Withdrawals/detoxing

[stlouisgirl]

I am very new here so I dont know if this is right forum, but I wanted to share a VERY interesting link to a research study I just read about! Being in the misery of methadone detox myself (gone from 12 years on mmt-300 mg/day down to 4 mg/day presently on my tapering regime started in January) , I was searching the internet for ANY kind of help and came across this study. It is a novel way to administer a fairly rapid detox off methadone for users that were on around 100 mgs I believe. It was VERY successful (although a small amount of subjects-8 or 10 I think) but ALL addicts finished this short detox and then expressed much gratitude to the Dr's for such a good experience!

What they did was administer a 25 mg dose of Naloxone to the subjects and waited about 30 minutes so subjects could tell they were starting withdrawal, then immediately "RESCUED" the patients with sublingual Bupe! The subjects then tapered easily off the Bupe in a few days. I feel this is genius. Has anyone heard of this before or know any dr's who are utilizing this approach or am I behind on things? The link is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2719550/

 

[stlouisgirl]

I've never understood this. Opiod or not, how the hell does something that doesn't even cross the blood-brain barrier help any of the real withdrawal pains? I mean yeah I know it can help stop the runs, but the aching? the restlessness? the hot flashes/cold sweats? the sickness? Surely not.

I am not sure but I believe the reason Loperamide helps with withdrawals because it is an opiate and while it does not as you say cross the BBB, poeple forget their are alot of opiate receptors in the gut. COuld this explain why it works?

 

[tnvol44]

Good for you,I hope you kick it.It's a good sign that you are willing to go through a temporary hell to get back in the game.Good luck friend and I hope you make it!!!

 

[Bropiace]

The best advice I can give you regarding the muscle cramps is hot baths with epson salt. It really helped me when detoxing.

Now if you do have access to H and it doesnt ruins you AND that you find yourself relapsing from you current detox, you might want to consider a slow taper. It takes a lot of self-control so it is not for everyone. However it is useful for withdrawal pussies (I know I am one). IF you think you can control your usage AND that the physical and not psychological aspect is the worst for you, it might be your best option.

I posted this thread where I talk about my personal tapering experience if you think it can help you out.

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/767060-Sharing-Taper-Tips-and-Experience

I know it might seems counter productive to talk about this when you are currently starting to detox so I want to be clear. You can stop using right now. Others did and you are no different. It is a matter of will. But IF you don't succeed, instead of going back to your old way there is an alternative. You will have lower your tolerance and will have already a head start. (Also be careful not to OD because of your new found tolerance).

Again I am sorry if I sound like I am setting for failure, I swear I believe you can do it and succeed right away. It is just that in my experience, with my own failures, I found out tapering is helping me a lot. O course we are all different.

Good luck with your current detoxing. Beside the Epson Salt bath, I never found anything else beside mild exercise to be useful. Clonidine and Benzo never really did (much) for me. Others swears by it so you might want to test for yourself.

Again, when you are going through hell, it helps a lot to remember it is only temporary and will get better. I find out watching movies I always wanted to see or starting a new TV series helps to keep my mind off of how miserable I feel.

Keep us updated.