Hello, great forum BTW, great info.

I have been on Hydro 10/500 for about 4 months now for a lower back issue. I ususally take about 3-4 a day about 4-5 days out of the week, and must admit sometimes i take around 6 when i'm having a "rough" pain day, and i'm seeing myself having more of those "rough" days so to speak, and am taking 6 pills more frequently.

my tolerance i think is begining to grow. i have taken a holiday several times over the course of these 4 months i have been on this medicine, usually for about 3 days, and have experienced what i think are slight withdrawals, cold sweats, horrible mood, dihareah...ect.. (sp) but nothing i couldn't handle

seeing that my tolerance is growing i decided i am taking a longer break, for 7 days. i haven't had my medicine since saturday afternoon and today is tuesday at noon, and i haven't felt any withdrawals at all, mabye some slight mood decrease but other than that i feel normal....

so my question for you pros is since i haven't felt anthing in about 3 days, am i good to go? or is the worst yet to come?

I think it's great that you can stay off it for 7 days! If your w/d's are gone, and you have pain and need to , I'd go ahead and take one. Perhaps you can keep yourself down to 2 a day, and 3-4 when really bad. Take a holiday as you have been. the fact that you don't take them everyday seems very good to me. Also, could you substitute on the lesser pain days with something milder, like ultram or something? Just a thought. Or even just plain OTC stuff. I think holidays will keep your tolerance down, and you can obviously holiday successfully, good job!
Good luck,
ATL.

It sounds to me like you lucked out here. There are times when I go "On Holiday" where the WD's are
easy, then other times when they really suck.
If you're 7 days w/out hydro, I wouldn't expect that you'll feel any WD going forward.
Here's an idea about your pain mgmt needs...go to your doc and ask for some options
on non-opiate pain meds. I'm not up on the latest, but there may be some stuff out there that
works for you without the dependency issues of hydro. I know Ultram works well for some, but that may be
opium based...I don't think its as dependency prone as hydro though.
I'd stick it out as long as you absolutely can stand before going back on hydro, and by then, if you do go back on it,
your tolerance will most likely be lowered.
Good luck and thanks for posting something that reminds us of why we're all here in the first place.
Good luck to you

thanks.......well i'm not 7 days w/o yet....i'm only 3 days w/o....but i'm planning on 7 days w/o

Something I've found that works great for the jittery legs is a natural product by Hylands (sold at Walmart and Wild Oats) called Leg Cramps. It contains quinine which is known to help those jimmy legs. Some people who suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome are told to drink lots of tonic water because of the quinine. I find the legs and the overall anxiety are the worst of the W/Ds but it sounds like you're doing fine. Other remedies include Robitussin Cough Gels (dextromethorphan), amino acids 5htp and L-Tyroseine, Immodium A-D, and for me, even plain old Sudafed 12-hour. Best of luck.

I was told awhile back that opiates cause muscle damage after prolonged use. Does anyone know anything about this?
Thanks

I think it does cause muscle damage and heres why, when under the influence u are not aware of your muscles because u dont feel them as much, for example if sober, when sitting on a chair u will be aware if you are sitting wrong because you will feel it, if you under opiates you might not feel it so will probably have bad posture which will lead to back problems, or if you do a job which requires plenty of muscle work, lets say you strain a muscle, you might not feel, if you dont feel it then you will continue to cause damage. thats what i think

sounds like maybe thee is something to it. I was thinking on the terms of atrophy.
When I am not taing hydro I noice after sitting atmy desk for ahwile my legs don't want to work as well if I had hydro in my system. The leg thing really gets to me..
Thanks for your post!

last year i went thru withdrawal for 9 whole days and boy was it hell. i could only sleep 2 hrs a night and that always came like at 4 in the morning, and then i had to wake up at 6 to go to work, i cant explain the feeling, it was like my muscles in my shoulder felt like they had insects crawling underneath them, and that is what kept me awake, and the funny thing is, is that they only started at night when i would lay in bed to try and go to sleep, i would go to bed at 10pm and it would keep up for 6 or 7 hrs, and during the day was no fun, i had flu like symptoms and was very depressed, be careful you who abuse, its fun now, but believe sooner or later you will have to stop, sooner the better.

i know what u saying that happens to me as well, i notice that happens to me like if i take it one day, then the next day i feel it in my legs, but then it goes away and doesnt return until i take the hydro again, then the next day it occurs again, so maybe yhea,

Hi Truthy,
What your suggesting is being under the influience of lortabs, or taking more than whats
prescribed are you not? If you were taking them like every 8hrs as one is supposed
to there may not be any leg problems..

Al

The restless leg thing is the worst for me. I cannot sleep when I have this. Just cannot get comfortable. I would like to know more about the stuff you found for leg cramps. Please PM me and tell me more if you do not mind. Thanks a bunch!!!!!

I've found that soma is a good muscle relaxant and can help with wd symptoms.
It turns me into a zombie...not fun, but at least I can sleep.

I have my doubts about that now lipitor can, you got to watch that stuff.

Al

I have a question, or just need some support, like others here. I've been taking a large amount of hydro for about 3 years now, and have worked myself up to 3 10-325 pills 5 or 6 times a day depending on the pain and everything going on in my life. Now I find myself with 7 pills to last me until the middle of this month and there is no way I can think of to get my dr to give me extra.
So it's withdrawal time. And all I could get up the nerve to ask the dr for was Atarax 1mg -30 pills for anxiety and my monthly 50 pills of Soma. I've written down a shopping list of what I need to buy tomorrow a.m.
But I keep reading about the atarax and I'm nervous!!! How much can I take at each evening to help me sleep and not get addicted to it?
Any and all info much needed and appreciated!
Thanks
Louise < !--color-->