How can I wean myself off Lortabs

[Breezystorms]

Hello Friends, I am a 32 yr old mother of 2 wonderful sweet boys and a newlywed to a wonderful husband. I started taking Lortabs after my 2nd son was born. He was born 3 months early and wasn't expected to make it.. which I thank GOD he did. I started the meds for my child birth pain because I had a c section. After the pain went away I still took them because they "made me feel better". My son stayed in the hospital for 2 months and we had to travel an hour to the hospital and back every day.. so the lortabs seemed to help me get through. I've been taking them now for 5 years.. gradually taking more and more. I was the person that was afraid of medicine.. afraid to even take tylenol. So I started out taking half of a 5mg.. then it went to one.. to 1 1/2.. and so forth.. now I'm up to 3 1/2 7.5 mg every 4 hours.. and I've been at that amount and dosage for the past 2 years.. I refused to up it anymore. The time has come to stop. I've said it and said it... and I've never been the type to say I dont have a problem with addiction.. I always knew I did.. and always said I hate this and want to stop but I cant get past the severe PAIN and sickness of WD's. I have to stop now for so many reasons. It's started to damage my marriage.. I have the most caring husband.. but a person can only take so much.. My children need me fully and recently my sweet mother was diagnosed with cancer and doesnt have long to live. I find myself unable to even go spend time with her often if I "dont feel good" and its bothering me that I dont have much time to spend with her. I get them from a doctor.. but of course I run out and have to get them other ways.. I worry about running out as soon as the day I get a refill.. because I think well these will only last this amount of days.. I am so sick and tired and this crazy roller coaster. I have to do this.. for myself.. my children.. my husband.. and my mom.. Can anyone please kindly help me work out a plan to wean me off.. I dont care to go through some pain as I know I will.. but I cant handle to quit cold turkey.. I've only tried one time. I went 4 days.. of hell only because I couldnt get my hands on any.. but on the 5th day I got some and went right back.. Now I know I have to just stop. like I said I take 3 1/2  7.5 mg every 4 hours.. Can someone help me work something out to follow.. Like what to gradually go down to each day until 0. Also how long does the wd's last? In other words how many days will I feel like ****.. and when will I start to feel normal again?  Sorry for the book.. but even writing this helps me and gives me hope and the strength to quit.. Please write me back..  Thanks ahead of time..

[kaylasdaddy55]

Breezy,

Hope your plan worked.  As a recovering addict myself, as well as an alcohol and drug counselor, I can tell you from experience deriving from 7 detox centers and 5 rehabs that the chances of doing this thing without a support group, or at least someone significant in your life who does NOT use, then you have a very small chance of success.  I'm not saying it can't be done, but lemme quote a few statistics for you.  
About 1% of addicts who try to quit on their own actually stay quit beyond the first year of sobriety.  Of all the people who go through 12 step rehabs, only about 10% of those stay quit beyond a year, and only about 10% of that 10% stay quit for life.
CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, has a marginally higher success rate at 13%, and even those programs recommend aftercare.  

Joshua

[road2recovery]

CONGRATS  on day 4...Doing this knowing you have a refill, IS awesome....This is the Best easter present you can give your kids, husband and your mom...I truly hope that you can hang on, you are almost through the worst of it....Be Proud of yourself...
r2r

[Breezystorms]

hey there.. yeah my husband knows.. and he takes them as well.. but unlike me.. he has control. If he doesnt have them.. he wd's a little.. but he can also handle it and get through how ever many days he needs to..

I relapsed as Im sure is expected.. but I know I have to do this and now I am on day 4.. and I'm trying really hard to do it this time. Im miserable.. but the great thing is.. my refill has been due for 2 days and I have refused to go get them.. Its so hard to just not go to the pharmacy.. grab them and feel "good" again.. I say good in parathesis.. because you never really feel good.. just different.. so hopefully.. this will pass and I'll be drug free.. Working on day 4

[lisammm]

Does your husband know? It would help you if you had someone help wean you off. Or maybe get a pill organizer and put the amount in each day that you can take to help you. Just a suggestion. You can do it! Good Luck!

[worried878]

good luck to u..try hard to stick to ur plan!

[road2recovery]

Breezy and alli...it would be great to this together with someone...Me and Avis have the same quit date.....That would be great..

Breezy--  the good thing is that you are already use to going every 4 hours ., which many of us, just took whenever...
alli-- I know you can do this...you have already got yourself down to less pills a day, now it is to get the doses spread out..

Both of you read as much as you can on the health pages, and talk to many here..WE all want to help you both get your lives back...
GOOD LUCK!!!
r2r

[Allicat0117]

I am starting a tapering plan too. I know exactly how you feel!!!! I did the same thing too. Tried cold turkey and gave up on day 5! Someone told me the purpose is to get ur body to tolerate the smaller dosages in equal amount of time pd. I dont wait every four hrs. I just take them when I need them. I have someone working on a plan for me so I will send you a pm on the advice she gives me and lets do this together!!!! Good luck to you!

[Breezystorms]

Thanks for posting..
Actually i'm taking around 21? give or take.. but I make sure it's been 4 hours.. I'm afraid as crazy as that is to take them any earlier.. so I follow the hour just not the dosage.

The first time i quit for the 4 days.. I did have a few pills that i could take to get me threw and i did quite well. Just knowing that I had a few pills helped me get through the day.. but I hurt really bad.. I remember the leg pain.. mainly.. the severe crawling stabbing creepy leg cramps.. then I got depressed and I cried the first 3 days.. the 4th day i was starting to feel better and I know if i woud have made it the 5th day I would have made it. Im afraid of these pills.. and when I went the 4 days without and then on the 5th day i got some and I was too scared to take my normal dose b/c I was afraid my tolerance went down.. So what im saying is if I can get through 5-7 days I'm sure id then make it.. right now i have enough to take the process.. nothing big.. like 13.. and I'm ready to start because any other time these would have already been gone since Ive had them for several hours and have controlled myself.. i want to get off these as quick as possible and as "well" as possible.. which I know I'm not exempt from going through wd's.. I just started my detox.tonight.. so day one will actually start tomorrow... and I will be here every day to count down the days.. thanks for the support.

[worried878]

so r u taking like 12 pills a day?  of perhaps 16 a day?...either way u have a substantial habit and alot of tylenol as lortabs have 500 mgs per pill and the max dose is 4000 mgs/but u probably know all that and like most addicts..u take them anyway...a successful taper is not easy for an addict cos u will cheat/or u may cheat/unless u r extremely disciplined..i was really no good at it but did manage to taper down a bit before i quit....getting someone to hold ur pills is important for many./do u have someone u can trust?  there is an article on tapering in the health pages to ur right...object is to take small doses throughtout the day...since u r using every 4 hours, u may try using 2 pills every 3 hours to start and try to shave 1 off ur dose every few days..but that would be long and slow...it depends on how fast u want to go..for some/going too slow can make them lose their motivation..i wouold be glad to help u if u want to shoot me a pm...a written out taper/flush the left overs/pick a quit day/and try ur best to stick to it....and beging meetings the day u start tapering....that may be the one ingredient u r leaving out each time u try and quit...there is a phone # to find one near u...[phone] ..if u r nt comfy going to a meeting then there are addiction specialist as well....congrats on deciding to stop as it doesnt get better/only worse..keep posting