Hey, I have posted a few times on this site but it has been a long time. Well, I've decided to quit cold turkey tonight at midnight. A little history...I've been taking hydrocodone 10/325 every day for almost exactly 1 year now. The first 8 months I took 20-40mg a day and the last 4 months I've been taking 30-50mg a day. The last couple weeks I've been taking them because I'm scared of withdrawal. I've never felt withdrawal before bc I always pop a pill first thing in the morning when I feel the restlessness/uncomfortable feeling start to kick in. I have read all the horrible things to expect though. I just am basically looking for some support, I'm pretty scared. I'm 28 and in excellent physical shape bc I am a personal trainer (I don't know if good health helps during withdrawals). I have a 1 year old son and have another baby on the way. I decided this isn't the role model I want to be for my children and I need to be able to provide for my wife and family and not blow 500-600$ a month like I have been the last year on pills. What can I expect to endure during these next few days of withdrawal? Will the worst of the physical symptoms be gone in a week or so? I'm just scared to face this and I don't want to be bed ridden. I've tried tapering multiple times but I get down to 15-20mg a day for a week or two and then go back to 30-50mg. I do have a prescription of 180 .5mg xanax which I heard can help during withdrawals. Any support or words of encouragement would be nice. Sorry for rambling. Thanks
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BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards
Opiate withdrawal - help!
- Thread starter Kmahs20
- Start date
Ziggy stardust
Ex-Bluelighter
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2013
- Messages
- 305
It's a brief shitstorm to get off opiates...two weeks max. Get some lopermine and keep hydrated, you'll be fine...
T. Calderone
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2010
- Messages
- 8,979
What I would do is get yourself some loperamide because gastrointestinal effects were bad for me. It would be ideal to taper off the way you did before. When I was finally ready to quit, I got down to one pill twice a day, then half a pill. You can do this cold turkey and you may feel ill for a few days but it's definitely do-able.
Just prepare yourself mentally, know that you are not going back to this lifestyle. I know it's scary and you don't have to be bed ridden, but it's good to stay home and rest. Keep yourself awake during the day, save the Xanax for nighttime when you want to sleep. You may not feel much like eating, but make sure you keep yourself hydrated. You will feel so much better once this is over and have your life back!
Just prepare yourself mentally, know that you are not going back to this lifestyle. I know it's scary and you don't have to be bed ridden, but it's good to stay home and rest. Keep yourself awake during the day, save the Xanax for nighttime when you want to sleep. You may not feel much like eating, but make sure you keep yourself hydrated. You will feel so much better once this is over and have your life back!
Papaverium
Bluelighter
I can't sugar coat it, it will be really shitty (no pun intended 
), but if you drink a lot of fluids like Ziggy said, it will help a lot.
You might want to stay in bed and not leave for a week, lol, but to be honest, good exercise is a great endorphin release, which is what your brain needs seeing as once one builds a tolerance to opiates, the brain starts to "forget" to produce its natural endorphins, thus you feel sore and sick, and depressed until it can regain its ability to produce these neurotransmitters without the need of an artificial mask.
For me, the worst part (so far) is waking up, especially when I can't sleep!..... it might be pretty hard, but try to jump in the shower first thing, and it helps clean off that cold-sweaty feeling and chills. and it loosens the sore muscles for the time being.
Also, you may want to look into investing in some Kratom if you have heard of it. It is a plant in the same specie as coffee, but in larger doses binds to certain opiate receptors as morphine does, allowing the user to be able to taper off of opiates with significantly less withdrawal symptoms if any. (Don't quote me on it word for word lol, there is a Kratom MEGATHREAD somewhere on this board I'm sure you can gain a lot of good information from
Good luck on your journeys~~ _/\_
), but if you drink a lot of fluids like Ziggy said, it will help a lot. You might want to stay in bed and not leave for a week, lol, but to be honest, good exercise is a great endorphin release, which is what your brain needs seeing as once one builds a tolerance to opiates, the brain starts to "forget" to produce its natural endorphins, thus you feel sore and sick, and depressed until it can regain its ability to produce these neurotransmitters without the need of an artificial mask.
For me, the worst part (so far) is waking up, especially when I can't sleep!..... it might be pretty hard, but try to jump in the shower first thing, and it helps clean off that cold-sweaty feeling and chills. and it loosens the sore muscles for the time being.
Also, you may want to look into investing in some Kratom if you have heard of it. It is a plant in the same specie as coffee, but in larger doses binds to certain opiate receptors as morphine does, allowing the user to be able to taper off of opiates with significantly less withdrawal symptoms if any. (Don't quote me on it word for word lol, there is a Kratom MEGATHREAD somewhere on this board I'm sure you can gain a lot of good information from
Good luck on your journeys~~ _/\_
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in 12 days you'll feel 75 percent and 30 days you'll feel 90% at 90 days you'll feel 100% thats my experience. I was a much heavier user though.
For me the diahreah and cold sweats and RLS were pretty much gone at day 30 just minor which lasted quite a bit longer.
The worst of it, throwing up dry heaving to the point of throwing up blood, that all only lasted about 4 or 5 days.
For me the diahreah and cold sweats and RLS were pretty much gone at day 30 just minor which lasted quite a bit longer.
The worst of it, throwing up dry heaving to the point of throwing up blood, that all only lasted about 4 or 5 days.
SteeleyJ
Bluelighter
I would get 1. Loperamide 2. Benzos. 3. If you can get them lyrica / or to lesser degree neurontin. All will help wonders. I've also found a few things that work almost as good or better than the above that either don't fall into the harm reduction mindstate....or have the opposite effect on some.
Excersize as soon as possible, stay hydrated, and eat well ( possibly take multi-vitamins. )
Excersize as soon as possible, stay hydrated, and eat well ( possibly take multi-vitamins. )
Thanks guys for all the responses. I decided to take y'all's advice on the weaning down again. I took 30mg today and will take 20mg tomorrow and 10-15mg the third day before stopping cold turkey. I know it's not the ideal taper, but I'd feel better stopping cold turkey after a 15mg dosage than 50mg. I'll get the loperamide for the GI issues and save the xanax for night time when I sleep. I used to go 24 hours in between doses and not get any withdrawal symptoms besides restless legs so I'm hoping I'm not taking enough to get horrible withdrawals. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm going to feel shitty, but I'm hoping 30-40mg a day of hydrocodone isn't enough to get violelenty Ill. I'm also hoping the fact that I've been eating super healthy and weight lifting 4-5 days a week for the past 5 years helps too. I'm not sure if metabolism and physical fitness matters though? Anyways, thanks for all the advice and I'll let you know how it goes!
RidingtheBrownline
Bluelighter
i am day 5 of heroin withdrawal op. i have done this many times. this time though my family was the reason for the stoppage of my use so they wanted me to go detox and then to inpatient.
so i went to the ER on thursday. sat for 6 hours and was finally taken to a bed. turns out the don't really do opiate detox at hospitals anymore. so they gave me some zofran(which is a wonder drug for vomiting, have not puked once since i started taking that) and told me to go to new day center the next day to see addiction specialist dr. ready.
so i see dr. ready who is really great, i had no appointment and no insurance but the other night the er dr called him and told him i would come. so he saw me and set me up with a home detox. gave me clonidine and ativan. he would have given me suboxone but i am kinda leary about i and it is expensive.
so i go back tomorrow, and hopefully he will sign off on my detox and i can start a program tomorrow or tuesday.
now for you.
i never came off pharmaceutical opiates before so idk how bad you are going to be. so adjust as needed.
most important is the loperimide. this is generic immodium. take 8-10 2mg tablets when you start feeling like shit. up dose as needed. this will eliminate diarrhea and less the withdrawal symptoms quite well.
for me, the worst thing is not being able to sleep. you have a script for xanax. that is great. i say use as prescribed or take 1-2 mg as needed for sleep, if you can sleep at all. just beware the dangers of benzos. they should only be used for a very short time, say no longer than 3-5 days or as prescribed by your doctor.
if you are having trouble with vomiting, i suggest going to your doctor or er and getting some zofran. that is a serious wonder drug, at least it was for me, only good thing about trowing up is it takes your mind away from trying to rip off all of you limbs. but i think you will be ok.
to conclude, loperimide, xanax at night, zofran if needed. keep hydrated!!! take a hot bath to ease the muscles, this helps so much. i wish i still had a hot tub because i would kick the whole time in there. and you should be all set op. the hard part will be staying clean after you have to live your life again. but good luck, I'm going to be right there with you. ever need to talk, drop me a pm.
so i went to the ER on thursday. sat for 6 hours and was finally taken to a bed. turns out the don't really do opiate detox at hospitals anymore. so they gave me some zofran(which is a wonder drug for vomiting, have not puked once since i started taking that) and told me to go to new day center the next day to see addiction specialist dr. ready.
so i see dr. ready who is really great, i had no appointment and no insurance but the other night the er dr called him and told him i would come. so he saw me and set me up with a home detox. gave me clonidine and ativan. he would have given me suboxone but i am kinda leary about i and it is expensive.
so i go back tomorrow, and hopefully he will sign off on my detox and i can start a program tomorrow or tuesday.
now for you.
i never came off pharmaceutical opiates before so idk how bad you are going to be. so adjust as needed.
most important is the loperimide. this is generic immodium. take 8-10 2mg tablets when you start feeling like shit. up dose as needed. this will eliminate diarrhea and less the withdrawal symptoms quite well.
for me, the worst thing is not being able to sleep. you have a script for xanax. that is great. i say use as prescribed or take 1-2 mg as needed for sleep, if you can sleep at all. just beware the dangers of benzos. they should only be used for a very short time, say no longer than 3-5 days or as prescribed by your doctor.
if you are having trouble with vomiting, i suggest going to your doctor or er and getting some zofran. that is a serious wonder drug, at least it was for me, only good thing about trowing up is it takes your mind away from trying to rip off all of you limbs. but i think you will be ok.
to conclude, loperimide, xanax at night, zofran if needed. keep hydrated!!! take a hot bath to ease the muscles, this helps so much. i wish i still had a hot tub because i would kick the whole time in there. and you should be all set op. the hard part will be staying clean after you have to live your life again. but good luck, I'm going to be right there with you. ever need to talk, drop me a pm.
SteeleyJ
Bluelighter
30-40mg hydrocodone should not be that bad at all..... yes you will feel pretty shitty but you should be able to combat the withdrawal pretty well and be able to eat / sleep and function to some degree with the right w/d aids.
I was taking either 30mg of oxycodone or 200mg of morphine every day for 4 months and quit cold turkey...
Extreme diahreia, restlessness, depression, and restless legs were my symptoms. I am only 19 too but I was 18 at the time, pretty shitty shape and had a lot of time on my hands. I coped with it by going to college, exercising in my free time, thinking positive and taking niquil (or something like Benadryl) at night to help me sleep. It was 1 week of hell, 1 week of recovery, 1 week of self reflection and 1 week of final gitters. 4 week process. But I felt 100% after the month and didn't relapse for 4 months. I'm currently abusing suboxone. I can't stress how important not doing opiates is... It's like a switch in your head that never goes back. My useage isn't even that bad, but its a stigma. You sound like a good person, healthy and succeeding. Don't let this shit bring you down, you'll be awesome with or without the drugs, so just weigh out what's more important, the 500$ or the high....
Extreme diahreia, restlessness, depression, and restless legs were my symptoms. I am only 19 too but I was 18 at the time, pretty shitty shape and had a lot of time on my hands. I coped with it by going to college, exercising in my free time, thinking positive and taking niquil (or something like Benadryl) at night to help me sleep. It was 1 week of hell, 1 week of recovery, 1 week of self reflection and 1 week of final gitters. 4 week process. But I felt 100% after the month and didn't relapse for 4 months. I'm currently abusing suboxone. I can't stress how important not doing opiates is... It's like a switch in your head that never goes back. My useage isn't even that bad, but its a stigma. You sound like a good person, healthy and succeeding. Don't let this shit bring you down, you'll be awesome with or without the drugs, so just weigh out what's more important, the 500$ or the high....
That xanax is going to be key. Not sure why people say that the GI issues are the biggest worry opposed to the constant twitching and wanting to jump out of your skin feeling. The worst withdrawal I ever had in my life, was coming off 80 mg of Methadone and 4 mg of Klonopin/day for 8 months...cut off the methadone and ran out of my benzos two weeks early. I stayed in my basement for 7 days without actually SLEEPING a wink..would doze off for 30 seconds and wake up sweating and panicking. Your 40-50 mg Hydro/day habit won't be as excruciating as a methadone and benzo withdrawal on the same day, but I am pretty sure I would lay off any Xanax until you are done weaning, just to be sure you have enough, and then given you are staying home and not working or driving, take double your daily xanax dose for the first three days..then add 1-2 extra for day 4-7 and back to normal dose after a week. You will be fine man, the absolute worst part is the panic and urge to jump out of a window. AKA exactly what Xanax is prescribed for...