Opioids Opiate Withdrawal is Similar to IBD

[theblurr54]

I've gone through opiate withdrawal due to pain killers for IBD 5 times now. One time withdrawal was so bad I hallucinated.

One interesting thing I noticed is how similar opiate withdrawal is similar to day-to-day life with similar IBD.

For instance consider these symptoms:

Depression and anxiety (many people with IBD have mental issues, believed to be due to gut-brain connection)

Shaking and restless legs (caused by high doses of prednisone + withdrawing from prednisone. People with severe IBD are on this drug often. Personally I was on this drug more than off the past year)

Nausea (experience it sometimes, though definitely not as severe as during withdrawal. I rarely throw up but I know some people with severe IBD who do so fairly regularly)

Diarrhea ( Have had extremely painful diarrhea 20-40 times a day for a long time)

Stomach pain (worse with IBD in my experience)

Fatigue (I had much worse fatigue with IBD than during withdrawal).

Hallucinations/psychosis (experience this before I got on pain meds that made the disease more tolerable. The psychosis I experienced during opiate withdrawal was much worse though. Worst experience of my life and that's saying a lot.)

Notably, i've never experience hot and cold sensations (definitely a horrible part of withdrawal) and insomnia with IBD (sleep all the time).

That being said, it's crazy how similar my experience with IBD was to opiate withdrawal. And I had to experience this everyday for years! (Luckily I'm cured now).

Just wanted to put this info out there. Most people can't understand how horrible living with severe IBD is but if you've experienced opiate withdrawal you have some unique understanding and this can somewhat relate with what sick people are going through.

 

[Patton87]

That's interesting information. I've still got opiate withdrawals firmly in my memory as it wasn't that long ago. IBD sounds pretty terrible.

 

[Blackout2906]

It sounds like a horrible disease to have, I've always imagined it to be a painful nuisance. But you left out one important detail .... How were u cured of your IBD?

 

[theblurr54]

It sounds like a horrible disease to have, I've always imagined it to be a painful nuisance. But you left out one important detail .... How were u cured of your IBD?

It varies a lot in severity. Some hypothesis that IBD is actually hundreds of different diseases all classified under the two main ones - crohns and ulcerative colitis - due to the variation.

So for some it can be managed pretty well and others (like me) have severe disease that nearly kills them (For instance, I had to go to the hospital about 30 times in 6 months).

I have ulcerative colitis (hopefully; doctors are 95% sure) which can be cured by removing the colon and rectum (crohns can't be cured). I have an illiostomy right now which sucks, especially considering my young age (20) but I'm thankful that I have a new change at life (thought I was done for while) and hopefully I'll get it "reversed."