Aa
Dihydracodeine withdrawal
Hey guys,
I broke my wrist a couple of months ago and was discharged from hospital with tramadol and dihydrocodeine for the pain. I've come off the tramadol ok, but continued with the dyhydracodeine. My doc told me how addictive they were and I should come off them as soon as possible, so since I saw him a couple of weeks ago I've been cutting down. I halved my dose, from four 30mg tablets a day to two, and stayed taking that dose for about a week, and that seemed ok. Six days ago I went down to one tablet a day, and since then I've been experiencing symptoms like those described by others on this forum-- shivery but with hot flushes, sore throat, achey body, generally run down and yucky-- like flu or a cold.
I haven't taken a tablet today, and I don't want to. I'm worriying, though, about how I might feel if I don't. Am I doing this too quickly? Will I just feel **** no matter how long I take to cut it down? I suffer with anxiety and depression anyway, and don't want to risk making myself sink, but I really want to get off these things as soon as possible. I don't need them for the pain anymore, and know my doc isn't going to prescribe any more once these have gone.
Any input would be most appreciated,
Thank you,
Clarissa
I broke my wrist a couple of months ago and was discharged from hospital with tramadol and dihydrocodeine for the pain. I've come off the tramadol ok, but continued with the dyhydracodeine. My doc told me how addictive they were and I should come off them as soon as possible, so since I saw him a couple of weeks ago I've been cutting down. I halved my dose, from four 30mg tablets a day to two, and stayed taking that dose for about a week, and that seemed ok. Six days ago I went down to one tablet a day, and since then I've been experiencing symptoms like those described by others on this forum-- shivery but with hot flushes, sore throat, achey body, generally run down and yucky-- like flu or a cold.
I haven't taken a tablet today, and I don't want to. I'm worriying, though, about how I might feel if I don't. Am I doing this too quickly? Will I just feel **** no matter how long I take to cut it down? I suffer with anxiety and depression anyway, and don't want to risk making myself sink, but I really want to get off these things as soon as possible. I don't need them for the pain anymore, and know my doc isn't going to prescribe any more once these have gone.
Any input would be most appreciated,
Thank you,
Clarissa
yeah I like to call the first few days the surreal stage.
yeah, many here have often pointed out that aftercare and getting to the source of "why" we use is crucial. probably a good idea for you to scope out the other pages,like you said.
I sure wish I would have quit years ago, but now I have seemed to manage to finally quit and dont have any intentions on ever using again.
good luck and thanks for comming on board and sharing with us.
yeah, many here have often pointed out that aftercare and getting to the source of "why" we use is crucial. probably a good idea for you to scope out the other pages,like you said.
I sure wish I would have quit years ago, but now I have seemed to manage to finally quit and dont have any intentions on ever using again.
good luck and thanks for comming on board and sharing with us.
Hey There whitie an mr lucky, thanks for responding!
Isn't it amazing how natural things can mean so much when we're going through something? And a turtle! How cool is that! I've never seen one close up, and certainly not in the wild! I'm dead jealous!
The walk certainly did me good, but it's not over yet. I've had 2 more attacks, one last night an one this morning. My body's jerking all over the place, like somehting is locked inside and trying to get out. Feels like I've moved into a different stage-- and into territory that I'm familiar with.
I had therapy for years due to a **** childhood, and learned a lot about myself and how emotions affect me. What's happenening now is feeling familiar. It's fear. When I had my accident I was terrified. When I was in hospital I was terrified. And that fear was connected to earlier fear about being helpless when I was a child. But the drugs they gave me masked that, so the feelings never got expressed. They've stayed locked in my body. And now the drugs aren't there anymore, all that fear is free to come to the surface. I know from past experience that the thing to do is to express it however I can. Let it come. Although I expect a lot of people will have this experience when coming off drugs, it feels to me like this isn't the place to share that, because it's kinda covered under other topics, so I'm gonna move this along to another forum and continue there.
I really wanna thank you for letting me share here, and for your comments and support. It's meant so much to me to know that there's people out there who understand about this stuff, and has helped me feel like I'm not on my own.
I'm really aware of how minor my addiction has been compared to you guys. I can tell you though, that from my experiences so far, I have a whole new respect for anyone going down that road to get clean. The courage you guys have is just awesome. I want to wish anyone going through it the very, very best of everything in the life you're fighting so hard for.
My best warm wishes to everyone on the forum,
Clarissa
Isn't it amazing how natural things can mean so much when we're going through something? And a turtle! How cool is that! I've never seen one close up, and certainly not in the wild! I'm dead jealous!
The walk certainly did me good, but it's not over yet. I've had 2 more attacks, one last night an one this morning. My body's jerking all over the place, like somehting is locked inside and trying to get out. Feels like I've moved into a different stage-- and into territory that I'm familiar with.
I had therapy for years due to a **** childhood, and learned a lot about myself and how emotions affect me. What's happenening now is feeling familiar. It's fear. When I had my accident I was terrified. When I was in hospital I was terrified. And that fear was connected to earlier fear about being helpless when I was a child. But the drugs they gave me masked that, so the feelings never got expressed. They've stayed locked in my body. And now the drugs aren't there anymore, all that fear is free to come to the surface. I know from past experience that the thing to do is to express it however I can. Let it come. Although I expect a lot of people will have this experience when coming off drugs, it feels to me like this isn't the place to share that, because it's kinda covered under other topics, so I'm gonna move this along to another forum and continue there.
I really wanna thank you for letting me share here, and for your comments and support. It's meant so much to me to know that there's people out there who understand about this stuff, and has helped me feel like I'm not on my own.
I'm really aware of how minor my addiction has been compared to you guys. I can tell you though, that from my experiences so far, I have a whole new respect for anyone going down that road to get clean. The courage you guys have is just awesome. I want to wish anyone going through it the very, very best of everything in the life you're fighting so hard for.
My best warm wishes to everyone on the forum,
Clarissa
I figured you were overseas............. the drug you were prescribed is often used in the UK.
sometimes the first few days, can be interesting. like your in a different world or something........
I had a similar experience going through major WD's. on a miserable day three I drove up to a friends 280 acre ranch in northern michigan. hiked most of the day,all while pouring down sweat, and trying to forget about the wd's. went shooting rifles, and made a new friend........ a huge snaper turtle that was the size of a beach ball. he/she sat right by me, and had no fear!! I stared in amazement at this huge old turtle.
it helped alot, and I felt good that day........but unfortunately being along term user, the wd's took quite a few days longer to get me closer to normal.
sometimes the first few days, can be interesting. like your in a different world or something........
I had a similar experience going through major WD's. on a miserable day three I drove up to a friends 280 acre ranch in northern michigan. hiked most of the day,all while pouring down sweat, and trying to forget about the wd's. went shooting rifles, and made a new friend........ a huge snaper turtle that was the size of a beach ball. he/she sat right by me, and had no fear!! I stared in amazement at this huge old turtle.
it helped alot, and I felt good that day........but unfortunately being along term user, the wd's took quite a few days longer to get me closer to normal.
just get out while you can, before you graduate to norcos, oxys, methadone or even worse. then you wont be asking if its over yet!!
You should be fine. That is the weakest of all opiates even weaken than plain codeine but still addictive I guess to some degree. I glad you didn't get hooked on the ultram because they are harder. all the best
Hi again,
Day 4 and I've been going through it a lil bit. When I say that I immediately think of people who've been on these things for years and are coming off them. I really hope no one minds my writing about my comparitively minor difficulties. It's just that I'm pretty on my own with this and... well it helps to write.
Yesterday was just kinda miserable. I felt sick and didn't want to eat. Couldn't be bothered to do anything. Tummy still a bit iffy. Tired and uncomfortable. Headache. Par for the course over the last week or so.
Last night was really hard. I tried to sleep because I had an appointment with the physio at the hospital around midday, but I tossed and turned. I felt like I couldn't keep still. I ended up having a panic attack of sorts. It felt like there was this thing tying knots in my stomach and stopping me from breathing properly. My body does really weird things when I panic; I shake a lot and I get tremours in my limbs. I haven't had an attack this bad for a long time. It was quite kinda violent but it didn't last for long, thank goodness. I fell asleep eventually.
When I woke up I didn't ache as much, but I still felt like there was something inside me that was twisting me up and had to come out. I managed to get to the appointment, although I was late, and had to run. When I arrived I was completely out of breath and got all dizzy. I sat down to get my breath and started crying. I felt so overwhelmed. Jittery. Stupid. I saw the lovely physio. She's just a gem. I told her about coming off the painkillers and she was really sympathetic. Plus, despite everything, my wrist has still improved! Yay! I can move it 5 degrees further than last time!
When I left the hospital, I put some music on my mp3 loud and got on the bus. My body wouldn't keep still. I felt a huge surge of energy. Then I felt angry. It started to rain. I got off in town and spied another that goes past Holyrood Park, and got on it. 10 minutes later I was charging up towards the park, music blaring, in the pouring rain. For those who don't know, the park is basically the remains of an extinct volcano in the centre of Edinburgh. It's wild and rugged and open and usually full of people jogging or walking their dogs. Today though, it was all mine. The wind whipped round me and blasted the rain into my face and I loved it. My legs needed to march, my body needed to move, so I just let it happen. I strode along the sodden paths and raged. It was so... necessary. I climbed and ran (and I haven't run voluntarily in years!) and scrambled up to the top of the cliffs, stood there with arms out and yelled into the wind.
When I got home, I was drenched, exhausted, but now I can breathe better. I still feel... not right. But I'm calmer. I found I was hungry and had the energy to get some food together. I feel desperately tired and don't know if I can sleep. I'll try and wait til tonight, so I can get my sleeping back into some kind of rhythm.
Have I broken the back of this thing? I don't know, but if it's still ok, I'll let you know.
Thanks for reading,
Clarissa
Day 4 and I've been going through it a lil bit. When I say that I immediately think of people who've been on these things for years and are coming off them. I really hope no one minds my writing about my comparitively minor difficulties. It's just that I'm pretty on my own with this and... well it helps to write.
Yesterday was just kinda miserable. I felt sick and didn't want to eat. Couldn't be bothered to do anything. Tummy still a bit iffy. Tired and uncomfortable. Headache. Par for the course over the last week or so.
Last night was really hard. I tried to sleep because I had an appointment with the physio at the hospital around midday, but I tossed and turned. I felt like I couldn't keep still. I ended up having a panic attack of sorts. It felt like there was this thing tying knots in my stomach and stopping me from breathing properly. My body does really weird things when I panic; I shake a lot and I get tremours in my limbs. I haven't had an attack this bad for a long time. It was quite kinda violent but it didn't last for long, thank goodness. I fell asleep eventually.
When I woke up I didn't ache as much, but I still felt like there was something inside me that was twisting me up and had to come out. I managed to get to the appointment, although I was late, and had to run. When I arrived I was completely out of breath and got all dizzy. I sat down to get my breath and started crying. I felt so overwhelmed. Jittery. Stupid. I saw the lovely physio. She's just a gem. I told her about coming off the painkillers and she was really sympathetic. Plus, despite everything, my wrist has still improved! Yay! I can move it 5 degrees further than last time!
When I left the hospital, I put some music on my mp3 loud and got on the bus. My body wouldn't keep still. I felt a huge surge of energy. Then I felt angry. It started to rain. I got off in town and spied another that goes past Holyrood Park, and got on it. 10 minutes later I was charging up towards the park, music blaring, in the pouring rain. For those who don't know, the park is basically the remains of an extinct volcano in the centre of Edinburgh. It's wild and rugged and open and usually full of people jogging or walking their dogs. Today though, it was all mine. The wind whipped round me and blasted the rain into my face and I loved it. My legs needed to march, my body needed to move, so I just let it happen. I strode along the sodden paths and raged. It was so... necessary. I climbed and ran (and I haven't run voluntarily in years!) and scrambled up to the top of the cliffs, stood there with arms out and yelled into the wind.
When I got home, I was drenched, exhausted, but now I can breathe better. I still feel... not right. But I'm calmer. I found I was hungry and had the energy to get some food together. I feel desperately tired and don't know if I can sleep. I'll try and wait til tonight, so I can get my sleeping back into some kind of rhythm.
Have I broken the back of this thing? I don't know, but if it's still ok, I'll let you know.
Thanks for reading,
Clarissa
Wow, I didn't expect replies so quickly! Thank you! I will take your advice and just quit now.
I've just been reading the wealth of information that you suggested I read on here corey411. Full of helpful stuff. There's a lot there I can relate to-- I didn't know not being able to get off the toilet this morning for more than five minutes had anything to do with this! Have an almost constant headache too. I'm reeling a little from it all as there's a lot of info there to take in all at once, but I'll come back tomorrow and have another read.
In the meantime, I've just had a nice big bowl of meusli and a multi-vitimin tablet (with extra iron-- only sort I have in the house, but what the hell, it's vitamines right?) and am about to get into the shower for a nice long soak (wish I had a bath!) Looks like there are some things I should avoid, as I take an SSRI for the depression and anxiety, but if I have the energy, I'll go along to my pharmacist tomorrow and see if there's anything she recommends. Other than that, I'll be cramming fruit, veg, nuts and seeds into my diet as much as possible, and try to get out for a walk, though it's the last thing I feel like doing. I'm so tired all the time, but can't seem to stay asleep.
I'm astounded, y'know. No one at the hospital warned me about these drugs. The doc didn't warn me about withdrawal symptoms or how to combat them. Maybe I'm nieve, but I thought 'well, it must be ok for me to take these things because I'm in pain'. No one said to me 'come off them as soon as you can' until I saw the doctor two weeks ago. People around me have commented on how well I've dealt with my accident and the associated shock and other difficulties, but now I know it was probably just the drugs making me feel good. And they did make me feel good.
I suffer with pain in my body almost all the time and a lot of fatigue, brought on by the anxiety. While I was taking the drugs, that pain and constant tiredness vanished. It was bliss. Ok, so I had a lot of pain from the wrist, which I broke pretty badly, and the physio, and was pretty helpless for a while due to living alone and having to manage everything with one hand, but for once in my life, I felt almost 'normal' in every other way. I got a taste of what it must be like to be-- healthy, I guess, if you know what I mean. And it's so, so hard to let that go.
Mental health difficulties aren't like any other illness. Compared to what I live with every day, the smashed wrist and subsequent hospitalisation, the operation to have a plate put into my wrist to hold the bones together, even the pain-- all that was a walk in the park. It was definate, it was known about, and it showed on the outside. The doctors knew what to do about it and could tell me how long it would take to get better. People offered help from all over. I even have conversations with people on buses when they notice me doing my physio excersises. Anxiety and depression are different beasts. People avoid me. Doctors don't believe me. My life is very small and lonely and empty. Things I see other people dealing with all the time, floor me. Doesn't do much for my self esteem or sense of self worth. That's the appeal of these drugs, for me. They made me normal for a while.
I really hope this post won't upset anyone or make people relapse. Coming off these things is hard enough at my stage of the game, only having been on them for a three months or so. It must be ten times harder for people who've been on them for longer. The biggest incentive I have is to get control back over how I feel. I already have to go to my (pretty crappy) doctor to get my antidepressants, which I'm utterly dependent on, and live in fear that he's just going to take them away one day. I don't want him (or anyone else) to have any more power over me. I want to get myself off the dyhydrocodeine in my own time, before he takes those away and forces me to.
So, I'm on the road now. I feel pretty ****** but like you folks all say here, one day at a time, eh?
Thank you for reading, and thanks again for your comments,
Clarissa
I've just been reading the wealth of information that you suggested I read on here corey411. Full of helpful stuff. There's a lot there I can relate to-- I didn't know not being able to get off the toilet this morning for more than five minutes had anything to do with this! Have an almost constant headache too. I'm reeling a little from it all as there's a lot of info there to take in all at once, but I'll come back tomorrow and have another read.
In the meantime, I've just had a nice big bowl of meusli and a multi-vitimin tablet (with extra iron-- only sort I have in the house, but what the hell, it's vitamines right?) and am about to get into the shower for a nice long soak (wish I had a bath!) Looks like there are some things I should avoid, as I take an SSRI for the depression and anxiety, but if I have the energy, I'll go along to my pharmacist tomorrow and see if there's anything she recommends. Other than that, I'll be cramming fruit, veg, nuts and seeds into my diet as much as possible, and try to get out for a walk, though it's the last thing I feel like doing. I'm so tired all the time, but can't seem to stay asleep.
I'm astounded, y'know. No one at the hospital warned me about these drugs. The doc didn't warn me about withdrawal symptoms or how to combat them. Maybe I'm nieve, but I thought 'well, it must be ok for me to take these things because I'm in pain'. No one said to me 'come off them as soon as you can' until I saw the doctor two weeks ago. People around me have commented on how well I've dealt with my accident and the associated shock and other difficulties, but now I know it was probably just the drugs making me feel good. And they did make me feel good.
I suffer with pain in my body almost all the time and a lot of fatigue, brought on by the anxiety. While I was taking the drugs, that pain and constant tiredness vanished. It was bliss. Ok, so I had a lot of pain from the wrist, which I broke pretty badly, and the physio, and was pretty helpless for a while due to living alone and having to manage everything with one hand, but for once in my life, I felt almost 'normal' in every other way. I got a taste of what it must be like to be-- healthy, I guess, if you know what I mean. And it's so, so hard to let that go.
Mental health difficulties aren't like any other illness. Compared to what I live with every day, the smashed wrist and subsequent hospitalisation, the operation to have a plate put into my wrist to hold the bones together, even the pain-- all that was a walk in the park. It was definate, it was known about, and it showed on the outside. The doctors knew what to do about it and could tell me how long it would take to get better. People offered help from all over. I even have conversations with people on buses when they notice me doing my physio excersises. Anxiety and depression are different beasts. People avoid me. Doctors don't believe me. My life is very small and lonely and empty. Things I see other people dealing with all the time, floor me. Doesn't do much for my self esteem or sense of self worth. That's the appeal of these drugs, for me. They made me normal for a while.
I really hope this post won't upset anyone or make people relapse. Coming off these things is hard enough at my stage of the game, only having been on them for a three months or so. It must be ten times harder for people who've been on them for longer. The biggest incentive I have is to get control back over how I feel. I already have to go to my (pretty crappy) doctor to get my antidepressants, which I'm utterly dependent on, and live in fear that he's just going to take them away one day. I don't want him (or anyone else) to have any more power over me. I want to get myself off the dyhydrocodeine in my own time, before he takes those away and forces me to.
So, I'm on the road now. I feel pretty ****** but like you folks all say here, one day at a time, eh?
Thank you for reading, and thanks again for your comments,
Clarissa
Welcome and congratulations on your ability to cut back on your pills. When you taper and reduce the dose you should experience some wd each time. If you are down to 1 pill a day this is a good point to stop as you are just prolonging the inevitable.Even with a taper you will feel some wd just not as severe. You have only abused for a short time. Remember addiction is progressive and you need to find out why you wanted to mask yourself with pills. Read and learn as much about addiction as you can. At the bottom right of the forum click on Thomas Recipe and amino acid proticol. These are things that will help with wd and after. Also read PAWS 1 to learn more about what lies ahead. Good luck. Keep posting. It is just slow right now bc of the holiday.
You are at that point where your starting to feel crappy enough its probably worth it to bite the bullet and just keep on trucken if you have not taken one today .Most likely if you went down another half it would be almost as nasty and kind of prolong the WD . I think it sounds like you are doing a pretty good job .keep us posted we are here to help.
Avis
Avis
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