Order To Quit Polydrug Habit

[HaphazardlyNContrl]

I'm new hear so I'm sorry if this is a repeat thread(I tried finding one similar). I'm interested in knowing what other people's experience is with the cessation of multiple concurrent addictions and the order/method that worked best/worst for you. I'm a strong believer in replacement therapy if done with the right drugs and a fair amount of dicipline and feel that this is in the same vein as what I'm referring to with polydrug addiction as far as the order in which to switch from drug to drug. One example could be someone coming off of a meth habit with a once daily low dose amphetamine pill regimen. For polydrug addiction, things seem more complicated but I would think that quitting the drugs with shorter half-lives first, allowing the longer half-live drugs to provide you stability during the acute withdrawal phase of the shorter ones would be the best bet(unless they're GABAnergic drugs obviously as you wouldn't wanna die haha). Just a hypothesis. I'd appreciate your anecdotal input. THANKS!

 

[Felonious Monk]

It depends on what drugs you're addicted to.

Replacement therapy isn't really a thing with most classes of drugs, only opiates. Drugs like amphetamines are better to just come off with comfort meds like benzos, etc. Using amp to come off meth is silly, especially since I think meth has a longer half-life anyway lol.

 

[HaphazardlyNContrl]

Agreed I was saying more so just the fact that it would be a pre measured low dose rather than say a bag of meth just as a transition.. haha I'm with you though that was a bad example. I'm referring to replacement as you mentioned with the benzos(which are a good candidate for replacement of many addictions as anxiety is so common in all withdrawal) and not only replacing with a drug of the same class. It all depends on which drugs are involved for sure, cause I'm all too familiar with opiates and how almost nothing but an opiate will do dick to help

 

[Felonious Monk]

I didn't say benzos were a good replacement. In fact, I think they're an insidious class and you really shouldn't use them longer than 2 weeks, just like the FDA recommends. That's why I said "come off with comfort meds like benzos."

With opiates as well, for many people getting off is a reasonable option, and there are plenty of non-opiate medications which can help with w/d. Cannabis, Lyrica/gabapentin, benzos/barbituates, clonidine, beta blockers, supplements, etc.

 

[HaphazardlyNContrl]

Short term of course but I was agreeing, just didn't say "comfort meds" because that to me is a pretty misleading term when in fact all drugs can be comfort meds. It implys safety or a lower negative physiological impact than other drugs to me but at any rate it definitely should only be used short term. After all, isnt that the whole point of quitting in the first place?? Haha