost immediately after switching to the oxy's. Was it also the fact that the hydrocodone molecules had dropped off my receptors while the morphine was on it... and since my receptors weren't really "used" to the morphine at this time, it didn't hurt when they fell off? Kind of like the fast detox some do with sub? Kind of a switcheroo except this time with an agonist?
I was taking 1-2 norco's a day, for chronic back pain and fibro. I ask the doc for something stronger and he gives me avinza 60mg. I couldn't take them regularly - daily because of constipation. SO I take them every other day for about 3 months and request a change. He then goes to 40mg Oxy's 3 times a day! Woooahhh... So I indulge a little to start with, 2-3 a day for a week then cut it back to one a day.
Well when I quit down to one a day I was hurting every single day, but I would force myself to wait until that magical 12pm each day to dose. The withdrawels were pretty damn bad... I was bed ridden for a whole week pretty much. So I thought this would subside, as I attributed it to stopping avinzas immediately and then placating that withdrawel with alot of oxy's... and then dropping down to one a day. Wrong. It just didn't seem to stop, even though I still took my 1-2 norco's a day with it, when needed. So I found some 10mg percs and decided to break down my doses and taper some more to get off the oxy's for good. IMO there isn't much point in taking something that causes more pain than it helps. Now I understand that if I took 2-3 a day as I'm presribed things probably wouldn't be that bad but I would be a blubbering, scratching idiot, and I don't want that.
So I taper down to one 10mg perc a day and automatically my norco intake goes through the roof to fight off withdrawels. I run out of percs which is ok, and planned. Naturally the norco's suck at maintaining so I go to 6 a day usually taking two at a time no matter what and wanting two more two hours later. When I look at it in terms of mg's it's not much different... I was taking about the same amount. People are glad to trade mg per mg of hydro for oxy, which I still had - just wasn't taking. Yay for self control.
Now I've hurt daily for a few weeks and then got my hands on some methadose 10mg and some endo 60mg morphine sulfates. I take one of the morphines and I felt good all day... I didn't really feel the pill, but I didn't hurt a bit. The next day comes and I still didn't hurt. All through work and into the evening (6pm) I was ok. But it was early in the week so I didn't want to start withdrawing yet - I take another 60ms, and later I take 1 methadose 10mg. I kinda felt the methadose, but not the morphine. I felt great again, all the next day and at 6pm on Wed. I took about 45mg of MS. Alright, I feel fine still... and it's been a few days since I have had any hydrocodone. Fantastic, I bet if I take one more morphine and then stop I won't have many withdrawels from the hydrocodone as it would have mostly dissapated off my receptors by then.... well the next day came (thursday) and I still felt fine at 6pm. I decided to not take my 30mg dose I was going to take.
I thought for sure on Friday I would be a mess, since I've come to know and expect these intense muscle/bone, finger, leg, back pains when changing dosages. I did have some diahrea, but used immodium and took flexeril, soma, and neurontin at night to sleep. I felt ok the next day, a little lathargic but I got some things done. Then Sunday morning came and I was awake, doing dishes by 8am! What the HELL??? I went on to work on my old car, and a ton of other things. I felt a little achey last night but I just took ibuprofen and neurontin and it seemed to go away.
I wake up today - Day 5 and while I haven't gotten much done at work, I have been quite a busy SOB. I still have MS, methadose, and hydrocodone in the house, and I haven't touched it. My g/f just opted to try my little switcheroo treatment and she's on day two of MS and not really hurting.
I've been taking norco's or hydrocodone for about 3 years now and I'm really blown away at how easy this was to make the final stand. I was so ready to board myself up in the room (figuratively speeking) and sweat it out. I did have a few days of withdrawels but they were mild compared to the withdrawels I had while taking my meds.
Now, I know the battle is not won, and I never really made the decision to quit completely, forever anyway. I still get my meds, and I'll still probably take them some but it won't be a daily thing for sure. I know I know. I know exactly how it gets to be a daily thing. There is a real reason for me to take them daily, I just felt like I was taking too much daily, and it was making me hurt. This isn't worth it for me so I stopped to get things back in order. I " chipped" for 2 plus years on very low doses of hydrocodone without building a tolerence. It wasn't until I was put on the long acting meds within the last 6 months that things got a little crazy. I was still able to get off on 10mg hydrocodone after 2 yeras. I've always had a very strong sense of self control when it comes to these things. I'll suffer it out even if the pills are in my pocket if that's the decision I've made.
Now any ideas on why it didn't hurt that much? Was it because it was the oxy that was the primary source of my pain in the previous weeks? I think it was, the withdrawels are so much more harsh than that of hydrocodone and I noticed this almost immediately after switching to the oxy's. Was it also the fact that the hydrocodone molecules had dropped off my receptors while the morphine was on it... and since my receptors weren't really "used" to the morphine at this time, it didn't hurt when they fell off? Kind of like the fast detox some do with sub? Kind of a switcheroo except this time with an agonist?