Cold turkey vs Tapering

[ArtisticLove]

Hi everyone. I'm not really sure where to start but I guess I'll just go straight into it. I've had migraines since I was a teenager that within the past four to five years have become chronic. Within those last few years my doctors have been prescribing hydrocodone to fioricet with codeine (not at the same time). I am -very- aware of how addicted I get to both of these but am absolutely terrified of getting off the pain killers because of the pain I have everyday. I have been taking either at about 4-6 a day.

I actually have gone cold turkey with these before, the symptoms were awful for a solid week but I was able to get through it. Once again I'm trying to get off these pain killers, whether or not I do actually need one to control my migraines and PCOS (horrible ovarian cysts) is still something I need to figure out  :/  I've been working very hard to look to alternative options for my migraines the past few months such as botox and nerve blocks but my insurance company doesn't seem to think they're effective for treatment despite research. So I'm sort of stuck and just not really sure where to go from here.

I have started to taper down the past week from two a day to one just yesterday and the symptoms of withdrawal have start to set in once again. Slight hand shakes, cold sweats to hot flashes, nausea, vomiting, extreme jitters to horrid fatigue. As I stated before, last time I went completely cold turkey (stayed that way for a solid month before my migraines got intolerable and I was taking ER visits 2-3 times a week) and I'm wondering if slowly tapering to half for the next day or so might relieve some of these symptoms to avoid total discomfort.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ArtisticLove]

To be perfectly honest I don't have one for the time being :/  I've had my migraines for so long I have a very high tolerance to pain and quite a few medications used to treat migraines.

I'm going to see my family doctor today so I'm hoping he may have a few ideas that would either get me onto something that doesn't have a pain killer or at least give me an extremely low dose along with something else to keep the pain at bay until I can get some of these other alternative options a try.

[ArtisticLove]

First of all thank you for replying back with a few ideas :} I am working in a very high stress enviroment where it would be extremely important that I don't have to leve every fifteen minutes to puke, so the tapering I have been considering more so since the last time that was all I really did for awhile. Then again having migraines thats one symptom I'm sadly used to as is. I have tried quite a few supplements before turning completely to pain killers and they never really seemed to work but at this point I'm willing to try anything.

As far as my cysts and hormones it's kind of a vicious circle with my migraines combined. My migraines are triggered by hormones so any kind of birth control would be out of the question until I can get a reign on my head.

I will be seeing my usual family doctor who prescribed my fioricet in the first place today and I plan on telling him whats going on. He's very understanding and compassionate so I'm hoping to see what ideas he has as well.

Again thank you

[hiwpew523]

I am in the middle of a taper off fioricet (without codeine). It was set up by my neurologist.  I think you will find your doctors are very helpful and copassionate if you call them for help.

Also, do you have somebody who is aware of your addiction?  If  so, maybe they can help you be accountable with your meds while you taper.

I'm sending you a private message so check you inbox soon.

Good luck. You can do this.

[TrayCee]

what is ur plan to control the pain after you come off the meds?

[Dividesbyzero]

One more thing, although the most effective pain management of any medical condition varys from individual to individual, I can perhaps offer some alternative suggestions. I have a close friend with Lymes disease that was getting terrible migraines daily that would put her in ER, like yourself. She would be prescribed narcotics initially for the pain, but was able to find some supplements that took care of her migraines and rarely if ever needs the opiates any more. I can find out from her what she uses. As far as the cysts go, I tried birth control for a while and when that didn't work, I saw several OB/GYNs that told me 'tough ****' basically and told me to take 1,000 mg Tylenol and 600 mg Ibuprofin every 6 hours. It did nothing but make me puke. I finally found one OB who suggested I take additional BC hormones ( Provera) temporarily- this is not safe hormonally for the long term so they gave me a one month supply every 6 months. After 2 weeks of taking it, my cyst pain was entirely manageable and even my Endo was better for several months. I went through hell over those cysts and almost gave up before one last ditch attempt of a $4 prescription was all it took. Once again, just some ideas... Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or just need some support.

[Dividesbyzero]

I would most definitely consider a taper vs cold turkey. It would seem that the most effective method depends on how psychologically addicted you are, which I understand may be hard to gauge. People opt for the cold turkey method when they just want to get the physical symptoms of withdrawal over and done with
ASAP... However, if the mental craving is still there, you will need the willpower to ignore the urge. This is why, especially for long term users, the taper method is more effective. A lot of people can't be incompacitated for a week or two so they need to be well-ish, also it gives you more time to psychologically adapt to life without them. At some point you won't be able to use any dose as a crutch, sure but in the mean time it's important that you don't throw yourself into shock and can slowly adapt to doing new activities in place of taking pills. It's amazing how addictive even the ritual of consuming them can be. I have heard it said many times- the pain of not having pills is often worse then the pain the person feels from the condition that brought them to narcotics in the first place. These are people who have had vertebrate smashed in their spine or a chronic condition like Fibro too... Not to make any one persons pain more or less legit. I personally experience ovarian cysts (several, that burst monthly, Endometriosis and IC (a disabling bladder condition) and I have been able to get myself down from a 300 mg/ Morphine or 150 mg/ Oxycodone per day to about 15 mg/ OC once, maybe twice per week. Let me tell you, there is freedom to being able to feel real pain again. It sounds like you have a plan, although I might suggest a slower taper- the more you can push it the better sure but I have heard a decrease of 10% every time you taper is best  and step down more after two days to a week of the new dose. Good luck to you! The taper method has definitely been the easiest to see through to the end of and I'm a big time advocate for it, however it is all about finding what makes you personally the most successful. <3