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depression and sweating from opioids withdrawal

delphinen

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 20, 2007
Messages
991
This has been my first 24 hours without opiates/opioids and im having suicide feelings, depression, and on top of that, terrible sweating. Im trying to go cold turkey.
Should I take some Codeine tonight to help me sleep, or try to do it without it?
what can I do about the terrible sweating?
Any help would be very appreciated.
 
if you're reEEEALLLy trying to kick you should stay away from that codeine, but tbh man if it were me and i got through the day opiate free i'd reward myself with a good night of sleep by gettin faded!

as for the sweats i don't know of anything but showering.
 
With no medication, I got 3 hours of sleep or less for 13 days straight. Insomnia is expected when withdrawaling. Benadryl worked for me after 13 days.
 
The symptoms you have are usual Opiate withdrawal symptoms. They will go away in a few days, but the anxiety and depression/suicidal feeling will last.

Don't take Codeine, it's just another Opiate/Opioid, if you want to take Codeine, why not take Tramadol? They are both Opiates/Opioids, maybe just as strong.
If you decided to go cold-turkey, you mustn't use any Opiate/Opioid to ease the pain.

But I think you should get some medications:
- Buy Loperamide, and take at least 4mg every 4 hours
- Diphenhydramine and Melatonin can help you sleep; and Diphenhydramine can help removing the sweats.
- Can you get Rx drugs such as Benzodiazepines? Clonidine? Muscle-relaxants?
 
^
Jason's right. The psychological affects of opiate wd's can last quite a while. 6+ month's isn't uncommon. But, keep in mind that the length is dependant on what, how much, and how long you've used. Also, each person may react differently.

My advice would be to take up some new activities. Exercising, work, or even just a hobby will help with the depression etc. That's obviously in regards to the psychological issues.

Jason has good advice for the physical effects...
 
Thanks for the replies. My principal problem is the physical feeling right now.
Im at work, and even moving a finger its so painful. The cold flashes paralyzes me, suddenly I get hot flashes, then I start melting myself (sweating), then the cold flashes again.. its horrible... and yet, difficult to explain in words... its something that paralyzes me.
I would like to know when this will end.
Yesterday I was able to sleep with 60mg Codeine and 350mg Carisoprodol.
I will *try* to not take Codeine tonight.
 
if you're still near the peak of your withdrawal, the codeine will only prolong your suffering with a laughable effect. make sure you eat well even if you can't, take vitamins, and for the cold, wear a sweater that will absorb all that cold sweat if you get too hot :)
 
On the one hand, taking a small dose of codeine can prolong the withdrawal. On the other hand it will help you sleep and give you temporary relief. There are other things that could help you sleep instead. You should try an antihistamine, or a benzo to knock yourself out. In my experience, falling asleep isn't the worst part of withdrawal. Insomnia can be cured even with OTC meds. it's the depression, anxiety, and flu-like symptoms during the day that suck the most.

All the advice in this thread is good. Immodium, benzos, muscle relaxers, and anti-histamines are some of the best withdrawal aids.
 
The chills and sweats lasted 2 weeks for me. Insomnia was two weeks for me as well. The worst was the leg pains, feelings of restlessness, achey muscles, all in my legs, lasted a month. I have not heard of anyone suffering for more than a month from the physical withdrawal symptoms. Most people are functional after two weeks. Methadone is a different story though, My friend suffered for a good two months from constant physical withdrawal symptoms when trying to kick methadone.
 
I will advice you not to take any centrally acting opioids at all. Codeine just makes the withdrawal go away for a while but at the end of the day you will suffer even more if you're going cold turkey. Well, 60mg is not much. When I tried to taper off morphine with codeine, I started very high like 600mg and finished at 200mg. Then I began going higher and higher and stayed dependant on opiates, injected i.m. codeine. Then got back on morphine and stronger drugs, it's a fucking closed circle.

I know it's hard to keep clean when you can't shut yourself for two weeks and go through the worst. Anyway, depending on the size of your addiction, it may last for a few weeks but I guess it's one of the first withdrawals if not the first seeing how you're worrying yourself so just tell yourself it'll be gone soon. Just a week or two price. Don't give up! The relief will come.

Concerning meds for insomnia, some sedative benzodiazepines are the best for me with no unpleasant side effects which you might get from first generation antihistamines. They do cause dry mouth and some other anticholinergic but they do nothing for sweating in my case. If you stay low on dose and you use it only at the beginning, then even half your dose, there should be no problem quitting it totally after the worst is gone. It's a good idea to chill oneself out during the day as well but if you can't get two benzodiazepines, one for anxiety and one for sleep, diazepam or temazepam are pretty much universal in my experience and will do the job if you have no tolerance. I personally prefer lorazepam for anxiety and estazolam for sleep. They will also help for restless legs and muscle spasms.

For sweating, you should be able to get some OTC antiperspirants with >15% aluminium chloride. It should start working after a few days and you will probably sweat less. I know how uncomfortable it is, especially if it's hot outside, you get cold flashes and shivers and sweat. Terrible thing but it will go away and that medicine is really effective. I would end up with wet sleeves after an hour and it helped me a lot.

For pain, just stick to OTC medicines. They don't do much if you're used to opiates but hell, that's paradoxically not the worst symptom of withdrawal.

Wish you much luck!
 
hey guys, im not sure if any of you remember me, but ive been off and on the board for the past year or so. i saw this thread and thought id chime in. I took my last dose of suboxone 9 days ago, and my last hit of heroin 2 weeks ago. now, i dont know about most of you, but for me, thats HUGE. the suboxone is what saved me...i cant say it enough. if you have ANY way, either through a doctor or a friend or a drug dealer, seriously, any way of getting your hands on even ONE 8 mg pill, jump all over that offer, you'll be so happy you did. i've been smoking tar for a while now...and i used like 6 mg's, and wd's were minimal, if that. i felt good by the 3rd or 4th day, and now i feel completely normal. I've just been taking 500 mg's of L-Tyrosine each morning, and a multi vitamin.
seriously, if i can do it, anyone can. you just have to make that decision and stick with it.
 
Thank you all very much for your help.
Tonight I will achieve my third night without massive doses of Tramadol, Codeine and Hydro. Will try to do it with 350mg Carisprodol and 50mg Diphenhydramine (I still dont know if I should take the 60mg Codeine or not... its so difficult. For some reason I dont feel like taking Tramadol at all when I want to sleep, but Codeine.. Codeine its another thing). I will also try to get some Loperamide.

How long should it take my body to detox to at least stop feeling the physical feeling (chills, sweats, etc.) based on the opiates/opioids I have done? I started like four months-half a year ago with Tramadol->Codeine->Hydro (but very little Hydro, didnt feel too much last times).

Thanks again for the replies.
 
Am I the only one that got massive relief from depression and anxiety from smoking pot during withdrawals? Pot helped me keep a positive perspective and relaxed me (that might just be me). I also kept a few nitrous chargers around. That helped. It wasn't like the nitrous gave me relief for a long period of time --but it did give me almost total relief (for a couple of minutes) and a very positive perspective on my predicament.
Sweat- I would just keep a bunch of towels around and switch them after they got soaked. The sweater idea I read above was good too. Get a few of those and rotate to the dry one whenever it gets soaked. Think of the sweat as the junk leaving your system and thus ending your WD's sooner. Then it's not just a bother.

A big thing that kept me going was thinking about everything that I had that would suck sooooo much more if I didn't have. ( like dry towels/ dry clothes/ a working shower/bathtub/ a benzo:) or two=D ) It might seem silly but it works. Imagine going through WD's in a cold concrete cell with some asshole telling you about Jesus (no offense JC). Thoughts like that lifted my spirit and made my surroundings and conditions seem better.
If you have a truly good friend that you can talk to--- DO THAT! Cry! Whine! moan! It's alot better than sitting in a room feeling like every little problem in your life is something to kill yourself over ( I realize you might have some real problems I just remember how much my small probelems were magnified during WD's)
 
God opiate withdrawals such don't they. Is it just me or do they keep getting worse and worse the more often you go through them?

Anyway i find that when im suffering from mild withdrawals i tend to sleep all the time. As in 16 to 20 hour's a day. When i have really bad withdrawals i find it hard to sleep unless i take alot of sedatives because im in so much pain. All i can do is lie in bed and count down the hours of when this will be over. Then when the withdrawals are over you have to deal with the boredom and everything else that comes along with the post withdrawal sickness. It's like you can't get any pleasure out of life at all.

I actually found codeine to be great at helping me get off stronger opiates like morphine and oxycodone. I found it to be especially good at getting me off morphine which only makes sense because codeine metabolizes into morphine. Id often be 3 day's in which is generally the worst day then id take about 120 to 180mg's of codeine and id be pretty well fixed up. Not enough to get me high just enough to stop the sickness and atleast let me eat, get up enough energy to shower and hold the food in me without running for the toilet 5 minutes later with my guts falling out. Codeine is great for stopping diarrhea because it's about the most constipating opiate out there.

Sometime i would taper off the stronger opiates using 30mg codeine tablets. The ones with no acetaminophen or anything else in them and this worked pretty good for me. It made the ordeal fairly painless. But i think i metabolize codeine abit better then most people because i can get high off it even after being on stronger opiates for a long time.

As for the depression id get this so bad that i was almost psychotic. Everything would just seem utterly hopeless and i would sometimes go into a rage. But i have bipolar disorder so it would only stand to reason that withdrawals would make my moods even more wacky.

I found seroquel to be great at helping with withdrawals because it helps the depression and general headfuck of opiate withdrawal and it makes the withdrawals less noticeable for some reason. It also calms you right down and can help you sleep during the worst phase of opiate withdrawals. It's much better for sleep then benzos atleast for me and it's really great for sleep when combined with a small dose of a benzo.

I use clonazepam which im already scripted, neurontin which im already scripted, and seroquel which i used to be scripted but always have a supply on hand for emergencies to help with the withdrawals. I just use more of the clonazepam and neurontin during withdrawals then i normally do.

Ive never had carisoprodol but if it's as good as a benzo at relaxing your muscles it should help with the aches and pains.
 
delphinen said:
Thank you all very much for your help.
Tonight I will achieve my third night without massive doses of Tramadol, Codeine and Hydro. Will try to do it with 350mg Carisprodol and 50mg Diphenhydramine (I still dont know if I should take the 60mg Codeine or not... its so difficult. For some reason I dont feel like taking Tramadol at all when I want to sleep, but Codeine.. Codeine its another thing). I will also try to get some Loperamide.

How long should it take my body to detox to at least stop feeling the physical feeling (chills, sweats, etc.) based on the opiates/opioids I have done? I started like four months-half a year ago with Tramadol->Codeine->Hydro (but very little Hydro, didnt feel too much last times).

The physical symptoms of withdrawal will be over in a few days, if you don't take Codeine anymore! By taking it, you only extend the withdrawal.

Replace it by Loperamide, it will take care of many physical discomforts such as diarrhea and maybe the cold sweats too (many people swear that it removes ALL physical symptoms... it's worth trying I think)

Try to sleep with Carisoprodol, as you seem to have access to it (and Diphenhydramine also).
If you can't sleep, you should take another Carisoprodol pill rather than Codeine.

You're going to make it!
It will be over in a few days.
Good luck!
 
Its being more difficult than I thought, but I appreciate your help a lot, it really helps me to believe it will end someday.

Yesterday I took 475mg Carisoprodol and 50mg Diphenhydramine to get to sleep, and it worked at first, but then I woke up 2 hours later in the night, with the chills, almost freaking out, man it was so horrible.
I got up and ran to get a Codeine pill (60mg Codeine/300mg Acetaminophen) and half of a Carisoprodol pill (175mg). I think I was able to sleep again in 15'.
I slept like 12 hours straight and missed work :(
Now I got up and had some meat and potatoes (forced myself to eat) but now im feeling sooo cold and bad. Also I think the depression is coming stronger... the fact im missing my job doesnt help.
Man, I didnt thought withdrawal from weak opiates/opioids would be so cruel, this is close to the worst I have ever feel in my life.
Again, thank you all for your replies. I'll try to get some benzos for tonight...
 
A lot of us understand exactly what you are feeling and going through, it is truly on of the most horrible experiences there is! A few comments for ya though...

Everyone that has told you that by taking the codeine you are extending the w/drawal is correct. If you really can't manage the cold turkey kick, you may be better off tapering your codeine over a few weeks rather than doing it CT.

One thing that helps me is having gone through this many, many times and coming off much stronger opiates at higher doses is understanding what is going on and how long it will last. Typically, and this would be true for codeine, from 24-48 hours is the absolute worst physically. You can get through this with benzos, lope or any of the other recommended drugs, but either way, it's going to suck, a lot!

Once you pass the 48 hour mark, without ANY opiates, you will gradually start to feel physically better. After the 24 hours of hell, any little bit helps! With such a short duration or your use and the drug you used, the physical should be over around day 3. As mentioned, the mental-shitty feeling takes a bit longer to go.

Everytime you take that nighttime dose, you are almost starting the clock over- so you're turning a 3 day hell into however many days you've been at this. If a taper isn't an option, look into a bupe or other detox- you can detox very quickly, especially from codeine.

Also keep in mind, the farther you go with this (using more and stronger opiates), the worse the w/drawal is. I'm sure it feels like the worst thing you've been through, but trust me it can get much, much more painful and worse! Good luck!
 
I think that a lot of withdrawal symptoms you are going through are caused by the SSRI action of Tramadol too, as Tramadol is an Opioid AND a SSRI.

Almost everything that has been said in this thread applies to Opioid withdrawal; I don't know how to deal with SSRI withdrawal.

I think that the worst part of physical Opioid withdrawal will be over in maybe 72 hours; but the SSRI withdrawal can last longer.

Maybe taking a SSRI during a few days can help? Can you get Prozac, Zoloft or any SSRI? I think it's the most easy thing to get. I've never seen a doc refusing prescribing a SSRI...
 
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