[backpain123]

First let me start off with a little history. Through several car accidents and years as a contactor I damaged my back. Lately my back pain has been getting worse. I have been suffering with pain on and off but lately it has been getting worse. I went to see my doctor (hands down the best doctor out there) and I hold a very low opinion of most doctors. When I first arrived about a year ago she put me on Vicodin. Let me tell you something, Vicodin is the greatest drug out there (in the beginning). All of my pain was eliminated and I felt great! I could do anything! Then a few months later 2 a day wasn’t as effective as it use to be. So she upped the does to 3 a day, then 5 a day. I was on Vicodin for about 9 months. I remember when I was in “Real pain” I would chew 8 or 9 up at a time just to make the pain go away. I decided about a 3 may 4 weeks ago that if the Vicodin isn’t working for pain, then why am I taking it? Am I talking it just to take it? So I decided to go off of it. (A great resolution at the bottom

For a moment I would like to discuss addiction. It seems frustrating that on these sites there is more addicts then people in “real pain.” I suffered from addiction but it started out because of legitimate pain. If you are looking to stop taking Vicodin here is my advice: First do not quit cold turkey, I do not think it is life threatening to quick cold turkey but the withdrawals are hell. Depending on how much you are taking you can expect diarrhea (every hour if not more), throwing up, your body will hurt, and when I say hurt, I mean it hurts so bad that your skin will hurt. EXTREME fatigue, and overall just the feeling that you wish you would just die. It is extreme painful. Now this is if you are talking 6-10+ a day of 5/500. Most people say of 7-10 days then it’s out of your system and you’re good to go.

So here I am, 5 vics a day, extreme back pain and 5 -6 vics a day not even toughing the pain. What to do?
When I decided that the Vicodin just wasn’t cutting it I decide to give it all up and go back to drinking. I tapered off Vicodin, so I would not get sick. When I say sick I mean violently ill. Even thought you wont be throwing up you will feel depressed, fatigued and full of anxiety.

I went to the doctor and told her I weaned myself off the Vics but I am still in pain. I told her I felt depressed and full of anxiety. So here is what she gave me:

(Daily does)
1mg of xanax
Wellbutrin
(some other med for blood pressure)

Let me tell you something, most (not all) of my back pain when away. I have never felt better in my life. Vicodin makes you happy but it is a very “Fake” happiness. I realize the wellbutrin takes a few weeks to kick in, but the xanax has changed my life. I feel alive and happy again. Has anyone had a bad experience with xanax or wellbutrin?

[Dave87666]

I LOVE xanax,and welbutrin never did anyting for me so I switched to prozac...I also beat my addiction to opiates(heroin) with suboxone..Best thing that I ever could have done...

[trouard]

Originally Posted by backpain123

First let me start off with a little history. Through several car accidents and years as a contactor I damaged my back. Lately my back pain has been getting worse. I have been suffering with pain on and off but lately it has been getting worse. I went to see my doctor (hands down the best doctor out there) and I hold a very low opinion of most doctors. When I first arrived about a year ago she put me on Vicodin. Let me tell you something, Vicodin is the greatest drug out there (in the beginning). All of my pain was eliminated and I felt great! I could do anything! Then a few months later 2 a day wasn’t as effective as it use to be. So she upped the does to 3 a day, then 5 a day. I was on Vicodin for about 9 months. I remember when I was in “Real pain” I would chew 8 or 9 up at a time just to make the pain go away. I decided about a 3 may 4 weeks ago that if the Vicodin isn’t working for pain, then why am I taking it? Am I talking it just to take it? So I decided to go off of it. (A great resolution at the bottom

For a moment I would like to discuss addiction. It seems frustrating that on these sites there is more addicts then people in “real pain.” I suffered from addiction but it started out because of legitimate pain. If you are looking to stop taking Vicodin here is my advice: First do not quit cold turkey, I do not think it is life threatening to quick cold turkey but the withdrawals are hell. Depending on how much you are taking you can expect diarrhea (every hour if not more), throwing up, your body will hurt, and when I say hurt, I mean it hurts so bad that your skin will hurt. EXTREME fatigue, and overall just the feeling that you wish you would just die. It is extreme painful. Now this is if you are talking 6-10+ a day of 5/500. Most people say of 7-10 days then it’s out of your system and you’re good to go.

So here I am, 5 vics a day, extreme back pain and 5 -6 vics a day not even toughing the pain. What to do?
When I decided that the Vicodin just wasn’t cutting it I decide to give it all up and go back to drinking. I tapered off Vicodin, so I would not get sick. When I say sick I mean violently ill. Even thought you wont be throwing up you will feel depressed, fatigued and full of anxiety.

I went to the doctor and told her I weaned myself off the Vics but I am still in pain. I told her I felt depressed and full of anxiety. So here is what she gave me:

(Daily does)
1mg of xanax
Wellbutrin
(some other med for blood pressure)

Let me tell you something, most (not all) of my back pain when away. I have never felt better in my life. Vicodin makes you happy but it is a very “Fake” happiness. I realize the wellbutrin takes a few weeks to kick in, but the xanax has changed my life. I feel alive and happy again. Has anyone had a bad experience with xanax or wellbutrin?

Hi I have had six back surgeries since 1984 and have been in disabling pain since about 1991 and I have been through the vicodin junk and every other thing you can think of including xanax. I will tell you right now if you have been on xanax for two weeks, you are already hooked, not mentally , but physically. When you try to get off that junk it is worse than the vicodin and I am not kidding. Been there, done that! My advice to you is to find the best pain specialist you can find and get an appointment and start a relationship and let them help you. Usually the docs are anesthesiologist, I am sure I spelled that wrong, but they can help you a lot better and they know exactly what works and what doesn't and normally they can do a much better job of advising you. Just make sure you do your homework before you pick one. I am on duragesic patches right now and my pain is so bad that I have a morphine pain pump trial scheduled in July, so I really do kind of know a little about what you are dealing with. I hope you find the right doc and make the right choice for you and your family.

God Bless,

Ralph

[backpain123]

I appreciate your advice.
I winged myself off the vicodin this last time, but I have gone cold turkey in the past. Cold turkey is NOT the way to go. I feel like the vicodin was stronger then the Xanax, when you say its worse then the Vicodin…How is it worse?

[mpvt]

You have to be careful when weaning off xanax or any other benzo.Never quitcold turkey from a benzo as it can lead to seizures and even death.Google the Ashton manual for proper benzo withdrawl.
The vicodin is a weak opiate but you should still wean down before quitting altogether.
Go see the pain specialist and be honest with them and do what they suggest.Sometimes you have to do some things you may not like but I garuntee you if you do what they say you will see results.Good luck.....Dave

[Friends10]

I am on xanax and it is very addictive.It's a very sneaky drug.Yeah it takes the anxiety away so you can breath, but then you want another, and another.Until you find yourself asking the doctor to up the dosage.3 2mg is what I take and is the maximum one can take.If you are the type of person who can take them as prescribed than you have nothing to worry about.I am bipolar.I take cymbalta,lamictal, and xanax.I also have a serious lower back condition going on as of a year or so.I have been taking vicodin for the pain.On the 28th I am going in for an ESI with floriscopy.I have been very nervous about this and have been over using my xanax to "stay posotive".Just becareful that you didn't replace the vicodin for the xanax.

[heyhaze]

I agree. Xanax withdrawl is worse than painpill withdrawl. I went through 2 weeks of panic attacks, was in the psyc ward and because I was not honest with the doc about how much xanax I was on, he couldnt figure out what was wrong with me. I finally fessed up (he had took me down to 0.5 a dy) about how much my body was use to and he says "oh, your having xanax withdrawls" Allways be honest with the doc.
He put me on Lybrium, treated me as if I was withdrawing from alcohol, and 5 minutes after I took that pill I made a 80% turn around.

Every now and than I take a xanax, but I respect those things and never want to go through that again.

[ellie rain]

I registered on this site just to answer your question about any bad experiences on Wellbutrin or Xanax. (I'm actually on Xanax, and that's helped.) Wellbutrin is very dangerous. Years ago, I took it and had two separate seizures, one when I was starting the car - can you imagine a minute later? They don't want to say it causes seizures, obviously (or maybe they've admitted it by now), so they just say if you have a seizure history (and you do now), you can't take Wellbutrin. The technician at the seizure lab told me she had a slew of people come in with the same occurrence and it was just a matter of time before they pulled it from the market.

[Ankomst]

I was on Wellbutrin with Zoloft (and a ton of other drugs for glomerulonephritis), and it worked for me really well. The Wellbutrin also seems to help with pain relief, oddly enough. I've been on Xanax and Ativan both, but I find that the Xanax had fewer negative effects on me. If it works for you, stay on it. If you have problems, call your doctor.. I suppose it's about that simple.

I'm on Norco daily with Fentanyl for pain caused by a dialysis access, and I know what the withdrawals are like. Good for you for going off. I can't handle a day without pain medication of some sort, and Extra Strength Tylenol sure doesn't do it for me. Without something, my pain reduces me to tears and vomiting. If I could find an alternative, I would. But this fistula is never going away, so until I get a transplant, I'm out of luck.

Kudos for weaning off, but do be careful with that Xanax. It can be just as addictive as the narcotics for some people.