Author: Virtualoklahoman

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:58 am

Funny, buprenorphine makes me need about 12 hours of sleep for some reason. Even 10 hours can make me feel like I didn’t sleep enuogh, it’s weird.

Author: Virtualoklahoman

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:07 am

When I first started taking subs about 3 years ago, people acted like the edema was just random and unrelated. Since that time, I’ve seen more and more people reporting this side effect, and now you can find many official MD websites listing this as a known side effect to Buprenorphine treatment.

I didn’t think I’d be on subs this long, but frankly they’re free for me with my insurance and they gave me my life back in so many ways, it’s a last resort for me at this point to stop, thought I’ve tapered down significantly.

I know for a fact it’s the subs causing my edema, when I first started the edema would develop like clockwork when taking subs and go away in a few days after stopping.

I’ve now had swollen legs for over 2 years, and it’s just getting to be a source of great anxiety for me.

I’ve heard diuretics don’t work for people with this side effect, but I’ve heard it helped a few. But I’m hoping maybe some studies I haven’t been able to find have possibly pin pointed why this happens, it doesn’t make much sense according to some doctors a few years ago.

Author: Virtualoklahoman

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:07 am

When I first started taking subs about 3 years ago, people acted like the edema was just random and unrelated. Since that time, I’ve seen more and more people reporting this side effect, and now you can find many official MD websites listing this as a known side effect to Buprenorphine treatment.

I didn’t think I’d be on subs this long, but frankly they’re free for me with my insurance and they gave me my life back in so many ways, it’s a last resort for me at this point to stop, thought I’ve tapered down significantly.

I know for a fact it’s the subs causing my edema, when I first started the edema would develop like clockwork when taking subs and go away in a few days after stopping.

I’ve now had swollen legs for over 2 years, and it’s just getting to be a source of great anxiety for me.

I’ve heard diuretics don’t work for people with this side effect, but I’ve heard it helped a few. But I’m hoping maybe some studies I haven’t been able to find have possibly pin pointed why this happens, it doesn’t make much sense according to some doctors a few years ago.

Author: invisiblemovement

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:47 am

I recommend going to Wal-Mart or a pharmacy and getting Valerian Root. Well, I suppose that going to be at 8, it makes sense that you are awake now. Many people only sleep a few hours during withdraw. But a suggestion to prepare for tomorrow would be to get the valerian root and take 3 of them. You can get Melatonin too and combine them if you want but I find valerian root more successful. It is nice because if you wake up in the middle of the night it makes it easy to fall back asleep. It is OK that you are up right now, because you will be extra tired for tomorrow night and get a good night sleep. Just remember, you just have to make it 1 day. 1 day, that’s it! In one day, your physical symptoms are surely going to be even less and you will have a better chance at a good night’s sleep tomorrow night. Also, I would always take some naproxen right before bedtime to help my muscles relax and eat a lot of food because that somehow would make me sleepy. Don’t worry, you are on the path to normal. That is the good news. You have no where to go but up.

I slipped up because my best friend got the best china he ever had in his whole life and it was my first day going back to work, it was day 4, I felt like crap and had anxiety, and he lives only 1 block from my work and it was going to be free and so I slipped up. The second time I jumped, I was going back to work on day 6 and was super backed up with schoolwork and had anxiety so I took some subutex. The first time I ever jumped, a year and a half ago, I had only been on subs a few weeks and I stopped for a week or so and then I got an ear infection and it was excrutiating pain and the doctor gave me Vicodin. Yeah I know, crazy. Vicodin for an ear infection. Lol. Of course that didn’t take care of the pain so I bought some OCs and the rest is history. I could have accomplished so much more in the last year if I would not have slipped up that one time. I wish I would just wait at least 2 weeks because I am confident that after 2 weeks you should be feeling so proud and have more energy than when you were taking these opiate depressants, therefore accomplishing more, and feeling proud of what you are accomplishing.

Tonight might have been bad for you, but it will be over as soon as you know it and things will be back on track.

Author: invisiblemovement

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:47 am

I recommend going to Wal-Mart or a pharmacy and getting Valerian Root. Well, I suppose that going to be at 8, it makes sense that you are awake now. Many people only sleep a few hours during withdraw. But a suggestion to prepare for tomorrow would be to get the valerian root and take 3 of them. You can get Melatonin too and combine them if you want but I find valerian root more successful. It is nice because if you wake up in the middle of the night it makes it easy to fall back asleep. It is OK that you are up right now, because you will be extra tired for tomorrow night and get a good night sleep. Just remember, you just have to make it 1 day. 1 day, that’s it! In one day, your physical symptoms are surely going to be even less and you will have a better chance at a good night’s sleep tomorrow night. Also, I would always take some naproxen right before bedtime to help my muscles relax and eat a lot of food because that somehow would make me sleepy. Don’t worry, you are on the path to normal. That is the good news. You have no where to go but up.

I slipped up because my best friend got the best china he ever had in his whole life and it was my first day going back to work, it was day 4, I felt like crap and had anxiety, and he lives only 1 block from my work and it was going to be free and so I slipped up. The second time I jumped, I was going back to work on day 6 and was super backed up with schoolwork and had anxiety so I took some subutex. The first time I ever jumped, a year and a half ago, I had only been on subs a few weeks and I stopped for a week or so and then I got an ear infection and it was excrutiating pain and the doctor gave me Vicodin. Yeah I know, crazy. Vicodin for an ear infection. Lol. Of course that didn’t take care of the pain so I bought some OCs and the rest is history. I could have accomplished so much more in the last year if I would not have slipped up that one time. I wish I would just wait at least 2 weeks because I am confident that after 2 weeks you should be feeling so proud and have more energy than when you were taking these opiate depressants, therefore accomplishing more, and feeling proud of what you are accomplishing.

Tonight might have been bad for you, but it will be over as soon as you know it and things will be back on track.

Author: Amy-Work In Progress

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:54 am

Hi! I want to welcome you to this forum and congratulate you on all of your hard work in recovery! I know how terrible it feels to be out of control with one’s drug of choice. It isn’t fun!

I had to look up paracetamol because I had never heard of it. Apparently, you don’t live in the U.S. because the term we use here is acetaminophen. So, basically you’ve been taking Tylenol with codeine and you’re taking 125 – 300 mg codeine at one time. About how many times a day are you dosing?

It’s not uncommon for an addict to switch addictions, and if you do end up on suboxone, you will definitely need to spend that time working a recovery plan. Suboxone is a great tool for some addicts, but it won’t take care of any underlying issues.

I’m so sorry that you are struggling with back pain. There are several people on this forum who take suboxone because of addiction, but who dose small amounts more often to maximize its analgesic effect. So you could help manage both your pain and your addiction with suboxone.

It must be stressful to be dealing with your own addiction and back pain, plus your husband’s cancer! I hope you can find a good addiction therapist to help you manage. Perhaps, once you come up with a plan of action, you can tell your husband what is going on with you.

I wish you the best and I hope to hear an update! There are many supportive people here, so I hope you stick around!

Amy

Author: Amy-Work In Progress

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:54 am

Hi! I want to welcome you to this forum and congratulate you on all of your hard work in recovery! I know how terrible it feels to be out of control with one’s drug of choice. It isn’t fun!

I had to look up paracetamol because I had never heard of it. Apparently, you don’t live in the U.S. because the term we use here is acetaminophen. So, basically you’ve been taking Tylenol with codeine and you’re taking 125 – 300 mg codeine at one time. About how many times a day are you dosing?

It’s not uncommon for an addict to switch addictions, and if you do end up on suboxone, you will definitely need to spend that time working a recovery plan. Suboxone is a great tool for some addicts, but it won’t take care of any underlying issues.

I’m so sorry that you are struggling with back pain. There are several people on this forum who take suboxone because of addiction, but who dose small amounts more often to maximize its analgesic effect. So you could help manage both your pain and your addiction with suboxone.

It must be stressful to be dealing with your own addiction and back pain, plus your husband’s cancer! I hope you can find a good addiction therapist to help you manage. Perhaps, once you come up with a plan of action, you can tell your husband what is going on with you.

I wish you the best and I hope to hear an update! There are many supportive people here, so I hope you stick around!

Amy

Author: TeeJay

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:28 am

Dude. Before I start I just wanna say that being posted overseas is something I can’t get my head around. So you have every right to say "you have no idea what it’s like".

But I have a helluva lot of experience "throwing off" / blaming mental health issues, and rationalizing the continued need to get high because I was suffering from a diagnosed mental illness. "I need to feel high to feel normal". Now I look back on it I wasted a lot of good years because of that belief. I could spend ages picking apart all the fallacies in that belief because there’s a lot. For one it’s very rare to find any person who doesn’t feel a bit different or abnormal in some way. It is normal to not-feel-normal for most of the world.

As I said, I couldn’t understand the kinda shit you might have gone through posted overseas. But I sure as hell know what it’s like to wallow in self-pity, and let life get the better of you. And that’s exactly what you’re doing and I think part of you knows it.

Really all it is just a rationalisation to use. "I have PTSD from the military" I betya that line gets most people from questioning your denial. The old War Hero, true Patriot. Give him a break. Actually that’s a fucking gold line to get people from hassling you. I woulda really exploited that one. Hats off for that.

But while you’re telling that lie to yourself and the people around you to justify your continued use of drugs, you’re actually throwing away more and more of YOUR life. And you only have one life. This time you could be spending actually dealing with your PTSD, learning to live with it and even grow from it and becoming a stronger person. It’s a choice. And I firmly believe that.

Author: TeeJay

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:28 am

Dude. Before I start I just wanna say that being posted overseas is something I can’t get my head around. So you have every right to say "you have no idea what it’s like".

But I have a helluva lot of experience "throwing off" / blaming mental health issues, and rationalizing the continued need to get high because I was suffering from a diagnosed mental illness. "I need to feel high to feel normal". Now I look back on it I wasted a lot of good years because of that belief. I could spend ages picking apart all the fallacies in that belief because there’s a lot. For one it’s very rare to find any person who doesn’t feel a bit different or abnormal in some way. It is normal to not-feel-normal for most of the world.

As I said, I couldn’t understand the kinda shit you might have gone through posted overseas. But I sure as hell know what it’s like to wallow in self-pity, and let life get the better of you. And that’s exactly what you’re doing and I think part of you knows it.

Really all it is just a rationalisation to use. "I have PTSD from the military" I betya that line gets most people from questioning your denial. The old War Hero, true Patriot. Give him a break. Actually that’s a fucking gold line to get people from hassling you. I woulda really exploited that one. Hats off for that.

But while you’re telling that lie to yourself and the people around you to justify your continued use of drugs, you’re actually throwing away more and more of YOUR life. And you only have one life. This time you could be spending actually dealing with your PTSD, learning to live with it and even grow from it and becoming a stronger person. It’s a choice. And I firmly believe that.

Author: invisiblemovement

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:52 pm

Aww you guys thanks!! I love you all, lol. I really thoughts no one cared about this thread lol

A help kit and emergency list, haha that is great!! I keep saying I need to do that too! Ha we are like… those prepper people LOL.. u know those people that hoard for doomsday? We are prepping for our own doomsday, lol… but I guess I should be thinking of it more like a Happy Days not a doomsday. Like seasonasdad says, you don’t realize how easy life is until you are off the drugs and I honestly believe that. Subs stress me out so much and take up way too much thinking time during the day. It’s like I have gotten into this habit of thinking in which I think I need my dose to operate. And then you know what happens? When my dose wears off, I end up not functioning as well, because I honestly believe that I can’t. I end up thinking about my dose, how much I should take, oh shit is that a cop, he’s going to find the sub in my purse, can those people tell I’m high? Just stupid things. Our bodies were built to take on the world, we have evolved to be these great creatures, I don’t need to fill it with drugs. They will only slow me down. Especially my brain. If I’m high watching the clouds go by, I’m not doing as much work as I should be doing. Although I would be lieing if I didn’t say, that many times sub really puts me in the mood to doing things. It would be better to train myself how to get motivated to do my work without drugs. I just want to be proud of MYSELF, instead of being proud of the drugs. I want to know that I accomplished these things all by myself, Look how awesome I am, I did a good job. Rather than thinking, "hehe, this sub has made me powerful and unable to feel pain so I get all this work done all day!" That is totally different. I am worshiping the sub instead of myself (or God, which is what it should be. He’s the one that made me. If you guy’s done believe in God, well, I suppose if anything be happy for Nature for evolving to create such a beautiful human body and brain that you are blessed to inhabit). And what do I do with this miraculous gift from God/Nature? I poison it with drugs! I try to escape my mind, rather than being thankful for even having a mind! If I was told I would die at the end of the day, I would say, "No! But, I like me! I don’t want to leave me!" I mean yeah sometimes I get depressed and for a split second wish I could just die to leave all of this life behind, but really, in the end, I don’t want to leave myself. I love myself so much and I’m going to miss my body when I leave (die). I don’t know any truths about this world, if my spirit will go on to another life and I will still be with myself and know myself, or if even if I do get to go on to another life or afterlife, will I still be the same person inside? What if I’m different? I like me the way I am, I don’t want to leave. Anyways, my point is, since I would be sad if I had to leave my body today, I should be thankful for even having a life, instead of always trying to change my perspective and change the way I feel with drugs. If I was thankful for having a life at all, I would be so happy that I wouldn’t need drugs.

Well, this is the kind of stuff I think about to stay positive about my jump.

I totally know what you mean by a health kit. I have a desk drawer full of vitamins and medications like a woman’s ultimate vitamin, immodium, naproxen, excedrin (not sure if I should use the caffeine though), magnesium, valerian, 5-htp, L-tyrosine, and tomorrow I’m getting some somas. Not sure if the somas will make withdraw worse like how flexerol makes withdraws worse, but I don’t think so. I just want it to help get to sleep. But I really want to try and not use any of it. I want to get my vitamins from food and learn to sleep without medication and just use naproxen for pain and it helps me relax to go to sleep. Well, and I’ll certainly need the immodium. And the 5-htp is good for depression/anxiety but sometimes it can make you sleepy and I don’t want that if I’m already a turtle, so we’ll see.

I totally also wanted an emergency list! Like, I had this idea, that whenever I get anxious or depressed while on sub, to write down what helps me get out of my funk, and then consult my journal when I feel those feelings, or make a video diary and put them in folders on my computer marked, like "ways to remember life is worth living sober", or, "watch when you think you need a dose", or, "depression is good" to remind me that I like being depressed sometimes because, well for one, for once my mind isn’t racing with anxiety, and 2, it feels good to get my emotions out and cry. I would love to hear your tips if you can share them, JByrd.

Yeah yeah yeah it looks like I’m overthinking all this stuff again, but you know what, I’ve smartened up a little and have learned that when you are stuck in a moment, like stuck in anxiety, it’s hard to get out of it unless you know what to do. So I’m writing up a plan. It’s good to plan ahead. I like to plan for success. I want to think of all the stops and figure out ways to get passed each imagainable obstacle. Will thinking about these obstacles make them appear during withdraws? Maybe. But I’m willing to take that chance to make the plans. That’s just the way I am. If I don’t plan ahead, I worry about the future. I can’t really change that about me in the next 19 days. So, instead, if I plan for each obstacle, then if they come, I’m not scared of them, because I know (roughly) what to do.