Opiate Withdrawal.

I'm tapering now. My prescribed doses are 48mg of dilaudid and 120mg of MS Contin a day. I'm off the MS Contin and down to 40mg of dilaudid. My plan is to stay on my current dose for 5 days then bump it down a pill. Do y'all think that's too fast? I have until end of October to be off the pain Meds completley. I have some Suboxone stashed just in case. I've been on opiates for yrs and have been thru all kinds of wd from tapering like I am now to running out early which is part of reason I'm removing them from my life to cold turkey. Right now I experience some increased pain and some minor wd symptoms like achy mess and runny nose. As long as I don't get that rested jump out of your skin feeling or the bone soreness I can manage. I see the head pain Dr at my pain clinic the 13th so I'm sure if I'm not tapering right he can come up with a schedule for me. But I trust y'all too, people who actually go thru it so any advice would be appreciated. Hope everyone is well!!
 
Squeaky: I am sorry to hear that you are having troubles getting below 90 mg a day... and I also hear you re: your wife's reaction, and your fear she might get mad. Hang in there... I really do not have the experience in order to give you advice re: continuing to taper in hopes your body adjusts to the decreasing dosages or to jump off and go cold turkey... just know I am here to offer support.

Closeau: You might be going down a bit too fast, but a lot of posts I read say to decrease every 4-7 days, so you are right in there. I have read where it is recommended to stabilize before dropping your dose, but if you can manage the w/d then you can try. If it doesn't work, just go back to previous dosage. I think it is wise that you are seeing the main pain doctor at your clinic for his input on your taper. That is best. I would be very gentle on myself if I were you Clos... your body has been through so much and your mind and emotional self has had its pain and suffering as well... so take good care of yourself.

I am going to post on my tapering thread... a bit of drama with my daughter today.... I also am a bit down.
 
Sorry you're down POkemama. I'm actually having a bit of daughter drama myself. I haven't heard from her in 12 days. She's not replying to texts or calls. Makes me feel bad. I know she's only 10 but I will get there in 2 months and teach her that it's rude to do that. Plus idk what's going on out there cause her mom won't reply either. A link perhaps? Anyway, yeah I'm going to switch to going down a half a pill every 5 days. I've had a rough day of pain and some wd that's actually kicking my butt right now. Just naucous and dizzy but I can hand as long as I don't get the shimmy arms and legs and that bone soreness that I hate so much. I appreciate your input and I will def keep posting on my progress. Dr Prakken is going to be upset I fucked with my Meds without permission but luckily he's a very nice guy. Very smart to. He's also a shrink so he knows the chemical mind body connection better than anybody. Hope you feel better soon man. Take care!
 
Thanks, Closeau! It sure sounds like the mama is having some input regarding your daughter's lack of reply to your texts and calls. Yeah, at the age of 10 I think she is too young to be like that on her own. I sure hope you get to the bottom of the issue... it sure hurts my feelings when my daughter is upset with me, but being she is grown up, at least we can talk things out.

I think going down by 1/2 pill every 5 days is a lot more reasonable... great idea! You are blessed that your pain doc is also trained as a psychiatrist... I bet he is extremely bright, and understands the mind body emotion connection at a very deep level. Have a good night!
 
Hi. I'm really new here as well. I thought that I was replying to your comment about rather lopes and kratom will extend withdrawal.
I don't see how they could keep from doing so, but I've has an experience with lopes, back when I was only trying to kick hydros where I was able to just walk off the lopes with no issue at all. I'd give my life to be back in those shoes today. Today I'm hooked on heroin, again, and mentally preparing, as if that's really an option, to use lopes to get off h.
I want to send you a pm. If you, or anyone, has gotten off h, subs or a substantial amount of done with lopes has had any success please, please message me. I've no idea how to post, send messages, or reach a mod. But perhaps my nutty ass could see it if I got a message.
 
I would SO trade my post-acute benzo WD symptoms for extremely acute opiate WD symptoms. I envy you guys... I've been through both and opiate WD is a damn JOKE compared to benzo WD. If you can recover from benzo WD, its like being a veteran, a bloody hero!
 
Hoping the best for you. I've heard benzo withdrawal is just godawful. Keep strong.
 
Thanks POkemama. I decided to go cold turkey 3 days ago. I talked to my wife and she's not so mad after all.
I figured out I was at about 120 mg/day oxy + 6 mg/day lorazepam. Long story short, i would up doing 60 mg first day, then 45 mg yesterday, and I'll do 40 mg today. That first day was too miserable to go cold, bone soreness/ skin crawling/ abdominal cramping/ etc. I changed my doses of lorazepam to 1/1/4 (a.m/noon/bedtime). I cut out processed sugars and MSG out of my diet and the WD's are 75% easier. (Turns out that stuff is in EVERYTHING. Gotta read labels) My new plan is to cut 5 mg each day. So far the WD's are not horrible.
I'll tackle the lorazepam after the oxy.
 
Squeaky First of all, your name just makes me smile... I think of a cute little mouse, running around making noise, lol. I am happy to hear your wife is being supportive.. that is huge! Good for you to clean up your diet... opiates make me crave sugar... right now, a gummy bear and ice cream kick.... no wonder I feel like s@&t. So, good luck and keep going!!

I have no more reason to procrastinate on my taper, so Wednesday I start... I will cut my dosage of by about 15% and then hold there for 3-7 days until I stabilize with no w/d symptoms. If I don't have any w/d at 15, I will go to 20 or 25% since I have cleared my calendar for 3 days so I might as well suffer a little, but nothing debilitating.
 
Sweet Squeaky!! Good job man and keep going. Don't give up! That's a lot of Oxy but I guess it's all realative. So does sugar and msg make wd worse? I'm tapering now so I'm in like a mini Withdrawl day and night. I've been eating better cause I'm down here at my dads visiting and they eat healthy but I drink tons of Gatorade. I'll have to check labels now. I'm having more of the minor wd symptoms like a little cramping and runny nose and eyes and some restlessness but nothing like cold turkey. I won't ever do that again. Anyway, I'll live. Today was a step down day so I didn't feel well. Very cranky but my dad has been really cool. He knows what I'm doing and tries his best to help me. I'm fortunate I could come here for awhile. Sucks I gotta go home. Anyway, good luck to you man!!
 
Thanks POke and Closeau. Yes MSG and fake sugars(dextrose, fructose, sucrose, ....ose)are very hard on your body. There's a bunch of people worldwide who believe these things are causing diseases like cancer. And yes, all I need is a glass of Gatorade to double my WD symptons.
I did 35 mg oxy yesterday. Today's goal is 30mg. I hurt everywhere but it's getting better.

Edit: It's hurting my bones way too much right now. I broke down at 4:30pm tonight and took an extra 25mg oxy. I'll get back on schedule tomorrow.
 
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Alcohol helps some but when I tried I couldn't get it down. I could barely drink iced tea let alone alcohol. Can you get ahold of Subutex do a taper in I'm on day 6 and I feel good started with 4 milligrams for 2 days than 2 milligrams for 2 days then one milligram for 2 days and I feel good and I got RLS medicine tinsidine. Neurontin sucks that you don't have them no more but they do help to
 
Hey guys, I found this thread after wondering if alcohol helps heroin withdrawal.
Ended up reading all the way through and was inspired by Squeakys story.
I used to be a drug addict about 4 years ago (xanax/hydro).
Quit cold turkey after my fiancee dumped me because of that.
Lived 2 years pretty normally, I'd take kratom recreationally.
Nowadays, i live in Arizona. I happened across some black tar from a friend a month ago.
Well a month later, im out 700 dollars (shits expensive), and I realized i need to get clean.
So now im on day 1 1/2.
I tapered yesterday, but my willpower begged for more.
Started the day feeling like shit, slept for 14 hours, can't eat.
Got to work and after reading this and talking to customers that general gross feeling is going away.
I keep reading 3-4 days is the magic number. I'm dedicated to quitting, i cant waste my money anymore.
Thinking of getting a weed card because i do suffer from anxiety, and i need something to wind down.
Just had to share my thoughts and let ya'll know I appreciate this thread. Hopefully i can force my way through the next few days at work without pulling my hair out.
 
Wigginmiller: Welcome to BL! You sound like you know what to do.... reading and posting on BL has gotten me through many rough times when I had tapered down very low and was feeling sick. Were you able to win back your fiance after quitting your xanax and hydros? You are very wise to nip the Heroin addiction in the bud... you know it just gets worse with time.

It sucks that kratom will be illegal on September 30th. I have a little stash set aside in case of emergencies, although I have never tried it yet.

My taper is going well now because it has to. I have exactly enough pills left to tide me over until my oxycodone get filled. That is not the way it is supposed to work. I should have enough oxymorphone to last until they are refilled. It is weird... I don't feel physically ill at night... but between 11am - 2pm I do get an upset stomach and temperature fluctuation issues... chills and hot flashes. I had to cut my dose in half to make sure I don't have to suffer a full day of cold turkey.

But, I am pissed at myself b/c I am not reaching my goal: setting aside extra meds so that I have an emergency stash for if/when I no longer am prescribed pain medication. I do see now why so many people go cold turkey... they get frustrated with tapering. I don't have that option - I will end up in the hospital as I suffer skyrocketing blood pressure when I go c.t. and need to have it monitored. So... one of these months I hope it all clicks.
 
Wigginmiller- I'm happy to hear my story has maybe helped someone. Stay strong. There is a big blue light at the end of the tunnell.
I'm Trying to taper right now, but it's not really happening on the schedule I had planned. If I had done the cold turkey when I started trying to taper I would be finished already. This hurts less, but it is also less effective.
 
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Alcohol will only help if you drink enough to pass out and get some relief thru unconsciousness. Loperamide is your best bet but keep in mind you will have to take 40 to 50 2mg tablets to eliminate the wds completely. I had read that it would help so I took 10 or so and it did nothing but after 40 it was a miracle. It will constipate you doing this unless you eat 3 servings of lentils a day since they are so high in fiber and then game on. I was took sick to go to work but had no time off and this allowed me to continue working no problem. Loperamide addiction may be a new problem but I kicked it with kratom. Hope this helps. WDs are a bitch!
 
ello, everybody I got two questions regarding lyrica and opiates. I was using lyrica to help the withdraw symptoms due to my opana script running out 2 weeks early. I used 600mg of lyrica the first week. And week 2 I used the lyrica more for recreation and used high amounts ranging from 1g to 2g. Here is where my question comes in. I get my opana script filled tommr. Will I have withdraw symptoms from quitting lyrica cold turkey from a 2 week binge on it. Also If I do experience withdraw symptoms from lyrica will the opana help combat them? Sorry 1 more quick question. If the opana does not help should I start a taper with lyrica?
 
Hey I'm losing my mind. Day 8. I went from ~150mg/day oxy to 60mg each of these days, 15mg every 6 hours, and have been hooked for 3 years. I started out sniffing 1mg dilaudids and eating 2.5mg half-percs and it escalated from there. It's a fuckin war zone over here. It it not getting any better, and the symptoms are changing. Today it is horrific abdominal cramps. I can't stand it, this is worse than the restlessness in my arms that has since passed. My legs are shaking but I don't care so much about that. I am using quite a bit of weed, but my body is screaming for the opiates. Screaming for them. I am almost certainly going to take another 20mg dose but I am fighting it. I always relapse right around this time, this is my 3rd attempt. It's ruining my life and I have to get it under control. Already fucked around with enough dope as well which I've stopped. I'm cool with taking 60mg each day, at least for the next few months until I completely stabilize. I'm tapering with ir oxy but I feel like that is controllable, I mainly want the physical agony to go away. My stomach feels like it is tied in knots, really uncomfortable. I've made it so far. I have chronic back pain and that is still being managed at this dose so anything more is a dependency issue.
Issue for me is duration and consistency of use (and especially extensively experimenting with dope), really fucked me over after a coupe of years. Tolerance wise the habit has become unaffordable, although the experience of the high is not holding me back. In fact, it makes me more productive, happier, creative etc. making it very hard to quit. Withdrawals have become horrendous since last December which was my first real attempt. I have to get into therapy anyway because I'm borderline, but I haven't left my room in 8 days now.
 
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