Advice for Heroin Withdrawal - Newby

[Smugg]

Finally happy to post my very first thread. I have found blue light to be super beneficial and use it all the time for research. I have read countless threads about this subject but was looking for a response/opinion specific to my situation. In advance, thank you for your input as I am sure a couple of you are going to be a little PO'ed that I am posting this but everyone's variables are different and I want some opinions based on mine......
The addiction has been pretty heavy for about 3 years. Currently, using about a gram of pretty strong heroin per day and snorting it only (never used IV). I will be attempting to start the wonderful journey of detox and I am looking forward to getting clean and getting my life back (although I fear greatly the withdrawal stages).
Previously, when attempting to get clean, my symptoms have largely been restless legs, yawning/watery eyes, insomnia, mild stomach cramps and very very cold. These are not all the issues but seem to be the ones that cause me to break the fastest.
Here is a list of items that I have gathered prior to attempting to quit.
1. Suboxone- I have about 40mg total
2. Marijuana
3. Over the counter drugs - Motrin, Imodium, Benadryl, Calm Support (vitamin mix said to contain herbs that help various withdrawal symptoms), NyQuil, multi-vitamins.

I want this to be as painless as possible so I am hoping that anyone who knows more than I do can help me put together a plan to get through this without being so sick that I lose my job.

My thoughts now are to do a very quick Suboxone detox and then switch over to the over the counter meds. I am also nervous about drug interactions and would like to make sure that I do not get into any trouble with mixing Suboxone with Imodium (heard there is an opioid in Imodium) or the Calm Support, etc.

someone with experience, please let me know what your approach would be using the Suboxone or over the counter drugs for the fastest somewhat comfortable detox possible given the amount of drugs I am using and the supplies I have obtained. Also, if there is anything else I should purchase, please let me know! I thank you in advance and all of your input is greatly appreciated!

 

[mrsnowygrainius]

don't take benadryl it will make restless legs 100 times worse... trust me on that one

as for the suboxone you are right,you must do a very slow taper for about a week, so you say you have 40mgs of subs you need to stretch that out so it lasts you a week, start off with a higher dose then each day you take less over the course of a week, I say a week because any longer than that you will get dependent on the subs

also only take immodium if you have diahera, anyone that tells you it takes away other w/d symptoms or that it can get you high is a fucking idiot. Its very toxic to a person at high doses yet they think they are getting high from it...

 

[Blurryacrobat]

Feel for you iam new and having same problem.i am not exaggerating when I say that I believe I will die in withdrawal need help fast.can someone plz give me advice

 

[Blurryacrobat]

Soboxine makes it ten times worse for me

 

[Smugg]

Thank you @mrsnowygrainius.. I have taken Suboxone a few times when I need to travel, do not have access to 'opiates' and it helps remarkably - feel really off for about 2 days and then pretty good if I stay occupied. Does anyone know of any acute withdrawal potential of mixing Suboxone with Imodium? I read that Imodium has a type of opiod in it..... I do not plan on using Imodium to get high and if that was the path I was going towards, I would just get some hard.

Anyone ever use Calm Support? I am sure if it does not do anything for withdrawal it at least will not be bad for me. I am also concerned slightly about taking that and having some issue with mixing that and Suboxone just because I do not know what the majority of the herbs are in the blend. Again, anyone ever mixed these things?

Tomorrow i begin taking the Suboxone. It is truly a fearful moment for me as I have "tried" many times but always find a great reason to not stick with it like "I have plans Saturday night or I am hanging out with a girl and want to **** all night lol - always a good excuse but it's time to hang this nasty habit up and learn to live life normally again. Additional comments, suggestions and war-time strategy welcome as I begin this great battle. Thank you all for the support!

 

[johnnypotsmoker198]

Finally happy to post my very first thread. I have found blue light to be super beneficial and use it all the time for research. I have read countless threads about this subject but was looking for a response/opinion specific to my situation. In advance, thank you for your input as I am sure a couple of you are going to be a little PO'ed that I am posting this but everyone's variables are different and I want some opinions based on mine......
The addiction has been pretty heavy for about 3 years. Currently, using about a gram of pretty strong heroin per day and snorting it only (never used IV). I will be attempting to start the wonderful journey of detox and I am looking forward to getting clean and getting my life back (although I fear greatly the withdrawal stages).
Previously, when attempting to get clean, my symptoms have largely been restless legs, yawning/watery eyes, insomnia, mild stomach cramps and very very cold. These are not all the issues but seem to be the ones that cause me to break the fastest.
Here is a list of items that I have gathered prior to attempting to quit.
1. Suboxone- I have about 40mg total
2. Marijuana
3. Over the counter drugs - Motrin, Imodium, Benadryl, Calm Support (vitamin mix said to contain herbs that help various withdrawal symptoms), NyQuil, multi-vitamins.

I want this to be as painless as possible so I am hoping that anyone who knows more than I do can help me put together a plan to get through this without being so sick that I lose my job.

My thoughts now are to do a very quick Suboxone detox and then switch over to the over the counter meds. I am also nervous about drug interactions and would like to make sure that I do not get into any trouble with mixing Suboxone with Imodium (heard there is an opioid in Imodium) or the Calm Support, etc.

someone with experience, please let me know what your approach would be using the Suboxone or over the counter drugs for the fastest somewhat comfortable detox possible given the amount of drugs I am using and the supplies I have obtained. Also, if there is anything else I should purchase, please let me know! I thank you in advance and all of your input is greatly appreciated!

I would add a few benzos into the kit and you should be good to go. Keep us up to date on your progress.

 

[Mike93]

I know I may get flamed for this, but this was my ritual for getting through withdrawals. When I ran out (Usually before bed) I would take 30mg of Imodium and then sleep. Wake up, take 30mg more of it and 600mg of Gabapentin. Would feel the withdrawals being masked by the Imodium and would do this the first 2 days. After that I would only have pain issues and sleep issues which Advil/Tylenol easily helped and for sleep I used Clonidine and Xanax. Depending if I wanted to sleep, or go to sleep with a bang!

 

[Smugg]

Day 1 switched over to Suboxone - took 4mg at midnight and slept for 8 hours. Feel fine right now but I know that will not last...... I waited until withdrawal symptoms were pretty unbearable before taking the Suboxone. I guess given how I was feeling 12 hours ago, it's easy to feel amazing after the sub!

 

[Buspersons Holiday]

Have you booked some time off work for the last bit when you've tapered right down & the withdrawals are a lot more bearable?
I have no personal experience with Suboxone as my final heroin detox (a private home detox with the last credit card I ever had) was nearly 20 years ago and although being busy & occupied helps with the psychological part of withdrawal, the extreme fatigue even when the worst was over, would have made working my very active job impossible.
I think I booked 2 weeks leave, got the worst withdrawals out of the way in the first week (well was just asleep most of the time on the meds) & was weak as a kitten the second (only just wondered for the first time why that's even a saying...kittens aren't generally weak, they're full-on!)

I'd also been prescribed Naltrexone tablets for when the heroin was all out of my system, took the first dose and even though I knew that it would block any heroin I took, still climbed out of my front room window so my friend who'd been looking after me wouldn't see me going out of the door, got in my car (bearing in mind that this was the first day I could walk further than the toilet and back as the home detox meds were heavy duty) and drove to score, enjoyed the novelty of smoking a ten-bag without any effect, cos the whole foil, tooter ritual was a massive thing for me too, and drove home to face the fireworks.
I didn't take the next dose of Naltrexone & also realised that doing an expensive de-tox was going to be no more effective at keeping me off heroin than all the times I'd done it myself and always gone back.

What I'm trying to say in a very long-winded way, is that actually getting off any drug of addiction is a lot easier than staying off it for a lot of people and it was the first time after many withdrawals that I realised that throwing money & medication at it wasn't going to make my addiction go away, as I felt horrible & lost & unhappy & constantly craving after this withdrawal.

I do have a few friends who have given up heroin or alcohol addictions without any external support or actions & have carried on with their lives happily and without feeling a gaping hole & you may well be one of those people, but if you're not, I hope you've considered how you are going to function psychologically without heroin. I was going to say it would have taken up a lot of your time, but snorting it is probably the least time-consuming of all the routes of administration, so maybe you won't have loads of extra time on your hands to think about it!

I ended up going to NA & being clean & sober for 4 years, and it was totally the right thing for me at the time, but I know it's not for everyone and attracts a lot of criticism.
Even though I drink and take drugs now (heroin no longer has any appeal though fortunately) & am an addict, I think & act a lot differently to how I'd always done, even before taking drugs.

Anyway, sorry for the waffle, good luck with it, keep busy when you've withdrawn & look forward to the amazing feeling of not being reliant on anyone or anything to make you function

 

[Smugg]

Hey Buspersons, I enjoyed your post! Well I made it 4 days but back to square 1..... How do people do this? Just feel so crappy and cannot sleep! It's enough to drive someone crazy. Stomach cramps, restless legs, fatigue, chills, lack of sleep........ There is only 1 thing that you can do and it makes you feel better instantaneously- what a terrible situation to be in. I know I need to do it but it's insanely difficult. Starting again tomorrow..... Maybe try and stick to the Suboxone at as low a dose as possible.

 

[Buspersons Holiday]

Hey Buspersons, I enjoyed your post! Well I made it 4 days but back to square 1..... How do people do this? Just feel so crappy and cannot sleep! It's enough to drive someone crazy. Stomach cramps, restless legs, fatigue, chills, lack of sleep........ There is only 1 thing that you can do and it makes you feel better instantaneously- what a terrible situation to be in. I know I need to do it but it's insanely difficult. Starting again tomorrow..... Maybe try and stick to the Suboxone at as low a dose as possible.

I know, I did it too many times...the annoying thing is that if you were just coming down with a virus, you'd just get on with it & handle it fine, but the psychological grip that makes the physical symptoms feel too difficult to bear are so overwhelming. It's funny as I still occasionally get that first sniffly clucky feeling that would make me have to reach for the foil or score quick, & I haven't had a heroin habit for nearly 2 decades!
I did find some withdrawals a lot easier than others however, & they were the ones when I was hanging out with lots of friends & having fun (& drinking a lot and doing other drugs!) & having distractions that made the actual withdrawal feel easy (it was the not going back to it that I always found harder, well, unachievable until the blessed last time!)

Good luck with it, tomorrow is another day and all that.....