Opioids How bad is opiate withdrawal ?

[ColtDan]

thank fuck ive never been addicted to anything to have to go through withdrawl. the guy is obviously talking shit. i cant begin to imagine how bad it is

 

[Mystery Brew]

opiate w/d is fucking hell

feeling cold? put on a blanket, fucking dammit im sweating water falls. now im cold

that electric shock that goes thru your skin.

the depression that tears your soul apart.

restless legs making me spaz the fuck out at night. randomly swing my arms and legs

just the general " I feel like shit" motion

 

[ColtDan]

can going cold turkey kill you like booze can?

 

[Eight0Eight]

No.

It can make you feel like you want to die - but it won't actually kill you.

 

[theartofwar]

I've never robbed anything/anyone for gear or money for gear.

Or sold my body.

Thank fuck.

I always had a plan a/b/c for my next hit.

Plan "c" was always Subutex.

I have never harmed any person picking up a script or w/e. But I did run with two kids that had a source inside the pharmacy that would tell them when they run scripts for OCs / everything else, and they were full blown for it ... rob anyone anytime, personally I couldn't deal with living with that. My methadome w/d is exactly the same , I planned it, saw plan A kinda slide apart feeling so shitty, went to B and b is holding... plan C for me would be being admitted to a hospital and just monitoring everything and accepting that it's just a matter of time now... sometimes the alone part of withdrawals is what kills me (why I lurked for nearly 4-5 years and only now started posting).

 

[deltron]

this so called 'doctor' is a well known quack in the uk,he just likes to court controversy to sell his wares.He's been interviewed several times on the radio and every other professional has disagreed with him.

 

[synchrojet]

Can cold turkey opioid WD's kill, the guy asked. The answer is yes. It's rare, but it does happen. Probably the single most dangerous myth circulating in jails right now is that opioid withdrawals are never fatal. I've personally witnessed a death from high dose opioid WD's in jail, and have heard similar stories time and again.

Even a cursory search online will produce a few cases of deaths from opioid withdrawals while incarcerated.

Opioid WD's are generally non fatal, but in no way are real WD's similar to the flu. Not for me at least. I withdrew from high dose Opana while jailed and lost 45lbs. You call that flu-ish?

I know it's an individual thing, but some people have very severe withdrawals from opioids.

The sobering thought is that people will treat a stray dog better than a withdrawing prisoner.

 

[leigh12]

lol a friend last nite said to me on msn that she WANTED to go through opiate withdrawels
just to KNOW how bad they can be

i said errrrrr no

 

[ESRoll]

I was on oxycodone for a little over 6 months after shattering my femur. I stopped needing pain killers after about 4 months but I continued to take them and I also increased the dose. I almost took as much as I had access to. I have been through 150mg in day a couple times.

After that I had lost all hope of living.

 

[Oppyandme]

im on Day 1 of w/d. Ya, my body hurts, ya walking seems like a pain in the ass, and yes i can deal with all the physical effects of opiod w/d. What is so fuckin hard for me to deal with, is the weeks of depression and anxiety i get after stopping. I NEVER got anxiety or depression in my life until i started my 1 year love affair with OC's. Sometimes, I will just randomly cry. It pains me everyday that i have to hide this from my family and friends.

 

[JustaChippa]

im on Day 1 of w/d. Ya, my body hurts, ya walking seems like a pain in the ass, and yes i can deal with all the physical effects of opiod w/d. What is so fuckin hard for me to deal with, is the weeks of depression and anxiety i get after stopping. I NEVER got anxiety or depression in my life until i started my 1 year love affair with OC's. Sometimes, I will just randomly cry. It pains me everyday that i have to hide this from my family and friends.

The w/ds do suck, and I'm sorry you are going through this, but you will be really gald you did! What is your plan, once the worst of the physical part has subsided, to combat the depression and live your life? It's not for everybody, but have you considered NA/AA? The 12-step programs have helped many a recovering addict to stay clean. It may not be the answer for you, but perhaps it is worth looking into.

I know what you mean about hiding it from everyone. When I went through my own last year, I felt that I could not tell a soul, so I suffered "alone". (I put the word "alone" in quote marks because I have a close relationship with God, and I definitely knew He was there for me.) I had to feign a normal "illness" , and the mood swings, I was able to blame on being stressed and homesick from the move I had just made, (1000 miles from my previous home state to my current one.) I had no transportation, knew not a single soul, and was too sick to try and figure out a way to get to a doctor or hospital or 12-step meeting; heck, I was too strung out even to spend time online searching for a helpful forum such as this, so I white-knuckled it and just got through it. And, I have been grateful for ever clean day I have had since August 17, 2008. About a month after going c/t, I started a new job, and that helped alleviate the depression and boredom and lethargy even more than I could have ever believed at the time. Plus, I began to read everything I could about opiate addiction, withdrawal, and recovery, and educated myself for the inevitable relapses and other moments of weakness. I like to know my enemies intimately.

You can PM me if you want any advice or if you just want to rage.

You can get through this and be a stronger person for it.

 

[woamotive]

Opiate w/d is a bitch. If it was not, then I would have stopped a long time ago. Each day I say it's the day I WON'T take anything. Somehow, I do. What am I supposed to do with the shit that I have? Flush it? With all the money I waste I convince myself I better use it and it's my punishment to deal with it. Opiates steal your soul. Enough is never enough. My body works like a robot-my mind has been numbed. My memory is horrendous as a result. Upon w/d everything intensifies-muscle aches, my anxiety, headaches that are debilitating, night sweats (enough to make me want to use again), I'm very very irritable. My nose starts running immediately. That seems to be the first thing to happen. Does anyone else find it SHOCKING who quickly the body begins to slip into withdrawal mode? I took opiates yesterday morning and feel icky already. 24 hours later.

 

[Cyb]

Opiate withdrawal is bad enough that I, at age 22, have more come to terms with being on bupe for the rest of my life, than I did with any hint at going through withdrawals / truely becomming clean.

Sweet, ''eternal'' condemnation.

 

[KnowBudz]

It is insidious, and the psychological effects hammer you for a long time before the real physical symptoms kick in. When you get right down to it, your personal comfort zone is the name of the game. Once the withdrawals begin, we find ourselves willing to do almost anything for relief.

I have a personal story to share: I've been on Suboxone over two years and suddenly discovered towards the end of last week that I was running low. Thinking that my appt was this past Monday (the usual four weeks had passed), I simply short-dosed myself to stretch my meds, taking the last tab Sunday.

Monday, I discovered the appt was with my internist, and that the Suboxone appt was a week away. I had never been in this predicament, so I phoned the doc's office, explained the situation without making up a story (this being left on voicemail). Truth be told, I *should* have had enough pills to last a couple mopre days, and I do not know if I was shorted, ripped off, etc. I was honest about it and left for my other appointments thinking things would work out.

Later, I checked at the drug store and they had heard nothing. They are good people and faxed a request and phoned the doctor's office.. In the meantime, I got VERY jittery, thinking myself into withdrawal. I called twice more, and the person I spoke to, when she asked what medication I was out of, become caustic when I said suboxone. I suppose callers with all kinds of "lost meds" stories are routine. Finally, someone called telling me I *should* have meds, sighed and told me to come at 3PM the next day and they would "work me in".

To make a long story short, I spent a day or two in hell and came dangerously close to losing over 15yrs without booze, I was that desperate. Instead of a simple call to order a refill, I was forced to drive 60+mi in withdrawal, submit to an observed drug screen (observed by a member of the opposite sex, no less), sit through a pressure-speech about going to an inpatient rehab in another state, yada, yada.

You can never win!

 

[traumaissexy]

There's a psychiatrist my boyfriend used to see and he says that he's literally witnessed doctors, when going into "code blue" (or whatever), take an opiate addicts chart who's going through severe withdrawls, and switch all of the information, so it seems that the addict HADN'T died from opiate withdrawals.

yes, it is pretty rare to actually die from withdrawals itself, but people in poor physical condition already who are going through withdrawals certainly can do so from.

I have anemia and stomach ulcers, and when i was on opis at first my withdrawals werent to extreme, i could handle. but after a year on and off of use, my withdrawals would get so bad i would contemplate going to the ER. and i'm one to NEVER do that. It would feel as if my lungs were going to collapse. My breathing would get so fucked up. Along with all the other bullshit, not being able to sit still, completley sore and uncomfortable, can't eat, can't sleep, can't stop being hot and cold at the same time, depression, anxiety, everything evil hahah.

seriously, it's not fun in any way. And there's no cure but to ride it out, or feed your dopamine.

 

[synchrojet]

BTW - I know this is an old thread, but I'm attempting to spread the news about the efficacy of LYRICA for opioid withdrawals. I've detailed it in multiple posts so I won't expound here except to say that for me (and many other addicts I've talked with) LYRICA is the single most effective non-narcotic treatment. Long story short: It completely eliminated all WD symptoms from QTing a moderate oxycodone habit.

Definitely worth trying if you haven't.

 

[Lizzie]

I have dealt with a wide variety of health problems, many of which resulted in miserable symptoms; however, opiate/opiod withdrawal is hands-down the most miserable feeling I have ever experienced. On each occasion that I suffered this I contemplated suicide, looking up at the rafters in my den and imagining myself dangling, finally relieved from the depression, restless legs, muscle cramps, intense back pain, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, cold sweats, and the sense that time is simply standing still. So NO! Opiate withdrawal is about a million times worse than "mild discomfort". Thankfully I am on methadone now and have a relatively normal and happy life. It is people like this physician, lacking basic human compassion, who skew the truth about the hell that addicts often live in.

 

[CaseFace]

No.

It can make you feel like you want to die - but it won't actually kill you.

In certain situations, when left untreated heroin withdrawal can kill.

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=458614

Though that is very rare, and only happens when there is extenuating circumstances.


Withdrawal BLOWS, yet notice how we ALL new it would happen and chose to use anyway. That really says something..

Within a few days im going to be going through detox for the second time, this time with suboxone. God i wish i had stuck it out 19 months ago when i was on my 4th day off heroin..

 

[axe battler]

I know it fucking sucks at the time, but isn't it a RIDE!

I look at it as paying for a good time -- and boy do you fucking pay!

 

[bben]

im always depressed so i guess the depression was a bit worse. I felt colder alot too. That was it though, no blood pressure issues or anything like that. Tiny habbit though.