Horrible constant akathisia - please help.

[Transcendence]

I'm withdrawing from buprenorphine and for the past few days I've had near constant akathisia that makes doing anything, most importantly sleeping, quite impossible. I feel like I have worms crawling under every inch of my skin. I feel like I downed a box of benadryl. Any prescription medication is not an option. Is there ANYTHING OTC that is effective in treating this? Phenibut helps some but I can't take it everyday. I keep coming across benadry mentioned as a treatment but that's bullshit - maybe some other [prescription] antihistamines help but I can vouch that benadryl makes it 100x worse. It's the exact same feeling you get when you take too much benadryl in the first place.

 

[Middleway]

Exercise is well documented in reducing symptoms. Alcohol can help. Avoid coffee big time!! Ciggerettes, SSRI's, make it worse as well. Tea seems to help, food and rest does too.
I would say cut out the coffee, get as much exercise as you can handle, have some tea and watch some tv. Got to stay low stimulis.
I have suffered it a lot in the past myself so I know what I am talking about.
let me know how you go

 

[Transcendence]

I'm definitely avoiding coffee. I drink tea of all varieties daily but this akathisia is so bad something like that isn't putting a dent in it. Exercise helps a little but only for like 30 minutes to an hour after I exercise. I'm a university student and very busy with classes so unfortunately I can't exercise 24/7 as it seems to require.

I can't stop squirming, so sleep/rest is impossible no matter how exhausted I am. I'm been up for 60 hours and it's still not an option. I dislike alcohol and usually avoid it but I'm seriously considering becoming a temporary alcoholic because it would be vastly preferable to this condition.

I'm so desperate that I'm thinking of going to the doctor and just playing dumb about what's causing the akathisia, but I have no history of SSRI use so it's likely he'll just assume I'm a junkie. I really don't want any doctors to label me as a drug abuser.

I'm going fucking crazy. I didn't use bupe for that long or in that high a dose. The only withdrawal symptom I'm experiencing at this point is akathisia. I REALLY REALLY hope this doesn't continue indefinitely as I've heard of happening. I would rather be in moderate constant pain than deal with this, as it is infinitely more irritating than any medical condition I've yet to experience.

So diphenhydramine / doxylamine is a definite no, but are there any other OTC antihistamines that might work? Or anything?

 

[previouslyhere]

The only withdrawal symptom I'm experiencing at this point is akathisia.

That's horrible, because in my experience and opinion that is probably the worst possible part of withdrawal; the only part of withdrawal that I couldn't handle.

Does diphenhydramine make it worse?

I'm asking because I recently tapered off 3 weeks of Vicodin ES use post-surgery and went through withdrawal for 2 days. Everything was fine throughout the day but at night I'd take diphenhydramine to get to sleep and I had the worst RLS, which wasn't even around during the day. It was almost like the diphenhydramine set it off. It was such a nightmare that after day 2 I went back and got another Vicodin script


They say magnesium and exercise helps a lot. Maybe do some cardio and some squats and other leg exercises if you can?

When I taper myself off this current script I know I'm coming prepared - gonna try to see my doc and try to get some clonidine.

Good luck man, RLS is the fuckin worst. I always wondered what part of opiate withdrawal causes RLS/akathisia and why?

 

[Transcendence]

Yeah, I tried taking diphenhydramine to sleep the other night and I ended up just pulling an all nighter because it caused the worst RLS I've ever had. The akathisia seems to be far far worse when laying down than when sitting up.

I just rode my bike up hill for an hour and I'm feeling okay right now but I'm going to have to down a few quadruple vodkas to get through tonight I think.

If I was withdrawing from anything but bupe I would be fine by now but I've heard bupe withdrawal can last over two weeks.

 

[previouslyhere]

If I was withdrawing from anything but bupe I would be fine by now but I've heard bupe withdrawal can last over two weeks.

I hear ya'. I was in a tough situation, tapering down off of 2mg of bupe a day for 18 months. I got down to 0.5 MG/day and then I had an emergency back surgery. In the middle of this debacle my bupe doctor retired, so if I wanted to continue my bupe I would have to see an associate of her's (she wasn't charging me) and start having to pay for appointments, plus I would have had to been re-induced...so I said fuck it.

I ended up getting some Vicodin and Tramadol after the surgery. After my bupe ran out I figured it'd be easier to do a fast taper with the Vikes since they are a lot shorter acting than the bupe. That "short" vike taper is now going on its 4th week and my 3rd refill

The RLS is definitely worse at night and in my experience WAY worse with diphenhydramine. The RLS combined with the heavy, drowsy, but still-can't-sleep feeling of the diphenhydramine was one of the worst , most annoying things I've ever experienced. Tossing and turning and skin crawling all night until I'd eventually pass out from exhaustion for like an hour or two.

I'm hoping that I really can do a better taper with this script and pick up a couple suboxones on the street, and do a fast detox off of those. Or get a hold of some clonidine and benzos. I'm sure everyone says this but if it weren't for the RLS, I'd definitely be able to handle 4-7 days of WDs... the mental aspect isn't shit compared to the RLS in my opinion...

 

[Middleway]

Try ibuprofen and codene mix tablets, they helped me. Also, come to think of it alcohol made it worse on the come down.
What I forgot to mention is clonazepam. It is indicated for akathesia as is cogentin. Tell your doctor dude, get out of the habit of self treating, its a road that leads to nowhere, I know.

 

[Magenta22]

I withdrew from Oxycodone for 4wks, but still had what I now know is akathesia. My GP gave me Prochlorperazine (stemetil?) & the nausea eased but now the a akathisia is worse. Now taking procyclidine but only 5mg a day & it's no better. I now realise I've had it over a year, changing painkillers several times & going through several withdrawals. I REALLY can't take this. I have 1wk valium that helps a tiny bit & I'm using Kalms Sleep too (otc) I can't eat, feel v queasy 24/7 & would chop my leg off if it would stop it. My doc will increase the Procyclidine in 5 days...fingers crosssed it may help. I'm giving up.

 

[wezface]

I get this as well. It's absolutely awful, I know. Perhaps you could ask your doctor about starting on something for tremors like ropinirole (ReQuip). It's also prescribed for restless legs so it may help a bit with the akathisia.

 

[stlouisgirl]

HELP=I am detoxing off 300mg/day methadone since january of this year-8 months of my own personal horror show. I am now down 4mg/day and am STUCK because I am experiencing a symptom I have never had and that is AKATHISIA. I have been on 4 mg for several weeks now--MUCH longer than I was stuck on any other dosage. Peculiarly I am experiencing NO other wd symptoms now-they all petered out after about 10 days on the 4mg dosage and I have am left with nothing but this akathisia.

Here is the strange thing: I have been split dosing since 10 mg and so now of course split dose 2 mg twelve hours apart. At first the akathisia would come on hard about the 10th hour, I would endure it until for 2 hours and would dose. Initially it would go away for another 10 hours, but NOW, what makes NO sense, is that the akathisia is coming on quicker and quicker after I dose. I now can only go a couple of hours without it returning. WHAT is going on?

Could this be some permanent brain damage sequelae from 12 years on 300mg/day? Will it go away at some point?? I am doing this on my own and need advice. This is unendurable.

Could I end up with this PERMANENTLY? ANY help/ideas or if this happened to you would be soo much appreciated.

 

[cashfl0w_d0nkey]

^ I would imagine the reason that it is happening sooner and sooner is that you had a large amount of methadone accumulated in your body from before you reached 2mg twice per day, and so now that you're at this level your body is gradually excreting the methadone that was built up from before. For example, before, when you were taking 5mg twice per day, once it was fully absorbed, you actually had maybe 30mg of methadone kicking around your system, while now you only have maybe 12mg (numbers discussed below). Methadone has a long half life and taking it daily causes the amount in your body to gradually increase until it plateaus. The following chart is actually for Suboxone, but it applies in concept here as well:

This shows that after taking 16mg buprenorphine per day, after around 10 days the total effective dose plateaus around 45mg. Considering the half-life of methadone is similar, you could expect that when you began taking divided doses at 5mg twice per day, your total effective dose plateaued around 30mg after around two weeks. Eventually you cut back that dose to 2mg twice per day, which means a new plateau formed around the 12mg level after maybe two weeks. Your body is at this point probably accustomed to the 12mg level, but once it drops below that level, you start to feel the effects of the withdrawal. I hope I explained this well enough.

 

[stlouisgirl]

thank you--okay that makes since although I am still having the akathisia horribly-night is the worst. I finally crawled to an UrgenT Care & he gave me Clonidine (the blood pressure drug?) which ugh has not helped. I dont know how much longer I can hold on....Mabey a trip to ER is in order if this doesnt resolve soon. I am exhausted.