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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Can my body handle opiate withdrawl?

Brian242

Brian242

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 27, 2011
Messages
529
Hey BL, I had Scoliosis correction surgery last year and had two 2 1/2 foot titanium bars, along with 12 6" bolts. So I am prescribed 180 Hydrocodone 10-325's and i'm supposed to take 2 every 6 hours. I had my bottle stolen by a friends friend that came over and my friend is working on getting them back, but I just don't see that happening.

So it's been about a day since that and I feel terrible. I've read about WD's and how to cope with it because it's inevitable. Stomach hurts, butt pee (Diarrhea), and my back hurts so badly. I am only comfortable in this chair and have to be propped up.

I have Gabapentin and lots of weed, which I've heard is good for WD's.

So what should I do? I don't get a refill until the 7th. Also I live alone, and I turned 18 three days ago, and weigh 110-115 Lbs. If that matters.

TL;DR

Had bad back surgery, prescribed hydrocodone, some punk stole my remaining pills, now in WD. Don't know what to do.
 
You could explain the situation to a physician... I'm actually not sure how it will turn out.... a friend of mine gained dosage when he said he ran out earlier because he had to take more to deal with the pain.
 
that sux i live literally walking distance from detroit so heroin is super prevelent and honestly the only way u can get help from the hospital or a physichian is if u fall out from either a seizure or fall out due to complications from WD which as fucked up as it sounds i was lucky enough to have this happen cause i woke up 6 days later on a super low mg of methadone n then weened off in a week. Easiest ever. 6 months clean baby. I had a huge heroin habit so thats why i fell out.
 
I can understand your worry, I guess in a way, its hard to explain to a physician, someone stole your pills. The amount of long term addicts who use up there prescription and go back for more, reeling of such story's, at a guess, could be high. Making it more difficult for people such as yourself.

I say, give it a go, tell them the truth. I don't know what will happen, but they can't ignore the fact you have none. That's pretty much them saying, your doomed, you should have been more careful and not let someone steal them. But then again, I guess that happens to.

As for the Gabapentin and weed, I have no experience with Gabapentin, so wouldn't have the foggiest. I'm sure a bluelighter with greater knowlege of WD will be along to answer your question in full.

Hope this helped... a bit :)

peace
 
Gabapentin and weed should help, although I've only experience with the latter, and whether it helps or not seems to vary from person to person, for some people the herb actually makes the symptoms worse, I on the other hand couldn't go through WDs without.

But a thing that will really help (and that I always mention in this kind of thread ;)) is loperamide (immodium). Stock up on the cheap generic version, and don't be afraid to dose higher than normally recommended. It'll not only stop the shits, but if you dose high enough, it virtually eliminates withdrawal within 2 or 3 hours and lasts a full day.

I'd recommend 40 or 50mg as a start, then wait 3 hours, see if it helps, and then redose as necessary. The constipation isn't worse than from other opiates, especially if you've got a tolerance, and from personal experience it's really a kind of OTC methadone and has been a godsend in situations where I couldn't get anything else (and I used to have a pretty hefty heroin habit).

Give it a shot, worst that can happen is that you can't crap for a few days, otherwise you'll be WD free in a couple of hours.

Oh, and forget about trying to get an early refill, unless your doc is really compassionate, you'll likely get flagged for drug seeking behaviour, and having a big fat JUNKIE mark in your medical records is best to be avoided if you care about adequate medication in the future.

Edit: I just re-read your OP and noticed your age. DON'T try to get extra meds or early refills, even the most understanding doc won't help out young patients, both for the reason I mentioned above and because people at your age can get hooked easily. Opiates are a slippery slope indeed and doctors are only too aware of this. No one wants to be responsible for a junkie career, (most) doctors have a conscience and would suffer big time if one of their patients developed a serious habit and they were the ones who introduced opiates into that patient's life.

You can count yourself lucky to get proper meds and most likely won't be cut off suddenly, but rather weaned off slowly. In my country, I'd get tramadol at best, you can't even get codeine OTC here unlike most other European countries, Germany sucks in that regard. As an 18 year old, they'd probably give you some extra strength aspirin and tell you to man up.

So if I was in your shoes, I'd do my best to avoid exhibiting anything that could be classified as addict behaviour, even if it means suffering through WD (which you won't if you take my word for loperamide's effectiveness).

Enough with the rambling, I hope this helps, it's better than copping in the streets for sure.
 
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Withdrawal from hydrocodone can feel miserable, but it's not going to kill you or damage you. It may be especially painful for someone who is already in pain, and it can be very hard mentally, but your body can handle it, provided you keep nourished and hydrated. If you take some things to help with the withdrawals (the gabapentin and cannabis, loperamide, benzos if you can get them, vitamins/supplements, etc) you will probably be ok and the worst part of the withdrawals shouldn't last very long (a few days).

Having said that, if someone genuinely stole your meds and you are in good standing with your doctor and have never given them any reason to think you might "misuse" your meds, then I don't see why it would be that bad of an idea to tell your doctor what happened and that you don't have any meds left. The worst thing that can happen is that they are unwilling to give you anything and might be more strict about your meds in the future or make you pick up your prescription more often (like once every week or 2), or possibly start weaning you off gradually. The best thing is that they are compassionate and give you a new Rx or at least give you something to help. How much longer are you supposed to be taking hydrocodone anyway? Do you still need them?

You could explain to your doctor that you feel very stupid, you can't believe you left your meds where someone could steal them, you really didn't realize you couldn't trust your friend and you will make sure it never happens again, and that you were trying to just tough it out until your next refill but you are in way too much pain and are getting really sick so you decided to come in. Then leave it up to the doctor to decide what to do.
 
^ Great post, I would think you're doctor will take mercy on you and at least give you some to hold out till the 7th
But who knows now a days with all the pharm abuse and doctor shopping and what not

If he doesn't believe you or just decides not to help anyway, realistically I would just try to buy some pharm opiate illegally
I know that might be hard for you because you're immobile but maybe one of your friends or anyone else could help out if you just explained the situation

^ The only reason I say do that is because you're inevitably going to be back on opiates anyway so why go through the hell of wd if you're not ready to kick for good, and in your position you can't really do that like you said since you have legitimate pain. I just wouldn't want to go through the hell of wd for that long along with your pain just to be back on opiates again in the weeks to come

Edit: Derp, I didn't even address your original question, yes you're body can handle it, it will prolly just be a lot worse with the other pain. You'll most likely be feeling better ie no more wd symptoms by day 5 or 6 since you've only been on them a year. The shitty part like I said though is you'll still have the original pain which will force you to be on opiates again and unless you plan on being on them the rest of your life you're gonna know you'll have to put up with that wd again someday...
 
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Swimmingdancer said:
Withdrawal from hydrocodone can feel miserable, but it's not going to kill you or damage you. It may be especially painful for someone who is already in pain, and it can be very hard mentally, but your body can handle it, provided you keep nourished and hydrated. If you take some things to help with the withdrawals (the gabapentin and cannabis, loperamide, benzos if you can get them, vitamins/supplements, etc) you will probably be ok and the worst part of the withdrawals shouldn't last very long (a few days).

Having said that, if someone genuinely stole your meds and you are in good standing with your doctor and have never given them any reason to think you might "misuse" your meds, then I don't see why it would be that bad of an idea to tell your doctor what happened and that you don't have any meds left. The worst thing that can happen is that they are unwilling to give you anything and might be more strict about your meds in the future or make you pick up your prescription more often (like once every week or 2), or possibly start weaning you off gradually. The best thing is that they are compassionate and give you a new Rx or at least give you something to help. How much longer are you supposed to be taking hydrocodone anyway? Do you still need them?

You could explain to your doctor that you feel very stupid, you can't believe you left your meds where someone could steal them, you really didn't realize you couldn't trust your friend and you will make sure it never happens again, and that you were trying to just tough it out until your next refill but you are in way too much pain and are getting really sick so you decided to come in. Then leave it up to the doctor to decide what to do.
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Guys, the OP just turned 18 years old... with all the crazy DEA pressure even the most compassionate doc will probably tell him to tough it out until the next refill, which will be painful, but doable (even quite painless with high loperamide doses, which also can easily be tapered down if needs be).

Now I'm not sure if hydrocodone is as closely watched as oxycodone, but I wouldn't risk my license or even a lawsuit over this, and the OP has no hard evidence to support his story. As the doc, I'd probably tell him that he's lucky to not get flagged, and nothing more.

Then again, I'm just a Kraut with no first hand experience of the American health system, so Swimmingdancer could well be right. I always tend to assume the worst and sometimes like to play the devil's advocate, kindly accept my apologies if I came across too strongly or rude in my previous post.
 
^Do we even know where the OP lives?

I agree though that the withdrawals can be greatly reduced by taking loperamide and other meds, and shouldn't be all that bad or long lasting, especially if the OP just has a physical dependence and is not mentally addicted or craving it (although that's an IF, since it's possible they may have an addiction to it as well) - it's a lot easier to mentally bear withdrawals when there is no mental addiction.
 
I know the kind of surgery you had. It is brutal on the soft tissue and there will be extensive scarring following that. If you really want to get off the pain meds you're going to have to look into alternative therapy like hydrotherapy, specifically castor oil packs to break up the scar tissue. All that scar tissue compresses nerves and causes major tissue adherence around the surgical site. I won't lie, there's a chance that not all of the scar tissue can be dissolve - some of it might be permanent. But you will at least have improvement in pain.

I'm surprised you are still on pain killers 2 years after the fact. They often wean people within the first 6 months after scoliosis surgery, placing a bigger emphasis on exercise and strengthening.
 
I've been taking like 6-8 mg immodium (Not 40 or 50mg) and it's helping with the shits, and i've taken 5-8 grams of Gabapentin which is a pretty high dose and it's helping. I just awoke from a 4 hour nap from Gabapentin. It's not placebo either. I think I'll tough it out. I could use a break from opiates anyway.

Is there anything I can do for WD pain?

I don't know how much longer I'll be on Hydrocodone, but I have 2 more refills on it. I do need them, because I'm hurting very badly without them.

I also have Clonazepam, Lorazepam, Vitamin C & E pills, and Soma (Carisoprodol) if anything can be done with them please let me know.

Thanks for the responses btw.
 
I've had my spine fused 3 times so I know to some extent how much W/D can hurt when you have extreme back problems and titanium to go with it!

You have major trauma to your body; go to the emergency room and tell them you need pain control. Verifying your legitimacy shouldn't be too hard (my x-rays look crazy, cant imagine yours). You should be able to either A) Get a prescription to hold you over or B) Ask that they admit you if they arent comfortable giving you a script to hold you over.

Look, WD in general is enough of a misery that complications with serious pain (esp. the back) can potentially make your situation dangerous. You need to force the issue with the MD's and hospital!
 
Brian242 said:
I've been taking like 6-8 mg immodium (Not 40 or 50mg) and it's helping with the shits, and i've taken 5-8 grams of Gabapentin which is a pretty high dose and it's helping. I just awoke from a 4 hour nap from Gabapentin. It's not placebo either. I think I'll tough it out. I could use a break from opiates anyway.

Is there anything I can do for WD pain?

I don't know how much longer I'll be on Hydrocodone, but I have 2 more refills on it. I do need them, because I'm hurting very badly without them.

I also have Clonazepam, Lorazepam, Vitamin C & E pills, and Soma (Carisoprodol) if anything can be done with them please let me know.

Thanks for the responses btw.
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I can only repeat, take more loperamide. With your opiate tolerance, you'd likely puke up the pills before overdosing. Only a very small amount will pass the BBB, but in high enough doses that very small amount suffices to kill WDs (but not opiate naive people, or have you ever heard of an OTC diarrhea medicine suicide attempt?).
Find your sweet spot, where you are only just about comfortable, and taper down from there if you really want to take a break from opiates.

The benzos help moodwise, but be careful, these things are just as addictive as opiates, only you don't notice until it's too late. And kicking an opiate habit compared to a benzo one is like fluffy bunnies vs. angry motherfucking bears. One you can get rid off with a little loving care, the other can kill you with seizures, both grand mal and unlucky falls during normal ones, feels even worse than opiate WDs and there's nothing you can do, only an extremely slow taper seems to work.

Vitamins are good, but stick to the recommended dosage, your body probably won't absorb anything extra anyway.

Soma is a great muscle relaxer, so it might help if your muscles ache from WDs (it's always been the bones for me, but everyone experiences WD differently). I take it you have the 375mg capsules? Better be careful, one can make the difference between feeling nicely relaxed and lying on the floor drooling, because every muscle in your body is too relaxed to move. I'm not sure if this implies the heart muscles as well, would be good to know.

But if you really want to get off the dope train, work with your doc or rehab specialists in order to lessen the pain naturally and cope on your own. We're just drug users here who'll tell you what works, but your doc is really the only one entitled to a medical opinion.
 
I'd think for the pain esp. related to the back, the carisoprodol should help quite a bit, but OTC NSAID's like ibuprofen or naproxen can really help, too, until you get your refill on your hydrocodone-APAP script. I don't know how regularly you take your clonazepam and lorazepam, but if you are dependent on them don't stop, obviously. But, be careful in combining gabapentin, carisoprodol, and benzos altogether. That could be way too much even if you are not in relief. Frankly, I would rely more on the carisoprodol for the time being as it helps with pain, anxiety, insomnia etc. where benzos really do not have any pain-relieving properties except by their mechanism of preventing muscle spasms or loosening the muscles, however carisoprodol does that, too. Perhaps, benzos aren't the best choice to use in combination with gabapentin and carisoprodol. Start low and go slow, be SAFE, but I'd advise against it just to be safe! Just because you are in opiate wd's does not mean you couldn't OD on other drugs.

I think I'd lower the gabapentin dose to a more appropriate range (5 - 8 grams is quite a lot), and employ the carisoprodol for especially bad pain and sleep. You have these drugs, so you probably know how you tolerate them and at what doses, but really BE CAREFUL. They are all GABAergic, and synergistic, producing much more pronounced effect. Loperamide is a good suggestion, good you're taking it. And, like I said, NSAID's such as ibuprofen or naproxen can really help.

Hydrocodone wd's should be relatively short in the acute stage of wd's, and at your dose should not be too rough. Your body is capable of handling it, I am sure esp. with the loperamide. You are not on your deathbed or have some very dangerous disease rendering you so fragile not to be able to endure opiate wd's. They suck, but are quite manageable. I really hope you are doing well. Just remember loperamide until you get the hydrocodone. Loperamide is an opioid, as a matter of fact, yet does not cross the blood-brain-barrier, and so does not produce significant psychoactive effect at normal dose, or really any dose. It can, however, be VERY relieving in opiate wd's for physical symptoms.
 
sorry i didnt read the whole thread but kratom will alleviate 70+% of your withdrawals or at least make you comfortable, its available online and cheap. you want to go with the Bali variety. if you for some odd reason cant get kratom, get some subs and take like 1mg a day for 4-5 days then stop, you should be over the w/d by then. hope that helps..
 
I am aware of the potential dangers of benzos, and I barley take them but other people I know would sure pay a lot for them ;)

about the Loperamide, how much would you all take to relieve the symptoms?
 
Brian242 said:
I am aware of the potential dangers of benzos, and I barley take them but other people I know would sure pay a lot for them ;)

about the Loperamide, how much would you all take to relieve the symptoms?
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Great perception of benzos, try to keep it like this :)

As for the lope, a dose of 80mg would kill off the WDs back when I was smoking up to two grams of heroin with around 20% purity (rough estimate, but the standard here) a day. In your case I'd recommend 40mg, you can always go higher if it doesn't do the trick, and 40mg certainly won't do you any harm.

daveykronick said:
when i was in w/d i would take 2-4 pills of Imodium (not sure the dose) about 2x a day if diarrhea was bad. i never actually noticed that they helped the w/d besides the lack of diarrhea..
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The more you know... immodium is normally 2mg a pill, same goes for the generics I know of. 16mg won't touch any symptoms except the shits, you really need higher doses for that.

Alex000 said:
Your body is capable of handling it, I am sure esp. with the loperamide. You are not on your deathbed or have some very dangerous disease rendering you so fragile not to be able to endure opiate wd's. They suck, but are quite manageable. I really hope you are doing well. Just remember loperamide until you get the hydrocodone. Loperamide is an opioid, as a matter of fact, yet does not cross the blood-brain-barrier, and so does not produce significant psychoactive effect at normal dose, or really any dose. It can, however, be VERY relieving in opiate wd's for physical symptoms.
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Lots of good advice in this post, I only quoted the lope part to avoid bloating my own, but especially the Soma/gabapentin/NSAID combo sounds very good, no need for benzos and loads of pain relief, this may come in handy sometime, thanks!

However there are people getting high on lope by either taking huge amounts (think 300mg+) or combining slightly smaller doses with a med that makes the BBB more permeable (there are several afaik, but I can't remember any of the names).

I'd advise against both, as the high is often described as feeling "dirty" in comparison to regular opiates, and messing around with your BBB is not exactly a smart idea. It's there for a reason, who knows what other things will get past it once lowered? Also, there could be long term issues, but that's only an assumption of mine; I've come across no reputable studies on the subject.

So, yes, loperamide will get you high if dosed high enough or potentiated with other meds, but it won't get banned because these facts aren't widely spread and it's the most effective med for treating diarrhea I know of. This status could be compared to that of DXM, except DXM highs/trips can be really fun if you don't mind the bodyload.

Funny sidenote: the German government issues a yearly drug report. DXM is mentioned as abusable, but hasn't got a big consumer group which the report describes as "insignificant". That's why I can get 20x30mg hard gel caps per pack OTC whenever I feel like it, for the price of two beers in a bar. That amount sends me straight into hyperspace, a much nicer way to spend a night than chugging beers, paying more for a shittier high with a brutal hangover. Sometimes, even my country with its otherwise strict drug laws can do something right ;)
 
For people wondering where I live and a little more background on my situation;

18 years old, Living in Oklahoma, and I am under a pain management contract with my Dr. and I know for a fact that i'm listed in the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics for the amount of drugs I get. I also gave up on the euphoria from Hydrocodone because I don't feel them anymore. I am not mentally addicted to any substance, and Hydrocodone is the only thing i'm physically addicted to.

And this is day 2, and I feel like shit!
 
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