What can I expect from withdrawals?

[2Cxyz]

I got a 10mg hydrocodone prescription and have been taking one (along with penicillin, promethazine, and advil) roughly every 4 - 6 hours for 6 days now. It has been for pain mostly, but I have enjoyed it and the pain has been mild enough that I could have easily gone without the hydrocodone for the past couple of days. I know that if I have a dependence that it is probably very mild and that withdrawals associated with it should be as well. Today, two of the times that I took my other meds I've foregone the hydrocodone and I've experienced some derealization/depersonalization, irritability, and I was sweating more than usual. I got tired of that so I took another hydrocodone and it more or less stopped. I want to stop taking them altogether to avoid further problems, so I have a couple of questions. What symptoms can I expect? At my dosage and longevity of use, how severe may they become? How long do withdrawals normally last? What can I do to minimize the symptoms?

 

[debaser]

Hello,

Your symptoms will be mild at most, what you experienced is normal for a week of using. It won't last long either if you stop now, like a couple of days.

Take 25 to 50mg promethazine every night for a few days for sleep. Vitamins, ibuprofen will help too. Good luck.

 

[nsauce]

Yeah if you stop now you wont have too hard of a time.
To minimize symptome, benzos help if you can get some, just the smallest dose that will help you sleep. You arent gonna go through hell even without comfort meds, as your habit was not over a long period of time and your dosage was not excessive. If you can taper down first ( provided you have some more hydros), that might help a little, but if i were you id stop cold turkey ASAP and just be slightly uncomfortable for a day or two. Diphenhydramine (or prometh as loulou said) can help you sleep if you have trouble. you shouldnt have major trouble, I have extensive experience in getting off hydrocodone habits (ive done it probably a dozen times) so if youd like to PM me for further advice id be glad to help. If you tell us where you are, we can figure out what OTC meds you can get to help if you are unable to get scripts...
I find marijuana helps take my mind off of w/d symptoms. Again, feel free to PM if you like.

 

[dais]

to add onto what lou said you might like to look into getting some imodium (loperamide) to help with diarrhea which you are likely to experience at the peak of withdrawals - 3 or so days into then it will be mostly over and dealing with paws (post acute withdrawals symptoms) once the physical side of things has passed.

keep hydrated to avoid the sweating; this is will help flush to toxins out of your body - eating light foods such as fruits and soups are easy to digest if you experience nausea related to the withdrawal. light stretching and exercising will also help with this.

good luck with it

I find marijuana helps take my mind off of w/d symptoms.

i've found this helps with restless leg syndrome (RLS), though many other people report it exacerbates these symptoms. i'd start with a small amount if you're to try this out, whether you're a smoker or not.

 

[nsauce]

also just eat as well as you can, get some rest and it will be over before you know it

 

[2Cxyz]

Yeah if you stop now you wont have too hard of a time.
To minimize symptome, benzos help if you can get some, just the smallest dose that will help you sleep. You arent gonna go through hell even without comfort meds, as your habit was not over a long period of time and your dosage was not excessive. If you can taper down first ( provided you have some more hydros), that might help a little, but if i were you id stop cold turkey ASAP and just be slightly uncomfortable for a day or two. Diphenhydramine (or prometh as loulou said) can help you sleep if you have trouble. you shouldnt have major trouble, I have extensive experience in getting off hydrocodone habits (ive done it probably a dozen times) so if youd like to PM me for further advice id be glad to help. If you tell us where you are, we can figure out what OTC meds you can get to help if you are unable to get scripts...
I find marijuana helps take my mind off of w/d symptoms. Again, feel free to PM if you like.

I have nine 10-500 hydrocodone/APAP pills left, three 25mg promethazine, lots of vitamins, and plenty of diphenhydramine. My friend/weed dealer got busted recently so I don't know where to find any for the time being. It would be nice, but I'm sure I'll be fine without it. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I'll see how this plays out over the next couple of days.

 

[Tommyboy]

6 days of mild use shouldn't result in any withdrawal symptoms other than maybe a night of having some trouble sleeping, some RLS, and perhaps the sweating that you experienced. It takes a lot longer to develop dependence so I wouldn't worry. It took me almost a year of using hydrocodone 4 days a week to develop dependence, and although others become dependent quicker, the symptoms should be mild. I wouldn't even take any more.

I recommend against tapering. The amount of time using a drug sometimes has more of an effect on withdrawals than the dose you were taking, so cold turkey after 6 days will probably be easier than tapering over another week or so. You don't want your body to get any more used to functioning with the drug in your system, which tapering would hurt more than help with.

 

[JamesBond007]

Honestly Ive been on 6 oxycodone 30mg, 1 oxycontin 40mg, and 3 xanax 1mg a day for the past 5 years. SO I KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT. Well let me tell you that withdrawls are ALL IN YOUR HEAD because pain meds mess your serotonin and dopamine in your brain and it basically causes a synthetic effect when u use opiods or pain meds. Well to put it short, getting off oxycodone is hard, but hydrocodone isnt as tough.. I would recommend just gradually weaning yourself off the drug and not just stopp taking it cold turkey. Do 4 a day, for about 3 days, then go to 3 a day for about 5 days, then try 2.5 a day for 5 days, 2 a day , to 1 a day, so on, so on, until you find yourself not craving the drug. Its hard but i quit hydrocodone before when I was younger and I weaned down with xanax, or clonodine, and tylenol (night-sleep Formula) Dont worry just be happy your body doesnt need the drug anymore.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Honestly Ive been on 6 oxycodone 30mg, 1 oxycontin 40mg, and 3 xanax 1mg a day for the past 5 years. SO I KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT. Well let me tell you that withdrawls are ALL IN YOUR HEAD because pain meds mess your serotonin and dopamine in your brain and it basically causes a synthetic effect when u use opiods or pain meds. Well to put it short, getting off oxycodone is hard, but hydrocodone isnt as tough.. I would recommend just gradually weaning yourself off the drug and not just stopp taking it cold turkey. Do 4 a day, for about 3 days, then go to 3 a day for about 5 days, then try 2.5 a day for 5 days, 2 a day , to 1 a day, so on, so on, until you find yourself not craving the drug. Its hard but i quit hydrocodone before when I was younger and I weaned down with xanax, or clonodine, and tylenol (night-sleep Formula) Dont worry just be happy your body doesnt need the drug anymore.

"All in your head" is not a helpful phrase. It is very minimizing and simplifying, and normally implies that a person is just imaging things or should have control over them and be able to choose to not be that way. I know that's not what you meant in this case, you just meant it is all in your brain, and due to imbalances in the brain, but the brain can cause very real physical symptoms, (it does after all control the whole body). And while you might be able to change your way of thinking to not be quite as upset by the pain of withdrawals or to distract yourself, or realize you don't have to act on cravings, there isn't much else you can do. You can't just will away the depression, the anxiety, let alone all the physical stuff. Just wanted to be clear on that and make sure that wasn't what you were trying to imply

OP - If you've only been taking it for a week you should be fine. You will feel depressed, but it should be better in a few days, and I doubt you will get any physical symptoms other than maybe some sweating, yawning, sniffles and a bit of trouble sleeping (if all that). I really doubt you are going to experience anything serious or long-lasting. I know since you have nothing else to compare it to it will suck for you, and might seem unbearable at times, especially with the cravings, but please get out now while you still can and just remind yourself you just have to get through this and you will feel better soon. I'm not sure if everyone in this thread noticed you have only been taking it for 6 days. It's pretty damn hard to force yourself to taper and I think at this point it might just prolong things and be unnecessary. The hardest part for you is going to be the mental addiction and it's really important to get some kind of help/support for that as well. Best of luck to you

 

[shreddedlettuce]

It's pretty damn hard to force yourself to taper and I think at this point it might just prolong things and be unnecessary.

I agree.

OP you say you have nine 10-500 hydrocodone/APAP pills left, and you take one every 4-6 hours. So that is two more days worth of hydrocodone.
I think that you could finish that script and then forget about the hydrocodone pretty safely with a minimum of withdrawal.

 

[Sepher]

I recommend against tapering. The amount of time using a drug sometimes has more of an effect on withdrawals than the dose you were taking, so cold turkey after 6 days will probably be easier than tapering over another week or so. You don't want your body to get any more used to functioning with the drug in your system, which tapering would hurt more than help with.

My thoughts exactly!

2Cxyz, at this stage using even lesser amounts over the coming days is likely to make things worse, not better. Even if that weren't the case and you could get away with it fact is the symptoms you'll feel quitting now would be so mild as to hardly be improveable upon with a taper anyways. Completely pointless and probably self-defeating. Just stop. You will be back to normal in a coupla days suffering nothing more than, worst case scenario, a bit of restlessness, yawning, sweating, difficulty getting to sleep I'm sure. You might not even have as much as that. You will certainly not suffer anything like the discomfort typically associated with withdrawal from a more prolonged period of use.

 

[xxsicknessxx]

ive never heard of WD From a week of hydro use

is this for real?

 

[dais]

yes. it only takes one to two weeks of continual use to develop physical dependence to opioids.

 

[OrLackThereof]

Acute WD from hydrocodone lasts usually 2 to 4 days depending on the person and the length of time and dosages. Post-acute withdraw symptoms can last for several weeks.
My advice: go to a smoke shop and buy some kratom, and use that to get you through the worst of it over the first 3 days. discontinue use after that because kratom does carry some addiction potential