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MedHelp Member's Question

How much should I taper?

by Oxyclean, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
I have been on Oxycontin since March. I was taking as much as 160mg twice a day. I did not crush them etc. I am now down to 20mg in the morning 10mg in the afternoon and 10mg at night. I have been hospitalized because the doctor tapered me down too fast. I have diabetes so when I start withdrawing I get very sick. My question is my doctor wants to taper me down by 10mg every week. The last week he wants me to take 10mg every other day. He says that I will not have any withdrawal if I taper. Do you feel that this is true, and how do you feel about this taper?

I have been wearing a Catapress#2 patch since the taper began.



Thank you, Oxyclean
Member Comments (58)

by hellbent, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: Oxyclean


Man, you are almost home free by the sound of it. 320Mgs a day down to 40? That is a serious tapering success story.



Obviously, you want to stick it out all the way. 10mgs a week will probably be do-able, but you might want to switch to vicodin for the last few weeks. It may actually be better to go to an "instant release" med like vikes or percs and let your system get used to flushing it faster. Hydrocodone is, theoretically, a milder opiod than Oxycodone, so it might be good to move to it. Darvon is milder still, and you might want to consider switching to that for the last week.



As far as withdrawal, I would guess that you will feel a little at least, some sleep disruption, maybe a little anxiety, some depression perhaps. Just deal with it. It will pass. You are in damn good shape. Most people can't get out as gracefully as you are.



by theGolden1, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: "Getting out gracefully"
I really don't like taking ultram anymore. I'm getting "twitches" in my face .... and I keep hearing my heart beating. Last night my head kinda hurt. I raised the dose like the doctor told me to, but I just don't want to use this chemical anymore. I have to order vicodin over the internet. If I take one 3x's a day for 2 weeks ... ultram should be out of my body by then. I'll do the thomas reciepe right after that. I have found so much about ultram on the internet. They say that valium binds to the same receptors in the brain, and that is why you can detox with valium so easily .... I'm just afraid to put myself through "shock" .... I'm not that young anymore. Is it hard to order hydrocodone over the net? I don't want to get arrested. They should arrest the drug company that lied to the public. Don't get me wrong ..... it's a good product BUT, we deserve to know the truth about what we are taking. I would have made sure I didn't become dependent on this by stopping along time ago ..... if anyone can advise me... my email is; ***@**** thanks guys .... and merry xmas

by Oxyclean, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: hellbent
Thanks for the advice. I really haven't got out gracefully though. I just haven't told the whole story about my tapering. It could fill this page! I ended up in the hospital by abulance twice over Thanksgiving by tapering too fast. I do not remember a whole week being there! What I do remember is seeing bugs and people that were not there. The nurses tell me I was talking to walls and was fighting with my family and friends. They say it was part of withdrawal. I do not know. I have been sick to my stomach with all the other signs. I just do not want to go through that again. The worst part is the leg cramps! If I can avoid going through all that stuff again it will be great. I do not know if I can get the doctor to write to me a script for vikes or percs. Any other advice you can give to me I will apriecate it! Thank you for your time!

by Rex1, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: golden1
Hey where ya been?



Rex

by hellbent, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: Oxyclean
Regardless of how graceful it was, you are down to 40mgs and that is a miracle. Takes a lot of balls to stick with it. Blowing it now would not be a good idea.



I was taking 800mgs OC a day, and stopped cold after 21 days of methadone detox. I ended up in the ER after not sleeping for 23 days straight. Sometimes the pain we go through in withdrawal is a blessing later on. We know what other people are going through, and we know we don't ever want to go back there ourselves. There is a price to pay for this stuff, and the people who can suck it up and hang through the pain are the lucky ones who have a chance to make it out. Staying clean is another beast entirely, but that's another post...



Sounds like you have gone through hell dude. Maybe get your doc to take you down the rest of the way without too much trauma: 10 mgs a week should be fine, but perhaps you should stabilize at 40mgs before you start dropping. What's the 40 like right now?



Are you pschologically addicted? Or are you just physically adcited?

by Oxyclean, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: hellbent
I am doing OK at 49. I am feeling the lower dosage already after one day! My body is physicaly addicted to it. Mentaly I am ready to get off it! I just want to feel normal again or as close as normal can be. Thanks for listening

by Oxyclean, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: hellbent
Sorry... I meant to type 40mg not 49!

by Bodymechanic, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: Golden
Getting drugs off the internet is too easy. I am concerned that you will be going from the frying pan into the fire. Were you able to control your use of ultram?  If you were, email me, I will try to help you because I agree that ulram is an unpredictable drug. If you were out of control with the ultram it is best you stay away.  With or without my help it won't be long before you find a place to get anything you want over the net.



***@****

by Chezz2, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
For those of you who have not had the experience of oxycontin :



Oxycontin is straight oxycodone. It is nothing like I have ever experienced with any other type of opiate.

The escalation of tolerance for me was unreal. It is also extremely potent and long acting.

I never realized total pain relief until I was put on that. It was very nice to even realize that until I took an extra one, once. That is all it took for it to go from taking all my physical pain away, to causing mental pain that could not be cured anymore. Until I stopped taking it........

This is what happened to me, to ME. It is different for everyone and everyone's feelings on it will be and should be different. Except of course those who have not taken it.

If you sit back and say, well its just oxycodone, it should be the same as Hydrocodone, or percocet withdrawal. IT IS NOT in the least bit the same.

Of course I thought the same thing BEFORE I took it. I figured it would be no problem and just the same. Well, let me tell you it isn't.

It is a unique drug, with a unique set of issues surrounding it when detoxing off it. Since it is long acting, it also takes longer to recoup after stopping it.

So when someone says they are on 40mg a day, sure it is like 8 percocets. YET the withdrawals are nothing like going CT off 8 percs a day. Cause I have been through both. I ALSO figured they would be the same. I learned very quickly the difference. Especially if you are abusing it via snorting, crushing, eating ect. I am sure that is even worse.

This is just to let those people know out there that haven't taken it.........it is not the same and should be respected for that.

I just love to learn the hardway I guess. I read so much before the switch, yet STILL thought it would be just fine and I wouldn't have any problems. Well of course I was wrong...

I guess I will never listen, until I learn for myself. The hardway of course......

Chezz

by hellbent, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: Chezz
If you are crushing an OC 40 up, it is exactly like eating 8 percs, without the tylenol.If that is your daily dose, it should be identical to eating 8 percs. You have beaten the time-release of the pill and get it all at once, the same way you do when swallowing percs. Your withdrawal should be exactly the same as well.



Swallowing the dose...well I am not sure about that as I never did, except when I tapered. It is time-released when swallowed, and it's like an onion - layers peel off and distribute the stuff over 8-12 hours. Still, it's just oxycodone, and taking it in time relase fashion is like eating a few percs every few hours. I can't see any reason why withdrawals would be any different if one was taking equivalent amounts of either.

by Chezz2, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
Well it was for me, and that is all past. I haven't been on them for a while and I was only on them for a month and a half.

I didn't see ANY reason they would be different either. Yet they were. Could be for a variety of reasons, to include that every withdrawal period is different.

I was just passing along my version of what I went through with the meds and the differences I experieced. Especially since I have been well versed in taking percocet, yet that was the first time for oxycontin.

Chezz



My experience was that it was different with the withdrawals. That is the bottom line. Whether it "should" have been the same or not, it wasn't...

by hellbent, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: Chezz
Not trying to be argumentative, just feel compelled to add my 2 cents to everything today I guess.



I know that my w/d from opiates in general has gotten worse, the longer I have been on / off them. My body has changed somehow,and every Detox is worse than the last. I get addicted much faster and easier as well.



Hell for all I know, Lily, or whoever makes OC's, puts extra **** in them that will **** you up even worse.

by Rex1, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: SouthernBelle
Know your havin a tough time lately. Hope you have rounded the corner though...



Let us all know how you are doing...



Rex

by Jennibean, Dec 17, 2002 12:00AM
To: Chezz
I am in full agreement with you. I don't care if it is straight oxycodone it is different. I have withdrawn cold turkey from hydrocodone and percocet more times than I care to remember. The oxycontin withdrawal for me was a hell I never want to experience again. enough hell in fact that my Dr's have almost been begging me to go back on it and I refuse! Wish I could refuse the oxycodone, well I am working on that! My Dr even tried to tell me that the short acting stuff is usually more addicting etc. I have been through all of it and nothing I have ever been through even compares to the oxycontin. Although as someone else said if you are crushing it etc. it should be just like taking percocet. I took it the right way and because it is so long acting the withdrawals seemed to be as well. What happened was I was taking oxycontin and percocet at one point and the percocet withdrawal was severe for the first 4 days then because the oxycontin is so long acting the withdrawal from that seemed to start just as the percocet withdrawal would normally be easing up a bit. Double whammy sort of. All I know is I wanted to die. I went off oxycontin by itself as well and that was still a Hell I never want to liv