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My Opioid Addiction

Chronic Pain | Last Active: Jan 7 8:27pm | Replies (159)

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@sunflower3

I so commend you on your story. I too, came off of 420 mg total combination of two different opiates DAILY for about 8-9 years. I was 36 years old when I decided to go cold turkey one day. I said to myself, I was done, and didn’t want to swallow another pill. I wanted to come off of all my pain medication so I could find out where my pain level really was. I will say, the medication did help, as I was able to raise my family and work a full-time job. They just took the edge off, that’s it. When I decided to stop, I had over 1000 pills in my medicine cabinet, but I didn’t care, when I said I was done, I was done! So, I first stopped the longer acting OxyContin, which was (2) 80 mg tablets twice a day. Then, about a week later I stopped the 5 mg oxycodone capsules, 20 per day. I was doing pretty well until about the 3rd or 4th day. At that time, I felt as though I was gonna die. 🙂 So...husband checked me into a hospital detox, which, looking back, was a mistake, because I declined all their medications to help ease me off the opiate medication. I was so stubborn, I didn’t want anything! So, cold turkey it was. I got so dehydrated from throwing up and having diarrhea, the anesthesiologist had to come up and put a picc line in to give my body/heart potassium, because my body was completely depleted of it. Took about 6-9 nurses to try and get an IV started but was unsuccessful bc I was completely dehydrated. Started feeling much better on about the 7th day. Felt great by the 3rd week and exceptionally great on the 4th week. At that time, I was able to get normal sleep, finally! I lost about 20-25 pounds all within that first week. It was absolutely horrible! When my body was completely off of all medication, I did not have any pain from the 13 surgeries the 8-9 years before. I started a workout program and joined a competitive kickball league it was doing absolutely superb. I even had dental surgery and only needed Tylenol and Advil. :). Was doing fantastic for about 10 years....was having sooo much fun playing kickball, until we had a tripleheader one night and I completely threw my back out, moved into a new house and ruptured my right bicep, was showing off one night in front of my teenage sons & their friends doing flips & cartwheels (used to be a gymnast in my younger years) and ended up having 3 operations on my right shoulder (yes, it was well worth it lol), and well, the end result, hmm, that’s a CRAZY whole different story for another time. Lol. I just wanted to share my story of coming off 420 mg of opiates, daily, COLD-TURKEY! Thank you for reading! Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 🙂

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Replies to "I so commend you on your story. I too, came off of 420 mg total combination..."

@sunflower3, welcome. One thing is for sure, you have a strong will. While stopping cold turkey isn't recommended, I'm glad you had medical assistance to keep you safe and hydrated. I'm curious. What made you feel like cold turkey was your option of choice? With your more recent injuries and operations, what choices did you make for pain management?