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Clonidine

BigG

BigG

Ex-Bluelighter
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Anyone have much experience with clonidine for opiate withdrawal?

It's helped me immensely although I'd rather have tried lofexadine but apparently only drug and alcohol services are allowed to prescribe it.

That and pregabalin are my two recommendations.... I'm not sure how easy it would be to get a doctor to prescribe pregabalin for WDs though (I was already getting it for neuropathic pain and built up a stock).

For those reluctant to go down the RC benzo route this seems to be as good a combo as any. I experimented with loperamide but found that for someone with a high tollarance it becomes very expensive and isn't really worth it.

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience with meds to combat WDs. I know this is a topic that's been discussed numerous times on BL but wondered what EADDers had to say on the subject....
 
Not tried clonidine or lofexidine - I believe they can cause pretty serious issues with low blood pressure? However, as you probably know I tried to come off methadone fairly recently using pregabalin which worked fine for 8 days until the pregs ran out - then I relapsed... Although pregabalin was good for alleviating withdrawals, I looked fuckin terrible and bloated up like a whale! It was a relief to get back on the meth to be honest.

As of yesterday I am now down to 1mg/day for two weeks, then its bye bye opiates.. (and I'm fuckin dreading it tbh)
 
II was just thinking this the other day mate...why stop at 1mg?

1 is just an arbitrary dose, there's no need to stop at one, why not try 0.75, then 0.5, 0.25 etc...I'm sure that would be easier than jumping off at 1. I think people (and D&A agencies) become obsessed in thinking of whole numbers when if you think about it logically there's no need to.

I sometimes wish I'd done a taper TBH as im STILL struggling now months on.

If I had of tapered that's how I would have done it...

Good luck mate :)

Edit...yeah they can cause low BP (they are actually high BP meds) but I wouldn't call the issues serious....I had no problems at all in that regard.
 
I have spoken about lofexadine before - i hated the stuff MY BP was so low i nearly blacked out everytime |i sat up and it didn't really help the wd's BUT my doc put 'take as required' and basically told me I could take as many as I needed so I almost definitely took too many - threw the rest away.

@FUBAR - well done my son you have nearly cracked it, another way of tapering is to try and and take every other day. You will need to have a support mechanism in place for the dreaded PAWS which will hit you and is what makes many people relapse, as they say stopping is easy its staying stopped thats hard.

I have been giving serious thought of chucking it in as my kids are getting older and sooner or later i will slip up and I would hate that to happen - how long were you on gear and methadone mate?
 
I know that when lofexidine became part of the drug services armoury under the name britlofex in the 90s it was accompanied by almost daily home visits to check BP. This was too much of a personal intrusion for me to even consider...

As for tapering down below 1mg, I realise that at this level it's largely psychological, but that's the biggest issue tbh. The DSPs don't seem to be able to see beyond physical withdrawals. They think that if you're not in pain then what's the problem? Having said that, I realise I'm just being a fuckin pussy and putting off the inevitable - and I just have to keep telling myself 'if Englandgz can come off 100mg, then surely I can do it from 1mg. So, like it or not mate, you're my inspiration :)

Edit: @ Blondin.. Thanks mate. Been on opiates for 20 years habitually - much longer recreationally. I have actually started missing days here and there, but that's fine because I know it's there if I need it. The problems start when it isn't there anymore....
 
coming off 90ml methadone to 25ml onto lofexadine
I hear many people worry about going onto lofexadine from 25 ml. My experience was dropping 5 ml methadone every 2 wks from 90 to 25 ml.
It was a lot worse dropping from 30 to 25 mls, than the actual jump from 25ml straight onto lofexadine.
I am currently on day 11 without methadone and feel mostly fine appart from the odd slight withdrawals.
They are not for everyone as your blood pressure may drop very low and you feel very groggy. But much better than a full blown rattle. I've been on methadone continuously for 26 yrs and feel great at the moment.
They are well worth a try.
I heard many horror story's and got told not to jump off at 25 ml but why drag it out. I found the reducing worse.
Any how ive got one tab left to go and I don't feel I need it so far. The worst bits gonna be lack of sleep. But hey life seems great at the moment. Stay positive, its worth it.
 
My ex partner has just got off methadone/heroin and they were offering her lofexidine at the drug services, she did it her own way though so couldn't say how much it would have helped, I'd heard clonidine was great for eliminating WD's and I just knew the lofexidine was a different blood pressure medication.

I've just had my methadone upped from 40ml back up to 60ml as it wasn't holding me from dose to dose and also to try and eliminate cravings. I didn't really wanna go back up but it's no good being on a dose that's not holding me because it's just even more tempting to use and I really am ready to quit now.

I'll be taking an interest in this thread as I will too be offered lofexidine when the time comes to taper and jump. I just want a quick reduction down to about 10ml's then I'm wanna switch up the methadone for oxycodone because of its shorter half life and just use them for 2 weeks till the methadones gone out of my system then just stop the oxy n use all I can get to get through it. Found pregabalin to be excellent for physical WD's, IME a 300mg dose all but eliminates any WD's. Gunna order some clonazolam for the insomnia and anxiety etc but only gunna do them for 2 weeks at a time then take a week off as to not get addicted. The week off is when I'll be interested in using lofexidine and pregabalin etc and have some subtext for when I'm absolutely sure there are no opiates lingering in my system because I've taken them before when I was in WD but it obviously wasn't enough and they made me SO sick.

My ex partner is through it now, so proud of her. Now she's dealing with PAW's though and she's still got the insomnia. She's currently on her 2 week benzo break but she doesn't wanna have to take anything to sleep but needs must at the moment as she has a job to hold down and that can't be done on 2 hours sleep. Sometimes she's even had to take a little speed to get her through the day because she just can't sleep at night. I've been able to provide her with some pregabalin which help her without the addiction worry of a benzo habit, it's really grinding her down though.
 
Pregabalin
Clonidine or Lofexadine
Some form or benzo...either a traditional one or a triazlo (RC benzo)

These three things will reduce WDs considerably. They won't eliminate them by any means but the difference between having them and not having them is night and day.

The rest is purely mental attitude determination and grit.
 
Whenever I detox from my painkillers my blood pressure goes nuts, it's pretty much the worst symptom for me. Ringing in my ears, weird buzz in my fingertips, mad palpitations. I've been taking propranolol (beta-blocker) to help with that, but it looks like clonidine would be more effective.
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Not tried clonidine or lofexidine - I believe they can cause pretty serious issues with low blood pressure? However, as you probably know I tried to come off methadone fairly recently using pregabalin which worked fine for 8 days until the pregs ran out - then I relapsed... Although pregabalin was good for alleviating withdrawals, I looked fuckin terrible and bloated up like a whale! It was a relief to get back on the meth to be honest.

As of yesterday I am now down to 1mg/day for two weeks, then its bye bye opiates.. (and I'm fuckin dreading it tbh)
Click to expand...

Well done that man!

a long strange trip indeed I bet.
 
warriorOnTheEdge said:
Well done that man!

a long strange trip indeed I bet.
Click to expand...

He's been off a while now I think. I chat to him quite often in the real world (by that I mean anywhere other than bluelight :)) and he's done great.

Pregabalin can cause wierd effects for some. Personally I can't believe it's abused as i found its effects horrible, dizzy, nauseous and just generally awful....it does however help with some of the hyper-noradrenegic effects associated with withdrawal. That and clonidine /lofexadine and a benzo probably take away 85-90% of those horrible rush of adrenaline, hot cold flash, wanting to crawl out of your skin type symptoms.

The only things they don't really help with is the fatigue and lack of energy. They do help very much with the insomnia too.
 
Combination of high dose lofexodine and pregabelin can deal with a massive amount of wd symptoms, a crazy amount. It will wipe you out and fuck with your blood pressure though.
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Cheers Warrior :) Feeling pretty chuffed with myself tbh - though I realise I'm not totally out of the woods yet as it's only been a month, but I've had no cravings to speak of (though I've suddenly realised I've got an annoying smokers cough which the opiates were masking ).
Click to expand...


Nah, kudos mate its hard, nearly 20yrs now for the Mrs.

This ones on me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVGf3ePIO04
 
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