i'm a 34 year old female who has been taking pain meds for a bad back which i have suffered from since a child. my general practicioner started me on opiates about six years ago. vicodin,
percocet,
demerol, dilaudid, you name it, i took it; but my pill abuse was out of control, so i asked about the
duragesic patch (biggest mistake of my life). for the past 5 years or so, i was using 150 mcg and seeing a back doctor who kept me on them and gave me percocet for breakthrough pain. I thought the patch was the greatest thing since sliced bread; but after awhile, my tolerance to it made it no longer effective, but i was not going to ask for a larger dose. at the beginning of october, i went to see my back doc for trigger point injections and to get my scripts. well, he told me i no longer needed to be on the patches, and gave me a weeks worth of
methadone to detox with (hah). that first month was pure hell. my husband stood by my side, doing everything possible to make me comfortable. we discussed the meth clinic, but decided that trading one drug for another was not the way to go and that i didn't want to be a slave to the meth clinic. Well, here it is, late november and I'm still alive to tell my story. I quit cold turkey. it was the hardest thing i have ever done in my life, but now i am starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. You have to want to quit very bad, but it can be done. i'm lucky to have a wonderful husband who stood by me and cheered me on. to those of you who are going through this ordeal, i pray for you.