Tapering off hydrocodone

Hi peeps. Here's the rundown: me and hubs been taking hydro/percs for a few years. Recently we've been up to 6-10 10/325mg. each a day. We want to taper since we have no insurance, no $ for rehab and kids to take care of. 1) is this possible? 2) is it safe?. I get 90 7.5/750mgs on the 15th of each month and he gets 120 10/325mgs on the 4th of each month. Can someone give us a good taper down method that will work for the both of us? I also have a rx of clonozapam that I'm gonna refill for help to sleep. Is anyone out there? I'm scared to death of w/d and having to still be "here" for my kids. Any advice would be great.

[IwillDoThis]

Hi and Welcome - I am on Day 11 of jumping off a dose I had taperd from 3-4 per day down to 1 and then I stopped.  If you can wean with the help of your doctor that is always best.  You can click on my name view my profile and a few of my past posts which will give you detailsof how my detox has been.  How old are your kids?  When you do stop within about 24 hours you will "come down with the worst flu of your life" and be sick for several days.  That may just be the best way to address it with your kids for now depending on your individual situation.  This board has been a great source of support and information to me through the past 12 day.  Post often and you will be supported here.  I'm here all day, then I'll be gone until 2/25 and I will be hoping to see you two weeks hydro free when I get back.  You guys CAN do it.

[MikeInFrance]

Some other people will lend their advice from personal experience but with children maybe it's not the best idea to both do it at the same time. The downside of that is that you will both have access to a large amount of pills and that's really hard to taper with...especially both of you. Sorry if thats not so helpful but hopefully someone else can respond as well.... The important thing is that u both want this and that's the first huge step!

[IwillDoThis]

I agree Mike, thats why I was asking how old they are.  I thought about it and on one hand if one is detoxing the other isn't - there could be temptations and enabling, if they both detox together who will care for kids (how old the kids are will probably dictate how you do this).  I hope someone with some personal experience in a double detox will weigh in here.  I think it's good to recognize these questions and think about the pitfalls either way - having a strategy and thinking about how to execute a plan is always important to have success.

[CupCakeStar]

Thank you guys! We have a 12, 4 and 2yr old. I was thinking of just doing one at a time so one of us is not sick to handle the kids, but then the temptation of knowng the other one has them will be hard. They give me energy, if that sounds weird being an opiate, and I'm scared ill be so lazy without them in my life. Not to mention the restlessness and irritability, those 3 are the scariest to me. We also have a bunch of suboxen but I've heard those are harder to get off than the opiates themselves. We are out today and only took 1 each, im kinda hoping we get some more bc I'm scared if we both just stop bc we can't get any it will only be detrimental to ourselves.

[bama88]

welcome....we cant give tapering advise...against forum rules...i understand your concern both myself and hisbamd had a huge hydro problem we got up to 20 a day...oh my...anyways we jumped cold turkey....off of oxycontin and morphine...so im not aware of tapering...usually tapering means you take less and less..something i could never do. too hard. most addicts cant taper. me i would cheat and take too many. some other people will know more about taperimg.

i wanted to say hello...your not alone. lots of people are in the same shoes you are. were all here to support one another. we dont judge..altho we do get tougj with one another at times lol...but only to help.

i applaud your desire to stop now. myself and husbamd used for 8 long years. 8. so stop while you can. i wish we would have turned around with the hydros. i promise you. i would run out so often and always early...then we started buying and found ourselves at pain management. and more powerful drugs. please please stop now!! its friday..and if you quit cold turkey about 3-4 days of flu like symtoms (symptoms)...i did a hard detox off of oxies...im by no means making fun of you when i say i could do a hydro detox standing on my head at that amount...im trying to show you the progression of this disease... the longer u use..the worse the deotox...have you ever ran out early? we did..and muddled through only to get sucked in more. we used to detox monthy off of hydros. and i wish 1000 times we would not have picked up scripts and go back to doctors...we had to go to rehab to stop. how awful..


i promise you you can do this...either way. but whatever way YOU choose get off the junk now. i was a dummy...i let my addiction rule my life..lost a new car...im in fincial ruins.  from the bottom of my heart i beg u to stop. and reclaim your life.



i dont mean to scare you. no. i want to help you. i will support you..whatever you choose...im almost 90 days clean and finally things make sense...i am so PROUD of you for just asking for help.

[IwillDoThis]

Sounds like you will definitely have to get a plan - you don't need to answer these questions but think about them and be honest with yourself:  If one of you is detoxing and the other isn't here is what I worry about 1) one of you gets a sneak peek what you are in for 2) having the pills in house during detox is not a good idea 3) is the non detoxer going to be strong enough to NOT give in to the detoxer?  Is detoxer going to get mad at non detoxer?  In a best case scenario you have a friend or relative watch your kids over the weekend and you just both go off, flush everything you have, hunker down for the worst flu of your life and just get through this.    Seriously as Bama said NOW is the time to stop - the longer you use them, the more you take the harder it is.  I promise you two very sick days and then every day gets a tiny bit better.

If you have no options whatsoever for the kids I guess your 12 year old could help babysit the kids.  I just feel like it's probably both at once - get it over with but of course that is only my personal opinion.  

There are so many great people on here who have 10, 30, 60, 90+ clean on here and they will help you.  Set your mind to do this first and foremost for yourselves and then your kids.

Yes it is quite common that opiates give you energy - you will see that is why most of us kept taking them but I promise that feeling DOES eventually fade - it did for me at least.  Just made me kind of blah to everything, wasn't working for pain, no longer gave me energy they were just making me sick and I didn't even realize it.  PLEASE stop now before you get too far down this road.

BE STRONG.

[CupCakeStar]

You guys are seriously the best. I'm so glad I found this site. Is going CT dangerous?

[IwillDoThis]

I'm only in my baby phase of being clean but based on what you said there are people on this board who have jumped off much higher doses of worse pills than hydros and although your detox may be intensified a bit I think you are still in a place where you could just jump off and be done.  I won't lie this isn't going to be fun but it can be done.  I know I must be careful about feeling too confident and I must be guarded but for me once I made my mind up to do this, taking another pill just isn't an option.  I don't crave them, I feel so released in stopping, truly.  As I sit here writing this I am sorry I didn't come to some consclusions earlier - I held on to the pills because I was afraid of pain.  Letting them go has almost been a relief.

Hot showers helped me tremendously - I was in the shower every hour on the hour for about 15 minutes - that was the only time I got relief.

Put towels over your sheets so when you sweat rather than changing sheets (which you likely won't have energy to do) you just pull the towels off.

Aggressively use immodium to stop the poos - every time you hit the head take an immmodium - after about 5 tablets I got it under control.

Drink lots of water, gatorade etc.

Set your mind to it and do it!  We are all pulling for you

[almostfree]

i haven't read everyone's advice but i can give my advice that my husband and I had from personal experience . My husband was taking aboout 6 opiates a day and i was taking up to 10 or more in a day , percs vics , norcos ..pretty much anything . We did it on the weekends and then it turned into just a night thing well after several years of this we eventually stated taking them all day for 5 years , we spent way to much money started fighting nonstop , and it got to the point that we were going to divorce ,until we both decided our family is worth more then that life . i have a 3 year old , 10 and 7 year old . We quit cold turkey 38 days ago , we got tons of vitamins and did it together , it was very helpfull to lean on him durning this because he wasn't as bad as me . It was not easy because i am a stay at home mom and had to sit here during the day by myself and all i thought about for the first 5 days was how bad i wanted a pill and i thought taking care of the kids was much funner on opiates . Anyways we got thru it together , take baths , vitamins , and lean on eacthother and get it over with . I can tell you it was the best decision of our lives , we are so happy and inlove again ! i cried for 3 days and felt like the biggest piece of crap and he patiently delt with me . the sleeping was the worst part for both of us but it slowly gets better each day , you have to really want to be done with the opiates and set your mind to it because it is a huge mind game . I wish you both all the best and want to let you know that it is possable and you will be so very happy . i love being with my kids and not feeling guilty that i am stoned ...get your life back !

[IwillDoThis]

Almostfree - I think your comment about "you have to seriously be done with opiates" is a great point.  Some people come here knowing they should be done but aren't really there yet and that is fine but I think for me this is true - I was just done, I was mad that I let it get to this point, I was afraid of the pain but the one thing I knew was that I didn't want to be a slave any longer.  For me it was totally about making up my mind, sucking it up and just getting through detox.  

Cupcake - I can also appreciate you being home all day alone.  I started working from home 3 years ago and that is when my use escalated a bit and became more steady.  Out of pain yes, but also out of boredom and being alone a lot due to heavy work schedules.  It took the pain away at first, gave me that warm fuzzy feeling.  After a while it was no longer helping the pain but I knew I was in trouble.  Continuing to take the pills was easier (I thought) than taking the time to detox.  

We all get there in different ways but if you find your way to this board you are reaching out for help in some small way - even if you lurk and that is always one step closer to being free.

[littlebit667]

I am 60 and indecent health and could never taper. I have done cold turkey twice (sadly) and survived.  I think it is possible, but underlying conditions you have need to be taken into consideration.  If you are both healthy as the norm.  You will probably be OK.  Keep posting.