Tapering Tapering this insidious bastard, Oxycontin

[ElleAZ]

Took a break blogging as nothing has changed. I will be dropping my dosage this week after seeing the PM doctor. Although I had definite w/d following the drop from 45 to 30mg, I have continued to have breakthrough misery almost daily this week. It didn't help that I had terrible constipation and could no longer eat. Just this morning I heaved and vomited on an empty stomach. I ran out of zofran and wonder if that would have prevented it.

The doctor promised to have me off in a month and then scheduled me three weeks out. Really? I don't see myself coming off of this until after Christmas at this rate.

I am researching mega dosing of Vitamin C and started last night. It resolved my constipation immediately and I was able to eat. I wasn't able to sleep. At all. I spent ten hours in bed trying to at least rest my body. I defied Advil PM and Valium, so I am just going to chill today.

Eight weeks since my surgery and I am slowly beginning to walk again. I haven't heard a thing about PT and don't know if my doc forgot about me or is waiting until I am off the meds. I wipe out so damn quickly and don't know what is the medication and what is my general health.

I want this poison out of me. I am missing my life.

 

[G.R.S.H.]

Wow Elle- Did you look around this site to find other expediences with tapering and quitting? There are lots of folks with better advice than I can give. Last time I woke up feeling like I was addicted to my pain meds I went off for 4 days, cold turkey. It was hell, and I would not recommend it. My doc had switched me to Oxymorphone, and it ate me alive. I knew that I was not going to be off my pain meds permanently, so I did the quick reset to get all of the oxymorphone the hell out of my body. I wish you the very best in your struggle.

Lots of hope- g.r.s.h.

 

[ElleAZ]

Thank you :D

I have been reading so many sites and there is an amazing community out here. We chose to taper because I still have to go through PT at some point. I was put on bed rest eight weeks ago and have not regained my energy or stamina. Leaving the house and going for a ride wipes me out. There is a six month recovery expected for my kind of surgery. I am very tempted to go CT but I am so weak already that I am seeking comfort. I just don't think I have the endurance so soon after the procedure. I am finding that comfort is elusive no matter what I try.

 

[MrRoot]

Hi ElleAz!
I tapered 250mg (some days 500mg) habit of oxycodone over year ago. I was in a different situation as I was abusing them but anyways the mechanism of physical addiction is the same.

First the dose were dropped to a maximum a Dr. can prescribe which was 120mg. Had a rough week but got over it.

After first week I started to taper 10mg per week and last one was 5mg. No discomfort at all in the process but a month after I quitted I couldn’t resist the urge to get opiates and went into opiate replacement therapy.

Idk if the lack of discomfort or withdrawal symptoms during those 10mg drops were because I had used to run out of my pills and suffer from quite rough withdrawals each month.

 

[ElleAZ]

Mr. Root,

I can completely see the temptation to abuse them. There was a moment when all of the meds and whatever I was doing that day came together and for the first time in memory, I felt no pain. I was weepy and I said to my son, 24, who also has neuromuscular disease, "This is what normal people feel like every day, right?" It was so bizarre. I would love to live in that moment but I was never able to recreate it.

Is that what it means to "chase"? Painlessness would be my high.

I am learning so much from people with experience. It's more than I ever got from a doctor or pharmacist.

Thank you for the encouragement. I know I am on a baby dose and it may seem ridiculous.

I'm taking this product called 'Calm Support' and it claims to help heal the mind to reduce the cravings. It sounds like voodoo but I am throwing it all against the wall to see what sticks. I hope your opioid replacement therapy is taking care of your mind and your spirit as well as your body.

 

[ElleAZ]

After many nights under the covers scrolling on my phone to learn from the experiences of others, I have made a big decision. I am going to ask the PM doc to put me on the Lyrica w/d method to get it over with. I have caused so much calamity in the house with this dependence. My niece had to change her work hours on a brand new job and risked termination so that she could drive the kids to school in the AM. My husband leaves work unfinished to pick them up in the afternoon. We are paying cash for the Oxy and have already shelled out over $900. I hobble around drunk when I don't sleep, and I shake and twitch when the w/d breaks through. I've lost my temper. My kids are seeing this and I keep telling myself that this may be the best education they get about drugs. They know about my family and why they grew up 2300 miles away WITHOUT them. They know their father was a cocaine addict when I met him. They know Rich died too young from the wear and tear of heroin addiction. But seeing me fall apart has got to be some real crazy shit for these guys.

So that's my plan. I already came off Lyrica 600mg CT a few years ago. No relief meds. No doctor. Just stopped taking it after two months. It was miserable but more about mood and depersonalization and insomnia than vomiting and shaking and the shits. I am willing to risk that again. I've been bitching so much about getting my life back when I have actually been taking pieces of their lives.

Since other people's experiences have been the greatest source of information and comfort, I'll detail my w/d plan if approved by the doctor. This is scary stuff for novices.

 

[MrRoot]

About that calm support, whatever works it works no matter if it would be placebo effect.
Keeping yourself busy in any way you can and want is in my opinion the key to get by the withdrawals and especially the PAWS phase. Inactivity leads myself into bored state and that gives me an urge to use.

Yeah you never get that first feeling of taking opioids first time. I have tried and tried it thousands times and it never worked so I got too tired of that and asked for help which has managed to me to stop the abuse.

For me the oxycontins took my mind out of a bad relationship in which I kept hanging on for some reason. They say in military that during artillery attack there are no atheists but I would add that unless they use opiates. You can be a bad situation and then take your dose and feel good and don’t care what happens around you or what you had become.

I was ”normal” person during the abuse period and never even knew anyone else who abused until I went to rehab and when I listened their stories I felt I had been saved from a lot of rough times.
I started mid twenties for legitimate reasons but then it escalated into abuse but for example my fiancee has been using street drugs since twelve years old but has tapered a lot in the last year and now after meeting me only some Lyrica and Benzos.

There are as many levels of addiction as there is addicts so don’t carry a stigma about getting legitimately hooked on oxycodone.