Does Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) actually exist?

[alfredosauce]

Has it been proven? Or is it just made up to make former addicts feel better about their lives sucking, and giving them hope? I abused a fuckton of GHB/GBL about 6 months ago and way more drugs about a year ago(mostly amphetamine). I feel pretty shitty in general just about every day, is this "PAWS?"? I've always just thought of PAWS as bullshit, but maybe I'm just ignorant.

 

[MrRoot]

Well. To be blunt that is PAWS.

Some might argue that PAWS is just meaning for what addicts who haven't adjusted to normal life experience or that it is sum of symptoms which at first lead them to use drugs at all as a form of self medication.

 

[XANAX XR]

It's a justification system for people who feel like shit -- I feel exactly the same as I did before I abused drugs and drug counselors/doctors say it's PAWS..

 

[Sprout]

It's not a justification at all, not everyone experiences it and the one's who don't are very lucky.
It's hard to put into words but I've dealt with MH issues my whole life, but PAWS has its own particular feel, and that feeling is Hell.

 

[szuko000]

I can only comment on my direct experience. I was IVing dope for a year daily went on subs for 8 months slowly dropped my dose to 0.5mg and never has PAWS after the 7 day withdrawal period (wasn't even extended at that dose)

Now I am coming off methadone and my g/f is on her 6th day off methadone. In 2 weeks I will ask how she is and try to find out of she gets it, not asking at all when she's in this stage.

I think PAWS is more likely if you do not taper. If you taper you can deal with a lot of the effects being on drugs had and this will help your self worth and it will pretect you from feeling like shit at least a little. That's my take on it.

 

[Keif' Richards]

PAWS is real. I've experienced it, others have experienced it, it's as proven as a non-tangible object can be.

It's easy to make sense of it as well. There's going to be an approximately corresponding return to baseline (or as close as you can get) as there was in moving away from it in the first place. What goes up, must come down and all of that. Some substances have a noticeably longer PAW syndrome than others, like benzodiazepines, but the mechanism seems to be the same generally.

Serious opioid withdrawal would often leave me with noticeable paws for 1- 1.5 months while methadone (maintenance) withdrawal lasted 4-5 months. After these stated times, it became to difficult to distinguish my depression, anxiety and anhedonia from before I began using. The only thing close to GHB that I've been dependent upon is alcohol. I drank 750ml per day of 80 proof liquor for several months, underwent a medical detox for approximately 5 days, and experienced slight paws for 2 - 3 weeks.

I've heard alcoholics and medical professionals both claim that the PAWS from alcohol specifically can last much, much longer.

 

[Keif' Richards]

It's a justification system for people who feel like shit -- I feel exactly the same as I did before I abused drugs and drug counselors/doctors say it's PAWS..

Sorry for the double post, but I just read this. Xanax, please don't go out of your way to invalidate other people's feelings no matter how "right" you feel you are. It's a community and the overwhelming majority of addicts and medical professionals believe - mostly from experiences or first hand evidence - in the existence of PAWS.