Author: Jimmy

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:35 pm

Hi Mary,

I am also addicted to pills. I just wanted to give you some encouragement and tell you it is not hopeless! You have a few things working in your favor. First, you are on a fairly low dose of hydrocodone. Many people who come here are taking much more than what you are taking, and do quite well on suboxone. I’m not saying you should be on suboxone, but if you decide to go that route there is every reason to believe it would work very well for you!

Second, regarding the valium, you are taking a small – medium dose of valium. It is good that you are taking valium. Valium has one of the longest half-lives of any of the benzos. This is important because as you taper down you will not be exposed to the tremendous peaks and valleys of the shorter acting benzos – xanax being the worst. In fact, there is a clinic in England that uses valium to detox patients who are addicted to the short acting benzos like xanax. They have been detoxing benzo-addicted patients for decades, and know what works. It was started by Professor Heather Ashton, who wrote The Ashton Manual, which in my opinion is the best resource for everything benzo. I believe the more you read the less scared you will be, and you will see that you can beat this!

Third, it is my humble opinion that there are no "lost causes" and everyone has it in them to fight back and get their lives back. Yes it seems difficult if not impossible now but that is because you are tapering and depression is a known side effect of opiate and benzo withdrawal.

Best of luck to you, I know you can do it.
Jimmy