Addiction – Pain Medication – Can You Help Me? ?
Question by : Addiction – pain medication – can you help me? ?
I’ve been taking hydrocodone/Vicodin & lorecet for about 4 months now. Im wanting to get some help because I’m pretty sure that I’m now addicted. I notice I’ve been taking them even when I’m not in pain-was prescribed them after surgeries. I believe its because I like the hyper effect I get. I called my local treatment center to try & receive help but couldn’t Get anyone to answer the phone. Ill hopefully be able to get in touch w/ someone tomorrow but my question is: what will the treatment center do to help me? I read online I may b prescribed methadone -what is it? Does it give the safe effect as pain killers? I don’t want 2 run the risk of getting addicted to something else.. I took my last one today (loracet) -what will happen if I start having withdrawals? _ r treatment expensive? -I can’t afford much. Its outpatient. -main question -what will / can they do to help me? I don’t want to feel this way anymore. (Was taking 3 to 4 a day, 5 mg to 7.5 mg n each pill) thanks
Best answer:
Answer by J Miller
Methadone is a synthetic opiate similar to hydrocodone which is partially a natural opiate and partially a synthetic opiate. It’s used to treat severe pain and opiate addiction. It works similarly to vicodin but it lasts much longer and doesn’t produce the euphoric feeling you get from vicodin.
When it comes to addiction methadone can be used in two ways – detox or maintenance. Maintenance is when you take it every day often for years. A methadone detox where you would reduce the dose of it over a 3 week or 3 months period until you’re down to nothing.
Because you have only been using pain killers for 4 months you would unfortunately not qualify for maintenance or detox. You have to have been addicted for at least one year.
So another option for you would be to check into a detox clinic that use medication to help the withdrawal symptoms. Some of these clinics also use methadone to relieve the symptoms but they only use it for 3 days so it’s a little different than a strictly methadone detox which is done at a methadone clinic outpatient.
What the treatment center will do to help you is impossible to say since there are so many different kinds of treatment centers. Some do only detox. Others do inpatient or outpatient 12-step treatment while others use a different model. Then there are also methadone clinics that only use methadone and counseling.
With your history it’s possible that you don’t really need any treatment. It doesn’t sound like you are addicted with only taking 3-4 a day. Addiction is when you use drugs compulsively and obsessively and can’t stop even though you have negative consequences. It does sound like you are a good candidate to becoming an addict though so I would highly recommend that you stay away from opiates all together in the future unless absolutely necessary.
You may be physically dependent by now. Physical dependency is when your body has gotten used to getting the drug and when you stop taking it your body reacts by getting sick. The symptoms of opiate withdrawal varies from person to person but they are generally like a very bad flu with chills, sweats, creepy crawly feeling in your legs, vomiting, diarrhea, runny eyes and nose, insomnia, lethargy, etc. Symtoms often start with yawning and runny eyes and nose. Since you have only used for 4 months and a small amount your symptoms will probably be pretty mild if you get any at all. You may just feel under the weather a bit for a few days. A doctor or treatment center can treat you outpatient with medications to relieve your symptoms. A drug called clonodine is very common and helps quite a bit if your symptoms are mild. You may be able to get methadone or another opiate but only for three days as that’s all the law allows unless you are at a methadone clinic.
There is also another synthetic opiate used for maintenance and detox called Suboxone or Buprenorphine. A Suboxone detox may be a good option for you.
A detox from vicodin can take anywhere from 3 days to 10 days and you get better every day. If you work you may want to take a few days off. The second day of withdrawal is usually worst. But I don’t think you will have it that bad especially if you get help with medication.
My recommendation to you is to call around and find a place that does opiate detox outpatient and go through that program. It should take about a week or two, sometimes longer. There are also inpatient detox clinics but they are extremely expensive and if you don’t have insurance you probably wouldn’t be able to afford it. Outpatient detox costs vary quite a bit. If you have insurance they may pay. It’s usually a matter of a few hundred dollars. Call around and see. To find a detox clinic in your area you can go to the following link and check “detoxification” on the second page: http://dasis3.samhsa.gov/PrxInput.aspx?detail=1
If you can’t afford a program it is possible to go cold turkey when you are not taking that much. There are things you can do to alleviate symptoms. You should expect to feel a bit crappy for a few days but it will go away. If you want tips on how to detox at home feel free to email/message me. There are plenty of tips online too.
Good luck
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