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(Opiates) Abstained for 8 days, Dosed, and Now Back in Withdrawals Again, WTF???

FlyBoy81

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 2, 2011
Messages
101
Location
US
Damn I'm a world of shit, AGAIN....I've been chipping for about 6 months now, and up until recently, have been pretty successful. I dose about 2 a week, and dose 1-2 times per session, with only a couple times dosing on consecutive days.

Last week I noticed that I was in minor withdrawals after the 2nd day after my dose. So I decided to wait it out for 8 full days. I was only in withdrawal for probably 5, maybe 6 of those days. So on Saturday I figured I would be good to go, so I had fun. Well this morning I woke up and felt like shit. These are not full 200mg a day cold turkey H or oxy withdrawals, but I still hurt all over, feel lethargic, sneezing, tears, running nose, and now have a fast heartbeat and anxiety.


WTF guys? Is eight days not enough time off for a break? Should I go a two full weeks this next go around? Any insight would be great.
 
This same shit happens to me, lately I have been taking 2-3 week breaks and sometimes I will STILL get thrown into withdrawals after using only a couple consecutive days. Once you're addicted it doesn't seem to go away, granted I haven't really given myself longer than a 3 week break in years but after using following 1-2 weeks of abstinence I generally have mild physical withdrawal for the next 2-3 days. It really sucks. Maybe you should try taking a looooong break, like a couple months (I know that's much easier said than done) and see how you feel after using then?
 
FlyBoy you're not the only one. I've gone on plenty of 1-2 week binges, ran out, went through a week of hell, abstained for a couple of weeks (including the week of hell), used for 3 days straight and went through another full blown week long withdrawal. I was thinking the same thing (dosed for 3 days and back in wd, wtf). Basically what ended up happening was that every 3 days of binging were immediately followed by 5-7 days of withdrawal. It was such a vicious cycle that in the end I went on MMT (and it saved my life). I'm guessing 8 days ain't enough, even if the physical wd symptoms have subsided (and obviously the craving lasts much longer).
 
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Yeah it sucks. I'll let you know when the withdrawals subside although today I didn't feel nearly as bad as yesterday, although I still felt bad. We'll see how I feel when I wake up tomorrow....


I will take a full two weeks off...I rarely dose on consecutive days. Usually every 3 or 4 days. I think (hope) taking a full two weeks off should give my body enough time to adjust.


Do you think two weeks will work? There's no way and hell I can do a month....
 
Two weeks might work, but then again, it might not. Opiate dependence takes some time to go away, even after the initial withdrawals are all said and done with. Somebody said to wait a couple months, and that's really the best advice if you don't want to experience WDs again. Also, dosing repeatedly in a session, or even using 2 days consecutively, can be enough to put you through withdrawals. After you've become dependent once, your body develops dependency much faster on subsequent occasions, to the point where even a couple of doses of dope or oxy can be enough to induce at least mild physical dependence for some people.

Think about it this way, each time you become dependent, your brain learns how to become dependent more quickly. That means that you're training yourself for faster addiction and a greater chance for withdrawal. The only way short of abstinence that I can see to avoid future dependence would be to limit your use to once every 2 weeks, and only use one time each time.
 
Related reading:

Opioid withdrawal "kindling"

I suspect a ‘kindling’ effect in opiate withdrawal where symptoms become more and more severe each time withdrawal is experienced, so that eventually there is no such thing as ‘mild withdrawal.’ Instead the addict experiences withdrawal as severe as the worst episode endured up to that point, regardless of the degree of tolerance going into the withdrawal episode.

Basically, you're fucked. You might never be able to enjoy opiates again without experiencing withdrawal. "Chipping" isn't a habit that can be maintained indefinitely.
 
I suspect a ‘kindling’ effect in opiate withdrawal where symptoms become more and more severe each time withdrawal is experienced, so that eventually there is no such thing as ‘mild withdrawal.’ Instead the addict experiences withdrawal as severe as the worst episode endured up to that point, regardless of the degree of tolerance going into the withdrawal episode.

This is exactly what happened to me. The withdrawals increased in intensity even though my tolerance didn't increase.

Only after I stopped using for about 3 months was I able to go back to using 3 days with no withdrawals.
 
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I'm fucked...please don't say that :(. Thanks for the help/advice guys.

I've "chipped" for like 6 months and avoided withdrawals up until now. Actually today I feel a lot better!!!! Not 100% normal, but good enough. So Instead of 4-5 days of withdrawal, I only had 2. So if 3 or 4 days of abstinence gave me 4-5, lets just say 5 days of withdrawal, and 8 days abstinence gave me 2 days, then you would think 14 days would give me zero. Does that make sense? I know that this doesn't sound good that I'm rationalizing this shit, but you see where I'm coming from?

I think my problem is during this six month period, I never went more than 6-7 days between doses. I'm thinking that to chip successfully, every 2 or 3 months, you MUST take at least a two week break. I know I should probably quit altogether, and I could if I had a girlfriend/wife to help me out (we broke up about a year ago...NOT drug related). I believe this option is better than just becoming an addict again, right?
 
I take oxy to the tune of 40-60mg spread out during the day, 1 week a month I don't take any and it sucks. I do take tramadol which seems to help some but not all that much. Doing it this way does seem to help keep me from upping my dose too much. Been on the same dose for 2 years. The week break seems to make it work better when I start to take it again. Been doing this for quite some time and my withdrawal don't seem to be getting worse. I do not take it for the buzz or high though. Although its a nice side effect after a week of not taking any. As always it quickly wears off. I would use as little as you can. Someday you might need real pain management then its gonna suck. Takes the fun outta it.
 
I'm fucked...please don't say that :(. Thanks for the help/advice guys.

I've "chipped" for like 6 months and avoided withdrawals up until now. Actually today I feel a lot better!!!! Not 100% normal, but good enough. So Instead of 4-5 days of withdrawal, I only had 2. So if 3 or 4 days of abstinence gave me 4-5, lets just say 5 days of withdrawal, and 8 days abstinence gave me 2 days, then you would think 14 days would give me zero. Does that make sense? I know that this doesn't sound good that I'm rationalizing this shit, but you see where I'm coming from?

I think my problem is during this six month period, I never went more than 6-7 days between doses. I'm thinking that to chip successfully, every 2 or 3 months, you MUST take at least a two week break. I know I should probably quit altogether, and I could if I had a girlfriend/wife to help me out (we broke up about a year ago...NOT drug related). I believe this option is better than just becoming an addict again, right?

Perhaps I'm going off topic and I apologize if this comes across the wrong way (e.g. preaching) but you remind me of me back at the end of 2009 when all I could think of was getting high (constantly craving) but at the same time puzzled and frustrated due to the same thing (5 days of intense withdrawal after a 3 day binge after abstaining for 2 weeks). As I said earlier, I ended up in MMT because of this vicious cycle. Perhaps you should consider it if these withdrawals you're having are so frequent that you cannot function in society more than a month straight. Methadone obviously is a long term commitment as well, but at least you'll be able to go about your day like normal functioning member of society.
 
Regarding withdrawal getting worse each time, I definitely agree. I just typed out a post on this, instead of re-typing it I'll just paste:

I 100% agree... I've come off of opiates a number of times (four)... The first two times were really not that bad-- flu like symptoms for a short period which resolved quickly, leaving me feeling like a million bucks after acute withdrawal had passed. The latest two times have been much worse. The second to last time should have tipped me off as I had a brush with PAWS despite tapering quite a bit... It was still manageable however. This latest time, which I'm still in the midst of, is a different experience altogether. The acute withdrawal was pretty unpleasant, but the real story is the goddamn PAWS. I'm about three weeks in right now and am struggling immensely still. I'm alright for most of the time, but the second I experience any kind of stress things get downright unbearable. I really hope this ends soon. I've certainly learned my lesson.

Moral of the story: withdrawal definitely gets worse each time you experience it. Just because you got off relatively easy in the past doesn't mean your body won't be shocked by it the next time.
 
Look man....I don't think you're preaching to me as long as you're nice about it. I signed up on this forum to get advice about my experiences/problems and also give my own advice.

I won't go into my life story, but I've done quite a few drugs, and the only two drugs that really have a profound affect on me are amphetamines (all types) and opiates (again all types). Amphetamines are not an issue at all for me and I never used more than two days in a row. Opiates are a little different story.

I have thought about methadone/suboxone. It's not something I'm ready for right now, but I know that statistically 98% of all opiate addicts will relapse at least once in their life. I have one friend on subutex, and another struggling with hydrocodone addiction. I was clean all of 3 months before I started to "chip" again. I think I can try a few things on my own until things go really south.

I have heard of people that can chip for a while (years), and I'm going to see if I can chip, or just quit altogether, preferably the latter. I'm just trying to figure out a plan right now......
 
Even after a 2 year hiatus from 6 years of use(the last 2 being very heavy and consistent) the WDs were back stronger than ever after just a month. That's just the way it is, there is no reset button, there is no returning, welcome to the jungle.

And I tried all that month off, week off shit when I first started using. Doesn't work. If you want to use opiates with any consistency then you gotta deal with detoxing, it's that simple. There is no magic bullet. And if you think your WDs are bad now, wait a few years.
 
Look man....I don't think you're preaching to me as long as you're nice about it. I signed up on this forum to get advice about my experiences/problems and also give my own advice.

I won't go into my life story, but I've done quite a few drugs, and the only two drugs that really have a profound affect on me are amphetamines (all types) and opiates (again all types). Amphetamines are not an issue at all for me and I never used more than two days in a row. Opiates are a little different story.

I have thought about methadone/suboxone. It's not something I'm ready for right now, but I know that statistically 98% of all opiate addicts will relapse at least once in their life. I have one friend on subutex, and another struggling with hydrocodone addiction. I was clean all of 3 months before I started to "chip" again. I think I can try a few things on my own until things go really south.

I have heard of people that can chip for a while (years), and I'm going to see if I can chip, or just quit altogether, preferably the latter. I'm just trying to figure out a plan right now......

You know yourself best obviously. Do what you gotta do I suppose.

Like yourself I've done my share of drugs for several years starting with booze and marijuana and shortly afterwards mushrooms. Then came mdma, mda, mdea, blow, crack, amp and meth. Finally, I started with the benzos and opiates/opioids. My favorite at the time was mdma. I'd do it every weekend. I'd do blow and/or ampehtamines every month or two. I was still able to function, work full time and make ends meet financially.

That all changed when I started doing opiates/opioids. Like countless others, I thought I could control myself. But that concept went out the window when I began waking up at 4am feeling like I had a severe case of the flu. I eventually tried to abstain for longer periods at a time, hoping that it would lessen the withdrawal symptoms in length and severity. But the longer I'd abstain, the more cravings I'd get. Nevertheless, I stuck with it, but - as I described in a previous post - a vicious cycle began where in a given month, I'd have to go through 3 weeks of feeling like shit to be able to feel good for 1 measly week. This went on for about 9 months and then I had enough and hesitantly went on MMT, but I'm glad I did because I feel like my old self again... Finally. Then again, if I miss a couple of days worth of 'done... Yeah... Liquid handcuffs, but at least it's free here.

I hope you don't end up like me. I mean that. Give Kratom a try perhaps? I hear it's real good for opiate withdrawal.
 
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I agree with the majority of posters above. Dude, you're gonna have to jump off.
get some paracetamol (acetaminophen) and some valium. Panax Ginseng (Korean or Asian Ginseng) is great for recovery. You really have two choices, be an addict and maintain a habit or harden up and ditch the shit and remember using too many opiates is a bad idea!
 
Yeah, I know its something to consider. I think I need to seriously consider my options. Getting methadone treatment here in the US is hard, and is going to a suboxone doctor. That's why I'm weighing my options.

I think based on my past experiences, I think I have fairly strong willpower. If I didn't, I would probably scoring dope in an alley on the East side every night. Habits are very hard to break. I have been at this for a while now, so just giving something up completeley seems a little far fetched, so is my reasoning for "chipping". My brain is probably permentaly fucked. I don't think those cravings will ever go away, not after doing opiates as long as I have. I mean, I was able to do it 6 months successfully, to me, it seems like it could be done for longer periods of time.

I have thought about other options such as Kratom. I think it's a better alternative to what I have/am doing now. I think I will just trade one addiction for another as they all work on the same mu opiod receptors in the brain.

For you "chippers" out there, how long have you chipped? what's your plan?
 
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