How much should I taper?

[shubunkin]

Hello, I am currently taking Xanax. I started taking 3/.5 mg a day. I have tapered now down to 2 and 1/4 pills a day. This has been done over a weeks period. The withdrawels have not been TOO bad except for the throat tightness and chest tightness. I am 28 years old and have been taking these for almost a year. I am also taking 20mg Paxil. How much should I taper weekly or should I say how much can I safely taper. I have read about seizures with this drug. Thankyou.

[sumeria]

According to my doc, percocet lasts 4 hours or so, so after the 4 hours you start withdrawal.  Percocet is not good to use to taper.

I traded him my percocet for a weeks supply of 10 mg oxycontin every twelve hours. After a week I was supposed to cut back to once a day.  What I did was increase the number of hours between doses to taper a little faster.  12 hours the 1st day 13 the next, 14 the next, etc.  

I just took one 10mg dose 25 hours after my last, when I get to 36-40 hours between doses, I think then I will stop, endure a bit of withdrawal for a few days.  I think Purdue Pharma should make a 5mg tablet for us who want to taper of this medication.  If you divide the tablet, the dose does not last 12 hours, because breaking it breaks the time release function.

The doc also prescribed 300mg a day of Wellbutrin, but I really don't know if that is doing anything or not.  I started at 12omg a day and stopped 100 of it all at once and was taking 4 percocet a day until I went to the doc.

Good luck.

[madeline]

Hi everyone,

Well thanks to saveyourself (Greg) I am
at this site.  Hey I need some help here.
I am currently on 12-15 percocets a day.
I am going to try the taper method, as I
cant go in a detox at this time.  (if this
doesnt work I will then HAVE to go in one)
But what I am trying to find out is, how
should I taper.   Should I drop one a day
or two a week.  I have felt the beginnings
of the withdrawals, and I am 50 yrs old
and dont think I could handle cold turkey.
I have an 11 year old and a 13 yr old and
need to be able to function.  anyone who
has done this please let me know how it
worked.  I desperately need to start NOW>

Meantime I just keep reading around.
thanks so much and you all  be blessed
and hope I can help you guys out somehow.
Love Madeline

[sumeria]

I was up to 120mg a day of oxycontin. I cut it to 20mgs a day abruptly. I went through a week of depression and feeling like I had a horrible flu.

I could not kick the 20mgs a day.

I finally went to the doc and he prescribed 10mg of oxycontin twice a day for the first week with 300mg of Wellbutrin, 10mg once a day for the second week, then stop altogether. I kept a chart and actually spaced out the 10mg dosages, 12 hours the first day, 13 hours the 2nd, 14 hours the third, 16 hours the 4th 10mg dose, etc. After the 4-5th day I was not waiting until it was time to take the dose. I am at 26 hours now and hope to be free relatively painlessly soon. I hope this helps.

[teeitup]

your not alone, lean on this forum. if your going to use try and do as little as possible. hang tough were all thinking of you!

teeitup!

[Rex1]

I feel for you bud. Hang in there. I have been there and it is no fun.

It is very often that moments like this, which appear dark, are actually reflected upon as the turning point for tremendous change in ones life.

Over and over I hear stories about how the darkest of days spawned a new beginning that folks never thought was possible. I know this probably sounds like physobabble but it isn't.

(Tony Robbins book, Awaken the Giant Within discusses the lowest point of his life, when he was a janitor in a large sports arena. He later flew into thaat very arena on his own Jet helicopter to speak, on top of the world a multimillionaire, with that moment the decisive changing point in his life!)

You will feel bad, but it WILL pass, along with the withdrawals too. You have to know now that your mood will be better once this passes.

All things happen for a reason, imo. But many times that is not helpful and doesn't make you feel any better. The only thing I know to do is to pray for you and ask God to make His plan known to you...

God's Grace to you...

Rex

[sharonver]

Hang in there!!!  It is tough dealing with these kind of issues alone.  I know you miss her.  I have to deal with these alone also because my finace' just wouldn't understand. Just remember we will be there for you.  Life does get better.

Sharon

[nomoreoxy]

How can I deal with this without my girlfriend.  We were together for so long.  She was my foundation, my inspiration.  Well I'm going to need to put off being a quitter.  Sorry guys.  Pray for me...  I can't believe she's gone.  It hurts soooooooooooo much.

[nomoreoxy]

Now my girlfriend has left.  Now I really feel lost, alone, scared, vulnerable.  It's hard to "choose life sometimes.  The worst ******* christmas ever (once again).  Happy Birthday Jesus.  I know you love me.  Can't wait to feel the familiar ***** and leave the pain behind me.kdjlsakj,

[Thomas02]

If I needed some Valium and my regular doc wouldn't put out, I'd walk into an urgent care with severe lower back pain. I'd say I strained it helping a friend move into his apartment. I'd say I just started a new job and my medical insurance doesnt kick in for 3 months so I have no regular doctor to see. I'd say I've had these back epsiodes on and off my whole life, but I don't want to take pain pills. A little bit of Valium and some rest has always worked before (it's a muscle relaxant). If the doc tries to offer you Flexeril (aka 'dogshit'), tell him you've been prescribed them in the past and they knock you out like an overdose of antihistamine and didn't do much for your back anyway. Chances are, you'll walk out with some Vals. Use a different pharmacy, different chain or private pharmacy. Just trying to help you get what you need to detox, because going from oxy to morphine isn't going to get you where you want to go. Good luck.

Thomas

[Rex1]

Ok, so you relapsed.

Now, recommitt yourself, reminding yourself that each time will be harder.

Try and think about your thoughts immediately prior to the thoughts when you took the Morp, and avoid the situation you were in if possible.

Good luck, and we're pulling for you.

Merry Christmas...

Rex

[teeitup]

Don't beat yourself up to bad, we all back slide a little. Hang in there and just keep trying, this week is going tough for me too. Christmas with the in-laws, several other functions, it will be a miracle if i don't reach for that little extra booster.

Your doing fine, just keep plugging away!

teeitup!

[nomoreoxy]

Thanks for replying Thomas02.  I don't smoke weed anymore, haven't for a few years now. It makes me think and overanalyze too much-- drives me nuts.  This sucks, I relapsed already, It's barely been a week.  This time I managed to stay away from the oxy.  Got my hands on 90 mg of Morph.  I feel like such a piece of **** for doing it.  At least it wasn't Oxy, the effects are different.  It doesn't activate me like the oxy did.  But that warm, content feeling....  Sometimes I think that if I was rich, I wouldn't have to stop, that I could live indefinately like this...  The ultimate solution for me would be to erase myself or remove myself completely from where I can access this beautiful/horrible stuff.  Need to talk to you guys.  Hope your doing better than me.

[Thomas02]

If you can't get any Valium or other benzos (no friends or family with any laying around?), I recommend smoking some of that good island weed along with some Valerian root capsules. If you use the Valerian, compare ingrediants. The Valerianic acid is the active ingrediant. Buy the stuff with the most Valerianic acid content for best results. Good luck.

Thomas

[Thomas02]

Hi Dee,

You can send a hotmail pseudoname. It won't matter. The message will still have your personal IP in the message header. Let me ask the EZOP for that forum what he's doing about new members first. Hopefully, the handful of morons that have been wasting our time on this forum are getting bored and will soon be moving on. But that's just a wish of mine. Unfortunately, both addiction and stupidity are eternal. Fortunately, they're seldom found in the same poster.

Thomas

[oldtimer]

glad to hear back from you..the only thing you got mixed up is I'm the wife, but hubby's doing just as 'bad' as me...it's funny how the older I get, I can remember the past like it was yesterday, but I can't remember yesterday! lol..what happened was i was without a PC for a very long time, and I lost everything, names, addresses, ect, so when I finally got back online it took me awhile but I finally found this site again, only I only recalled a few names, one of course which was yours..
I'll gladly get to know some of these people here, I'm sure your a great bunch also, any help I can get and give is a blessing either way..when you say you need my email addy, what is it you need, I have my internet through my cable company, so I have a 'main' email address, but I could also get an email address from hot mail or or another...tell me which one I need to give you, and do I write it here? why this is driving me nuts I can't tell you, but I have been picking my brain trying to remember other things from the old group and I can't for the life of me remember that woman's name..the one with the daughter, do you remember her name? take care...everyone I hope and pray today will be a good day for all
Dee

[nomoreoxy]

Thank you so much everyone for responding.  You have no idea how much it helps.  None of my "friends" (including my "girlfriend") have any idea what its like and its hard to get by without talking to someone who knows.  Thanks guys, I did get the Thomas recipe, but doctors in HI. won't prescribe me the clonodine/benzo because of the "substitution" effect.  Bastards.  The Docs. I've talked to here have no experience with opiate addiction.  Out here meth is at a horrible epidemic-- trouble in paradise.  Anyone heard about using Kava for withdrawls?  It's about the closest thing to a anxiolytic that I have access to.  What kind of vitamins/supps. can I take to help?  I've heared about the b6 and l-tyrosine.  Thanks again, you don't know how much this means to me.  (p.s. I have'nt cried in 6 years I've cried about 5 times a day for the past 6 days).  Aloha.

[Thomas02]

If I had incontrovertible proof of who it is, or who they are, I would not hesitate to denounce them. But I don't want to do someone an injustice over an educated guess. Ultimately, I must agree with you. Within the limits of this forum, help should be offered to all who apply. Take satisfaction where it can be found and give your disappointments up to something greater than yourself. "Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration."

Thomas

[Rex1]

Well, thanks....I think ;-). What was this persons handle, and will they be able to show back up here and post again?

I have been thinking, there seems to have been several folks that have left the site for good over this weeks "discussion" thread. Which can really only mean one thing - that they have put having their feelings hurt over helping the folks that arrive here everyday.

I guess I am so thankful for all the help that everyone here has given me, including those mentioed above, that I feel obligated to help anyone showing up here looking for answers. I am no expert, nor a medical pro like BodyMech, but I am currently a success story. (one pill away from a relapse story as well) But I hope that is worth something to someone. It can be done - 4 weeks on Wednesday...

......I still have alot to learn so hopefully everyone will cust me some slack when I over-do it! And I reiterate - I am just another addict that comprises this rag-tag bunch of forum members.

Thanks for your guidance over the last month...it has been invaluable.

[Thomas02]

Anyone can create as many handles as they want on Med Help and use them to hold banal conversations with themselves. Unfortunately, the site needs to control access at the IP level, that is, the internet address of your individual computer. There are people that derive pleasure from slashing someone's tires, and, I guess, there are people that entertain themselves by insulting those of us on the forum that ernestly seek to help our fellow addicts. For what it's worth, Rex, I know you're one of us. No one could make up the posts you do LOL!

Thomas

[Rex1]

Thomas,

I am still quite lost on this issue of someone not being who they said they were.

I would like to know so I can avoid this myself..

Rex

[Thomas02]

Hello, my friend, I do indeed know you. You certainly proved you know me! How are you and your wife doing? You couldn't have fried your brain too much to recall all those details. I will see what I can do to get you onto a forum where everyone is who they say they are. This will require an e-mail from you so that your IP address can be checked against current members and non-members known for playing these idiotic games. Sorry I doubted you, but I'm sure you understand.

Thomas

[oldtimer]

forgive me, I don't remember your handle at all, refresh my memory for me please,take care
Dee

[oldtimer]

I was here back when all that **** was going on with a person named if I remember correctly "spook" I'm the one that you told me one time that there is a hospital bed with me and my hubby's name on it, I will tell you that we have not slowed down with the pills for over 3yrs,so my memory is really bad! I'm the one that had the heart attack,remember that wonderful lady who used to come here not for herself but for her daughter who had a bad heroin habit, damn! I can't remember her name! anyway, are all the oldtimers from that time on another site together? I remember that you really wanted to get clean, didn't you have like a 30yr habit with dervacets? didn't you have some seizures due to xnax..maybe I got you mixed up with someone else, I don't think so, but like I said, the only thing I've done is fry my brain more than before...do you remember me at all? take care
Dee

[oxic]

Rex you are a Hydro not an Oxy.....