[vikster]

My husband is abusing vicodin, vallium and possibly xanax. He will be entering a treatment program, but in the meantime I'm interested in any feedback on the risks of these drugs individually and in combination (short term and long term), how long these drugs stay in the body after ingestion (when might the confused effects wear off after he has stopped taking them?!), and any words of wisdom for kicking the habit of these pills.

Many thanks.

I am not a doctor, but I would think that if he does not take any pills for 24 hours, he will be out of his confusion daze. If he is taking all of these, he may not react well to dropping them all at once like that, he would be feeling pretty bad. maybe you can talk him in to cutting down a lot to get him in a more normal state before he goes to rehab to clean up.

[Batgirl]

I can only speak to the vicodin part - abuse can cause serious gall bladder problems. I believe it can also damage the liver and kidneys. I would not expect the disorientation to disappear in a day, drugs affect your brain chemistry and they adapt to what you take in regularly. If that could be corrected in one day, millions more people would have stopped smoking by now.

[qwertyui]

I can only speak to the xanax part. This drug CANNOT be stopped all at once without serious side effects. Even with a controlled-dose tapering process, one may still have to restart it at a lower dose and taper off from that before it can be stopped entirely. Even with all of that, the urge just to stay on it and avoid the very unpleasant symptoms can still be very strong.