Anyone Tried Rapid Detox From Opiates?

[Gkg434]

Aloha All,

I'm hoping to get some feedback from folks that have done sedated rapid opiate detox. Especially if anyone has gone to the ANR clinic in Tampa, FL.

Most of the research paints it to be risky and controversial and say it's not any more successful than tapering. But my theory is that the whole idea of rapid detox is probably the most attractive method for addicts that want a quick easy fix and maybe don't have any experience in recovery; hence they may be more likely to think that they can just have a completely normal life once they're detoxed.

Personally I've been in recovery for almost 20 years and in that time I have relapsed countless times, but I've also made progress after each relapse. But the point in sharing that is that I have worked the 12 steps so I do understand that rapid detox won't cure my addiction and the real work will start after detox.

My challenge is that I'm deathly afraid of withdrawals. I've tapered off suboxone in inpatient detoxes and rehabs many times, and no matter how slow I ween or how low of a dose I drop to, it doesn't seem to make any difference. I experience symptoms just as bad coming off of .25mg of suboxone as I do coming off of any dose of anything else.

Because of this, I've been on suboxone for the last 10 years, and every day I try to plan how I can ween down to basically nothing and I tried to convince myself that if I go slow enough there must be a way to at least minimize symptoms. I've even used butrans patches and gotten down to the 5 microgram dose but I have finally accepted that it's just not going to work. So I am strongly considering doing a rapid detox, where they sedate you for like a day and detox you. Supposedly you experience minor withdrawals, maybe comparable to the first day or 2 of detoxing. And if that's the case then I would be very willing to pay the $20,000 it costs to do it.

But I don't like relying on doctors opinions, researchers, and google reviews. I'm really hoping to hear from anyone that has actually done this before. What was it like? How sick did you get? Was there anything unique about it, besides the obvious?

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my long post. I know I'm long winded. I am incredibly grateful to anyone that can share their experience, and hopefully this is the last time I need to go through the dreaded opiate detox!

Mahalo from Maui, Hawaii!

 

[Gkg434]

Sorry if it posted this in the wrong section.. I'm one of those guys that comes on blue light regularly, but I rarely ever post anything because 99% of the time I can find the answers to my questions just by searching.

 

[Opi_Kid_Rock]

Sorry, you’re wanting to get off what opioid at what current dose? The post above I read says Subs at 0.25mg, -that’s imperceptibly small dose unless it’s a typo.

 

[Gkg434]

Sorry, you’re wanting to get off what opioid at what current dose? The post above I read says Subs at 0.25mg, -that’s imperceptibly small dose unless it’s a typo.

Hey thanks for your reply. Sorry I didn't specify that I meant buprenorphine, not actually suboxone. Right now I'm taking about 4mg/day of suboxone strips.

But previously I had weened myself down to somewhere around .25mg/day of burprenorphine by using butrans patches. I know it's a crazy low dose, and it's hard to say for sure if that's how much was actually being delivered to my body. I'm not very good at calculating doses and translating between micrograms of patches and milligrams of strips, and they really don't make it easy to understand (for me, at least; but even my Doctor seems to have trouble with the conversion calculations). On top of how confusing it is, the patch is very inconsistent.. it's noticeably stronger for the first 2-3 days. So much so, that I never wore a patch for the full 7 days, I always changed them after 3-4 days (and from what I've read this tends to be the norm; I think the 7 days is really just for marketing/sales). But I had been down to a 5 microgram per day patch. Between my Doctor and I, the best estimate we could guess was that the 5mg/day patch should have translated to somewhere around .125-.25 milligrams per day in the suboxone equivalent.

7 months ago, back in May I had gotten myself down to a 5 microgram patch and changing it every 3 days, and I believe that it was delivering approximately .25mg per day of bup on average (due to the patch being strongest on the first few days). At that point I felt like that was the lowest dose I could possibly get down to and my best chance at stopping with minimal withdrawals. So I had my wife take care of our daughter and I went to stay in my cousins airbnb for a week thinking that I was at a low enough dose that I could just stop and only have minor symptoms that I could manage. But it didn't work. I got sick and found out that it really didn't seem any better than if I had just stopped cold turkey from 8mg of suboxone. And I ended up taking a huge step back, which is why I'm back up to 4mg/day of suboxone strips now

Sorry that was about as short as I could make the story lol of course there's a lot more to the story but that tells you enough to understand how my body reacts to this stuff. Every few weeks I get so sick of being on bup that I start wanting to just go lock myself in a hotel room for a week and get it over with. And my non-addict wife says it all the time.. but I've done it enough times to know it's just not that easy. It's the same reason why people commit to a diet and say this time they're just going to stick to it and change their life bc they know how much happier they'll be.. but it's just not that easy.

Have you ever done a rapid detox? Or do you know anyone that has?

Thank you for taking the time to read my novel lol I appreciate everyone on BL!

 

[TheUltimateFixx]

The reason the rapid detox method is controversial is that it puts a great deal of stress on your body. It can precipitate cardiac arrest in some people, and it doesn't have any benefits over other methods that would warrant that kind of risk.
I'd personally rather do a medically supervised withdrawal where you're being monitored and given comfort meds. Sure you'll have to suffer through a few bad days, but it gets made as easy as possible for you since you'll get something for the sickness plus tranquilizers and painkillers.
Also keep in mind the mental aspect. If you're fretting over the prospect and telling yourself what a hellish experience it's going to be, you'll make it a lot worse.

PS since you're in the US, I recommend Gallus Medical Detox Centre. They are in several states and have an excellent reputation.

 

[Gkg434]

The reason the rapid detox method is controversial is that it puts a great deal of stress on your body. It can precipitate cardiac arrest in some people, and it doesn't have any benefits over other methods that would warrant that kind of risk.
I'd personally rather do a medically supervised withdrawal where you're being monitored and given comfort meds. Sure you'll have to suffer through a few bad days, but it gets made as easy as possible for you since you'll get something for the sickness plus tranquilizers and painkillers.
Also keep in mind the mental aspect. If you're fretting over the prospect and telling yourself what a hellish experience it's going to be, you'll make it a lot worse.

PS since you're in the US, I recommend Gallus Medical Detox Centre. They are in several states and have an excellent reputation.

Thank you so much for your response! Yeah I've done the inpatient detox maybe 6-7 times now, I lost count. So I do know that it is possible and that I can do it. But having done it so many times doesn't work in my favor, since I know how bad it will be. And I agree, that mental aspect is a huge part of it lol But I know I'm lying to myself if I say it won't be that bad this time haha I've said that soooo many times, and ever time I've detoxed, whether it be medically supervised or just at home, has been worse than the one before. I've actually done better detoxing myself at home, I've had more success that way. I think it's because when I detox at home it's usually because I'm so sick and tired that I'm willing to take whatever suffering it takes to get clean. Whereas checking myself into detox is usually more planned out and I have often lost some of my motivation once I get there.

I will say that I am very strong, fit, and medically sound. I'm 39 years old, work out daily, in very good shape, and very healthy. So if it does come to it, I think I would be a good candidate for rapid detox. I don't think I would have any immediate complications. My bigger concern would be whether there could be long lasting effects on my body that might cause health issues for me in the future.

And I also want to figure out if it really is as incredible as they make it sound. They make it seem like you have very minimal discomfort for a day or two before and after, but you basically go to sleep and then wake up with 80% of the detox over with. If that's true then I think I'm willing to pay the 20k and want to do it. It could be the difference between losing my wife and daughter, because when I'm on suboxone I am just a grumpy irritable and lazy person. I'm a million times better than being in active addiction. But I'm still only half the man I normally am without the influence of drugs.

 

[Eryximachus]

You lost track of how many times you've done inpatient detox?

You need to be in a long-term residential program, where you are there for months. These are not as easy to find, though some can probably be had for $20,000.

You're 39 bro. Believe me, you don't want to be fucking around with this shit in your late 40s. Honestly, anything mental health related gets worse at right about 40, so you need to get this under control.

 

[Gkg434]

You lost track of how many times you've done inpatient detox?

You need to be in a long-term residential program, where you are there for months. These are not as easy to find, though some can probably be had for $20,000.

You're 39 bro. Believe me, you don't want to be fucking around with this shit in your late 40s. Honestly, anything mental health related gets worse at right about 40, so you need to get this under control.

I've done a dozen long term in patient residential treatment rehabs too. Those usually start off by having me do an inpatient detox followed by 1-3 months of residential rehab.

 

[Eryximachus]

I've done a dozen long term in patient residential treatment rehabs too. Those usually start off by having me do an inpatient detox followed by 1-3 months of residential rehab.

You're going to be in the system for life if not homeless and dead young if you don't get your shit together. You're 39. I don't mean to be harsh, the problem here is you. Not sure what you think anyone can do for you on the internet.

Rapid detox isn't going to do shit. You'll get detoxed, then just start using again and be back to us saying you've gone through 13 inpatient treatments. Honestly, you probably won't even get accepted to a rapid detox spot as the probability of recidivism is near 100%.

 

[hakced]

I've heard of a thing where they give you narcan and only and you get sick as hell for a few minutes and it can rapidly start you on subs this is for the heavy fentanyl users. Because fentanyl stays in The receptors a lot longer than saying oxycodone and you have to get sick for a few days. I never believed in precipitated withdrawals until I took a sub 24 hours after coming off of fentanyl I then had to take 180 mg of oxycodone just to feel like regular crap. I heard of a rapid detox where they induce a coma and you wake up and you're better but I think it's for the rich and famous baby blood drinkers. I'm at the point now where my wife who's also on medication five 20 oxycodone a day and three 18 mg xtampza , hold on to my pills and she distributes them to me. She keeps all the pills in bag and can't leave it lying around because I'm a piece of crap and I'll take some. I'm prescribed four 30 mg oxycodone a day and three 36 mg xtampza. The xtampza works as well as a oxycotin chewed if you heat coconut oil up and drop the inside of the pill into the oil until it dissolves completely. The insurance just stopped covering them and the doctor put us both on buprenorphine patches I don't know the dosing the pharmacy just got them in today and she's picking him up on the way home from work. I don't understand how she always has enough pills at the end of the month to give me two or three days worth of her own because I always run short because I make her give me extra pills here or there with promise that I'll take less another day and again I'm a piece of crap and don't. I hate being a slave to these pills I've tried to get off them I've gotten on Suboxone one time for 2 months I was so depressed the whole time that I was not able to accomplish anything. The euphoria I get now from the pills is equal to what I used to just feel like normally before taking them is there any way to ever feel normal again without the pills. Without pills I don't want to do anything in my life revolves around this I need to go to the grocery store I got to take a pill if I don't have the pill I won't go I hate myself.

 

[Gkg434]

Thank you for sharing that openly, that was brutally honest. First and foremost: You are not a piece of crap, you are an addict. There's a big difference. Sustained drug use over time leads to physical dependency, especially with opiates, and that causes the changes in the brain. The good news is that the changes are temporary. If you can just get off drugs for at least a few months then your brain can have the chance to rebuild.

The hardest part is stopping. The first 5-6 days are the hardest because of the withdrawals, but once you get past that, like day 6-7 you wake up feeling still a little sick, but also a little bit happy, and it just gets better and better after that until you get back to normal.

Trust me bro, I've done much worse stuff than you for oxys, and I have friends that have also. The longer we do them the lower we tend to go. At one point when I was in my 20s and had no money and no way to support my habit i stole from my family! It's one of the biggest shames that I have, and I certainly felt like I was a piece of crap for that. But after spending some time in recovery I learned that a lot of other people did the same thing, and it's not because we're bad people, it's because addiction is powerful and takes control of us. It's like we are a passenger and our addiction is in control and we're just along for the ride sometimes.

 

[Gkg434]

Oh and yes, you definitely can feel normal again. Like I said once you detox from opiates and other drugs, you usually start feeling good after a week or so. Everyone's different, and some people might take a little longer. But I feel like the majority of people I know pretty close to completely normal within a few weeks or months.

 

[Generation *DMT*]

No. Opiates/opioid have never really been my thing.

 

[Eryximachus]

Oh and yes, you definitely can feel normal again. Like I said once you detox from opiates and other drugs, you usually start feeling good after a week or so. Everyone's different, and some people might take a little longer. But I feel like the majority of people I know pretty close to completely normal within a few weeks or months.

Eh, I'd say about 1 month for heroin, which is all I know. Benzos however... that took a year.