Help:Another Vicodin Story

[aunjuli]

I'm sure you've all heard these questions asked over and over and over again, but I am hoping that you'll just repeat it one time over for me.

I am not here for me, I am here seeking advice for my fiance who has been taking vicodin for over a year now.

I feel so bad. His back is in so much pain and when he's not on vicodin he's so miserable because his back hurts so much.

In the time that I've known him, he's stopped vicodin about three or four times all times lasting a little under two weeks. Then he's back on them again.

I always go to the doctor with him, just being his support, and I was so proud of him this last time because everytime he says he's going to stop using it, he gets back on after two weeks. This time, he told the doctor that he wanted to stop taking vicodin because he was afraid of being addicted to it.

My question for you all is this:
How can I better support him?
Is it possible to get rid of the addiction WITHOUT the help of detox and/or detox drugs?
Is it possible for his increased pain after quitting vicodin to be caused by withdrawal symptoms?

He is miserable... not because he doesn't HAVE vicodin, but he wants so desperately to quit. He just can't seem to make it past two weeks. He had me look up detox clinics around us, and most of them are so expensive that we just can't afford it right now. Frankly, we can't even afford VICODIN right now, haha.

So, if you please, give me some advice. He knows he's addicted... he's been going strong now for about 7 days, suffering from many of the symptoms of withdrawal... and he usually catches a "cold" after the first week. What else can I do? He needs my help... and I can't just say "I don't know."

Thanks guys, I appreciate this. Deeply.

[mpvt]

The problem here is pain not addiction.He needs to find a way to control the chronic pain or he's going to be miserable for ever.If the pain is bad enough then he may need to stay on a opiate but vicodin is too short acting a drug.He would need to take a sustained opiate like ms contin (12 hr morphine),he would take it twicea day and go on with his life.Any short acting narcotic is effective for short term use only.Once a patient is on a regular dose of a sustained release opiate then a small prescription for fast acting opiate can be given for breakthrough pain.Good luck.....Dave