I am with you. I have been on Vicodin/Vicoprofen for 10 years and for the last 4 or five years on a fentanyl patch. I have been off the patch for about a month. I cut it down a little bit at a time and even though I was still taking the Vic, i had withdrawal symptoms from the fentanyl, RLS, low back pain, depression, etc.
I started last week to try and lessen the dose on the Vicoprofen.
When I was on the patch I took 2-4 vic per day but after I got off the patch I went up to 2 vic three times a day and one at bedtime and one during the night when it woke me up.
So last week I went to 1.5 three times a day for a couple of days, then to one every four waking hours. At that point I would feel good for about one hour and depressed for three hours. I did that for two days and then went to 1/2 pill every four hours.... then I started to have WD symptoms. I upped my dose back to 1.5 pills every four hours and am going to stay with that for a week or two, then to either 1 or 1.25 every four hours... I am self employed and cannot tak the time off right now to CT. So I will tell you how it goes and would love to hear how it goes with you. I think the key is probably to not taper too fast.
Even then I expect to have some WD but not as bad as if I had just stopped.
So, not I don't think it is possible to do it without WD but it is possible to lessen the effect. I also started taking some Zoloft that I had from a while back. The Dr. wanted to try anti-depressants for pain too... didn't work. Well, actually one did, Cymbalta, but the side effects were intolerable.
Good luck to you.
Julien
Yes it is possible to avoid w/d symptoms all together for some. I taper patients all the time and I use ultram with many of them b/c for the most part you won't get high from ultram so there's no abuse or desire to abuse. You said you have been tapering by 1 half every four days correct? If you have not had any w/d symptoms yet then this is good. Of ten times when you taper you have to adjust especially toward the end. How many mg are you currently taking per day? You are going to want to taper as slowly as possible toward the end. You can shave the pills down as much as you want to get the smallest possible doses toward the end. If you stop taking it at half a pill or a fourth of a pill you will probably have some mild withdrawal symptoms. Ask your doctor if he would mind putting you on some clonidine at the end of your taper in case you do have any withdrawal symptoms. Benzodiazepines are often very helpful with opiate w/d but you do not want to take these for more than a few days b/c they are very addictive and you cannot stop these cold turkey as it is very dangerous. It can cause seizures, stroke and can be fatal.
I hope this is helpful
xoxo- D.