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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Coming off opiates

Swillyboy

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 3, 2011
Messages
7
Location
California
I've been taking between 20 & 50 mgs of either hydro or oxy per day for 3 months to help with quitting alcohol. It has worked well. Longest dry spell since I was 12 years old.

What is the best way to stop without putting myself through unnecessary discomfort. I'm ok with WDs having been through it with booze hundreds of times.

I know the tricks with booze WD but not opiates. I have access to most things. I can't take time off work for more than a day or 2 max.
 
This is just my advice; keep in mind that I have never been through OPIOID WD, but I have been through a Meth WD. This is just based off of what I've read around here:

Take friday (or thursday and friday) off work and stop dosing the night before the first day you're off. If you've only been on them for 3 months the withdrawal shouldn't be too terribly long. I would take a bit of Imodium as I've heard it not only helps with the WDs but will also minimize the runs you have to make to the bathroom (pun was intended lol). As to how much Imodium to take, I can't help you there. Someone else around here might be able to help you with that bit. I just figured I'd give you the best answer I could for now until someone else comes along and sees this thread.
 
I have not taken any today to see how bad opiate WD feels before I decide to taper or CT. Still would like some advice on the best ways to detox. For instance, Benzo's make
alcohol withdrawal 100 x easier on you & 100x safer.

My friends in Rehab who were past alcoholics that are now coming off other addictions said booze is the worst & benzos in terms of WD & detox ...
 
I would usually recommend benzos for opiate withdrawal, along with loperamide (8-12mg every 24 hours), marijuana, hot showers and rest.

Opiate withdrawal is much safer than both alcohol or benzo withdrawal in terms of health risks, but it's not pleasant or easy by any means. The first 2-3 days are the worst really, after that each day gets a little bit better. If you have to take a day or two off of work do so. Take the benzos as needed for the RLS/anxiety/restlessness. The loperamide will help with the shits and cold/hot sweats. Pot makes it all a little easier, and hot showers just feel fucking good.
 
Did you try Valium at all? Its widely used in alcohol w/d....for the oxy...if you have access to it I would strongly suggest tapering down about 2mg per day. I told my doctor (not all are like him) that I was becoming dependant on my Percocet 10/325 script and he is tapering me down slowly with a mixture of oxycodone and Nucynta....but im on so many meds its hard to say...but some Doc's will help with that, no harm in trying!
 
Did you try Valium at all? Its widely used in alcohol w/d....for the oxy...if you have access to it I would strongly suggest tapering down about 2mg per day. I told my doctor (not all are like him) that I was becoming dependant on my Percocet 10/325 script and he is tapering me down slowly with a mixture of oxycodone and Nucynta....but im on so many meds its hard to say...but some Doc's will help with that, no harm in trying!

Dependence is normal though O.o
Physical dependence is just the bodies natural reaction to constantly being on a medication. If you're a chronic pain patient, becoming dependent on opioids is, not only natural, but expected, and any doctor worth a damn should know this.
 
Put you're feet in a bucket of hot water, soak for 15 to 20 minutes, dump water and repeat.

I did this for 5 days straight when I quit cold turkey.
 
Loperamide can help with a lot of the physical symptoms - it is an opioid but it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier.

Benzos in the short term will help, but be very careful you don't swap one addiction for another..

Other than that - I recommend you keep yourself comfortable, cosy and well-nourished and hydrated.. distract yourself if you can - music, reading, films, TV, computer games, sex (okay latter might be tricky I admit) once you are able to. Stay strong and positive, and come and chat to us on BL (especially The Dark Side forum) if you need to talk to someone who understands.

Good luck! <3
 
All advice above is good. Benzos for SHORT TERM ONLY. I have plenty of experience with opiate w/d's and would like to add a couple things that I find helpful. Clonodine - a prescription med for blood pressure (i think) but it will stop heart palpitations and chills/goosebumps. Cheap, and doctors don't usually have a problem prescribing this if you tell them the truth why you want it. It is not addictive, but CAN have a rebound effect, so SHORT TERM USE for this as well. Now, some OTC stuff that helps me alot is bendryl for sleep and anxiety, melatonin for sleep, and valerian root/passion flower will relieve muscle tension and cramping pretty much as well as a benzo will (at least it does for me) . HOT HOT baths help for a little while. Hell i've spent entire days in bathtubs drawing fresh HOT water until I looked like a prune . Just be strong, and don't forget it doesn't last forever, and you are FAR better off w/d'ing from hydros/oxys than you are triying to do a methadone or sub taper . Trust me I've done it all these ways. You can totally do it, if I can do it, you can CERTAINLY do it.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I still haven't taken any today and I don't feel that bad yet? Is there a chance that at the dose I've been on WDs may be very minor ? When coming of booze & Benzos at this point I'd be in fucking agony....do some people not get nightmare WDs coming of opiates ??? When do symptoms normally kick in ?I'd assume around 12 hours of last dose.....I called a buddy who has played the game wit opiates for years and she said that at less than 75 mgs per day WDs are not even an issue. But I assumed she was just trying to be hardcore & impressive about how much she used to do, 1000 mgs per day !
 
People complain about opiate wd all the time but i always shrug it off. If you can take an ecstasy come down easily, or benzo WD or w.e just compare it to that. Your not feeling much because opiate WD isn't too bad unless you are taking massive doses. The worst parts is like trying to get to sleep but you cant because of restless leg. Or getting cold shivers sometimes, and some depression. Nothing too bad
 
^^ I don't know about that one, buddy. 'only in massive doses' ? I think many would beg too differ. That, what does one consider 'massive tolerance' or massive doses? I remember going through horrendous Opiate w/ds back when I too morphine Sulfate (60's) - i'd take a few a day. This was not much... I was also taking about 15 hydrocodone a day + a handful of percs (small doses, 5 or 10mg, as they are). etc. This may SOUND like a lot 'of substances' and if you look at it pill by pill, perhaps. However, if you convert all substances to oxycodone equivalents, it's really quite moderate, rather than 'high ' or massive' on the scale of dependency.

Before THAT when I took methadone only (which I KNOW is notorious for bad w/ds) I was coming off a maybe 20 mg tolerance, and felt horrendous. I can't begin to describe the kind of 'crazy' one feels when in that bad of a place. Then again, many of you reading this know exactly what I'm talking about.

Now? I'm dealing with a 5-10 bag of dope a day habit. Yay... for the w/ds that inevitably lie ahead. Fahk. Lopermide, plenty of rest, exercise when able, nutrients/vitamins, and a 'routine' of sorts to keep you from falling too far into yourself. Self loathing does NOT help.
 
I think he's confusing WD with comedown possibly as he states "only in massive doses" when withdrawals are more based off of how long you're body has been constantly exposed to said substance. I had a really bad COMEDOWN off of 1.75g meth (days 1-4), 150mg oxycodone IR (days 1-2), 75mg Morphine (days 2-3), and a gnarley mescaline based x tab (day 4) (spread out over 4 days with no sleep/minimal food), but this was nothing compared to the meth WITHDRAWAL I had after quitting the substance the first time.
 
Done cold turkeys off a long term ((( 7 years continuous. ))) smoked and IVed Heroin habit a good few times. Lofexidine helped to some extent. It suppresses the over-production of Noradrenaline that accounts for a lot of the spaced out, restless, shaking and cramps. Has to be treated with caution and used exactly as prescribed over the period of a detox, as it can trigger rebound effects in its own right, though I tolerated it better than I did Clonidine, prescribed for similar purpose, which really did play havoc with my blood pressure, having me constantly on the verge of a blackout.

Easiest detoxes I did were using 30mg Codeine Phosphate 8 times a day. This was coming off a long term habit IVing upwards a gram of H / day. YMMV of course, but take as few as you can comfortably stand. They took off the very worst symptoms without sufficiently substituting for Heroin in a way that interfered with withdrawal or prolonged the withdrawal period. Great getting you through the worst of the first 3 days, without giving you something else to rattle off at the end of it.

Apart from that, a long hot bath with a few drops of Lavender essential oil was a constant source of immediate relief, Diazepam / Nitrazepam for sleep, try to eat and keep hydrated. Just remember that if your withdrawal follows the same pattern as a Heroin detox, and I see no reason why it wouldn't even allowing for Suboxone's relatively long half-life, by day three you've broken the back of it, and you'll start to feel a lot better and stronger as day 4 and 5 wear out.
 
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if you ate or banged the pills than the wd should be easier, if you chased it the pain will be worse. The 1st day is pretty bearable. 2nd day is when you usually go back to doin it. The physical pain lasts 3-4 days. I know its left my body when i get the 2 shits, and they are massive shits, usually clog up the toilet, the 2 shits happen within 30 minutes of each other. They are the biggest 2 shits you will have in your life. around 48hrs to 72hrs, i take a dose of methadone and feel great, i do one more dose of methadone 24 hrs later and no more doses again as you could get hooked on that, and thats it after that you get the 2 shits around the 3rd to 4th day, and that means you have been released fr4om her grip. i use this method for my last few withdrawals and its been the smoothest way out, literally feeling good out.

i also have used ghb when i didnt have access to methadone, where i would g myself out (5ml g's me out, body weight 180lbs, you'd need atleast 150ml for the wd) every 4hrs, as soon as i'd wake up, i'd oral syringe 5ml to 6ml and within 5-10minutes i would be asleep for 3 to 4 hrs. it was tough, as i was 7mnths straight 1gr a day of chasin' brownsugar, sometimes a kodak(17.5gr) every 3 days, 1gr was to pace myself as i would do more a day if i had more around.

You have great lucid dreams in 2nd and 3rd days when you do manage some choppy sleep.

If you don"t have access to either methadone or ghb, and go cold turkey, that is really tough, time goes super slow, best thing is to force yourself to be busy, quite impossible unless you have a physical job with no people around( i was senior loader as a forklift operator in an ltl crossdock enviroment, so there was no fashion show on how i looked and felt in that kind of environment). Another time i did it cold turkey as i got busted after 1 yr of chasin sugar, and that was just 7 days of horror, what i learnt there was that people literally walking on my whole body back and front, jumping up and down with their heels would cause a pain that would compete with my pain, so it helped, moaning and groaning helps too, you will be shaking your feet as you lie around, that too is a kind of relief, you will overheat and than freeze within minutes of eachother, people would walk all over my back and i would overheatfrom it, and than after they stopped i would start shivering and i'd have 5 blankets thrown over me, and than slowly i would overheat again.i don't advise alcohol as you are doin your head in already and if you drink you start behaving irrationally, and might have actions committed that were not intended, specially if you live with ppl. weed makes you feel the pain more, so i dont advise weed either. Never been much of a benzo user as i always feel groggy when i wake up and feel worse than if i didnt use them at all, but in the 1st and 2nd day they are helpful. the point is the fight is for 3-4 days physically, the metal part is hard if you live in the same room after the wd, and see the same ppl and that is when you relapse, so if you can change those habitual areas and ppl do it.

the pain is gradual and goes to your extremities such as hands and feet when you near the 2 shits. if you using laxatives than you don't get the 2shit as a sign that shes left ya. goodluck and be aware that you usually do your own head in with non rational behavior(like arguing over anything, cutting corners on doing things, thinking that the world is your enemy, seems like murphy's law when it rains it pours with bad luck), if its your 1st withdrawal, its like a bad trip on acid but with lethargy.
 
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