• 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 Heading toward withdrawl from oxycodone and poppy seed tea

Picasso

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 8, 2012
Messages
3
Hey guys,
I have a friend who is in a pretty tough spot in his life right now. He has chronic neck pain which is extremely debilitating along with migraines about 20 days out of the month, "normal" headaches the rest of the days. He has been working with many docs since this started back in January so its been a year now. His doc that he is working with now is one of the top in the US and has world recognition so he is extremely confident in him. He is to the point where he has 2 options. One is surgery which is very risky since this is in the top 2 levels in his neck. The other is nerve cauterizing (rhizotomy). From what he understand, the rhizotomy will increase the pain for up to 4 weeks and some have had numbness and tingling added to their symptoms after the procedure. Also, this procedure is not permanent. There are 2 types, his doc is opting for the temporary due to the location and the function of surrounding nerves. So to sum it up, He is in pain just about all the time with his next option to increase the pain for 4 weeks, get relief for 5-8 months then repeat, for another 45 years or so, (he's 34). Anyway, that is his medical condition and that is how he came about his addiction to the pain relievers. He was actually chasing relief, not any high. He is up to about 1,200 mg of oxycodone a day when he has it. His doc will obviously not give me that much. He used to have to have a friend "locate" pills for him when he ran out. He came across posts about Poppy Seed Tea. The stuff is great at keeping withdraw symptoms at bay in between supplies. So, when he has no oxy, and cannot locate any, he is washing about 10 pounds of seeds (washing the same seeds twice a day). He gets them in bulk the only problem is paying for shipping for several hundred pounds but it is cheaper than the other option.

Now, the purpose of this post is in regards to withdraw from all this. His procedure is coming up and he is looking to getting off of all the medications as quickly as possible, if the procedure is successful. He is looking for any advice for going into known withdraw, how to get through it quickly and how to lessen any effects if possible. He will be posting back as soon as he starts and letting everyone know how it goes as he makes his way through his journey. He is hoping to be able to learn from others and for others to learn from his experience.

Any suggestions and tips will be greatly appreciated!!:D 8(
 
At Bluelight we don't like people referring to themselves in the third person. We know it's you, so just say so.

Assuming that all the proper diagnostics (like x-rays, specialists, etc.) have already been done to determine the problem, I would strongly recommend acupuncture for both the chronic pain and the withdrawal symptoms. I would also consider massage therapy for the soft tissue circulation, and chiropractic or osteopathic medicine to make sure the alignment is correct. I support your choice to seek whatever treatment you think is best, but I have to say that IME surgery for this kind of thing creates more problems than it fixes. Surgery is traumatic injury to the body, causing more inflammation, scar tissue, and often new kinds of pain.

Acupuncture might not permanently stop migraines but it can reduce their frequency by a great deal so that, say, instead of 20 days a month you are having them for 5 days. Wherever there is pain there is poor circulation. Migraines are triggered by a drop in serotonin and it's believed by many that this drop is due to a drop in micro-circulation to the brain. Any neck injury or chronic problem can restrict blood flow. Getting that circulation improved will be crucial to your healing.

Your vicious cycle with the drugs relates to your pain management, so if you can reduce the pain you will be less addicted. The other thing to note is that opiate addiction will lessen your body's innate pain tolerance, so the sooner you can get the root causes of the pain addressed the less dependent you will be.

I am giving you all this advice as a survivor of a horrible spinal deformity, chronic pain, and low quality of life. You *can* change it. Consult other kinds of medical practitioners, don't just consult surgeons.
 
Keep. "him" away from suboxone. Taper with a hydro or codien. Theres Tons of info on how suboxobe is not so great,at all.
 
I would also consider massage therapy for the soft tissue circulation, and chiropractic to make sure the alignment is correct.

Last year at this time I was on 120mg - 180mg a day of 15mg Oxycodone pills for my neck and back. Most days I would average 150mg.

In January I started with pain management. I was put on Suboxone for 2 1/2 weeks and I got two steroid injection procedures in my neck. (I was then put on 10/325 Oxycodone @ 4 a day. The Suboxone helped to get my mg a day down.) The steroids helped a little, but pain/headaches returned in no time. I then got two RF procedures (radio frequency to kill the nerves) and helped for about 1 1/2 months and the pain/headaches returned "WORSE THAN EVER!" I was now to the point that I was ready for surgery, or put a bullet in my brain!!!

I then started going to a chiropractor about 6 months ago that also does deep tissue massage. I'd gone to chiropractors for years, but it never helped like this one with the massage! After three treatments the first week I have been pretty much headache free and NEVER like the ones before! I now go twice a month. And as far as pain meds, I'm now on 4-6 10/325 Hydrocodone a day.

I'd say to try chiropractic and deep tissue massage before any of the other procedures.

Unless you did a type-o with the 1,200mg a day of Oxycodone, I don't know how you/him will get off of that much without detox. With me at only an average of 150mg a day when I would run out was HELL!!!

Leaping Gnome
 
Now, the purpose of this post is in regards to withdraw from all this. His procedure is coming up and he is looking to getting off of all the medications as quickly as possible, if the procedure is successful. He is looking for any advice for going into known withdraw, how to get through it quickly and how to lessen any effects if possible. He will be posting back as soon as he starts and letting everyone know how it goes as he makes his way through his journey. He is hoping to be able to learn from others and for others to learn from his experience.

Any suggestions and tips will be greatly appreciated!!:D 8(

Has he tried anything else to help the migraines and neck pain?
This surgery sounds very serious; in my opinion he should exhaust all other options before resorting to a procedure that will have life-long consequences.

In my opinion, a major surgery should only be performed when the doctor knows exactly what the problem is; to me it sounds like the doctor is sort of just saying "let's try surgery and see if that helps".. I'd at least get second opinions from other doctors if possible.

I would try any and all lifestyle changes that might help the problem before resorting to surgery; massage therapy, yoga, eating healthy, progressive muscle relaxation and breathing exercises, anything that might reduce stress.

How severe are the migraines and how does he describe the neck pains? How often do they occur? Are the neck pains worse when moving around, does sitting still help? Where in the neck are the pains?

He needs to make sure he tells the doctor about his use of opiates before the surgery; I'd say he should be off opiates for at least an entire month before having surgery, so he's not having physical withdrawals in the operating room. 1200mg of oxycodone a day is a very large dose and is going to produce very serious withdrawals; if he is having full-blown withdrawals when he goes in for surgery, it could change the outcome of the surgery and whether or not it is successful
 
^ Yet another great post.

I agree completely that in many situations, surgery should be an absolute last resort because I know way too many people who have had surgeries that just made their various conditions worse. If you need a surgery, then I would get the best doctor in the country for anything very serious. Would you rather have a guy who barely passed med school cutting on you, or someone who was valedictorian with an excellent track record?
 
I just tried making my pst in 450 degree preheat then 250 degree for 10 min. suppose to remove all the bad stuff and leave only morphine. how can u tell if it works
 
Top