A Self-Help Guide for Conquering Prescription Narcotics

Giving up taking prescription narcotic pain relievers is not to be taken lightly. It is a soul-searching, can I do this mentality. The process is a long one; be ready to be ill for over a month. If you are working, it would be great if you could just take as much vacation, sick and personal time as you can because you will need it. I was prescribed narcotic pain killers around 1998 and used them for the first 9 years with no trouble. I was prescribed Fentanyl patches, Oxycontin and Hydrocodone at different times during that time. In no way was the doctor left out of the stream of what I was taking. She was the one who prescribed them and knew what I was taking. I can't really say when it started that I became dependent on the drugs. My doctor called it addiction and I disagreed. I called it dependence....but, for whatever reason, I was requiring more of the medication and using it up faster than was prescribed and I knew I was in trouble. My father had been an alcoholic, my brother a former user of recreational drugs; so I knew something about (dependence)---addiction---having seen my family with their problems. I talked with my doctor about it and, for whatever reason, she chose to not help me through this. She informed that if and when I stopped, I would have to go through withdrawal. This was probably her way of "teaching me a lesson;" but I haven't asked her if she felt that way. By mid-June of 2009 I had made the decision to stop. I was going to be out of pills and out of refills and it just seemed to be the best time to declare my independence. My target date was, July 4, 2009---Independence day.rnI watched some reality television shows about celebrities and rehab so I would have a pretty good idea of what I was going to go through. I informed my family of my intentions and started. The first couple day weren't too bad but by the third day, I was sweating, nauseated, throwing up, and very weak. I couldn't eat, couldn't drink fluids--especially water, couldn't do much of anything except get out of bed to use the bathroom and then stumble my way back to bed. The nausea was bad, I couldn't keep liquids down, I was able to eat saltine crackers. My husband was scared and asked me to please lay down on the couch where he could watch me. The couch, the bathroom and the bed were as far as I could go. For two weeks I thought I was going to die....then slowly things started to turn around. The nausea subsided, I was able to keep fluids down and I started sipping beef broth. It tasted heavenly. The weakness lasted about a month then s-l-o-w-l-y my body began to respond and my life started turning around. Ten years of taking prescription narcotics faded into the dust.