Exercise - A great aid for opiate withdrawal and much more!

[oliphill]

Yeah exercise most definately helps, in acute and in paws. My friend told me a story when he was kicking in prison with a load of other junkies..... The gym instructor guy came and asked them who wanted to do some exercise, obviously everyone was like 'fuck that'. But my mate did it and went and played squash, really pushing himself to the limit.. Anyway that night he slept much better, with no meds, than all the other junkies and they had been given zopiclone! He repeated it and was a week ahead of them in getting better too.

Here's some good info on boosting endorphin levels I've copied and pasted from another forum:

1. BOOSTING THE DEFICIENT NEUROTRANSMITTERS.
First, let's talk about boosting the neurotransmitters. For the opiate addict, this means SPECIFICALLY "ENDORPHIN"---short for "Endogenously Produced Morphine" aka "Endomorphine" aka "ENDORPHIN."

There are some things you should know about endorphins. They are the body's natural opiate. Endorphin is released naturally in response to pain, orgasm, exercise, laughter, positive thoughts, secondary messengers responsible for fevers & immune responses, and there are other potential triggers including prayer.

These tips may not seem like earth-shattering phenomena by themselves, but believe me, when these steps are clustered and performed regularly, THEY REALLY DO HELP!!!

Common activities known to boost endorphin levels/satisfy cravings:

* Chocolate. Chocolate has a mild effect on endorphins.
* Candy. Actually any kind of sugary candy boosts natural endorphin levels. Candy helps most with early stages of withdrawal. Lab mice experiments have shown sugary sweets appease craving after abruptly cessation of morphine. Swim practically LIVED on Reese's Pieces, sour candies, M&M's, and those 'tiny' Hershey Kisses for 8 TO 10 WEEKS! Note: he did not gain or lose weight during this time.
* Exercise. This is #1. Force yourself to walk out the front door. FORCE YOURSELF to walk 2-3 blocks from your front door…then you turn around and get 2-3 additional blocks in for good measure. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!! The best exercise is running/jogging/spinning/anything aerobic. Second best is walking or yoga. Somewhere in-between the two is weight lifting. Weight lifting or resistance-training can be done in a fraction of the time and there is evidence to show that this kind of exercise might benefit the MOST at the late stages of withdrawal (i.e. insomnia from 'restless legs').

*

* Accomplishment. That's right. Any kind of accomplishments. Small ones, big ones. Just be sure you're PLANNING and EXECUTING daily. Anything that fosters a feeling of self-accomplishment and PRIDE will cause your brain to squirt out some Endogenous Morphine.
* Sex. Orgasms release endorphins. You've probably already figured this one out… OR--more likely, you've noticed that your sex drive has gone down to almost NOTHING while on opiates. This is normal. I can explain the hormones of it later if you're interested. The point is, you've replaced the endorphin-rush of sex with one that requires no build-up, no mess, and no chance of rejection. Do not feel embarrassed if you become a masturbation machine. This is also a normal part of recovery. Eventually, the sex act itself will be overshadowed by the LOVE aspect.
* Love. Love is a complicated emotion. It's the fuel for poets, playwrights since recorded history and the need for it traces all the way back to the first man and woman. HOWEVER!! SEXUAL LOVE IS *NOT* WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT HERE!!!! Ultimately, your most long-lasting, gratifying experiences outside of drugs will come from the experience of giving AND RECEIVING love. Get creative with this. Love your enemies. Remember people's names. Start remembering birthdays. Surprise someone with your generosity. Next time you mow the lawn, cut your neighbor's grass…and take his trash out to the street. Donate time to feeding the homeless. There's literally TENS OF THOUSANDS of small things you can do to put forth love out into the world. *THIS* is the true secret to learning how to live without opiates! And believe it or not, the rewards are MUCH GREATER than even the best heroin you'll ever do!!! But you've got to get up and DO SOMETHING!
* Sleep. Eventually---like in 4-6 months from now--your body's autonomic nervous system will stop being 'revved-up' all the time. Eventually, you will be able to sleep again without having to knock yourself in the head with a sledgehammer! When this day comes, BE PREPARED! Start going to bed as early as possible, to allow yourself a good 7 or 8 hours of restful sleep. Your endorphin levels will naturally increase from the circadian rhythm, plus you'll allow yourself the luxury of copious dreaming--not only endorphin-releasing, but overall will make your days more relaxing and give your psyche plenty of time to play.
* Eat a hot Chili Pepper. *
* Think Positive Thoughts.* Placebos, prayer and positive thinking all trigger endorphin release according to Dr. Slotnick.
* Get Emotionally Moved *
* Undergo Acupuncture.*
* Be Afraid.*
* Watch a Funny Movie or TV Show. More specifically, research has proven that simply the expectation of watching one's favorite funny movie releases Beta-endorphin and human growth hormone.** Go ahead and buy the Seinfeld Box DVD.

 

[Violenza666]

Sex, eating chocolate, and like you said exercise are three on my list.

 

[Violenza666]

This is a great post. I am not sure why the entire thing didn't post when I quoted it. Anyways, excellent post, and thanks!!

This should be sticked for anyone going through WD or who wants to kick.

Yeah exercise most definately helps, in acute and in paws. My friend told me a story when he was kicking in prison with a load of other junkies..... The gym instructor guy came and asked them who wanted to do some exercise, obviously everyone was like 'fuck that'. But my mate did it and went and played squash, really pushing himself to the limit.. Anyway that night he slept much better, with no meds, than all the other junkies and they had been given zopiclone! He repeated it and was a week ahead of them in getting better too.

Here's some good info on boosting endorphin levels I've copied and pasted from another forum:

 

[mario323213]

i love how everyones always recommending exercise for opiate withdrawal.. i mean it sounds good on paper but anyone whos had to break a bad addiction to opiates knows that just getting up and moving yourself from your bed to the bathroom takes everything youve got. i know when i was detoxing, getting exercise was the farthest thing from my mind.. besides i think exercise is overrated for the initial withdrawal stages, i dont believe it really helps enough for it to be worth the effort.. i think its more important for helping your brain recover during the PAWs phase.

yea seriously..what i do SOMETIMES is ride my bike while on opiates so i get extra endorphins ha..but yea i should of kept doing football! damn im pretty sure it would of been easier to quit opiates or go longer without them or not even have any major wd either

 

[rolls_]

Old thread but I am bumping this because it is amazing advice.

Before I was an opiate addict I was an exercise addict, weights 3x a week and lots of running etc. Got hooked on morphine from poppy seed tea and got fat and lazy for almost 3 years. Since quitting I've been exercising 6 days a week and the buzz I get from this is better than the opiates.

An amazing all day lasting natural high, you feel motivated, healthy and just great. Makes your self esteem go sky high as you build muscle and lose fat, and the energy it gives you transfers over to your job and relationships improving them, the effect is a spiral upwards, everything reinforces everything and you feel better and better.

So people, trade your opiates addiction for an exercise one. Hard at first but once you get started you'll never look back.

Exercise was my cure to addiction and depression. Instead of getting home from work and looking forward to a dose, I look forward to exercise, I want to do it and I can't imagine not doing it.

edit: also the tip about eating chillis actually works, I eat a whole chilli in a salad most nights and I get a real buzz from it, strange sensation but it feels good.

 

[Kudders]

I work at an amazing medical university hospital and the fitness center is on campus so its very convenient! I wanted to ask how y'all work out....for example, I work my entire body insted of just certain areas every time I go....its more so aerobic and high reps. The OP is correct though, being physically active gives you a slight advantage in recovering! The jump rope, dips and a few lower body thingers I made up work up a great sweat!

 

[pema]

Also, IF ANYONE HAS ANY OTHER IDEAS ON BUILDING ENDORPHINS, PLEASE INCLUDE IT HERE!

I have no ideas on building endorphines but on inhibiting the enkephalinase. That enzyme is responsible for the degradation of enkephalins.
There are also other endogen opioides than endorphines. There are endorphines, enkephalines and dynorphines. Until short time before, it was believed that endorphines are the cause that for example seriouly injured people feel no pain. Now we know it better (slightly). Endorphines have probably something to do with regulation of pain and hunger. They are also said to be with development of euphoria. But it seems that endorphines connect with opioid receptors but it also seems that they are not responsible for the reduction of pain (at least not a this place). The endogene opioids that reduce the pain are the enkephalines. And those enkephalines will be degraded by the enzyme enkephalinase. There are some subsances that are able to inhibit this enzyme. And when this enzyme is not there, it cannot degrade the enkephalinases which should result in increased analgesia.
An easy to obtain, cheap and non-harmful enkephalinase inhibitor is the amino acid D-phenylalanine which is available as a dietary supplement in most countries. It is important that you buy DL-Phenylalanine or D-Phenylalanine. The l-enantiomer of phenylalanine is not able to work as enkephalinase inhibitor. Just the d-enantiomer will do the job. But there are a lot of stores that sell the amino acid L-Phenylalanine. So search for "DLPA".
Taking that amino acid shall result in less pain. It is said to work as remedy for chronic pain. It should not work like taking an acetaminophene pill where pain stops nearly immediately. But people with chronic pain reported that their pain got less severe after regular intake of DLPA for about one to two weeks.
It seems that this could really work. I will try it when I do my next withdrawal in one or two month. I will report then if it helps.

It did a quick search in the medline database to find some studies on this topic for you. Unfortenately I have no access to the full texts of those studies but you can read the abstracts... Search with pubmed in the medline database for "enkephalinase inhibitors" or for "phenylalanine pain".
Or enter the name of the following studies in google's search mask:

Ehrenpreis S.
Analgesic properties of enkephalinase inhibitors: animal and human studies.
Prog Clin Biol Res. 1985;192:363-70.

Ehrenpreis S.
Pharmacology of enkephalinase inhibitors: animal and human studies.
Acupunct Electrother Res. 1985;10(3):203-8.

Halpern LM, Dong WK
D-phenylalanine: a putative enkephalinase inhibitor studied in a primate acute pain model.
Pain. 1986 Feb;24(2):223-37.

Walsh NE, Ramamurthy S, Schoenfeld L, Hoffman J.
Analgesic effectiveness of D-phenylalanine in chronic pain patients.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1986 Jul;67(7):436-9.

Ehrenpreis S.
D-phenylalanine and other enkephalinase inhibitors as pharmacological agents: implications for some important therapeutic application.
Acupunct Electrother Res. 1982;7(2-3):157-72.

Kitade T, Odahara Y, Shinohara S, Ikeuchi T, Sakai T, Morikawa K, Minamikawa M, Toyota S, Kawachi A, Hyodo M, et al.
Studies on the enhanced effect of acupuncture analgesia and acupuncture anesthesia by D-phenylalanine (first report)--effect on pain threshold and inhibition by naloxone.
Acupunct Electrother Res. 1988;13(2-3):87-97.

Kitade T, Odahara Y, Shinohara S, Ikeuchi T, Sakai T, Morikawa K, Minamikawa M, Toyota S, Kawachi A, Hyodo M, et al.
Studies on the enhanced effect of acupuncture analgesia and acupuncture anesthesia by D-phenylalanine (2nd report)--schedule of administration and clinical effects in low back pain and tooth extraction.
Acupunct Electrother Res. 1990;15(2):121-35.

Kitade T, Minamikawa M, Nawata T, Shinohara S, Hyodo M, Hosoya E.
An experimental study on the enhancing effects of phenylalanine on acupuncture analgesia.
Am J Chin Med. 1981 Autumn;9(3):243-8.


Has anybody tried this yet? Would be interessting...
I do not know exactly when enkephalines will be produced. I do not know if they are only produced when the body feels pain or if they are also produced when you do exercises.
And I do not know if DLPA only inhibits enkephalinase or if it maybe could have also positive effect on inhibitation of endorphine degradation.
More research (or online search) will be necessary for that...


And I have some questions to the exercising. It is always said to do some exercise during opioid withdrawal and how great this shall help. But I never tried.
I always wanted to try but last time (during heroin withdrawal) I felt so bad that I was not able to exercise. I was so sick that I was puking all the time. I nearly was not able to walk without help. I had to crawl on the floor when I wanted to go to the toilet. After this became better after some days, my body was still aching and every muscle was pure pain. So I decided not to exercise. And after that got better, I took some walks outside but that was all.
I think next withdrawal will be a bit easier because I am not so high dosed as last time. I will try to exercise.
Who has tried it? I always read that I should do so but I nearly never read reports of people who actually did it.
How much does it help? How much does it reduce withdrawal? How long does that last? How often should I exercise and how long should I do it?
In what way does it help exactly? Does it only relieve the pain from withdrawal or does it maybe help with e.g. insomnia, too?
What kind of exercise is recommended? How shall I work out? Some exercises are really hard when all muscles are aching. And I am afraid of muscle soreness the next day. So it should be exercises that can produce a lot of endorphines but should not hurt the not practised body too much.
Any recommendations?

 

[fabriclondon]

Hi Guys,

I'm going through a pretty tough withdrawal. I'm in the beginning of suboxone withdrawal, but I just got out of the hospital yesterday for xanax withdrawal. It's tough to even eat right now but I feel strong enough where I want to exercise. Do you think I should ease into it or just go as hard as a I can? The xanax withdrawal was really rough on my system but docs said I seem to be physically healthy as bp was great and all other vital signs. I've kept withdrawal journals in the past, and know how much exercise and eating helps. What do you think? Thanks!

 

[YouUcanDoIt]

Working out works for w/d,start weeks before you know you are gonna run out of drugs.

i love how everyones always recommending exercise for opiate withdrawal.. i mean it sounds good on paper but anyone whos had to break a bad addiction to opiates knows that just getting up and moving yourself from your bed to the bathroom takes everything youve got. i know when i was detoxing, getting exercise was the farthest thing from my mind.. besides i think exercise is overrated for the initial withdrawal stages, i dont believe it really helps enough for it to be worth the effort.. i think its more important for helping your brain recover during the PAWs phase.

I think it's because you are trying while going through withdrawals, if you know ahead of time you are say, going to run out of the opiate in a week. This is the point you should start a exercise plan, even earlier if possible. Then by the time you are out of the drug, your withdrawals will be minimal or even non existent.

It worked for me, but I started my workout regimen 3-4 weeks before I ran out of hydrocodone and morphine. I would do cardio for 30-40mins. 2-3days a week, and the other days I weightlifted for about the same amount of time. You should workout at high intensity if it is safe for you to do so.

As I mentioned earlier by the time I ran out of my hydrocodone and morphine my withdrawals were minimal or even almost non existent. It really does help. Give it a try and give us a update on your results. Oh yes, I forget. You have to eat a lot(healthy is better, but just eat enough to build and give you fuel for your workouts) and drink plenty of water.

Update 5-27-14, I went back on norco/morphine again (I know, it's bad and stupid) and had to do my exercise regime before I ran out and it worked again. I started working out only a few days before, leading up to the day of and after I ran out of my drugs, I worked out intensely to the point of sweating and it helped with the withdrawals.

I think because instead of sweating from withdrawals I was sweating from the workout so it helped bring out the drug and the stress of working out helped with that body tension and high anxiety your body feels, instead of feeling it through those awful withdrawals(I know because I've felt withdrawals and it is the most horrible feeling ever, the sweating, diarrhea, can't sleep, feeling weak, tearing, body aching/jerking and legs kicking), you feel it from stressing your body/muscles/mind and sweating from the intense workout.

Also I agree if you try to start a workout when you are in withdrawals it's impossible. It's hard to even drag yourself to the bathroom, and that's when you need to because of the continual diarrhea that happens from not having the drug/s in your system. So the key is to start that workout regimen before you know you are going to run out, before withdrawals and also at the same time start to taper down the drugs down if possible before you run out. These things will help way better than just doing nothing and just waiting for withdrawals.

 

[Jordanb0205]

I'm sorry but both these statements are fulse. A lot of withdrawal is in your head. I have been through withdrawal many times. Every time I looked in my pill bottle knowing I was taking my last one, and said to myself "this is gonna suck." Anyone else say that? Probably every single one of you. The worst of a withdrawal last 3 days (72hours). Most of the time your withdrawal sucks so bad is because you are truly not done.

This last time I took my pills and flushed them down to toilet. Day 2 of withdrawal and I feel completely fine. Exercise has played a rule. You are choosing to lay in bed not wanting to do anything. Get your butts up! Get some fresh air! Take a walk! It's not gonna kill you.

When it comes to pain pills; anyone can be going through withdrawal and not know it. Getting a tooth pulled, or braking a leg. Those people think they just have a cold and go about their day. The people here; your withdrawal sucks so bad because you are allowing it to, you know what to look for in withdrawal.
Okay I'm done. Have a wonderful day every one.

 

[Stuckinthecycle]

Theres no fucking way a person with a heavy opiate habit is benching or curling during wd. In detox it would take me a half hour of mentally preparing myself to brush my fucking teeth in the morning. Also dead on with the super quick nut. I never thought the term 2 pump chump was literal until opiate wd lol

 

[Stuckinthecycle]

Dude you're talking about mild opiate wds. I remember those, about 8 years ago. At first I literally did think it was a cold. After a few more times i realized it was wd. It lasted about 3 days of only getting a halfnights sleep and my toes twitching while in bed. Feeling a little blue at work. If you keep taking those pain pills your habit will build and you will eventually experience a severe opiate withdrawal. This is where the 2 weeks of not sleeping comes into play. Weeks of barely eating or not eating at all. Throwing up every hour, pissing out of your ass every 15 minutes. Legs kicking and arms thrusting as if zapped by a small dose of electricity. Panic,anxiety,doom and gloom, depression, thoughts of suicide,anger,and tears for no reason. Also the awesome bonus of not being able to move fast enough for your symptoms and shitting and puking on your way to the bathroom. Plenty more i left out depending on the exact DOC and the person. You shouldn't brush off peoples living hell as just being weak because you haven't been there. Hopefully this reply will encourage you to do some research on the true horrors of longterm opiate wd and you will stay away from the pills and avoid this living hell.

 

[Erikmen]

Hi Guys,

I'm going through a pretty tough withdrawal. I'm in the beginning of suboxone withdrawal, but I just got out of the hospital yesterday for xanax withdrawal. It's tough to even eat right now but I feel strong enough where I want to exercise. Do you think I should ease into it or just go as hard as a I can? The xanax withdrawal was really rough on my system but docs said I seem to be physically healthy as bp was great and all other vital signs. I've kept withdrawal journals in the past, and know how much exercise and eating helps. What do you think? Thanks!

I suppose you could take it a bit easy in the beginning. Take care of your mind, body. Try to eat, sleep, etc.
Maybe exercise can be done when you are feeling better. Physically recovered.
Good luck!

 

[endlessnameless]

*Bump*

Fell off the wagon last August/September 2015 (heroin - first relapse following having kicked methadone 8 months prior) due to not being able to find work and being stuck in a mind melting routine of having no structure and little to look forward to on a daily basis. Been trying to get off since January 2016 and the best I've been able to manage is about 7-10 days before I'll score a 20 bag, hate myself, then do another 7-10 days before scoring again.

Thankfully I've recently enrolled in a scheme to get me back into employment and I should be going back to college this September too so I fucking have to be done with this. So I've decided to try the exercise route for 30 days at the local gym. This is exactly what I should have done when I got clean last year -- filled my time by any means necessary (other than drugs) until some work came about. Despite the insane muscle tension and sky high anxiety I feel quite positive about this. I've noticed before that my physical withdrawal symptoms would almost completely subside (save for the sweating of course) whilst cycling to score so I figure I'll try at least 30-40mins of cardio a day for the next month and we'll see how it works out. Its something I've never tried before but after reading this thread I'm feeling very positive about it now.

I'm literally signing up for a month later today with the remainder of my unemployment money for the week so scoring wont even be an option. I could have scored yesterday and today already and still had enough to join the gym but I've decided against it. Instead, what I'm going to do is chronical my progress over the next 30 days here in this thread. I need my fucking soul back ASAP. As far as I can see this can only serve to expedite the process of recovery.

Thanks for reading and I'll make an update later this afternoon/evening following my first session. I'll also be booking a Thai massage for next Monday due as like I said before, this insane muscle tension is really restricting my movement. I suspect its largely due to not just the anxiety itself, but the sedentary lifestyle I've been living over the last few months of my relapse too. I'll update later today. Thanks for reading folks.

 

[SubPAWS]

Thank you

Dude you're talking about mild opiate wds. I remember those, about 8 years ago. At first I literally did think it was a cold. After a few more times i realized it was wd. It lasted about 3 days of only getting a halfnights sleep and my toes twitching while in bed. Feeling a little blue at work. If you keep taking those pain pills your habit will build and you will eventually experience a severe opiate withdrawal. This is where the 2 weeks of not sleeping comes into play. Weeks of barely eating or not eating at all. Throwing up every hour, pissing out of your ass every 15 minutes. Legs kicking and arms thrusting as if zapped by a small dose of electricity. Panic,anxiety,doom and gloom, depression, thoughts of suicide,anger,and tears for no reason. Also the awesome bonus of not being able to move fast enough for your symptoms and shitting and puking on your way to the bathroom. Plenty more i left out depending on the exact DOC and the person. You shouldn't brush off peoples living hell as just being weak because you haven't been there. Hopefully this reply will encourage you to do some research on the true horrors of longterm opiate wd and you will stay away from the pills and avoid this living hell.

I couldn't agree more. I don't think we should judge or dismiss others pain based on our own personal experiences. We are all different and depending on our level of physical dependence we will all suffer different levels of physical wd symptoms.

 

[360 Nut]

I know this is an old thread, but there really is some brilliant advice in it. I quit fast acting opioids 16 weeks ago, it was quite a rough W/D after 8 years of chronic abuse. However I had always exercised in that time. Thanks to weight training and running and eating healthily I feel great and have absolutely no cravings whatsoever. I stumbled across this thread whilst in early W/D and it inspired me to get myself fit again. I've gained muscle and lost fat, that can only be a good thing.