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after opiate addiction

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After opiate addiction, how soon should I expect to get a regular menstrual cycle?

I was recently addicted to opiates and have quit completely. I was using them for about a year and six months into my addiction I stopped having my menstral cycle. I have now been clean for over a month and have not had my menstral cycle start again. Has anyone had this addiciton or heard about it and have had it come back? Or is this a permanent thing that I have done to my body because of my drug addiction?


Congratulations on stopping. Did you go cold turkey?
It was almost 9 months before I had another period and I actually ended up having to go to the oncologist and get infused with iv iron. About 3 weeks later I had a period. Opiates are so hard on your body especially when you take them over a long period of time. When I went off of opiates I went on Suboxone. It has helped, I have relapsed once or twice but now I am back on the right track. Don't trust yourself around them, I can't. Good luck in your recovery. God Bless

HBO Treating Opiate Addiction With Replacement T


HBO Documentary Discusses why abstinence based treatment programs for addiction may work for some but not most and what Medication based treatment ...

Has anyone on here taken suboxone for opiate addiction?

I recently started suboxone for opiate addiction and l cant seem to sleep. The doc added Serequel for sleep but it just makes me eat and I still cant sleep. I'm losing my mind.


I took suboxone for 1 year. I know the times it made me unable to sleep is when I took too much. I would sometimes get a headache too. I don't know if that helps but I hope so.

What do you think about using methadone for opiate addiction?

It works wonderfully for my herion addiction and I don't want to go off of it since I know I'd immediately start using again. So many people consider it a "heroin substitute". However, I DO NOT get high on it and it is medically controlled so when taken correctly, there is little risk of an overdose. Not to mention all the awful things that go along with heroin addiction like the risk of contaminated needles, drugs laced with deadly substances, doing illegal things to get your "fix", and the fact that you will eventually end up dead or in prison. The problem is that I still have problems with alcohol and cocaine and methadone DOESN'T help with those addictions. I want to get help for all my substance problems but almost all rehabs are VERY AGAINST Methadone. I don't want to be on Methadone the rest of my life. I will eventually wean myself off (VERY SLOWLY) so that I don't get sick (it is addictive like heroin). Any thoughts about this? Please be kind. This is rough!


I'm not really sure if you can mix it with the methadone or not but Revia (Naltrexone) can help with the cravings for both opiates and alcohol. You may want to ask the clinic where you get the methadone.

And go to an NA and AA meeting. You can find local meetings at www.aa.org and www.na.org

One day at a time.

Any ideas on how to beat opiate addiction at home?

I have a horrible problem. I started taking opiate drugs (such as Vicodin and Percocets) about 4 years ago for pain. I always had legitimate prescriptions. I would take them on and off but always atleast a few weeks out of every month. I think at that point I was mentally addicted but not physically. I have horrible kidney stones and I am always passing them. I have pain constantly now. My doctor says that when a person passes so many kidney stones, that the pain receptor gets turned on and doesn't turn off again. Anyway, in September I was hosptalized for a surgery on my kidney. I was then put on all sorts of opiate drugs. I have been trying to taper off since then. It is the most horrible, painful thing that I have ever dealt with in my life. I think that it is worse than the kidney pain. Anyway, does anybody have any ideas of how I can beat this horrible addiction. I never imagined that I would be addicted to something..... I cry all the time and I am sad :(
I don't really want to go to a rehab. I was wondering about any home remedies...herbs?....anyway to get my opiate receptors back to normal so that I can have a natural high instead of only being happy when I am taking a pill? Please some help?


Ok... I don't tell you my entire story but you need to know that I'm 40, had a neuralgia that made doctors to prescribe me strong narcotics since I was 29.

So, I have taken morphine, hydromorphone for near 10 years constantly. Last year, a neurosurgery (cutting a branch of the trigeminal nerve) made me near-free of pain. But, I was physically and mentally addict to narcotics. 1-2 years ago, I need to inject (not IV, subcutaneous only) me 8-10 mg of Dilaudid (hydromorphone) a day. It's equivalent to near 500 mg of oral morphine a day.

My opinion ?

You could make it cold turkey (that was my first choice) BUT see a doctor that is competent first. It's not the question if your "a real tough guy" or if you can do it, it's you life... Yes, some can do it cold turkey, but some have heart failure too !!!

I was against taking methadone but a doctor that REALLY know how to treat with methadone convince me to try. It's not like in movies - you know, taking the methadone at the drugstore and PAF feel good for all the day. It's tough too. Adjusting the dose, then reducing constantly and slowly the dose. But I had not suffer from physical pain like when I tried cold turkey. But in this case, you have to decided solely to stop narcotics. Methadone don't do this for you...

And after +/- 1 year: methadone was stoped. Not taking it anymore, and no need to take other narcotics too. This time, there was a good ending. With the aid of methadone for me. Truly hope something will work for you !!!

And by the way, reducing the dose of my hydromorphone before trying to stop with methadone was desastrous. Maybe cold turkey, but not the "slowly stop" method. I think it's the "never stop" method !!!

Would someone that has recovered from opiate addiction be willing to email someone who needs support?

Would someone that has recovered from opiate addiction be willing to email someone who needs support?


Actually there is no black and white to what constitutes the amount of support that someone else needs.

Maybe this person already goes to NA meetings but is looking for a little help in their online world as well.

http://www.whatwinnersdo.com is my personal addiction recovery site. I am recovering from an opiate addiction. Please feel free to use this as support.


bOpiate Addiction/b Symptoms and Signs

Opiate addiction is an insidious problem that has plagued society for centuries, but perhaps never more so than today. A two-edged sword, opiates can heal or destroy.

An opiate is any drug derived from the opium poppy plant. The main opiates are morphine, heroin, and codeine. Thebaine and papaverine are also opiates. More commonly we see opiates in their synthetic forms: oxycodone (OxyContin, Percodan), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and hydromorphone (Dilaudid). Darvon, Demerol, and Methadone are other synthetic opiates. The majority of these drugs are used medically for pain management.

Opiates are particularly effective in suppressing pain and reducing anxiety. In sufficiently high doses, they can produce a euphoric state. For this reason, they are often used as recreational drugs. Psychological and physical dependence leading to addiction is common in frequent opiate users. The body quickly adjusts to the use of opiates such that increasingly larger doses are needed to produce the same euphoric effect. Overdosing, sometimes resulting in fatal respiratory failure, occurs when addicts take more than their body can handle.

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Read more...

Detox From bOpiate Addiction/b Is Vital To Your Long Term Recovery

Opiate recovery cant happen without opiate detox. Opiate addiction is a physiological disease, and opiate treatment must begin with physiological healing. The doctors and therapists at opiate detox facilities are specially trained to help patients overcome the bonds of opiate abuse without suffering along the way. In the end, its hard to imagine that any consideration could ever possibly be more important than that one. There are plenty of opiate treatment centers in Los Angeles. Unfortunate

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