Opioids Taking Oxy every 3 days - Still addictive?

[Psymon]

I have has a bad back injury since Dec 2011, over the following months i was given "Endone" 5mg IR (Australia) and Oxycontin 15mg.
Although my back was in serious pain I decided to only take these drugs every 3 days (50mg IR + 3 x 15mg Oxycontin OC Brand Crushed) so that is bacically 95mg of IR Oxy every 3 days (plugged) and I get a nice rush from this and am pain free too!

Do you think by taking it every 3 days my withdrawals are going to be longer, shorter or easier to manage?

Am i less "addicted" than a person that takes oxy 3 times a day?

btw - By the third day im feeling pretty crap and usually have diarrhoea.

 

[The Dope Man]

Do you think by taking it every 3 days my withdrawals are going to be longer, shorter or easier to manage?

taking every 3 days will probably result in a slow physical addiction. If you use 10/30 days in a month you will probably experience withdraws.

Am i less "addicted" than a person that takes oxy 3 times a day?

obviously ?

btw - By the third day im feeling pretty crap and usually have diarrhoea.

thats strange opiates usually cause constipation.


If you are in pain I would use as little as possible daily. Just enough to make the pain manageable not totally eliminate it.

If you are using just to get high I would start using once a week to avoid physical addiction.

 

[pbuilder]

^ diarrhea is likely signs of physical withdrawal occurring, constipation occurs in people using daily, not from withdrawal.

 

[verso]

I have has a bad back injury since Dec 2011, over the following months i was given "Endone" 5mg IR (Australia) and Oxycontin 15mg.
Although my back was in serious pain I decided to only take these drugs every 3 days (50mg IR + 3 x 15mg Oxycontin OC Brand Crushed) so that is bacically 95mg of IR Oxy every 3 days (plugged) and I get a nice rush from this and am pain free too!

Do you think by taking it every 3 days my withdrawals are going to be longer, shorter or easier to manage?

So you're using both for pain management and recreation, huh? That sounds like bad news, as you're taking an unnecessarily high dose to get high and so, soon, you'll need to take an even larger dose just to relieve pain.

Am i less "addicted" than a person that takes oxy 3 times a day?

That would all depend upon what you mean, exactly. You might be somewhat less physically dependent upon the substance, meaning that your withdrawal symptoms might be less pronounced, less severe and last for a shorter duration of time.

But you could be just as mentally addicted as someone who doses a thousand times a day. I'm exaggerating here, of course, but the point that I'm making is this: cravings are cravings are cravings, and so, in my opinion, and in my experience, there are no real degrees of mental addiction. It's not like there's "occasional junkie," "purse-snatching junkie," and "purse-snatching, puddle-water-shooting, belt-around-the-arm, fixing-up-in-gas-station-bathrooms junkie." lol

 

[burn out]

Yeah, the dope man's answer was spot on except for that last line. The diarrhea on the third day is from withdrawal. I had that as well.

I used to use opiates every three days. It worked great for a while, no physical dependence at all for the first couple of months. However , gradually I began to notice withdrawal symptoms beginning the second day of not using. Mostly they were hot and cold flahses , sweats and insomnia oh and a runny nose. That were totally bearable however, unpleasant certainly (especially when I couldn't sleep all night every third night) but really nothing compared to what its like coming off a huge daily habit. But here's the thing. Chances are, after a while you're going to get sick of beingunable to sleeo every three ughts
yiure going to get sick of feeling sweaty and hot/cold and youre going to be tempted to get high on your off days. SO what do you want to do? be an opiate addict? or quit now before things get ugly?

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

If you're prescribed oxy for legitimate pain then use it at rare times to make the pain manageable. I would not use it to get high or save it up and take large doses of it.

It sounds corny but get into meditation. Friends of mine who deal with pain from injuries got into meditation and they don't take any opiates or painkillers now, and have only taken them when it's an emergency or when they were in the hospital and given them for severe pain.

Opiates especially oxy can be highly addictive. I just would use them in low doses of 5-10mg orally, only on weekends 1-4X a month or maybe take them one day a week in a month and I didn't get physically addicted to them but I really liked them and I'd take them recreationally or with friends when they had an extra pill and we were chilling.

 

[verso]

It sounds corny but get into meditation. Friends of mine who deal with pain from injuries got into meditation and they don't take any opiates or painkillers now, and have only taken them when it's an emergency or when they were in the hospital and given them for severe pain.

Doesn't sound corny at all and it's actually some pretty good advice. Whatever one can do to avoid taking medication is certainly a good thing and preferable for sure. If meditation can achieve that end, pain-relief, I mean, then that's what's up.

 

[Tommyboy]

Do you think by taking it every 3 days my withdrawals are going to be longer, shorter or easier to manage?

Am i less "addicted" than a person that takes oxy 3 times a day?

btw - By the third day im feeling pretty crap and usually have diarrhoea.

If you only need it every 3 days then your pain doesn't seem to warrant all these meds. If you really want to continue to use, then I would bump it back to every 4 days, or once a week. Now here is the important part. Detox on your own now (which shouldn't be bad). Take at least 10 days off of opiates, but preferable two weeks or so. If you keep using every 3 days without detoxing then you are just going to be going though the cycle of starting withdrawals, and then getting high, withdrawals, high, every 3 days like clock work. You've got to fully rid your body of opiates for a little while so that it gets back to properly operating without opiates in the system and so that you don't kick withdrawals back in when you go back to using. Then after at least 10 days if you have decided that you still want to go down this path, then resume taking your pills, but as I suggested I would only do it every 4 days, or one day a week. The other benefit of the break would be to lower your tolerance a little, and using every 4 days or once a week would keep it lower.

As verso mentioned, you can still be mentally addicted while using a lot less often than others that are addicted, and the severity of addiction could still be similar. If you are using every 4 days, every 3 days, or once a week, then what are you thinking about on those days in between, and how does that differ from what daily users are thinking about? Let me answer that for you. Not much is different in terms of what you are thinking about. You are both thinking about your next high, and how good it will be, and you are both doing a little countdown in your head until the next time you will be getting high.

 

[bupropion]

It sounds corny but get into meditation. Friends of mine who deal with pain from injuries got into meditation and they don't take any opiates or painkillers now, and have only taken them when it's an emergency or when they were in the hospital and given them for severe pain.

The lotus posture especially helps with hip and back pain too. Go to the gym though so you don't get too stretched out.

 

[tricomb]

If you only need it every 3 days then your pain doesn't seem to warrant all these meds. If you really want to continue to use, then I would bump it back to every 4 days, or once a week. Now here is the important part. Detox on your own now (which shouldn't be bad). Take at least 10 days off of opiates, but preferable two weeks or so. If you keep using every 3 days without detoxing then you are just going to be going though the cycle of starting withdrawals, and then getting high, withdrawals, high, every 3 days like clock work. You've got to fully rid your body of opiates for a little while so that it gets back to properly operating without opiates in the system and so that you don't kick withdrawals back in when you go back to using. Then after at least 10 days if you have decided that you still want to go down this path, then resume taking your pills, but as I suggested I would only do it every 4 days, or one day a week. The other benefit of the break would be to lower your tolerance a little, and using every 4 days or once a week would keep it lower.

As verso mentioned, you can still be mentally addicted while using a lot less often than others that are addicted, and the severity of addiction could still be similar. If you are using every 4 days, every 3 days, or once a week, then what are you thinking about on those days in between, and how does that differ from what daily users are thinking about? Let me answer that for you. Not much is different in terms of what you are thinking about. You are both thinking about your next high, and how good it will be, and you are both doing a little countdown in your head until the next time you will be getting high.

^ Great posting: I want to add

-Taking any medication, particularly the more potent opioids, like oxycodone, addiction is always a probability/possibility while the patient is using it even as directed.

-Since the OP has genuine questions, I must say that it does always matter what dose your on, it's how frequently you dose it. So in short, yes you will still be addicted.

-Question to OP- Ask yourself, do you honestly need those medications the way you have them prescribed? If you can dose every THREE DAYS then I don't think opiates are right for your pain condition, or certainly not a long-acting opiate like OxyContin. You would be better off on low-dose hydromorphone everyday taken PRN only when needed. You should not have to taper with your medications for effective pain relief.

Communicate with your doctor on this

 

[mr. mudd]

On your third day, the oxy is more or less out of your system and you want it more. The second day isn't as bad because there's still some clinging to your receptors. Getting through days 3-5 are the worst.

 

[Psymon]

I have done 5 days with not much hassle, besides a bit of diahorrea... So I'm figure I'm in a good place for now and I thank all for the interesting input, it was just what I was after, there is not many ppl who use every 3 days like me so the feedback was invaluable. As always bluelight delivers... Thanks

 

[Effuzion]

Just because the drugs are out of your system doesn't mean you're safe to do more drugs. The actual recovery from doing drugs doesn't even start until then (3-7 days for shorter opiates like heroin and oxy). Once the drugs are gone from your system, your brain has to start producing endorphins on its own again. This could mean weeks of recovery after occasional use, or as long as years of recovery after years of abuse. Even then, you don't ever really fully recover. Your brain adapts to the drugs every time you do them, and every time you do opiates your brain learns to stop producing endorphins more and more quickly. It's like muscle memory: if you work out for a while and then stop for a few months, you can gain muscle more quickly than someone who's just starting lifting. Except this works in the opposite way: you get more addicted every time you do drugs.

So basically, you might have a slower path to addiction than someone who does drugs every day, but you're still going to get addicted.

 

[pbuilder]

Taking any recreational drug every 3 days is going to get you addicted, mentally for certain, and most likely to an extent physically, specifically with opiates. Your not going to get full blown withdrawals, but you will start feeling pretty crappy i'd think during your sober days between uses. And likely begin using more often...

 

[rules]

just like any other opiate, the less you use, the less slowly your addiction forms. if you take what you're taking for like 10 years straight you'll have a raging OC addiction. /thread