Using loperamide for 1/2 a norco a day habit for 15 years, need advice on dosage

[Jbird11]

Ok bluelighters I could sure use your help! So my sister has been taking 1/2 a norco a day for 15years, she’s always been a lightweight. But she also has been taking 2-3 capsules of Kratom with the 1/2 everyday for the past 3 months. My question is…I know that the withdraw from norcos is longer than heroin or short acting opiates, the physical is like 7-14 days if I remember right. I also know u can only take loperamide for a MAX of 7 days even then ur rushing addiction to that..safest with 4-5 days on the loperamide. But she will only need to be taking such small doses I assume of loperamide that I was thinking that might give her some wiggle room and allow her to take the lope maybe for a bit longer…say 9-10 days?? Also I was wondering if any of u wonderful bluelighters could give me an idea of how much tagamet/loperamide she would need to take for the 1/2 norco for 9 years and the 2-3 Kratom capsules for 3 months? And fir how long she should take the loperamide for without getting withdrawals from the loperamide, and wondering if I’m right about her having some wiggle room with the loperamide as far as how many days she can take it due to the extremely low doses she will need of the loperamide to take away her withdrawals??? Take u guys so much!! And advice would be so wonderful!! As these norcos are starting to cause her severe health issues with her gut and she NEEDS to get off of them!!!

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

Only half a norco? So 5mg a day? She should be able to get away with just taking 2-4mg of lope as needed per day when the discomfort starts.

Even a 15 year stint, at only 5mg, shouldn't be too bad at all.

 

[negrogesic]

To be clear, she is taking one half of a norco (ie 5mg hydrocodone) or 1 to 2 pills (10-20mg)?

Hydrocodone is a pretty short acting, acute withdrawal is a week or so.

 

[Jbird11]

Only half a norco? So 5mg a day? She should be able to get away with just taking 2-4mg of lope as needed per day when the discomfort starts.

Even a 15 year stint, at only 5mg, shouldn't be too bad at all.

Thank u so much!! This is what I was thinking….so can she take 2-4 mg of loperamide then for like9-10 and still be ok because it’s at the recommended dose on the box?? And does she even need to take tagamet and grapefruit juice with it?

 

[Jbird11]

To be clear, she is taking one half of a norco (ie 5mg hydrocodone) or 1 to 2 pills (10-20mg)?

Hydrocodone is a pretty short acting, acute withdrawal is a week or so.

Yup 1/2 a norco 5 mg and also 2-3 Kratom capsules

 

[Jbird11]

To be clear, she is taking one half of a norco (ie 5mg hydrocodone) or 1 to 2 pills (10-20mg)?

Hydrocodone is a pretty short acting, acute withdrawal is a week or so.

So she would need to take 2-4 mgs how many times a day and fir how long ? And does she need to taper as well? If so what should that look like?

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

Thank u so much!! This is what I was thinking….so can she take 2-4 mg of loperamide then for like9-10 and still be ok because it’s at the recommended dose on the box?? And does she even need to take tagamet and grapefruit juice with it?

The gfj and tagamet is probably unnecessary, loperamide is actually a fairly potent drug, it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier but it seems to quell the physical effects of mild opiate withdrawal fairly handily.

She should stop taking the kratom first and see if she can just drop the kratom before ceasing the norcos. Some people don't get any withdrawals from kratom if using low doses for a short amount of time.

Either way, I think just 2-4mg of lope as needed per day will be completely adequate. After 5-6 days she should stop taking the lope, but even that is probably overkill.

 

[Jbird11]

The gfj and tagamet is probably unnecessary, loperamide is actually a fairly potent drug, it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier but it seems to quell the physical effects of mild opiate withdrawal fairly handily.

She should stop taking the kratom first and see if she can just drop the kratom before ceasing the norcos. Some people don't get any withdrawals from kratom if using low doses for a short amount of time.

Either way, I think just 2-4mg of lope as needed per day will be completely adequate. After 5-6 days she should stop taking the lope, but even that is probably overkill.

Wow really!! Man this would be a God send if it works like this fir her!! She worried tho that 5-6 won’t be enough…I’m thinking if she feels like she still needs to take it for say 8-9 days…will she even go through withdrawals at such a low dose? It doesn’t say on the box not to not take it for 7-10 days or anything?

 

[negrogesic]

There is no free lunch when it comes to opioid withdrawal. There are ways to minimize it but you'll feel something unpleasant.

Fortunately at 5mg/day of hydrocodone and 3 capsules of kratom (like 1.5g), the withdrawal will be mild.

I'd go with something like:

Taper to 2.5mg then quit. At 1.5g the kratom is dosed too low to even activate opioid receptors so it isn't really too participatory.

Then after quiting:

Day 1: 5 pills of loperamide (10mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours (can be bought on amazon)

Day 2: 4 pills of loperamide (8mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 3: 3 pills of loperamide (6mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 4: 2 pills of loperamide (4mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 5: 1 pill of loperamide (2mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 6: no loperamide,
500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

The black seed oil can be taken indefinitely. It softens low/moderate level opioid withdrawal. Black tea might help to replace the effect kratom has 1.5g (which is caffeine like).

 

[Jbird11]

Wow really!! Man this would be a God send if it works like this fir her!! She worried tho that 5-6 won’t be enough…I’m thinking if she feels like she still needs to take it for say 8-9 days…will she even go through withdrawals at such a low dose? It doesn’t say on the box not to not take it for 7-10 days or anything?

There is no free lunch when it comes to opioid withdrawal. There are ways to minimize it but you'll feel something unpleasant.

Fortunately at 5mg/day of hydrocodone and 3 capsules of kratom (like 1.5g), the withdrawal will be mild.

I'd go with something like:

Taper to 2.5mg then quit. At 1.5g the kratom is dosed too low to even activate opioid receptors so it isn't really too participatory.

Then after quiting:

Day 1: 5 pills of loperamide (10mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours (can be bought on amazon)

Day 2: 4 pills of loperamide (8mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 3: 3 pills of loperamide (6mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 4: 2 pills of loperamide (4mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 5: 1 pill of loperamide (2mg), 500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

Day 6: no loperamide,
500mg black seed oil capsules as needed every 4-5 hours

The black seed oil can be taken indefinitely. It softens low/moderate level opioid withdrawal. Black tea might help to replace the effect kratom has 1.5g (which is caffeine like).

Thank u so so very much!!

 

[thurston]

I can't imagine much if any withdrawal because if she was going to withdrawal she would start feeling dopesick 4-5 hrs after she took her daily dose and be dopesick part of the day every day.

 

[Jbird11]

I can't imagine much if any withdrawal because if she was going to withdrawal she would start feeling dopesick 4-5 hrs after she took her daily dose and be dopesick part of the day every day.

Well yes I would think so…but that’s kind of the problem…that’s why she started Kratom, cuz she hates taking the norcos, so instead of taking 1-2 norcos a day like she used to, when she starts feeling sick/withdrawals she started taking a Kratom to replace the norco, that’s how she was able to get down to 1/2 a norco a day…does that make sense?

 

[Keif' Richards]

A lot of really awesome advice here. I'll echo what others have already laid out. Even over the course of 15 years, I wouldn't expect the withdrawal to be severe. The psychological component will be big here though. Doing anything for 15 years is going to make it awkward to try to stop. My general advice would be to do a slow taper with the Hydrocodone going first. Then you can start to taper the Kratom capsules. Kratom is tself an Opioid via it's active alkaloid Mitragynine, although it's significantly weaker than Hydrocodone, making it a viable option for doing a "step-down" taper process.

@Jbird11 if you peruse the forums, you'll find that we very often recommend myriad different drugs to help alleviate withdrawal symptoms. The aim is to make the process bearable and to thus boost the chances of success, but it's my opinion thaty at this dose, you shouldn't have severe withdrawal symptoms to medicate. If you're interested in drugs to help with the sypmptoms, you can check out the forums or ask us here. We'll help you with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Jbird11]

A lot of really awesome advice here. I'll echo what others have already laid out. Even over the course of 15 years, I wouldn't expect the withdrawal to be severe. The psychological component will be big here though. Doing anything for 15 years is going to make it awkward to try to stop. My general advice would be to do a slow taper with the Hydrocodone going first. Then you can start to taper the Kratom capsules. Kratom is tself an Opioid via it's active alkaloid Mitragynine, although it's significantly weaker than Hydrocodone, making it a viable option for doing a "step-down" taper process.

@Jbird11 if you peruse the forums, you'll find that we very often recommend myriad different drugs to help alleviate withdrawal symptoms. The aim is to make the process bearable and to thus boost the chances of success, but it's my opinion thaty at this dose, you shouldn't have severe withdrawal symptoms to medicate. If you're interested in drugs to help with the sypmptoms, you can check out the forums or ask us here. We'll help you with whatever you decide to do.

Thank u so much for taking the time to help

 

[Jbird11]

Thank u