OxyIR patient now quiting and just starting the withdrawal symptoms

Hi, I hope I can make some friends on here and help you and you help me to get off our addictions. I will start by telling you an unbelievable story of my OxyIR addiction. I got in a car wreck , head on essentially. The airbag took my head off and jammed my jaw up into my face that within a couple of weeks from the wreck started the pain i lived with for about 2 years. I went to a Facial Pain Management Doctor and after MRI she diagnosed me as having destroyed TMJ discs. She was actually wrong but she was right to believe that I was in suicidal pain. I developed severe Hypertension from the pain and now take 3rd level drugs for blood pressure. So here is the unbelievable part. I required over 30 5mg capsules a day to stay out of pain. I was given this amount so I could stay alive and take it. From what I have read so far this number of pills a day is unheard of. So I am really scared. Right now I am trying to quit OxyIR on 12 pills a day and have just started developing the following withdrawal symptoms. Cold sweats bad, Terrible abdominal cramps. The shakes probably causing panic attacks which I have anyway. And I believe I am having neurological symptoms that I cant describe. Anger, depression, but the anger is what concerns me most. I feel like I am starting to loose my mind. Are any of the symptoms I have , you ?

[bandnmom]

They are all normal withdrawls syptoms (symptoms). They do get better in time though. Usually the 1st week is the worst part with the physical withdrawls.
Welcome to the forum. You have come to a wonderful place to get support nd help you threw this! Stick around and you will see all the wonderful people here. We truly are here for one another. I will be 9 months clean tomorrow and i know for certain i would not be if i wouldnt have come across this forum and stayed here for the support! So stay strong and good luck to you!!

[enemy48]

Ohhhhhhhhh......sorry to say, but more to come.  I'm not trying to discourage you, just prepare you.

While it's early, jump in the car and stock up on immodium, sleeping aids, headache meds, and maybe try to land a few anti-anxiety meds like xanix, valium or klonopin, and maybe a few script sleep pills like ambien, sonata, temazapam etc.

It doesn't really sound like you've ever detoxed before.  Please educate yourself by reading the health pages & getting ingredients for the Thomas Recipe.  Read a lot of posts here and try to be here with us as much as you can.

If you slip up, it's okay.........we've all been there.  But I do hope you can make it on a first try!

Best Wishes,
Pamela

[SGMike]

thanks for responding to me. Yea today in the freezing cold grocery store I felt like I was going crazy. I had to get out of there quick. What amazes me is that Doctors cannot help me with this thats why I went to the internet for help. Doctors sure can complain about the legal use of Pain meds but when it comes to getting off of them they dont seem to know anything. Some people even said I should change to the long acting Oxycotin. I dont believe that. I wouldnt do that no way. I purposely stayed away from that drug. I never even new I was taking Oxycotin in a fast acting form until recently. I was lied to inadvertently I hope by my Pain Doctor. Thanks and I will hang out here

[avisg]

you were prescribed 30 of 5mg tablets of what a day is my first question?

the12 oxy IR what strength were they ?

Yes you are having normal withdrawal symptoms .If you look in the health pages there is something called the Thomas recipe and the amino acid protocol both have suggestions of some things that will help with WD and after .Hot baths help.If you can get a hold of an electric blanket its great for aches and rls. You can get threw this the next week will be tough but you can do it .

[SGMike]

Hi, thankfully I take 4 milligrams of xanax a day anyway a day. You know the irony here. I honestly think if I explained my situation and asked to increase my dosage of xanax the doctors wouldnt do it. I am going to try and stay with the 2 bars a day and pray.
I have been able to sleep so far but I am JUST getting hit with symptoms so I am super green. I thought when I quit smoking cigarettes after smoking for 14 years was something to be proud of but that was a cake walk compared to this.

[SGMike]

I was prescribed 1000 5mg capsules of OxyIR which is Oxycotin fast acting form a month. I got on an indigent type program where I was able to get this for 25 dollars a month. Granted it saved my life. The pain I was in warranted that amount apparently.  But I am fixed now thank you God more than anything. I had to find a doctor across the country to properly get diagnosed and I just had surgery. I still have stitches in my mouth. I am so happy but never expected this severe of a withdrawal from the narcotics. thanks again everyone. I will make it one way or another. Thats just the kind of guy I am. But I am not ashamed to say I have already broke out in tears for unknown reasons. I think it was the panic attacks. They are so bad for me being that I have that disorder anyway.

[worried878]

well...sounds like u r determined to quit...bars of xanax?  r these prescribed as i know this as a street term here...niether here nor there but u r on ur way to being clean...ur symptoms sound normal and if u have not been on this dose for long..it will help...the xanax will have to be tapered tho if u decie to quit those....i skim read so forgive me if i misread anything..keep posting

[SGMike]

Hi, I have severe panic disorder. I have been on 4 milligrams of xanax a day for many years. I will never get off those because I need them. I dont need OxyIR anymore. the pain is gone. This is day 3 at 11:30am. I woke up with severe cramping. So I had to take 20 milligrams of Oxy to deal. I am currently making it on 12 pills a day. I used to take over 30. I used to not even count when the pain had gotten to its worst. I had a large amount of emergency supply at that time. I know today is going to be horrible. You dont want to be me. I will prevail.

[Mustang01]

I am there with you, I was in a MVA in 2003 and was Dx with all kinds of bone and joint disorders along with Fibromyalgia. I started off on Ultram, then Vicodin 10/500 for 4 years, now Avinza 60 mg QD and 6-10 tabs of 15 mg Oxys a Day for thr past year, I cut down to just the Avinza and1 tab of the 15 mg Oxy in 3 days and have not had any W/D symptoms since taking the Clonidine, tomorrow I will not take any Oxy and will have to go back to work after the 3 day holiday and I am not scared to go back to work now that I know I am not having W/D symptoms thanks to the Clonidine and the 1 mg Xanax, I take suppliments: Neuro-PS, Ginsing, Sam-E fro mood, a good B-Complex liquid, and for sleep I take L-Tryptophan and a blend called, "sleep pretty in Pink" and I am sleeping great. The Clonidine is for Hypertention but has been used succesfully in detox for opiates and methadone, as a nurse I was not sure about this until I seen it work in the hospital, so I thought I would give it a try over the weekend, and to my surprise it does work wonderfully, I have not had ay W/D symptoms so far, I was in a bit of a fog and felt very tired from the Clonidine but I got some good sleep..LOL,  Today  is day 3 and I feel great today, I went for a short walk to increase my endorphans this morning, I will go back to my pain Dr. on Friday for my scripts but I may continue to stay at a decreased does. Also the Clonidine has been used in Cancer patients for pain, so it helps with 3 things. Clonidine seems to be a good choice since it is not trading one addiction/dependency med for another. Good Luck and hold on, it can be a bumpy ride off the meds but we all need a little help now and then.

[SGMike]

This is my 3rd day of getting off Oxycotin. I am determined to stay at 12 5mg capsules a day until I dont feel any withdrawal symptoms. Then I will drop by 2 pills per week. Does this sound right? I am getting worse though. The withdrawal just an hour ago was almost bad enough to bring me to tears. Hunching over grabbing my stomach from the cramps. The cold sweats were starting and Panic big time. I made it home and took 3 more pills and I am ok now but I am wondering does anyone have an idea how long I will suffer like this on 12 pills?

[extrmeski]

WD's are horrible and if you haven't been through them you have no idea how even to describe them.  I've heard the flu on steroids but that doesn't even do it justice.  It's hard plain and simple.  I think if you could sleep through them it would be easier but no such luck.  Good luck to you and you may not feel like it but you are very brave stepping up understanding that you have a problem and facing it.  I don't think that people like you get the credit they deserve!  It's takes time, you didn't work up to the amount you are taking overnite!  From experience it's going to take a week to 10 days before your "suffering" starts to go away, and it will go slowly not an event...  
Good luck to you and to all of those who answered and are going through the same thing.

[SGMike]

oh my God read this.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2007-07-20-oxycontin-fine_N.htm?csp=34

I mean that makes me just that much more angry. I know the pills saved my life really because I trully was suicidal from the pain and my blood pressure was hitting emergency room numbers but I guess I had no alternative or did I? I didnt have the money to buy pain meds and Purdue sold me 1000 5 mg caps a month for a mere 25 dollars.
Unbelievable. Purdue should help me get off this medicine right?

[SGMike]

Its been a long time since being here. I now see that I looked for help back on 10-1-08 and I was suffering real bad still on OxyFast and by what I wrote at the least 12  5mg pills a day.

I finally got off Oxycontin the OxyFast type. Its been about a month now since an Oxy pill went into my mouth. I ultimately switch to now 3 x  7.5mg Vicodin a day. I am still cramping and it seems like I still have some residual withdrawal. Besides the cramping I still start slowing down to a crawl and can start sweating after walking 10 feet only sometimes though. So I guess I just have to wait and hope my body eventually becomes normal. It has been so SO hard to get off Oxy. I have been suffering through withdrawal like what I see in movies. People sweating and holding there stomachs. I now know why.

So to anyone out there that is either addicted to Oxycontin severely accidentilly or for medical reasons like me, It is a long hard road and you either die on the stuff or you get off and live. Ultimately that is the question. Good luck to everybody.