nurofen plus withdrawal

[joey43]

just reading posts for the past few days. ive been taking nurofen + for about 5 years was up to about 60 tabs a day. Last Monday started cutting down had one box(24) mon, 18 tues wed thur, and 12 fri sat and today. Gona try 9 tomorrow for three days then 6 then 3 etc... Withdrawal symptoms are not too bad but have to admit that last week or two taking 60 a day I felt so **** that it couldn't get much worse. The sore muscles, no energy lethargy etc isn't too bad now 1st few days were hard. Stomach is bit better too, don't have constant diarrhoea now only about 12 hrs a day now. before I started tapering down the constipation and constant stomach pain was so bad that the diarrhoea is nearly a welcome relief. moods are slowly getting better too, you can nearly talk to me in the mornings now! can't wait till im off them completely but for me this way of tapering down seems to work for me, dunno if feeling so **** in the weeks b4 this helped or not. I wasn't getting the hit anymore and was going around in a haze, with terrible wind pains, sore muscles and tiredness, fell into bed every nite was asleep b4 I hit the pillow and woke up so tired next morning , cudnt remember going to bed and tried to work out where I was gonna get my hands on my fix that day! So the withdrawal I have had doesn't feel so bad. I like to think when im feeling **** that this is my pain, me beating the nurofen! only worry I have is my liver, kidneys. don't know what damage ive done and don't have the nerve to see a doctor at the moment so gonna hope for the best and when im feeling bit better I mite get the nerve to get the tests done. for anyone else thinking of giving up/tapering down just do it, don't think too much about it, whatever way u wanna do it( I think going to the doctor and getting help is the best solution but not everyone can do this) just do it. your first few days will be hard ( I couldn't get time off work and had to work thru it, but if u can get time off that wud be good) but try to think of any pain or discomfort as the drugs leaving your body abd you winning! Im not completely off them yet, still feeling some of the withdrawals, still tired, diarrhoea etc but still feel 10 times better than I did on them. im looking forward to tomorrow to see if I feel a little better again. good luck

[Cira30]

If you are determined and self disciplined the taper method will work out great. For me I wasn't very self disciplined. I had to just cold turkey it :) so where are you with the taper?

[joey43]

down to one a day gonna stay on 1 a day for another few days then go down to 1/2 a tab a day. I have a fresh box of 12 so I reckon about another 15 days if I can hold out that long. its mad looking at a box of 12 and thinking this will last for 15 days. not so long ago I was going thru 5 boxes of 12 in a day! seems like a lifetime ago now. still having stomach pains but don't think its a result of withdrawals just my IBS or ulcer or whatever, not gonna worry too much about that now, I've enough to be worrying about. anyhoo that's all for now ill let yas know during the week how i'm getting on

[joey43]

hey thanks for the support, greatly appreciated. Still taking n+ down to 2 a day at the moment and will be 1 and a half from 2moro. slowed down the tapering about three weeks ago as had severe stomach pain. thought maybe I was cutting down too quick, was down to 5 a day and was gonna start on 3 day. stayed on 5 a day tho', went to the doctor about my stomach (didn't mention my addiction long story), anyway she thought I maybe had IBS and prescribed me emazole which really helped and colofac. Told her I wasn't happy tho' and would like to have scope test on my stomach to check for any problems internally, she suggested doing liver and kidney function tests. anyway a week later tests came back liver and kidney seems ok (hurray) but have anaemia (low blood count) so now she wants me to have the stomach scope test as she thinks maybe I have a bleeding ulcer which would explain the low blood count and the stomach pain!! Altho' I have no traces of blood in stool or anything so I dunno have to wait and see. dunno how long ill be waiting on the test hopefully a month
or two. so anyway i'm still taking the n+ even tho' I have absolutely no desire to have them inside me but am cautious of doing this very slowly to try not to aggravate any stomach problems. feel good better than I have in years, altho' the 'high' I got when I first started tapering from 60 a day to 16 to 12 to 10 to 6 is gone, just feeling normal. getting plenty of exercise, playing football, exercising 4 or 5 days a week. still have some stomach pain but not too bad, sleeping a lot better and tiredness and aching joints not too bad since I started taking iron supplements. all in all i'm still a work in progress, I thought i'd be off them by now but I reckon about another 2 weeks should do it. watch this space!

[selfinduced]

Hey Joey, Great job on your taper. I read your post and wanted to let you know there IS hope in doing this on your own. While not ideal and quite possibly harder, it has so far worked for me. I too am like you with my husband having zero, nada, zilch tolerence for addiction. The stress of him knowing would have furthered my stress, emotional despair and guilt. Right now I am 1.5 year free of pills and I am finally slowly confiding in my Dr. and husband in a subtle way. What I did do for support was stay on here constantly (taking breaks if I read too many scary detoxes), read several addiction self help books and reached out to several members on here that were not judgmental and became family. As I said, this is not for everyone and having never done it bu "telling my secret", I can't say how much harder my way was. I just know so far....for today...I am enjoying a pure body, clear head and all the joys I was missing while on pills. Keep posting and stay on taper. I can hear the determination come thru in your post. Much luck.

[joey43]

i didn't mean to get at u or anything just making the point that everyone is in a different situation and not everyone has the supports that will help them through their quitting. I felt it was important for anyone in that situation to feel that they had a chance of quitting even if they hadn't got the supports mentioned. theres more than one way to skin a cat! anyway that's all I meant, I just know from my experience that a lot of times when people come on these sites they are nearly hoping to see stories of failure and hard times and little success, sometimes it makes it easier to just continue. Anyhoo your advice was of great benefit to me in a hard time and i'm very grateful for that.your support  and availability to listen to me talk a lot of **** is greatly appreciated. thanks again, ill update soon

[EvolverU]

Hey Joey,

Thank you so much for your long, informative & thoughtful responses. I'm so pleased that you are feeling so much better. Hi-Five to you on the football, btw! (That sounds great.) It sounds to me like you might be one of the lucky ones in terms of symptoms. Let us know how the fatigue/sleep stuff is when you're all the way off.

You sound very aware about the two 'strands' of this: the physical & the emotional/mental. I totally hear you on welcoming the w/d's as something to struggle against! (I was the very same way.....very determined.)

I'm sorry to hear that you are presently unable to open up to anyone around you. Naturally, you know best in this. -- It was absolutely NOT my intention to make you feel as if you were fighting a losing battle. I was simply stating my experience here. We need every support - every tool we can get to stay clean. There are always exceptions that prove the rule. I would however, recommend that you tell your Dr. if you haven't already. (Not really sure from your original post if you're doing this on your own though, I get the feeling you might me be.) Again, congratulations on all your hard work & determination.

I understand you're feeling much better & that's great. I just wanted you to know, Joey, that my above posts, are simply general info tailored with what what little I know of you from your original & follow-up posts & I assumed nothing. I wanted to be comprehensive.

Please, keep us up to date on how it goes for you as you progress. Best of the Best to you! We're here.

[joey43]

well thanks again for the advice, on day 13 now down to 7 a day ( 4 in morning  and 3 in evening) and gonna go to six on Monday. Still feel like I could just stop now im not enjoying taking them and have to remind myself I need to take them, on Friday I forget to take my morning dose until 2pm (usually take it about 10am) withdrawals have improved a lot, most of the stomach cramps and pains have gone, sleeping bit better (eventually) just some muscle pain and fatigue to deal with. I never got some of the symptoms ive read about here like restless legs or chest pains. stomach cramps were worrying though because they could happen at anytime and last for hours and was hard to work while you had them. I felt a little deflated after your last post. I know what you're saying about building a framework but nobody can know the situation I am in and at present I would not be able to tell my wife about my addiction, it would mean the immediate and absolute end of our marriage and I don't think that is gonna help me much at the moment, so I'm just gonna have to struggle on in silence. when you mentioned that no one on this site in your experience has been able to stay clean without 'coming out' , it sorta made me feel that i'm fighting a losing battle. I know that's not what you meant to do but at 3 o clock in the morning when you cant sleep and your doubled up in pain and you log on for a little support youre not in a clear frame of mind. anyway I decided then that maybe ill be the first person here to do it that way because that's the only choice I have, using nurofen again is not an option. I think you may have misinterpreted my last post when I said " I knoww its about the physical addiction and its better to do it slowly,". when I said that I was referring to the fact that I feel I could stop completely now as I don't feel any compulsion to take them, but I knew  that I still had a physical addiction to them and it would be better to be safe and taper slowly! I never said that " I only have a physical addiction" I was referring to one part of my addiction, the physical side, and speaking about it singularly trying to describe the withdrawal method I was employing to break my physical addiction. I am very much aware that I am an addict and always will be and probably always was, I am aware that beating this addiction is a two strand problem, the physical side is probably the harder starting out but becomes easier in a short time and the emotional side of it I think works sort of in reverse to that and can get harder with time. I just feel i'm in a great frame of mind, I have renewed confidence in myself as a strong willed powerful human being and I know I can beat this thing, there is nothing going to stop me. it feels like im a new person ( or just the person I was ) since I cut down. I feel like im taking part in the world again. I have started playing football twice a week, something I haven't done for 5 years or more and while its hard work im feeling the benefits of getting out there and putting myself in a few tight spots. anyway in summary im on day 13 of tapering down from about 50-60 nurofen plus a day to 7 a day now (6 tomorrow) for anyone reading this believe me there is hope no ones gonna tell you its easy the first week will be hard enough, but the benefits far outweigh the pain. you'll feel real again, feel strong, grow in confidence, enjoy yourself and your family, enjoy life.So get yourself some advice, go to the doctor, see a counsellor, tell your wife/husband/best friend whatever way you can do it DO IT! I know i'm doing it without telling my family but if I could I would, I really think that is the best way forward but at the same time if you cant do it that way do it whatever way you can, use the online supports, use all the diets, vitamin supplements and tips you can get your hands on and do it. I swear if I could put in words how much better I feel after only 13 days tapering down you'd stop now. I felt better after ONE DAY! Even with the withdrawals I still felt better, started to nearly look forward to the withdrawals, they give you something to focus on, something to fight against, when you do feel low. anyway onwards and upwards with my own battle anyone needs any support/ chat feel free to msg me. again thanks to EvolverU for your support/advice, especially the 3 litres of water and the immodium, really helps!

[EvolverU]

Hi Joey, A Big Hi-Five to you on Day 9!


I'm going to cut & paste, here, from another post I just commented on re: 'coming' out to someone sober around you. re: reaching out & getting witnessed (can't tell you how important this is!):

' I was depressed the first two days untill I told my wife what I have doneOnce I told her the depression was gone instantly.'

The thing is, as long as we keep it a secret and remain 'unwitnessed', we are the only ones we have to answer to -- to keep ourselves in check. Has that worked for you in the past? I know it certainly didn't for me or anyone else around here with any clean time in. When you tell someone else, it becomes a whole new ballgame & you give yourself a fighting chance. You'll feel relief when you do! It also gives you some support. It's hard enough not to relapse when others know. It's a guarantee if you don't.

The question here, my friend, is how badly do you want this to stick? I know you're still tapering & that's it's rough but we can't do it on our own. It's NOT about physical dependence -- addicts use (even if they started for pain management) for emotional/mental reasons. Simple fact. That's what makes us different from simple dependents. You say you were 'up to about 60 tabs' in your first post. This would seem to indicate to me that you were using more than prescribed. So, that would class you as an addict. (sorry!) I believe some soul searching might be in order on this issue.

Tips on beating the w/d's : Stay as active as you can. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Exercise & get into the sun & fresh air. Decouple from the symptoms (particularly sleeplessness) through: Your Favorite Music (headphones on! Helps fire those endorphins), Hot salt baths, massage & foot rubs (if you're lucky enough to have someone to do this for you.), a healthy unprocessed, unrefined diet (try to cut out caffeine, sugar & fried foods), The Thomas recipe (check MH search box for this protocol), funny movies (laughter helps endorphin production), Do anything you enjoy, treat yourself well & try to keep a positive attitude. Withdrawals are rough but they won't kill you. You'll be so happy you didn't falter when it's over!

You deserve to have an Opiate-free future. Don't give up on yourself. I'm here to testify that each habit, each year you let pass on opiates makes the w/d's and staying clean harder and harder.

Please, use this site. Read the journals of people with clean time. Watch the progression. Stay on the forum and post for support. Try to read the threads. You might start to see you have a lot in common with some of us! Wishing you all the Strength & Clarity you'll need to punch through to the other side & make this stick. We're here.

[joey43]

Thanks for the encouragement on day nine now, second day of 9 a day and having a hard time sleeping. Thought i was finished with the sleepness nites but seems just when u think youre feeling bit better it hits u hard again. Bad day yesday stomach cramps and muscle pain and exhaustion. For about a secondthought about taking 12 together instead of 5 then 4. Didnt tho' still feel better now than just b4 i started cutting down. I havent  put any framework in place for aftercare, noone knows ive taken these drugs and was hoping to keep it that way. Rather naively just thought about getting off them. I have to urge myself not to stop  taking them altogether as i dont feel i need them and im getting nothing from them with the small amounts im taking. I knoww its about the physical addiction and its better to do it slowly, gonna try take them for 3 or 4 more weeks but i hate taking them now feel like im putting poison into my body(i am). Hope i dont forget this feeling. Anyway thanks for the support im following a diet i found online along with vit b complex, immodiium, jonsons liver salts , gaviscon rennies etc. Feels mad to go to a chemist and just get a btl of gaviscon. The assistant knew me and i think she was gona automatically gimme a pack of nurofen. Nearly asked for them out of HABIT. Any tips on beating the w/ds appreciated. Ill update in a day or two

[EvolverU]

Great Post! You sound strong & determined. (Congratulations on working while detoxing, btw.)

Are you taking Imodium? Please, make sure to really hydrate every day (at least 2 - 3 liters of plain water a day.) Also, try to stay away from Caffeine. It sounds to this girl - (because she recognizes the symptoms!) - that you were so backed up - (codeine is particularly rough for this.) - that you were toxic. That's no way to live! Also, you might want to check into the BRAT diet to control the runs. There's something called the Thomas Recipe that you can check out ( just got to the MH searchbox) It's a really good protocol for easing w/d's and for accelerating your detox/healing.

Love this!:  'but try to think of any pain or discomfort as the drugs leaving your body abd you winning!'
I couldn't agree more. We're being reborn & just like our initial entry into this world, it's painful.

Sooooo, do you have any plans for aftercare? The fact is that the hard part comes after the physical detox. Have you taken any steps to build a protective 'framework' to guard the shiny new you? Now would be the time to start putting this into place. You don't want to have to go through this hell again! Even with a 'framework' in place it's difficult (though it's a learning curve & gets a bit better.) -- without it ...well, it's not gonna' work for long!

You're doing a wonderful job & it sounds like you have a lot of grit, (something I really admire). Keep up the good work  & please keep us up to date! We're pulling for you.