How do addicts get through cold turkey

[Xorkoth]

I have cold turkeyed a number of times. The first times, I was forced to (couldn't get more). The last few times I just decided it was more important to be sober than to alleviate this horrible feeling.

It's really hard. You have to make sure you don't have any laying around. But of course you probably know how to get it, so that's going to be a big challenge. Your brain tries to rationalize doing it "just once more" over and over and over again. Despite the physical part being awful, the mental game is the hardest part.

 

[Aeon Psyche]

Depends where you are mate tbh. If you're in UK/Europe then its likely to be #3 - especially if it needs acidifying to dissolve for IV.

#3 is nowhere near as effective intranasally as it is smoked or IVd.

#4 doesn't smoke well but can be snorted and IVd without acidifying


However, I've just noted in another thread your query about novel opioids. Seems like loperamide wasnt quite as effective in curing your addiction as you claim... w

Yes, europe stuff. Good guess. I've IV'd but it was just as slow coming up without a rush. And I did do it right. I've smoked it on foil too as all my friends did and reccomended it but I just feel nicer, doing a few lines...I've smoked morphine from foil aswell but wasn't as impressed as when I took that pill back in the day. But what are you on about? Loperamide is like a miracle cure for me and I never had any opiate withdrawl problems in my life ever anymore.

So where do you claim that I contradict myself? I have no tolerance currently. But I enjoy or find purpose in using the right opiates now and then. I have no addiction whatsoever, physically. I am mentally strong enough to stay away from what I don't really need.

What exactly would you acidify with,?

 

[G_Chem]

I’ve cold turkey’d off heroin and oxy more times than I can count.. When I was young I lived for today and had zero care what tomorrow was about, this lead to lots of instances where I ran out and once it really sets in I wasn’t able to even get up to go get more if I had the money.

If it’s actually heroin, the withdrawal isn’t too too bad compared to more synthetic opiates. I found oxy withdrawals were horrid.

My suggestions... Lots of hot showers. Cannabis. And if you can get it, a fast taper on Suboxone is the best way to skim over the physical withdrawals.

I eventually learned to do fast tapers and that really saved my ass. I’d usually wait 24-36 hours after last dose then take small insufflated bumps of suboxone until I got to a place where I felt ok.

Then over the next 3 days taper off the Suboxone. For some reason it negates the full agonist WD without causing one of its own.

That said it does jack shit for cravings and your desire to use will be as strong as ever once the taper ends.

-GC

 

[nznity]

Does booze and benzos help?

yes,To some extent. Alcohol helps with the pain AND the shivers, although when ur hungover ur gonna feel shittier. Benzos help with the insomnia AND to relax the muscles.

 

[ghostandthedarknes]

I need some tips, I wanna come off heroin cold turkey, no comfort meds

pray to God honestly

 

[nznity]

pray to God honestly

Been there,done that xd

 

[Jopeth]

One of the best therapeutic tricks I found was to find a way to completely hang or stretch my body, especially my legs. It was as if when my legs were stretching they couldn't feel restless. Do that for relief one minute at a time. Relief is relief. I don't recommend alcohol until after day five or so when you NEED some sleep. It wont be good sleep, but a couple hours of passed out drunkeness is better than going insane in my opinion. However, once you get that bit of rest for a couple days stop drinking, or youll risk just switching addictions to alcohol (which im sure most of us "ex addicts" know all to well.)

So stretch, hot showers often, and another friend recommends jump rope. Yep if you can muster it, do as much jump rope as possible, with the mindset being to just totally tire yourself out, and help release some natural dopamine. Also a good bj from the gf can lift your spirits if your not puking and throwing up. (which is interesting. Even off 80mgs oxymorphone plus 90mg oxycodone daily I never got nauseas or threw up during withdraw. )

IMO the best thing I did for my cold turkey withdraw from suboxone was to go 100% sober for the first three or four days, then when you do get some cannabis or benzo type relief, it is even more amazing.

(y) It sucks op, but if you do it right, you only gotta do it once.

 

[Aeon Psyche]

Depends where you are mate tbh. If you're in UK/Europe then its likely to be #3 - especially if it needs acidifying to dissolve for IV.

#3 is nowhere near as effective intranasally as it is smoked or IVd.

#4 doesn't smoke well but can be snorted and IVd without acidifying


However, I've just noted in another thread your query about novel opioids. Seems like loperamide wasnt quite as effective in curing your addiction as you claim... w

Yes, europe stuff. Good guess. I've IV'd but it was just as slow coming up without a rush. And I did do it right. I've smoked it on foil too as all my friends did and reccomended it but I just feel nicer, doing a few lines...I've smoked morphine from foil aswell but wasn't as impressed as when I took that pill back in the day. But what are you on about? Loperamide is like a miracle cure for me and I never had any opiate withdrawl problems in my life ever anymore.

So where do you claim that I contradict myself? I have no tolerance currently. But I enjoy or find purpose in using the right opiates now and then. I have no addiction whatsoever, physically. I am mentally strong enough to stay away from what I don't really need.

What exactly would you acidify with? I never used lemon juice because i heard it fucks up your veins...

 

[sekio]

Lemon juice is a good way to introduce fungal spores to places like the lining of your heart. A very bad idea indeed.

The harm reduction facilities where I am give out single serving packets containing 100 mg each of pure ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Ir's not a super strong acid, but you don't have to use much at all. People use it mostly to dissolve freebase cocaine here though, as we don't get #3 where I'm from.

Funnily enough the people I knew who smoked opioids all had no problems smoking #4... it was almost always cut with caffeine though, maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[draculic acid69]

Lemon juice is a good way to introduce fungal spores to places like the lining of your heart. A very bad idea indeed.

The harm reduction facilities where I am give out single serving packets containing 100 mg each of pure ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Ir's not a super strong acid, but you don't have to use much at all. People use it mostly to dissolve freebase cocaine here though, as we don't get #3 where I'm from.

Funnily enough the people I knew who smoked opioids all had no problems smoking #4... it was almost always cut with caffeine though, maybe that had something to do with it.

Its all smokeable as long as no sugars are in there.1g sugar will ruin an ounce of gear and if smoked it causes throbbing migraines.caffeine,salt,corn floura are all fine to smoke.flour is harsh but bearable.salt won't burn but it's not great to have in there.caffeine is fine to smoke

 

[Ganjcat]

One of the best therapeutic tricks I found was to find a way to completely hang or stretch my body, especially my legs. It was as if when my legs were stretching they couldn't feel restless. Do that for relief one minute at a time. Relief is relief. I don't recommend alcohol until after day five or so when you NEED some sleep. It wont be good sleep, but a couple hours of passed out drunkeness is better than going insane in my opinion. However, once you get that bit of rest for a couple days stop drinking, or youll risk just switching addictions to alcohol (which im sure most of us "ex addicts" know all to well.)

So stretch, hot showers often, and another friend recommends jump rope. Yep if you can muster it, do as much jump rope as possible, with the mindset being to just totally tire yourself out, and help release some natural dopamine. Also a good bj from the gf can lift your spirits if your not puking and throwing up. (which is interesting. Even off 80mgs oxymorphone plus 90mg oxycodone daily I never got nauseas or threw up during withdraw. )

IMO the best thing I did for my cold turkey withdraw from suboxone was to go 100% sober for the first three or four days, then when you do get some cannabis or benzo type relief, it is even more amazing.

(y) It sucks op, but if you do it right, you only gotta do it once.

best and most inspiring answer thanks it's mostly boredom I can go hours being normal then all of a sudden I turn into fiend mode

 

[Xorkoth]

In my experience alcohol really doesn't help... it very briefly does and then it makes the restlessness worse and you feel overall shittier. Benzos definitely help with the anxiety and you can successfully sleep on them which is HUGE... but be very careful as benzo withdrawal is worse than opiate withdrawal. Diphenhydramine or any first generation antihistamine also helps, but don't take more than two doses at any given time because it can make the body feelings worse once the dose pushes up.

The best thing I have found is gabapentin... taking some gabapentin will do a lot for making you feel better, it helps basically all of the symptoms quite a bit.

 

[Juniper Bruhmomentius]

I powered through simultaneous pregabalin and benzo withdrawals, which I had taken for 4 years in max doses. Dedication.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I've found that high dose pregabalin can dramatically reduce symptoms, but after about a week I felt such a mess from it I was glad to get back on the opies.

Self medicating with substitutes when not in a structured, medically prescribed and supervised regimen is doomed to failure ime. At best it delays the inevitable, at worst it prolongs the hell.

But that's me though. I'm a fuckin pussy when it comes to withdrawals and crack like an egg at the earliest opportunity.

The longest I've gone cold turkey was 10 days, and I only achieved that because I was working away from home with no chance of a score. My workmates thought I had flu. I thought I was in hell. But keeping active is key, however hard it seems. If you succumb to the malaise and just lie in bed feeling miserable, it's much worse.

I would guess that 70 - 80% of physical withdrawal symptoms are psychological in origin. This is why you can feel like absolute death when waiting for your dealer, but when he arrives and you've got the shit, you suddenly feel loads better before you even take it.

Much of it is down to mind over matter and the will to resist, which is doable in the early days - but when your resolve has been destroyed through years of abuse, it's a different ball game entirely.

 

[Gloomp]

I used carbamazepine and small doses of klonopin, eventually tapering off the klonie. Honestly though, if you are looking to go cold turkey or just taper off, there are psychiatric facilities where they will personally detox you. Go to the ER and tell them you were looking to kill yourself and you're prolly gonna do it cause of the pain. They now have a legal obligation to certify you against your will to a psyche-ward. While there, they'll monitor your vitals and dispense med's as needed.

At least that's how it works in New England. If you dont wanna seek professional treatment, then just dont get off the drug. That means you're not serious enough to get off the drug. Because you will most likely lose.

 

[Nagelfar]

No, if done correct, it heals and cures your whole addiction. If you stay psychologically addicted, that's a different story.

Some call B.S. but I honestly have to second it. When I had a full on lope habit I knew it took two hours to peak effect, but 200mg or so would be better than two bags of heroin. But again, if you can't wait the two hours for it to overwhelm the blood-brain barrier, you'll think it isn't working and wind up falling back on the other in the meantime.

 

[Jopeth]

off topic: why are they called first generation antihistamines?

Theres ways to detox in a manner that are less excruciating, but you gotta pay the piper sometime. Imo once you are prepared as best as can be, rip the bandaid off.

 

[draculic acid69]

Apparently catapres also helps alleviate wds.in combo with Lyrica and clonazepam it will probably help even more

 

[BeachBum4u]

Some call B.S. but I honestly have to second it. When I had a full on lope habit I knew it took two hours to peak effect, but 200mg or so would be better than two bags of heroin. But again, if you can't wait the two hours for it to overwhelm the blood-brain barrier, you'll think it isn't working and wind up falling back on the other in the meantime.

200mg of Lope, that's fucking nutz! IME nowhere near that much is necessary and these days the stores are starting to catch on. The packaging is a major pain in the ass for starters and around here they've raised the prices by 2 - 4x. My guess is that eventually it will be handled the same way as pseudoephedrine where you'll have to sign for it etc. Fun times eh? We'll see where it goes and I pray my script will last the whole month and not 2 weeks like last time. Best of Luck everyone!

 

[G_Chem]

I used carbamazepine and small doses of klonopin, eventually tapering off the klonie. Honestly though, if you are looking to go cold turkey or just taper off, there are psychiatric facilities where they will personally detox you. Go to the ER and tell them you were looking to kill yourself and you're prolly gonna do it cause of the pain. They now have a legal obligation to certify you against your will to a psyche-ward. While there, they'll monitor your vitals and dispense med's as needed.

At least that's how it works in New England. If you dont wanna seek professional treatment, then just dont get off the drug. That means you're not serious enough to get off the drug. Because you will most likely lose.

This is horrible advice on so many levels. Taxing a healthcare system in a way that they shouldn’t be, especially in a time like this. (ER is the last place to go if you simply are ready to stop using a drug unless the symptoms become life threatening.)

Also a psychiatric facility isn’t really trained well to help some in recovery. The medications they could give would be forced and some of them are straight up nasty. We have multiple people in here who got sent there for drug addiction and got the Invega shot, now they can’t feel feelings. Sounds fun.

Have you actually done this yourself? Or you just spitballing ideas here?

Remember too the NE US has dealt strongly with the opioid epidemic and much better understand the need to treat such issues. Imagine someone following this advice in some of the Southern or Western states?

-GC