Insight into my detox from opiates

[cccherry]

Hi All,

I'm hoping you might be able to help me with what is going on with me. I quit taking hydros 9 days ago with about 60 or so mgs a day usage for about a year, give or take because I don't know exact amount. For the last couple of months I was using Oxys, and the usage tapered down the last couple of weeks to about 30mgs a day. I dropped the Oxys 2 days before I jumped off the hydros, so I'm out 11 days from that. Also, I had been using tramadol which I dropped 5 weeks ago.

Anyway, my detox went like this: At midnight on Thursday, Sept. 20th was my last dose of hydros. On Friday, I woke up and took Loperamide. I can't really remember my doses, but I think it was something like 20mgs, then 14mgs, and 14mgs. So I think 3 doses. Then on Sat., it was a little less, like 14mgs, 12mgs, 12mgs. Then about the same on Sunday. Then on Monday, I can't remember if I took it or not, but I'm thinking I did. Then on Tuesday, I thought I was feeling pretty good... so I'm thinking I might have taken the Lope on Monday... anyway on Tues., I decided to take my Adderall because I had zero energy and my body began to drag. Big mistake... I felt like crap about 2 hours after taking it. I felt great for about 1 hour, maybe. So then I kept taking more until I had to take some Neurontin to ease the awful feelings. Then Wednesday, I decide to take the Adderall again and on Thursday, I do it again. Thursday wasn't so bad, but all these days I had to take the Neurontin to feel better in the evening. I've taken about 1200mgs - 1500mgs each time of the Neurontin, staggered over a couple hours time, then one last dose at midnight for a total of about 1500mgs - 2100mgs. Now yesterday comes around and I wake up not feeling totally awful, but definitely not myself, but I'm thinking I'm out of the clear of any opiate withdrawals. So then the afternoon rolls around and I slowly start feeling worse. I start feeling heat in my forearms and sweating, but if I don't move, it's not too bad. Then the restlessness starts kicking in. Then the sweating starts to where it doesn't matter what I'm doing, I'm getting so hot, then chilled (this is about 12 hours post my last Neuronting dose). Then, the rls becomes unbearable and I'm thinking WTF and I go a couple more hours to where I can't take it and I take some neurontin... I stagger it again and it takes like 2 hours to kick in. It doesn't totally make me feel 100%, but probably like 90% better where the rls is better and the sweating is totally gone. So now this morning I wake up and I feel not too bad, but of course, not great. I take some tylenol and L-tyrosine and try to get moving. I'm irritable as usual, like the last few mornings. It has been about 9.5 hours post my last neurontin dose and I'm wondering what is going to happen at hour 15 again!

Does anyone have any idea if this is lingering OPIATE withdrawals since when I took the Lope I felt great! I kept thinking for the few days that I took it that it was unreal how great it worked for almost all the physical withdrawals. I didn't feel 100%... I could feel some underlying withdrawals, but totally bearable! I went to my kids activities, talked to people, etc. Since I can't remember if I took the Lope on Monday, it is technically, day 5 or 6 from my last dose of the Lope. ??

OR

Is it possible that I'm feeling withdrawals from short term use of Neurontin?

Does anyone have any ideas?

I've been through Subs withdrawals and other opiate withdrawals, but I've never taken Lope for it. My sub withdrawal was acute for 6 days. FYI, I'm female, 5'4" and 118 lbs.

Thanks for reading!!!

 

[phatass]

ime opiaate detox after relatively heavy use over that period of time... you'll have lingering opiate W/D symptoms for a while.... they have a physicall and psychological grip, so you may have got past the worst of the physical , but not the later, so n craving for a "feel"


but why did u take neurontin and adderall...? were yyou allready on them, or are they new? because compensating a feeling of fatigue by a new set of drugs, the addy to get up, and neurontin to "come down" will just be a new addiction....

probably didn't answer you question...

 

[Swimmingdancer]

So when did you last take the loperamide? The symptoms you described - feeling too hot/too cold, sweating, restlessness, RLS - do sound typical of opioid withdrawal. Could perhaps be that the lope and gabapentin have been masking your opioid withdrawals which is why they seem to be getting worse now. Gabapentin withdrawals are different from opioid withdrawals, but they can cause all the symptoms you described. How many days did you take the gabapentin?

 

[cccherry]

Hi Phatass, yes, I've been prescribed adderall and neurontin. I don't take the adderall regularly or hardly at all... to be honest, I don't really like it. I need to switch meds for add. The neurontin was prescribed a while ago and I just keep it on hand if I have to detox. I totally get the lingering withdrawals, but what was happening yesterday was like acute withdrawals. When I detoxed from subs, it took a good 30 days to feel normal, but after the 6th day, it was bearable and felt like all the toxins has left and a ton of bricks was instantly lifted off me. At least that's how the end of the acute phase was for me. I'm not sure how others experience the end of the acute withdrawals?

Swimmingdancer, I believe I last took the Lope on Sunday or Monday. I just can't remember! Do you think that by taking the Lope, instead of getting over the 3-4 day hump of opiate withdrawals that I possibly just extended them instead? I know Lope is longer lasting too, so maybe it stayed in my system longer and now these last couple of days are the tail end of the acute withdrawals? It seems crazy! I've only been taking the Neurontin for about 5-6 days!! I may have taken it the first night as well on the 20th of Sept, but then I skipped a few days. You say Gaba withdrawals are different, but they can cause all the symptoms I described... how to you mean... in severity? I heard of people having withdrawals from gaba, but they seem to be long term users... not using it for a week!!

Any other insight?

Thanks to you both!!

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Yeah if you were using the gabapentin for less than a week it seems unlikely that you would have already become dependent on it. The lope might have postponed and therefore prolonged your opioid WDs, especially if you were taking a lot of it and then stopped abruptly, since lope is an opioid, plus I find that the longer you've been using opioids the worse and longer lasting the WDs become, so just because you only experienced 6 days of acute WDs when you quit buprenorphine before in the past doesn't mean it would necessarily be unusual to get worse/longer lasting WDs when quitting opioids now.

As far as gabapentin WDs being different from opioid WDs, what I meant was that those specific symptoms you described have been experienced both by people withdrawing from opioids and from gabapentin, but the total range of usual/possible symptoms is a bit different for each and the general feeling of the withdrawals is different. Are you feeling any other symptoms? Does it feel like your usual opioid withdrawal?

 

[phatass]

^^ agreed the gabapentin won't cause W/D alone after only 1 week use IMO, however, the mix of adderall then gabapentin could have caused this "acute W/D", i don't know how they interact factoring in the lingering opiate w/d...

May i ask why you take the ADD med? trouble concentrating ADD/ADhD suppose, but if not, that could also be messing with your brain chemistry... because whereas you were taking the ADD med before, you were also on opiates, which will have eased most anxiety and soreness that can come from adderall.

Gabapentin will have a different "synergy" (because allthough you may not be feeling the adderall) i'm not sure on its half life and it could still be in your sytem