Opiate and opioid withdrawal: Coping strategies and medication

[Kronos]

With opis or benzos? Opiates really really is an all or nothing deal, occasional use just never works

Benzos, well after a monster habit & detox that nearly killed me, i kept off em for 6 or 7 months but i have been using them occasionally (once or twice a week, boundaries treacle sticks to iirc and works for him for a long time, and so far has worked for me) for relaxation or slight anxiety. Once or twice i'd noticed i'd done a few days use and had to keep myself in check and stop for at least a fortnight, but so far so good. But i'm not kidding myself, it wont work indefinitely, and i've been actually subconsciously reducing my benzo usage, that's an addiction i never want to fall back into.

After a 4 day stint on benzos stopping can trigger slight rebound anxiety/placebo but nothing serious. With opiates, 3 days use and i'm physically dependent to some extent now but i don't know how much of that is psychological, your head can cause some shitty symptoms.

 

[backroll]

britlofex is a crock of shite. all inmates worst nightmare. must work for some i guess

 

[mydrugbuddy]

with opis some people seem to be able to limit their use, like set a rule of never using 2 days consecutively or something. I swear ive learnt my lesson after getting myself into trouble with them, id feel very sad if i could never take any opiate again. I dont know if i am an all or nothing guy with them, i mean i know how they become even more seductive if you have a bad day or something, it makes it hard to stick to any self imposed rules. When i get off bupe, im planning to just occasionally dabble in a bit of DHC or Oxy or something, i certainly never want to be chained to a daily habit ever again.

 

[Kronos]

Its very very rare mate. IRL i know people that have chipped for a year, 2, a few who have managed 5 years of occasional use but in the end they all ended up back with a habit. I've read a few people online but i take everything on the internet with a handful of salt, especially where drugs are concerned. I'm like you, i cant imagine a life without opiates, even the last months been solid cause a suboxone script gives me no noticeable effects, i know i would've been bang on it if it wernt for the subbys being a blocker, i'm trying to change my life so when i come off them, i can see a future opiate free. I'm sick of the cycle.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

its kind of like the garden of eve, and that forbidden apple that eve took isnt it. Once youve experienced the highs, you want to experience more of them, and you tend to forget about the lows, and it doesnt half bite you in the arse, if you're not extremely carefull.

 

[Kronos]

Aye man, even now i look back with rose tinted glasses like nothing else, forget about all the grafting, pain and general hell of it.

Thing thats odd with me is, when i'm honest with myself, i dont even really like the effects of opiates all that much in moderate doses, it makes me more functional i spose, I only really like it when i'm nodding in a blanket of warmth, half dead and unthinking, otherwise its okay, bit warm and lush but also sickly and i used to sometimes get them opiates rages. I have no fucking idea why i did what i did for so many years, and why a huge part of me still wants to.

 

[opiaterock]

Don't know if this is a good place to post..I'm really trying to get clean for the xmas and into next year hopefully. 1st day today feel fine cause I took 2mg suboxone and I actually wasn't on a big run b4 I quit just 3-4 days really. I'm not scared of withdrawals cause I know if I do get any then they will be minor. More worried about what I will do when Thurdays evening comes and I get paid with x amount of cash in my a/c, that's when the temptation starts. I just need to modify my behaviour I guess.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

yeah, ideally you need to find new interests to fill the hole in your life that quitting opis will leave. Ive just kind of shunted over a bit by using more slightly less evil substances, but that's not the ideal long term solution. But it'll temporarily keep me going until i find a proper solution.

 

[opiaterock]

the short, sharp, shock method. Is it true it gets harder every time you do that ? Thats what Keith Richard's said in his autobiography.

Ya that's so true it's weird innit?.. like when you start at first and go clean it seems like nothing, then everytime later is increasingly harder - when I see any youngsters in my area starting out and they say that they 'don't get a sickness' I try to explain this but it's impossible

 

[opiaterock]

yeah, ideally you need to find new interests to fill the hole in your life that quitting opis will leave. Ive just kind of shunted over a bit by using more slightly less evil substances, but that's not the ideal long term solution. But it'll temporarily keep me going until i find a proper solution.

Ya man, definitely need to fill your time with healthier pursuits..guess it can only get easier over time

 

[mydrugbuddy]

I think im about 3 weeks into my bupe dose being too low to get any kind of high off, it could be longer than that, I've really lost track of how fast the weeks are speeding by. Ive just increased my etizolam and cannabinoid consumption to compensate. Once im totally off bupe, I'll have to start working on getting my etiz dose right back down, and eventually off it alltogether.

 

[ScotchMist]

The last and hopefully final rattle I did was with subutex then lefexidine, gotta say I didnt find it easy on me at all, and my habit was relatively small towards the end as I tried to taper off the gear a little to go on the subs.

I have heard goods things about lefex so maybe my dose was to little, who knows?

The best thing I found for those withdrawls while you're reducing off subs was Ket, just small bumps and I felt ok, I cant say it's the same for meth or lefex as I haven't tried it or know that its even safe with lefex lowering your blood pressure etc but it worked wonders for me coming off subs.

Horses for coarses really, just a shame we have to suffer trying to find what works best.

 

[opiaterock]

I've been kind of alternating between gear & subs for the last few weeks with maybe the odd day with nothing in my system... all have been low doses mind - it would have went something like
monday - nothing
tuesday - 4mg sub
wednesday - 2mg sub
thursday -2mg sub
friday - 0.2 brown
saturday - 0.4 brown
sunday - 0.4 brown

that would have been average for last two weeks (some days might have changed and there might have been 2 days with nothing on some days but I would have felt rough those days)..

anyway this last week I took some subs monday-thursday (usually 2mg but max 4mg a day) then I took some gear Friday, satruday & Sunday and today I didn't feel sick when I woke up, not even really rough but I took 2mg of sub about an hour after I woke up and I snorted another 1mg in the afternoon ..I felt nearly high after the last 1mg - I'm just wondering I ahve about 6mg of subs left, should I try to go without tomorrow and just take 1mg if I really need it? I don't think I am gonna have withdrawal symptoms for long if at all - would you guys expect withdrawals to come? Considering I wasn't sick this morning?... and how long do I have to be on subs to get withdrawals from them?

It seems to easy to just switch from taking gear for 4 days to taking subs and then stop the subs with no withdrawal

 

[DeMa]

how do you mean wcote? Do you mean "getting clean is the easy part, staying clean is the hard part"?

Because this thread is not about staying clean. It's about coping with the symptoms which arise when you cease use of the drug. I want to talk about coping with withdrawals, that's all. Pure and simple harm reduction - reducing the harm of withdrawal symptoms.

agreed...

 

[amnesiaseizure]

How bad were those 8-10 days ?

I'm going for the long drawn out slight discomfort/no energy long term taper. Ive allmost completed it now, the last few steps have definately been the hardest. Will be down to 0.05 on Tuesday, and i plan to jump off that as soon as i feel ok on it.

With he diaz, really not bad at all, certainly nothing tp fear but i guess we're all different.

Clean Greens are made by a company called Pukka. Look em up, can def recommend and herbal remedies aren't generally my thing. The euphoria and energy boost after u detox is almost worth getting hooked on the sit for! Good luck bro.

 

[the bold one]

Kicking smack is a piece of piss.iv done it at at least 10 times now lol.just mop up the shit,tidy up the puke and piss and pray to god for an end

 

[smackydowners]

i like to taper down with dhc or low dose sub. the withdrawals dont kick in until a couple of days after you stop.

time off work is good. plenty of fruit juice and wet wipes. i dont take immodium so the wipes really save your ass (boom boom).

i like to take bike rides and walks as exercise works wonders.

during the worst of it (days 3-4-5) high doses of zopiclone and benzos help a lot, as you can sleep or at least mong through it. only use for 3-4 days to prevent tolerance.

massages--especially leg massages feel great and help with aches, as do hot baths.

good books and tv series/movies help the boredom.

5htp or melatonin alzo help in later alcoohol.

it sucks, but it needs to happen every so often . sorry if im regurgitating other posts, but cant be bothersd to read the whole thread.

and luck is a big player too... anywah, its worked for me many times; sgaying cleans tje hard part. im actually tapering with dhc now.. again....

 

[mydrugbuddy]

Kicking smack is a piece of piss.iv done it at at least 10 times now lol.just mop up the shit,tidy up the puke and piss and pray to god for an end

But you're not kicking it if you've been back to in 10 times, but you must be very physically and mentally strong if you can take it so apparently lightly. I dont mean to start an argument. I guess it's like smoking cigarettes in that its relatively easy to stop if you get your mind set firmly on it, but you never know when you're gonna be tempted back again. I must have given up and re-started smoking cigarettes about 30 times, i couldnt imagine going through that with opiates, that would be far too hard to deal with. It seems you have to be either on or off, or if you're lucky you can "chip".

And as for finding, or re-taking up old interests i think i may have found one with my guitar. It took fuckin ages to get it tuned, the fuckin handles on the end of the strings need some wd40 or something, or maybe i need a new set of srtings. They are at least 20 years old. Ive not played properly for 15 years or something, im not a beginner, i reached kind of almost intermediate level, but ive forgotten most of what im trying to remember. It'll help fill the gap that opis will leave, a much healthier pursuit.

 

[Swarm]

I've been kind of alternating between gear & subs for the last few weeks with maybe the odd day with nothing in my system... all have been low doses mind - it would have went something like
monday - nothing
tuesday - 4mg sub
wednesday - 2mg sub
thursday -2mg sub
friday - 0.2 brown
saturday - 0.4 brown
sunday - 0.4 brown

that would have been average for last two weeks (some days might have changed and there might have been 2 days with nothing on some days but I would have felt rough those days)..

I like your style. Alternation with a little randomisation has been my religion for like the past decade. Clean days are so fucking important too, but easier said than done for me.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

This post isnt in reply to anyone else, its just some sort of strategy for withdawal as per the thread title. The most basic one of all probably. Get rid of anything that is surplus to the requirements of a taper. Ive done that by consuming it, which may set me back a bit, but i was never gonna flush it, and it was allways gonna be there tempting me. As its no longer here, just sitting there tempting me, I wont be able to have any more relapses.