Is this a good schedule for medication to avoid withdrawals/side effects

[lifeisflyingaway]

Hi, i'm about to get prescribed 0.5 ativan 3x a day, and oxycodone 5mg for occassional pain. Due to already having massive depression and anxiety (not related to drug use) i want to make sure i can minimize any withdrawals or "comedowns". I am not going to take the ativan as prescribed because i've learned from many to not get hooked on benzos even taking it as prescribed because once your doctor cuts you off, or nowone else prescribes them for you, you will never feel normal again with a whole lot of issues. I was thinking to take 10mg of oxycodone twice a week, along with 2mg of ativan twice a week. I want to set days for when i'll take them but i want to make sure i officially have the medications before i decide that. I go to school twice a week and i feel much better when i'm at school than when i am at home which is when my anxiety and depression are at its worst. So i wanted to have a sober day gap in between a few doses rather than do them 4 days out of the week, so which would be better? Example:

Thursday- 10mg oxycodone
Friday- 2mg ativan
Saturday- 2mg ativan
Sunday- 10mg oxycodone

Or is better to space these out a bit? Most of all what i really want to know is should i feel fine when i'm sober or will i mostly feel shitty. These are pretty low doses because i'm not aiming at being "fucked up" because i would take a lot more if that was the case. I'm just trying to not feel suicidal and dreadful anxiety all day. I'm pretty sure i can control my usage to what i stated above, as i have done before in similar situations, but honestly if i do get out of hand i'm not seeing this doctor anymore as i personally know him. If i feel worse then better that defeats the purpose which is what would happen if i took them all the time and didn't care. So if i did the following above should i expect to feel extremely anxious, depressed, etc more than usual on the three days i'll be sober Monday,tuesday, and wednesday? OR are these dosages and days not high enough to produce anything to bad. I would really appreciate real answers in helping me to get figure this out as i really want to prevent anything worse from happening. THANKS! ;(

 

[Pagey]

I think it would be best if you spaced the days out a bit so that you didn't have 3 clean days in a row. It's likely you'll develop mild addiction to both over time so 3 days might be a bit uncomfortable as far as withdrawals go. If you only have one off day at a time you may feel slightly uncomfortable and stuff, but I highly doubt you'd get anything more than very light WDs. You're smart to plan this out like this btw.

 

[lifeisflyingaway]

Aw thanks, yeah i think i'll try to make a day in their with a space or maybe two so that way it doesn't feel harsh being sober for three days in a row, if it even will.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Just a reminder that spacing out your use will help avoid physical dependence, but it doesn't prevent mental addiction, which IMO is the biggest issue with benzos and opioids because if you start getting mentally addicted you will abandon your plans and take them more frequently. So make sure to be very strict with yourself and check yourself for any rationalizations for increasing your use like, "I had a bad day today so I'm going to take some today even though I wasn't supposed to take any for 2 more days," or, "I didn't really feel much from the 10 mg I took so I'm just going to take another 10 mg today" etc.

My other concerns are that you are using these drugs for depression and anxiety as opposed to pain and anxiety, you got them prescribed from some unscrupulous doctor (as mentioned in one of your other threads; no good doctor prescribes opioids for depression/anxiety, especially as a first-line treatment for a teenager) so you are pretty much self-medicating, and you seem to be assuming that taking each drug only twice a week on a set schedule is going to somehow help your depression and anxiety. What you might find is that it only helps your depression/anxiety on the days you take them and you feel even worse on the days you don't take them. I foresee it being difficult to stick to a set schedule. What will you do if your depression/anxiety is especially bad on one of the days you have intended as a no drug day?

As for a schedule, I guess I might try to evenly space out each drug more, like:

Monday- 10mg oxycodone
Weds- 2mg Ativan
Fri- 10mg oxycodone
Sunday- 2mg Ativan

My thinking is that that way you won't have 2 opioid days close together or 2 benzo days close together and that that might better help in preventing physical dependence to each drug. [EDIT: see my next post below]

 

[Pagey]

^Good point SD, and I'm just going to emphasise what you said seeing how important it is - that sort of schedule will make it very easy for you to find excuses to use more/to use on your days off, so maybe it would be smart to have a trusted family member or friend hold on to the pills for you or something? My various benzo and opiate habits started out because I couldn't manage to follow my prescription schedule even though I really did have good intentions, so do be careful.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Also since you said you feel much better when you're at school than at home I would assume a lot of your anxiety/depression is situational, so that is really something to consider.

I was thinking more about it and I really think a better schedule if you feel you "need" these drugs more on the weekends is just using each drug one day a week (not on the same day of course). That would do a much better job at preventing dependence and help to decrease the likelihood of addiction.

 

[lifeisflyingaway]

I really do wish i had a trusted family member who i could have give me the pills on certain days, but unfortunately i don't. I am going to try and be careful to watch out for "bad" days and not to use, and if i must to take hydroxyzine on sober days. I am already on gabapentin, seroquel, and per needed hydroxyzine all 3 at pretty high doses but unfortunately i still feel pretty bad most days and it's wreaking havoc on my grades, as i sit their and look at my assignments for hours trying to force myself to do them but find it difficult because i can't stop thinking about worrysome things. I guess i'll figure out if i can stick to my plan, and if i do lose control i must cut off my contact with this doctor even so their is a limited amount that i'm going to be prescribed. I'm more concerned about where to hide my pills as i have a mother who would even check the AC vents if i hid them their lol.

 

[Pagey]

^Yeah I understand that, I don't either really and it's a pain. Just be careful not to start justifying use on the off days

 

[SaosinEngaged]

I used to take Oxycodone at 10mg daily for roughly a year before developing any sort of WD. I was able to stop for weeks at a time without any appreciable WD symptoms. What I was building, however, was a very significant mental dependency that has resulted in me using upwards of 300-400mg of Oxy a day, for months at a time.

While you're absolutely on the money for planning a schedule where you're not dosing either substance daily, bear in mind over time it will become more and more difficult to stick to a schedule like that. I wouldn't keep doing this week after week after week or you may just find yourself dosing Oxy four days a week, then eventually seven days a week. And before you know it, you're taking it with your Ativan, and that becomes a whole new issue.

Be wary of how a mental addiction can sneak up on you, rather quickly. Do everything in your power to KEEP to your schedule; NEVER let your mind convince you that it's okay, "for just this one week" to dose Oxy three times, or your Ativan three times. Stick to your schedule.