Leg Pain at night and morphine Withdrawel??

[tudey]

Hello I am taking 2 morphine long lasting 60mg of morphine for neuropathic pain.  But I was chewing it to get a better result and some days I took 3.  I am not proud of this but this is my life so far.  Now I have been given another drug divoprolex and it helps with the pain a great deal.  I wanted to ask anyone if you have ever heard of leg pain associated with tablets of morphine,  I woke up at night and my legs felt like they were on fire.  I have decided to go off of the morphine and have 16 left and I did it before with less though it is hard.  This is the third prescription I have had because they just did not have anything better to offer but the divoprolex is working well.  Or epival??  Please help with any information this would be most appreciated and any hints on how to make it easier going off these morphine pills.
Thank you to anyone in advance.
tudey

[josh231]

not sure whats up with it bumpin to the top so somone can answer

[worried878]

Is the only WD symptoms u are having the leg pain?  Restless legs are associated with opiate withdrawal..I di not have it but many do...I have read all kinds of therapies to help with it...you say neuropathic pain...r u a diabetic?

[mustanggt]

Hello, I am going through a  very similar situation as you.  I am on morphine too, due to severe back and neck pain from surgeries that I had 6 years ago.  I have been on the morphine for 5 years and am being forced to come off of it because my doctors office shut down.  I have noticed that when my back pain gets really bad, that my legs will hurt excruciatingly bad too.  My legs hurt down at the bottom near where my ankle starts.  The pain gets so bad that I find myself shaking my legs to try to get the pain to go away.  I have tried to explain the pain I feel, and the only way I can describe it is that it's like my legs feel like they have been cut off and where they have been cut off, they are on fire. Between the pain in my back and the pain in my legs, I cannot get off the couch or out of bed.  Thank god for laptops.  Anyways, I finally fell asleep after 41 hours of being awake last night.  I don't know where the leg pain comes from but I thought that I would respond to your post and maybe we could talk to each other about it.  Some support from someone who understands would be nice.

[1234betterlife]

if your pain is managed on the new medication i would suggest lowering your dose to one tablet and see how you feel. at that point you can make a better determination as to what your withdrawal symptoms are going to be and make a decision on how and when to discontinue the morphine. it sounds like the new medication is your best bet.

[earline]

I was in the hospital for 7 days due to a kidney and ureter surgery and placed on a morphine pca pump any time i wanted it well i wanted it all the time. when i got home they sent me percocet but i really dont like taking anything this is my 4 night of HELL when i lay down my legs jump i tried tylenol pm, muscle relaxers, but when i take 2 percocet guess what it stops I do not want to be addicted to this when wil this get out my system? Has any one else had this experience? Also my nose runs the 1st 2days i had dry heaves I know Im withdrawing at least that has stopped will this leg thing ever stop?

[Mikeinthesouth]

It takes awhile and also depends on amount and length of time using. It is not easy hang in there. Mike

[minlb]

i have been coming of morphine for a week now. i have a morphine pump but it malfunctioned, i am schedule to replacement surgery next week. for now i m on oxy 40 every 8 hrs but its not the same as the pump so i m in hell, itchy no appetite, crying , nose runny any smell makes wanna vomit, diarrhea and of course pain pain pain. i dont think i can do much of this no more, any ideas???

[danc325]

Chewing the 60mg  time release tablets can cause overdose and death, basically you are giving yourself 180mg all at once, the pill is designed to disolve in your stomach slowly penetrating internal coatings of the pill to give you the next dose at approx 4 hours, if you break them, chew them, or break the coatings in any way you will not get your later doses, and will experience withdrawel symptoms, such as restless legs, or chills, and sweats.  Talk to your Doc and be specific about your chewing them they can alter your dosing to give your body what it needs so you dont experience withdrawels-----Im serious you could die from respiratory failure, drugs have half lives, so they remain in your system if you chew them and have residual in your body, you might not wake up.   Good luck to you, Dan  

[MorphineDan]

I am a 45-yr old man who has withdrawn three times now from morphine used for a back injury, then shingles virus, then another back injury. I am also a BS medical technology and a MA Science/medical journalist.
The last time was the worst because i tried to get off the highest dose I ever took, 200-250mg long-acting pills per day for 3 months. My doctor tried to taper me from 200 to nothing in 2 weeks, but the muscle cramps and leg pain were too excruciating and I went back to morphine, then him. We discovered a 2-step taper was better. Off the long actings, first. Then he put me on a slow taper starting with 45 mg/day instant release 15 mg tabs dropping I/2 pill every 3 days. Took about a week and after I kicked completely for the withdrawal symptoms, particularly leg cramps, headaches, insomnia, fatigue, panic and depression, to relent. He also suggested taking cyclobenzaprine for the cramps and xanax for the anxiety. No artificial opiates, though, they only delay the inevitable. It took willpower, prayer, my therapist, and having my wife hide the pills to get clean.
I got morphine because Vicodin and other synthetic opiates did not work for me and had bad side effects like nausea due to inner-ear effect (I used dramamine for that successfully).
Doctors are divided on treatment of opiate addiction. Unlike some other pain or arthritis pills, opiates can be taken for years without serious side effects if taken as prescribed. However, the longer the usage and the higher the dose, the worse the side effects. Some who have been on morphine longer than 6 months or who inject or snort opiates get permanent brain damage which withers the cells which produce natural opiates. These people have the highest failure rate in withdrawal. Opiate replacement therapy supervised by an addiction clinic is really the only place to get Suboxone or Methadone. People with permanent brain damage to their natural painkilling brain cells have to stay on opiate replacement therapy for the rest of their lives. This applies for synthetic opiates like oxycontin, hydrocodone, vicodin, and percocet in some patients as well. It is nothing to be ashamed of.
Studies I have seen show many American patients are undertreated for pain due to doctor fears of addiction, malpractice suits, DEA checks on prescriptions and other risks. Doctors fear prescribing opiates for fear of these negatives as well as because some addicts/abusers fake pain to get these powerful narcotics. My doctor did not prescribe morphine for my back injury until I went insane and was a hair trigger shotgun blast away from suicide.
The main problem in withdrawal is most strong painkillers are based on the opiate molecule, which is almost identical to the body's natural opiate painkillers generated by the brain. In the presence of drug opiates, the bodies natural painkiller cells shut down and for some eventually wither away and die. These patients need either temporary or permanent opiate replacement therapy because the withdrawal symptoms do not go away completely at all, and so they relapse. That's Methadone or Suboxone. Thank God I never needed those drugs yet, but my heart goes out to those who do. Search this site and others for advice on dealing with withdrawal. Consult a doctor willing to help you or you are stumbling in the dark and risking relapse, depression,  or even suicide.
These patients need to go to an addiction specialist for this kind of therapy. Don't try to go it alone if you run into problems!