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Opioids Gauging your level of dependence, "The Wake-Up" relative to chipping

timetohunt

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
334
My background is 3 years of Opiate use (medium heavy, up to 140mg opana), and another 2 added years of use where subutex was the main opioid. The whole 5 or 6 year episode started with back pain, and was jacked up a notch by a terrible crushed leg
where plates and screws were installed. The lure though was the energy, superhuman productivity and anxiety relief I got.
I used orally for about a year or so, then snorted the rest of the way.
I've generally been off opiates since the end of 2011, last year. YES !! :)
I did have 3 short stints of a few days (2-4 days) where I used anywhere from about 15mg of opana to 40mg of oxy. Note that 40mg of oxy was the high mark and it generally was 15 or 20mg most days. I did have w/d on two of those occasions, short and not intense (except for anxiety), but still not fun. My motivation to quit was because I could not control intake, the expense, and having acquired myoclonus (twitching), and nausea (the nausea occurred not as w/d but as a side effect). Not to mention my w/ds can border on the suicidal. The nausea and myoclonus are gone now as they were clearly spawned from long term use.

I guess you could say I'm chipping. I plan on stopping that too but had some serious personal situations that required the
focus, strength and back pain relief that opiates give me. There is clearly still some work to do when it comes to controlling my use and living without. The good thing is that I simply don't have any access to quantities now, its just not there thankfully.

Anyway my topic is this - Gauging how one feels in the morning after a day of chipping. Even though I'm not entirely
physically dependent, if my body is stiff and achy, my brain is a bit cloudy, and can sense anxiety - then I know there
will be w/d symptoms. These could last 4 days, with another 2 days of just being 'flat' and irritable. A genuinely bad time.

If I start off the day with none of what I have described except maybe a bit of anxiety, I'll be OK. Not great, but not in w/d.
I still usually am flat for a day or so, which I also hate. I was just wondering if anyone else out there can gauge their personal
level of impending hell by the "wake-up"?
 
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The "opiate hangover" happens to me after a night of getting really high. It doesn't correlate with withdrawals for me, and has happened from one random use after months of not using, and also when I was using 4 days a week.
 
^that is very, very true.

And yes, like Tommyboy said, there is a difference between a hangover and withdrawal. However if you try to "cure" your hangover with more opiates, then your on the path to withdrawal.
 
For some reason, especially with heroin but it seems to happen to me regardless of the opioid, the first day of not using I don't really notice any w/d symptoms. It's not like I'm still high, because I can certainly tell I'm stone cold sober. However, other than being tired and lethargic I don't feel sick or depressed or anything like I do when I'm in full blown w/d at all... lucky me I guess, because I can't imagine how much it must suck to wake up already in full blown w/d...
 
waking up

If you are a chipper, possibly a former long term user, waking up in WD, staring down a day of work or responsibility is a daunting task. It is for me. I have not been able to master it. So then, I guess, if I am in chipping mode, opiates are still my master. Nothing has come close.
 
Which is why buprenorphine can be a blessing to have on hand, even for the occasional weekend warrior. Use for two days, wake up with a little withdrawal, take .5 mg, and you're good.
 
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