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Opioids withdrawal: how long will I be tired?

L

Le Junk

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
2,280
Location
IndiaNOplace, Indianer
Quick question:

I've been off of opiate trash for nearly 2 months now. Leading up to that, I had been taking 20-30 mg.s of hydrocodone, everyday, for roughly 5 years.

I'm extremely tired every single day and have not felt "normal" yet. Can someone please tell me how much longer it will be before I wake up feeling refreshed in the morning and am not lethargic the remainder of the day?

Thanks, Le Junk :(
 
Well just don't go back to the coke to wake ya up ;)

Though honestly I'm not sure why you still feel weak/tired. I guess the length of your using is why you still feel like that. Usually after the first 2 weeks I have most of my energy back. I really can't imagine it lasting to much longer, but the urge to relapse takes a loooong time to go away, if ever.
 
long stints take a while to recover from. i would say paws lasted me about 6 months after i got clean. As long as your just sorda tired not lethargic its normal. Your body has been use to feeling very little weakness/pain for 5 years, so even just standing can become a chore, the best way to deal with it is to stay active
 
You should start to get back to normal by this point, or soon. Not to downsize your DOC, but hydrocodone is a fairly weak opiate, which (in theory) shouldn't be too hard to recover from. Then again, I've had friends hooked on Vicodin who had obvious signs of post acute withdrawal symptoms for many months after they broke the habit.

I kicked heroin once cold turkey, and it took 5-6 months before I was back to feeling anything but depression and boredome.

Are you eating wholesome foods, and excersising? I find excersise especially helpful for the body's recovery.

Hope some of this helps. Good job getting this far ! You're def. past the hardest part. IMO post opiate use is by far the hardest to get thru successfully over any drug there is.
 
I felt this way after for a solid 6 months after I last quit dope. I absolutely hated it too, I was taking very strenuous courses at school that term and had absolutely no physical motivation to do anything. Not the best use of my tuition that time.

Anyway, like someone else mentioned above, the absolute best thing you can do for yourself is exercise. I know it sounds like the last thing you want to get up and go do, but it first and foremost after you do it, you have energy for the remainder of the day. It sort of jump starts your post-acute withdrawal-ridden body into having some energy for an extended period of time. Second, I firmly believe that it helped the PAWS go away faster.

Not to mention your body will benefit in other ways too from exercising after being addicting to opiates for so long.

Down a red bull or a strong cup of coffee and force yourself to get up and do it, it pays off.
 
I'd say another month. You really need to exercise. That's helps so much. Force yourself to do it, and start slow. Even walking or anything you can manage. Force yourself to get out and try to find a support group too. I found an NA group in California was very helpful. The energy drinks really help get you going too. Congrats to getting this far and being clean. You're nearly there.... just tough it out a little longer... trust me I have been in your shoes with the same drug. The worst part was lack of sleep too. Ambien helped and so does OTC sleep meds aka tylenol PM or the something like that.
 
^^I forgot about this, but yeah Wellbutrin is good for the lethargy/depression of PAWS. The first time I got clean they put me on it while in rehab and it helped tons.
 
I'd like to thank everyone for the above responses. Yes, exercise is the farthest thing from my mind, but I'll try and at least walk around the neighborhood once a day. I have been taking ambien since the restless leg syndrome kicked in immediately after I stopped using and will continue until this last prescription runs out. Thank God I'm self employed. :\

One last question. Someone twisted my arm last week and I found myself suffering thru 10 lines of levamisole laced cocaine. Did that effect my paws from opiates? :?

Regards, Le Junk
 
20 years on opioids - 5 years off this fall. Exercise has helped me tremendously - the sort of thing that everyone recommends when you're a couch potato drugpig and you go "yeah sure...", but it really really helps mood, energy, etc. Easy to get dependent on too but in a good way.....give it a shot.

I strongly recommend attempting to get as close to "drug-free" brain homeostasis as possible - definitely no coke, deworming meds, etc. It should all get easier over time but you may never feel "normal".

Good luck!
 
Are you eating regularly? Are you eating enough food each meal/throughout the day? A balanced diet can go a really long way to making someone feel a lot more awake/well.

Exercise is also a key factor in recovery.

Do you get good sleep at night? What is your sleep hygiene like?
 
Captain.Heroin said:
Are you eating regularly? Are you eating enough food each meal/throughout the day? A balanced diet can go a really long way to making someone feel a lot more awake/well.

Exercise is also a key factor in recovery.

Do you get good sleep at night? What is your sleep hygiene like?
Click to expand...


My diet is very good. I eat 3-4 meals a day, take a multi-vitamin and sleep regularly with the help of ambien. I'm curious about the 10 lines of levamisole laced cocaine I did last week. Will that add time to my paws recovery?

Le Junk
 
anything that screws with your dopamine levels will be counter productive to your recovery. your brain needs sober time to balance itself out.
 
I'm 35 days off opiates and I feel exactly like you. I just have no energy. Getting out the car, off the sofa, out my chair, etc is just really tiring. I have no motivation to do anything. I've still got 7 weeks of day care rehab, which is lucky as its giving me a good structure.

Like everyone has said EXERCISE. I've been going swimming a few times a week and it is instantly noticable. I'm living with my parents and my Mum goes every day so I just agree to go, even though it is the LAST thing on my mind. It's an effort to get changed into my trunks and the idea of swimming seems more and more insane, but once you get going it becomes ok. Then sauna afterwards, then hot then cold shower. I'm hoping if I keep this up I'll get better quicker.
 
Hey matey i had been in the same boat, but something very odd helped me out.

Lopermide hcl.

Even just to get off morphine i started dosing at 80mg a day - and had a nice, even bowel movement each day!

In three weeks i have tapered to 36mg, and i feel energy everyday.

I have felt absolutely zilch psychoactive effects from the lopermide, since it dont cross the bbb.

I have been using Benzos since day one, but after three weeks i have dropped them down to 1/10th of what i was using the first week.

Try it out if you feel it is really getting to affect your life. I have a feeling like a few above posters said, it is often about your body feeling tired/sore, and the effect of lopermide at filling receptors in the body really make a night and day difference to me.

Considering you are withdrawan already, if you wanted to try lopermide i would say start with something like 10mg, and make your way up each day to maybe somewhere around 40mg... where you can then taper down from over weeks, months!

I know nobody wants one drug for another, but i have zero problem tapering on lopermide because the only thing it is doing is making my body not tired/sore. If i increase the dose i only prolong the overall withdrawal and feel ZERO warm fuzzy opiate effects.

My 2c anyway.
 
^Yes, I did like I mentioned before after my last break from using dope. I tapered off with Suboxone too and jumped off at about 1mg so I still had to face w/d's, and since it was from Suboxone the fatigue lasted months. I pretty much went an entire summer struggling to do the things I had to do (work and school, mostly).

It does pass though, that much I can guarantee. Been over a year now and I've felt normal for at least half that long ;) In all honesty I'd say probably sometime around the 3-4 month mark. You have to work for it though too, if you just lay around all day you're body is just going to get used to doing just that and you'll never get better, just like your average joe couch potato.

Force yourself to get up and do what you have to do, exercise, eat right and without noticing it one day you'll be able to do all those things without thinking about it, just like you used to.
 
In general (not for energy, moreso at night because waking up refreshed is a godsend) I would like to recommend Valerian and/or Passion Flower for PAWS of opiates...

Just a suggestion...

When I use these I find myself able to wake up refreshed the next day and that in itself helps with energy...
 
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