What is the worst drug to have withdrawals from?

[Permanent Jones]

Yes, it is possible to use responsibly for a while. However, everyone I have ever met, with one exception, who has played games with heroin like that, has become a full blown addict. Please consider getting away from it while you can, before you become physically dependent. Once that happens, you're trapped into using to avoid horrific withdrawals. Good luck, my friend.

 

[Gotaquestion]

I used heroin for a about a year before I kicked it. After I kicked it I stopped for a few weeks or less, and now I've been doing it again for about two months(use about a gram in two to three days, I'm just afraid of wds in general. I have subs 8mg film, will I wd after taking subs for about 3-4 days just those 8mg. And I also have clonidine and xans if I take clonidine and xans while I wait 24 hours to take subs will I pre wd when I do take subs? Please help me answers these questions. Thank you!

 

[Pibolar]

Do what? Withdraw from opioids? Well, it's not like we have a choice in the matter. Do you think people get hooked on opioids planning to go through hellish withdrawal before they start? Like "hell yeah man, I'ma get my tolerance sky high and then quit, gonna be a blast!"

bd you're still the best.

 

[ZacherySwan]

@BeachBum4u

The worst part of being dope sick for me, is after detoxing off of opiates, such as oxycodone in any form, Percocet to Oxy Contin 40mg, or
Pentazocine HCI pills, from Canada TalwinPX, to Slovenia/Cz Republic "Fortral 50mg tabs" to "Sosegon 25mg tabs" from Spain, is the entire
1st full year of PAWS for Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome. I recently made a 200+ day period of abstinence from all opiates, without any
Bupe (Subutex, Suboxone, or Temgesic) just 12 step meetings, and, the psychological craving, to just feel "normal" finally overwhelmed me.
Thus I had a slip, on narcotics, this time beginning in late July of 2016, back to Oxy Contin old formula. A great book to read about
PAWS syndrome is titled PAIN PILL ADDICTION by Jana Burson M.D. subtitled "A Prescription for Hope" published by Dog Ear Pubishing,
Indianapolis, INDIANA year 2010 ISBN 978-160844-698-8 IMHO after having 10+ years in AA, NA and CA, then having a 6 year slip, it is
especially hard to overcome feeling dope sick (not feeling contented) like the first time around giving up your drug of choice, especially when one reaches a certain age male or female. I had a slip off narcotics, after 200 days + attending AA, late July of 2016, and, it is awfully
hard to reach the "pink cloud" of happiness, I once discovered, "a long time ago" on my journey with sobriety with 12 step groups. IMHO
the second time around, after 10 to 20 years of sobriety, if like climbing Mt. Everest. I have known a few males/females to return and
maintain sobriety again beyond one year, but, in the majority of cases, they passed away clean and sober, but were still with a lack of
contentment, and were still "dope sick" The factor of one's age also has a component in the outcome IMHO

 

[Amaraline]

I'd have to say the RLS, it drives me crazy, the puking, and endless sneezing fits. Plus, that feeling that time has stopped dead. And the whole time constantly thinking of heroin. When I finally kicked it 10 months ago, I literally didn't/couldn't sleep or eat for the first 3 days. I could only drink water and lie there, just wishing God would have mercy and just kill me. Being a junkie sucks, but I'll always be one. It's just that now I'm on prescribed Oxy IR 20 MG instead of IV heroin.

 

[ittybitty412]

I love reading this when I'm sick, just knowing I'm not the only one makes it a tiny bit easier. Just got to the last page and decided to make an account since I've been reading these forums for over a year.
Worst part for me is the restless legs and the dry heaving from a tickle in my throat. Does anybody else get restless spine/back???

I wanna quit so bad but I'm too scared of being sick. Scared to try methadone cause I heard the withdraws are 2 to 5 times worse???? I can't IMAGINE feeling WORSE

 

[Ne0]

Risk of death vs PAWS

Take yer pick.

Bullshit. Alcohol also have PAWS and how come I don't have PAWS after 3 years of poppy tea? Many people don't seem to understand that many alcohol addicts might drink for 2 weeks straight then not drink for 3 days, and after that drink again for 2 weeks straight. Opiate addict is usually 24 hours a day and 7 days a week on opiates for years (at least I was, I just made sure I never run out of my DOC). If you drink every day from morning to the night and wake up from sleep to drink more (this is case with many alcohol addicts, its little bit like GHB addiction, you wake up every 2-4 hours unless you drink enough before sleep so that you're still are drunk in the morning) for many years you will feel different then that 2 week drinking 4 days break alcoholic, and believe me there are many alcoholics that drink very high proof vodka all the time without break.

 

[hangyourhead]

Alcohol WD is filled with paranoia, lucid nightmares, confusion, anxiety, and the risk of seizures and at worst death.

Heroin WD is soul-crushing, you're more aware of whats going on so it's hell on earth IME, your bones feel like they're being crushed along with your lower back, the depression is enough to induce suicidal thoughts and psychosis.

 

[Ne0]

Alcohol WD is filled with paranoia, lucid nightmares, confusion, anxiety, and the risk of seizures and at worst death.

Heroin WD is soul-crushing, you're more aware of whats going on so it's hell on earth IME, your bones feel like they're being crushed along with your lower back, the depression is enough to induce suicidal thoughts and psychosis.

You shouldn't go could turkey on anything. With alcohol you should take benzos, with opiate WD take anything that helps you feel better, studies says GHB, gabapentin and lyrica are very good for opiate WD. But up to you if you want torture yourself.

 

[Ne0]

I love reading this when I'm sick, just knowing I'm not the only one makes it a tiny bit easier. Just got to the last page and decided to make an account since I've been reading these forums for over a year.
Worst part for me is the restless legs and the dry heaving from a tickle in my throat. Does anybody else get restless spine/back???

I wanna quit so bad but I'm too scared of being sick. Scared to try methadone cause I heard the withdraws are 2 to 5 times worse???? I can't IMAGINE feeling WORSE

I never got to methadone or subuxone becaue I knew that one day I mnight to stop them and it will be much worse. Only other way is to use them untill you die.I used various drugs to get rid of WDS, it worked, no I don anything that I dont addicted to opiates again, If I do I most likely never will stop them anymore, just better use them till die.

 

[FunctionlJnkieGal]

I dunno. My dad is a die-hard alcoholic and I'm dating an alcoholic myself. I've seen my father have the DT's and it made my morphine withdrawal look like a cake-walk.

 

[Pill2Chill]

You shouldn't go could turkey on anything. With alcohol you should take benzos, with opiate WD take anything that helps you feel better, studies says GHB, gabapentin and lyrica are very good for opiate WD. But up to you if you want torture yourself.

Having something to ease withdrawals isn't *always* an option. Besides, my benzo dependency renders them borderline useless to help in opiate w/ds. Also my metabolism causes me to get precipitated withdrawals from suboxone up to 48 hrs after my last dose of even a short acting opioid (like morphine, heroin or oxy). Haven't tried the neuroleptics (pregabalin & gabapentin), nor have I tried clonidine. They're supposed to help too. But I usually make do with my regular dose of bromazepam (no extras during opi w/d except sometimes I'll use a higher dose ONCE, and only for extreme cases of insomnia).

Anyway, for alcohol it is litterally necessary to have something to taper down with (benzos preferably) if the habit is big enough, since going C/T off of alcohol is quite dangerous.

But for opiates it's not strictly necessary, as it isn't dangerous to go c/t. It sure is easier when you have some stuff to help of course, but opiate addicts don't always prepare for withdrawal (well, that's my experience anyway) since they know it's not actually dangerous no matter how shitty they will feel.

On the other hand, I've never let myself run 100% out of benzos, since kicking those c/t could lead to seizures and other nasty & dangerous stuff. I think that's big part of the reason that I always make sure I don't run out of benzos early (and am able to do so quite easily). On the other hand I don't get much out of benzos recreational-wise, so there is never really any temptation to exceed my dose unless I desperatey wanna knock myself out because of insmnia.

Anyway, ON-Topic: I think alcohol w/ds are probably the worst, but I can only speculate as I've only gone through hardcore opiate and hardcore benzo w/d. While benzo w/d (imo) isn't as bad as opiate withdrawal (in intensity), the long duration of benzo w/d more than makes up for the lesser intensity compared to opiate withdrawals. And as I understand it, alcohol w/d is a LOT more intense than benzo withdrawal (similar, yet a lot more 'intense'), ergo a lot more dangerous to do (without proper medication anyway). And seeing as benzo withdrawal is already that bad, I'd guess alcohol withdrawal is the worst. Though the duration is closer to that of opiate w/d's than it is to the duration of benzo w/d's. (Around a week if I'm not mistaken, though I'm not 100% sure about this)..

TL;DR - So, I'd say alcohol is the worst (I think), haven't experienced that one myself but from what I gather it seems rather horrific. Don't get me wrong, opiate withdrawal (from a large habit anyway) SUCKS. Only I think alcohol withdrawal sucks more, with the impossibly strong tremors, chance of deliriums, seizure risk and all that other goodness... Although, I've seen pretty bad alcohol addicts go through alcohol withdrawal close to symptom-free because they used benzos (most drs give it to alcohol addicts who want to quit for a semi-quick taper & rehabs use it too for the exact same reason - and when benzos are used, the patients seem rather comfortable whilst getting off alcohol - so detoxing from alcohol with professional help does not seem THAT extremely hard). For opiates the only options remain methadone & suboxone. Suboxone doesn't kill all my symptoms, and methadone has a terrible w/d of its own. So maybe, if you consider the meds available to help with detoxing, opiates are the worst after all.

It's really hard to decide.. Lol.

 

[SirTophamHat]

Bullshit. Alcohol also have PAWS and how come I don't have PAWS after 3 years of poppy tea? Many people don't seem to understand that many alcohol addicts might drink for 2 weeks straight then not drink for 3 days, and after that drink again for 2 weeks straight. Opiate addict is usually 24 hours a day and 7 days a week on opiates for years (at least I was, I just made sure I never run out of my DOC). If you drink every day from morning to the night and wake up from sleep to drink more (this is case with many alcohol addicts, its little bit like GHB addiction, you wake up every 2-4 hours unless you drink enough before sleep so that you're still are drunk in the morning) for many years you will feel different then that 2 week drinking 4 days break alcoholic, and believe me there are many alcoholics that drink very high proof vodka all the time without break.

I understand the life of a drug addict pretty well, I think.

You kind of trailed off there and lost me... I think what you were trying to say was that alcohol WD can entail PAWS as well as risk of death, and not everyone who WDs from opiates gets PAWS? That's fair enough. My oversimplification of the two (risk of death vs. PAWS) doesn't exclude anything you said, to be fair. I can't tell you why you don't have PAWS. You must be lucky. Or maybe still drinking the tea?

 

[elvis_wears_nikes]

I definitely agree. Alcohol withdrawal can be life threatening if not managed properly...

 

[Methacodone]

My answer is the same as my answer in the 'which is worse benzo or opiate wd' debate.

More painful = Opiate withdrawal

More dangerous = Alcohol withdrawal

 

[BillyHo]

I have gone through Oxycontin, heroin, serious alcohol withdrawal and Xanax / klonopin withdrawal plus methadone Etc. In my opinion alcohol helps immensely with methadone withdrawal I do not think that opiates help that much with alcohol withdrawal. All I know is that when I mess up my methadone on the weekend... Nothing is better than drinking 5 or 6 nips.

 

[aihfl]

I've detoxed off opiates and alcohol and nothing sucks like alcohol withdrawal. Nothing. You just feel like you'd wish you die during opiate withdrawal but you actually think you might actually die during alcohol withdrawal with the hallucinations and seizures. I was coming off benzos at the same time (in an attempt to self detoxify) so it might have been worse than alcohol withdrawal alone but it is the worst thing I have put myself through in my entire life and I've done it a lot of times. Cunning, baffling, powerful is right.

 

[bomber]

Though I used to be a heavy drinker I never got an alcohol wd. Having got through heroin withdrawal though, and having seen people strugling with alcohol wd, I gotta agree that alcohol wd is worse.
The thing is though that, ime, physical dependance on alcohol develops in a lot slower rate. As I said I was a heavy drinker since a teen, but never got dependant, while it only took a few weeks until I my physical dependency on opiates developed.

 

[Ne0]

Having something to ease withdrawals isn't *always* an option. Besides, my benzo dependency renders them borderline useless to help in opiate w/ds. Also my metabolism causes me to get precipitated withdrawals from suboxone up to 48 hrs after my last dose of even a short acting opioid (like morphine, heroin or oxy). Haven't tried the neuroleptics (pregabalin & gabapentin), nor have I tried clonidine. They're supposed to help too. But I usually make do with my regular dose of bromazepam (no extras during opi w/d except sometimes I'll use a higher dose ONCE, and only for extreme cases of insomnia).

Anyway, for alcohol it is litterally necessary to have something to taper down with (benzos preferably) if the habit is big enough, since going C/T off of alcohol is quite dangerous.

But for opiates it's not strictly necessary, as it isn't dangerous to go c/t. It sure is easier when you have some stuff to help of course, but opiate addicts don't always prepare for withdrawal (well, that's my experience anyway) since they know it's not actually dangerous no matter how shitty they will feel.

On the other hand, I've never let myself run 100% out of benzos, since kicking those c/t could lead to seizures and other nasty & dangerous stuff. I think that's big part of the reason that I always make sure I don't run out of benzos early (and am able to do so quite easily). On the other hand I don't get much out of benzos recreational-wise, so there is never really any temptation to exceed my dose unless I desperatey wanna knock myself out because of insmnia.

Anyway, ON-Topic: I think alcohol w/ds are probably the worst, but I can only speculate as I've only gone through hardcore opiate and hardcore benzo w/d. While benzo w/d (imo) isn't as bad as opiate withdrawal (in intensity), the long duration of benzo w/d more than makes up for the lesser intensity compared to opiate withdrawals. And as I understand it, alcohol w/d is a LOT more intense than benzo withdrawal (similar, yet a lot more 'intense'), ergo a lot more dangerous to do (without proper medication anyway). And seeing as benzo withdrawal is already that bad, I'd guess alcohol withdrawal is the worst. Though the duration is closer to that of opiate w/d's than it is to the duration of benzo w/d's. (Around a week if I'm not mistaken, though I'm not 100% sure about this)..

TL;DR - So, I'd say alcohol is the worst (I think), haven't experienced that one myself but from what I gather it seems rather horrific. Don't get me wrong, opiate withdrawal (from a large habit anyway) SUCKS. Only I think alcohol withdrawal sucks more, with the impossibly strong tremors, chance of deliriums, seizure risk and all that other goodness... Although, I've seen pretty bad alcohol addicts go through alcohol withdrawal close to symptom-free because they used benzos (most drs give it to alcohol addicts who want to quit for a semi-quick taper & rehabs use it too for the exact same reason - and when benzos are used, the patients seem rather comfortable whilst getting off alcohol - so detoxing from alcohol with professional help does not seem THAT extremely hard). For opiates the only options remain methadone & suboxone. Suboxone doesn't kill all my symptoms, and methadone has a terrible w/d of its own. So maybe, if you consider the meds available to help with detoxing, opiates are the worst after all.

It's really hard to decide.. Lol.

Well on good hting about being singledrug user like with opioids you can use other drugs to ease the WD's. you an use benzos, pregabalin, gabapentin ,baclofen, even amhpetamine, maybe some soma, GHB and so one, why the hell should anyone go throught that torture of dtrong opioid WD's especially if they last 2 motnhs like with opium, you said that on opioid WD's you hope you die but in alcohol wds you actually can dise, well If I went CT on opioid I sure hell want to die, and I would do anything that I would die. Or would you bee tortured 2 months every single minute without any ease, ofcourse you want to die. Using methadone or subuxone to ease opiid WD's is not solution, you much use something that isn't opioid by self.

 

[Pill2Chill]

It's a better option for me for now than continuing to relapse on oxy time and time again and because of it spend at least half (up to 3/4th) of each month in w/d.

But yeah it's no solution; though for now it beats other options for me. Until I am so sick of the addiction that I am finally able to quit.