Thanks to all above for the concern and support. You do seem to understand.

I'm wondering if I'm unusually drug-sensitive, or if this is just what habitual use (even at a low level) does to anyone?

Splitimage - something similar happened to me over the years I took Librium (chlordiazepoxide - a benzo.) For years, I was prescribed 10 mg capsules, and I took two of them every evening, along with amitriptyline 50 mg, to be able to fall asleep at a reasonable hour. They did help me to fall asleep, but I didn't find they had much of a mood impact, so I had no temptation to overuse them. Over the years, they seemed less and less effective at helping me to get sleepy at night, so I kind of lost interest in taking them. From time to time I ran out and didn't rush to get a refill, or rush to the MD for a new script. But I discoved something. And the exact same thing happened over and over. When I first ran out, I didn't really miss the Librium because it hadn't been doing that much for me. But, about a week and a half or 10 days after I ran out, I would get this restless sensation. It would just come on out of nowhere, and it was horrible. I now believe it was "akathisia." It would start and continue round the clock. My arms were affected and my legs and my body in general. It was like "restless leg disorder," but I felt it all over. I could not sit still. I tried alcohol. That was useless. I would fill up the tub with hot water and get in and out of it over and over. Soon as I got more Librium, I woukd take like 40 mg. Shortly thereafter, this maddening, fidgity feeling would go away. What a relief! That restless feeling could drive a person to jumping off the roof of a tall building. I learned not to run out for more than a few days - which I could tolerate fine.

It occurred to me that I was staying on this Librium just to avoid the "restless thing" I would get a week after stopping. So I weened off of it gradually and stopped taking it altogether. I don't miss it in the least.

So here I am taking just 2 or 3 doses of Vicodin (10/325) per day - everyday. I run out for 72 hours, and my life is not worth living. My pain level has never been all that great. It's more like a low level, smoldering achiness and soreness that goes away if I just do nothing and stay in my recliner all day. But, with the Vicodin, I can feel like 10 years of aging went away. The improvement in my quality of life is stunning.

Last evening, I found one stray tablet of Vicodin in a weekly med-minder box that I thought was empty. I took it with one tablet of Ritalin 20 mg (because I read that Ritalin potentiates hydrocodone.) In 2 hours the misery of the previous 3 days just melted away, and I was fine - able to cook dinner and start straightening out the apt. (For previous 2 nights, I had gotten take-out food for dinner because cooking was utterly beyond me.) I took that one tablet that an angel must have planted there, and I was right as rain. Here I am now, up early, and I still feel fine. I'm thinking this is some extreme sensitivity I have to the presence or absence of a drug in my bloodstream, once I've become habituated to even a rather modest level of use. It was true of the benzo (Librium) and is true of the opioid.

I took Seroquel some years back. That stuff made me stuperous. I couldn't walk straight on it. It did nothing good for me, but I can see where it will definitely knock you out. I wasn't looking for that degree of sedation, and I fear the adverse effects of antipsychotics - which are many and serious.

So now I'm waiting for a call to come pick up my script for 40 tablets of Vicodin. I was ahead of schedule calling, so they might wait a few days. Or they might just write it today. That's what I'm praying for. But I'l probably be fine for much of today, just from that one pill I found last eve.

I would never, ever tell any doctor/provider any of this for fear of getting my supply cut off. In a week, my bf will get his refill of Vicodin, and I will be safe and secure. I have zero intention of ever trying to stop taking hydrocodone. It just makes my life so much better. But I fear the govt stopping doctors from giving it to people like me, as I believe is the case in Europe.