Opioids Oxy. I think I need help to stop.

[Axolotln]

Hi there.

You're asking some pretty big questions here my friend. All I can say is, the biggest journeys begin with a single step. You're not gonna conquer this shit overnight. It's gonna be a big deal and it's gonna be the most difficult thing you've ever done.

Take steps. There is a huge tendency for people, addicted, habituated, whatever you want to call it, to throw up their arms and say "I'm Done Now". Truthfully, you want the same instant relief that you've been chasing the entire time you've been using the Opioids. You're tired of the pain and you want it to end immediately. Much like the happiness and contentment that we all chase through our drugs, you will find in the end that the real objective that you seek is achieved through hard work and dedication, not through sleight of hand or some gamble.

You need to come up with a plan that makes sense for you. Are you willing to use other drugs in the service of your withdrawal? If so, let me know and we will begin to discuss the most common options available to folks.

Also, there's no need to go any faster than 1mg at a time if you're going to taper. Why do you need to do 10mg at a time? There's just no good reason for it. People are much better suited to less-intense steps. They are less noticeable, these drops, which will make your stability easier to maintain. There will be a continuity to your process in which you will find comfort and safety. You're gonna be a ship bouncing around on the waves. It's gonna seem pretty scary at times, but you can still cling to your ship.

The way you make smaller adjustments is through a process known as volumetric dosing. It's a lot more simple than it sounds. If you take a 30mg Oxycodone table and dissolve that tablet in 30ml of saline, you now have a asolution equal to 1mg per 1ml of solution. This means you can make reductions in increments so slow, they're practically undetectable.

Lett me know how some of this stuff sounds. We are happy to help you. I've withdrawn from Metahdone, Heroin, Morphine, Alcohol and Gabapentinoids, so I have some experience.

I can easy create any mg amount so I can taper, I am now down 5-10mg (a day) from my first post. I have access to many other substances and the hesitation is not wanting to get stuck on something else or end up on multiple substances and back to square one but worse off. Open to ideas and suggestions. Again, Thank you.

 

[cdin]

i have titrated multiple times after 3rd degree burns from 120+. Slow and steady wins the race. I try and drop by a steady 5% at a time, pausing to stabilize when i need to (if you can feel the drop, take 3/4 days at the same dose to stabilize yourself), then continue.
it helps greatly to standardize your times, i do morning noon night and do not take pills in between. you need to work pushing out time between dose as well, getting sleep through the night. When it gets lower - 40 - 50mg, i just drop 1mg a day. and continue doing this til 5mg, then jump off. you have to be real with yourself you won't be high, but also wont be disablingly sick. If you begin to use ultra low dose naltrexone religiously, and get your tolerance way down, you will be able to maintain it. I have been on 5-12mg a day, for chronic pain related to 3rd degree burns after multiple massive habits. If i can do it, so can you.

 

[Freebluejay]

i have titrated multiple times after 3rd degree burns from 120+. Slow and steady wins the race. I try and drop by a steady 5% at a time, pausing to stabilize when i need to (if you can feel the drop, take 3/4 days at the same dose to stabilize yourself), then continue.
it helps greatly to standardize your times, i do morning noon night and do not take pills in between. you need to work pushing out time between dose as well, getting sleep through the night. When it gets lower - 40 - 50mg, i just drop 1mg a day. and continue doing this til 5mg, then jump off. you have to be real with yourself you won't be high, but also wont be disablingly sick. If you begin to use ultra low dose naltrexone religiously, and get your tolerance way down, you will be able to maintain it. I have been on 5-12mg a day, for chronic pain related to 3rd degree burns after multiple massive habits. If i can do it, so can you.

I agree with this and second it. I’ve tapered a handful of times, as well, after various surgeries and slow and steady does it. I would give yourself a week for each dosing adjustment. You’d probably be fine dropping after 4 days (that’s really about how long the physical parts of opiate withdrawal take on average), but giving yourself a few extra days will be just make you all the more prepared to drop again.

 

[Myeaaa]

Ive tapered Oxy from 300/day down to 30ish. But found that to be just as agonizing due to thinking about it all the time in the process. I'd get up to 3 subs and bomb the WD with those, the halflife of sub is long enough to land safely, and then its a matter of contending with the PAWS which is the bigger bear. I might even say sub is dangerous as it gives you power over the negative consequences of addiction thus enabling a sort of yo-yo use pattern. That said, intermittent use is arguably better than consistent.

The duration of use was always more a factor for me in getting off any addictive substance than size of dose. Theres a few problems that have to be overcome or at least recognized and managed to maintain a high functioning life and habit IMO. Drugs are grest for the way they make you feel, they suck because you turn your attention to them solely - but they dont have much to offer you in the active world.

1. Maintain sober habits: Have these gone away? Bad news, get them back whike youre high. Hang with friends, go to church, find a sport, dont golem up in your lair counting pills and blasting rails. Good part of addiction management is self perception and outer paradigm which is altered by your integration of the substance into your sober life. There was a period where if i did drugs i had to also go to the gym, i couldnt just sit around and bathe in warm god-hugs. The sober version of you is actually still there even deep into addiction...

2. Supply chain: Cut a hook here and there and swap it with a friend or hobby. This kinda feeds into the above. Adding some supply restriction over time is good.

3. Aim to fail (and know its okay): Set big goals, but dont beat yourself over failures, beating addiction is a long game, which does not map AT ALL to the addicts paradigm, which wants instant results. Its what got many of us into this garbage to begin with - instant relief. On aggressive tapers, id give myself a super uncomfortable amount of supply, and after counting the failures and overages i also saw an incredible amount of progress toward that goal, its a sort of distraction from negatively reinforcing thoughts and behaviors. Expect weakness, and build strength against it...you only need a crumb and if youre posting here you have that.

Lots of addicts beat themselves up over their "problem" and take it into their identity. Sure its a part of it, but the other more sober part is still there. Managing that inner battle is the name of the game IMHO.

First comment, but longtime lurker. Hi yall.

 

[cdin]

we aren't "addicts" we are "addiction and withdrawal survivors" narrative matters.

 

[Opi_Kid_Rock]

I was spending everything I made to buy real oxy for a couple years. Spinning that hampster wheel. I never would admit that I had a problem until I got real with myself.

No oxy tappering schedule was going to work for me. If I had any oxy, I would find a way to do all of it.

I chose Suboxone maintenance therapy. Combined with cutting off my supplies, going to some kind of recovery meeting (SMART or NA or Lifring). Slowly reprogramming my mind and shifting focus towards something positive, anything positive. One foot in front of the other.

I’m still on Suboxone, 4mg/day. But with a different perspective, having explored trauma, staying away from influences that would make me bend.

 

[Nas47]

Your dose is big.close 200mg daily.You must tapper to some point at can switch on kratom like someone advice.Or you can go in somekindbof rehab.Oxy is about as potent to morphine...so try to tapper,not so difficult.Hope.Wish you well

 

[Myeaaa]

we aren't "addicts" we are "addiction and withdrawal survivors" narrative matters.

Thats a great perspective for you and im sure many others, but i dont count myself as part of that group. I have at least 6 active addictions under continuous management for 30+ years and hold no stigmas against myself for those. To be clear. Three of those six I havent partaken in for some time and are pretty easy to manage at this stage, but they are still under active management. The average "normal" person is addicted to their phone and sugar, others are addicted to outrage, others still - hatred. I agree with you though, narrative does matter especially during the dark days.

 

[Axolotln]

For anyone interested I have managed to get down from 180 to ~140 so far and just pissed off all the time - and a bit fluey but nothing like past WD. Not there yet but not going backwards. My ear feels like it’s on fire all the time .. but I’ll survive.

 

[Nas47]

Oxy is about twice morphine.

I feel it 1:1.only p.o.route

 

[Axolotln]

I feel it 1:1.only p.o.route

I found (in high doses) morphine in either of its forms/ROA to be more sedative and possibly euphoric, but considerably less pain relieving or anti-depressant than Oxy. I guess we are all different and either way I’m wanting to cut back.

 

[Myeaaa]

For anyone interested I have managed to get down from 180 to ~140 so far and just pissed off all the time - and a bit fluey but nothing like past WD. Not there yet but not going backwards. My ear feels like it’s on fire all the time .. but I’ll survive.

Great to hear about your progress. Slog through the mud of this one and once you gain momentum keep it going and use the power you gained to tackle other areas in your life. Once you have power over drugs, you suddenly have power over a LOT of other things that others really dont.

Weird about the ear burn, come to think of it i forgot my name for hours once during one of my own painful detoxes.

 

[Axolotln]

Your dose is big.close 200mg daily.You must tapper to some point at can switch on kratom like someone advice.Or you can go in somekindbof rehab.Oxy is about as potent to morphine...so try to tapper,not so difficult.Hope.Wish you well

Kratom is still illegal and not available here

 

[Axolotln]

Down to 50-70pd total now, still doing this, definitely don’t feel high but still able to eat once a day Thank you for the suggestions and advice, slow has worked way better than what I tried in the past. I’ve been able to get outside, whereas in the past the depression and isolation where almost worse than the physical WD. My chronic pain and medical conditions are tolerable, I really feel like I can get back to the 30 and still live a functional life.

 

[Myeaaa]

Down to 50-70pd total now, still doing this, definitely don’t feel high but still able to eat once a day Thank you for the suggestions and advice, slow has worked way better than what I tried in the past. I’ve been able to get outside, whereas in the past the depression and isolation where almost worse than the physical WD. My chronic pain and medical conditions are tolerable, I really feel like I can get back to the 30 and still live a functional life.

Yeah its good to preen back that excessive use if nothing else, I always found everything past about 60 a day was just going in the garbage so i made sure to have plenty of suffer days to keep the mgs creep at bay. Didnt always work well...had a lot more money back then which is a problem of its own.

Theres stuff in the naturals section that can help with depression and anxiety, some of it works quite well actually. Never found anything that really worked for anhedonia though which was the most annoying part of the kick for me, but if 30 is the goal you might not have to deal with it.

 

[Axolotln]

Been at 30 and okay, definitely can’t get out to the shops or etc like I could before but I am okay
Got down and stayed down. Acceptance of a life.

 

[Myeaaa]

Great to hear, the longer you can hold it there the better as you slowly rebuild habits and activities adjusted to that new state - dont beat yourself up though if you run outside the lines every once in awhile, shit happens. Its important to progress in the activity areas though, otherwise you'll kinda torture yourself while you sit at that ope level twiddling thumbs when before you may be nodded out or eating/watching tv when you were horking 300 a day. I know I would have to force myself initially to start picking up old positive habits, and since I lost a lot of sociability (friends) in those long runs/binges a lot of the new activities were solo at first. (Gym, solo hobbies like leatherworking and other hobbyshop type stuff, etc)

Eventually I started volunteering which was the last fucking thing id ever thought id do, but it got me back around sober people, and that was basically my own entry back into "normal" life. Once I fully sobered up I even found a gf again, and theres a lot of rewarding stuff there. Obviously nothing will ever replace those warm God hugs you get from an ope, but having someone in your life that really loves you and shows it, is well enough for me to forego drugs.

Have to be careful with that, a lot of the time folks will get overzealous and hit the market too soon before they have enough adjusting under their belt, and they end up not being able to manage the ups and downs of being committed to someone else. "Secure your own oxygen before helping your neighbor" type of thing. Or they have a breakup which leads directly to relapse like, 100% of the time.

The skills I built to chip away at sobriety I now use to chip away at other things in life, its a highly valuable skillset you will use forever basically even if you choose to quit opes fully.

Good job.

 

[Pgb]

I think I need help. 180mg a day now, I keep trying to cut down but I don’t make it last 24 hours. I’m not working or parcipating in community anymore. I’m getting mentally unwell as much as physically. I’ve been on and off before, I started using again as my physical pain became intolerable and kept using because I didn’t want to be in pain again and as is common I kept taking it in higher doses not to get high but to avoid pain. Advice? I have successfully isolated myself and set up a situation where I can disappear for a few more months before anyone would contact me for bills or rent etc. I can’t go on as I am, I feel 99% hopeless, but I don’t want to die either; I am 1% hopeful that someone here can help me see a new solution or direction to try, give some advice on tapering as I can’t stop without WD or just suggest anything that could help me to help myself change direction

Edit: been using for most of the last 2 years, mostly daily with a couple months off once. Multiple times a day/habit for at least 6 months.

Axolotln
I had to get off opioids many times. Not easy but I didn't have pain like you thats gotta make it even harder. I almost feel stupid saying because im sure everyone here knows but Subutex Will help get you off oxy bit then you gotta kick it which sucks too not as bad. I did know a guy who's Doctor kept writing the Subutex to relieve hos pain. It sounds like you are not in a state to go cold.y apologies if I misunderstand

 

[Nas47]

Been at 30 and okay, definitely can’t get out to the shops or etc like I could before but I am okay
Got down and stayed down. Acceptance of a life.

Whoooa!Congrats bro,if u tapper from almost 200mg to 30....it's a big success.U can hold on for a while and if u want jump off to zero.Don't be afraid-withdrawls from 30mg are not big deal.

 

[Pgb]

Agree with nas from 30 from 200 is amazing and is a week bad flu when its rime Dont know if you've ever done it but when it's time ro fo to zero if that's the way you go fill the house with all your favorite foods , plenty of movies or what ever you like and hibernate. Heard it said loperimide the antidiarrheal OTC helps but never did anything for me