Severe withdrawals, how long?

My husband had surgery back in July (sinus) again in October. All the while being prescribed Oxyco. Splitting headaches started a month after the first surgery, thats why they did the second surgery and cleared out everything possible. Still the splitting headaches so more oxyco. With lowered dosages, body aches, restless leg is wose (he already had that) But now, he has tried to taper off them completely several times. Each time we go through hell.
He was off them for 2 solid weeks at the longest and head splitting, pain everywhere, joints back, all over. He found a few from somebody but they were such low dose that one a day is doing nothing for the pain. Is it possible to be in such agony for more than 2 weeks over this? A month maybe? Has anyone experienced such terrible severe pain?
He went through a bottle of ibuprophin in a couple of days during the time he was trying to quit. Now he will be out again, though I don't know if he can be any more miserable than he already is. He groans all night, when he CAN sleep, can barely move to tie his shoes, his head is just splitting. I am so afraid it will jeapardize his job! Not to mention aggravate his high blood pressure!
What is this Thomas Recipe I keep hearing about? I do give him vites but maybe there are some others he needs.
He has made a Dr appt but I am so afraid the DR will just give him more of what he needs to get away from. (It is not the Dr. who did the surgery and prescribed them)  Hopefully there is something he can give him to make this pain
endurable. It is killing us both. Someone please tell me, there is light at the end of this tunnel. WHEN can he expect to STOP HURTING???????

[cathy5841]

i am sorry he is hurting and i am glad he is going to the dr.  most get over the hard part in a week or two.  he may have other issues he didnt know was bad cuz he took the pills.  the thmas receipe is good.  it is in the health pages.  look at it.  you need to make sure he tells the dr he is addicted to the pills. he maybe able to give him something to help.  keep us posted and good luck to you both

[swtbreezie]

Hi  and welcome to the forum!  I think the pain receptors in the brain can no longer kick in when you are on meds and the natual stuff can't help so when your body gets clean it does kick back in and the pain is so much less I know it was for me and going on 2 months.  Please tell him to hang in there the worst should begin to get better.  YES there is light at the end of that long tunnel!
swtbreezie

[spackle]

Pain is a tricky thing and very complicated. I would go see a doctor to make sure there is not more to his pain than withdrawal considering his sinus problems and former surgery.

[Keynote]

He has been back to his sinus Dr. umpteen times he has given him a clean bill of health as far as that goes. Thank everyone for giving me hope. 3 weeks then, max for the really bad withdrawals? 14 days? He was almost THERE then his brother, trying to be nice gave him a few. ( I am sure he didn't know he had a problem )But they have just aggravated it, if anything, they were very low dose. Now its worse then ever but he's been through a lot of stress with his oldest son on top of all this. UGH

Thanks again for your support. I just wish Doctors would not prescribe that stuff for months at a time, it says it's for temporary only. I have never seen anything like this.
OH now, his DR. says he can't get in for a month!!  I guess we'll have to find somebody else.. What KIND of Dr. could be most helpful with this?

[spackle]

I know how frustrating it can be when someone is in so much pain and no one can seem to help. I have been suffering from chronic pain for years. Is the doctor he is seeing a pain specialist? If not you might want to give that a shot. There are things other then narcotics that he might be able to offer. Another doc you might want to consider is a Neurologist. There is something called referred pain in which pain from one part of the body can show up in another. He could have nerve damage from his prior nasal surgery. When I had my back surgery I was great for an entire year, then WHAMO!! All due to nerve damage and scar tissue. One drug that helped me a lot is one called Nuerontin. It is not a narcotic and I believe it works on pain receptors. Obviously I am not a doctor and I dont know if what I am saying has any relevance at all for you, but I know what pain is and what a maddening prison it can be for both patient and loved ones who feel helpless. Best of luck to you and youre husband.

[Keynote]

Yes thank you so much, I'll write that down. He seemed some better last night. Oh I hope he is getting closer to the end of this but still has a ways to go.

I thank you so much for your caring words, just being able to talk has helped me a lot.

[Keynote]

Every day he seems better now.. Thank God.

I am hoping he can stick with it. Sleeping better too now.

Thanks everyone.

[thisissohard]

I stopped taking Oxy because I knew that when they would start to wear off, I would be in pain, all over my body, and I built up a tolerance to them very quickly.  I changed to norco, which I am off now, but even changing from one opiate to another, the pain from WD's of Oxy was tremendous.  It is a side affect and nothing else, the pain will let up once he has it out of his system, it took me about a month to not be in pain just from the oxy wd's.  tell him to hang in there, it gets better, and to stick with it, it's easy to relapse.  I refused because I didn't want to go through the wd's ever again!

[poetrygirl1960]

Oh I can only imagine, but that kind of pain (facial) could be horrific.  There is someone here who knows a lot about tapering and gave someone an excellent taper schedule yesterday, hopefully they will see this.  Sorry can't remember who.  He might be tapering too sporadically, taking the pills then trying to stop too fast, too much.  He may just need a slower, more consistent taper.

[Shotrock]

Agree on the WDS not going through that again!   Day 21