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Opioids Dilaudid | Hydromorphone Withdrawals - Duration?

My deal was I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 11. I was misdiagnosed for over two years so I had severe Crohn's disease. despite growing up with Crohn's and being in a lot of pain I never so much as took tylenol. then when I turned age 22 I was in and out of the emergency room basically every other week. I was insanely sick. then one time I happen to get a female doctor and she asked me what I take for pain and I told her that I have never taken as much as even tylenol while growing up. She then asked me, "Well what about when you're in the hospital, what do you take for pain? I told her that I have never taken any pain medication in my life. She replied youve had Crohn's disease for 11 years and never taken any pain medication?!" So once again I told her that I've never taken anything, not even tylenol, and she was amazed. So what does she do? She orders me some IV morphine and then sends me home on a script for vicodin. The IV morphine made me totally euphoric. Anyway, that is how it all started as far as my pain med issues go. vicodin led to oxycodone, and eventually oxycodone led to dilaudid. THEN I'd start getting IV dilaudid when I was hospitalized, and that stuff put me in heaven! It was unreal. Well that led to my tolerance to go up and up and up and up until it got to a crazy point. for the last 5 years, everytime I've gone in the hospital, the doctors and nurses can't or don't believe the amount of IV dilaudid that I have to take to get any relief. It almost always turns into a big to do / argument. It has become something I dread to deal with when I go into the hospital. That is another reason that I want to get off of it. I would need about 6 or 7 milligrams of IV dilaudid per hour to get any relief, and I'm a sickly 124 lbs male. . . (6'0" feet tall). so they don't understand how my body can take such high doses and still function totally fine. BUT all it took was that lady ER Doctor to start me on a vicodin script at age 22 and it ended up sending me down the opiate road of hell. But I never ever abused that shit until just this year. . .14 years down the line. Unreal. I had to have a PICC line put in and sent home on home health care. Well, I was depressed as hell, soooo bored, hurting so bad, and I got the brilliant idea of, "Hey, I have hundreds of sterile saline flushes, I have dilaudid pills, and I have a direct line in my huge vein so I won't even have to stick myself. Screw it. I hurting so I am ONLY going to try injecting a few times!" Long story short, PICC got infected with Staph and I got super sick. They pulled my PICC and I came clean to the docs about injecting into it. I swear to them I was done with that stupid shit, and I really did mean it! But a month down the road I am at home, depressed, hurting like hell and go the needle route. Wish I had never even tried that. My arm veins are so screwed. I also got busted by my family and I felt like a piece of shit. . .yet I still do it once again. I hate the damn catch 22 that you spoke about!! I have the same exact situation.

Got that sounds like a hellish existence, makes me feel like a douche for getting wrapped up in pain pills simply because I wanted to catch a buzz. Must be truly awful having to deal with severe pain and also struggle with opiate addiction, i can't even imagine...
 
The shorter the half-life, the shorter (and more intense) the duration of withdrawals. Dilaudid does not have a long half-life.
 
BTW Lotus, if pain meds help you then don't feel bad about taking them. Just work toward not abusing them. My family act as if I am a strung out drug addict because I was on pain meds. We got into big arguments. The meds are sooo demonized by the media, but Ive been on crazy antibiotics that did NASTY things to me! So it is all meds. All have bad side effects. If you have depression then you treat it with meds. The same as having pain...treat with meds. So dont let people make you feel shitty. Just find a good happy medium.

Boy do I feel for you my friend, do I ever. My issue is undiagnosed pain from some sort of GI issue. In short I'll wake up 3-10x a month feeling incredibly bloated like I've eaten Christmas dinner (but haven't eaten anything). I'm 5'11" 165 (6 years ago I was 245 - lost it the "right" way, diet/exercise) and about 6 months after I lost the weight this happens. The bloating radiates into my back on the right side to the point it feels like someone is pouring acid down my back. I got really sick last May and was in the ER 3 times in a week - couldn't stop vomitting so I couldn't take my meds at all (all oral then). So they gave me IV dilaudid like you and wow, it was the first real relief I'd ever had. The third time I was there, same symptoms the first thing the doc says when she walks in - first thing - "I'm not giving you dilaudid today". Uh, ok so you know my issue before even talking to me? Did I *ever* ask for dilaudid (no). But you're going to start by telling me what you're not going to do? So I completely understand the hospital thing and not wanting to fight the fight just to feel good.

I'm trying to find that happy medium as you say but it's been hard. I'll do the game we all do "ok, I'll feel good this week and taper down next". Then next week is hell because I didn't taper down and ran out - and I will NOT ask for meds early as I don't want my pain doc looking down her nose at me (in general she's great). I just can't play that game anymore but as I see her tomorrow all I can think is "ah, I'll be ok tomorrow night" knowing that I shouldn't start them again - but I don't know what else to do. Right now at this moment I actually feel the best I've felt in 2 weeks but I still feel crappy - probably a 5/10 on a scale and sadly right now that's fantastic. My main negative side effect is insomnia - I'm lucky if I get 3-4 hours straight sleep per night, can't remember the last time I slept hard enough to dream and bet I haven't had solid REM sleep in 6-9 months. It takes such a toll.

Again thanks for sharing stories guys - as you know it does feel good to talk with folks that understand. That's why I sorta hated the NA meeting as I don't feel like an "addict" and rarely just take meds to get high. I suppose that rarely is the hard part, right? I suppose I need to get that to zero then re-examine - or fess up to other facts. I'm a 40s professional who works hard and I don't live a "drug" lifestyle at all. Hell I have no idea where to get stuff like this other than my doc and while I've looked briefly I'd never risk my reputation/job/life by trying to "score" somewhere.

The catch-22 is a bitch.
 
Well peeps, I have been hospitalized 24 times in the last 6 years. That doesn't even count the times I went to the ER and moron docs sent me home because they thought I was drug seeking. If it came to that I finally started to straight up tell them, "Why would I come here to drug seek? I have pain meds at home and could just pop those if I wanted!" I also started telling those ignorant docs that I havent gotten a buzz from pain meds for years!...but I sure wish I did these days!" Ive had so many b.s. experiences with docs. I am laid back but I will only take so much, then it's on and I don't filter much at that point. Up until age 23 or so I put docs up on pedastals and never questioned them. Wellll I learned the hard way that you can't do that. Ive had some very good docs, but Ive also had a number of total dipshits. My rep at one local hospital isn't real great. Lol.

Anyway, yes I have been through some bad shit for sure. I once had a nurse ask me what keeps me wanting to live. BUT just because you guys dont have a disease or whatever, it makes no difference. Addiction is addiction, and life is rough. Its easy to want to pop something to chill out for a bit. But 1leads to 2 then 4 etc. Buuut yeah, having these health issues AND opiate issues extremely complicated. I guess my biggest thing is that I used to live for college football, for example. Then all of the sudden I quit giving a shit about it and everything else I used to love. Nothing is interesting to me anymore, and thats thanks to long term narc use. I am sooo over feeling that way.

Btw, thanks for the hello and offers for help!
 
In many ways we're in the exact same boat - especially with the disinterest in everything. The bitch about depression is you don't want to do anything because you feel like shit then you feel like shit because you haven't done anything. Another catch 22. At the end of the day when my pain hits it's the overriding thing in my life - it tops everything. I can't drive, can't think, can't see straight. So zoning out in bed is far better than that but that sucks in and of itself. I too haven't had a "buzz" from opiates for a long time, at most a little rush and then a little sedation and that's it. While I'm feeling better in many ways it seems something is always wrong - for the last 20 hours I've had insane nausea that I just can't kick. Finally got a few Zofran today but that's not really helping either - feels like there is a rock in my stomach that I just can't get rid of.

I do wish we had other ways to treat pain besides opiates - or that in some ways people would just be more understanding about them. When I do tell new friends/coworkers what I have to take I can see them looking at me thinking "damn you're just a drug addict". I finally after years of this got my mother to understand that this isn't "fun" and that I'd never choose to live this way. Most people just can't understand or believe that as they've never had pain like me/us. I've had friends say "well just cowboy up" but they just don't get it.

Sometime I think just go back to my meds - others I think I just have to stop and maybe I'll get back to the guy I was 6 years ago. Maybe that guy is just gone, sadly replaced by this shell of his former self. Like you most all the things I used to enjoy I just don't any more. I can't remember the last time I spent longer than 30 minutes in another room of my house other than my bedroom/bed. Mentally and physically hard.

I wonder why I'm having what seems like a harder time coming off these than most - I've stopped the kratom and am only taking small amounts of lope, 10-12mg 2x a day or so. Ugh.
 
I did attend an NA meeting recently and will admit I did NOT feel like I "fit". Again maybe I'm just fooling myself but let's say I was the only guy that rolled up dressed the way I do driving the $100k car I drive.

Is it a Lotus Exige by chance? 8) If so, nice taste.
 
Uh, yes and no - yes, I own an Exige but it's a track-only car at this point. That was in my other British car with 550hp (I'll let you figure out what). Being single and making good money has it's benefits. Sorry, I digress...
 
Yes anecdotally people have reported getting buzzes off loperamide. Why the hell would you take it if you already have H?
For withdrawals (in the realm of the bowels) yes , higher doses of lope will probably be needed, like 8mg at the MOST.
No point, nopointnopointnopoint, in taking more than that, if you're still trying to catch a buzz just go back to dilaudid.

All you're doing is making yourself more miserable. Read the lope megathread for more info.
Otherwise, awesome you're still abstinent after a week, great, GREAT job.
 
Oh I've never gotten a buzz from lope nor has that ever been my goal. I'm only taking 10-12mg of it now as I did read the megathread on it. And while it's been 2 weeks now (tomorrow) and I'm doing better on the withdrawal side my pain is just raging to the point that I'm going to get another script today when I see my doc. I am going to cut my amount in half from last month with the goal of really using it as needed with some rules for myself like no more than 3 a day for 2 days then I have to stop for a few days (and only oral). I'm just in so much pain I'm not even sure how I'm going to drive to work today and with all the time I've missed I don't really have a choice about it - I have to be there. Ugh, I fear I'll be back in a few days/weeks with the same issues - just don't know what to do.
 
Oh I've never gotten a buzz from lope nor has that ever been my goal. I'm only taking 10-12mg of it now as I did read the megathread on it. And while it's been 2 weeks now (tomorrow) and I'm doing better on the withdrawal side my pain is just raging to the point that I'm going to get another script today when I see my doc. I am going to cut my amount in half from last month with the goal of really using it as needed with some rules for myself like no more than 3 a day for 2 days then I have to stop for a few days (and only oral). I'm just in so much pain I'm not even sure how I'm going to drive to work today and with all the time I've missed I don't really have a choice about it - I have to be there. Ugh, I fear I'll be back in a few days/weeks with the same issues - just don't know what to do.

Ya for pain management addicts this can be an incredibly hard challenge. Do you have any family or significant other that could possibly monitor your dosage? I really don't see a way that you could do it yourself unless you have the willpower of a god, I don't see a way ANYONE could do it without that.

Report back on how your doing, hope the next couple days aren't too rough. Another megathread to checkout is the pain management one, there's alot of support there along with The Dark Side sub-forum.
 
Unless you're IV'ing your dillies, hydromorph contins or those weird american non-Purdue like generics, those square Mallinkrockt and such...it's not that bad to get off from snorting them. I don't know anybody, other than for pain who takes hydromorph orally, I knew somebody who was prescribed 30mg HydromorphContins, 120 a month, 2 every 12 hours, that's an insane amount of hydromorphone, I know an expensive high can be obtained from oral Hydromorph Contins that are at least 18mg, the 24 or 30s will do too as for Dilaudid, it's never done anything for pain when used orally for me, and I was getting brand name tiny harmless to IV Purdue "D" (P in the US I guess but yours by Purdue have an ingredient one doesn't want to inject unless you got SteriFilts or microns)..all this to say, I can say that I snorted a script of 2 bottles of 30 2mg Dilaudid in well, 2 months, they didn't want to give me the 30 other ones until a month later, it was just one a day if needed (TMJ disorder pain).

I felt unwell but nowhere like when I was needing my morning fix and I had no more Dillies and had to travel to the guy's house an hour away while I would have to wait at pharmacies for safe injection kits while diarrhea was pushing out solid stuff sitting in the damn waiting room to get my gear...rinse repeat everyday I blew through almost 300mg of IV Dillies or if unlucky HydromorphContins that are at least 18mg...I just was feeling a bit fluish and had a lot of yawning to tears going on and shivering from cold a little when I was out, a friend gave me an Oxy 80, the last real old CDN I saw although, I'm on motherfucking generics I can chew now (60mg) :D with a pain doctor and everything.

IV Dilaudid withdrawal is as intense as the rush it provides, it's hell on earth by day 3 and you'll suffer insanely for another 5-6 days if without comfort meds such as benzos, any benzo if a doctor is reading, if you hear somebody in opiate withdrawal who wants just comfort meds and names a benzo, give them another benzo that's less known, like 25mg Libriums or 30mg Dalmanes..., some Atarax or Promethazine and some fucking loseramide. Some otc aspirin/codeine or syrup if you live in generally leftover british countries, although DHC would be preferable, but no Paramol here.

Do this and don't go on ORT the first time you feel like you're dying from withdrawal, you can't die, unless you have some diseases that won't allow for shocks to the system (heart issues), now after 6 years of Methadone for a year and Suboxone for the rest of the time, would've kept the done, its useful if you have actual pain issues, but it made me crave sugar really bad and made me gain 100 pounds in 11 months. Suboxone had its shares of issues, one physical that required surgery. Since I was on Suboxone, one cannot just get surgery on Suboxone without mentioning that reality to the surgeon when meeting him/her, you have to say you're on Suboxone, like if you get terribly hurt, they have to know so, so that you reduce suboxone dosage before the surgery as much as possible then they give you fent during surgery and I was out of the surgery with a script for Abstrals 400ug, Fentanyl pills that work like Suboxone, extremely rare, pharrmacy had to order them since its almost only given to suboxone patients who have a very critical need for anaesthesia or pain control. After I was done wiith the 4 Abstrals a day, they did the job, and suddenly I was out of that partial agonist fog that Suboxone puts you in, but that I had to go back to at a much lesser dose, went from 8mg to 4mg taken in two split doses, and then 2mg for 4 months, then 1mg and jumped off for 72 hours until I was in the same situation where they induce you on Suboxone with a small dose, 2mg, when you switched from Methadone and got done with it 48 hours before so as not to have one of the worst experience a human being can bring on themselves...

All this to say, if you're IV'ing hydromorphone, it's opi-crack, I don't know how shooting up Oxymorphone is, it's not marketed up here, you can get a prescription from a compound pharmacy for the 20mg ER oxymorphone generics you must have by now. I hope it lasts way longer for those who can obtain the non-pain-in-the-ass 10mg IR ones, I hear it has all the punch/rush of D but the lasting power of H/M.
Better buckle up for a week with those comfort meds than say fuck it i'll have free pain management! Well, Methadone's biggest dosage in pill form for pain is 25mg here, then 10, 5, 1 and that's it. They start you at 30-35mg Methadone which was not enough for my up-to 64mg of dillies IV I had, but due to all the shit I went through to get all 6 takehomes a week, thank god I still had a car, driving to the pharmacy everyday for my dose of 'done for 90 days was quite the challenge, 'done held me fine for 24 hours only when I hit 55mg, so that was 5 weeks before I had a dose where I didn't feel sick for at least 3 hours a day.

Strangely enough, the 60mg oxycodone-CR, which I chew half of, sometimes, but that's it, with pure THC oil gelcaps and some indica cookies and a little valium or bromazepam and I haven't felt cravings to do more, I would never have become a daily needle user if oxycontins weren't shelved for 6 months until the Neos came out. Then the generics come out the day I come out of the week on internal detox. Universe cracked a sick joke at me here. I couldn't find OxyIRs either, people who had them kept them because likely they had oxycontins before and had theirr shit switched around for IR oxycodone and ttypically HMC's before the Neos, that even the most honest of chronic pain sufferers will say, if they needed a 20mg Oxycontin a day, they will have to get bumped to the 30's if not 40's, people on 40's bumped to 60's, or given IR doses for breakthrough pain. I'm doing well now but I kind of made my life more problematic, although less painful by going to the ORT, who just raised my tolerance more than it was before I went in.

**I know I thread necromanced here but I thought my main reason of getting on ORT in the first place was IV'ing Dilaudid because no good by mouth (shit, a bunch of 30mg codeine pills and I wouldn't have ended up shooting up regularly) could be knowledge good for the ages.
 
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