Addicted to Painkillers? These Tips Can Help
February 1st, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized — Addiction Recovery AuthorIt was a scary moment for me when I tried for the umpteenth time to get off Vicodin – something that had started out as a drug I took every once in a while for fun, but was turning into an every-chance-I-get habit – and failed.
My story is NOT about a miraculous recovery from addiction to Vicodin that I was able to accomplish my first time trying. (I did have a miraculous recovery, though, around my 51st attempt…)
No, addiction to Vicodin and other narcotics is a deadly serious trap from which one has to fight mightily to become free.
Around my 50th attempt to quit, though, I got really scared, scared that I’d have to stay in this hell hole that was taking away my life and my money and my family, and I vowed not to give up until I was out of the clutches of Vicodin. Even if I tried and failed, every time I tried I was going to learn something from it and apply it to the next time.
So every attempt was a teacher. Where did I go wrong this time? What worked best? What thoughts helped me stay on track? What time of day was dangerous for me? What should I do if someone came to my door and offered me some? Would exercise help me? Did it make a difference what I ate? Did sugar trigger intense desires to use?
I examined everything I was doing, and learned all the ins and outs of the pathway back, the way out of this wretched maze. In other words, by failing so many times, I learned great lessons: what NOT to do next time.
This is what I discovered:
Get prepared ahead of time – know what you’re in for. The most important thing I KNEW about being a Vicodin user was that I wasn’t going to get very far quitting if it was a constant battle, “Do I or don’t I get high today?” so I needed to have a plan of action in place before I even started trying to quit. Because once cravings start to assault you, there’s no time to figure out what to do. You need to have something automatically in place and start doing it without thinking about what, how, when, etc. There’s no time to mess around; it has to be automatic and it has to reduce the cravings to ZERO.
I can deal with ZERO cravings, flattened cravings. I couldn’t deal with, “What do I do now? I think I want to get high. Should I start tomorrow?” All the little demons that get in there and try and push you off the path – you have to know what you’re going to do with them AHEAD OF TIME. Have a plan and follow it.
When you wake up first thing in the morning, you are going to start being assaulted with thoughts of wanting to get high. The first three days are the toughest, and the first is the absolute worst. You have to be on guard at all times.
Try to do as meditators do: make your mind a complete blank. When thoughts of getting high come up, SNATCH your mind back from them, as if they were deadly vipers wanting to kill you (exactly what they are). Do NOT let your mind wander off into, even for ONE SECOND, “should I get high today?” That is the end of the road of getting off Vicodin.
Take it one craving at a time. Just when you think you’ve had it and you’re going to have to throw in the towel, that is when they will likely stop, or at least subside for a while, and you get a feeling of accomplishment, “OH, I CAN do this!”
Really, truly, the first few days are the worst. If you can get past them and start going to support group meetings to help you along, you will up your chances of success. If you keep on doing the first three days over and over and over again, you’re just going to feel like a loser who “can’t do it,” so just grit your teeth and get ‘er done.
You need to know that when you start trying to get off Vicodin, or Lortab, or whatever you’re on, you are facing a deadly enemy, and you can do it, but you need to know ahead of time what you are going to “say” to each desire/craving as it comes up.
This will increase your chances of success at getting off Vicodin.
When I started incorporating these tools in my “never say die” get-off-Vicodin regime, it became easier, much easier. Finally I succeeded in joyfully, gloriously, thankfully, ecstatically getting FREE FROM VICODIN.
Brooke C. spent many miserable years addicted to Vicodin, and now revels in showing others how a powerful acupressure technique, and other tools, helped her overcome her addiction. Visit her blog at http://www.getoffvicodin.wordpress.com
