What does a medicated opiate detox usually involve?

[the_ketaman]

Hey guys how are you all? Good I hope.

Some time in the very near future I have to go do a medicated detox to be able to go to the rehab I would prefer to go to. Now just for a little info im on about 160mg of Oxycontin a day and some days up to 6mg of xanax but not every day(though I said everyday so im a little more comfy)

Now for anyone who has actually done a medicated detox or know someone who has, can you tell me what it involves and how everything is done?

Im guessing ill either be on a dose of benzo's or a methadone taper but im really not sure, I know it is 5-7 days at a Hospital detox unit mostly for youth in Western Sydney.

So can anyone help me out here and let me know what im in for? Im not looking forward to this at all, moreso than actual rehab itself but at least it will be medicated.

Thanks people, wish me luck :D

 

[expothead]

I know absolutely nothing. but my thoughts will be with you. hang in there.

 

[Jabberwocky]

good luck with the detox, pal.

from my limited understanding, there's not much chance of a methadone taper. suboxone is the favoured method of maintainance and detox these days. and even then it's really going to come down to the facility you're attending. you'd be best off ringing them and finding out from them directly. ask your GP as well.

even then it's generally chronic relapsers who are going to be accepted for suboxone, people who have had frequent presence in these settings. i know you're young so it's even more unlikely for you to be accepted.

i'm assuming the medicated detox will mean clonidine, maybe low dose benzos for a short period, anti-nausea meds. they're not going to detox you and let you continue taking addictive substances. it's detox remember

 

[cosmic charlie]

My normal opiate detox consists of a week of benzos , pot and immodium taken as needed. Everyone is different and considering your already using benzo's they might not help to much. I usually just turn my phone of the hook lock myself in my house and eat chicken noodle soup for a week. Oxy's withdrawls werent especially bad for me or long. I would avoid going on methadone or suboxone for this one and just cold turkey it. Think about how much better you will feel in a week Good Luck

 

[the_ketaman]

^^This will be in a hospital setting.

Thanks for the words guys.

I had already been accepted for bupe maintenance but I chose not to go on maintenance coz it could cause more problems. Im almost sure methadone or bupe will be involved though because everyone(except me) is making this such a huge deal, Ive heard that a lot of people get like 3 doses of methadone decreasing dose over 7 days and while the WD's are still there its not as bad, I dont know if this will happen to me though but I know it will be more than clonidine...Now this sounds like im chasing drugs(im not) but I will make sure I get benzo's... I asked if I would go straight into rehab and they said no I have to do the medicated detox, my mum is also a nurse and she said benzo's should be involved because im not physically dependant on them. I kinda dont see the point of even doing a medicated detox if clonidine is the only thing ill get.

Can someone who has actually done a medicated detox reply to this?

Thanks Leftwing and expothead, It does mean alot for people to give a shit about this.

 

[Jabberwocky]

no probs, man i know the pain of wd's too well, both benzos and opiate.

it just doesn't make sense to me that they would give you a few doses of methadone in the detox, that would only prolong the withdrawals even more once you stop that. a sub taper is more likely, as you said.

can i ask why you declined the offer for maintenance? i've watched you relapse a few times on BL and you seem like you would be a good candidate for it, not for life but for a few months or longer until you rebuild yourself.

get a few steps ahead and start tapering your oxy intake now, it will make things easier when you're in there.

let me know how you go with it.

 

[the_ketaman]

can i ask why you declined the offer for maintenance?

Hopefully this doesnt offend anyone but when I went in to the done clinic everyone there looked soooo fucked up, basically mutants and that was EVERY SINGLE person I saw there...I never want to end up like that. Plus id have to travel nearly an hour on a bus every day until id be stabilized which could take awhile. But it really scared me the way some of those people looked, Id say most of them were on methadone and not bupe but still it really scared me. The dose they were going to put me on was ridiculous too, like .5mg or something.
And lastly it would just be a matter of time before one of my friends or family members found out which could be disastrous, noone can know about the oxy or injecting, I dont mind them knowing anything else but just not about "The stuff thats like heroin" and me being "A putrid junky piece of crap"

So thats why I declined the offer.

 

[Mr Blonde]

^ For what it's worth, I know quite a few people who get 'stuck' on the maintenance thing and never really move on from it or don't do so for quite a while. The quick taper you are going to do won't be painless but you will get it over with.

 

[Sowle]

Im currently on bupe maintenance (jumping off any day now - down from 16mg to 1.2) and if your serious about getting off, its not a bad option. If your constantly reducing then it can be done quite quickly and whilst it isnt entirely pain free it is certainly comfortable enough to make it to work and that without too much drama. Personally i was fucking around and still using for ages but then at the beginning of Jan got pissed off at my situation and started really working at it and have in 6 weeks pretty much gotten down to nothing.

I had spoken to the doc at the clinic about medicated detox and was told that it is usually low dose benzos (generally valium, but he said not to get too excited about it as they're not super high doses), sleeping pills and panadeine forte. Some places also do a bupe detox over 5-7 days but he said that if you have a decent habit that its not really long enough to help that much and that you can still be left feeling quite ill once its finished (like it moreso delays withdrawal rather than easing you through it).

Bupe fucking saved me but it aint for everyone. I wasnt in a situation where i could take a week or so off work and still financially survive (or keep my job) so i had to do what enabled me to still work. All things being equal tho, had it been possible for me to spend a week at home with as much weed, valium and serequel as possible i think i would have much rather done it. Whilst it is SO fucking horrible at least it gets it over and done with.

Either way bro, best of luck. Keep your head up and feel free to hit us upon PM if you wanna have a bitch to someone.

 

[madmick19]

Howdy Ketaman,

Medically supervised detoxes are usually 5- 10 day's in length, firstly you will have a consultation with a AOD specialisng doctor who will assess you current drug use. Then come up with a plan which going by what you have said will be a rapid ramp up and ramp down on buphrenorphine to you maintenace dose.

for any pains or sickness inbetween they will prescribe various other forms of medication to help or ease these symptoms.

Most detoxes run a program through the week which are a combination of educational, psychothereputic groups; dealing with cravings, coping mindfulness, self CBT, also there may be a case management component where you will be able to plan fo the future, Most places usually have some sort of in house counselling services.

I know that a few detox services actually have outing to AA/NA groups as part of their program.

A few detoxes are based on the thereputic community idea where each member of the community has to participate to keep the program running. This may be in the form of cooking, cleaning or other forms of involvement.

Some medical setting do not require the participants to do anything other than focus on their own health and wellbeing.

Each persons detox is different; Depending on the amont and frequency of use, length of use, other drugs used and current health.

****** It is worthwhile talking to a doctor before stopping any substance after prolonged periods, Including prescribed medications and pcychiatric medications especially*******

 

[the_ketaman]

Thanks Sowle, Mr B and madmick That basically spelled out everythin I wanted to know, cheers gang.

 

[Nonstop]

I saw a documentary on tv a while ago where they put u into a coma & pumped you with narcan. I'm pretty sure they kept them in an induced coma until they came through the detox.

 

[static_mind]

Iv seen that on TV as well. Think its done in Israle. Pretty much shows a person in coma with a tube down the throat convolseing and what not. If it works then good on it

 

[ayjay]

^the rapid detox is done here in Aus too but it's not something I'd recommend. First Step in St Kilda used to do it - I see they don't any more but do a bupe to naltrexone transfer - again, not something I'd recommend.

The mega-clinic approach to pharmacotherapy (methadone, bupe) in NSW is a bit of a turn off - but at least it's free.

The medicated detox in Vic tends to be 7 days for adults, 10-14 days for youth - medication for opioid withdrawal is a combo of valium and catapres (blood pressure med) mainly.

 

[the_ketaman]

^^Cool, thanks. Thats pretty much exactly what I was expecting.

 

[MrIbis]

Umm, okay, now i've been thru opiate detox using Methadone and Bupe, both fucking SUCK.

Just taper down with oxy over a week or 2 if you feel up to it, i don't think you can get over opiate dependance in a week or 2 full stop, it took me easily 2 months of medication then about 3 weeks of cold(ish) turkey. Using Oxy and Heroin occasionally, and i am pretty much clean now and back to just using occasionally recrationally and not suffering from withdrawals.

The withdrawal from methadone wound up making me incapable of eating food, seriously, nothing. I lost roughly 6-7kg of weight.

If you have a doctor you see regularly for meds (benzos/opiates) don't go in and say you're abusing them unless you want to never be able to get those meds ever again, in my case this has literally fucked me because i suffer from panic attacks and anxiety and now i pretty much cant get even valium without them making me do pickups every day. It sucks balls.

 

[Jabberwocky]

^i don't see how ketaman is going to ask for or obtain opiates/oids from his doctor without raising a red flag. he's been abusing them without a script and is looking to get straight.

 

[MrIbis]

^Well there are numerous other things you can get from a doctor aside from methadone/bupe, Dextropropoxyphene is a common one when the withdrawals have subsided, i suggest try that one possibly, even tramadol can siginificantly decrease withdrawal symptoms if used correctly, Tramadol helped me tremendously when using it in the SR200mg form thru the last few weeks of detox.

Try Bupe or Methadone if its really that bad, otherwise just a decent amount of OTC painkillers over a few weeks, wait til its a bit cooler climate wise, that tends to help. and take lots of baths to releive muscle cramps. A bottle or so of valium too will help when the going gets tought. just dont gobble them all

 

[the_ketaman]

^the rapid detox is done here in Aus too but it's not something I'd recommend. First Step in St Kilda used to do it - I see they don't any more but do a bupe to naltrexone transfer - again, not something I'd recommend.

The mega-clinic approach to pharmacotherapy (methadone, bupe) in NSW is a bit of a turn off - but at least it's free.

The medicated detox in Vic tends to be 7 days for adults, 10-14 days for youth - medication for opioid withdrawal is a combo of valium and catapres (blood pressure med) mainly.

I think this might be what I might end up doing.

My auntie knows someone that works in the safe injecting room and she said theres this "kit" you can order but its only in melbourne or something, so im guessing this is it. Im willing to try everything but if I can source benzo's until the Wd's are over then im just gonna stick it through, usually they only last a week and a half or 2 weeks max and day 2-3 is the worst and its now day 4 so hopefully things start getting better. I woke up this morning and felt no Wd's and I thought it was a gift from god but before I knew it I was feeling them and I had to get some benzo's.

Benzo's are pretty much getting me through this and doing a damn good job at it too so im just gonna stick with it. Hopefully im ok by saturday and not in detox just yet coz I wanna go to Godspeed and meet a few more Bl'ers. I urge a few of you guys to come so im not the only ope user going lol

 

[SupDUDES]

the_ketaman, your fucking yourself up on benzos dude. dont wanna trade 1 shitty addiction for another extremely shitty addiction!