Need Advice On Tapering Down

[tolerantmind]

On Sept. 21 my doctor switched me from 80mg of Dilaudid a day (4 doses of 20mg every 4 hours) to 180mg of Oxycontin (3 doses of 60mg tablet every 8 hours. Then on Sept. 25th I went back to Dilaudid but started at 64mg a day which is roughly the equivalent to 180mg of Oxycontin a day*

I would appreciate if someone could tell me if the taper plan I have is a realistic one.
I'm using dilaudid 4mg tablets to taper down since a 4mg tablet of Dilaudid is just a tad bit more than a 10mg Oxycodone tablet.

Oxycodone 10mg = Dilaudid 3.75mg

I'm dropping one pill of Dilaudid a day.
Ex: On 09/29 I took 60mg of Dilaudid (15) 4mg tablets in all.
Today(09/30) I will take 56mg of Dilaudid (14) 4mg tablets in all.

Can anyone tell me if this taper is too fast or too slow?

I know it really depends on the individual but I was wondering compare to the average or most common way people taper if this tapering plan is too slow?

Does anyone have any advice on this? Thank you so much in advance.

*All conversions are based on the method of usage being "Oral"

 

[effie]

Is this taper something your doctor recommended? If so, I would follow their advice.. if not, why is it that you are tapering off the Dilaudid? How is your pain at the moment?

 

[BrokedownPalace]

If you have the supply, and time, I would recommend tapering slower than dropping 4mg every day. I would stay at each dosage for 4-5 days, so your body can get used to it. But I wouldn't drop 4mg every time, though. I would lower your total dose by 10 percent each time. So Your first drop would be 10 percent of 60. Then your next drop would be 10 percent of 54, and so on and so forth.

If you drop every single day your body won't be able to catch up, and you'll most likely experience some discomfort on a daily basis. Not full withdrawals by any means, but a minor discomfort that is there daily. If you increase the amount of days you are on each dose, you'll give your body a chance to catch up, thus reducing the daily discomfort.

Why are you tapering? Does your doctor want you off of opiates? Or are you doing it on your own? If it is your doctor's orders, I would suggest asking him to devise a tapering schedule for you, then you can post that in here and we'll give you our opinions on it.

 

[mycoman]

sounds like you are on a good program.. keep it up.. taper down now

 

[tolerantmind]

Effie I do believe that you've read my other threads about the issues I've been having getting any relief. I'll explain why I'm doing this anyways. I'm just not being taken care of by my doctor and quite frankly I have no choice but to taper down and off for a period of time. So many amazing opportunities are slipping through my fingers because of the severe pain I'm facing everyday. I really have not gotten any relief since the end of March. I just really don't think that's right. It's my doctor's fault because he's been horrible at managing my pain and hasn't made any effort to look into different pain medications for us to try. He says it's out of his comfort zone. When he started my pain management up again in January he hugged me and said, "Don't worry ______ I promise you I'll always be here with you every step of the way through this. I won't let you suffer." I've suffered since the end of March. Now I can understand if he just can't do this. The thing is he's never made any effort to refer to a pain specialist. The two times I've gone they were doctor's I looked up and it took him months to fax a simple referral letter. The first gave him suggestions one of which he tried but dramatically lowered the recommended dosage to the point where I went through some bad withdrawal. He didn't even try the other two recommendations or tell me what they were. The second pain doctor I saw told me I waited two months for my doctor to fax the referral and then spent 3 hours filling out a ridiculous amount of intake forms only to sit down and have the doctor say, "You're in the wrong place." and give me absolutely no suggestions of who to you or anything. It's gotten to the point where I'm having extremely severe daily suicidal ideations and I genuinely feel that any day now I might just finally get over this last little hump of fear keeping me from killing myself and do it. I want to live my life though. I don't want to kill myself. I however cannot live my life like this anymore. I shouldn't even have to do this process. There's way too many other things going on in my life right now relating to depression, anxiety, adhd. I fear that I'm not going to be able to do this process.... I honestly have never been more afraid in my life....

 

[Allein]

^^^^

I assuming your in the US, so I have no understanding of the health care you gave access to, here in the UK I would just say go to another doctor and keep repeating that until you find one that actually does there job. Can you not do that in the US, I hera people talk about doctor shopping ? many doctots in he UK IMO should be scacjked for there apalling service many should be recognised for their had and deligent work, oddly there seems very few in the middle ?