Positive Opiate Withdrawal Experience

[StudentOfLife]

Hello Friends,

New member here but I have read enough posts on this forum to know that I won't be sharing any information that hasn't already been covered more extensively and accurately by someone else already, but I just wanted to share some extremely positive news about my recent on-going opiate detox. If this thread helps one person kick without going through the full hell of withdrawals, then I will be one happy and cliche son of a bitch.

I'll try to keep my background as short and simple as possible, but some of this info is necessary to put my detox into proper perspective for others. I took my first vicodin back in 1999 and I have been addicted at some level ever since. My story is like most others; busted up my wrist/hand in an accident and got a script for 60 vicodin with 3 refills, which I assure you were all filled. I went on to doctor shop until I had an old doc who had no concerns with scripting me 90 Norco 10mgs per month (60mg/day). You know what happened next. My tolerance exceeded 60mg/day and by 2012-2013 I was doling out two grand a month on the street for Oxy and Morphine, on top of my legit script for Norco, to the tune of a combined 150/mg a day while my bank account suffered. I guess I am what they call a "high functioning addict" in that I never really hit any kind of bottom (good job, good family life, no arrests, etc.) No one knew about my secret addiction. My wife knows I have been taking some painkillers for my wrist pain (which is really nothing at this point) but she doesn't think it's any kind of problem.

But with my kids getting older and my bank account not keeping up with our financial needs, I knew I just have to stop. I wasn't quite ready to quit when I took my family to Hawaii last summer and ended up running out of pills before it was time to fly home. No way of scoring on Maui (at least not that I know of) so I went forced cold turkey for around 36 hours before I got back home. The flight was a nightmare. I couldn't sit still with RLS and constant trips to the bathroom for 5+ hours. Told my wife I had some kind of food poisoning. That experience reconfirmed to me just how horrible withdrawal is, but at that time I was totally uneducated and unprepared for it. When I got home I said "never again". Never again will I allow these drugs to wrack my body and empty my wallet. Problem was I had a new and fairly high pressure job and I just couldn't kick until I had an extended period of time to do so. So I did my homework and procured what I needed and waited for our company's Holiday break, which started last week.

I started by cutting out the Oxy altogether and then tapered down on Hydro from about 90mgs/day to about 40mgs/day, which wasn't that difficult. Slight loss of energy and some increased anxiety, but manageable with some extra good weed and vino at night. I tapered off to zero over 48 hours ago and my withdrawal has been so much easier than I thought it would be, almost not unpleasant at all. Here's why:

My new doctor wanted to wean me off the Norcos so he started prescribing me Gabapentin 300mgs. These are non--narcotic pain relievers. No euphoric effects. But I read in the forums here that a lot of people have had success with kicking opiates using this drug. So I started taking it one day before I tapered off completely and I have been taking two 300mg pills in the morning and another two in the early evening on an empty stomach. The first night off I drank some wine and fell asleep early (for me anyway) and woke up before sunrise unable to get back to sleep, but this was mainly because I already slept 8+ hours and I was just awake. I had zero RLS and my body temperature was fine. Laid in bed comfortably for a while just pondering life and then got up and started my day early. Did the same two Gabapentins in the morning and early evening, and never felt any of the usual effects. Zero aches/pains, zero sweating/chills, zero yawning and plenty of energy. Even took my son to the boardwalk and rode some rides with him. I had some minor bowel problems on day one but some Immodium AD took care of it right away.

In addition to the Gabapentin, I also tried Kratom for the first time about 24 hours after my taper ended. Just did a toss and wash of one teaspoon of Maeng Da powder (tastes awful but you can get it down if you're not a pussy, otherwise there are other intake options) in the morning and another in the late afternoon. I can't say I felt any real euphoric effects but I did feel very calm for a few hours after each dose. Planning to order more to help me get through the next two weeks, then I am going to discontinue that. I have heard Kratom withdrawal can be worse than opiate withdrawal so I'm not planning to use it for more than two weeks tops.

In addition to the Gabapentin and Kratom, I should also mention that I am also taking a large dose of assorted vitamins daily, including a multi, a few C's, a few Potassiums and a Folic Acid. I am also trying to exercise a little bit twice each day, which has been good. Hot shower before bedtime, then some red wine and some THC concentrate (usually shatter, which is awesome if you like to get real high) and I am basically sleeping okay. Not great, but good enough and since I am off work for 4 more days I am not worried about it.

So today is day 3 and I feel so much better than I thought I could. I guess I attribute most of this to Gabapentin, but just to be clear THIS IS JUST MY EXPERIENCE AND I AM NOT A DOCTOR SO BE CAREFUL, ALWAYS. But if you are thinking about kicking and worried about withdrawal I now know that it can be done nearly painlessly. But again, every one is different so I hope this can work for you too.

Peace, Love and Respect all. Thanks for reading.

 

[Sixxam]

I love reading this! I really need to look into acquiring some of this gabapentin. Is it prescription only?

 

[StudentOfLife]

Yes, it is non-narcotic but available only by prescription. There is plenty of info on it here in these forums. You will hear people for and against it as an aide for opiate detox. I can only speak to my own experience. Good luck, friend. You can do it.

 

[vortech]

Hey I'm with you! I got off suboxone a week ago, after 2 years of being in a program, two failed attempts to get off it in those two years, third time is a charm! I got the message, and I am hanging up the phone. This is after a 5 year fight with full agonist opiates. I am soooo done! Happy to be alive and finding my new footing, grounding, like there is a little Buddha inside me growing, just a baby, but I am nourishing it to health. I have lyrica and clonidine to help turn the volume down. Still hard to sleep a good night rest though. I also had help of psychedelic and dissociative in the week since I have been off, seeing the light as if for the first time. I am in the 'pink cloud' stage right now maybe, all I know is no more opiates for this spirit!

 

[martinbr]

Gaba I have used before in the past but not for withdrawal. The problem with it is that it makes you gain weight.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Gaba I have used before in the past but not for withdrawal. The problem with it is that it makes you gain weight.

Not at all in my experience. While it might slow down some people's metabolism or something, whether one gains wait, especially during detoxing and in early recovery, is not necessarily a bad thing. Many people are malnourished to one degree or another when coming out of active addiction, and during withdrawal nourishment will make things go a lot more smoothly.

Even on methadone I didn't gain weight (often thought of as notorious for making people gain weight, though it doesn't seem to any more than any other opioid) - actually I lost weight. It all depends on the place we are coming from. I was a little overweight before using methadone and other stuff like gabapentin to manage my use disorder, and getting a bit healthier in all different respects was a priority. So, unlike my time on buprenorphine where I let myself binge on sweets and engage in other less than healthy forms of consumption, ending up gaining a lot of weight, this time I made sure I kept my diet balanced during my time on and after getting off the methadone and gabapentin.

Don't let the fear of gaining weight deter anyone from using a very helpful medication like gabapentin to treat opioid withdrawal. So I'd have said something more like:

A potential problem with it is that it can make you gain weight.

Yes I do like to nitpick

 

[Macadamia]

Hello Friends,

New member here but I have read enough posts on this forum to know that I won't be sharing any information that hasn't already been covered more extensively and accurately by someone else already, but I just wanted to share some extremely positive news about my recent on-going opiate detox. If this thread helps one person kick without going through the full hell of withdrawals, then I will be one happy and cliche son of a bitch.

I'll try to keep my background as short and simple as possible, but some of this info is necessary to put my detox into proper perspective for others. I took my first vicodin back in 1999 and I have been addicted at some level ever since. My story is like most others; busted up my wrist/hand in an accident and got a script for 60 vicodin with 3 refills, which I assure you were all filled. I went on to doctor shop until I had an old doc who had no concerns with scripting me 90 Norco 10mgs per month (60mg/day). You know what happened next. My tolerance exceeded 60mg/day and by 2012-2013 I was doling out two grand a month on the street for Oxy and Morphine, on top of my legit script for Norco, to the tune of a combined 150/mg a day while my bank account suffered. I guess I am what they call a "high functioning addict" in that I never really hit any kind of bottom (good job, good family life, no arrests, etc.) No one knew about my secret addiction. My wife knows I have been taking some painkillers for my wrist pain (which is really nothing at this point) but she doesn't think it's any kind of problem.

But with my kids getting older and my bank account not keeping up with our financial needs, I knew I just have to stop. I wasn't quite ready to quit when I took my family to Hawaii last summer and ended up running out of pills before it was time to fly home. No way of scoring on Maui (at least not that I know of) so I went forced cold turkey for around 36 hours before I got back home. The flight was a nightmare. I couldn't sit still with RLS and constant trips to the bathroom for 5+ hours. Told my wife I had some kind of food poisoning. That experience reconfirmed to me just how horrible withdrawal is, but at that time I was totally uneducated and unprepared for it. When I got home I said "never again". Never again will I allow these drugs to wrack my body and empty my wallet. Problem was I had a new and fairly high pressure job and I just couldn't kick until I had an extended period of time to do so. So I did my homework and procured what I needed and waited for our company's Holiday break, which started last week.

I started by cutting out the Oxy altogether and then tapered down on Hydro from about 90mgs/day to about 40mgs/day, which wasn't that difficult. Slight loss of energy and some increased anxiety, but manageable with some extra good weed and vino at night. I tapered off to zero over 48 hours ago and my withdrawal has been so much easier than I thought it would be, almost not unpleasant at all. Here's why:

My new doctor wanted to wean me off the Norcos so he started prescribing me Gabapentin 300mgs. These are non--narcotic pain relievers. No euphoric effects. But I read in the forums here that a lot of people have had success with kicking opiates using this drug. So I started taking it one day before I tapered off completely and I have been taking two 300mg pills in the morning and another two in the early evening on an empty stomach. The first night off I drank some wine and fell asleep early (for me anyway) and woke up before sunrise unable to get back to sleep, but this was mainly because I already slept 8+ hours and I was just awake. I had zero RLS and my body temperature was fine. Laid in bed comfortably for a while just pondering life and then got up and started my day early. Did the same two Gabapentins in the morning and early evening, and never felt any of the usual effects. Zero aches/pains, zero sweating/chills, zero yawning and plenty of energy. Even took my son to the boardwalk and rode some rides with him. I had some minor bowel problems on day one but some Immodium AD took care of it right away.

In addition to the Gabapentin, I also tried Kratom for the first time about 24 hours after my taper ended. Just did a toss and wash of one teaspoon of Maeng Da powder (tastes awful but you can get it down if you're not a pussy, otherwise there are other intake options) in the morning and another in the late afternoon. I can't say I felt any real euphoric effects but I did feel very calm for a few hours after each dose. Planning to order more to help me get through the next two weeks, then I am going to discontinue that. I have heard Kratom withdrawal can be worse than opiate withdrawal so I'm not planning to use it for more than two weeks tops.

In addition to the Gabapentin and Kratom, I should also mention that I am also taking a large dose of assorted vitamins daily, including a multi, a few C's, a few Potassiums and a Folic Acid. I am also trying to exercise a little bit twice each day, which has been good. Hot shower before bedtime, then some red wine and some THC concentrate (usually shatter, which is awesome if you like to get real high) and I am basically sleeping okay. Not great, but good enough and since I am off work for 4 more days I am not worried about it.

So today is day 3 and I feel so much better than I thought I could. I guess I attribute most of this to Gabapentin, but just to be clear THIS IS JUST MY EXPERIENCE AND I AM NOT A DOCTOR SO BE CAREFUL, ALWAYS. But if you are thinking about kicking and worried about withdrawal I now know that it can be done nearly painlessly. But again, every one is different so I hope this can work for you too.

Peace, Love and Respect all. Thanks for reading.

Currently tapering down hydros from 200mg a day habit, I’m down to 70mg and it’s been a breeze but I’ve been told it’s about to get rough lol.

how slow / fast did you taper near the end and how did you do it?I currently crush and snort mine but I want to switch to taking them orally, just not sure if I’ll be able to take the same dose orally as I do while snorting them now.,, how did you do it? Did you always snort them or always swallow them? Did you change at all during your taper? And how fast did u tape? How low did you get?

I apologize for the questions but I’ve never seen or heard of anyone in any forum tapering hydros like I am! This is exactly what I needed to hear!?!? My doctor has told me that if I can piss clean for him he will give me Gabapentin so once I’m 48hr clean I’ll get some ... I tried it years ago when I got clean for a few months cuz my buddy gave me some and I used it to come off hydros and your right it’s sooo helpful! But sadly I relapsed, however my doctor is great and promised me he will help me (just not until I’m clean cuz giving an opiate user Gabapentin can lead to overdose so I don’t blame him)
Anything u can recommend for the taper or dose is helpful, thanks !!