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Anxiety still going on..day 2
by Ga Guy, Jun 27, 2007 12:00AM
Hello all...A little on my story..been taking almost anything for 3 years. Lately, 6-8 Percs a day or maybe 2-4 Oxy 20's. Finally got tired of the s**** that comes along with it, and am working on seeing the end of this hell. I took my last Oxy/Percs on Sat night at 6 and took a few ultracet up until Monday morning at 10 AM. I'm either almost 4 days clean or 2 (I don't know how to count it). It hasn't been too awful except for the diarrhea, anxiety, and sleeplessness. I also had terrible dry mouth which has subsided. I've been taking Clonidine (.01 mg) 3-5 times a day (which I think helps a lot) and Ambien CR at night to help with sleep. Right now, I am just tired as H*** and wishing I had more energy. But, I was told this was a big side effect of the Clonidine. I'm going to try and stop this tomorrow. I just wanted to write in my experience, hope for some advice, and tell you all how brave I think you are. As my Granny always said..That which does not kills us makes us stronger.
Also using Immodium AD
Motrin and Advil (haven't had much aches"
Lots of Gatorade (Can't eat much)
Thank you all!!!
Also using Immodium AD
Motrin and Advil (haven't had much aches"
Lots of Gatorade (Can't eat much)
Thank you all!!!
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This is how it went for me this first time getting off of Oxycodone: Sorry to say, I expect to have to do this again as I will have more major surgeries and can't realistically expect to make it through them without pain meds. So I am taking notes to help me through the next time. If this is helpful to anyone else, GREAT!
Where I started:
I had taken percoset for about 11 weeks, 6 weeks prior to back surgery and 5 weeks after surgery. Prior to surgery: I took a maximum of (6), 5mg tablets / day (total of 30 mg/day.) After surgery: They had me on (2), 10mg Oxycontin / day and as much as (3), 5 mg Percoset every 3 hours at first. That’s 140 mg / day. By third day, the percoset was reduced to: (2), 5mg percoset every 4 hours, or 6 times / day. Total of 80 mg / day. Once home I took about the same (80 mg / day) for a couple of weeks. Then went to (2), 20 mg Oxycontin / day and (2), 5 mg percoset every 6 hours (total of 80mg / day.) For four days prior to “quitting” I went down to (1), 20 mg Oxycontin / day and (4), 5 mg percoset (total of 40 mg / day.) Then I woke up one morning and said “I can handle the pain without this stuff and I am quitting before I get addicted.” I flushed the remaining Oxy’s down the toilet. By that afternoon I knew I had a problem. By that night I was in the ER. The ER Doc gave me two shots of Adavan (sp?), (a very mind altering drug.) And then gave my wife just enough percoset to get me through the weekend until I could see my doctor and line out a withdrawal strategy.
I saw my doctor as soon as possible. Using his advice and a lot of input from the medhelp.org addiction forum, (thank you to all), I put together a taper schedule which my doctor agreed to.
Taper:
I did a taper off of percoset prior to completely quitting in accordance with the schedule at the end of this thread. I stayed at the .5 / .75 level a few extra days to make it to my wife’s long weekend off work so that she would be there to take care of child and me.
Quitting:
I took the last percoset at 8:00 PM, Thursday, 6-21-07. The worst withdrawal symptoms occurred from 18 hours to 36 hours after the last pill. I took ˝ a Dramamine at about 10:00 PM Friday night. It seemed to slow my heart rate down a fare bit so I decided to try for some sleep. I took 10mg Ambien at 12:00 midnight. Fell asleep for 3-4 hours. By Saturday morning, 6-23, I was improving. Saturday night I took the ˝ Dramamine and 10 mg AM Ambien by 11:00 PM. Went to bed and fell asleep by about 1:00 AM for about 5 hours. Sunday PM I started sinking into a deep depressed feeling. I took 100 mg of Zoloft this evening. It helped a lot. By Monday mid-day, I was feeling much better. Monday night I went to sleep without any sleep aids. Slept from 12:00 PM to 4:00 AM. Yeah!!! Woke with a “hungry, I need oxycodone” feeling in my gut similar to what happened repeatedly each morning during the “taper” phase. Took a bath, ate, and then was able to relax and sleep for two more hours. Last night I took Ambien again. I also needed some additional Zoloft again. For me the Zoloft is really key. Tonight at 8:00 PM will make 6 days off Percoset. I hope the day will come when I will feel truly "Good" again.
Other Notes:
1. I experienced restless leg and arms for a few nights – lessening with time. This makes it difficult to sleep, or even, lie down. I wonder if it may be related to the excessive adrenaline being produced. Whatever the cause, taking Dramamine helped for me.
2. I recommend non-violent, relaxing movies. Some humor is good. A huge part of the withdrawal is a racing heart and depression – neither are helped by war movies, etc.
3. I have eaten like a horse. I think that a true food hunger is being interpreted by my body as "drug hunger." Anyway, it is less painful with a constantly full stomach.
Percoset W/D Schedule
Day # 2:00 8:00
AM & PM AM & PM
1 06/03/07 1.5 1.5
2 06/04/07 1.25 1.25
3 06/05/07 1.25 1.25
4 06/06/07 1.25 1.25
5 06/07/07 1.25 1.25
6 06/08/07 1 1
7 06/09/07 1 1
8 06/10/07 1 1
9 06/11/07 0.75 1
10 06/12/07 0.75 1
11 06/13/07 0.75 0.75
12 06/14/07 0.75 0.75
13 06/15/07 0.5 0.75
14 06/16/07 0.5 0.75
15 06/17/07 0.5 0.75
16 06/18/07 0.5 0.75
17 06/19/07 0.5 0.75
18 06/20/07 0.5 0.75
19 06/21/07 0.5 0.75
20 06/22/07 Off Oxycodone!!!