• Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Opioids The Opioid Withdrawal Megathread and FAQ

Hi everyone, can someone give me a bit of advice, as I have a really uninformed methadone clinic doc.

I get MS contin from the methadone clinic here because I can't tolerate methadone. However, the MS Contin is so short-lived, I struggle to even be able to taper the slightest off my 220mg dose. So I really want to try to just stop cold turkey. I've discussed this for 3 years with my clinic, and they think that would be fine, as it's impossible for WD to be dangerous, according to them (even though I have multiple serious medical issues and a BMI of 18 due to gastric issues). I've just grown so tired of their 'maintenace' but no ideas as to how to help me off this crap.
So I was considering just stopping the MS Contin from one day to another, but my question is, can I use small doses of methadone to ease the symptoms during that most intense week of WD? Would I just be prolonging the suffering, or would it make the week more bearable? Would I still detox, eventually not needing opiates?
Say I quit the 220mg cold day 1, but took about 10mg methadone each day for a week, then stop the methadone, would that help?

I ask out of sheer frustration with the Danish national health service, they have only two options: Stay on methadone, stop taking it. No help is offered. I've been begging for help for three years, so I'm at the point where I just want to try this myself.

Thanks for any advice,
 
Hello all, I have come seeking the wisdom of others. I am just over 36 hours into withdrawal from a fairly heavy use black tar habit (smoking 2.5 to 3.5 grams a day). Obviously I'm not feeling too Well, as circumstances have forced me into doing this cold turkey. Now this is certainly not my first cold turkey detox, so I have a fairly good idea of what to expect and when, or so I thought. The first day was more or less what I expected, then late starting last night/early this morning and continuing through now I have a strange symptom I have never encountered before, and in all honesty I haven't even read much of anything concerning this (I read a lot of articles). This new symptom is auditory and visual hallucinations. The visuals are pretty mile (my bedspread appeared to be flowing like a waterfare, a poster on the wall started dancing). The auditory have been worse. It sounds like someone has left a radio on in the adjacent room all the time, and occasionally I hear disembodied voices saying brief sentences to me like; "you are supposed to be at work." I know these types of symptoms are typical for Alcohol, Benson, and even Barb withdrawal, but I have almost never heard of them happening in opioid withdrawal (and obviously never had them happen to me).

I am quite worried about this happening, and I have no idea what to do about it. I do not have a primary care physician, and unfortunately have built myself a reputation as an addict at most (probably all) local hospitals. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated, and thank you for taking the time out to read this wall of text.
 
Hello all, I have come seeking the wisdom of others. I am just over 36 hours into withdrawal from a fairly heavy use black tar habit (smoking 2.5 to 3.5 grams a day). Obviously I'm not feeling too Well, as circumstances have forced me into doing this cold turkey. Now this is certainly not my first cold turkey detox, so I have a fairly good idea of what to expect and when, or so I thought. The first day was more or less what I expected, then late starting last night/early this morning and continuing through now I have a strange symptom I have never encountered before, and in all honesty I haven't even read much of anything concerning this (I read a lot of articles). This new symptom is auditory and visual hallucinations. The visuals are pretty mile (my bedspread appeared to be flowing like a waterfare, a poster on the wall started dancing). The auditory have been worse. It sounds like someone has left a radio on in the adjacent room all the time, and occasionally I hear disembodied voices saying brief sentences to me like; "you are supposed to be at work." I know these types of symptoms are typical for Alcohol, Benson, and even Barb withdrawal, but I have almost never heard of them happening in opioid withdrawal (and obviously never had them happen to me).

I am quite worried about this happening, and I have no idea what to do about it. I do not have a primary care physician, and unfortunately have built myself a reputation as an addict at most (probably all) local hospitals. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated, and thank you for taking the time out to read this wall of text.
Opioid withdrawl psychosis, although not common, does occur with some people. Just try and relax and it will subside
 
I'm not sure if this was suggested before but try using kratom. It's all natural and Asia has been using it for thousands of years. It was also used as a methadone treatment for those coming off of heroine. Best luck to you and congratulations for making that decision. I hope that helps!
 
Hello all, I have come seeking the wisdom of others. I am just over 36 hours into withdrawal from a fairly heavy use black tar habit (smoking 2.5 to 3.5 grams a day). Obviously I'm not feeling too Well, as circumstances have forced me into doing this cold turkey. Now this is certainly not my first cold turkey detox, so I have a fairly good idea of what to expect and when, or so I thought. The first day was more or less what I expected, then late starting last night/early this morning and continuing through now I have a strange symptom I have never encountered before, and in all honesty I haven't even read much of anything concerning this (I read a lot of articles). This new symptom is auditory and visual hallucinations. The visuals are pretty mile (my bedspread appeared to be flowing like a waterfare, a poster on the wall started dancing). The auditory have been worse. It sounds like someone has left a radio on in the adjacent room all the time, and occasionally I hear disembodied voices saying brief sentences to me like; "you are supposed to be at work." I know these types of symptoms are typical for Alcohol, Benson, and even Barb withdrawal, but I have almost never heard of them happening in opioid withdrawal (and obviously never had them happen to me).

I am quite worried about this happening, and I have no idea what to do about it. I do not have a primary care physician, and unfortunately have built myself a reputation as an addict at most (probably all) local hospitals. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated, and thank you for taking the time out to read this wall of text.
I'm not sure if this was suggested before but try using kratom. It's all natural and Asia has been using it for thousands of years. It was also used as a methadone treatment for those coming off of heroine. Best luck to you and congratulations for making that decision. I hope that helps!
Kratom Opioid replacement therapy comes with its own risks, tread carefully, be safe
 
I am on day 4 of oxy withdrawal. It has been pure hell for me. I am in pain mgt. for chronic neck and back pain and am prescribed morphine ER 15 mg x60 and oxycodone 10/325 x 120. I don't abuse my morphine, just the percocet. I have been out of oxy for 4 days and am not due to get my morphine til the 11th, which is 3 more days of hell. I've been taking clonidine which has helped with the terrible leg cramps and been drinking gatorade and eating bananas for dehydration and potassium.(I read your body needs these during withdrawal) Anyway, I just found 1/2 a percocet this morning. I want to take it to see if it eases some of these symptoms but I haven't yet because I don't want to be thrown back into the worst of withdrawal. Any help in getting through this is appreciated.
 
If you’re on day 4 your are pretty much done with the worst of it. It is really up to you, taking a few mg of your DOC isn’t going to really set you back per se. It might mean some of the symptoms linger a little longer to a lesser degree at most. Think of it as a trade off of sorts. Honestly in your shoes I’d probably either throw it out or eat it, I’ve done both. I’d suggest you try and push on through for a few more days. But if you take it, it will be far from the worst thing in the world and won’t seriously set you back in terms of the detox, assuming we are only talk 5mg.

Haha now that I’ve reread your post, if you only have a few days until you get your scripts and you’re just trying to make it to that point and then continue using them (regardless of how), you’re better off just taking the 5mg. It probably won’t be a huuuge difference, but it should help you feel a little better as you wait to get your meds. If you weren’t going to be continuing to use opioids then I’d say push through, but in this case just take it and try to get a bit of relief.

Not sure if that is necessarily harm reduction advice, more just practical. Harm reduction advice would be more like suggesting you try and regulate your meds better or get more appropriate comfort meds so either you don’t run out early or, if you do, you won’t have to suffer unnecessarily before you pick up the next script.
 
Hey y'all.. first time poster long time blah blah blah...

Had been using a .25-.50 of H a day habit for a couple months.. got to day to of wothdrawl and just couldn't take it anymore, did not even .25 yesteeesy. Now here's my question, is it going to throw me back or should I be ok? I just woke up and for the first time in months the sheets were soaked. My stomach is gurgling but that's an always thing for me. The child's and shakes haven't started yet but I feel like a whole new person... waiting for the other shoe to drop.
 
Hey y'all.. first time poster long time blah blah blah...

Had been using a .25-.50 of H a day habit for a couple months.. got to day to of wothdrawl and just couldn't take it anymore, did not even .25 yesteeesy. Now here's my question, is it going to throw me back or should I be ok? I just woke up and for the first time in months the sheets were soaked. My stomach is gurgling but that's an always thing for me. The child's and shakes haven't started yet but I feel like a whole new person... waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I think your spell check jacked up some of your post but if you're asking is .25 going to worsen the W/D I'd say no, it's just going to give you a short reprieve then the W/D will proceed again like it was before you took the .25. I think if you could elaborate a bit more on the situation we could provide better advice.
 
In my experience, once you've begun to kick, submitting to the urge to do any amount is just going to make your kick longer and/or worse, or halt you kicking and you'll simply resume using as before, or more than before.
 
In my experience, once you've begun to kick, submitting to the urge to do any amount is just going to make your kick longer and/or worse, or halt you kicking and you'll simply resume using as before, or more than before.

This

All you're doing is putting opiates back into the brain that was just starting to get rid of then allowing the body to return to homeostasis.

If you use at all during withdrawals you just reset the clock to day 1 again. I'm sure that's not what the OP wants to hear but it's just how the body and brain work
 
ibogaine! i just tossed all my kratom about an hour ago. i was planning to take a flood dose about now, but... i hear its a little better to wait until the worst is over.

withdrawal is the worst, and if you dont have the right tools, its hell.

for my cold turkey im doing now. i have 10mg etizolam (8 left) and a bottle of couph syrup (codeine free of course). i was thinking of doing my ibogaine tester dose early (like 3 days ahead of my trip, ie now) but the dxm could be an issue. so, ill wait.

nice to be back in OD for a while. it can get pretty rough here.

God bless, everyone.

edit: wow leg cramps getting bad... here it comes...
 
Last edited:
Be sure to report back after you touch down from the flood dose! Despite my on and off opioid addiction, ibgoga is the one psych I don’t think I will ever try. It’s like the final frontier.
 
Has anyone here had any luck using Memantine, not to reduce tolerance but to negate withdrawals? Ketamine was great in this aspect but mxe and dxm agitated my rls. Going through some light kratom withdrawal in about a month and really need to try and avoid getting hook on benzos again.
 
Has anyone here had any luck using Memantine, not to reduce tolerance but to negate withdrawals? Ketamine was great in this aspect but mxe and dxm agitated my rls. Going through some light kratom withdrawal in about a month and really need to try and avoid getting hook on benzos again.

Yup. RLS is something NMDA antagonists don’t really seem to help much with at night (except perhaps for heroic doses, but then good luck sleeping without something help like diazepam, clonidine and/or trazadone).

I’m speaking from the point of view of helping with detoxing from a serious opioid habit. I found DXM and MXE to work the best, as they last a bit longer than k. K works fine though, just requires more (a lot more) frequent dosing IME. But again, I’ve only used the stuff to transition if nasty heroin/methadone habits.

I was a little sad to learn this class of drugs doesn’t do much for kratom w/d. Helps stabilize the mood but not nearly as useful as during full blow opioid withdrawal.

What kind of habit are you looking to deal with?
 
I was about 4 months off of 5 years on mostly kratom, some suboxone and rc opioids. My wisdom teeth started bothering me last month which has me about to go through ~2kgs of kratom in about two months. Nothing terrible but since I was only clean for a few months I figure the w/d will probably be back in full force. I’m hoping this and phenibut will be enough to keep me from hopping back on rc benzos during my kick.
 
Last edited:
i killed my 50g/day kratom habit with iboga. after 3 days of my flood dose, i had no withdrawal symptoms, and back on planet earth. it's been exactly one week since my flood dose. i should have really bad PAWS right now, and i dont. i dont want any opiates/opioids/kratom.

also, what really helped with my withdrawal at first was 10mg of etizolam, and a bottle of robitussin. i took that after i flushed all my kratom and the next 24-26 hours were fine. then withdrawal kicked in, i started dosing ibogaine and iboga total alkaloid extract to shave off the leg cramps, then after about 72 hours of withdrawal, took my flood dose. after about 20 minutes of taking my flood dose, every single withdrawal symptom was gone, and i was tripping nuts. i saw this little monkey or ape dancing around in my brita filter, who was telling me that he was going to fix me, or heal me. i knew when i saw that ape dancing around that it was going to get real intense, and it did. i never tripped that hard in my life, and for that long. it got rough though, as far as puking, and being unable to walk.

but now i am free. now i am me, without the fear that i once had.
 
Im on day 2, 52 hours, since sniffing a bag and this time the withdrawals aren’t horrible like when I tried to stop last year. I’ve been told from former addicts that cold turkey is the only way to go but I decided to go from sniffing 1-2buns a day and slowly, for 2 months, doing less and less. I went down to 4 bags every other day before I completely stopped and honestly these WDS aren’t pleasant but they aren’t the worst thing. I am only taken suboxone today and nothing else after this. My biggest “pain” is extremely restless legs and arms which makes sleeping for long stretches almost impossible. I’m convinced that slowly lowering how much heroin that I was doing daily for just under two months is going to make these WDS almost bearable. It’s working for me but my friend tried to do the same but was only able to just slightly do less than he was. I’m convinced that he’s not honestly ready to stop. Once you decided you truly want to stop it’s easier than you would think.
 
Top