Lithium and After-Opiate Depression (22 days clean from Opana)

FordRiverFailed

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 19, 2010
Messages
251
Location
In the middle of the tunnel, I think I see a light
A little background first. When I was 15 I raced motocross and broke tons of bones so pain killers were a regular part of my life. I realized the recreational potential at that young age, but remained an unaddicted occasional user until two years ago. At college at age 20 someone introduced me to Opanas and Dilaudids (hydromorphone). It was true love. I used every day for almost two years without thinking twice. I worshiped dope idols like William S. Burroughs, bands like the Velvet Underground and movies like Trainspotting. I was totally surrounded by the culture, people, and lifestyle. Nearing the end of two years I realized I hadn't been sober in like 4 years (mainly other things before I was addicted, but always something) and I was sick of it. I had spent tons of money and it was time to stop.

My taper:

I was doing 40 mg of oxymorphone a day just to keep the sickness at bay. I bought two suboxones and built up some willpower. I taped from 40mg of Opana a day to 5mg. That was actually the easy part. I suffered some blackouts and some vicious dreams (I'll post an 8 page dream report later) but I actually didnt know that was because of the withdrawl because I didn't feel physically sick even with the huge drop. I made the transition to suboxone, 2 mg a day at first. This was hard. I stayed at 2 mg for only 3 days before going to 1 mg. This was harder. I stayed at 1 mg for 2 days and took .5 mg the last day. After that I totally stopped, only a little xanax (alprazolam) for sleep. First four days, not so bad really. At day 5 I left for a one week vacation in a far away state with a beach. I purposely took nothing with me, I desperately wanted to get clean. With the help of 18 good friends and an awesome girlfriend who don't use hard drugs I was able to stop.

The trip:
Upon arriving at the beach I had tremendous separation anxiety knowing I could get nothing to help. I got really sick by day 8 of being clean. I was puking, shitting, and having rushes of adrenaline like someone was pointing a gun at me. Trying to sleep was like a scene from trainspotting where he's just laying there having these horrible dreams. I tossed and turned and kicked and flipped in bed like it was my job, but I was determined. By day 9 I was so ill I wouldnt have taken a line of oxy just because I didn't want to add anything to how bad I felt. Even know I knew it would make it stop, I felt so amazingly bad that any drug seemed like it would make it worse in my crazed head. Not that anyone offered, but I had like anti cravings. I was sickened by pills. It slowly got better from day 9.

Now:

I'm at day 22. I still get cold chills but they're bearable. I've started to sleep, eat, and function like a normal human. My question is how long does it take for the depression to wear off a bit? I've been prescribed Lithium in the past for minor depression and still have some but the side effects like shaking were too much for me. Also I like psychedelics and know that Lithium is bad for those.

TLDR: I'm 22 days clean off opiates, when's my depression going to get to a normal level. Also I still get chills, should this be gone by now? I'm not at all thinking about relapse, just trying to get perspective on when my brain chemistry will be normal again.
 
Hi there, congratulations on getting clean, especially from Opana they are a bugger. Opiate depression is one of the worst things I have experienced. It is far worse in my opinion than the actual first days of serious withdrawals and it lasts FOREVER. Or actually...seemingly forever. I know by day 22 it starts to get a bit ridiculous. It feels like it's been so long and it starts to get hopeless that you will never feel normal. Or that you just can't handle another month or even week of the depression.

My drug of choice was heroin and roxycodone and I "believe" from what I've read that Opana actually has a little longer withdrawal period. But I can tell you that once you hit one month you will begin to feel more normal both physically and mentally by the day. Try and find something that sparks your interest. Something to give you a reason to get out of bed and feel happy. I know the hardest thing for me when I was finally past the physical withdrawals (probably between week 2-5) was just getting out of bed. I would wake up with the most awful feeling of dread. The morning depression was horrendous.

I substituted by doing active things like planting vegetable seeds, building things, going online, etc. I think for me, the most helpful thing when dealing with the depression is to find something to take your mind off of being bored and having nothing to do.

22 days is a long time in opiate withdrawal/depression land. You have come really far. Try reading other threads pertaining to opiate withdrawal in this section. There are people from all walks of the recovery process. I think for you, seeing people who are beginning to feel better in regards to the depression will give you a nice boost of hope and ambition to continue on.
 
Thanks for the quick reply and support stardust. I should also mention that I've probably been making things worse by taking small amounts of adderall to get out of bed. That has only been the past 2 days so I'm stopping that now because it makes the next day that much worse. Music gets me out of bed and I've been going to more local shows and art showings recently to take my mind off of things.

An interesting side note for those into hallucinogens. When I was at the beach (days 7 through 14 of being clean) me and my friends smoked DMT literally every single night. Yes I know, we're crazy. However, while down there I would not drink a beer, take xanax, or smoke much weed cause it made things worse. DMT seemed to give me some natural feeling energy and elevate my mood for a few hours without a depressive crash like xanax or other things. I have tons of experience with psychedelics though so that might not work for everyone (or anyone). We only "broke through" one night (.1grams in a bowl). The other times we put a half gram in a blunt and shared it with a group. This definitely makes you trip hard, but not the same beast as straight DMT.

At the beach the toughest part for me was the manic ups and downs with energy. I was either bouncing off the walls or sluggish and down. My experience with psychedelics prepared me for this in such a way that I think I would have relapsed without it. I was able to realize my mind was playing tricks on me and just wait it out. If there's anything a tough LSD trip will teach you, it's that sitting your ass down and waiting can solve a whole mess of problems.
 
I think you are right about the adderall. I started using caffeine heavily to get out of bed. I actually noticed myself adopting some of my opiate habits (like I would increase my "dose" every day to adjust "tolerance".) It started getting ridiculous the amount of caffeine I needed.

One of the most amazing pieces of advice I read on here once in regards to stimulants was someone was talking about how stims (not sure which, lets be generic you get the idea) made them feel better about themselves and how they were a much better smarter, active person on them. Then someone chimed in about how stims are only useful when you are on them. The crappy part of them is that you have to continue to take them and take more in order to feel the same again. You adopt a terrible recurring lifestyle of using them. As crazy as it sounds it can happen with everyday things even like caffeine. Just be careful. You are in a sensitive state. If I am vulnerable enough to fall into a cycle with caffeine I don't want you to become dependent on getting out of bed with a heavier stim. You have to face it and find it in you to get up on your own.

If there's anything a tough LSD trip will teach you, it's that sitting your ass down and waiting can solve a whole mess of problems.
I can cheers to that. However, this being a section of the forum dedicated to recovery, we don't glorify any drugs. I can understand and identify if they were helpful to you though.

I'm glad I could give you a fast reply. I know how difficult getting off of opiates is and I want to provide as much support to people who are going through what I did and still am going through. I really encourage you to look around here. This place has given me a lot of support and so much information to keep me going on my path as a clean person.
 
Thanks again, sorry if the LSD thing seemed glorified. I can remove it, and I certainly didn't mean taking LSD helped me get off opiates. Just the previous experience of being a little crazy made the territory of withdrawl seem more familiar. The reason I started this thread was just to get some stuff off my chest. I'll certainly look around but my question still stands. There aren't many threads (that i can find, I promise I UTFSE) about Lithium and Opiate depression. If anyone knows anything please let me know.
 
Yeah, I know there are a lot of threads about opiates but I'm not sure about threads with Lithium being used in conjunction with it. Actually maybe you may get better results if you added it specifically in your threads title. Sometimes people browse through posts and overlook some. If they see something that relates to them they are more likely to click it.
 
Yeah I think you should be able to edit your own title if not when a mod gets on they can change it for you if you want.

Try it first though.
 
Thank you Vaya. If there were a poll I'd vote you best mod ever.

Quick summary for someone just reading this.

Two years on Oxymorphone, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone. Currently 22 days clean and doing quite well with staying that way. Not craving just dealing with the expected depression and laziness (honestly I feel like I got off easy). My very short taper was posted above, I pretty much cold turkeyed a 40 mg a day opana habit (not recommended for anyone, it was hell). I have lithium and seroquel prescribed for conditions I had before addiction. I currently don't take either because my conditions (insomnia, minor depression) are so mild I think my Doctor was a bit crazy. Now that I'm in post withdrawl though I was wondering if these could help. The only thing is seroquel always made me groggy the next day even after a ton of sleep and so did lithium although I may not have taken it long enough to get used to it.

TLDR: Will lithium help after opiate depression? How long do I have to stay on it to stop being a zombie? What are some side effects I should know about with Lithium as the shakes and hair loss make it seem not worth it. If Lithium is a bad choice, what is something else (non-addictive meaning no benzos) that could help? I know SSRI's and stuff are "addictive" in that you get tolerant and have to taper but I've been prescribed benzos and I told my doc to take me off because I did not wanna go down that road.
 
I'd say lithium may help for now. But I would see it as a not so subtle solution and you're exchanging one zombieness for another, but it is nonaddictive and you can stop it down the road once you get over your opiate cravings.

Thank you Vaya. If there were a poll I'd vote you best mod ever.

Quick summary for someone just reading this.

Two years on Oxymorphone, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone. Currently 22 days clean and doing quite well with staying that way. Not craving just dealing with the expected depression and laziness (honestly I feel like I got off easy). My very short taper was posted above, I pretty much cold turkeyed a 40 mg a day opana habit (not recommended for anyone, it was hell). I have lithium and seroquel prescribed for conditions I had before addiction. I currently don't take either because my conditions (insomnia, minor depression) are so mild I think my Doctor was a bit crazy. Now that I'm in post withdrawl though I was wondering if these could help. The only thing is seroquel always made me groggy the next day even after a ton of sleep and so did lithium although I may not have taken it long enough to get used to it.

TLDR: Will lithium help after opiate depression? How long do I have to stay on it to stop being a zombie? What are some side effects I should know about with Lithium as the shakes and hair loss make it seem not worth it. If Lithium is a bad choice, what is something else (non-addictive meaning no benzos) that could help? I know SSRI's and stuff are "addictive" in that you get tolerant and have to taper but I've been prescribed benzos and I told my doc to take me off because I did not wanna go down that road.
 
Thank you for the advice, yeah I hated the zombie feeling of lithium. Plus, I'm constantly tired because of the withdrawl and lithium just makes that worse.

Weird sidenote: I'm not craving that badly, is that weird? I've had people offer me stuff and have been around it and turned it down easily. I will say though, stopping as fast as I did made me never EVER want to feel that way again. I know I'm not immune to craving, but I think it's weird that I'm not.
 
You did taper down a bit, so that's perhaps why your craving is reduced. IMO, the people who cold turkey hard without being mentally unprepared for it are the ones likely to feel the most psychological craving down the road. But you're not going feel craving anyway if you weren't psychologically addicted at all, and there's probably a continuum.

I've tapered off of two opiate dependencies (not addictions) by doing a VERY SLOW TAPER (reducing use by 5mg/month). I've felt zero craving in both cases.

Thank you for the advice, yeah I hated the zombie feeling of lithium. Plus, I'm constantly tired because of the withdrawl and lithium just makes that worse.

Weird sidenote: I'm not craving that badly, is that weird? I've had people offer me stuff and have been around it and turned it down easily. I will say though, stopping as fast as I did made me never EVER want to feel that way again. I know I'm not immune to craving, but I think it's weird that I'm not.
 
Great to hear that you have the strength of will to keep yourself off the opiates for 22 days- kudos to you my friend. None of us can tell you how long your depression will last- however, for me the 1 month mark was where I noticed a palpable difference. So if you can make it 1 more week- you should be doing markedly better. My experience was that after 1 month- every day thereafter offered significant improvement in my mental outlook. By 2 months, I hadn't even a slight tinge that I had ever done opiates. You have reaon to be optimistic- especially after 22 days.
 
Tremors, sedation, and hair loss are signs of lithium toxicity. They are not common side effects. Ask your doctor to check your serum lithium levels and a thyroid panel.
 
Id say it will go away asoon as you wont have to think aout it everyday. When you get though a day and notice you havent thought of it the next day thats when your better. On day 22 I woulnt be worrying about when the depreshions are going to stop. Your actually pretty good of having so less.

And this should teach you to stop with drugs. I would jsut quit, live is so beatiful without them. I hate my snowy view from DXM but is passing away slowly. Im getting better from day to day as well and Im on week 10. So it probably will take a while but its almost over :)
 
First, let me thank you all for your encouraging words. I feel alright today, tired but I also stopped the adderall use (only used it the two days prior to make it to work). Didn't want another crutch in my life. Yeah the depression is there, but it is manageable. I feel like I got off easy compared to some stories I've read about oxymorphone addiction so I feel like a baby that I'm complaining. I think it's just that I had previously been diagnosed with depression before I was ever opiate dependent, so it could just be exacerbated.

Tremors, sedation, and hair loss are signs of lithium toxicity. They are not common side effects. Ask your doctor to check your serum lithium levels and a thyroid panel.

I have a family history of thyroid problems, this was a worry of mine. Currently my thyroid is fine but it hasn't been checked all that recently so before I start it I will go get some blood work done. Thanks for the advice.

Again, thank you all for the help. I'll probably be around here to complain some more cause it just feels good to get things off of your chest sometimes. Thank you all for listening, it means alot. To anyone out there struggling with this, I feel your pain and will offer any advice I can. I promise, you can slay the mythical dragon that is opana. It's a monster that should have never been let out of it's cage.
 
Top