Ask The Former Percocet Addict

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-29 07:48pm

Inspired by the shitstorm in N&P, I thought I'd put up a topic where everyone could ask a former drug addict whatever questions they want.

To start things off, I never intended to get addicted to them as I never took Percocet for recreaction but for pain associated with an electrocution injury sustained in military service in '99.

So go ahead don't be shy.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2005-07-29 07:59pm

How large of a daily dosage did you get up to?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-29 08:02pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:How large of a daily dosage did you get up to?

I took upto 8 150mg pills a day at the height of it all, but I see-sawed a lot sometimes taking as little as 2 a day sometimes as many as eight as a time. All depending on the day I was having.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-07-29 09:26pm

And I watched him do it not being able to do anything about it. That's hard to watch the man you love hooked on such a drug, it's still hard to watch him mention the drug if he has a particularily bad pain day and wants to get some more. It's also hard to say "no don't get it again", because it's like I'm saying 'you just stay in pain'. That is not what I want for him at all. Thankfully our doctor understands and won't give him anymore of it.

I just read the thread in N&P and Mikal768 has obviously not had to watch a loved one struggle with a drug addiction. Either that or he/she (whatever sex it is) is a completely heartless asshole.

My husband still needs all the support he can get and like he said he never took it for recreation and never meant to get addicted. It just happened.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-07-29 09:28pm

Cpl Kendall wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:How large of a daily dosage did you get up to?
I took up to 8 150mg pills a day at the height of it all, but I see-sawed a lot sometimes taking as little as 2 a day sometimes as many as eight at a time. All depending on the day I was having.

I had no idea! He hid it very well and never told me when he took it. That's scary!

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2005-07-29 09:36pm

Painkillers act alot like heroin (not surprising, right?) In that, eventually, you need it so much that you take it just to get normal. I very nearly got to that phase after my knee surgery. I was addicted, but was able to kick it cold-turkey. But it was a VERY unpleasant couple of weeks. I was jittery, I snapped alot, ANYTHING would set off my temper, fidgeting, just-ugh. You HAVE to be very VERY careful with those things. In fact, I think that the corporal mentioned taking those awhile back and I wrote quite the dissertation on the addictive properties of opiate painkillers.

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2005-07-29 10:06pm

Cpl Kendall wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:How large of a daily dosage did you get up to?
I took upto 8 150mg pills a day at the height of it all, but I see-sawed a lot sometimes taking as little as 2 a day sometimes as many as eight as a time. All depending on the day I was having.

150mg pills? You mean 150mg OxyCodone? Was it a version of Oxycontin? I ask because Percocet come only in 5mg Oxycodone/325mg APAP.

That is a HUGE amount of tollerance to have built up there, i am quite impressed.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2005-07-29 10:09pm

Were you just popping the pills whole, or did you reach the point where you were crushing them into powder and snorting them?

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2005-07-29 10:13pm

RedImperator wrote:Were you just popping the pills whole, or did you reach the point where you were crushing them into powder and snorting them?

Now i dont know his experience but most people will do that with Oxycontin or any other time release pill anyway, in order to get the best high from the least amount of material. It usualyl isnt a "reach the point" thing, indeed I would suspect it works backwards, ie only once you are using more than 1 pill at once would you start taking them orally. too much material to insuffalate.

At least that is my experience. Without a tollerance 150mg of Oxycodone or any other strong opiate will kill a normal person, even in time release form. Even 80mg probably would. One reason people remove the wax and crush up the pills is to take less than 1 pill in dose. For instance OxyContin 80mg, the standard Oxycodone pill of abuse, would usually be 4 distinct highs for a low-tollerance person, when crushed and snorted.

If you have a tollerance it makes less sense to crush the time release ones, though i would be one would remove the outside.

Im still confused by 150mg pills though because as far as I knew Oxycontin only came in 10,20,40,80,and 160mg pills.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-07-29 10:17pm

It was Percocet yes and it was a high dosage (I'm answering cause I know the answers and he's in bed) He had taken many other opiate painkillers before Percocet so his body did get used to all the high dosages and stuff.

He never crushed and snorted, he would swallow hole.

He had experimented with a lot of different painkillers from the day of his accident (June 1st 1999) up until today pretty much, because they would work for a while and then become ineffective. The Percocet on really took the edge off but it made him sleep a lot (sometimes all day and night) so it helped him to not have to deal with the pain when he was awake.

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2005-07-29 10:24pm

Well Mrs. Kendall there is something odd then about this story in that Percocet does not come in 150mg Oxycodone doses.

Percocet refers specifically to Oxycodone with acetaminophen which comes in either 5mg Oxycodone/325mg APAP OR 7.5mg Oxycodone/500mg APAP.

The only way in which Oxycodone comes in pill form in doses around 150mg is as Oxycontin (or generic equivalent) which is a time release pill which comes in doses of 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 mg

http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2001/20553s022lbl.htm

With the 80s and 160s only being perscribed to already tollerant people.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-07-29 10:25pm

As far as I know he never meant to take it for the high, he just explained the effects to me as causing him to be drowsy and out of it (I wouldn't consider that a high compaired to the recreational drugs I did when I was a teenager).

I took one Percocet and then a couple to get an idea of what it did to him but it never did anything to me other than to make me really tired but then I wasn't able to fall asleep. I think it had the opposite effect on me than it did on him. It took really good care of my cronic back pain though. I would never touch the stuff to use it on a regular basis for my pain because of what I have seen him go through in the very recent past. He just finally stopped asking the doctor for it two months ago. Thank god!

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-07-29 10:29pm

NapoleonGH wrote:Well Mrs. Kendall there is something odd then about this story in that Percocet does not come in 150mg Oxycodone doses.

Percocet refers specifically to Oxycodone with acetaminophen which comes in either 5mg Oxycodone/325mg APAP OR 7.5mg Oxycodone/500mg APAP.

The only way in which Oxycodone comes in pill form in doses around 150mg is as Oxycontin (or generic equivalent) which is a time release pill which comes in doses of 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 mg

http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2001/20553s022lbl.htm

With the 80s and 160s only being perscribed to already tollerant people.

Sorry, he may have had the dosage wrong but I'll let him take that part up with you, seeing as though I wasn't the one taking it I never really kept track of the dosages he was taking. I just know the drug he's talking about him being so addicted on was Percocet. About 6 months after we got married he was addicted to Oxicontin as well.

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2005-07-29 10:31pm

Ahh I see, yea so percocet is 5 or 7.5mg. Really rather minor. That makes the 8 pills a day seem quite reasonable as orally even a non-tollerant person would take 6 of so to get a good high from it, so like 8 with some tollerance for any reason is reasonable.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-07-29 10:41pm

NapoleonGH wrote:Ahh I see, yea so percocet is 5 or 7.5mg. Really rather minor. That makes the 8 pills a day seem quite reasonable as orally even a non-tollerant person would take 6 of so to get a good high from it, so like 8 with some tollerance for any reason is reasonable.

It's kinda disturbing me to learn that he may have taken it for the high, especially since I watched him when he was feeling the effects and they all seemed negative.. Inability to pee properly, vegged out, sleeping all the time..etc.. of course maybe he just took it so he would sleep and wouldn't have to deal with his depression as well as his pain. It just was all negative to me. I guess this is what drugs do to you though, they make you think these effects are alright. Sad.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2005-07-29 11:05pm

What does being addicted to something feel like? Does it eventually get to the point where you reach for the pills, don't even think about it? Or is it an urge? What sort of physical compulsions occur as the body feels it needs the drug?

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2005-07-29 11:24pm

"Inability to pee properly, vegged out, sleeping all the time..etc.. of course maybe he just took it so he would sleep and wouldn't have to deal with his depression as well as his pain. It just was all negative to me. I guess this is what drugs do to you though, they make you think these effects are alright. Sad.
"

Ohh I didnt mean to imply that he was getting high, I meant that for someone with no tollerance 4-6 at once will get you high, but if you are taking it for pain meds it is different because you use the same doses for recreational and paintreatment.

Ohh also those symptoms would indicate pain treatment purely because when you take em to get high you tend not to either want to or often arent able to sleep. When taking for pain it is different.

"What does being addicted to something feel like? Does it eventually get to the point where you reach for the pills, don't even think about it? Or is it an urge? What sort of physical compulsions occur as the body feels it needs the drug?"
That is like asking someone to describe a rainbow to a blind man.

Being an ex-addict to nicotine (well ive made it 6 weeks now without any)and having been nearly addicted to opiates (i started to get withdrawal symptoms and therefore immediately stopped taking, managed to stop before ramping up more than 10mg),

I can give a limited answer but it wont really let you know it. There is an actual feeling within your body a..feeling of lack..and of need. Like when you are REALLY hungry or even if you have held your breath for a while. It is all you can think about when it is hitting you hardest (comes on in waves, it isnt a constant feeling). There is just a feeling of need within you, as well as a thought pattern which constnatly brings it up, brings up the feelings it conjures in you and how much you need it.

As i said, this is really hard to explain, as it doesnt cover the fact that when you get to that point you also are starting to feel sick and experience pain all over (due to no longer having increased opiate levels).

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-30 12:21pm

NapoleonGH wrote: 150mg pills? You mean 150mg OxyCodone? Was it a version of Oxycontin? I ask because Percocet come only in 5mg Oxycodone/325mg APAP.

That is a HUGE amount of tollerance to have built up there, i am quite impressed.

Sorry I had the dosage wrong. The Percocet I took came in 5mg oxycodone/ 325 APAP dosagas.

But I also took Oxycontin off and on which I believe was 150mg.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-30 12:24pm

RedImperator wrote:Were you just popping the pills whole, or did you reach the point where you were crushing them into powder and snorting them?

No I just took then orally, I never snorted them. It never even occured t me to snort them and I don't think I would have anyways.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-30 12:36pm

Surlethe wrote:What does being addicted to something feel like? Does it eventually get to the point where you reach for the pills, don't even think about it? Or is it an urge? What sort of physical compulsions occur as the body feels it needs the drug?

It's hard to explain what the compulsion is like. It's like a very strong urge that is impossible to resist. I can remember standing in front of the bottle of pills and it being like I was having an out of body experiance in which I took the Percocet or oxycontin and then later I returned to normal and hardly remembered taking them.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-30 12:39pm

So just to clarify the Oxycontin I took was 160 mg. Pardon me but my memory is abismall.

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2005-07-30 01:07pm

And you would take a FULL oxycontin pill orally? Did you ever have a lower OC dose? Or did you switch from 8 Percocets a day to 1 160mg oxycontin? I ask only because 8 percs is 40mg oxycodone, and usually time release are 50% of their mg equivalent as non-time release (because they release 2x the material over 2x the time), so what im asking is did you start on 80mg oxy pills or go straight to the 160s?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-30 01:19pm

NapoleonGH wrote:And you would take a FULL oxycontin pill orally?

Yes

Did you ever have a lower OC dose?

Not that I recall.

Or did you switch from 8 Percocets a day to 1 160mg oxycontin? I ask only because 8 percs is 40mg oxycodone, and usually time release are 50% of their mg equivalent as non-time release (because they release 2x the material over 2x the time), so what im asking is did you start on 80mg oxy pills or go straight to the 160s?

I'm pretty sure I went straight from the 8 percocets to the 1 160 oxycontin. Military doctors are pretty liberal with the opiates I noticed.

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2005-07-30 01:32pm

Yea so it seems.

When you started with the 160s did you notice an increase in the effects compared with the percs?

I ask because as i said it seems like there was an increase in dosage there, and I would like to know if it subjectively worked that way too.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-07-30 01:36pm

NapoleonGH wrote:Yea so it seems.

When you started with the 160s did you notice an increase in the effects compared with the percs?

I ask because as i said it seems like there was an increase in dosage there, and I would like to know if it subjectively worked that way too.

There was a definite increase in the sedetive affects as well as the "stoned" affects which seemed limited to a bizarre feeling in my head which I can't fully describe. It should be noted that I rapidly progressed to taking 4-6 oxycontin at a time as well so much so that I started missing work and called in sick. Eventually I got to the point where I couldn't function anymore and I forced myself with my wife and families help to flush them and went back to Percocet for pain.