My Opana W/D story/timeline
Hey,
I'm on day 7 of being off opana. Here's my story: After I was t-boned by a car on my motorcycle at 45mph I spent a lot of time in the hospital on Dilaudid. They sent me home taking 80mg OPana and 120 mg Oxycodone a day. That was what they told me to do. My first step to get off that shit was getting off the oxycodone. I had to wait for the breakthrough pain to ease up, then up the Opana to not w/d. Then, I was able to taper the Opana a few months after. (btw I really trust my doctor and his instructions definitely worked for me). My doc and I sat down and came up with a plan to taper. Always make sure you are taking at least 3 pills a day. The half-life is short. For example: When you go from 30mg to 20mg, make sure your doc prescribes 5mg pills. That way you can take it 4 (5mg pills) a day, not 2 (10mg). Big difference. Let me be clear: WHEN TAPERING OFF OPANA, MAKE DAMN SURE YOU ARE TAKING AT LEAST 3 EVENLY SPACED PILLS A DAY. 2 WILL NOT WORK. OPANA WEARS OFF TOO QUICK. When you get down to 10mg's it's time to stop. 2 (5mg) pills are only gonna make you feel like you are having light w/d's all day. no point. To my knowledge, Opana make a 40, 20, 10, and 5 mg pill. Use the 20's to get off the 40's. Use the 10's to get off the 20's. and use the 5's to get off the 10's.
When the time comes to stop...flush em. Hell is coming and you're gonna take the scenic route there and back. Make sure you have a bunch of bananas. THey will really help with the RLS and diarhhea. Get some funny movies and have a few spots in the house to relax. You will not sleep more than 2-3 hours for the next 3 days. If you fall asleep at 4pm, just do it. There will be no scheduled sleep anytime soon. Take what you can get, you will need your strength. THe RLS is crazy. Bananas and a hot showers will help (not fix) the RLS. Take lots of hot showers. Keep hydrated. Lot's of water. The vomiting and diarhea come just when you think it's at its worst. Do not take a lot of benzos or sleeping pills or nyquil or anything else. The benzos do help a little just like the showers and bananas. Any other pills won't do shit. THis is Satan's fuckin fury coming to take back all the pleasure you've gotten from the Evil O's. Day 2 and 3 are the worst. At the end of day 3 (72 hours after the last opana) you can take a lunesta or ambien from your doctor. At the end of day three I cried all the tears I could cry. I was literally dry-crying. Day 4 will feel good cuz you got sleep. Actually you will feel like you conquered the hardest battle of your life then procede to dry-cry with happiness. Day 5, 6, 7.....for me have been hard. I've been hit with some crippling depression. The only 2 times I felt normal was after walking my dog for an hour and playing some basketball. Endorphins baby! It's all we got to be happy. Our brains either don't have or forgot how to use dopamine, seratonin, and GABA. Bummer. You need these to be happy, sleepy, and functioning.
You may feel very alone through this. I'm still not OK and it's day 7. But I've come this far. My girlfriend can't relate to me at all. She had no idea why I got mad when she was talking to me when we were laying in bed. Sleep is a very precious thing right now. I wish she would just shut the f@#$ up. Can I get a little "me time".
I saw my doctor this morning because of the depression. I was so depressed I almost couldn't even make the call to get an "urgent" appt. My doc told me that I suprised him on how easy and quick I got off the opiates. WTF doc was i not clear???? He was genuinely proud of me. I was too. But still my head was f@#$%#@. I trust him. He gave me some samples of a SSRI antidepressent. He said they take 2 weeks to kick in but he wants me to take them just in case this shit lasts that long. I think I can make it on my own but I'm gonna take the AD's to just be sure. Balancing brain chemistry is harder than rocket science. I heard St. Johns Wort can help with depression along with some supplemental amino acids. I have a biochem major and I think that tryptophan and phenylalanine are the precursors for most catecholamines. Maybe I'll try those.
I hope maybe my story/timeline will help someone. During my Day 1,2,3...I spent a lot of time on the internet searching for a real timeline. The worst part of the whole thing is that when you are in hell, you have no idea when it will be over. It probably won't be over real soon if you reading this, but it will be over and you can do it. Don't think of how bad it is, think of how happy you'll be to be off that shit. One day we will look back....
Love,
Dave