just wanted to update that I was not able to follow the taper schedule that I made. I dropped to 30 mg on Feb 12. broken up into 6 doses of 5 mg. So approx. every 3 hours daytime. I stayed at this level for two weeks. I felt sluggish and sick for about 4-5 days each time I tapered.
I am now ready to resume tapering and started yesterday
March 11 25 mg and beg. to stretch to 4 hours between doses of 5mg each
March 12 20 mg, so 5 mg every 4 hours
Its difficult I feel so sick and the burning pain in my neck and shoulders, I'm restless yet lazy and unable to focus on anything productive.
I haven't gone faster, as I don't have the strength to go through 3-5 days on the couch sick and not able to function.
I hope this works out :-)
Hello Charetti, are you saying that you also found the end of your longer taper getting more difficult and you "jumped' off like I want to?
If so, at how many milligrams did you stop and go through the rest....without?
How long did the uncomfortable symptoms last after your last dose?
Okay I am hearing that my taper schedule isn't really a taper....so I will listen to that as I know that you all know much more about this from the forums and shared experiences...
I think I learned last time I tapered that I just didn't get very far with the slow taper and was sick for 5 straight days each time I tapered., so if I tapered slowly I could end up being sick for 25 or 30 days.
Right now I'm getting sick and extra pain every 3 hours, which is making it difficult to go about life.....so I am going to try to not have anymore today and see how "ripping the bandaid" off goes for me..If it becomes too uncomfortable I will take 3 x .5mg today
I have been amazed at my strength, as I am traveling alone in a strange country and only know one person to have coffee with once in awhile. I must be getting help from above...and now some help from this forum...Thank you...
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Thank you and I will keep you posted..
Nice to hear that dominosarah..I think my mind has definitely been playing tricks on me..thank you for taking time to let me know this is possible and others felt the same things.
Your taper schedule is extreme and you would probably be tortured less by just going off all together. I tapered but only by 10% every week or so. Near the end I was decreasing every 4 days until I just couldnt do it anymore. I still had to detox, there is no escaping it, but it was much easier for me. It basically comes down to whether you are a 'rip the bandaid off' type or prefer a slow process with longer but lower pain.
Good luck and feel free to ask any questions.
If you want to avoid severe withdrawal symptoms you may want to rethink that taper schedule Marilyn. You've been on oxy for way too long to drop that fast in Mgs. You may want to consider adding about 5 days to a week at one dose before dropping to the next lower dose. Your plan is really not much of a taper at all, and your symptoms won't be any different than going cold turkey. If you want to taper you need to take your time to do it right. If you want off imediately than you'd be better off just stopping all together today than doing what you stated above.
You may feel more pain for awhile when you jump but for most of us our pain actually got better after we were off the meds. Hopefully that will be your case too. Our brains can play some pretty heavy games with us during this time. Keep us posted on how you are feeling sara