Members,
First of all, thank you in advance for anyone who takes the time to answer any of my questions, much appreciated.
CURRENT DRUG CONSUMPTION (DAILY, over ~18-20hrs):
· ~150mg Oxycodone, mainly through Percocet 5mg/325mg (acetaminophen)
· 30-45mg of Dexadrine XR.
· ~30mg of Nicotine daily - 75% through chewing tabacco and the remainder in cigarettes.
I am prescribed 50mg of the Oxycodone, and 100% of the dexadrine with daily pickups.
For a variety of reasons I will not get into, my only choice is to do a home-detox, or go to a local in-patient facility to perform a detox. Aftercare I have decided to attend a variety of programs that work with my job/life, including the SMART program.
My question is this, the facility i plan on attending will not allow me to maintain my dexadrine dose. My worry is that the dexadrine withdrawal for me has been incredibly difficult, with major agitation and depression being the most difficult to deal with and actually what ended up being the reason i got back on the opiates after a year clean (self medicating the depression). I have been on and off SSRI's, and did not want to go down that road again. Basically since this started 4 years ago (POST INJURY AS AN NFL PLAYER), doctors have been throwing medications at me when i have been asking for help.
On one hand, if I am able to get off of all 3 (which by the way the facility is NON-SMOKING/CHEWING) at the same time, and come out of the 9 day program with enough energy and mental stability to maximize the use of Aftercare, Supplement/Nutritional support, Exercise, CBT etc., then this is the best case scenerio. However I am worried, based on past experience with Dex withdrawal, that I will be an absolute mess after i come out and not able to function in my job/life - which is critical as I only have about 14 days away from regular life.
To some, this may be a low dose and seem like it is achievable, however there has been 4 years of SSRI's, various high doses of Adderall/Dex, not to mention the various head injuries I suffered playing Pro-Ball. So my brain/body is a big mess that goes beyond just what i am using now. For example, my test levels are at 120 (i'm 32), obviously from high prolactin due to opiates.
However, if i can be confident that while it is going to be a painful 7-9 days, I will come out of there able to at least give myself a chance at full sobriety, i am in 100%. But if this is too much to stop all at once in that time period, I have to look at other options.
I am a strong believer in fixing the chemical first, and then focusing on the behavioural afterwards, meaning it is hard to "talk" your way out of acute imbalances in your brain function. I also believe that in my situation, this was not my choice to do this, as everything i am on or have been on has been at the advice of a doctor. Sometimes people just need to get off the drugs and move on, and it's not all about looking at the root of "my problems". UP until this point, getting off the medications has been doctors gave me another drug that had nasty withdrawals, and now I am a mess and need to end this for once and all.
Thanks for any input.