Opioids Mild physical dependancy on Oxy, need some advise please...

[Steveo_M1982]

Hi there

First off, I would like to thank you for taking to time to read and provide me with an answer my questions. You time is greatly appreciated.

To start off, I am a 30 years old, male, 160lbs and in reasonable / average shape. I am professionally employed at a law firm as a paralegal and have held this same position for the past 6 years. I rarely call in sick or take days off and Im not in the habit of being a substance abuser. I am not in any way shape or form, an addict. However, that being said, about a year ago, after the death of my father, I started using a daily low dose of oxy as my choice of antidepressant (which was one of the original uses for this drug before the high potential for addiction was fully known or understood) as well as for lower back pains resulting from a severely herniated disk. As I do not have an addictive personality, I felt I could control myself and ensure that I remain in control of the drug and not let it get the best of me. I am a big believer that the only way to avoid becoming addicted to a certain drug is to understand how it works. I do not crush, liquify, inject, snort or otherwise use this drug in any other way other than how it was originally intended to be used. I was not (am not) after the euphoric “high” the drug is known to be abused for.. just the pain control, and the mild sense of well being.

With the above being noted, it all started about a year ago. I started taking 1 - 5mg percocet, twice daily about every 12 hours. Once my body became use to the side effects of the drug, this worked great for the first month or so, until I notice my body starting to develop a mild immunity to the pain killing effects, so the dosage was upped. Until after about 3 months, I found that the “perfect” dosage was 20mgs a day: 10mgs every 12 hours. Any more than that and I get too much of the dizzy, euphoric feeling as well as I noticed it would start effecting my ability to think clearly. This dosage seems to be a happy median of all the negatives / positives of this drug. I maintained this dosage for about 6 months and it was working great. No problems, minimal dependancy and everything was great. High sex drive, better outlook on life, social interactions were a lot better, I found I did not focus on all the negatives nearly as much, or if I did, I was able to mitigate the intensity in which I focused on them. Generally, things were just a lot better, pleasant / happier.

Then, my street dealer tried to up the costs of the pills I was buying off of him (20mg). To the point where this was becoming a very expensive “habit” / self treatment regime. So I put the word out and a friend of mine found another supplier for me with 80s for the same price as my previous guy was selling the 20s for . At that point, I was very pleased as I thought this would reduce my expenses by 3/4s. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the difficulties in maintaining my desired dosage level due to these pills being smaller, unscored and much tougher to ensure the same dosage is being taken each time. Regretfully, this decision to change pills allowed the drug to take control minutely. To the point where now, I worry about the physical dependancy being too much for my to handle.

With the above being noted, I am looking to stop taking these and maybe try a current aged antidepressant (the reason that I haven’t tried them up to know is that I question our understanding of how these antidepressants drugs work). So, I am looking to you for advise.

Can I go to a doctor and have them wean my off of these properly by reducing my dosage or will they just try and put my on another form of addictive drug? I don’t want methadone or anything like that. I am not an addict and do not need anything like that. I simply need to reduce my dosage so that I am no longer physically dependant and can stop taking them all together. Im nervous to go tot the doctor because of this and because if all they are going to do is try and get me on some other drug, I will go back to my old dealer pay the higher pill price and wean myself off myself.

Can any one give me some advise? Both on going to my family doctor (i.e. what to say or expect from them, etc.) and what sort of dosages and at what length of times I should be reducing these dosage levels, etc. in order to successfully wean myself off these pills. I’ve read I can reduce by roughly 10mgs every 4 days, is that correct?

Im not 100% sure, but I think I am roughly at fluctuating 20-40mgs/day in total. To be honest, I don’t even the full extent of the physical dependancy. I know I get headaches (or what feels like marbles rolling around in my head) and a very, very mild twisting of my stomach when Im coming up to my next dose.

Thank you in advance for you time and productive comments / suggestions

 

[Steveo_M1982]

208 views and not one reply.... really?!?
please?

 

[Hobble]

If you have been using opiates without a prescription I don't think any doctor would give you oxycodone to taper. The only things they will taper you with would be methadone or buprenorphine(Suboxone).

Alot of people seem to do tapers where they drop in chunks every few days or every week. I prefer to get a scale and crush up the pills and weigh out the powder so I can drop by smaller increments. If I was tapering from 40mg oxycodone per day, I would try to drop by 2mg per day until I got to 20mg and then I'd drop by 1mg per day. If it got too hard at any point I would hold and/or stagger my doses for a few days, ie stay at the same dose or even go back up by 1 or 2mg for a day or two, and then start going down again.

 

[trip407]

I would advise you a quick methadone taper, anything else will just prolong the inevitable. Its the standart procedure in detox clinics around here and it works very well. Just one month ago i was coming of 4x20mg oxycodone per day. They started with 40mg methadone and reduced the dosage by 5 mg per day. 40 mg was even too much with such a small habbit and i was feeling the withdrawls setting in first on 15mg. Only the first two days without methadone sucked, i had stomach problems, restlessness, depression and minor sleep problems. On the third day it got considerably better for me. Methadone is not a drug for addicts as you wrote, but ironically you are addicted to oxycodone yourself. Its just another opiate with an incredibly long half life, which makes it perfect for taper schedules. If your doctor is cool you might get something to aid your sleep in acute withdrawl. Also buy loperamide if you get diarrhea.

 

[The Dope Man]

Its real simple.

Quit the pills cold turkey TODAY ! If your not physically dependent on them which you say your not ( you are ), Than thats it there is no problem. But lest say you DO suffer mild-moderate withdraws (you will) than you go to the doctor and get on suboxone and do a fast 1-2 week taper.. Thats all there is to it.

As far as the depression thing goes. you will suffer pretty bad depression when your going through you initial week long withdraw. There is also PAWS (post acute withdrawal syndrome) which willl leave you feeling "kinda" depressed for 1-6 months.

There are some things you can do to help tho. ( in order of importance )

1. Ibogaine. ( research it )
2. Eat very healthy and drink alot of water. ( you should be doing this anyway )
3.Exercise. ( you feel like your on ops after a real good workout)
4. Dont use other drugs.( marijuana is fine and i find it GREATLY reduces my withdraw symptoms and craving for opiates )
5. Get out of the house and be social and or find hobbies to keep your mind off useig. its just good for your mental well being as well

 

[lurching]

WTF.


At least try to go one full day without oxy to see how you feel.


Good chance you'll cruise right through it.
If you run into withdrawal problems that you absolutely cannot handle, then we can talk about a tapering plan.

 

[sekio]

If you are only eating 10mg every 12 hours you should be eable to discontinue usage right away and feel nothing but a mild flu-type sickness and malaise for a few days, possibly up to 2 weeks.
The worst will be over by day 3 though.

 

[Znegative]

Not to sound like a prick, but I've only seen one study of oxycodone being used as an antidepressant, and I'm fairly positive that oxycodone was not originally used as an antidepressant, but was rather the result of an attempt to find the 'next best thing' for pain management, once it was finally reAlized that heroin was actually MORE addictive than morphine. That being said if you have a source to prove otherwise, I'd be pretty interested.

Also, I would like to suggest that you try Loperamide (aka Immodium), which is a full agonist opiate that has a good amount of trouble passing the BBB, but can help withdrawals a lot. I honestly think that going the suboxone/subutex or methadone route would be overkill with your current habbit. If your taking Oxycontin orally without defeating the time release, your habit is rather small. Both methadone and Buprenorphine (the active partial opiate in Suboxone and Subutex) are far more potent than oxycodone mg/mg, and I fear using these drugs would just increase your tolerance, which is the complete opposite of what you're trying to achieve.

With loperamide, I would say to try taking 10-20mg at the first sign of withdrawals, and to give it at least three hours to kick in (this shouldn't be hard, as others have said, even the worst of your withdrawals are not going to be too bad..and most likely the lope will kick in in under 90 minutes or less IME). If you still feel like shit after three hours wihtout any signs of improvement, than I would recomend taking an additional 10-20mg, and repeating the process over again. This time though (if you do find that you need to re-dose, the loperamide should kick in quicker, as it will be adding upon the dose you consumed three hours Prior. I'm fairly certain that a small loperamide taper should get you through the worst of it, just make sure that you stop taking the loperamide too, as it can cause opiate withdrawal syndrome just the same.

If you are against swallowing 5-10 anti-diarhea pills at a time, I would try to get some Gabapentin (Neurontin) or Pregabalin (Lyrica). While these drugs are not narcotics, but rather GABAergics (similar in ways to GHB, Benzodiazepines, Barbiturates and Alchohol-though Lyrica and Neurontin don't directly effect GABA like the aforementioned drugs do, and are also harder to attain a physical Dependance), I've found that they are incredibly helpful when it comes to opiate withdrawal, and are even better when your trying to taper (they really help to get you through the worst of the first few days when you reduce your dose). I would highly recomend these drugs, just make sure not to take an outrageous dosage (for Gabapentin, I'd start off with 150-300mg, and never dose above 600mg-1gram in a day-I believe once you start taking over a gram and a half of Gabapentin, the amount that is actually absorbed begins to decrease in a linear fashion to how much you increase your dosage. In short, less (than 1.5g's) is more. It is also fairly easy to get a prescription for Gabapentin. Though it was originally used to treat fibromyalgia and other neurological pain, it is often prescribed off label as a mood stabilizer and an anti-anxiety medication. It might actually be something to look into in general as it sounds like you probably suffer from anxiety/depression (IME the two come hand in hand), so even if you don't use it as a detox aid, it may be good just to keep this one in mind.

If you do decide to use buprenorphine (Suboxone/Subutex) or Methadone, which I think would most likely be a big mistake, here's what I would do:

FOR SUBOXONE/SUBUTEX:

• Day 1:Since you've been taking OxyContin without defeating the time release (or that's what it sounds like), you're going to want to wait 36 hours before your first dose of Sub. Suboxone/Subutex comes in 8mg and 2mg sublingual tablets or films (much like listerine strips). Regardless of what dose you get, I would not take more than 1mg as your first dose. This may be kind of difficult if you have an 8mg tablet, so to accurately measure out your dosages, I would purchase a 10mL oral syringe and some bacteriostatic water to preserve the solution you are about to make. Crush the 8mg tablet up and dissolve it in 8mL of water diluted with bacteriostatic water (I'm not sure of the ratio's, but there are many threads on bluelight which correspond to this topic). Pour your solution into a sealed, sterile container, and draw up 1mL of the dissolved suboxone. This is your one mg. Squirt it under your tongue and try as hard as you can to let it sit there for around five minutes. Buprenorphine has a very low absorption rate so you don't want to swallow it if you can help it. Within 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, the drug should begin to take effect. Buprenorphine has a 36 hour half life so the drug really only needs to be dosed once or twice a day. Though I doubt re dosing will be necessary, it would not be a bad idea to take another .5-1mg seven to eight hours later. However, I would not take more than 2mg the first day.
  
  
• Day 2:Take 1mg in the am, and .5mg in the pm.
  
  
• Day 3:.75mg am, .25mg pm.
  
  
• Day 4:.5mg am, .25mg pm.
  
  
• Day 5:.25mg am, .25mg pm.
  
  
• Day 6:.25mg am, .25mg pm.
  
  
• Day 7:.125mg am, .125mg pm.
  
  
• Day 8: drop off, or take .125, and then jump the next day.

For more information on Suboxone/Buprenorphine , check out the Suboxone/Buprenorphine Megathread and FAQ.

If you end up using Methadone, than I would taper starting off with a maximum of 10 milligrams to start off with.

USING METHADONE:

• Day 1:10 mg once you begin to feel withdrawals. NOTE:It is important that you do not mix methadone with other CNS depressants, especially if you haven't used methadone before or are generally naive to other depressants (I.e. Benzo's, Barbiturates, Alchohol etc..)
  
  
• Day 2:7.5 mg
  
  
• Day 3:5 mg
  
  
• Day 4:2.5 mg
  
  
• Day 5:1.25 mg
  
  
• Day 6:Drop.

For more information please visit the Methadone Megathread v. 2.0.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I don't mean to be a dick, but to say you're not an addict is far fetched to say the least. You clearly are addicted to the pain pills as you dont want to stop taking them, but feel the need to take them everyday. You've come so far in the sense you've admitted your problem to bluelight but you need to recognise you're addicted to oxy. If you weren't, you could quit them cold turkey and have no issues with doing so. You've also brought up the fact you don't want to be put on more "addictive" drugs. I completely agre with you and it's great you're stopping the oxy.

Oxy was not used as an anti-depressant. I don't know where you got this from, or you're trying to persuade us you're not an addict, you don't need to. You can be honest with us and actually we'd respect you more for doing so. Don't try to fool us, we're pretty much all addicts or recovering addicts ourselves!

In my opinion, quit using a taper of loperamide. One 2mg capsule 3x a day to start, then 2 a day, then one.

If you go to your doctor and present that you've been using oxy, they will prescribe subs or methadone. You 100% do not want to go onto that. I assure you, it makes your nightmare worse. I still don't understand why methadone is given to patients who want to quit. It's maintainable rather than quittable. Sorry off track.

 

[BrokedownPalace]

^I agree. You seem to be in a state of denial right now, trying real hard to convince yourself (and us) that you're not an addict. By definition, you are. But that's alright though, you've come to the right place. Sure, you're not strung out on the streets and shit, but you're taking an addictive medication that you can't stop, and buying it off the street to boot. Sounds like addiction to me

It's very wise of you to want and quit now though, because as I am sure most p eople will agree with me - The road only get rougher the longer you stay on the pills. Then turns into heroin, etc. It happened to me for sure.

But the good news is, you are taking a really low daily dose and only taking it orally. I recommend doing a quick taper with the oxycodone over about 10 days time, and then stopping all together. It won't be that bad, a pretty mild kick for sure. Uncomfortable, queasy, hot/cold, anxious, can't sleep.. Nothing like coming off IV heroin or methadone or something like that.

You definitely DO NOT NEED SUBOXONE OR METHADONE !! Chances are you'll just start abusing methadone if you had it on the regular. Coming off of an 18month run on methadone was by far the worst kick I have ever had, much worse than heroin. Suboxone withdrawal isn't a walk in the park either, since it lasts forever like methadone.

Just man up and get - r - done man, you'll be alright. There are some really helpful withdrawal guides on here.

Alternatively, if you can take off a week of work, check into a detox facility and do a quick 5 day taper under medical supervision.

But, the first step is recognizing you have a problem !

GOod luck man.

 

[sekio]

At 20-40mg a day you can probably just go cold turkey without too much toruble. Get some chicken noodle soup, some loperamide, and you'll be good enough to get out and get active in roughly 5 days toa week's time, if you have a good attitude about it.

The worst of it will be the first few days - restlessness, gastric issues (cramps, no appetite, runny shits), irritability, easily tired. You'll feel like you have a flu, kinda. But your body will straighten out faster than you think. If you eat well (balanced diet) and start excercising as soon as you can to get natural endorphin production going again, you will feel pretty good by a week's time. I wouldn't be surpised if you totally rebound after a month.

I agree that you don't need methadone or suboxone at all. Maybe you should take up weed brownies or something if you want to get sedated and feel nice.

The important thing is finding a hobby that isn't doing opioids!

 

[BiggDirty01]

Hi there

First off, I would like to thank you for taking to time to read and provide me with an answer my questions. You time is greatly appreciated.



Then, my street dealer tried to up the costs of the pills I was buying off of him (20mg). To the point where this was becoming a very expensive “habit” / self treatment regime. So I put the word out and a friend of mine found another supplier for me with 80s for the same price as my previous guy was selling the 20s for . At that point, I was very pleased as I thought this would reduce my expenses by 3/4s. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the difficulties in maintaining my desired dosage level due to these pills being smaller, unscored and much tougher to ensure the same dosage is being taken each time. Regretfully, this decision to change pills allowed the drug to take control minutely. To the point where now, I worry about the physical dependancy being too much for my to handle.

With the above being noted, I am looking to stop taking these and maybe try a current aged antidepressant (the reason that I haven’t tried them up to know is that I question our understanding of how these antidepressants drugs work). So, I am looking to you for advise.

Can I go to a doctor and have them wean my off of these properly by reducing my dosage or will they just try and put my on another form of addictive drug? I don’t want methadone or anything like that. I am not an addict and do not need anything like that. I simply need to reduce my dosage so that I am no longer physically dependant and can stop taking them all together. Im nervous to go tot the doctor because of this and because if all they are going to do is try and get me on some other drug, I will go back to my old dealer pay the higher pill price and wean myself off myself.

Can any one give me some advise? Both on going to my family doctor (i.e. what to say or expect from them, etc.) and what sort of dosages and at what length of times I should be reducing these dosage levels, etc. in order to successfully wean myself off these pills. I’ve read I can reduce by roughly 10mgs every 4 days, is that correct?

Im not 100% sure, but I think I am roughly at fluctuating 20-40mgs/day in total. To be honest, I don’t even the full extent of the physical dependancy. I know I get headaches (or what feels like marbles rolling around in my head) and a very, very mild twisting of my stomach when Im coming up to my next dose.

Thank you in advance for you time and productive comments / suggestions

Hate to burst your bubble Steveo, but you just laid out a story that is a 'classic' addiction and trying to use semantics to work away from being labelled an addict is very common for someone in denial, generating justifications as to why it isn't an addiction when you are in fact demonstrating addictive behavior.

No doctor is going to dispense narcotics to you, even for weaning off, if you are going to claim that you use it for anti-depressant properties or "my back hurts". Trust me, from someone with immense experience with spinal problems and 4 lumbar fusions, that your approach (as in self-medicating) is going to make any doctor wary to treat you...better yet to dispense narcotics (or suggesting you want a specific medication from the doctor--red flag!)

So, moving forward, you are going to need to see/speak with a doctor who treats addiction (and many are also Pain Management physicians, because patients become dependant and or addicted to narcotic pain medications over time--its a physiological guarantee) because your approach and thinking would come across to any legit doctor as a patient who is displaying 'drug seeking behavior'.

I suggest getting treatment for the depression and seperately getting to the bottom of your back issues with a specialist who can offer a prognosis and diagnosis...it is impossible to know what is best to treat your physical issues until you have it checked out thoroughly with an orthopedist because certain pain issues in the back are often treated with a whole different class of drugs...you must keep an open mind.

If pills are what you are after and the issues mentioned are not the source of your self medicated type-thinking, then you really need to speak with an addiction specialist because your denial of addiction (doesn't matter the dose of the meds) will often just prolong your misery. Keep an open mind and remember you are not a doctor...so if they recommend certain treatments to you, accept them and try your best to comply. If not, accept your addiction and seek the treatment because denial is a vicious ass-kicker for many of us addicts.

Good luck bro, PM me if you'd like to discuss further.

 

[DoctorShop]

At 20-40mg a day you can probably just go cold turkey without too much trouble.!

Exactly. No offense to the original poster but all you're going to feel is slightly uncomfortable for a small period of time while you withdraw. Just eat and drink well, do some light exercise and find something that kills time.

 

[BeachBum4u]

You can actually do this with less pain than you may think (relatively speaking). My trick when having to eke out some extra days here and there until my Rx came due, was to not only reduce the dosage a bit at a time (from 40mg a day to maybe, 35 and so on) but to try and space out the doses more and more. Instead of 12 hours, try to go 13 then 14 and so on. Between the dose reduction and the increased spacing, you could knock this out in no time (a week to 10 days). Personally, I quit a daily dose of 400mg a day of Oxycontin cold turkey and was over most of it by day 10. The mental stuff stays with you much longer but the physical will be all but gone in 10-14 days tops. You'll find little "triggers" you encounter will whey your appetite to take a pill but you need to be strong and know the physical dependency is pretty much licked by day 14. I found that seeing Rx bottles lying around got me as did seeing my pill cutter and some of the snacks I liked to eat and the list goes on and on. Hopefully you haven't been doing this long enough to have developed too many "triggers". Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or just vent. Good Luck dude!!

 

[Refluxer]

If you're really just taking the contin pills (no crushing), then reduce the daily dose by 10 mgs once a week. (i.e. 40 mgs daily dose now = 2 x 20 mg -> 2 x 15 mg -> 2 x 10 mg -> 2 x 5 mg and then finally perhaps 2 x 2,5 mg, then you're finished.) Sounds easy enough, but I know it's not always so. That schedule should give you a fairly smooth taper and enable you to work pretty much as normal meanwhile. Don't go cold turkey unless you can take a sick leave/"vacation" for 2 weeks. 40 mgs/day is not a huge dose, but quitting cold turkey will give you a withdrawal that is not easy to handle if you have to be at working capacity. Use acetaminophen/paracetamol for muscle pain.

Withdrawal can include chills, restlessness, tremor, anxiety, strong wanting to dose, stomach cramps and diarrhea and last but not least restless legs and insomnia.

 

[cire113]

Hi there

First off, I would like to thank you for taking to time to read and provide me with an answer my questions. You time is greatly appreciated.

To start off, I am a 30 years old, male, 160lbs and in reasonable / average shape. I am professionally employed at a law firm as a paralegal and have held this same position for the past 6 years. I rarely call in sick or take days off and Im not in the habit of being a substance abuser. I am not in any way shape or form, an addict. However, that being said, about a year ago, after the death of my father, I started using a daily low dose of oxy as my choice of antidepressant (which was one of the original uses for this drug before the high potential for addiction was fully known or understood) as well as for lower back pains resulting from a severely herniated disk. As I do not have an addictive personality, I felt I could control myself and ensure that I remain in control of the drug and not let it get the best of me. I am a big believer that the only way to avoid becoming addicted to a certain drug is to understand how it works. I do not crush, liquify, inject, snort or otherwise use this drug in any other way other than how it was originally intended to be used. I was not (am not) after the euphoric “high” the drug is known to be abused for.. just the pain control, and the mild sense of well being.

With the above being noted, it all started about a year ago. I started taking 1 - 5mg percocet, twice daily about every 12 hours. Once my body became use to the side effects of the drug, this worked great for the first month or so, until I notice my body starting to develop a mild immunity to the pain killing effects, so the dosage was upped. Until after about 3 months, I found that the “perfect” dosage was 20mgs a day: 10mgs every 12 hours. Any more than that and I get too much of the dizzy, euphoric feeling as well as I noticed it would start effecting my ability to think clearly. This dosage seems to be a happy median of all the negatives / positives of this drug. I maintained this dosage for about 6 months and it was working great. No problems, minimal dependancy and everything was great. High sex drive, better outlook on life, social interactions were a lot better, I found I did not focus on all the negatives nearly as much, or if I did, I was able to mitigate the intensity in which I focused on them. Generally, things were just a lot better, pleasant / happier.

Then, my street dealer tried to up the costs of the pills I was buying off of him (20mg). To the point where this was becoming a very expensive “habit” / self treatment regime. So I put the word out and a friend of mine found another supplier for me with 80s for the same price as my previous guy was selling the 20s for . At that point, I was very pleased as I thought this would reduce my expenses by 3/4s. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the difficulties in maintaining my desired dosage level due to these pills being smaller, unscored and much tougher to ensure the same dosage is being taken each time. Regretfully, this decision to change pills allowed the drug to take control minutely. To the point where now, I worry about the physical dependancy being too much for my to handle.

With the above being noted, I am looking to stop taking these and maybe try a current aged antidepressant (the reason that I haven’t tried them up to know is that I question our understanding of how these antidepressants drugs work). So, I am looking to you for advise.

Can I go to a doctor and have them wean my off of these properly by reducing my dosage or will they just try and put my on another form of addictive drug? I don’t want methadone or anything like that. I am not an addict and do not need anything like that. I simply need to reduce my dosage so that I am no longer physically dependant and can stop taking them all together. Im nervous to go tot the doctor because of this and because if all they are going to do is try and get me on some other drug, I will go back to my old dealer pay the higher pill price and wean myself off myself.

Can any one give me some advise? Both on going to my family doctor (i.e. what to say or expect from them, etc.) and what sort of dosages and at what length of times I should be reducing these dosage levels, etc. in order to successfully wean myself off these pills. I’ve read I can reduce by roughly 10mgs every 4 days, is that correct?

Im not 100% sure, but I think I am roughly at fluctuating 20-40mgs/day in total. To be honest, I don’t even the full extent of the physical dependancy. I know I get headaches (or what feels like marbles rolling around in my head) and a very, very mild twisting of my stomach when Im coming up to my next dose.

Thank you in advance for you time and productive comments / suggestions

Well first my friend let me tell you that you do not have that "Big" of problem here; It could be MUCH MUCH MUCH worse; but thats besides the point and everything is relative;

Basically if you take any opiate daily for more than a few weeks to a month you WILL become physically dependent on it; whether it be 1mgs of oxy or 1,000; You will be dependent;

My recommendation for you is to reduce dose by 5%-10% every 2 weeks if even possible; It should be pretty painless and u should still be able to function and work; If you cant cut the dose correctly get a micro scale and weigh your powder; You can measure this way really accurately; So that your dose and taper is consistent (EDIT: your dose is so low you could even do cold turkey and after 3 days worst will be over)

I would seriously consider getting some help from a trusted DR you have or even see a physchiatrist;

IMO methadone or Sub for you is over kill. If anything u would only need 1mg of sub; I recommend the taper method...


Physical dependence is physical dependence this will NOT be easy; I really recommend daily cardio exercise of 45 mins once you fully quit(mandatory), good eating as well, and something to keep you busy;

Getting clean isn't hard staying clean is



I would also like to respond to a lot of people in saying There is a big difference between physical dependence and addiction; I don't feel like explaining it but google it...

It is possible to be physically dependent on a drug and not display addictive behaviors

 

[uno22]

Lol @ this dude writing an essay about how he isn't an addict, has a job, etc on some high and mighty shit, and then describes his addiction in full detail.

Also what are these responses about people...ibogaine? Methadone? For 20mg oxy per day?

You should just taper off it and then either go cold turkey or take like .5 or .25mg of suboxone for 3 days or so. This is how I tapered off habits 10 times the size of yours. Pretty sure you can handle it, especially since you're such a non-addict and productive member of society.

 

[TigerBomb]

I am going to agree with most of the others who have posted... dude: you are an addict. Plain and simple. The very definition of an addiction is a physical dependency which means you cannot go a certain amount of time without said drugs without feeling withdrawal symptoms. So there. You have to be okay with that and accept it. It's the first step. You may not have a mental dependency, but you definitely have a physical dependency.

I reccommend cold turkey. It's really not as bad as what you might think. It's over much faster than tapering. You will feel a bit sick, like you have the flu, and just convince yourself that you have the flu. Take immodium for the runs, take vitamins and drink water to keep your strength up and flush out the drugs a bit easier. Try to eat if you can, if you go four whole days without eating you will feel like a dead-leaded zombie on the 5th day once the really bad w/d symptoms are over. If you can, go for a walk each day--it will be the last freaking thing you will want to do, but it will really help you feel better and like less of a chump for actually getting out of the house and accomplishing something. A distraction to pass the time is good too. I've been watching entire seasons of the Simpsons and the Sopranos at a time lol. And I would ALSO HIGHLY recommend Lyrica (pregabalin) it will REALLY help with the tingling, the hot-cold sweats because it is a CNS/nerve antagonist meaning it shuts down lots of your nerve endings so you don't feel as horrible. Take as much as you need when it comes to sleep, try one, see how you feel; in an hour or two take another, by this time you should be pretty drowsy, for me it takes three 150mg Lyrica pills to sleep for about 8 hours (but I'm a lady who weighs 160, it might be different for you). You will feel a bit drowsy upon waking but that will pass in an hour or two especially if you eat something and drink a lot of water. Dependency on Lyrica comes after a few days of solid use but w/d from Lyrica is really not much at all, you just may feel a bit anxious, or tweeky if you know what I mean. Take a supplement called L-Tyrosine on the 5th day and it will help with that feeling. Look up the Thomas recipe and you'll see that it has really worked for a lot of people. Try to stay away from benzos if you can since they can easily create a dependency that you don't want another w/d from. Also take potassium supplements daily or eat at least one banana per day since they're high in potassium, that will help with the shakes. If you can take care of at least a few of the symptoms it will really help you get through it.

I'm late in day 2 of w/d from hydromorph contin, this is the second major w/d I've done, last time it was from Oxys and it was not great. But you know what... you will feel so much better after, and you can finally say, you DID IT! Stop right now and count off the hours you're clean and after 4 short days the worst is over. You can do it man.

 

[cook]

The very definition of an addiction is a physical dependency which means you cannot go a certain amount of time without said drugs without feeling withdrawal symptoms. So there. You have to be okay with that and accept it. It's the first step. You may not have a mental dependency, but you definitely have a physical dependency.

Addiction is psychological compulsion to use the drug, and dependence is physical need. Addiction and dependence are two very different things which can exists simultaneously or separately.

 

[TigerBomb]

Addiction is psychological compulsion to use the drug, and dependence is physical need. Addiction and dependence are two very different things which can exists simultaneously or separately.

Woops, sorry that's what I meant. Didn't pull out my textbook for that one lol. Thanks for clarifying.