Precipitated Withdrawal Experiences, Targin/Oxycontin vs Heroin

[JessFR]

Ok so, I got a question, I'm most likely going on a Subuxone program soon, now I know I'm supposed to be in a certain level of withdrawal before I start. Now I'm still taking oxycodone in controlled release form. All I'm really looking to find out is roughly how long it'll take to get into sufficient withdrawal compared to heroin. Thing is I've done heroin withdrawal before so I know roughly how long it'll take. But I don't have anymore heroin, and I've taken steps to prevent me getting it. So I'll have to make the switch on oxycodone XR. Does anyone know how much longer it'll take to reach sufficient withdrawal to start subs. My understanding is it will take longer, though I'm not sure why given it was my understanding oxycodone has a shorter half life than heroin. Even with controlled release, once the release period expires I would think it'd revert to oxycodones natural half life rather than function as if it really had a longer half life like methadone or something.

Anyone know?

 

[stillkickin]

When I did a sub induction almost a year ago I went in on oxy IR. I was taking about 180mg/day at that time. I believe I went about 22 hours off the last binge (about 100mg) when I took my first strip. PW's kicked my ass for about 2 hours until I finally dozed out with the help of about 2mg xanax (was pure survival mode until I crashed). With ER Oxy, I'd just be damn sure that I was hitting high marks on the COWS sheet. Be as brutally honest as you can and try to hold out as long as possible. Well, that's at least my advice. That was a crazy couple of hours when I got hit with PW's.

 

[JessFR]

Thanks, that's useful info, by any chance you know how high your cows score was at the time?

 

[Carl Landrover]

When I did a sub induction almost a year ago I went in on oxy IR. I was taking about 180mg/day at that time. I believe I went about 22 hours off the last binge (about 100mg) when I took my first strip. PW's kicked my ass for about 2 hours until I finally dozed out with the help of about 2mg xanax (was pure survival mode until I crashed). With ER Oxy, I'd just be damn sure that I was hitting high marks on the COWS sheet. Be as brutally honest as you can and try to hold out as long as possible. Well, that's at least my advice. That was a crazy couple of hours when I got hit with PW's.

Did you start with a whole 8mg strip?

If you do go into PW it won't be as bad if you are on a lower dose of bupe. I'd start closer to 2mg. It's better to start lower anyways and take more as needed.

 

[stillkickin]

Did you start with a whole 8mg strip?

If you do go into PW it won't be as bad if you are on a lower dose of bupe. I'd start closer to 2mg. It's better to start lower anyways and take more as needed.

Oh yeah, definitely did my homework and started at 2mg. After an hour though of madness, I decided to take 2 more mg of subs. I don't know if that helped or made things worse. I then started dosing 1mg xanax ever 30 minutes until I went out for a few hours. I felt pretty shitty when I next woke up but wasn't in a crazy shivering, beads of sweat pouring nightmare when I was last conscious. Over the next 2 days, it felt like I adjusted to the subs. I still did a very short taper <8 days as I just wanted to be done with it (never went over 4mg/day). The kick stuck for a fair amount of time.

Where I was at on the COWS sheet? I want to say I thought I was about mid 20's. In hindsight, I should have pushed myself to at least low 30's and a truly honest evaluation. I know how tempting it is to want to end the slow drag into w/d's as you're constantly consumed by the thought of the impending doom. A couple more hours might just save ya a whole night of undeserved suffering. Hope that helps.