Beating opiates with a slow taper.

[Deliriumsetsn]

Yeh I want to be rid of these things for good. Slow but sure. That's my plan. As I have said, as long as I don't take more than where I'm at in my taper I will consider the day a success. Nothing over 45 a day is where I'm at. And even tho my body is telling me one more today won't hurt, no one but me will even know, my mind isn't listening. There has to be some sort of will power when walking through this. Yes it is very hard to take smaller doses, but I am so determined to do it. I am tired of being a slave to these lil bitty pills. I'm tired if something so small running my entire life. I can't go out of town for the weekend without making sure I have enough pills. Any and every thing I do revolves around having enough doses to not be sick. I'm sick of it.

 

[Blazinlow1588]

That was a very informative response toothpaste! You covered quite a lot!

Gabapentin and lyrica are life savers for opiate wds. I quit a very very large H habit once with gabapentin and experienced very minor discomfort. Just be careful with the benzos delirium as Gabapentin and lyrica can potentiate them quite a bit.

 

[Deliriumsetsn]

Thanks for the info, I am quite naive about benzo's. I do know, however, that I will only b taking benzo's to sleep. I forgot to mention I also have a full script of somas. I plan to alternate between those (a half of a pill knocks me out) and the benzo's I have tucked back. That way I don't form another habit with either of the them. I think I have plenty to be fine. Full script of somas, full script of neurotic, about 7 1mg klonopin and 2 5 mg valium.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Soma's are very useful if one isn't tolerant to them or benzos, so they'll be a big help regarding sleep and likely RLS as well. Be careful mixing them with other drugs though, especially alcohol and benzos. If a benzo or soma alone don't work well enough for you at low doses, try combining them (at low doses - e.g. 0.5mg clonazepam and 350mg carisoprodol) and that should def do the trick. Alternating nights between benzos and somas when you really need to take something is a fantastic idea. Just keep in mind cross tolerance can be an issue, so you don't want to be taking either of them daily or at high doses for too long.

BTW Deliriumsetsn, we're proud of you! Keep up the good work.

 

[Purfectlycrazy92]

Plans and reality are two different things, some people can't taper w/o slipping while others can. So if you think you can, then do it!! Though don't taper to fast or you mine as well just go cold turkey.

 

[Deliriumsetsn]

Yes it is very hard. I am finding that making drops is getting harder. My body likes 20mg at a time and the 2 15mg doses at lunch and dinner were getting me by after having a morning dose of 20 to get my day started, but when I had to drop it down again I wimped out and ended up taking more than where I was down to that day. So now yesterday I took two doses at 20mg, one when I woke up, and one halfway thru the day. I found that to b much more comfortable. I find I can go a lil longer between doses easier than taking a smaller dose more frequently.

As I have said, I am determined to knock this thing, even if takes me till next year to do it. Slips will happen along the way. As long as when they happen I immediately correct and try harder the next time I feel like this will all b ok.

I am hopeful that one day someone else struggling will come across my thread and decide they aren't the devil for making a mistake. It happens to the best of us. And if I succeed it will hopefully give hope to those who feel like they aren't gonna b able to do it.

Also, my other big obstacle is dealing with life lol. As I have said b4, it seems like the devil jumps on my back in any way he can. My kids are extra bad, my job is extra stressful, my finances are extra low. That is where I find the most difficulty. Dealing with life.

 

[Deliriumsetsn]

Well I am still here, 40 mgs a day. I can't seem to make myself take another drop. I am at half of the mg per day I was at, and with that I find hope and encouragement. Everyone seems convinced that people can't taper without slips. And not just on this site, but everywhere. And I get it. I understand why people think it's impossible. It is so hard. I know I am just dragging this thing out and making myself suffer a lil less but for a lot longer. So I am setting a date and dropping again. I seem to have the best luck with drops when I do them on a Monday. So Monday I will drop down to 35mg.

 

[Jabberwocky]

You are right, we don't hear about this being successful very often. I think part of that has to do with, when it is successful, you don't really hear much from these people. It's like how people in AA are very vocal about how much the program has helped and worked for them, whereas you don't hear as much (in and out of AA) from people for whom it hasn't worked out well.

It's great this is working for you. For me, the hardest part of tapering always was not wanting to give up how good I feel at the dose I was at, thus making me procrastinate reducing my dose bit by bit, which is what tapering is all about after all. In other words, tapering always was in my head when done right. At least until the end and when I jumped off, the physical symptoms of withdrawal where easily manageable.

I hope that this is the solution to your present struggle.

 

[What was it?]

I am also tapering at the moment. Unfortunately I am at a higher dose. When things run out I will cold-turkey. Today my dose was 16mg hydromorphone insufflated and 8mg oral. Tomorrow i will drop it straight down to 8mg insufflated, then 4mg, then nothing but a lot of pregabalin to help with the withdrawal. I take anywhere from 450mg a day to 900mg a day. But i have a tolerance for that too so if anybody tried is 'slowly does it'.