Opiate withdrawal

[Andy19642003]

I have been prescribed opiates for nearly 20 years now. I take Diconal - a synthetic opiate - and have done so since  1991. I started with 10 tablets per month for migraine but have taken 68 tablets per week for many years. The tablets last until Sunday and I get a new prescription on Tuesday evening. Monday and Tuesday are awful. It is the restless leg syndrome that makes me crazy - I feel like I want to run a marathon.

I would love to give these up but I have had migraine for 25 years and it is the only thing that works for migraine. It is a real quandary, I dont want to take these tablets because it dominates my life, but I cannot stop taking them because the migraine would wreck my life. I hold down a stressful job and work long hours but I couldnt do so if I had to put up with the migraine because I cant treat it with the Diconal.

My specialist says it would take me a month in hospital to give up the opiates and clean them out of my system, but my body does not produce endorphins so I have no natural pain defence, and there is no guarantee that I will start producing them properly. Also, once I give up the opiates I cant take any painkillers for 2 - 3 years, but for 66% of people giving up the pain medicine does not result in any noticeable reduction in migraine. So if I go with my specialilst I will be living 2-3 years with an untreated migraine problem. I cant face that and couldnt continue to function like that.

I have 2 days a week when I dont take the opiate because I have run out. These two days are quite difficult and I would love to hear some suggestion as to how to deal with the restless leg syndromw which completely drives me crazy.

[krissy30]

Ask your doctor about Midrin, my mother and I have been taking it for several years, it is the only thing that will help our headaches, besides Isollyl (which I later found out contains a barbituate).  Midrin supposedly has the potential to be habit forming, but they say that about every drug now-a-days.  I have never gotten high off of midrin and the amt of "addictive" drug in it is so minute that you'd have to take a huge amt of midrin to feel pleasantly high.  It will sometimes make you drowsy.  For instance if you are drinking w/ it (which your shouldn't drink w/ meds anyway) or if you are on other certain meds.  But it's a slight drowsy feeling, not a pleasant feeling to qualify as a high.  It is non-opiate, non-narcotic used for migraines.  Please feel free to do a "google" search on this med.  It may help w/your migraines.  

Nothing else seemed to be helping my mother or I with our migraines, not even opiates.  So, your doctor may be willing to let you try this.  The fact of the matter is, that you are becoming tolerant to opiates, and the amt it takes for you to cure your migraine is insane, your doctor is worried that you are abusing them.  

I have been an opiate abuser/addict for almost half of my life.  I will tell you the reality of pain meds.  They start you out on the smallest weakest possible b/c it is quite natural for the body to build a tolerance for opiate based pain meds.  

For example, my mother suffers from chronic, incurable pain diseases.  They diagnosed her at about 30 and started her on Ultram along w/other meds.  The ultram became unaffective. then they put her on 20mg OC 2/day....and so on...She started the Oxycontin about 12-13 years ago, slowly they had to keep upping her doses.  She is now on 80mg 3/day of Oxycontin.  Her next step after the highest dose of Oxy will be Fentanol patches.  Because she is only 50 she is reluctant to do this....she knows that she will be on these meds for the rest of her life, so she doesn't want to get increases until absolutely necessary.  My mom doesn't abuse her scripts at all, in fact when she doesn't take her OC, she doesn't even exp, any w/d symptoms.  If you take your meds as directed and take them for pain and not too get high it makes all the difference.  

My point is this....they are concerned about what you will have to do in the future after building up such a tolerance.....they really don't want to hav to put people on morphine daily for migraines.  This is the doctor's concern.

Please check into other meds for your migraines, especially the Midrin, it works wonders.  If that doesn't work try Isollyl.  Like i said, it does contain Barbituates, but in low levels.  Just be careful, unfortuanately our bodies have the tendency to become tolerant and addictive to many kinds of meds.  Good luck!

[stilltrying1965]

Rls is all part of w/ds if you go two days without Diconal cant you go another 5 and you will be over the physical side of w/ds. I hear what you are saying about the migraine but would it not be better to be opiate free and try somthing else for the migraine Only a suggestion The rls will go away but its one of the last to go and its a real pain in the butt I wish you all the best in what ever you choose to do sorry i could not give you the answers you need Good luck,,,,,,,,,James

[TroubledDude]

It's very natural for our bodies/minds to become tolerant to the levels of opiates prescribed. Even if you do not abuse them, this is the reality of these pain medications. Can you talk to your Doctor and have him/her increase the prescription dosage, quantity or even the pick-up intervals at the pharmacy?