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no more for me... ( Dilaudid )

J

john24

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
Messages
142
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U.S. - East Coast
I've been on this daily for over 2 years.. (at-least 3 times a day)

Normally, I felt like there was nothing that could make me stop taking this...until some real life threatening / weird stuff started happening.

During the nighttime, when i'd go to sleep...I guess my body would slow down even more. And on 2 occasions the right side of my head went numb...and I was weird for like a whole week straight.. almost went to the ER fearing a stroke...but I had no other major symptoms. So maybe it was just a mini-stroke ? When I say 'weird'....it was like my processing was delayed, I was talking loud and awkwardly, people were looking at me like 'what the heck happened to him?"... but I got better after a week.

anybody else ever have this? glad it hasn't happened anymore. that would be the worssssst, if I got a real stroke and my family (that i can't stand) had to take care of it. Some might even consider it worse than an OD..

so yea...sometimes we all need a real wakeup call, and I think I got it.
 
I'd definitely consider a stroke worse than an OD, for sure. Can you get any suboxone? If you can, even 1 or 2 8mg pills, you could do a rapid taper. 4mg the first day (or 8mg is 4mg didn't do it for you), the cut it in half the next, then in half the next day, etc. You can escape getting physically addicted to that then. And when you're out, you should have a reduced dependence on hydromorphone (dilaudid). Then you can use other things to help you through the rest of it, medium to high dose loperamide works really well (maybe 40mg/20 pills a day, reducing that each day, take it for only a few days). By then you should be nearly done with withdrawals, because hydromorphone has a short half-life so the withdrawal doesn't last very long, maybe a week. After that you should feel considerably better, then you'll just need to deal with cravings for probably quite a while, but at least physically you won't feel like death.

Good luck!
 
>>loperamide

thanks, never heard of that one before. But I found that dramatically increasing my fiber intake helps that aspect significantly...to the point where I don't even get the diarrhea or nasty stomach effects. It's all about soaking up the liquids. Even fiber supplements work good. Like nutrigrain bars , or Fiber Choice tablets. Heard they have a gummy one now that tastes better.

Tramadol on it's own, helps about 60% with my overall withdrawal symptoms. Yea, I really want to try to get on one of the Sub's...but seems like such a pain all the stuff these docs require to fill out. some even want me to print up all my prescriptions from my pharmacies for the last 3 months. They literally make it harder to get on Sub, then painkillers...I feel.
 
I have been dealing with a lot of withdrawal symptoms. I need to start on Suboxone in Jersey city, NJ. Any suggestions!
 
john24 said:
They literally make it harder to get on Sub, then painkillers...I feel.
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Yeah docs hand out painkillers like candy but it's starting to be a big problem around here(well from what the media knows, it's been a problem for a long time but cops and media are just now catching on)

And yeah if your wanting to get on subs or something than just find clincis in your area. It may not be the best idea but it's something. The only problem I had with clinics and the reason I didn't go to any cuz of how long they want you on the stuff. I checked out a methadone clinic at one point and they wanted us on it for 3 years at the least
 
john24 said:
>>loperamide

thanks, never heard of that one before. But I found that dramatically increasing my fiber intake helps that aspect significantly...to the point where I don't even get the diarrhea or nasty stomach effects. It's all about soaking up the liquids. Even fiber supplements work good. Like nutrigrain bars , or Fiber Choice tablets. Heard they have a gummy one now that tastes better.

Tramadol on it's own, helps about 60% with my overall withdrawal symptoms. Yea, I really want to try to get on one of the Sub's...but seems like such a pain all the stuff these docs require to fill out. some even want me to print up all my prescriptions from my pharmacies for the last 3 months. They literally make it harder to get on Sub, then painkillers...I feel.
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Loperamide is the chemical that is Immodium. It's supposed to be anti-diarrheal, but it's an opioid, it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier so it doesn't really get you high, but taking like 20mg (10 pills) will drastically reduce withdrawals because it fills the receptors in your body, it will even stop the restless legs. And the lack of physical suffering will improve your level of happiness too. Depending on the severity of your addiction, you might require more than 20mg, but start at 20mg. It can develop its own addiction but if you use it only for as long as you absolutely need to, you'll avoid that. After the 5-7 days the acute withdrawals last, stop using it, and you will have masked the worst of the withdrawals. I've done it before to get through withdrawals, I have also used it for a long period of time because of all my yo-yoing and then, every time I'd get through the poppy withdrawals, I'd feel loperamide withdrawals.

Oxy_Ghost said:
Yeah docs hand out painkillers like candy but it's starting to be a big problem around here(well from what the media knows, it's been a problem for a long time but cops and media are just now catching on)

And yeah if your wanting to get on subs or something than just find clincis in your area. It may not be the best idea but it's something. The only problem I had with clinics and the reason I didn't go to any cuz of how long they want you on the stuff. I checked out a methadone clinic at one point and they wanted us on it for 3 years at the least
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Yeah I think it's crazy that they aim for a long-term maintenance with suboxone. With methadone it makes sense I suppose... in using it to get off another opiate you becomes addicted to it. But with sub, it's easily possible to do a rapid taper and escape dependence on both of them, or at least mostly. It's crazy to prescribe it at the same (too high IMO) dosage for months on end, and then reduce slowly, reduce slowly... takes forever to get off. Conveniently for the pharmaceutical companies? Seems like we have a lot of prescribed pharmaceuticals that are maintained for very long periods of time or permanently.
 
Yeah it's like I hear a lot of ppl say, it's the work of the government. Makin one thing that's addictive and then makin another thing to get you off the stuff but then becomes more addicting than the first lol. I never tried subs or anything of the sort. I went CT when I got off oxy and heroin. It would've been nice to have some lope but I didn't have money for ANYTHING to comfort me. So i just had to suck it up and deal with the withdrawals. I had a few 1mg lorazepams the first few days, I tried using then to help me sleep cuz benzo's just make me pass out. It didn't work though even if I tried taking like 3 or 4mg. I don't have a tolerance for benzo's at all, I guess a stronger one would've worked better.
 
Sleeping is virtually impossible for me in opiate withdrawal too. Things that usually knock me the fuck out will not work simply because I get restless legs so bad I even have restless arms. It's horrible, I simply can't sleep. I'll usually go 5 days without sleeping and restless nights and pretty much snap out of pure frustration and exhaustion, and it's the most horrible thing ever. That night I'll usually sleep because I just shut down and then sleeping becomes somewhat possible but my emotions are all fucked from lack of sleep for a while. And, of course, from withdrawals/PAWS.
 
Xorkoth said:
Sleeping is virtually impossible for me in opiate withdrawal too. Things that usually knock me the fuck out will not work simply because I get restless legs so bad I even have restless arms. It's horrible, I simply can't sleep. I'll usually go 5 days without sleeping and restless nights and pretty much snap out of pure frustration and exhaustion, and it's the most horrible thing ever. That night I'll usually sleep because I just shut down and then sleeping becomes somewhat possible but my emotions are all fucked from lack of sleep for a while. And, of course, from withdrawals/PAWS.
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Oh yea, this is why Ambien is mandatory for me during the first 2 to 5 days of withdrawal...those night-sweats, tossing and turning, and irritability in not being able to sleep are the absolute worst. Try to get a small script of ambien if possible...but only use when really needed.

Following up on my initial post here, besides the weird 'head' symptoms I experienced....I feel like it's my whole body lately...slowly shutting down. So I must stop this stuff for good this time...luckily my prescription is almost completely empty.

other symptoms : #1 muscle stiffness and thickening ? hard to explain, but that's what it feels like....... I've got immune system issues as well, but organ swelling seems like another symptom. Maybe from all the leftover toxins of this stuff...and being on it for 2+ years. #2 asthmatic symptoms (wheezing) when taking it and withdrawing from it, but i've been having these since I initially started 2 years ago....shows how hooked I was...that i'm allergic and didn't even care. #3 extreme laziness. #4 occasional numbness in extremities. (while laying down / sleeping)

yea...i think I need to quit. I also never seem to hear about the long term damage from these meds? most of the evidence seems scattered here and there, but not much of it is concrete. For instance, with meth / coke....that physically damages the body, since it's like poison your putting in ur body. But not so much with opiates...the damage occurs slower...but I still think it robs our soul over time. It's hard for me to display that truly happy look/ smile anymore.. I just feel like a zombie. :(
 
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The nice thing about opiates is that they are very non-toxic, other than if you OD of course. Stimulants like meth absolutely ravage your body and brain with physical damage when you abuse them, but opiates do not. It's part of the reason they're so addictive, because you can do them a lot and not feel any negative physical effects. Except of course when you try to stop.
 
John, this happened to me over a year ago (mini-stroke) but I wasn't using any drugs at the time. It was uncomfortable trying to sleep so I got up and my arm and leg went numb, weird muscle stiffness and slurred speech. They did all sorts of tests at the hospital but didn't find anything wrong brain-wise only high blood pressure.

So if this happened to you when you were on dilaudid, be careful weaning off. One thing besides what's been mentioned drug wise is clonidine. If you can get your doctor to prescribe that I've heard it helps. Hopefully you will get back to your old self again!
 
thx Xork, i'm trying the Loperamide now... withdrawal is h*llish today. But it's helping a bit.

Calderone, It's kinda like the same reason I didn't bother going..knowing they wouldn't find anything. good to hear you were alright.. I am eating healthier now, just in case.

We gotta remember these drugs slow our bodies down, so i'm sure it slows bloodflow down a bit as well.
 
If I had known about loperamide coming off opiates I would have tried it. People have reported using big amounts but I wouldn't suggest taking more than 8-10 tablets per dose. Do you have other drugs to help you get through this?
 
I'm glad it's helping. It takes a few hours to really set in. It's certainly not good for you but short-term... it can be a real help. It lasts quite a while too, pretty much a whole day.
 
I definitely would advise against tramadol. I always hear people raving about it to help withdrawals but due to it's SNRI effects and mild opioid effects it can be harder to withdraw from then dilaudid. Lopermide only helps with the diarrhoea and too much worsens my stomach cramps. My usual cocktail for opioid withdrawals is clonazepam (any benzo will do and the more sedating the better) as i get bad anxiety during withdrawal and it helps the restless leg syndrome, zopiclone if i have it to help me sleep, gabapentin or pregabalin aka lyrica to help the RLS and it adds sedation to the benzos, a antispasmodic for the stomach cramps such as dicyclomine (trade name bentylol) or hyoscine butylbromide (brand name buscopan) which is basically scopolamine that does not cross the BBB or failing that straight up scopolamine which can be bought OTC in Canada atleast as well as some OTC codeine or the 30mg codeine pills. People always rag on codeine for being a weak opiate but i find it great for withdrawal and it's easy to taper off of.. I also use a anti-emetic such as dimenhydrinate (Dramamine, Gravol) or better yet promethazine. If i can get it I'll take a typical anti-psychotic that works for nausea such as compazine, Thorazine or methotrimeprazine. The latter is not available in the US. As i have bipolar withdrawals really fuck with my head and can trigger off mixed states so a anti-psychotic is pretty much a must for me but if you don't have it and puking is a issue during withdrawals for you a regular anti-nausea drug such as promethazine or dimenhydrinate should do.

Also Gatorade and protein shakes also come in handy if you can't handle solids. I've seen alot of junkies get dehydrated and malnourished during withdrawals because they didn't now how to treat it and fuck themselves up. I once felt so weak from withdrawals that even going up the stairs was a hard job. Get solids into you as soon as you can handle them as not eating and not staying hydrated (remember your loosing alot of fluids during withdrawal with the sweats, diarrhea and vomiting so you have to drink way more fluids then normal) will make withdrawals so much worse. There is also pedialite or whatever it's called that's a electrolyte drink they give to kids. I used to use it for hangovers but it helps during withdrawals as well. Also Cannabis and especially hash helps my withdrawals alot. Indica strains are the best as you want something to relax you and help you sleep. However if your the type that does not react well to Cannabis don't use it during withdrawals as you don't want to fuck your head up even more then it already is when your sick.

I came off a really heavy dilaudid habit during the winter. I lucked into a really cheap supply of 18mg hydromorph contins last spring and pretty soon i was banging 54 and sometimes 72mg's of hydromorphone 4 times a day. It seems insane and is even hard to believe for me that i ended up using that much. This was on top of the 150mg's of morphine SR i already take for pain. I ran out of morphine and my hydromorph contin supply was cut off at the same time. It was the worst withdrawals i have ever had by far and i must have lost 5lbs in sweat alone never mind the puking and diarrhea. Every nerve in my body felt like it was on fire and i had that cold burn all over my skin as worse as I've ever had it. Needless to say my head was not in a good place so seroquel came in handy to keep me sane and from freaking out. I did stop the dilaudid and haven't touched it since. I still take morphine for pain but i have only shot up a few times since New years which is really good for me considering i was shooting up 6 times a day sometimes. At my worst i would get sick as fuck after 6 hours and i would often shoot up every 4 hours when i was really bad. It was rare if i slept through the night and if i did i would wake up very dopesick. Dilaudid really is the crack of opiates as the rush lasts so short your just living for that few minutes of bliss. Amazingly i have never tried Heroin (it's expensive here and of rather dubious quality) but i have heard lot's of junkies say that dilaudid is more compulsive. The only other drug i found to be more compulsive then dilaudid was crack and IV coke which damn near drove me insane. On the brightside dilaudid withdrawal tends to be shorter then say morphine withdrawal as it's half life is shorter. So the worst is usually over after 4 or 5 days as opposed to atleast a week with a heavy morphine habit.

All i can say is i wish you all the luck in the world on getting off the stuff. If i could do it you certainly can. Best wishes to you and feel free to hit me up any time you want.
 
Loperamide helps out (for me and many others) with far more than the diarrhea, it makes me feel mostly normal (at the right dosage). But it can develop an addiction as well. And I've never been as on opiates as you described so I'm guessing it gets less effective the worst it is.
 
Xorkoth said:
Loperamide helps out (for me and many others) with far more than the diarrhea, it makes me feel mostly normal (at the right dosage). But it can develop an addiction as well. And I've never been as on opiates as you described so I'm guessing it gets less effective the worst it is.
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Really? Even when i had only a light oxycodone habit (under 100mg's a day or so) loperamide at best only stopped the diarrhea. It certainly never helped any of the physical pain for me or the mental head fuck. Oh well i guess it's like anything else in that it works well for some not for others. Stomach cramps are by far the biggest problem i get as i already have IBS so withdrawal only makes the symptoms worse. I have had stomach pain so bad that i literally couldn't get out of the bed to take a antispasmodic. I am already on dicyclomine for that so i just up my dose and use it regularly if I'm in withdrawals.
 
Yeah I know someone it doesn't work for too. Too bad, it's really effective for me. I have to take a lot though, I take 40mg minimum, today I took 40mg but I am inexplicably not feeling very bad compared to usual. When it was really bad with poppy tea I would take 80mg (40 of the pills). But the restless legs stop entirely, my body even feels kind of heavy, and I get a little eyelid droop. I don't get any euphoria whatsoever, but it makes me feel calm and just very mildly uncomfortable.
 
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