I have just finished reading a book called Romancing Opiates by Dr Theodore Dalrymple in which he claims that withdrawal from opiates including heroin is no more than a minor discomfort.
Doctor Dalrymple has worked in what he describes as a slum area and the prison service and has a lot of experience with drug addicts.
According to the doctor addicts greatly exaggerate the suffering of withdrawal to con doctors into prescribing opiates.
But the book contains contradictions as it also describes the desperate measures some addicts will go to get a fix. Why are they so compelled if withdrawal is such a minor thing to endure.
Never having been addicted to opiates I cannot make a judgment about the accuracy of the book.
I would be interested in the views of people who have been through opiate withdrawal - has the doctor got it right or is he wrong?
W/D from Subutex was absolute hell. The worst of it lasted nearly 3 weeks.
I suffered from SEVERE depression, anger, lethergy, body pains, horrible restless legs, difficulty sleeping, feelings of hopelessness, flu like symptoms, although, I did not have much GI problems. I thought it would never end. I punched an end table during the worst of my w/d, breaking the legs of the table. This was the worst I have ever felt in my 23 years of life, worse than any flu, or stept throat, or even when I had Scarlet Fever.
all in all. BEWARE. The mix of the psychological torture and physical torture of opiate w/d is terrible, and I made it through. It was very very difficult. Goodluck, and I sympathize with anyone going through w/d. Take care.
I find the withdrawal syndrome from Buprenorphine to be the worst I've encountered. The kappa agonism of Bupe is my best guess why this is. Depending on your current mental state and history of any mental illness or social/physiological problems (depression, anxiety, agorophobia, suicidal ideation, etc) Buprenorphine will seriously fuck you up.
It certainly doesn't help to go through the literature and find doctor after doctor, study after study all saying, "There is no significant withdrawal syndrome to Buprenorphine abstinence". Then come the individual reports of people having it very rough. New drug application, unknown problems.
I'm withdrawing from opiates as I type....
By the end of a 2 year binge, i was taking 12 lortab tens a day (I preferred the speedball affect of hydrocodone over the sedating affect of oxys and heroin....because I had a full time job; on my feet all day)
Then I began taking 2-6 mg suboxone per day to quit the tabs, now I'm coming off those.
In the past 2 weeks: Chill bumps that would last for hours, puking, insomnia, ears ringing, cold sweats, muscle spasms, panic attacks .....the first one made me think i was going to have a heart attack, my arms and legs were tingling and numb, and i couldn't move them and my heart was about to explode.
Think twice before you get addicted to these.
fentanyl wd > oxycodone wd > herion wd (morphine)
You know, I think Fentanyl is probably the only pain medication I have never tried.. Is it completely different from oxy and hydrocodone?? I know they come in patches so I'm assuming it's more along the lines of morphine?? anyone know a good comparison?? sorry to jump off subject but I was just wondering and I don't remember seeing a Fentanyl mega thread... of course if there is one I'm sure I'm about to get ridiculed like hell
You know, I think Fentanyl is probably the only pain medication I have never tried.. Is it completely different from oxy and hydrocodone?? I know they come in patches so I'm assuming it's more along the lines of morphine?? anyone know a good comparison?? sorry to jump off subject but I was just wondering and I don't remember seeing a Fentanyl mega thread... of course if there is one I'm sure I'm about to get ridiculed like hell
Word for Word - Amen.
Bupe is not annnnnnnnnnnyyyy easier to get off of than "bad person opiates". The fact that a doctor prescribes it, makes a ridiculous amount of money, and its FDA approved for opiate dependence, makes someone believe that it is more of a medication than anything, and, medicine isnt supposed to be as bad is it? I know it helps people to get off drugs like heroin, which are cut with all sorts of shit, and lets people live their lives instead of scoring H all day, but bupe is really not an "easy way out".
I feel for you. Do you have any clonodine or benzos? Clonodine helps with the pressure and anxiety. Maybe even a little codeine if it gets unbearable.
I remember sometimes before going through a withdrawal I would start an antidepressant bout a week beforehand. It helped greatly with the mental effects.
The methadone withdrawals are 10x worse than heroin withdrawals IME. I have never puked from being dope sick but puked like hell off of methadone WDs. When I puked up everything there was to puke the dry heaving would start. Ugh, fuck that shit.Heroin withdrawal was the worst sickness and feeling I have ever experienced. I only made it to the start of day four before I gave in. I ended up getting on methadone instead. I never want to go through that again.