Does/Can Lithium help with opioid withdrawal?

[Sasha88]

Hi all!
Happy Friday!!

So my DOC is oxycodone. I've taken it for years and do anywhere from 80mg - 120+mg a day. I usually run out of my monthly oxycodone prescription early and have about 2 weeks with no pills ... one week of that being bad withdrawal. It totally sucks but I can never get myself to take them as prescribed.
Anyway:
I just started taking a low dose of lithium for my anxiety disorder... I started it around the time I was going through my monthly opiod withdrawal and noticed I didn't feel as badly, both emotionally and physically... I wasn't yawning as much, my restless legs were much better etc... not that i felt great, it just wasn't as bad as some months.

Does anyone know if lithium can help with certain aspects of opiod withdrawl... or did I just happen to have an easier withdrawal this month? It would sure be great if the lithium happened to have that side effect!


thanks all!
Sasha88

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey Sasha and a belated welcome to Bluelight. I just wanted to let you know that your thread has been read by someone and we're not ignoring you. There seems to be a very limited amount of legitimate information regarding Lithium's (Li in medical lit.) effects in relation to Opioid withdrawal. What I could find was research performed on mice that seemed to yield some promising results, although I wasn't totally clear on the outcome. The article is easily found through Google.

So you become dependent upon Opioids every month through two weeks of use, completely withdraw, spend a week clean and then repeat the cycle? I'm not saying I don't believe you. I just think that that must be a pretty gnarly cycle to be in. When I was heavily dependent upon Opioids, I would sometimes have to go one or maybe two days without drugs, but I would rarely have to completely withdraw. It's quite a process to go through.

You're saying that you think that the Lithium is having a positive effect on your withdrawal? I've never really heard of Lithium being used for this purpose, so if it does indeed benefit you, I'm sure there are plenty of people here on Bluelight including myself who would really like to know about it.

 

[Sasha88]

Hey Keif!
Thanks for your welcome and the response.
Yeah before I posted, I tried to find the answer about lithium and opioid w/ds on google and read the same report on mice as you did. I couldn't find anything more than that.

But yeah to confirm I *think* my last withdrawal was easier due to the lithium I started about a week before I had to withdrawal.
I didn't have terrible restless legs or the need to stretch my body (like as if my muscles were too tight).... I wasn't yawning. I still had trouble sleeping, tummy issues, and low energy but some of those other physical symptoms were lessened. Also I wasn't as depressed or anxiety ridden as I can get during withdrawal. Like I said, it's possible that I just happened to have an easier time that month and it was a coincidence.... only time will tell. ill keep tabs on myself with the lithium and how I feel the next time I go through withdrawl. If I continue to have an easier time when I withdraw, then I'll know it's due to the lithium and I'll let you guys know. How great would that be if it really did help? I hope my experience wasn't a fluke/ weird coincidence!

As far as the pills and bad, dumb withdrawal cycle I'm in- here's a little more background:
what happened was I was getting a much larger script maybe 8 months ago or so.... like 180 20mg oxycodones a month plus 20 2mg hydromorphones.... plus about 10 30mg morphines from my husband who's also a chronic pain patient, being treated by a pain doctor like me... Well, about 6 months ago or so all these new opioid laws started happening and my doses got cut pretty fast. My doc stopped prescribing the hydromorphone and cut me over a few months to 120 20mg oxycodones (at my next appt I think she's taking me to 15mg and then will leave me at that). My husband's doc switched him from regular morphine ER to embeda, so I don't take that either anymore since I can't get high on it.

Before all the dose cutting, id usually run out a few days before my next appt, like you said would happen to you.... but now that my script is the lowest it's been in years, I haven't been able to adjust to a lower daily intake so every month I go through a big withdrawal and it totally sucks. I have my tricks to make it easier but still... it's really hard. Especially with a full time job.
The faster I do them, the easier the withdrawal is of course, but usually it's 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off.
i like the feeling of being off pills and when I run out I really try to embrace those few weeks. These last several months being sober for half of the month or more has been really good. It's slowly changing how I think of pills and how much do I really want/ need them in my life. I'm almost looking forward to my doc cutting me to 15mg... almost.
But at the same time, I'm not ready to give them up yet, and when I moved across the country several years ago I never found any connections to supplement me when I run out of meds, so I'm stuck in this cycle.
This month I'm really trying to keep to my proper daily amount. I hate this cycle and would love to prove to myself that I can take them more responsibility. If I can't, I'm going to have to consider stopping going to my pain doctor and maybe going on suboxone or something... this can't go on forever. If I go off the rails, I'll be able to test out my lithium theory!! 8(

 

[Sasha88]

Hey all-
So once again I'm in oxycodone withdrawal and I swear for the second month in a row, it's not as bad as previously. The difference? Lithium. I'm now on 600mg a day and I swear my body aches and general mood are better. I sleep better too (with added medicine at night, of course... like tizanadine, clonopin, lunesta, lots of weed, nitrous, nighttime cough meds etc).... at one time even w/ all of those meds, I still couldn't stay asleep through the night. Now I've slept through the night on withdrawal days 1-3. Pretty good!
Look, it's no miracle-- I'm not thrilled to be going through this.... I don't feel amazing. I still crave them and if I could find more I'd get them right away... and I still need Imodium. I'm just saying it's not as bad as before. I feel like it's much more manageable.

Something for you all to think about. Maybe it works better at higher doses? My dose is very low... but still I think they do help.

Just wanted to share!
Sasha88

 

[Sasha88]

If anyone else is in lithium and us withdrawing from opioids, please let me know if you noticed an improvement at all in your w/d.
thanks!

 

[Mmp85]

Is the lithium for bipolar, if so that's probably why your moods are improving because you feel stable and functional.

 

[Sasha88]

Hi Mmp85!
nope it's for anxiety disorder. SSRIs don't work well for me so I'm forced to try other meds for my issue. The lithium has taken down the huge anxiety I'd get when my pills would run out, that's for sure. But it really does seem to help w the body aches and restless legs... yawning ... those things.
Interesting