Pain Med Addiction Recovery – Day 5 (aka “That Ever Elusive Tunnel-end Light”)

If you’ve read the last couple of blogs, you’ll know I decided to quit taking prescription pain medication for my chronic pain. As of right now I haven’t had a narcotic since last Wednesday, which means I’m on my 5th day. It’s been a struggle, and I still have symptoms (and will for a while, I expect, short of a miracle), but I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Bottom line: I’m making it, with the strength of God and my amazing family. 

While I would have rather kept my prescription medication dependency a secret, and dealt with the symptoms on my own, I kept reading comment after comment after comment on the internet from people saying the same thing I used to think: “Tramadol is a low-dosage pain pill, so I thought it’d be easy to quit, but it’s not! At first I get a headache, and then I get flu-like symptoms, and get really shaky and confused. I guess I’ll have to resign myself to the fact that I’ll be addicted forever.”

I don’t mean to be crass, and to Christians more conservative than me, I truly apologize, but…

I call “B.S.” on that one.

I firmly believe you can do ALL things through Christ who gives you the strength (Philippians 4:13).

The Addiction Center website (https://americanaddictioncenters.org) says, “headaches are common Tramadol withdrawal symptoms.” They recommend tapering off instead of cold turkey, but that was what I felt like I should do. After all, I thought, what’s the big deal? Apparently, no matter how big the dosage, when you COMPLETELY remove a narcotic from your system, your brain goes into “overdrive.” Some brain process speed UP and some of them SLOW down.

That’s probably why I’ve felt like my brain was “flashing” sometimes when I close my eyes, like how it looks when you fast-forward the television.

But I’m making it, with the strength of God and my amazing family. 

According to the Addiction Resources website (https://addictionresource.com), confusion and disorientation are to be expected at 4-8 days, and after that the most common withdrawal symptoms are headaches (got ‘em), muscle twitches (got ‘em), anxiety and depression.

I’ve struggled with depression for over 30 years, so it’d be hard to distinguish between NEW and OLD depression.

I’ve had a killer headache for days now, but in the long run, that’ll be a small price to pay.

I’m making it, with the strength of God and my amazing family. 

I’ve had people already tell me that because I’ve went “public” with my struggles, they’ve decided perhaps they don’t need as many pain pills as they once took.

My mom, who is one of my greatest encouragers, told me, “I’ve started to cut back on my pills. I figure if you can do it, so can I.”

Man, I almost cried over that one.

I’m here to tell ya: you are STRONGER than you think. Don’t be a slave to addiction, my friends. Seek help in any way you can, but you CAN be free!

While still dealing with symptoms, and figuring I will be for a while, I’m determined to, as I’ve stated so many times…

Never give up, never give in, never surrender. 

Many blessings on your day.