[gsw615]

quote:Originally posted by Doggy

I have a really good friend who is addicted to the pain killer Hydrocodone. Anyhow she wants to stop but everytime she does she gets really bad withdrawals such as sweating and shaking, can't sleep, etc. I was wondering if anyone out there has been through this on their own without going to a treatment center. If so please tell me what to do for her and how long it took for the withdrawals to go away!!!! HELP!!!!

lots of great advice so far -- except I would disagree with the ones that say try to do it on your own. If you (or your friend I guess) can do it, then god bless her -- I was addicted to Hydro for about 6 or 8 months, and would order some codeine from overseas pharmacies when my supply began to run short; I didn't get the same "euphoric effect" I enjoyed from the hydro, but it did keep the withdrawls away (they're chemically related - both opiates, hydro a synthetic one and codeine a natural one derived from opium).

How'd I stop? Well, I'm also an alcoholic, and was already involved in AA, and had been off of alcohol for almost two years, so I talked to my sponsor about it, flushed the remaining hydros and dealt with the psychological/spiritual aspect of it using the principles I learned through the steps of AA. My physical withdrawal wasn't too bad (8 months isn't too long a habit), but I also used muscle relaxants to curb the withdrawal effects. I've never heard of that being a prescribed or suggested method, and don't know if it's even supposed to do any good, but it seemed to help me quite a bit -- didn't take anything for the first day but water and gatorade, but the second day I felt like a train had run me over, so tried some of the muscle relaxants (and also Aleve - to this day I still think that's a miraculous pain reliever), and they really seemed to help me - maybe it was a placebo effect? I dunno... I had had a bunch of Flexerils prescribed for a back injury (which is how I started the hydros - had them prescribed for a legitimate severe back injury, and then was off to the races -- ended up finding a doctor in Texas who would prescribe over-the-phone, who actually later was brought up on charges and had his medical liscense taken away for at least a few years) -- but somehow it seemed to me the muscle relaxants -- it was actually both Flexerils and something called Robaxin I think (methocarbomal if I remember correctly) that helped ease some of the withdrawal symptoms - like the aches and pains parts of it. The sweats, the hot/cold flashes, the naseau - there was nothing that could be done for that except to just wait it out and deal with it - unless I had checked into a detox or gone to a doctor to get some different meds, which I chose not to do (at the time I thought the only drugs they'd be able to prescribe to help me would also be addicting -- stuff like librium for example, but I don't know for sure if that was the case then or is still the case now - this is going back about 6 years). Because of my connection within the recovory community where I was living, I would sometimes call people up in the middle of the night when things got really bad, and they actually answered the phone and helped me get through those tough times.

The biggest thing that helped me during that time was the support from the folks I had already had lots of contact with in the recovery rooms. If she also has an alcohol problem, suggest AA meetings. If she's purely a hydro addict, find some GOOD NA meetings and use the support and the program of action (i.e. a sponsor taking her through the 12 steps) they offer there. There will be people at these meetings that have gone through the same things (and more probably) your friend has, and will be more than happy to offer their assistance (9 times out of 10 at least).

Or she can just try the cold-turkey method and deal with 3-5 days of hellish withdrawal. Or she can do that other thing that was suggested - the subonex or whatever it was called. Not a bad idea I guess, it sounds like people have had decent luck with it. I'd never heard of it, but their website makes it sound like a pretty decent idea.

As for the expense? Have her calculate how much she'd spend on another 3-6 months of hydros, and I'll bet any doctor's treatments she can find will be either equal to or probably less than another 6 months of hydro abuse.

The NEXT trick though, once she's done with the phsycial symptoms, is the psychological addiction -- she's been taking these pills for a while and is not used to dealing with regular life issues without pills in her system. Which, again, points right back to groups like NA. Or maybe simply a psychologist/psychiatrist. But be sure if she goes that route that they're specialists in addiction recovery. Almost no one who becomes addicted to some substance can quit on their own and be done with it "for good" without getting some "outside help" to help deal with the underlying reasons she began abusing the pills in the first place. I DO say "almost no one" because I know there are people who do it -- I know some myself. But they are few and far between -- 99 times out of 100 when an addict tries to go it alone they can't stay clean. Probably more like 999 out of 1000 actually.

There's also a drug called Naltrexone that, if taken, will counter the effects of any opiates injested into the body (kind of like the antabuse that used to be the common prescription for alcoholics). If she takes the Naltrexone (it's non-addicting, non-narcotic, and I don't remember the side effects but I didn't experience any -- it has also been tried for alcoholics with mixed results, so I tried it on one of my attempts to quit drinking), then if she takes any hydros it won't have any effect on her whatsoever. But that of course necessitates she actually TAKE the Naltrexone. When I was trying to quit alcohol my doctor suggested Antabuse, but I told him it wouldn't do any good b/c if I wanted to drink that day I just wouldn't take the Antabuse. Same thing with the Naltrexone -- if she decided she wanted to use hydro that day, she could just make the decision to NOT take the Naltrexone.

It all depends on how willing she is to quit, and what lengths she's willing to go to to stay quit. There's not much you can do for her but be there for support and encouragement. If she's really close to you and is still battling the addiction, you yourself may want to look into a group like Al-Anon (is there a similar group for families/friends of drug addicts? if not you'd probably be welcomed into al-anon meetings anyway). That'll help YOU understand your role in her recovery (or lack thereof), and give you a support group in case she hasn't quit or doesn't stay clean.

Oh, one last thing -- unless she's been taking HUGE amounts of hydro for a long period of time, methedone may not be the best "fix." It IS another opiate, and though will be given to her in controlled dosages so she can't abuse it, at some point she'll have to deal with at least minor withdrawal -- even tapering off methadone I've heard is hard. I've even had people tell me that it was harder to get off methadone than it was to get off of heroin. But I'm not talking from personal experience here. I just know that methadone is a very powerful opiate, and for hydro addiction (again, unless it is VERY extreme) most doctors would probably not suggest that route. And I'd personally be weary of a doctor who did suggest that route, just b/c of the horror stories I've heard from people trying to get off of methadone.

Since that time I have been prescribed hydros, percocets, and codeine, when they were appropriate. I now know that I am not qualified to handle them myself -- give me control of the bottle of pills and they'll be abused, that's a given fact. So I would give them to someone else to dispense to me as needed -- IF needed. I would first try a non-narcotic pain reliever (at first it was Advil or Tylenol, until I found amazing pain relieving results from Aleve), and if that didn't do the trick in a couple of hours I would have whoever was holding my meds for me give me ONE. I have to be very careful, as being previously addicted to the stuff it would be VERY easy to get addicted again, so if I want to avoid that, I HAVE to have someone else in control of the medication for me, and dispense it to me - as needed, as prescribed. I've never had the problem where following the directions on the bottle for how much to take and how often DIDN'T do what it was supposed to do -- relieve the pain I was in. And in taking it as prescribed, I barely got any of the euphoria that I did when abusing them. It was there partly, but it mostly just did what it was supposed to do -- kill the pain.

Just some rambling thoughs... hope they've been helpful...

-gsw