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Opioids The Opioid Withdrawal Megathread and FAQ

The Thomas Recipe from somewhere or other...
NSFW:

"PLEASE NOTE: I am not a doctor, simply a long-time Rx opiate junkie who has had many opportunities to develop a way to detox. This is a recipe for at-home self-detox from opiates based on my experience as well as that of many other addicts. It is not intended as professional medical advice. It is always wise to make sure none of the recipe ingredients or procedures conflict with medications you may be taking. Likewise, if you have any medical condition, disease, allergy or any other health issue, consult your doctor before using the recipe. Thanks, Thomas

THOMAS RECIPE

If you can't take time off to detox, I recommend you follow a taper regimen using your drug of choice or suitable alternate -- the slower the taper, the better.

For the Recipe, You'll need:

1. Valium (or another benzodiazepine such as Klonopin, Librium, Ativan or Xanax). Of these, Valium and Klonopin are best suited for tapering since they come in tablet form. Librium is also an excellent detox benzo, but comes in capsules, making it hard to taper the dose. Ativan or Xanax should only be used if you can't get one of the others.

2. Imodium (over the counter, any drug or grocery store).

3. L-Tyrosine (500 mg caps) from the health food store.

4. Strong wide-spectrum mineral supplement with at least 100% RDA of Zinc, Phosphorus, Copper, Magnesium and Potassium (you may not find the potassium in the same supplement).

5. Vitamin B6 caps.

6. Access to hot baths or a Jacuzzi (or hot showers if that's all that's available).

How to use the recipe:

Start the vitamin/mineral supplement right away (or the first day you can keep it down), preferably with food. Potassium early in the detox is important to help relieve RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome). Bananas are a good source of potassium if you can't find a supplement for it.

Begin your detox with regular doses of Valium (or alternate benzo). Start with a dose high enough to produce sleep. Before you use any benzo, make sure you're aware of how often it can be safely taken. Different benzos have different dosing schedules. Taper your Valium dosage down after each day. The goal is to get through day 4, after which the worst WD symptoms will subside. You shouldn't need the Valium after day 4 or 5.

During detox, hit the hot bath or Jacuzzi as often as you need to for muscle aches. Don't underestimate the effectiveness of hot soaks. Spend the entire time, if necessary, in a hot bath. This simple method will alleviate what is for many the worst opiate WD symptom.

Use the Imodium aggressively to stop the runs. Take as much as you need, as often as you need it. Don't take it, however, if you don't need it.

At the end of the fourth day, you should be waking up from the Valium and experiencing the beginnings of the opiate WD malaise. Upon rising (empty stomach), take the L-Tyrosine. Try 2000 mgs, and scale up or down, depending on how you feel. You can take up to 4,000 mgs. Take the L-Tyrosine with B6 to help absorption. Wait about one hour before eating breakfast. The L-Tyrosine will give you a surge of physical and mental energy that will help counteract the malaise. You may continue to take it each morning for as long as it helps. If you find it gives you the "coffee jitters," consider lowering the dosage or discontinuing it altogether. Occasionally, L-Tyrosine can cause the runs. Unlike the runs from opiate WD, however, this effect of L-Tyrosine is mild and normally does not return after the first hour. Lowering the dosage may help.

Continue to take the vitamin/mineral supplement with breakfast.

As soon as you can force yourself to, get some mild exercise such as walking, cycling, swimming, etc. This will be hard at first, but will make you feel considerably better.

Thomas"
 
I can't find much on this at all, Why do some say not to take tylenol 3 (codiene) if you are or were taking a stronger opiate? I am out of my normal pain med and was going to use them to ease the withdrawal. my norm is oxycodone about 40-50mg spread out over a 24 hour period. I am using tramadol 100mg which is 2 50mg tabs 3-4 times a day and bendryl at night to sleep. Should I skip the T3s or will they ease things tell I can fill my medicine? I was planing on taking 120mg of codiene 1 time daily all at once to take the edge off an get a break. Will this make things worse?
 
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I posted the OTC solution to these withdrawals above. Again:

#2: Loperamide, low dose DXM (40-60mg), and white grapefruit juice.
 
So I've been smoking heroin daily for the past 16 days. Roughly twice a day about 20$ worth a day. I'm stopping today, should I expect some withdrawals ? How bad will they be after 16 days ?
Also, prior to 16 days ago I'd never used it before however was previously addicted to oxy
Thanks

Also would it be worth it to take methadone or sub
 
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should I expect some withdrawals ? How bad will they be after 16 days ?
There will always be withdrawals. They probably won't be that bad though.
Also, prior to 16 days ago I'd never used it before however was previously addicted to oxy
If you were dependent on oxy when you started heroin then you have to account for your time spent doing oxy as well when factoring in the withdrawal. If you were clean and had just done oxy a long time ago then it won't have much effect.

Also would it be worth it to take methadone or sub
Almost certainly not worth it to get on maintenance or even to do any sort of long taper if were talking just the 2 weeks of heroin use. A few short acting opioids...or just a smaller amounts of herion...could help.

I'll merge this into the mega withdrawal thread for you now. Be sure you read the first couple of posts.
 
Okay so what would be the best way to go about it and still be able to focus on school/work?
And no I was off the oxy for nearly 16 months prior to this relapse
Would you Recomend small amounts of heroin or small amounts of oxy/hydro?


Also I know it's hard to predict, but with roughly 16 days of usage could te symptoms be comparable to a mild flu? Eg still able to live life just with some discomfort?
 
Would you Recomend small amounts of heroin or small amounts of oxy/hydro?
Just enough to take the edge off would be fine, however you have to be careful you don't end up taking more to get high or sustain yourself which will just make the situation worse. It can be harder using your DOC to taper so codeine or tramadol might be a slightly better option if OTC and non-narcotics aren't cutting it.

Also I know it's hard to predict, but with roughly 16 days of usage could te symptoms be comparable to a mild flu? Eg still able to live life just with some discomfort?
Sure why not. Maybe slightly worse though. Or maybe slightly better.
 
ive been taking opana 40-60mg daily for about a month. will the withdrawls be really bad?
 
ive been taking opana 40-60mg daily for about a month. will the withdrawls be really bad?
The time period is fairly short, but that is an very strong amount of drugs. I would definitely try to cut back on your amount of opana usage before just stopping.
 
^ I'm now down to just 2 hydromorphcontin 12mg's/day. But I crush up the beads and snort the full 24mg at once. Even potentiating with diphenhydramine, and Loperamide isn't doing much. Feels like Oxy withdrawals but more stomach (GI issues) possibly. My tolerance is fucked, you think 24mg of Hydromorphone intranasally would at least touch the withdrawals but doesn't even cause ANY miosis, let alone touch my withdrawals. Yikes, this is the 4th day and still feeling like shit. I am on a daily dispense taper but I'm giving up.

Any suggestions?
 
Relapse

I am sick of relapsing all the time.

1,5 month ago I went through horrible benzo and opiate withdrawels and said I never wanted to use again.

Well - I did.

Even though I only used every other day or every third day this time I still get bad WD's and didn't sleep a second last night (4th night without plugging oxycodone). My tolerence didn't go down after 30 days of not using. I plug around 250 mg of oxycodone within an hour and then I feel good and high.

Am I very sensitive to WD's or is this normal?
 
^I think your issue is that you are on such remarkably high doses some of the usual rules of thumb might not work as well for your situation. Usually 15 days of use or so wouldn't result in that bad a dependance, but 250mg of oxycodone at once is just so much to suddenly give up. As for your tolerance if someone has an 80mg per day habit and they take a month down it might go down by 20mg and they can notice the difference by only having to take a 60 instead of an 80. If your tolerance dropped by 20mg, 250 and 230 are much more indistinguishable.
 
quit oxy.. if i take again do the same withdrawals come back right away

okay so i stopped using opiates a few weeks ago...
i really only stopped because i ran out of money and was kind of bored of it
i know im going to start again... which is a horrible idea, i know but
please just ignore that and dont try to tell me not to or try to tell me to remember how much it sucked not having money and how depressing it all was..... just dont
please... hah and thank you...
okay so i know its only been 2 weeks being cleaned, i stopped using subs which was wayy easier than cold turkey and i guess it would be worth it again...

i know it takes a while for your tolerance to actually go down (like years)
but if i did one night would i be withdrawing 12 hours later like i used to...
i need to know if im gonna need to get again the next day! haha....
thanks!
 
no you wont withdraw if you do it once....but ask yourself are you going to just do it once?
 
I find that the withdrawals come back a lot sooner after you use after you have gotten clean. I have gone though withdrawals after a 3 day bender after being clean for over 3 months.
 
You only withdraw upon discontinuation if you are dependent on the substance. Dependence (at least for opioids) takes days of constant use to start to develop and it won't be as bad as your most recent time until you get up to similar levels as before (it will be easier to get up to those levels though).

edit: also as Tommyboy said you can be much more sensitive to the symptoms as well.

>>> merged
 
okay! cool! thanks.. and thanks for not attacking me for wanting to start back up again :)
 
detox & withdrawl lenghs!

Ok so,I'm going through my second detox. And this time I'm going cold turkey.my first time I was on about a .1-.2 shot a day for six months and about a hear of smoking before that.the first Ime I detoxd I took about 16 mg of sub the first day and nothing for about a couple weeks after..I felt not too bad the first two weeks.I could sleep a good amount,barely any Rls but after a couple weeks when I'm guessing the sub half life ran out I started to feel the withdraws a bit more.
It was never too bad to handle but after feeling like cap for like two to three fuckingmonths ( prob due to taking a sub once or twice a week) I though it would never get better unless I stopped everything sub and all.. so his time I'm doing it cold turkey off about a .1-.2 day orally. So I'm on my third day now not feeling too bad.I just have the same shit as always,my skin and chest feels clamy or something idk but its just bad enough not to be able to sleep.. what I'm wondering how long this would take for me to feel almost %100 percent better..I know people say the main wd is around seven days but do you all think that its going to linger for months and months like last time or would it only last around 7 days due to it being cold turkey and not prolonge it bythe use of subs??? Thanks... basically,will this shit end fast or not ha
 
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Yikes that suboxone behaviour is not the usual way to do a taper and months of spending a few days in withdrawal and then taking large amounts of sub would negate that time spent hurting :\
Check out this thread here for info on that. Tapering Plan Mega thread - community project

As for your current situation, the acute withdrawal will start to lessen in a day or two. Heroin taken orally is only a fraction of the strength of it injected IV so it won't be that intense either. That being said you did ask about 100% better and as you have been using for years you'll likely have some PAWS (post acute withdrawal) which could last for a while and this includes not be able to get as much enjoyment out of previously enjoyable activities for a time (dopamine and brain chemical stuff).

I guess I'll merge this into the Opioid Withdrawal Megathread for you. It's not the best place to talk about PAWS but will be a good resource for minimizing withdrawal symptoms for the next few days.

>>> merged
 
Yikes that suboxone behaviour is not the usual way to do a taper and months of spending a few days in withdrawal and then taking large amounts of sub would negate that time spent hurting :\
Check out this thread here for info on that. Tapering Plan Mega thread - community project

As for your current situation, the acute withdrawal will start to lessen in a day or two. Heroin taken orally is only a fraction of the strength of it injected IV so it won't be that intense either. That being said you did ask about 100% better and as you have been using for years you'll likely have some PAWS (post acute withdrawal) which could last for a while and this includes not be able to get as much enjoyment out of previously enjoyable activities for a time (dopamine and brain chemical stuff).

I guess I'll merge this into the Opioid Withdrawal Megathread for you. It's not the best place to talk about PAWS but will be a good resource for minimizing withdrawal symptoms for the next few days.

>>> merged
Well I didn't plan on tapering,I just thought that the large amount of sub would take away the first few days of the wd and that since I wasn't addicted to the sub I would just kick for the last week or so off the h...it actually did stop the wd for like the couple of weeks but than it started up again for a long time ha...
 
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