Naloxone??

[DaughterOfChaos]

Okay. So. My husband n I are approaching day 3 of cold turkey heroin withdrawl. We're both pretty ugly lol.
Any way. My mom gave me some of her naloxone (her pain mgmt Dr prescribed it to help taper her off her hydrocodone, which I was also prescribed for years now the way I was taken off started this nightmare). I started taking it Day 1. The last day I shot junk was Friday.
Surprisingly, we both pushed off approximately the same time. We'd made 4 rigs. One for each of us to do before he left for work n one for later on in the night. I asked what time he did his. It was within the same hour (9pm) as me. Anyway that doesn't matter. It's just cool.

So. Saturday day 1. I took one tiny drop of Naloxone. So did he .
We also are taking Gabapentin for the RLS and the other ways it helps WD.
I have a FEW clonazepam my sister provided.
I started taking my old antidepressants, Lexapro, at 5mg like I was taught by my Dr when starting.
He opted NOT to use psych meds.


I have to say. This is the first time I've made it to day 3 n not been ready to kill myself for real. My husband started using bc of me.... n has been for the last 8 months. He's never gone thru WD completely but he's doing really good!!

I just need super support right now.
We HAVE to get clean. We need to save our money n make a better life.

Idk if ANY of these medications are good for WD n I've heard Naloxone brings on Precip, but I haven't experienced it

Just wanted to share

 

[simco]

Hi, Daughter! And welcome to both BL and SL.

The gabapentin and clonazepam are certainly standard comfort meds, so I'd say you're OK with those (though I don't know what kind of dosage you're using...obviously the safety and effectiveness of these will depend on that.

Not sure if the lexapro is going to have much effect during WDs, especially b/c it takes ~3 weeks for SSRIs to start having their therapeutic effect.

The thing I'm least sure about is the naloxone. I was going to assume you had made the common mistake of calling naltrexone naloxone. But since you seem to have a liquid, I guess you really do have naloxone. I certainly don't think the naloxone will hurt you during your kick. But I don't see how it could help much. Naloxone (the active ingredient in narcan), like naltrexone, provides a blockade against opioid agonists like heroin. In other words, it will pull you right off of a high, which is why it's used to counter ODs. BUT it has a very short period of effectiveness. To the best of my knowledge (unless there's some form of naloxone I don't know about) it will block your receptors for roughly 20-30 mins, which is why people often have to be hit several times with narcan to make it out of an OD.

So unless I've missed something (please correct me if I have), the naloxone will be contributing next to zero to your comfort during acute WDs.

Good luck, though...it sounds like you're doing very well. Hang in there!

 

[cj]

Yeah I wouldn't take the nalone either but the other comfort med are solid.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Naloxone won't help. Too many receptors. You don't want to block your natural endorphins from binding anyways.

 

[simco]

Naloxone won't help. Too many receptors. You don't want to block your natural endorphins from binding anyways.

CH and cj, am I right that the half-life of naloxone is extremely short. I know that's the case with narcan, though I suppose there could be some formulation I'm not familiar with.

 

[subotai]

Not sure how Naloxone is meant to help taper off anything.

It literally rips the opiates off your receptors in a matter of seconds and forces your body into withdrawal

It's like a super uncomfortable and forced Cold Turkey kick, although it does go by faster

The Clonazepam is what is making your WD less intense, not the Naloxone

Yeah about 20-30 mins sounds right for Naloxone half life

I had to wait about a half hour after getting hit with Narcan before I could get high again. Went to Checkers and got some shitty fries and a soda because I've never been more thirsty in my life.

 

[simco]

...
Yeah about 20-30 mins sounds right for Naloxone half life

I had to wait about a half hour after getting hit with Narcan before I could get high again.
...

The two times I got hit with narcan it fucking sucked...just like subotai described. Gnarly pWDs for about 20 minutes. And after that (the first time), I climbed right back on for another shot. Holy fuck that was awful.

But I digress from the OP's question. Sorry for that!

 

[Jabberwocky]

I have heard that tiny, like super tiny, doses of naloxone and naltrexone may be helpful (assuming you are already in full blown withdrawal), but I don't believe this would be of significant value outside placebo effect for most people to be worth something considering. That said, whatever works for you OP! I certainly would take the naloxone for more than 3 or at most 4 days though. After that you really will just be blocking the endogenous endorphins from doing their proper dance in ur noggin.

As others have said, gabapentin and clonazepam should get you through comfortably as long as you each have enough to take for seven days or so, hell even if only for four days in some cases.

Really what I'd do in the OP's case is to stop with the naloxone and see if I couldn't get my doctor to give me a small script of clonidine. Along with gabapentin and a benzo (like clonazepam), clonidine is a standard opioid detoxification medication that will help a lot with cold sweets, RLS and BP (just as long as you don't take it too frequently, at too large a dosage or when your blood pressure is too low).

 

[Antsss]

Does anyone know how long the first 50mg pill of naltrexone last before I could use?? It is making me feel terrible

 

[simco]

Does anyone know how long the first 50mg pill of naltrexone last before I could use?? It is making me feel terrible

Do you mean when you can safely take your first naltrexone pill without precipitating withdrawals? Or am I missing the point? If my reading is correct, the common wisdom that doctors mention is 6-10 days from your last use (depending what kind of opioid you've been using). You may be able to get away with less, but I wouldn't push it.

 

[Antsss]

No I wanted to know when the first one would wear off and I can use opiates again?? This thing makes me feel terrible

 

[simco]

Ah...some of that depends on how long you've been taking the naltrexone. But basically I found that ~48 hours was enough. Depending how much of a run you go on, you're gonna need to be careful going back on the naltrexone to avoid precipitated WDs...if you do go back on.

But I did want to ask, is the terrible feeling from opiate WD, or is it something else?

I just ask b/c I'm assuming you got on the naltrexone to help quit opiates, no? If so, can you try to ride it out a little longer (either with or without the naltrexone)? No judgment either way. But you can definitely get out from under all this. It sucks at first, but it *is* doable. Let us know if we can help.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Does anyone know how long the first 50mg pill of naltrexone last before I could use?? It is making me feel terrible

If it is just one dose of naltrexone you are asking about, it's about 12-24hrs depending on how large a dose of naltrexone was and how large the proposed dose of (and what kind) opioid agonist you're going to be using. If the naltrexone was being taken day after day for a period of time however, simco's post is on the money.