Opioids Relating to dissipation of opiate tolerance over time

[tamoz]

After a long 3 years, i finally kicked my opioid dependance and have been drug free for 13 days now.

The kick was cold turkey because i really didnt have another choice. I have only slight understanding about tolerance and how long tolerance to drugs dissipates over time.

I used from the beginning of 2009- 2012. in the last 2 years my doses were at a steady rate of 200mg oxy or morphine and 2- 4 1mg Klonopins daily. the last two years were very uniform for an addict, becauase my use never exceeded 250mg oxycontin or 5 klonopin a day.

I couldnt get high or take some and have a vacation every once in a while, the meds were controlled and the money to get the meds was also controlled.

So Im clean now and i have so many questions. What can be said on how fast someones tolerance goes down relative to their time of use(me:3yrs) amount they used daily(200- 250mg OC)when they quit the drug, so on and so forth.


it would mean a lot of help to hear your experiences with the way the tolerance seems to get lower ever so slowly, ever so slowly, and if it depends more on time using or amount used , how you quit, etc.

Any help is recieved with open arms, If this is in the wrong place, apologies to the mods and fellow bluelighters

 

[HeadphonesandLSD]

Hey bud, congrats on kicking,

There are several threads around this forum related to tolerance and you'll find a lot of information related to this exact topic in those. Not trying to play wannabe moderator here just pointing it out so you can read the pages upon pages of replies instead of waiting for answers to roll in here.

It depends on the person and how long they used, it also depends on the amount of whatever substance you used. 200+mg of oxycodone over the course of a day is a big dose ("very big" for me) but not unheard of around these parts. For me it takes about 2-3 months to get back to near virgin tolerance (I used 20-60mg a day of oxy during my run with it). However, if I go back to using for a couple of days my tolerance starts building very rapidly and within a short time I'm right back up to my old tolerance.

So basically it takes a good deal of time for tolerance to fall back to near zero but it can climb back up to the old level in no time. It seems that once you've had your first good run with opiates your body adjusts and you can never really get back to where you were before you used.

This doesn't hold true for everyone, but they are the "lucky ones" I guess. Another important thing to note: If you were to abstain from oxycodone for say, a year, then decided to take your old dose it would more than likely cause you to overdose and die. A lot of addicts have gotten clean for a couple of weeks then overdosed from prepping a shot they thought they could handle. If you do go back to using after you've been clean for awhile always make sure to start slowly.

One more thing before I go: Just because you've beat acute withdrawal doesn't mean you're out of the woods. Look up PAWS (there is a megathread in this forum) and make sure you read all you can on it. I personally find the months after acute withdrawal are over to be the hardest....that is when the cravings start and your mind starts playing tricks on you. It's also the time where all your old friends start offering you stuff for free, or a killer deal on something comes around, or you tell yourself "its new years so I'll just use tonight since I've been clean for a whole year".

If you can do that, more power to you, for me a night leads to a few days which leads to a week and once I know it I'm just using every day again. You might want to check out "The Dark Side" forum here as well, lots of information related to PAWS, acute withdrawal, support systems/networks, treatment options and plenty of stories from people that have kicked/are attempting to.

 

[tokenname]

wow..that was a great reply HP&LSD...
gold star for you

congrats on getting clean op.
c/t that amount of oxy could not have been easy.

 

[Sepher]

Hey Tamoz. Yup, first of all congrats on the kick. Cold turkey even off a small habit is fucking rough. Coming off a long term one harder still. You got some balls man! Well played.

It can take a while. Depends very much on you. It will drop to some extent over a period of weeks, but it won't come back to zero. It's debatable if it ever comes back to base levels before you started using even after years of no use, though it gets damn close, but it might take you some months to get somewhere even approaching base level tolerance. The effects of opiates on the brain are perhaps semi-permanent then IMO. Your brain will always remember what opiates are and what to do with them, evidenced by the fact that tolerance reestablishes itself very rapidly once you've had a habit, as does addiction.

I found after a 6 week spell in jail where I rapid detoxed off a long term IVed habit of upwards of a gram a day of base H I could get a nod again smoking less than .3g but within a week or so I was getting back to something like the tolerance I had before I quit and was needling again. Even 11 years clean I'm cautious with things like codeine for pain relief being careful to never do it for more than 3-4 days if I need it just to be on the safe side. I would strongly advise you not to try chipping now you've had a habit because of the speed with which opiate dependence and tolerance reestablish themselves if that's what you're thinking? Using will interfere with your recovery re: PAWS etc if that should raise its ugly head also even if you can avoid a new habit.

Oh, and Headphones, excellent post. Exactly!

 

[HeadphonesandLSD]

Hey, thanks guys. I tend to ramble so it's good to know that sometimes they are useful. :D

I just kicked myself: Got a little too happy with the morphine. Lesson learned, can't keep over a gram of that stuff around and expect to be able to chip. I managed to chip for a month or so before I found myself right back to my old ways. Thankfully I could not take what I wanted every day (had to wait three in between at least, was plugging and it had loooong legs) or it would have gotten worse I think.

I actually just spent over a week on about 10 hours of sleep or so..if you could call what I was getting sleep I did end up having to take some Valium a couple of nights in a row to get some decent sleep in. My insomnia has finally stopped but now I'm into craving mode, hope I can stay the course this time (it's my 6th or 7th attempt at kicking since I picked up the habit years ago, I always trick myself back into using).

Like the OP I've always gone cold turkey, but if I do relapse again I think I might look into some sort of replacement (probably subs). I'm in a position where I do actually need the medication some days but I can't trust myself with it and don't have anyone to hold my meds for me. I'm trying to make due without and once I get insurance I'm going to see about getting into treatment again. I know I'm staying away from methadone for sure, but if my doctor feels it might work for me I may consider subs. If it can take care of my pain and keep me from chasing a high I'll be grateful. I'm just worried about the cost of it, and the fact that I think I might be able to beat this without drugs. It'll be the last line option for sure!

Anyway OP I hope you stay the course. I've made it for several months just to relapse on a whim so I wanted to stress the point that you really have to commit to staying clean. You may have to end friendships over this, or at least, not hang around your friends when they use (if only for a little while). You have to be a little selfish, it sucks but that's how things are. I think eventually you can hang around people using and not be bothered by it, but I personally have never gotten to that point. Those cravings are killer...

Best of luck!