Opioids Oxycontin/Opiate Addiction & Chronic Fatigue

[jaystyle]

Hey all,

I am 25/M and addicted to oxycontin atm. I've also been using some hydromorphone lately as well. Lately I have been feeling really tired in the day and its beginning to worry me. I sleep long hours and wake up really late every morning, and than I almost always feel like taking a nap at around 6pm. I dont exert myself that heavily either and am not sure what is causing me to have so little energy lately.

Do you guys think opiate addiction could be causing this daytime fatigue? I feel like maybe sleeping on opiates doesn't fully rest my body or something... like opiates prevent me from getting a real nights sleep. What do you guys think? Also, maybe the psychological stress of being addicted to opiates is causing some depression leading me to have lack of energy.

Does anyone addicted to opiates experience similar symptoms ever? I just hope its the opiates and not some other underlying problem. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[taylor_105]

I can answer this one for you. I am a CP sufferer and have been on the whole gamut of drugs from Hydrocodone to Fentanyl and never had this issues you are having until they started me on Oxycontin and Oxycodone for break through. Now I fall asleep because of the drug and not because I was trying to go to sleep. I wake in the night and cannot sleep then I fall back to sleep about right after my next Oxycontin dose then I am up at noon. About four I am ready to nap again. I cannot tell you how to fix this issue as it is happening to me too. But I wanted you to know you are not alone and I do think it has to have something to do with the Oxy.

 

[Pure Powder]

I'm 19/M and my drugs of choice are also oxycontin and hydromorph contin.
I have recently got these symptoms and I had a feeling it was the drugs..
I find myself going to bed SUPER tired, and sleeping a full 8-9 hours then being fatigued all day, and needing a nap by the afternoon.
This is starting to affect my work schedule and I was almost late today due to the fact i could pull myself out of bed.

So, if there is any help, advice, or answer to this I also would love to hear it.
For now I'm just taking the hydromorph and staying away from OC, I had problems with it in the past and will let you know if anything changes in the next few days!

 

[Pure Powder]

Sorry double post.

 

[jaystyle]

Yea I notice that on oxycodone, I will lay half-awake in bed and not really be sleeping. Sometimes it goes on for hours... i'll notice it's 4-6am and I havn't fully gone to sleep. In the past, I use to tell my friends how much I love the feeling of being half-awake on oxycodone at night--- drifting in and out of consciousness. Now I realize it's probably seriously affecting my ability to get my needed sleep. I have serious dark circles under my eyes and some people have mentioned them to me-- my friends dad told my friend he thinks i'm drugs because of my dark circles (good guess sir). I used to hide my usage so well but looks like people are starting to notice now =-\


Any other people have similar symptoms? Today around 6pm instead of taking a nap, I forced myself to go to the gym and I did pretty well and it made me feel a lot better. I think the chronic fatigue associated with opiates might also be in part of the sedentary lifestyle opiate usage can bring about. Try breaking the cycle next time you feel tired, and do something active. Im gonna try this again tommorow if I get it again...

 

[CitioKid]

The longer you use opiates, in my experience, the worse the fatigue gets. Your tolerance to the euphoric aspects of the opiates increases faster than the sedation - so you begin to feel more and more tired as you chase the sense of well being.

I am pretty sure it's unavoidable, along with a slowly dwindling libido. I'm glad that there are negative side effects even if someone had a lifetime supply of any opiates.

The side effects are good encouragement to quit whenever you chose to do so.

 

[SkagKush]

im always tired now.....

def a side effect...

 

[jaystyle]

Hey... the dwindling libido is horrible. As soon as I switch from oxycodone to subutex, my libido instantly goes up 2-3X. If I got off opiates completely, I know my libido would be even better.

I think the theory of euphoria / sedation is spot on... when you start having to do massive amounts to get high, the sedation aspect is taking its toll on you even if you are not getting the euphoria. Anyway glad a lot of people get this effect and not just me... (not glad ppl are tired, but glad I am not dying or something lol)

Anyone get dark circles under their eyes after long use of opiates?

 

[muvolution]

Hey... the dwindling libido is horrible. As soon as I switch from oxycodone to subutex, my libido instantly goes up 2-3X. If I got off opiates completely, I know my libido would be even better.

I think the theory of euphoria / sedation is spot on... when you start having to do massive amounts to get high, the sedation aspect is taking its toll on you even if you are not getting the euphoria. Anyway glad a lot of people get this effect and not just me... (not glad ppl are tired, but glad I am not dying or something lol)

Anyone get dark circles under their eyes after long use of opiates?

are you on subutex for chronic pain? I am trying to get subutex tablets instead of my current oxymorphone.

and yeah, i get tired when I do opiates. I thought that was one of the points.

 

[jaystyle]

I have a subutex prescription for me to ween off of OC's with.... instead of being subutex replacement therapy, I switch to them occasionally to lower my tolerance and to do some justice for my suffering bank account.

Oxymorphone eh? I'm so interested in trying some of that. Are you on ER or IR? Do you take it as the doctor ordered, or do you snort it? Tell me what you think about it i'm interested.

As far as I know, in the USA they dont really prescribe subutex for pain, only for opiate addiction. You can still go to a subutex clinic and get it yourself though... it takes very small amounts of subutex to be effective for pain (1mg a day or less). Doctors over prescribe it (My RX says 8mg 3X a day! That's just insane!! I use like 1-2mg a day maximum!)

 

[muvolution]

I'm on 10mg IR, i feel truly blessed as it's pretty much the best opiate in the entire world and i've tried them all. Rush of Dilaudid with the legs of Heroin, and the BA is 50% insuffulated.
I try to take them as directed, but the BA is only 10% and well that just seems like a waste, so i usually blow em and save up pills for runs and fun times.
IV'd once, as it's the only thing i've ever banged i can't compare to anything else, but was really amazing.

I'd say I average 2 blown per day (i make into solution so as to not destroy my septum) and am trying to decide if I should tell the bupe doctor this since it's the result of inadequate pain management... anyways, made an appointment nearly 2 months ago, i get to see him end of November.
Any Dr. can prescribe any drug, blah, blah, but it's an off-label use for it from someone who isn't used to treating pain, so that, the fact I abuse my meds sometime, and the trials being run with bupe as an anti-depressant (I don't respond to SSRI's or tricyclics) all make me hopeful I'll get it.

good luck on getting off the OC's. it's a bitch.

 

[MeddieFrac]

jaystyle, what time of day do you take your opiates? Do you take them in the morning or do you wait till the evening? I know when I don't take any in the morning I can't even function and I am EXTREMELY tired as you state that you are. So maybe just take alittle bit in the morning just to get yourself going?

 

[jaystyle]

Hey Meddie,

I used to take them every night at around 9pm. Than I realized I was getting tired and irritable during the day and ppl were mentioning it to me. I realized that this was because I was waking up in minor states of withdrawal and didn't even know it...

I started taking opiates in the day and the night and that solved that problem temporarily, although it sky rocketed my tolerance. Now I am still tired regardless though... oh well.

 

[MeddieFrac]

Hmm... when you dose do you catch a buzz? Like do you get high each and every time you dose, or do you sometimes just take enough to get by? How often you take just enough to get by?

I am positive that sleeping with an opiate buzz interrupts getting a good nights sleep. And if you sleep this way over a long period of time you are going to have a serious sleep debt. I'm sure this contributes to your chronic fatigue, but at the same time if you DON'T dose before bed you will be in withdrawal and won't be able to sleep AT ALL, so really your only choice is to sleep with opiates in your system anyway.

I'm pretty sure that the fatigue is caused by your addiction to opiates. Both by way of the phsyical toll the addiction takes on your body, and perhaps the mental toll causing depression as you stated.

I'm curious, are you prescribed oxycontin or do you buy them yourself? I have to spend a lot of money to buy my own, so I usually just suffer throughout the day and catch a good buzz at night so I can enjoy myself and not be in withdrawal so I can sleep, but during the day I definitely am tired as hell.

 

[muvolution]

you need to move your dosing to like 11am and try taking a half of what you normally do at like 10pm (before bed) but only just enough to get you to sleep.

and I find that I sleep well on opiates so it could be that you have such fluctuating amounts in your system that you are getting withdrawal symptoms at some point during the day and all that tensing up and freaking out your neurotransmitters makes you tired the rest of the time.
As long as there is a steady amount over 24 hours your body should behave normally.

 

[jaystyle]

Its getting hard for me to differentiate between sober, high, buzzed, and enough opiates to be "normal" now a days. I buy my own--t he cost of OC has gone up and it is costing me SOOO much money I ignore looking at my bank statements to avoid getting upset. Anyway, luckily I make a decent sum but its recently started taking a negative toll on my savings... I live off my money, can eat and do everything i want, take OC, and by end of the month I am slightly negative and need to compensate from elsewhere (savings usually).

Recently I began buying the new OPS and morphine sulfate since they are cheaper. My old habit was wake up and sniff, and just sniff through my day. Now a days I wake up, take a sniff, then pop an OP80 or Morphine 60mg and that takes me through most my day (sometimes some minor sniffs here and there), and at night I like sniffing enough to get high. Sometimes I get euphoria & "high", sometimes the high is dissapointing.

Thanks!

 

[werk2play]

This thread was very helpful for me.. My main withdrawal symptom from oxycodone is fatigue. Very tired. I'm tapering down now, working out regularly and eating good food, but sheeite-ya, been sleeping like 12 hours a night. Can get away with it now though, so no biggy, but if I was working a regular shift, I'd be f'd. Get to bed some nights at 10:30am and sleep till 11am. The sleep is amazing though. It's almost as good as the high from oxy. I personally love the feeling of being really tired and then going to sleep.

 

[madskr1]

When I became addicted to OC that was the biggets change was the complete lack of energy. I went from someone who worked out and read daily to completely losing interest inb my hobbies. Probably the greatest indicator of total energy is one's sex drive, when I became addicted I completely lost all sex drive because opiates make you stop producing testerone. Along with no sex drive opiates consume you because if you don't have them your ill so you will pause everything in your life including the necessities to get your high. It also disrupts sleep, kills natural production of dopamine, and wears you down. Basically, if your addicted to opiates you will never have the energy levels you should have until you go sober for a significant amount of time.

About natural dopamine production, what do you really mean by that?

I have been thinking about this, and I feel that my natural dopamine is to low. I do however feel that dopamine is being produced when I do productive things including working out. I can also feel that my dopamine levels rise from being low to medium adequat levels after I have been awake for a long time, say 12+ hours.

Something about higher dopamine levels when being tired, to compensate the body makes more dopamine to prevent falling a sleep. So while dopamine levels might be higher during being tired, I will usualy be very sleepy because of it.

My dopamine levels does not feel adequat when I wake up and during daytime when i'm not doing productive stuff, so I just feel so aphetic, with no interest in doing anything, slight anhedonia as well.

Is this what you meant by natural dopamine production ?

 

[SKR]

Brought this back from the dead, ghosts of 2010.

Before you develop a tolerance to opioids and opiates and you are taking nod-inducing doses which is easy to do when in Chronic pain then you'll find, despite the nodding off, won't actually fall asleep. You're simply too high, you'll fade in and out in that dream like state but no way are you going to get out of bed feeling rested. Oxycodone I find to be quite stimulating and depending on dose other opiates and opioids will have the same effect, they certainly have with me.

Regarding how you feel upon waking, assuming you've actually fallen asleep - Sounds like the life of a new parent. A new parent can nod out straight into deep sleep standing with the fridge door open originally with the full intention of grabbing out the ingredients to make a sandwich. You were hungry and tired but sleep depravation was too strong.

Natural Dopamine production? Is the member you're asking still active on these boards? It was a comment made 6 years ago that you're enquiring about, not that your questions and contributions are any less valid it's just that this thread may become closed.

 

[madskr1]

Actualy, most people with chronic pain like my self usualy do not take nod induced doses, infact we usualy dose to keep the pain at bay. There is something about people with chronic pain that cause us to have a significant less chanse to become addicted, we don't feel the need to chase that high many speak of.