OTC natural help with Opiate Withdrawal.

[Fresprints]

I know that there are a lot of post regarding this topic, however all the solutions I have encountered mention using Prescription drugs when dealing with Withdrawal. Not everyones friend is a pharmacist and not everyone has access to "Clonadine,
Compazine, Soma, Seroquel, Risperdal, Trazadone" or any other prescription drugs. If everyone could get stuff like this, I doubt anybody would be having any problems. So I compiled a list of stuff that is more commonly accessible.

I myself am a "POD PERSON". I have gone through many bouts of withdrawal and have successfully quit using once, but of course RELAPSED!

Anyways, I have found that the only way to "really" quit using is cold turkey. When you try to step down, your just torturing yourself. If you frequently use high doses it might be helpful to just take one big step down to half your daily usage. You wont be getting a buzz anymore, but you will keep withdrawals away. Spend the rest of time at this level till you run out. When you run out, your not going to feel very good. Something that helps is to keep in mind that these terrible feelings are only temporary and WILL go away. You'll spend 5 days in the most severe misery with the 2nd and 3rd day being the worse.

To help alleviate the symptoms and speed up the detox process I have a list of OTC stuff that will make you feel much better during the worst part of the withdrawals. Everything listed can be found at your local "Organic Store" or GNC. Kind of expensive but you can just use the money you would have wasted on making yourself feel like sh*t!

Take during the day:
Good Multivitamin (Double Dose)
Fish Oil - Omega 3,6,9 (Double Dose)
L-Glutamine (2000-3000 mg per day)
Adrenal Plus (Vitamin for adrenal support)
Kava Root
Milk Thistle
Lemon Balm
Jamaican Dog Wood
Vitamin C (Double Dose)
Benydryl (Non-Drowsy for daytime)
Immodioum (for the shits)

Take at night before bed
Kava Root
Valerian Root
Melatonin (Double Dose)
Benydryl (Make sure it is the DROWSY kind for night-time and double dose the first couple of nights.)


Too bad there is not a drug that prevents relapses! (Or if there is, someone please tell me about it!)

 

[oliphill]

I've found devils claw extract useful too for the muscle aches.

 

[Bojangles69]

I know that there are a lot of post regarding this topic, however all the solutions I have encountered mention using Prescription drugs when dealing with Withdrawal. Not everyones friend is a pharmacist and not everyone has access to "Clonadine,
Compazine, Soma, Seroquel, Risperdal, Trazadone" or any other prescription drugs. If everyone could get stuff like this, I doubt anybody would be having any problems. So I compiled a list of stuff that is more commonly accessible.

I myself am a "POD PERSON". I have gone through many bouts of withdrawal and have successfully quit using once, but of course RELAPSED!

Anyways, I have found that the only way to "really" quit using is cold turkey. When you try to step down, your just torturing yourself. If you frequently use high doses it might be helpful to just take one big step down to half your daily usage. You wont be getting a buzz anymore, but you will keep withdrawals away. Spend the rest of time at this level till you run out. When you run out, your not going to feel very good. Something that helps is to keep in mind that these terrible feelings are only temporary and WILL go away. You'll spend 5 days in the most severe misery with the 2nd and 3rd day being the worse.

To help alleviate the symptoms and speed up the detox process I have a list of OTC stuff that will make you feel much better during the worst part of the withdrawals. Everything listed can be found at your local "Organic Store" or GNC. Kind of expensive but you can just use the money you would have wasted on making yourself feel like sh*t!

Take during the day:
Good Multivitamin (Double Dose)
Fish Oil - Omega 3,6,9 (Double Dose)
L-Glutamine (2000-3000 mg per day)
Adrenal Plus (Vitamin for adrenal support)
Kava Root
Milk Thistle
Lemon Balm
Jamaican Dog Wood
Vitamin C (Double Dose)
Benydryl (Non-Drowsy for daytime)
Immodioum (for the shits)

Take at night before bed
Kava Root
Valerian Root
Melatonin (Double Dose)
Benydryl (Make sure it is the DROWSY kind for night-time and double dose the first couple of nights.)


Too bad there is not a drug that prevents relapses! (Or if there is, someone please tell me about it!)

Look bro I know there are a TON of articles on this, and even the thomas recipe is centered on OTC meds for wd, but 95% of these "remedies" do 0% for actual wds.
Take 10lbs of kava root/valerian and I still don't see you feeing any sort of relaxation. Good passion flower imo is much stronger than valerian and kava as its near a valium in strength, but still overall weak for wds.

Immodium is prob the most useful compound on that list however, everything else imo can't be distinguised from placebo. I only say this because of how many times I have turned to OTC supps/vitamins only to be let down and stop taking them completely.
Even when I took my vitamins-l-tyro for a long time I didn't notice them even do a single thing for paws.

The reason I say this is just to be real with you.

To be even realer with you you wrote "not everyones friend is a pharmacist or has access to clonidine". I will reframe that and tell you that 100% of americans have access to these drugs. If you have money to buy everything on that list, take that money and get 3-4 meds and you'll be 1000 times better.

Maybe you've never heard of online pharmacies before but I've been using them for 10 years and it sure as hell beats going to a doctor or even copping shit on the streets for 3 times the price they normally are online.

I obviously can't reference any places here but if you pm me I can show you them.
I'm not sure what your habit is like, but I tapered off pods for 3 months, just to stop, and have physical wds (minor I'll admit) last for 23 days untill I wound up relapsing. The paws were an utter nightmare as well too, but I may have had a chance if the wds would have ended earlier like they're suppose to.

They were NOT bad at all cause I tapered, but combined with paws it was impossible.
I realize now there is simply no way I'm getting clean with OTC supplements. I see other people do it but they are really just getting clean by themselves imo.

You will have lots of people tell you "x otc medicine is GREAT for wds!!!" all so you can take x medicine and not feel a single bit of relief from it.

A high enough amount of immodium imo will trump any combination of the rest of the crap on that list. I'm sorry but I would like to shoot the first person who ever decided to treat opiate wds with kava kava or fuckn benadryl of all things.

Let me ask you a question. Would you take an aspirin if you got shot by a gun? Seriously? I don't think most people would. Its just not logical. But its logical to take 50 million OTC supplements that have little to nothing to do with alleviating actual wds merely because our brains are that fucked up by the wds. They some how take our ability away to realize that we are metaphorically taking an aspirin when we just got shot in the face.

GET SOME MEDS. They are as easy to get as pods, otherwise you really are just wasting a ton of money.
I'm not writing this to be pesimistic, I'm writing this so when you try to apply a solution to a problem it actually does something.
I see so many people make these lists, come back and say "its working", then 3 days later they're back on dope or w/e opiate they were hooked on.

 

[cocamatic]

I'm in mild W/Ds and fighting a virus right now. I think some of the *best* methods to help opiate withdrawals are cognitive and behavioral... even ritualistic. Replacing the hour of inhaling tar smoke and nodding off with taking a warm Epsom salt bath (I kid you not) and just fucking think, plan, relax like "normal" persons.

Of course, kratom FTW! Although that can get out of hand just as fast(or faster) than the original narcotics you started with.

During the first bad day I have had success with chewing even a small pinch of dried rough cut leaf (I like the Thai kind) and just sucking out all the juices until my mouth gets numb. If you can remember to spit it out, it can help the first night. Yes, it will not help those who have habits large enough to consume all the plants of Afghanistan and Tasmania and/or are just more pron to anxiety/panic attacks. It did help with my RLS from a mild oxy w/d though. And by doing this, I felt I didn't abuse the kratom either.



OTC stuff....

The lotus plants... I have had more success/effects/help from the white lotus, but the blue/yellow mix is OK too. Of course, like kratom, it's only legal to smell lol 8)

Any hot tea, my favorite is red rooiboos.

After the first few days of hell on Earth...

Aspirin, Caffeine mix... to get you going
Some herbalists sell a 25x cacao extract which can help if you add it to your morning coffee(although that's basically a 'drug' at that point, so depending on how squeakily clean you wanna be....)
Flameout brand fishoil and FA3 fatty acid supplements... or whatever kind works well for you.

Exercise helps like a mofo and will put a grin back on your mug after the first jog.... some OTC stuff that can assist with that...

Salt! Good high quality salt! Even though you see lots of low sodium this and low salt that, most people have different sodium needs. If you're gonna eat healthier(not fast food) you probably need more salt than you think. Esp. after all that sweat/water loss from the initial W/D and if you take up some light working out to get those going. Of course, you wanna make sure you're also getting the necessary range of potassium, magnesium and all that jazz.

Creatine.... the regular kind. Again, this isn't for the initial W/D, but lets say the week you are starting to feel better. Those more "advanced" kinds probably do work a little better (and cost more too) but if you're using exercise as a therapy for post-opioid w/d's your workouts will probably not warrant the use of all those fancy shmansy powders and potions.

Any spicy foods you can tolerate and enjoy!

 

[PhrostByte]

Agree with bojangles.. I've never gotten anything from an online pharmacy but I too find that loperamide is the only OTC med that helps.. luckily, it actually helps a lot if you use it the right way.

 

[littlesparkle]

lomotil or diphenoxylate helps too.replace your loperamide with that if its possible.coedine in some places is OTC so combine with helps

 

[pema]

Look bro I know there are a TON of articles on this, and even the thomas recipe is centered on OTC meds for wd, but 95% of these "remedies" do 0% for actual wds.

Well... Nearly what I think... I know that there are some things that help. And for sure it is good when you have a good nutrition and enough vitamins and minerals. But this will not reduce the withdrawal symptoms.

Fish Oil - Omega 3,6,9 (Double Dose)

For what is this good? I read this really often. But what is the explanation? In what way should it help?

L-Glutamine (2000-3000 mg per day)

It read a study that it possible can help to reduce craving for alcohol. But I couldn't find that it can help with opiate withdrawal, too.
What does it do? Have you tried it yourself?

Adrenal Plus (Vitamin for adrenal support)

What is that? Those freeze dried adrenal extracts? I would never, never take that. Maybe this is something different. I don't know.
Those adrenal gland extracts are not available in most european countries and that for a good reason.
Do you think, that eating brain makes you more intelligent or helps with headache? Do you think that eating hearts will help for heart attacks?
Why should eating adrenal extracts should help with adrenal gland problems? And I think, it is really not good playing with cortisol without the help of a doctor. Don't ingest cortisol containing stuff when no doctor diagnozed a deficiency. But in that case he will prescribe you cortisol or something like that. Better he checks your blood values. Don't mess on your own with hormones.

Milk Thistle

Shall help with liver problems. But not with all liver problems. After reading clinical studies, I think, I won't help too much.
But in what way shall it help with opiate withdrawal?

Lemon Balm

I have nearly no knowledge about that herb. What does it do?

Jamaican Dog Wood

I have never heard of that. But maybe I just don't know what is in my native language. How can this help?

Vitamin C (Double Dose)

I don't believe that double dose will help. Some orthomolecular doctor tell that vitamin c can reduce opiate withdrawal but then they are using megadoses like 200g per day.
Somebody tried in in this forum, I think. Didn't help that much. Just a little.

Benydryl (Non-Drowsy for daytime)

Did not help me with sleep. Nothing can help me with sleep during withdrawal. Last time I took masses of diazepam and flunitrazepam. I was totally stoned from those pills. I wasn't able to walk anymore but I still couldn't sleep.
Benadryl did not help me either. But a lot of people told that it gave them massive problems with RLS during withdrawal. So I would advice to be careful with that. Maybe it will help. I know it helped some people. But maybe it will make it worse. I know that it did that for other people.

Valerian Root

Did not work for me. Studies also say that it has only week effects.

Melatonin (Double Dose)

It is said to help not with sleep during withdrawal but it shall help some people to return faster to normal sleep patterns after withdrawal.
You can buy it freely in the USA but in most European countries you can only get it on prescription and in some countries only when you are older then 55 years and have sleeping problems.

I've found devils claw extract useful too for the muscle aches.

That sounds good. And it sounds like personal experience. The other stuff sounds more like copy&paste.
Did you take capsules or did you use an ointment?

Aspirin, Caffeine mix... to get you going

Did caffeine help you? I thought it could be good because I have absolutely no power during withdrawal. But I also read that stimulants, including caffeine, could make withdrawal worse. Did you drink coffee or did you take caffeine pills? Did you take a lot? How much did it help?

Creatine....

In what way can it help? Any withdrawal relief? How much did you take? What happened? I don't really believe it can help.

replace your loperamide with that if its possible

Loperamide actually is really good. It is an opiate but it is said not to cross the blood brain barrier.
It helps with diarrhea but when you really eat a lot of those, it reduces withdrawal symptoms. But not as methadone. If you take methadone you will never get clean of course.
But loperamide is really a good remedy.

 

[Bucklecroft Rudy]

Loperamide can cause parkinsons so be careful not to take too much too long i.e. use for no more than a few days at higher than 2mg

 

[twato]

Loperamide can cause parkinsons so be careful not to take too much too long i.e. use for no more than a few days at higher than 2mg

Got anything to back this up? Just asking because I sometimes use lope at the end of a taper, would be good to know if I'm really fucking my brain.

 

[mindtools]

Even zolpidem (twice-thrice the suggested dose which is 10mg) insufflated gives me just 4,5-6 hours of sleep. That wouldn't be that bad if throughout the day I weren't so exhausted/bored and generally in not-the-best mood.
I also get diarrhea (not as bad as I thought it might be - just 4-5 times a day) and muscle aches (naproxen doesn't relive them O_O ).
I wish this would just be over or I could really do something to get better. Unfortunately most of the things OP named don't do shit. I think I'll just have to wait it through.

Cheers

 

[Ligaturd]

Loperamide can cause parkinsons so be careful not to take too much too long i.e. use for no more than a few days at higher than 2mg

I remember Borohydride saying that there might be a link between loperamides metabolites being structurally similar to MPPP (i think that was it) which caused a rapid parkinsons disease onset in people who partook in the injestion of that substance, but this hasn't been proven yet. (the part about loperamides metabolites actually being able to cause something similar.). You should still be cautious of it, look it up on google the thread will be easy to find.

 

[Beartrees]

Simplifying things...

Look bro I know there are a TON of articles on this, and even the thomas recipe is centered on OTC meds for wd, but 95% of these "remedies" do 0% for actual wds.
Take 10lbs of kava root/valerian and I still don't see you feeing any sort of relaxation. Good passion flower imo is much stronger than valerian and kava as its near a valium in strength, but still overall weak for wds.

Immodium is prob the most useful compound on that list however, everything else imo can't be distinguised from placebo. I only say this because of how many times I have turned to OTC supps/vitamins only to be let down and stop taking them completely.
Even when I took my vitamins-l-tyro for a long time I didn't notice them even do a single thing for paws.

The reason I say this is just to be real with you.

To be even realer with you you wrote "not everyones friend is a pharmacist or has access to clonidine". I will reframe that and tell you that 100% of americans have access to these drugs. If you have money to buy everything on that list, take that money and get 3-4 meds and you'll be 1000 times better.

Maybe you've never heard of online pharmacies before but I've been using them for 10 years and it sure as hell beats going to a doctor or even copping shit on the streets for 3 times the price they normally are online.

I obviously can't reference any places here but if you pm me I can show you them.
I'm not sure what your habit is like, but I tapered off pods for 3 months, just to stop, and have physical wds (minor I'll admit) last for 23 days untill I wound up relapsing. The paws were an utter nightmare as well too, but I may have had a chance if the wds would have ended earlier like they're suppose to.

They were NOT bad at all cause I tapered, but combined with paws it was impossible.
I realize now there is simply no way I'm getting clean with OTC supplements. I see other people do it but they are really just getting clean by themselves imo.

You will have lots of people tell you "x otc medicine is GREAT for wds!!!" all so you can take x medicine and not feel a single bit of relief from it.

A high enough amount of immodium imo will trump any combination of the rest of the crap on that list. I'm sorry but I would like to shoot the first person who ever decided to treat opiate wds with kava kava or fuckn benadryl of all things.

Let me ask you a question. Would you take an aspirin if you got shot by a gun? Seriously? I don't think most people would. Its just not logical. But its logical to take 50 million OTC supplements that have little to nothing to do with alleviating actual wds merely because our brains are that fucked up by the wds. They some how take our ability away to realize that we are metaphorically taking an aspirin when we just got shot in the face.

GET SOME MEDS. They are as easy to get as pods, otherwise you really are just wasting a ton of money.
I'm not writing this to be pesimistic, I'm writing this so when you try to apply a solution to a problem it actually does something.
I see so many people make these lists, come back and say "its working", then 3 days later they're back on dope or w/e opiate they were hooked on.

I had been on Norco 10/325's for about 6 years.
There were plenty of times I would take 15-20 a day. It was nuts. I was scared to death to get off and had tried numerous times with results I couldn't deal with. When I quit this last time, I drank Kava tea several times a day along with taking 1 American ginseng capsule 3xday and Advil liquigels. I had no withdrawal symptoms, energy level was great as well as my attitude. I was shocked how well this worked. SHOCKED!
For any of you out there that are trying to quit, try this. You can get both the Kava and Ginseng at your local health food store. Don't confuse American Ginseng with Chinese or Asian Ginseng. Two very different species and different reactions.
Good Luck!

 

[Carl Landrover]

Tyrosine - good for getting some energy. I know I saw some posts on BL before about taking a lot to help with WD. I just took the amount I normally do. It seemed to help somewhat.

Magnesium - I read somewhere that your body gets low on magnesium during WD and if you look up what happens if your deficient in magnesium you'll see some of the effects are muscle cramps, muscle weakness, and fatigue, which are typical during WD. Taking a calcium/magnesium pill can take some of that away. Calcium helps the magnesium absorb better or maybe it was the other way around? Either way I've noticed they're helpful.

Peppermint oil - Don't take more than one of these at a time. They're actually rather helpful with nausea. Although you might end up feeling like your burping up a candy cane all day.

Acetaminophen - Everyone thinks it's useless because they just want the hydrocodone or oxycodone in their pills, but it actually does work well with taking away muscle aches. I've been finding it very helpful.

 

[gr33n3y3z]

This is an old thread but, this topic needs to be discussed more IMO.

I'm getting ready to cut my ties with opiates, so any advise would be ne great.

 

[Carl Landrover]

^
Huh, didn't even notice how old it was. There always seems to be one ailment that people struggle with during WD. Everyone is different though. For me, it's stomach issues. I've had them since I was a little kid and opiates have fucked it up even more. A few times the nausea becomes so painful that I literally do not know what to do because I'm just so crippled with pain. I'd say it's happened maybe 5 or 6 times. I mean I've been nauseated wayyyy more times than that, but those half dozen or so times that it became extremely painful the only thing that worked was opiates. The worst of all the times was about 2 years ago and I ended up going to the hospital because after 6 hours of intense pain and constantly throwing up, despite not having anything left to puke, I just couldn't take it anymore. They drug tested me, I was off opiates, so they booted me up with dilaudid. It did the trick, but it unfortunately had reignited that interest in shooting again.

 

[gr33n3y3z]

For me its cold sweats and then hot flashes along with sweating and sleeping problems. I hate WDs I wish there was a magic pill that just made everything go away when withdrawing. I'm in that spot of Wd's atm and its killing me.

 

[Lt27]

Hi Bojangles69 ?
I tried to PM you but it wouldn't go through. Could you PM me with the information you were referencing in your post? Also could you include what HAS worked for you? I don't know what to get... I was planing to go get Kava Kava, Passion flower, and Valarian root today (tomorrow is going to be day 1 and I want to have something to help) but I am hoping there's something more effective I can get for the worst of what's to come ?

 

[d3athadone]

I found benadryl gives me more restless leg syndrome and then I found some medical blogs talking about that.