• The Dark Side 💕 Welcome Guest 💕
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads Urgent Hotlines
    Bereavement Mindfulness
    Suicide Support Anger Management
  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT

Positive The Tapering Support Thread v 2.0

I was taking Loperamide at high doses for 10+ years. I finally decided to stop, like a light switch turned on to get my life together.

i was taking 140mg+ and totally stopped, all i had was Clonidine which seemed to help but i couldn't make it past 5 days before I had to start back up.

Thankfully I was able to take only 70mg day, so I lowered the dose by half.

I picked up some Kratom and started taking 2g doses throughout the day. I lowered the Loperamide dose down to 40mg the past few days and today I only took 30mg Loperamide.

Im sure I'm transferring some of the addiction over to the Kratom but to me that's ok, I just want off Loperamide.
 
OceansState said:
I was taking Loperamide at high doses for 10+ years. I finally decided to stop, like a light switch turned on to get my life together.

i was taking 140mg+ and totally stopped, all i had was Clonidine which seemed to help but i couldn't make it past 5 days before I had to start back up.

Thankfully I was able to take only 70mg day, so I lowered the dose by half.

I picked up some Kratom and started taking 2g doses throughout the day. I lowered the Loperamide dose down to 40mg the past few days and today I only took 30mg Loperamide.

Im sure I'm transferring some of the addiction over to the Kratom but to me that's ok, I just want off Loperamide.
Click to expand...
yeah I'm pretty sure that kratom doesn't have the negative effects on the heart that loperamide can have. just kind of annoying to swallow all that plant powder, but it's safer and i don't think people tend to escalate their dose as much (could be wrong).
 
AlphaMethylPhenyl said:
yeah I'm pretty sure that kratom doesn't have the negative effects on the heart that loperamide can have. just kind of annoying to swallow all that plant powder, but it's safer and i don't think people tend to escalate their dose as much (could be wrong).
Click to expand...


I bought Red Maeng Da in .5g capsules and take 4 at a time. They go down very easy. I tried kratom powder a few years back and it was harsh.

Yesterday I took 6g Kratom, 2g doses throughout the day and I felt fine. Plus the 30mg Loperamide. I also got a script for Wellbutrin to hopefully help with the negative thoughts that keep popping up in my head. I'm supposed to take one 150mg XL a day.

Last night I couldn't sleep, tossing and turning, body aching for some reason. I got up and took a .1 Clonidine tab which didn't really help, then took 600mg Gabapentin and 2g Kratom which seemed to do the trick, finally got a few hours sleep 4am-8am.

Got up and felt ok, the usual feelings of despair wasnt there. Made some coffee and took 2g kratom followed by another 2g 30 min later. Just took a Wellbutrin tab. I feel ok-good. I don't want to but im going to take another 30mg loperamide today and tomorrow. I have to go over my parents tomorrow and do some work and I don't want to feel bad/sick.

I think I should have asked my Dr. for Trazadone which I had taken before in inpatient detox at night to sleep. I see a Dr. through tele-health/video chat and she's been great. I was completely honest with her and though she never heard of people taking high doses of Loperamide she seems to have experience with addiction and prescribing me the typical withdrawal meds.
 
OceansState said:
I bought Red Maeng Da in .5g capsules and take 4 at a time. They go down very easy. I tried kratom powder a few years back and it was harsh.

Yesterday I took 6g Kratom, 2g doses throughout the day and I felt fine. Plus the 30mg Loperamide. I also got a script for Wellbutrin to hopefully help with the negative thoughts that keep popping up in my head. I'm supposed to take one 150mg XL a day.

Last night I couldn't sleep, tossing and turning, body aching for some reason. I got up and took a .1 Clonidine tab which didn't really help, then took 600mg Gabapentin and 2g Kratom which seemed to do the trick, finally got a few hours sleep 4am-8am.

Got up and felt ok, the usual feelings of despair wasnt there. Made some coffee and took 2g kratom followed by another 2g 30 min later. Just took a Wellbutrin tab. I feel ok-good. I don't want to but im going to take another 30mg loperamide today and tomorrow. I have to go over my parents tomorrow and do some work and I don't want to feel bad/sick.

I think I should have asked my Dr. for Trazadone which I had taken before in inpatient detox at night to sleep. I see a Dr. through tele-health/video chat and she's been great. I was completely honest with her and though she never heard of people taking high doses of Loperamide she seems to have experience with addiction and prescribing me the typical withdrawal meds.
Click to expand...
I was up to around 30-50 grams per day of Red Maeng Da at one point when I was getting free of oxy. Now I’m down to about 6 grams per day. Anything is better than Loperamide (used it for a while when my oxy script ran out each month…. something like 180 mg per day)

Most people can’t possibly understand just how painful the wd’s are from opiates. And loperamide is one of the worst ones since it’s such a long lasting one. Even my Dr told me that I would be “uncomfortable” for a couple of days if I quit my prescription of 150 mg per day oxycodone. It took me a week to start sleeping, a month to stop sweating, and 2 fucking hears to feel like my brain wiring was somewhat normal again. Loperamide seems to be even worse.

There’s hope on the other side of this mess if you’re willing to do the work. Just don’t give up! And don’t be too hard on yourself for a step backwards if you slip up. You’re human…. not a robot.
 
damn..... you guys im still at 4mg of bupe more or less a mg; I remember sub being so easy to taper on before....Perhaps due to my super long benz taper from xxx mg a day down to 2 mg a day? But I can't afford this program forever I need to get a fire under my ass!
 
smokeymcpot42088 said:
damn..... you guys im still at 4mg of bupe more or less a mg; I remember sub being so easy to taper on before....Perhaps due to my super long benz taper from xxx mg a day down to 2 mg a day? But I can't afford this program forever I need to get a fire under my ass!
Click to expand...
Do you have daily responsibilities, like a job or children? Have you tried Kratom? Would it be possible to cut your bupe by half and spend two weeks in bed to get past the wd’s?
 
I do have daily responsibilities, I can't be too visibly ill. Sure I have a couple bottles of kratom on hand for when I do make it.

If I arranged my schedule right I could probably get a week and a 3 day weekend to be in bed.... I was really hoping to do this without ever having to 'take time out' from my schedule, but I think you have a good point. I will let you know when I have a time frame set. Don't worry either I am very experienced in tapering. Got my kratom (not exactly quitting I know), lope, benadryl and a slew of other useful tools...know the cows chart. I guess since Im on bupe it is fairly obvious I have tried to quit opis in the past lol.

I just have to man up and do it; which believe it or not I never had to face with bzos, no time off, ALMOST no sickness during that whole prolonged taper mess; only one family member knew; that was almost a ten yr taper if I recall too though.

Thanks for the spark

Thanks for all you do here!
 
One of the issues I always had with tapering opiates was the knowledge that I didn’t need to suffer today if I didn’t want to. I shouldn’t use mire than I’m supposed to today, but that meeting at work is important, or I really need to sleep tonight. “I’ll get back on track tomorrow.”….. then I don’t.

Running out of my meds meant cold turkey, but still needing to find a way to get my ass to work! I’d spend all night sweating. Crying on the freeway on my way to work at 6am. Pretend that I’m fine for 8 hours at work. Then go home and do it all over again.

There’s something very debilitating about a taper for me. That little voice that nags all day and says “You really don’t need to suffer right now”, “One extra pill is really no big deal”, “ You’re tapering anyway, so you’ll have extra pills at the end of the month”, “Time it right and it will last perfectly through your meeting/interview/project/etc”

It never lasted long enough. I always took that extra pill way too early just so I could relax a bit first, then I would need ANOTHER pill half way through whatever it was. Then my tolerance would be up and my taper was destroyed.

Cold turkey was always easier for me. I got good at it, running out each month. The fear of the unknown is what I think drives most folks to give up on cold turkey. The first few days feel like it’s never going to end. Just a tunnel with no light anywhere. I because an expert on counting days until I would be sleeping normally, pooping again, and generally not feeling like death. It’s not a skill anyone should have.
 
smokeymcpot42088 said:
I do have daily responsibilities, I can't be too visibly ill. Sure I have a couple bottles of kratom on hand for when I do make it.

If I arranged my schedule right I could probably get a week and a 3 day weekend to be in bed.... I was really hoping to do this without ever having to 'take time out' from my schedule, but I think you have a good point. I will let you know when I have a time frame set. Don't worry either I am very experienced in tapering. Got my kratom (not exactly quitting I know), lope, benadryl and a slew of other useful tools...know the cows chart. I guess since Im on bupe it is fairly obvious I have tried to quit opis in the past lol.

I just have to man up and do it; which believe it or not I never had to face with bzos, no time off, ALMOST no sickness during that whole prolonged taper mess; only one family member knew; that was almost a ten yr taper if I recall too though.

Thanks for the spark

Thanks for all you do here!
Click to expand...
Benzos were no problem for me either. I figured out a tapering plan, stuck to it, and had zero wd’s. Opiates….. whole different story. Every reduction, even the smallest drop, felt like hell.

There’s something called “Tolerance Withdrawals”. It’s when you have been maintaining at the same dosage for a while and you start getting wd symptoms even though you have not reduced your dose. You then need to increase your dose just to stop wd symptoms. It happened to me several times. When that’s going on, reducing your dose feels almost as bad as cold turkey. It only happened to me when I got to a very high daily dosage. Not when I was taking 3 Norco’s every day. Only when I was taking 150mg or more oxy every day.
 
smokeymcpot42088 said:
I was really hoping to do this without ever having to 'take time out' from my schedule,
Click to expand...
Just get your excuses ready. “I hurt my back”, “I must have the flu”, “I had some leftover Chinese a couple of days ago and I haven’t been able to hold down any solid foods since”(food poisoning is a great one). “My co worker got Covid and I think he gave it to me” (people will just drop off food at your front door and run for the hills!)

For me, the embarrassment of feeling like I might need to admit my fuck-up was enough to make me want to kill myself. So…. I would practice my excuses. That way they would just flow out of my mouth like it was the truth. Nobody questions a good excuse if you sound like it’s the truth. Then you can just stay in bed for a week and recover. Besides, wd’s look exactly like the flu or food poisoning anyway.
 
Squeaky said:
One of the issues I always had with tapering opiates was the knowledge that I didn’t need to suffer today if I didn’t want to. I shouldn’t use mire than I’m supposed to today, but that meeting at work is important, or I really need to sleep tonight. “I’ll get back on track tomorrow.”….. then I don’t.

Running out of my meds meant cold turkey, but still needing to find a way to get my ass to work! I’d spend all night sweating. Crying on the freeway on my way to work at 6am. Pretend that I’m fine for 8 hours at work. Then go home and do it all over again.

There’s something very debilitating about a taper for me. That little voice that nags all day and says “You really don’t need to suffer right now”, “One extra pill is really no big deal”, “ You’re tapering anyway, so you’ll have extra pills at the end of the month”, “Time it right and it will last perfectly through your meeting/interview/project/etc”

It never lasted long enough. I always took that extra pill way too early just so I could relax a bit first, then I would need ANOTHER pill half way through whatever it was. Then my tolerance would be up and my taper was destroyed.

Cold turkey was always easier for me. I got good at it, running out each month. The fear of the unknown is what I think drives most folks to give up on cold turkey. The first few days feel like it’s never going to end. Just a tunnel with no light anywhere. I because an expert on counting days until I would be sleeping normally, pooping again, and generally not feeling like death. It’s not a skill anyone should have.
Click to expand...

That voice never shuts the hell up! but Ill keep it a buck with ya, since i have been on sub I haven't been 'truly dopesick' not feel good, sure but thats not so bad. I have gotten soft and fear true sickness; which is all the better reason to ignore that voice and get down to 2mg, literally doubles the amount of rope im working with to un- noose my head during this freefall before I hit stone sober. (aka true rock bottom lol) un-noose; yea i know i shoulda been a poet lol.

Thank you again

Im glad to hear I am not an anomaly when it comes to benzo tapering working but opi tapering being a giant pain in the ass
 
Squeaky said:
Benzos were no problem for me either. I figured out a tapering plan, stuck to it, and had zero wd’s. Opiates….. whole different story. Every reduction, even the smallest drop, felt like hell.

There’s something called “Tolerance Withdrawals”. It’s when you have been maintaining at the same dosage for a while and you start getting wd symptoms even though you have not reduced your dose. You then need to increase your dose just to stop wd symptoms. It happened to me several times. When that’s going on, reducing your dose feels almost as bad as cold turkey. It only happened to me when I got to a very high daily dosage. Not when I was taking 3 Norco’s every day. Only when I was taking 150mg or more oxy every day.
Click to expand...
tolerance withdrawls-- never heard it termed that way but am aware of the effect. I wish my doc was more aware; haha trying to convince a sub doctor I need an increasing dose...sounds like a damn good challenge.

I don't think it is that; as I have been TRYING to take less and i know I am....i musta been taking more doses than I thought I was. Have I take two doses today or three, feel lucky punk. "feel like its one and you need a second" : me- shutup voice.
 
Tapper bupr. till 2 or 3 mgs and quit cold turkey.First week is hardest.Now month without feel real good.For migraine I take usually metamizol or rarely paracetamol.......that's my painkillers now
 
I had a doctor at the beginning of my journey with opiates who told me to just start breaking my pills in half to taper off Norco. It wrked fine, but I was on 3 Norco per day. It’s a relatively low dose and I had been on it for about 6 months.

5 years later, after multiple back surgeries and 5 years of 150+ mg per day oxycodone…… I was taking enough opiates to kill a large elephant. Tapering was an impossibility. Maintaining my doses was like getting a root canal that lasted all day.

There’s a gigantic difference between all of the different opiates out there and each person’s individual situation when the conversation is about tapering. I have never been on subs. I can only repeat what I have heard from others who have lived it. But I do know that tapering or jumping off is going to be much worse than what the Dr’s say, particularly if you’ve been on them for a long time.

Gotta hope for rainbows and unicorns, but prepare for Armageddon.
 
Last edited:
Omg @Squeaky that's a lot. I hope that you stay strong. Try not to let the trauma get too extreme. It can physically stress your whole system and health. You are amazing strong. But we have to be strong with less as possible.
I'm just rambling. Wow, you're awesome !
 
I think in 'taper.' Less is always going to be more now. Always stay toward the low. Continue to cut back.

. . . And then I got high.

yeah prayers and positive strength too.

💛
 
Taper is the way to go for me personally. Unless I can take 5 days to fully withdrawal off something and be functional afterwards.

I tapered off Suboxone years ago by cutting up the 8mg tabs into smaller pieces, then I asked for the 2mg tabs so i could break those into smaller pieces and it worked. I didnt even tell my Dr at the time I was tapering and i did it on my own. He didnt seem to care either way, id just walk in and he would ask how im doing then hand me a new script for the next two weeks.

Im currently on day# 5 of no Loperamide. Im still using the kratom, 1.5-2g doses 4-5 times a day. Stopped the Clonidine since ive been on it for around 3 weeks and dont want to become dependent on it, same with the Gabapentin im only taking 300mg at night before bed. Since tapering i hardly felt any physical symtoms except sleep is difficult but surprisingly I dont really feel tired thru the day. I think it may be from the Wellbutrin i take once a day. The past few weeks i was REALLY sad/depressed so been taking 150mg XL Wellbutrin for 6 days now and i think it is helping now, not having the sad negative thoughts nearly as much as last week. I still feel sad and overwhelmed but i think its because im realizing how much I screwed my life up and its going to take alot of work and effort to get my life in order.

Its tough. The past month sucked feeling like garbage from stopping the Loperamide, I just keep thinking I'm 1 more day closer to feeling normal.
 
smokeymcpot42088 said:
damn..... you guys im still at 4mg of bupe more or less a mg; I remember sub being so easy to taper on before....Perhaps due to my super long benz taper from xxx mg a day down to 2 mg a day? But I can't afford this program forever I need to get a fire under my ass!
Click to expand...
You say you're on a program? Do you get take home?

If you do, buprenorphine has a long enough half life that if you split your 4 mg dose into 2 mg doses 12 hours apart. Apart the serum level in your blood will normalize over approximately 10 days and you should not experience any significant withdrawal but it will allow you to step down further after that.

Optimally your next step would be to go to 1 mg four times a day, 6 hours apart and then to three times a day, 8 hours apart and then to twice a day 12 hours apart.

Than a half milligram four times a day, three times a day, two times a day and then down to a half a milligram once a day and then walk off.
 
OceansState said:
Taper is the way to go for me personally. Unless I can take 5 days to fully withdrawal off something and be functional afterwards.

I tapered off Suboxone years ago by cutting up the 8mg tabs into smaller pieces, then I asked for the 2mg tabs so i could break those into smaller pieces and it worked. I didnt even tell my Dr at the time I was tapering and i did it on my own. He didnt seem to care either way, id just walk in and he would ask how im doing then hand me a new script for the next two weeks.

Im currently on day# 5 of no Loperamide. Im still using the kratom, 1.5-2g doses 4-5 times a day. Stopped the Clonidine since ive been on it for around 3 weeks and dont want to become dependent on it, same with the Gabapentin im only taking 300mg at night before bed. Since tapering i hardly felt any physical symtoms except sleep is difficult but surprisingly I dont really feel tired thru the day. I think it may be from the Wellbutrin i take once a day. The past few weeks i was REALLY sad/depressed so been taking 150mg XL Wellbutrin for 6 days now and i think it is helping now, not having the sad negative thoughts nearly as much as last week. I still feel sad and overwhelmed but i think its because im realizing how much I screwed my life up and its going to take alot of work and effort to get my life in order.

Its tough. The past month sucked feeling like garbage from stopping the Loperamide, I just keep thinking I'm 1 more day closer to feeling normal.
Click to expand...
It’s the fight of your life. Nothing else matters. Gotta keep your job. Gotta eat. Gotta bathe. Kids come next. Depression sucks, but giving into an addiction like loperamide just to be ‘happy’ means never being happy again. It’s not even about chasing some high ever again. It’s all about chasing that feeling of ‘normal’.

Gabapentin can be tapered off quick, usually even after long term use. Clonidine is a bit harder. But loperamide is a bitch! You have made it this far, so don’t give up. Find as many distractions as you can to take hour mind off the low mood and depression. Binge watching Netflix or porn, exercise, food, all work great. But ANYTHING is better than sitting around and focusing on how much better you might feel after the lope soaks in.

Life is a series of ups and downs. You got here by artificially creating a permanent ’up’. But the ‘down’ you’re dealing with right now only feels permanent. If you can get to the other side of this then you’ll be able to see life for what’s important.

And if Welbutrin is working, then gobble up that stuff like tic-tacs. Just don’t focus on how sad or depressed you have been feeling. That’s going to be a part of your life for a long time, but it will eventually get better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top