Opioids Quitting!

[5 meo dmTed]

It's finally happening guys. I've decided it's time to end this stupid crap, I can't afford the oxy that it takes to make me happy anymore, and I can't stand NEEDING this chemical to function. So today I've begun taking 10mg rather than 80, and plan to continue this for a couple/few weeks, work it down to 5, continue that a couple weeks, then hopefully the withdrawals won't be so agonizing. Does anyone have any tips? I'm working down from about 240mg a day, and 10 seems to be keeping the sickness away (2hrs since I dosed, all I've noticed is some sweating). Any advice you guys can give me on how to make this process as easy as possible would be very much appreciated. I'm really scared for the first time in so long.

 

[sekio]

240mg to 10mg is a large jump, but that's good.

Take the minimum needed to keep your sickness controllable. Remember that you will feel like shit one way or the the other. Once the sickness starts receding on your 10mg oc dose, then titrate to 5 then to 0mg a day.

More importantly, pick up a hobby or some other source of entertainment.

 

[adder]

I agree, this is a big jump from 240mg to 10mg, or I guess the OP took 3 x 80mg and that was his 240mg and now he takes 3 x 10mg so it's 30mg. But nonetheless this is a ~95% (if it's 240mg to 10mg) or ~88% (if 240mg to 30mg).

That's not healthy, not really good for your mind. The good maximum dose for reduction a day is 10% for methadone detox and I guess one shouldn't exceed 20% of the dose. I'm not saying it may be deadly. But it may be a shock for your mind. I don't know how long you have been taking oxycodone but in extreme cases opioid withdrawal may cause even temporary paranoia, not mentioning extreme anxiety and insomnia. Physical symptoms are another thing but they're also stronger when you do a big jump down like that. You wrote it's been 2 hours since you've dosed and now you're sweating. That's why I mentioned these 10-20% down maximum moves. It might be that now you're sweating and a few more hours and you're totally crazy and it's quite likely as you wrote you're really scared. You don't have to be a hero here, this is hard stuff, if there's no reason you have to taper down so quickly (like you're running out of oxycodone or sth else), then I say "don't do it, slow down".

Nevertheless I'm impressed by the way people are able to taper down opioids like oxycodone that act short and fall into the group of strong ones like morphine, heroin, hydromorphone, oxymorphone etc. I've never done anything like that beside going cold turkey once from morphine and it was terrible. Otherwise I would always use methadone and once I used buprenorphine but it wasn't enough for a longer period of time.

How to counteract all these thoughts that attack your mind, there are a lot of threads about it so look them up using the search engine. Carrying the focus from the withdrawal to some physical and psychological activities works wonders for a lot of people (I was never successful in this but 1) I'm weak when it comes to tapering them and 2) I guess the longer you take the less chance you've got to get clean, sadly).

Good luck!

 

[Xamkou]

Whatever you do, do not try to use another substance to help you get off the oxy - by this I mean switch one addiction for another. Obviously using something to help you taper is ok. You're being incredibly brave by cutting your dosage by such a significant amount so keep telling yourself that. Attempt to fill your time with something that will take your mind off it. Possibly a hobby? Good luck!

 

[pamalamadingdong]

Get some muscle relaxants and clonidine to help with the anxiety and chills/sweats. And just remember you only have to do this once (assuming you stop). Good luck! Also benadryl is your friend!!!

 

[Leaping Gnome]

5 meo dmTed,

I take an average of 120mg - 150mg a day...then if I get one of the headaches that a bullet in my neck would feel better, I can go up to 180mg+ a day. Most of the time it's at the 120mg a day...so that's 1/2 of what you're doing at
240mg a day.

For me to go from 120mg to 10mg a day and not be SICK would-not-work!!! And like I say, I'm at an average of 1/2 of where you’re at. Maybe cut around 1/2 from where you’re at and go from there stringing it out.

Last month I had headaches from my neck almost 2 1/2 weeks straight, so I was closer to the 180mg a day a lot. That meant the scrip went down too fast and I had to cut down to 90mg, then 75mg, then 60mg, over a few days about the last week and a half. I had one pill (15mg) left to take the day I went in for my next script. Most of the time I'm out at least the day before.

When I got down around 75mg - 60mg a day I started drinking a lot of white grapefruit juice. With the juice I didn't feel any real discomfort. I could go twice as long between doses and take a lot less with the SAME EFFECT. It was like a 2 for 1 sale on Oxy! Come on down, there a goin` fast, and will not last!!! There guaranteed not to rip, rattle, rust, bust or collect dust! (Juice = why I didn't run out for the first time.)

I'm not sure in your case drinking the juice is a good idea with wanting to stop Oxy . It keeps the Oxy in your system longer and at a lower dose...so that may be going totally against what you’re trying to accomplice? (Maybe someone around here would know if it's a "+" or a "-" for cutting down and out?) But on the other hand, IMO, it would be good for the mental thing of cutting back to stop.

I know it would be cheaper, but that's not a good idea for you because that was a reason on your con side of the page to quite. In other words, oh, now I can justify it because now I can spend less, so let’s keep right on keepin` on. We scampering around little addicts can justify anything in our minds about the drugs flowing!

As far as drinking a lot of "white" grapefruit juice for the Oxy, my wife read up on it and it works...just as I read here on BL. If you are taking blood pressure meds some of them will stop working from the juice. (I fall under that, but it didn't affect one of the "listed meds" I take for BP that it "should have." My BP was lower than normal. 130/72 ) I don't remember, but I think over 16oz a day long term isn't good for some enzyme your liver makes. Also, no sugar in the juice because it either kills, or lessens the effect.

Good luck to you!!! If you can do it on 10mg a day, GREAT!!! If you can't, then up it where you have to and go from there. Someday I hope I can get off of them! If I ever get injections in my neck, or what's needed to fix it, I'm going to try to stop. I think over time I can learn to live with the bad discs in my low back, but the headaches are just too damn much without the meds!!!

Leaping Gnome

 

[chunk911]

good luck man its a long bitch of a road but considering u have the self control to wean urself off at 10mg i think u got it watch out for those cravings they will hit u when u least expect it

 

[5 meo dmTed]

It's gotten harder, and as the poster above said, I didnt mean 10mg/day rather 10mg 3-4x a day reason being I'm running out [edit]did the remaining 20 hoping to be able to score a few more tonight) and just can't afford it anymore. I know it's gonna be a bitch and seems like you're right, I may have to take it a little slower. After this dose, I'm gonna try to abstain for the night tho, so it could be rough. Browsing around here helps a bit tho
Thanks for the support and see y'all later!
-dmTed

 

[5 meo dmTed]

Took 1mg clonazepam, it seems to be helping the wd's quite a bit. Rls is still a pain on occasion, but no real pain from the dopesickness. I seem to have gotten a handle on it for now, any other problems have been solved with some good ol' Mary Jane . I ran out of the oxy after my last announced 10mg dose, and my source hasn't replied all day so I'm assuming they're running too low to help me out, so it looks like cold turkey possibly til refill (3-4days) or maybe from here on in. What do you guys think? Should I continue my taper plan after 3-4 days forced abstinence, or just continue to ride it out after that?

[edit:] If they answer tonight I'm probably gonna have a couple, I'm no noob by any means, but would 1mg clonazepam and a dose of oxy that very slightly sedates me (20mg, quarter of my usual dose), cross potentiate? Benzos are making me fuzzy as it is, should I just skip the OC dose tonight?

 

[Leaping Gnome]

5 meo dmTed,

30mg - 40mg a day is a big drop from 240mg, much less what I thought at 10mg a day!!! I feel for you, so I hope you got some last night! If so, is there someone you trust that you can give them to and pass them out to you a little at a time to make them last until your script day? If it were me and I got them, I'd have to have someone hold them, or they'd be gone on day one!

When you get your script in a few days, is there someone you can have hold and pass them out to you? I have my wife keep mine in a lock box...and even then I've never made it the 28 days, but for the last time along with drinking the white grapefruit juice.

Again, try the "white no-sugar" grapefruit juice to try to make them last!!! But be careful because if it works for you, as it did for me, less than your regular dose could be too strong!!!

Should I continue my taper plan after 3-4 days forced abstinence, or just continue to ride it out after that?

The ONLY way you can do anything about this is to be 100% honest with you! What do you really take the Oxy for? Are you in real pain, or just take them for, "what used to be," fun?

Can you live with the pain? Can/do you really want to stop taking them? (Right now in W/D I KNOW what the answer is.) If you really want to stop, and can ride it out, then don't even fill the script. If you fill it, can you cut down and out? Do you even know if you stand a chance in hell of doing this? What is your usual pattern month in and month out? Chances are the guarantee will be that you will follow your past practice and be right back here next month. Do you have someone that can hold and pass them out to you when you are supposed to be taking them for pain?

A lot will depend on how you are at the end of the 3-4 days without them as to what you do.

Anyway, I need to get the microwave heat wrap and TENS unit on my neck. Let us know how you are doing.

Leaping Gnome

 

[5 meo dmTed]

I am unable to score for 3-4 days..I ended up taking an extra mg of clonazepam and passing out, til now. I guess it's cold turkey. Anything that can help? As this is getting really bad, can't sleep past 8am cuz of sweats and rls, get up, no sleep all day/night. I'm gonna try mixing ketamine with clonazepam this weekend and see if that helps any.

 

[5 meo dmTed]

I think I jst found the remedy for me- my clonazepam, a little pot, and ketamine. K kills the rls almost completely, while decreasing the muscle pain, and the clonazepam to take down the anxiety and some of the "desperation" and craving, pot seems to just boost those effects plus stop the sweats. Now just have to deal with the yawning and runny eyes/nose.

 

[5 meo dmTed]

The ketamine and clonazepam helped thru the night, I plan on grabbing more k today as it seems with the combo, and some good ol' bed rest (couple sick days off work) I should be able to make it thru this. I'll keep posting as it goes, it's now day 2 of no oxy and I feel okay. I took 1mg clonazepam and around 25mg of k upon waking up, and I feel fairly normal. Thanks for all your support and advice, it really means a lot

 

[adder]

Ketamine, clonazepam, and marijuana are all known to facilitate opioid withdrawal, it's backed up by scientific research. What I would do during a cold turkey, this is actually what's you're going through, would be smoking marijuana for sedating myself (that's how marijuana works on me) and consuming some strongly hypnotic benzodiazepines derivatives or short-acting barbiturates like secobarbital or pentobarbital for sleep (I don't recommend any barbiturates for you, clonazepam is alright though it's not hypnotic but it easily knocks out people who are benzo-naive; I've just got a high tolerance to benzodiazepines and take clonazepam actually at the moment) and ketamine for bettering my mood.

Just be careful and don't dose more clonazepam than you need because getting into a benzodiazepine addiction is even worse than being in opioid addiction. I know what I'm talking about, trust me, because I've been taking both opioids and benzodiazepines since I was 14 every day and I did manage to stop opioids at least for a few weeks but I've never managed to either stop benzodiazepines or even lower my intake to a dose that people would take normally for anxiety.

 

[5 meo dmTed]

hey guys! I'm so sorry it took so long for me to resurface >.< but I'm happy to ssay, even though I still need chemicals to exist. I'm on a valium taper now, going down 2.5mg monthly. I've been on methadone now for 10 months (1 year on the 16th of August!) and I'd just like to say, thank you bluelight community, and Captain_Herion, and anyone else that pushed me in the direction of getting off the needle. I still IV, cocaine and ketamine, sometimes amps. But never compulsively, and I haven't touched an opiate since the day I walked in those clinic doors. Also, I've found a wonderful girl, and I'm addressing my mental issues as well, rather than treating them with drugs and neglecting to solve the underlying issue. (I was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, bi-polar, among other things I was unaware of.) I didn't know life continued after that pit. It's nice to see a future. I'll keep the updates more frequent, as life is a little less hectic nowadays.
~dmTed

 

[PeCuLiar]

Awesome effort, hope it goes well for you.