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Basically 10 days opiate free but RLS is hell!

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Outsider31

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
88
Hi guys,

For the past year and a half I abused opana er. I started with 40mg and worked my way up to 160mg a day over the last 5 months. I always took them orally. 10 days ago I basically quit cold turkey (I know stupid since that is a powerful drug and I was on a high dose.) I stupidly had 13 pills leftover and after 5 days opana free I took 1 single 40mg pill. I woke up the next day feeling like crap because I caved, it was then I decided to flush the rest down the toilet and never use them again!

It's been 5 days since and the anxiety has been a bit better but the RLS when I get ready for bed has been pure hell. Anyone have any idea how much longer I can expect this to last? The only things that seem to help is when I use Gabapentin and baclofen which I have leftover from a previous injury. I'm trying to only take them as needed but it seems like every day they are needed and I don't wanna go through withdrawals from the gabapentin like I once did.

Yesterday I didn't take any because I wanted to see if I could sleep without them and I was up all damn night, I even took unisom to see if that would help and it definitely didnt. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
First off two things: Caving one day, but getting right back to recovery is not something you should be mad at yourself for...this is hard to do. If it weren't most addicts wouldn't be using. 10 days is an amazing step! Keep up the good work.


RLS can take a couple weeks to die down to a manageable level. PAWS is going to be your major hurtle pretty soon. I would suggest typing that into google, or in the bluelight search engine and reading up on it. Do you have a support network? Basically PAWS, is a resurgence of the mental (and some physical) aspects of withdrawal that come back after you have gone through acute withdrawal. At this point many people relapse and go back to using if they don't have some already setup plan of action when the cravings hit.

For the RLS: Try chelated magnessium in the morning and before bed. It is water soluable so it is hard to OD on it...just don't take it too much. Try a hot soak before bed. That also works out and loosens up the muscles a little. One thing that worked for me, but generally doesn't always work (hey worth a try right?) is sleeping on my side with a pillow between and underneath my knees.

Goodluck and keep posting your progress.
 
Some medications that help a lot with RLS included Ropinirole and Gabapentin. Both are not without other/side effects, though I have found both helpful. The former is very specific to RLS, as long as it doesn't make you take random naps during the day (never experienced any thing like that). I also have found gabapentin help, not specifically just for RLS but for a whole host of other opioid withdrawal (acute and post acute) symptoms.

Hot baths and Tiger Balm before bed are my tried and true favorites though.
 
Thasks for the help manboychef and toothpaste dog. I've been using baclofen and gabapentin together just to calm my nerves and help me sleep. Together, those medications knock me on my ass (in large doses).

They put me into a drunk like state (which I do not like, but it's the only way I can get any rest). They also make me extremely hungry and I constantly eat while on them, dunno if that's good or bad haha. Over the last 11 days I have used those meds 6 days. I'm hoping to stop using them after a few more days because when I took those meds last year for a herniated disc I suddenly stopped because it had healed and I went through withdrawalsome (didn't think it would happen with those drugs but it did).

Thanks so much for your help guys, today is day 11 and I definitely feel a bit better than days 1-4 (especially mentally), the main issue for me now is RLS, hoping after the 2 week mark it will become more manageable and I can sleep normally with no meds, not even sleeping pills.
 
How much gabapentin and baclofen do you take?

Keep up the good work! The whole thing with the this is that it is all about time. Every day thing will become a little easier.
 
Well my gabapentin are 300mg each n baclofen are 10 mgs. I take probably about 10 (at most) gabapentin over the course of 3 hrs so thats 3000mg and I take about 6 baclofen so that's 60mg.

The days I take them (always late afternoon into evening) I always feel okay the next day, aside from a little grogginess. It's when I get ready for bed and my legs start moving like crazy, maybe because i go 24 hours without the baclofen and gabapentin and it wore off?
 
Okay that is reasonable as long as, like you mentioned, you don't keep it up for two many months. I'd be more worried about the baclofen dependency than the gabapentin, but you seem to have a good idea of how the stuff effects your body already, so you're more prepared than most!
 
Yeah, I'm thinking of using the gabapentin and baclofen a few more days, then seeing how it goes. Yeah I'm hoping I won't build a dependency to these meds. I'm only using to calm my nerves a bit and for sleep since they knock me out. Twice I tried just unisom to sleep and I wound up being up all night with zero sleep and having to go to work the next day both times sucked.

I have a physical job and I went through this while working. I didn't want to go through withdrawals at home because I didn't wanna just sit there and let my mind wander.
 
Unisom/diphenhydramine can actually exacerbate RLS. I wouldn't worry about dependency right now, what you need is stability. The sooner you get off the meds the better, but perhaps try cutting them down slowly than jumping off completely.
 
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Out -

Earlier this his year I quit an opiate habit that I had for 7+ yrs. after day 11 I was still taking sleep aids to go to sleep. And the sleep was maybe 3-4 hours of crappy rest, at best. I had to stop all of those to get my sleep schedule back on track. I did a bunch of reading on Bluelight and other forums about others with the same issue. What I found was that most people had to stop taking all meds (comfort meds I mean - not prescribed meds that they needed) to fully recover. So, I sucked,it up and quit taking everything.

That resulted in my being awake for 53 hrs straight - I do think I "fell asleep" twice in that time period but it was definitely less than 20 minutes both times - around hour 53 I was able to sleep for five hours. I remember waking up with the most peaceful feeling I've had in a decade...for once I opened my eyes and didn't feel like I couldn't face the day.

After that, my sleep averaged 5-6 hours for a few days and then I was pretty much back on track for another 30ish days...and then relapse. Getting back on the wagon soon.

I just wanted to share what worked for me.

- VE
 
Vast,

Thanks for responding. What you say also makes sense. I was actually thinking what you said, maybe I should just stop taking any kind of pill and see how it goes. Even though I'm getting sleep with the baclofen and gabapentin perhaps I'm hurting myself in recovery and will take me even longer. Sorry to hear about the relapse, I've also relapsed numerous times but with my 8 month old son now, I strongly believe the time is right for me to end my addiction. I hope your time is coming soon as well!
 
I didnt have time to read all of this thread, so i apologize if someone else has said something similar to this, but here is a list of things that will help RLS

Tonic water with lemon juice
Nigella sativa seed oil
Magnesium tartrate
Pregabalin or gabapentin
 
Outsider31 said:
Vast,

Thanks for responding. What you say also makes sense. I was actually thinking what you said, maybe I should just stop taking any kind of pill and see how it goes. Even though I'm getting sleep with the baclofen and gabapentin perhaps I'm hurting myself in recovery and will take me even longer. Sorry to hear about the relapse, I've also relapsed numerous times but with my 8 month old son now, I strongly believe the time is right for me to end my addiction. I hope your time is coming soon as well!
Click to expand...

That's the thing though, recovery takes time. You want to do what you can to avoid relapse, and you need the time to do that in early recovery. It is very hard to learn when you're body is under abnormal stress, which it's going to be in early recovery already to begin with. Lack of sleep will only exacerbate that.

Other than slowly reducing your comfort meds, I also high recommend working on improving your sleep hygiene (limiting caffeine intake to not after 12:00pm, not using a TV or computer for an hour before bed, not using the bed for anything other than sleep (and sex of course :)) and going to bed and waking up at regular times).

Addiction fucks you sleep hygiene and other healthy habits up, so don't expect to get it all right right away. But if you just keeping in the right direction you'll end up where you want.
 
Outsider -

Thank you you for the well wishes - my time is coming very soon. As soon as I can get some time off work!

TPD is right, as usual, about making sure you listen to your body and take it slow to avoid any relapses. I just know that when I quit, I needed to go back to work two weeks later and when i was on my 11th day and couldn't get more than three hours, I needed to do something, or I was going to be in trouble when I went back to work...so I relied on the knowledge of those that came before me. And it worked! But if you aren't ready yet, then that is absolutely ok too.

Keep up the good/hard work, Out, it DOES get better. Slowly, maybe, but surely. Often times sleep is the last thing to return, but don't get discouraged because it will come back.

- VE
 
Eventually you will have to stop sleep meds you're using while in withdrawal and PAW for your sleep schedule to get back to a more normal pattern. There are harder ways and softer ways of doing this. I obviously favor the softer ways.
 
Very hard questions to answer. I don't want to just turn to the average platitude, so I won't :)

Upon reflection, I think what helps me the most is an understanding that all good things come in time. Knowing that what is in front of me isn't all there is, is also crucial.

In order to all time to come, I have to be sensible and kind with myself, not just pushing myself to be better, faster, harder. Rather I have had to learn to allow myself to be. It takes work, but what works for me might not work for another.

Finding ways to connect with your world is how I would suggest you move forward. The more you can feel a part of and alright with what you're doing, the more those things become self reinforcing. That is why finding a community you feel safe amongst is so valuable.
 
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Thanks! What you say is true, but so hard to accept. I think it comes with the territory (addiction territory that is) to want a quick fix. To take a pill/drug to make it better.

How did you get your sleep back on track? Is there a gentler way to do it?

- VE
 
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