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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Will the ER help you in withdrawal?

T

ThirdTimeAnalysis

Greenlighter
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
20
Location
Central Time Zone, U.S.
I'm not sure if this is the right forum, please move if you must.

I'm in a bit of a predicament, I got myself into a car accident so my only way of getting around is gone. I'm a dope (heroin) addict, have been for the past 6 months. My only way of getting money and getting down to the city for my dope fix is gone. And yes, I shoot. I'm a pussy and I don't want to go cold turkey. I was told that going to the emergency room is an option. I don't have health insurance so I'm unable to get into one of those mental hospitals where I could get some suboxone. What would the ER do for me? What are my choices and how can I get some suboxone or methadone quick?


Yes I understand I'm a fucking idiot, I know I fucked up and I'm in a shitty spot. I've been told a million times by my family. What can I do so I don't have to go cold turkey? Kratom is illegal in my state, just my luck huh?
 
I feel for you man, wd is a terrifying thing to have to go through, iv never tryd but I hear large doses(30mg?)of Imodium can help wd....krantom did work for me in the past and so did aprazolam, Xanax is a godsend for rls, sorry this doesn't answer your question exactly, good luck brother be strong
 
It's hard to say how they would treat you at the emergency room. If you were an alcoholic, they might keep you for observation and give you something like Librium as there is a risk of seizures. But many doctors are unwilling to help opiate addicts as they don't consider it a "life threatening" situation. It's a sad state of affairs and no you're not an idiot, you're addicted. Don't beat yourself up! Clonidine is helpful and like above poster said, benzos can ease the withdrawals. I would stay away from large doses of immodium (loperamide) because it's an opiate as well and you would be just prolonging the inevitable. If you absolutely can't bear it, you could go. Who knows, you could get a compassionate doctor but I don't want to get your hopes up. You will find loads of help and advice in our recovery forums. Wish you the best!
 
Your better off going to a free rehab that offers detoxing. Every state at least has one rehab for ppl without insurance or $. Do your research on line for places in your area call them tell them your situation. Only thing is if your just trying to get through the withdrawals until your able to get high again they won't take you seriously. Plus sometimes you gotta wait for a bed but the only good thing about being an IV user is you get moved to the top of the list. Hope this helps. Just think about it if your going through the withdrawals now anyways misewell get help and stop all together so you don't have to go through them all over. Just a thought
 
Yes dont go the loperamide route,you will get stuck on a high dose and it ia not fun...dried me out and the wd was intense,came on very slow and lasted for a month for me. 80-100 mg a day. Did take away wd though but like mentioned just prolonging the inevitable. IF you mention you are an addict they totally switch modes ime and the most I ever got prescribed was 20 norcos which if your slammin a good amount and have a hefty habit as you know,wont even touch withdrawal. Its sad but the only option for me with medical(california) state insurance was the methadone clinic.....ALL BAD.I would just try to get benzos and clonidine...just say you have bad anxiety for the alprazolam and clonidine is pretty easy to get prescribed and it will help with the antsy agitation feeling as it lowers blood pressure. Good luck man you will be ok.
 
My dad was a dope addict, apparently he went to the ER once and they helped him detox so my mom says. How much I have no idea. I have a couple hours until the w/ds start and I only have a small chunk of dope. I have fucked up.
 
Man I'm desperate for anything that will help me. I know you say don't go the immodium route but it would help until I could get some suboxone or something? Money isn't exactly a problem, I have a family who is willing to pay out of pocket for some help. Getting Xanax in this state is pretty much impossible.
 
First off if you go to the ER your chances of getting a compassionate doctor are extremely low. They look at us addicts as being subhuman and beneath them...kinda kicks the hippocratic oath on its ass hunh? The best they might do for you is link you to some resources in your state. They may even prescribe clonidine to you which is a godsend in withdrawal.

If you gotta cold turkey
get magnessium, l-theanine, alleve, l-tyrosine, and some turmeric and make sure to stay hydrated. If your habit is only six months long and you have not gone through withdrawals before these supplements will really help you.

you might want to post in the recovery forums under sober living...we can really help you there.
 
Sadly the chances of getting anything useful at the ER to treat opiate withdrawal symptoms are very low. This is due to many doctors treating addiction as a moral problem as opposed to a medical one. This not only goes for people addicted to street drugs either as i basically get treated as a second class citizen just because i am on opiates to control pain despite 2 chronic pain doctors and a Neurologist backing up my diagnoses. I once ran out of Morphine SR's and Dilaudid (as a breakthrough med) because the then idiotic doctor i had went on vacation for 2 weeks without notifying me :! . I asked my then shrink if it would be worth going to the ER and she said the best i could expect there would be some Clonidine and as i already had a stock of that stashed away i didn't need that. Thankfully she took pity on me and gave me some Temazepam for sleep and some Chlorpromazine aka Thorazine aka good ol Largactil for nausea, vomiting and any bouts of mania or suicidal feels which opiate withdrawal can induce. I did end up breaking down though and going to the clinic that used to be here where the doctor was nice enough to write me out a script for enough Morphine to see me through until my doctor came back.

If you go to the ER i would not hold out hope for anything better then some Clonidine and if your really lucky perhaps some Librium, Oxazepam or Lorazepam. That would be getting very lucky though and striking a compassionate doctor that does not hold 18th century views about addiction. If you have a opiate addiction you should always have a first aid kit for opiate withdrawal on you. Mine has extra Clonazepam (i try to keep some back from my prescription for a rainy day) for anxiety, OTC Aspirin or Acetaminophen/Paracetamol with Codeine for a cold water extraction or lacking that Loperamide, a decent anti-nausea drug (Promethazine, Prochlorperazine, Thorazine/Largactil or even the old very sedating anti-psychotic Methotrimeprazine), a anti-spasmodic such as Dicycloverine (trade name Bentylol), Buscopan or Scopolamine for stomach cramps and a drug for the godawful insomnia such as one of the more sedating benzos like Temazepam or even high dose Valium, Promethazine or a sedating anti-psychotic such as Methotrimeprazine. Methotrimeprazine (trade name Nozinan) is closely related to the Phenothiazine Chlorpromazine and is about only half as potent of a Dopamine antagonist. But due to it's very strong anti-cholinergic effects and anti-histamine effects it's so sedating it makes Seroquel look like a stimulant. But due to it's strong anti-emetic and strong sedative properties i find it a very good drug to have around during withdrawal.

I find that with the right meds i can get through withdrawal easy enough but everyone has slightly different withdrawal symptoms and some people get hit with certain symptoms worse then others. I find stomach cramps and that feeling of having a constant layer of sweat on my skin along with the cold burn on my skin to be the worst physical symptoms. I also tend to get very fatigued during early stage withdrawal to the point where staying awake or doing anything is hard. Usually after 5 days when i start to feel abit better this gives way to insomnia.
 
Luckily public health care here does RX'ing strong opiates in a way that any Dr. can renew RX for strong opiates if Dr. who originally RX'd them isn't available and haven't limited the RX to be just for one time.
 
Never did anything for me, was using 6 months too & anything & everything they gave me didn't touch me...few yrs ago so don't remember what they gave but it didn't matter, had no effect....I kno u say kratom illegal where u are but so is H right? Lol Imodium kratom Benz prob b best bet, GL man...
 
If money isn't a problem then why go to the ER if you can pay to go to a doctor and get subscribed subs or use your family's help to get into a rehab. Either way the ER and subs are a temporary solution to a lifetime problem. Work smarter not harder.
 
They are willing to pay to help me but a doctor visit is a few thousand so I know they are less likely to want to help with that. But if they would agree to that I should get in to see any doctor and have them prescribe subs? How? I just ask them? Will that work?
 
Wait you need to go to a mental hospital to get subs where you're from? There's no clinics specifically for that? It's all clinics where I'm @....just hit one up n ahould let u pay cash it need be....
 
IME no they dont alcohol(personally gone for that reason benzo and vitamin iv bag treatment ) and H yes but its not a pretty sight again they even highly advise against staying there
IME again from what ive seen first hand and heard no they dont for everything else they patch you up and send you on your way
this is from 20 times visiting the ER for panic attacks( i didnt know wtf was going on) ive seen and heard quite a bit
but again every state/hospital is different
i personally wouldnt go to the ER unless you are in a jam and need a fix
not just that the amount they charge you is crazy with no insurance
i could buy myself a house with what i owe to the hospital
 
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Where I live I had no luck with the ER. I was in extreme W/D's, almost unable to stand straight up and walk. They put me in a room, came to talk to me a few times, ended up putting a Clonidine patch on me and gave me a Zofran tablet. They had ZERO detox capabilities and almost as little effort in really helping me. It almost felt like they were saying, Hey Kid, you got yourself in this state, now it's time to pay the piper! It was so incredibly disappointing I can't even tell you. I suppose I was wishing for the moon but shit, this was the bare minimum care possible. OP - I would hit the internet hard and try your very best to find someplace that has what you need. A couple hours or more banging on the net and phone may save you days and weeks of agony. Good Luck!
 
OP, you are in quite a predicament. You, unfortunately are gonna need to face some hard truths about your situation. It's better to figure them out now than later. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I've never seen, read or heard of a "regular" for lack of a better word, hospital initiate someone on, or even provide them with maintenance drugs like methadone or buprenorphine. There are certain circumstances that I have heard of wherein patients in relatively poor health to begin with come in withdrawing from a severe alcohol/sedative/hypnotic dependence coupled with a severe opioid dependence and are provided with maintenance drugs as the severity of both withdrawals together could be enough to kill them, but these are not everyday circumstances. Hospitals in general are not worried about your comfort I've found, if you're a drug addict that is.

Alcohol & Sedative/Hypnotic wtihdrawal is often medicated due to the well known seriousness of the withdrawal symptoms and the potential for seizures, delirium tremens and in severe cases death, but what is equally well known is that opioid withdrawal is not a life threatening endeavor. Your life is not at stake without treatment, so they are not medically bound to treat you for the condition period. Hospitals can, however, streamline your entry into a detox facility where these treatments are common, but the availability of these services is largely dependent upon your region/state.

If you happen to encounter and MD with a shred of compassion (i.e. a younger one or fellow addict in many cases) you could walk out with a limited supply of "comfort" medication. One time, I walked out of a hospital ED with a few lorazepam and some clonidine, which in my experience, is pretty generous. Couple these meds with some loperamide and you could help negate a lot of the more severe sympoms of your withdrawal.

The truth is though, that there's no telling what you will get or experience as a lot of this is based solely on each individual practitioner's discretion. Some, like I said, have compassion and some, on the other hand, would genuinely prefer it if you were dead so them and their colleagues won't have to waste their time with you.

It should be noted that I'm speaking strictly of my experience in the United States where I see you are located. In Europe or even Canada, I'm sure you would be much better off. I know in some EU countries, it is protocol to medicate opioid withdrawal...
 
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