• TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT

Positive The Tapering Supportive/Social Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Poke, Im glad to read that youve been able to get want to needed. And that you had the possibility to enjoy the sunshine! That's awesome. Here the oxys are so cheap, you wouldn't believe it. And its my general GB that makes the scripts and its "Indifinite". So nI have to find the courage to go and see him and told him Im done, I don't need it anymore...Day 3 without anything exept clonodine, loperadime, paracetamol with codeine and Kratom today cause I had 0 energy to get the kids out of bed and to school and all...The good thing now is that its my husband that got the script cause I gave it to him. I dont trust myself. I know that I would have gone to the farmacy today to get more, and more, and more...Like you said Pokemama; its saying godbye to taht oxy high that is difficult. Its bullshit cause its a lie, but its so fucking great...o well I just want to hide under the cover but can't.
 
Congrats Poke and Sunrise! I forgot to mention..... When I did CT before I loaded up on gatorade thinking it would be helpful. After two days it was clear that it was helping me hydrate, but causing more bodyaches. You're better off drinking ANYTHING else that has no high fructose corn syrup. Tea, orange juice, etc. even better- home made lemonade. It gives you something to do and you control what goes in.

I'm still hoping to taper down some more before I jump off. I tried to jump at around 120 mg/day oxy but it was impossible. Now I'm bouncing between 45 and 70 mg. my new goal is 30. I definately have enough reserves to taper to there, probably to zero if I am smart. I see my Dr tomorrow. I'm not strong enough to cancel that appointment. I go back to work in a week. The stress of quitting this crap and dealing with my job will kill me.
 
Squeaky: We are all on our individual journeys here. I respect your process, and understand that you would like to taper lower to avoid more w/d and especially the anxiety.
You are amazing!! I hear you about the high fructose sugar.... when I get a bit more strength I will try homemade lemonade....yummmm! Thank you for keeping this thread going as well, Squeaks, you rock!!!
Sunrise: You are doing great!!! Hang in there and STAY STRONG!!
 
Got my refill today. I hope they let me back to work next week. I think the distraction will make it easier to taper off this crap.(or I'll be stressed and wanting it more than ever......)
 
Squeaky: Hopefully work will be a positive factor in that it will be a distraction and time will go faster. Keep us posted!
 
Squeaky, stay strong ok? Like Poke said, hopefully work will be a blessing keeping you occupied so you won't be tempted. Im tempted just reading youve got youve script refill...
 
Thanks Poke. I'm going to work hard to taper as much as I can before I go back to work. Hopefully down to 30 or 20 mg/day. That way if I do cheat from the stress I'll be cheating back up to my prescribed dose(60 mg)instead of going up to 100 and working for a week just to get back to 60.
 
So much for getting down to 30/day.... I'm at 75mg/day and I don't give a s##t. My legs hurt and I work too hard to suffer when a few pills make life bearable.
(Plus I'm posting to keep this thread alive?)
 
Ok since everyone I know is only interested in when I cash my meds and no AA or NA close, this will be my support ad journal

I am almost 60 and have had a love/hate affair with opiate killers for 30 something years. You know the deal, every time you think you got this, turns out you do not.

FIVE days ago, with a full bottle of 30mg roxies and 10 50mg Fentanyl patches in stock, I jumped CT for 24 hours. I have never been one to run out of pills or some very strong opiate and, because I managed my meds better than anyone I know, have never been really sick. and the last few months have needed more than prescribed and for the first time, could see myself spinning down the way I have watched so many others do. The next day I started a 5 day Suboxone sub detox. Today, I am going on a 21 day taper plan. The last time I tried Suboxone, I stayed for a bit over 2 years and found it almost impossible to wean.
I have studied several plans and the one I am doing is to taper by 1/4 of my last dose every 4 days and after 4 days on 1/8 of a strip, I will stop....right?
Any help or suggestions I can get or give would be appreciated.
 
Stoping lots of opiates and starting a short Suboxone detox then taper

Ok since everyone I know is only interested in when I cash my meds and no AA or NA close, this will be my support ad journal

I am almost 60 and have had a love/hate affair with opiate killers for 30 something years. You know the deal, every time you think you got this, turns out you do not.

FIVE days ago, with a full bottle of 30mg roxies and 10 50mg Fentanyl patches in stock, I jumped CT for 24 hours. I have never been one to run out of pills or some very strong opiate and, because I managed my meds better than anyone I know, have never been really sick. and the last few months have needed more than prescribed and for the first time, could see myself spinning down the way I have watched so many others do. The next day I started a 5 day Suboxone sub detox. Today, I am going on a 21 day taper plan. The last time I tried Suboxone, I stayed for a bit over 2 years and found it almost impossible to wean.
I have studied several plans and the one I am doing is to taper by 1/4 of my last dose every 4 days and after 4 days on 1/8 of a strip, I will stop....right?
Any help or suggestions I can get or give would be appreciated.

I do have some valium and trazadone for night time. I originally got hooked after being burned really bad and having several skin graft type surgeries over several years.

Right now, I feel like the subs are ok, the hand, knee and feet pain cause by the excessive dope has almost disappeared. The nerves still close to the skin that was burned are starting to burn.
 
I'm back up to 80mg/day and struggling to just get back to what my Dr prescribed. Back to work too. The stress of getting up at the crack of dawn is making it really hard to taper.
Sucks
 
^ So sorry to hear that work stress and/or needing to get up so very early is affecting your taper. You are certainly persistent, Squeaky, and I wonder if you just do your best to find a good maintenance dose for now, and taper once you build up some time off?

I also want to thank you for some of your insights on how sick I got at day 12 of my recent c.t. withdrawal. You are right... for me, if withdrawal symptoms are caused by opiates, taking my oxy will resolve the symptoms within an hour of dosing. I would not be surprised if I was experiencing clonidine and gabapentin withdrawal. I do know I tried to take Lyrica to help the symptoms but I got very nauseated from it. Since it is a "relative" of gabapentin, I could have had some toxicity issues and is why I have taken days to feel better. You have given me some feelings of hope back. By the way, I do have a PCP appointment scheduled for Thursday, my third PCP I am trying in the past 4 months, to meet with him and discuss if he can assist me with c.t. off of the opiates. I do have insurance at this point in time... however, I will be affected if the Healthcare act is repealed. So, I want to get this taken care of if/before that happens.
I have been researching some in network medical detoxes, and found one that has an excellent reputation. I still would have to pay a very high deductible, so would like that to be a last resort.
I think I will talk to the new PCP Thursday, and if he is at all willing to help me, I would like to get off the opiates sooner rather than later. I don't know if it is w/d from gabapentin or what, but the more time I spend clean off the opiates, the more they produce unpleasant symptoms when I take one again. I am walking a fine line right now... I need to take some opiates to help the cramping and vomiting, and if I take too much I end up with dizziness and headaches. Talk about living in hell.... it creates anxiety for me, which makes me want to impulsively grab at a solution; however, I need to weigh my options as I would greatly regret going to the medical detox to find it was not 100% necessary. Thanks again for your input, Squeaky!
 
Poke- I suggest you get every pill you can talk him into and get them all filled now. You may want them later after your insurance is gone and it will be nice to have a stash. My top drawer looks like a damn pharmacy. I keep notes on what I told the Dr at each visit too so I don't look like a lying junkie at the next appt. It sucks that Drs don't know everything they should, but you need to protect and insulate yourself from the possibility that he will cut you off of something like clonodine or you'll lose your insurance. For example: you could try to get double the clonodine per day, use half, and save the extra for future emergencies. I do that with Ativan and I have at least 6 months supply stored at home.
Also, be careful about admitting that you haven't taken any in weeks. My doctor refused to put me back at my previous dose of oxy because I quit cold turkey for 6 weeks. Nothing else helped my pain but he started me over at 2 norcos per day and it took 4 months to get back to enough oxy to help my pain. Even if I quit again, even if it's for ever, i'll keep going back for a few months and getting the most he'll give just in case I have to use it again so he doesn't start me back at level 1 when I really need level 10. AND as long as I have a pill bottle with a recent Rx, I can use it as needed and travel with it without fear of the police or failing a drug test.
 
I am still alive at least. I did some heroin for a few months straight. It was very pure which isn't a good thing, I really wish it hadn't been, my tolerance grew so high. When it is pure like that, like 50 - 80% or whatever it ruins your life quicker than ever. At first it was great but then my tolerance grew and it would still be great but I also lost my connection to any of it for now. It has left me feeling more suicidal than I have ever felt. I wish I was dead I truly do, and I mean it, if I died today I'd miss a few friends and they would be sad but I'd be in a better place for sure. Reincarnated as some alien-rabbit on some other planet in a galaxy far away, where opiates don't exist.

And when I was on it I was no longer becoming euphoric, I just felt completely normal - but normal is under-rated. I'd do anything just to be a normal human being, that is really all I want. Like how I used to be when I was just a pothead. That makes me cry. I was just a fun guy back then. I liked to skateboard, snowboard, play hockey, tennis, cycling, hiking, running, yoga, backyard astronomy, reading about eastern mysticism; I was always in the gym. I was always doing something with my day. I woke up, and I would smoke some joints have breakfast and do stuff. My days consisted of doing things. I had a fun social life, way more friends than I ever needed, went to parties on the weekend and stuff. Smoked weed with friends. I do nothing now, I can't even really smoke anymore and I don't interact with the human race very much. I don't like to anymore. I wish I was still just that pothead.

I haven't used any of that H in a week but I have been using oxy, morphine, and dilaudid instead and also picked up an amphetamine habit recently. The amphetamines give me a little bit of energy in withdrawal so that's when I use them. I will use coke as well but not often. Anyways, I am still an addict and my habits have only progressed since I stopped posting here. I stopped writing because I was just high. When you're high, you have it figured out.

I had a good life up until I hurt my back. Kills me to think of where I'd be if that never happened. I'd probably be a millionaire to be honest, but I have nothing. Over some stupid fucking injury that never should have happened. Makes it tough for me to believe in any sort of god anymore. And how I waited two years for health care and by that point was so fed up I had already tried heroin and was addicted to percocets and then just got the prescribed. The first opiate I did was heroin because I figured that it would take away the extreme back pain. It did, and it still does, but I become suicidal without it and it isn't legal as it should be in my view so I can never always have it.

I cannot even feel the pills these days, I can take like 60mg oxy and it will be like a sugar pill. I don't view myself seeing the year through, I really don't. Every day this past week I have done nothing but suffer, it was a long time coming that I would run out again. There is no sign of improvement, this time I've really done it. I feel like I should just quit because I've suffered enough at this point but by quit, at this point I just mean abusing other drugs like coke, speed, psychedelics, whatever... while using painkillers for pain. I feel like I could do it if I still got high recreationally off other stuff to keep me sane. Using any drugs is better than this devil. My prescription was just fine for the first year. I didn't touch H or anything during that time.

I don't like my life anymore. I no longer like myself. I don't really have hope anymore either. I already tried to quit and couldn't, although at one point I could have become a cokehead using the odd oxy instead and that would have been preferable to this monstrosity of a family of drugs. I had an alright youth I guess, looking back, but my life has been ruined by back pain and these stupid drugs now. I just can't do it anymore personally. I am done with life. I have been through withdrawal too many times to keep doing it. I think that this will be my final post. So this is what ended up happening to me. You can consider that I wound up dead, it is just a brief matter of time. I will be in a better place then.
 
I've been there shroomi. Suicidal for decades. Knowing that I was a slave to so many different pills made it worse. I got myself down to two prescriptions and I can tell you it's better. Less self-loathing dependant on two pills than on five.
You can do it brother, just pick one and get off it. Pick the easiest one. Then go get off the next. I found it's better to take too much oxy than to take a little oxy for pain, a littly Lyrica for nerve damage, a few Ativan for sleep, something else for constipation, something else for stress, etc, etc..... I still wish I was gone, but I'm down to just oxy and Ativan and it is easier. Giving up the first Rx was pretty easy, and it gave me some momentum. Give it a try before you give up.
 
Yeah I just can't quit right now, maybe in the future but definitely not right now. I try to keep it to pills. The withdrawals are unbearable and never really go away. I will make a post if I make any progress in quitting, but today I took meth, 10mg xanax, 4mg klonopin, 40mg valium, and I don't know how much oxycodone... not nearly enough. I didn't have a good day when on H lately I've been feeling perfectly fine like I did 10 years ago. Once I get H again, I will be down to two drugs. H and a benzo at a reasonable dose. Nothing can replace the relief that it gives and I got way too addicted recently I went through a lot. Hopefully I can get more soon, anyways, I will make a post if I change my mind about anything. This dry spell has just reminded me how very seriously I require it not just to function, but not to abuse other drugs to extremes. I use a point of H a day which isn't too too much compared to the amount of drugs I mentioned above. So I tried and fucked up real bad. I'll feel better soon though. That shit is a NEED though at this point. I nearly ended my life this past week. I just think it should be legalized for addicts but that's my opinion. I'd have a normal life that really wouldn't be disturbed by the drug all that much. I really wish I could quit though. I can't. I start abusing anything and everything instead of just the one drug.
 
Last edited:
So I decided not to give up. Two weeks off H and I'm in a pretty good place. I've only taken 15 or 20mg oxy so far today, and a little amphetamine to combat the fatigue. I can't believe everyone and their dog compares prescription painkillers to heroin. I kean, in theory I suppose it's true, but not if one possesses common sense. After two months of sniffing it and spending a few thousand dollara, I'm truly lucky I didn't kill myself these past two weeks. The depression has been so that I have been unable to lift a finger. It has since for the most part lifted into normal depression. My one rule right now is to not use that shit but I take like 60mg oxy a day. Not bad considering the devil. It won't be that hard I feel, because I know I will just continue to ruin my life with that shit.
 
Good to hear you're doing better Shroomi.
I have been on a crap roller-coaster for months. On and off thinking I can get off the oxy. I'm back to 90 mg a day. I was down to 45 for a few days but that didn't last. This is what I have learned:
It comes down to choices. A million little choices every day. Each one pushes me a little closer to or farther from my tapering goals. What I eat, how much I sleep, who I hang out with, etc. Each one takes me to that place where I need a pill because I'm hurting and I don't want to just handle the pain. It's so much easier to decide to take a pill than to decide to wait longer. I am bombarded with these micro-decisions all day long. The days when my mind is strong, I can stick closer to my plans to taper. Most days I am weak and I only stop myself from taking more because I am afraid of running out before my next Dr appt.
It sucks to realise that I am dependant.
 
Hi,
Just thought I would check in... I am in the middle of a horrible taper off of oxymorphone, AGAIN... the physical withdrawals are so bad that I cannot get one day clean, although I did reduce my daily amount from 20mg a day to 5 mg a day, it took 9 days of physical withdrawal that are excruciating. I have to get at least one day clean so that I get some hope back in my life. Squeaky and Shroomy: Nice to read your posts, although I wish we could kick these dependencies.
 
It just seems that back pain, or some other type of pain, is screwing us over in life.

My real problem is I haven't found a way to deal with it - any other way - and like if the doctors don't know? The singular thing that can treat my back pain is a strong dose of an opiate. Lately I've been taking amphetamines as they allow me to live with the pain while, instead of being depressed, focus on other things... take my mind of the pain in withdrawal, and this helps to lower my dose but also creates a new habit. Without them, if I am not careful, I will be more miserable and lazy at times than ever before and they will cease to help withdrawals. I take a quarter of an amphetamine pill some mornings, I can't handle more than that or I end up staying up all night and also having panic attacks, but I am constantly rationalizing myself to take it today, since I get so much energy from them and I end up taking less opiates. But I can still keep it to every other day, and whatever that addiction is, it doesn't have shit on these pain pills. Nothing does. Even getting off heroin, I feel was physically much easier than what I went through with oxy last year. And here I am taking oxy again.

I can taper down to a lower dose, but I will always be addicted because I will always have to do something that requires a pain pill. It is tough enough for people without horrible chronic pain to quit. All I can do is not abuse for euphoria but even that is tough. My tolerance is high and I need around 80mg a day just for my body not to freak out. Now, if I had money for things like acupuncture and massage, I'd have a much better chance at quitting I think. Those things weren't really working though so I ended up spending more and more on pills over the years and cutting that stuff out since it wouldn't really help and was hit or miss even for temporary relief. I do yoga now and that's it, a lot of restorative yoga that also doesn't help. If anything it aggravates my pain but keeps me fit, and it's still good to make my rigid spine move I think.

I'm still better than I was before I started opiates, I was miserable back then and in constant pain. At least now I get breaks, but it sucks. It particularly sucks because of the stigma, doctor appointments, laws, etc...

It's like I'm going on a vacation soon, what do I do? If I'm taking twice what I'm prescribed because that's just what I need. It creates so many complications and it's really easy to see how I plan around my habit and shit like that. Take higher doses for family events, etc, so people think I'm normal. Sometimes I get caught off guard in withdrawal and it's shit because people are like what the hell is wrong with you, you look like shit.

There is a balance but it's incredibly tedious to find and I don't really know if it's worth it, I am always swaying back and forth, polydrug use, etc... it's incredibly depressing and I don't know whether or not to work on acceptance. If it has been 5 years and the only thing I've ever found that makes the pain go away is an opiate? And I refuse to live in physical agony because it's just too hard... and then came the panic attacks. A whole new problem, from having untreated back pain for 2 years and being totally lost. It's getting to be too much.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top