Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum.  ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.

Addiction: Substance Abuse Community

This community is a place to share information and support with others who are trying to stop using drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco or other addictive substances. Discuss with others, the symptoms of addiction, addiction recovery, ways to quit like tapering and cold turkey, and withdrawal symptoms. If you are interested in general "chat", please visit our Addiction Social Community.
 | 

Thomas's DeTox Reciepe

by DocHolliday, Aug 09, 2001 12:00AM
Would anyone know where I can find his formula. Also, thanks for the replies. For the last two full weeks I have reduced the "doses" I take per day. Going from at least 5 and usually 7-8 per day, I am now just "needing" to have some in the morning, afternoon and before bed. I also have reduced the amount per dose by a few pills. I have been reading alot of info on some Narcotics Detoxification Under Anesthesia clinic. Seems to me in a nut shell, they put you under for a few hours, and prescribe a drug such as Naltrexone for a week or two and thats it? Well, thanks for listening. P.S. Wiz, thanks for the support...Peace Out...Doc
Member Comments (91)

by Wizard, Aug 09, 2001 12:00AM
To: Doc
Doc, The first one is Thomas' recipe that I had cut and pasted on my home p.c. The second is pillpoppas recipe that I also save but had not used. I don't think they will mind me sharing it with you but they get the credit for the research.

Power & Magick 2 U,

Wiz





If you can get yourself a week off without a lot of responsibilities to fulfill, and access to a few comparatively innocent drugs, only one by prescription, I can give you a do it yourself detox plan --- after which the meetings will mean and do a lot more for you.



Here's my tried-and-true do-it-yourself hydrocodone "cold turkey" detox protocol.



Supplies you'll need first:



As many Valium, Xanax, Librium or Klonopin that you can get your hands on.

--- first day off the lorcet, use enough Valium or whatever, to, if possible, sleep through most of the first couple days. Then start decreasing the dose until you're down to nothing in about 5 or 6 days. You'll have to do the math. The Valium or one of its sister drugs will help tremendously with the anxiety and, somewhat, with the body aches.



Around-the-clock access to either hot baths or a Jacuzzi.



--speaking of those goddamn mostly thigh cramps that seem to love to show up in the middle of the night, have that hot bath or Jacuzzi at the ready. Don't hesitate to spend the majority of the week in that hot water if it's what it takes to get you through it. You may be wrinkled, but you'll have your sanity. Don't underestimate what the hot baths can do to relieve the withdrawal discomfort. They really work. Heating pads between the thighs can help with those cramps, too, but not as much as the hot baths.



Brand-name-only Imodium (over the counter at the supermarket)



-- if you're a normal hydro addict, you'll be getting the runs by no later than the second or third day off the lorcet. In my experience, it's an especially unpleasant variety. At the first impulse, take two or three and respond to returning urges with two tabs. It's important that you do it immediately.



L-Tyrosine (qty 50 of the 500mg caps) - an amino acid available at the health food store.



-- thanks spook for this info: chronic use of narcotics depletes the brain of several critical neurotransmitters responsible for well-being and mental performance and attitude.

Plus:

Bottle of 100 mg B6 caps



-- Spook says every other day, but my experience detoxing with this stuff says take 4000 (four thousand) mg. (8x500mg caps of L-Tyrosine) with two 100mg B6 caps every day for your "detox week" to provide your brain with the raw material it needs to replenish its stores of these neurotransmitters. Many feel the difference on the very first dose. ***Take it on an empty stomach, either first thing in the morning or at bed time. You can continue this regimen after the first week if it continues to make you feel good. I continue to use it every other day with very few exceptions.

Multi-vitamins (most junkies don't eat too well, so this one's just for good sense)



Anyway, if you want to do it yourself and have a chance of being free of all narcotics instead of getting hooked on methadone, one of the hardest to get off of, by the way, you might try my formula. (It's "battle-tested" and works!)

2ND. one,

you will not come right until you replace all the zinc/mag you have leached out of your body over the past few years - this is what 'hanging out' really is - it's your body craving zinc/mag (zinc stops cravings/magnesium stops depression). If you don't do this it will take up to 2 years to return to normal as the only other source your body has for zinc/mag is food and then it is in such tiny amounts it takes years to build up again. If you get a blood test done you will find your levels of both are way down on what they should be.





A typical tablet contains somthing like this:



Zinc amino acid chelate 75mg

Magnesium amino acis chelate 37.5mg

Vitamin B6 10mg

Manganese amino acid chelate 10mg

Viatmin A (1000I.U.) 300mcg



Grading your habit on a scale of 1-10 (1 being occasional use and 10 being long term methadone at 100 plus mg's a day) you should take the following amount for a period of one month then slowly reduce to a daily amount of 2-3 per day.



Habit scale/size - Number of tablets per day for a month



10 10

9 9

8 8

7 7

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 3

1 2

0 2



You will notice that I recommend you never go below 2 per day. This is because zinc/mag depletion was your original problem so you should give yourself an ongoing supplement to make sure it does not happen again. I now take 2-3 per day to maintain my health. I have had no failures with this treatment (everyone OK after less than a month) and have treated addictions (including my own) as varied as methadone and cigarettes. The cigarrete smoker reduced from 2 packs per day to just 5 cigarettes per day in a week without any discomfort. If you suffer any kind of 'hang out' just increase the zinc/mag dosage and give it a liitle longer to take effect (a week or so). Don't beleive all the bullshit about drug addiction you have heard - it's all **** - this is the real deal. The drugs themselves are not actually addictive but they do leach all the zinc/mag out of your body by increasing the metabolism of them creating a shortage that gets worse the longer you use unless you replace them while you are using in which case you don't hang out when you stop - you just come straight - this is true beleive me I have tried it as have a few other people I know and none of us sufferred any hang out when we stopped.



by Wizard, Aug 09, 2001 12:00AM
To: Doc, P.S.
Doc, here is a more recent version with a web site at the bottom that Thomas recomends. Again the credit is his for the research.

Good Luck, Wiz





Thomas'recipe:

Here's my re-print for the inth time of my cold turkey recipe for coping with narco withdrawal. You may benefit from just getting some brand name Immodium and stopping the runs. The runs leads to dehydration very quickly, which could be conributing to your general malaise. Check out the L-Tyrosine and B6, too. That stuff works on non-junkies as well! Good luck.



Thomas



Here's my tried-and-true do-it-yourself "cold turkey" detox protocol.



Supplies you'll need first:



As many Valium, Xanax, Librium or Klonopin as you can get your hands on.



--- first day off the opiate, use enough Valium or whatever, to, if possible, sleep through most of the first couple days. Then start decreasing the dose until you're down to nothing in about 5 or 6 days. You'll have to do the math. The Valium or one of its sister drugs will help tremendously with the anxiety and, somewhat, with the body aches. Valium may make you eat like a pig and, when withdrawing from narcotics, one usually craves sweets, so I'd be ready to indulge myself, along with some good escapist movies. That always worked for me.



Around-the-clock access to either hot baths or a Jacuzzi.



--speaking of those goddamn mostly thigh cramps that seem to love to show up in the middle of the night, have that hot bath or Jacuzzi at the ready. Don't hesitate to spend the majority of the week in that hot water if that's what it takes to get you through it. You may be wrinkled, but you'll have your sanity. Don't underestimate what the hot baths can do to relieve the withdrawal discomfort. They really work. Heating pads between the thighs can help with those cramps, too, but not as much as the hot baths.



Brand-name-only Imodium (over the counter at the supermarket)



-- if you're a normal hydro addict, you'll be getting the runs by no later than the second or third day off the lorcet. In my experience, it's an especially unpleasant variety. At the first impulse, take two or three and respond to returning urges with two tabs. It's important that you do it immediately.



L-Tyrosine (qty 50 of the 500mg caps) - an amino acid available at the health food store.



chronic use of narcotics depletes the brain of several critical neurotransmitters responsible for well-being and mental performance and attitude.

Plus:

Bottle of 100 mg B6 caps



My experience detoxing with this stuff says take 4000 (four thousand) mg. (8x500mg caps of L-Tyrosine) with two 100mg B6 caps every day for your "detox week" to provide your brain with the raw material it needs to replenish its stores of these neurotransmitters. Many feel the difference on the very first dose. ***Take it on an empty stomach, either first thing in the morning or at bedtime. You can continue this regimen after the first week if it continues to make you feel good. I continue to use it every other day with very few exceptions. After a few weeks, I cut down on the dosage, though, as it can cause the runs at high doses.



Multi-vitamins (most junkies don't eat too well, so this one's just for good sense).



Take a look at this link. According to this doc, you also need to add copper, phosphorus and Vitamin C to complete the dopamine, norepinephrine. You might have to do some hunting at the health food store to find the right vitamin or vitamins to supply all this stuff. I got a pretty good result from just the L-Tyrosine and B6, however.



I also understand from another contributor that zinc and magnesium help replenish and restore vital substances depleted by narcotics use.



Here's a link dedicated to L-Tyrosine ...



http://www.mindfixers.com/pathway1.html



WARNING: This same site says to avoid L-Tyrosine if you're on an SSRI (serotonin reuptake inhibitor) such as Prozac, etc.

by skipper, Aug 09, 2001 12:00AM
To: Doc Holliday
hey: try to avoid the "naltrexone route" unless it's the only thing that works. There can be some very bad side effects from

this "easy" method to detox. stick with what Wizzard told you

and you should be able to get off no problem.

kip

by tylerdurden, Aug 09, 2001 12:00AM
To: Doc
Hello,



Although lots of people on this forum give some great information on do-it-yourself detox I still think, and this is only my opinion, that the best way is to get professional help when detoxing.  I just was detoxed and there is no reason to put yourself through withdrawl that can easily be treated.  Remember addiction is a disease...talk to a doctor and don't be ashamed because they are supposed to treat diseases.  I know some people might not like having to pay alot of money to get detoxed but this is your health and sanity we are talking about.  I tried to detox myself and thought, "I would pay any amount of money to get rid of these withdrawl symptoms."  Luckily I only had to pay $160.  It is a relatively easy process to get detoxed now.  Unless you are detoxing off of methadone which I hear is probably one of the worst things to detox from.  The nurse told me people who come off methadone will feel really, really crappy for about a month...other opiate users will feel really crappy for a couple days to a week...then the worst os over, although you may have some lingering withdrawl syptoms for a long while. I still can't sleep that well!!!  



Good luck to you and I hope you don't feel too crappy during withdrawl.



Tyler

by DocHolliday, Aug 09, 2001 12:00AM
You guys are GREAT !!! I guess I need to, or like to hear the support. I know that support is one of the "ingredients" to a safe and complete recovery. I'd wish they could give ya a little more room to right in here, to tell ya a little bit more about my situation. Maybe I can with the condensed version. Maybe I can start with a comment a family friend, which is a doctor at a well know rehab out West at a facility that I considered for a bit, that goes for about a 1k/per day. It's one of the rehabs that put ya out(anthes.). Well, he'd help me with some discount on the price(I think just a shade under 20% was final cost) still seemed kinda expensive. He did give me a list of other alternative places in various parts of the country. I'm up in N.Y.. Anyways he said after they "put ya out" you supposedly wake up PHYSICALLY not addidcted. Is this possible? Then he said I'd feel somewhat better, but might need something to take the discomfort away. He mentioned Methadone. From what I've learned from most of you, stay the hell away from that. Maybe he only mentioned this as a worse case senario. So after this treatment he said I would get some councling. Almost  came across as "if your addicted, theres a problem". No ands, ifs or butts. Is this always true? I know all cases are different. No two are the same. But this is where MY story comes in. I'm a 38 SWM. I was brought up in a middle class family, quite normal. I wasn't the perfect kid as far as drugs...ie a little pot, some drinking... But nothing long term. One issue might be my Mother passed when I was 15. It was sad, but I had a lot a support through family. I have only one sib. At the age of 17 my Father passed. Again, sad time, but was helped through this time through staying with family. After  a couple of years, I moved out West and partied hard as it was the early 80's. Was totaly recreactional, but I wanted to just get that out there. In February of '89, I was in a bad MVA(car crash). I was drinking with friends and the weather was bad, a deadly combination. I thank God all the time that no one was hurt. Except for me that is. I had a spinal cord injury, t-11, t-12..para... So, I know your eyebrows are starting to raise. But again, family came through. I have this thing about me, if a crisis arise's, I jump on it, try and solve it or learn to live with it and move on. I dont like being sad, I can't stand other guys I know that are in chairs and think that lifes over, the world owes me, can't live like this. I had 5 other guys in the same Spinal Cord Rehab unit as me. It was a room of statistics. Young males. Risk takers. 4 of them couldn't take life and checked out. Like I said, I like to deal with an issue and move on. I'm not sure if this is bad, maybe I'm really not dealing with issues, just putting them in a file and storing them away and forgeting it. I try and be honest with myself and don't feel that I have any real "issue's". What I mean is... I get a sense from others...your an addict, you got problems. Is this always true? I "feel" that my problem stems from needing the pain medication for Root Nerve Damage, by the way, as I have tried going, scratch that, lets be honest here, when I have run out and had to go "cold turkey", this NRPain I get, ouch, to relate the amount of pain to you on some sort of scale...When it hits...I forget about withdrawl. It has been 12 years since my accident, the pain started a year post-injury, have been to dozens of doctors. They see me in chair, and its open up the med pad. At first I didnt like the drugs. I played wheelchair basketball for a pro-team. I taught Water-Skiing. I talked to kids in schools about Spinal Cord Injuries. I couldnt, nor did I like the feeling drugs gave me. Which was usually, a lazy, kinda kick back feeling. Then about 8 years ago, I started dating a nurse. And once she saw me wither in pain one nite after I went to bed, she said, "You do not have to live life like that"... I went to a pain specialist in the Posh town of La Jolla, Ca., not that I dont love that place, but that was first time in my 28 years that I had Vicodin prescribed. I only used it when I need it. And today I know that when a change in my everyday routine, ie. being up in my chair for a few more hours than usual, will trigger pain. Like I said once I started the pills for the treatment, it went fine. Not needing them but a couple times a month. Then as the year went by, 1 wouldnt work as fast as 2. When you get pain in the middle of the nite, when ya have to get up in 4 hours, ya want the pain gone. So time goes by and eventualy I look back and there was close to 6 months when I never took any. Not a symptom of withdrawl. Although I think I never had to take more than enough for 2 nites in a row. Well, I eventually I went back to work. Again, a change in my routine. I won't mention the name of the company I run a franchise through...let's just say "You got Questions?". Next thing ya know I start having pain again, and frequent. Then the hook hits. One day, first time, I get a pain