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Thomas
Like so many others here, I try to rationalize my problem by searching for ways to mitigate my upcoming discomfort before I stop taking opiates. I sit and count the remaining pills to determine when I have to start weaning (a point which I have probably passed already).
Fortunately, my problem is one of months, not years, and fear of things like Tylenol toxicity has somewhat limited my intake. Unfortunately, I have a low tolerance for discomfort, and have augmented the Vicodin with Heroin use (it is amazing how little it takes to make stopping after even a short period of time a grueling experience, but apparently not grueling enough to not repeat the process several times [a week on, and about that long recovering]).
So now I'm searching for the easiest way out.
One of my biggest worries is my stomach. I haven't thrown up in about twenty years, and can't stand the nausea and cramps I seem to be already experiencing. I have read what I assume is your 'recipe', and may try that, but need to know the best method of keeping my gut intact. Are any of the OTC aids for upset stomach (or prescription) helpful in these situations? I can deal with the sweating, insomnia, and flu-like symptoms for a few days, but please help me keep what little food I am able to consume down.
Thanks all. Even with limited posting, this forum has already been a great souce of support. Misery loves company, James (male)
Thomas
Thank you all for sharing your experiences, it has actually been very comforting to me. I must sleep! It has been a long week.
Please remember Thomas is not a Dr and one should always check with your DR before attempting a detox on your own.
If you can't take time off to detox, I recommend you follow a taper regimen using your drug of choice or suitable alternate -- the slower the taper, the better.
For the Recipe, You'll need:
1. Valium (or another benzodiazepine such as Klonopin, Librium, Ativan or Xanax). Of these, Valium and Klonopin are best suited for tapering since they come in tablet form. Librium is also an excellent detox benzo, but comes in capsules, making it hard to taper the dose. Ativan or Xanax should only be used if you can't get one of the others.
2. Imodium (immodium) (over the counter, any drug or grocery store).
3. L-Tyrosine (500 mg caps) from the health food store.
4. Strong wide-spectrum mineral supplement with at least 100% RDA of Zinc, Phosphorus, Copper and Magnesium.
5. Vitamin B6 caps.
6. Access to hot baths or a Jacuzzi (or hot showers if that's all that's available).
How to use the recipe:
Begin your detox with regular doses of Valium (or alternate benzo). Start with a dose high enough to produce sleep. Before you use any benzo, make sure you're aware of how often it can be safely taken. Different benzos have different dosing schedules. Taper your Valium dosage down after each day. The goal is to get through day 4, after which the worst WD symptoms will subside. You shouldn't need the Valium after day 4 or 5.
During detox, hit the hot bath or Jacuzzi as often as you need to for muscle aches. Don't underestimate the effectiveness of hot soaks. Spend the entire time, if necessary, in a hot bath. This simple method will alleviate what is for many the worst opiate WD symptom.
Use the Imodium (immodium) aggressively to stop the runs. Take as much as you need, as often as you need it. Don't take it, however, if you don't need it.
At the end of the fourth day, you should be waking up from the Valium and experiencing the beginnings of the opiate WD malaise. Upon rising (empty stomach), take the L-Tyrosine. Try 2000 mgs, and scale up or down, depending on how you feel. You can take up to 4,000 mgs. Take the L-Tyrosine with B6 to help absorption. Wait about one hour before eating breakfast. The L-Tyrosine will give you a surge of physical and mental energy that will help counteract the malaise. You may continue to take it each morning for as long as it helps. If you find it gives you the "coffee jitters," consider lowering the dosage or discontinuing it altogether. Occasionally, L-Tyrosine can cause the runs. Unlike the runs from opiate WD, however, this effect of L-Tyrosine is mild and normally does not return after the first hour. Lowering the dosage may help.
With breakfast, take the mineral supplement.
As soon as you can force yourself to, get some mild exercise such as walking, cycling, swimming, etc. This will be hard at first, but will make you feel considerably better.
My MIL continues to take Tyrosine and B-6 (clean 3 months), as it has also kept her depression to a minimum.
Hope this helps.
Take Care
the longer your on them the more you do and the harder
it is to detox off them.
i have no experence with pot, i smoked everyday for 13 years
and stoped smoking it 20 years ago when i was 23 , i was a union painter and i would wind up painting the same wall like 5 or 6 times when i smoked. so i stoped.
the receipe helped me a lot when i got off the vikes
this time last year.
peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hippy
Welcome to the forum! I am in the same vote as you, my husband is also addicted to percs, but also codiene. Anyways, just thought i would let you know that i am hear....if you want to talk. My husband went into rehab as well, he has been out for over a month now. The first day he went in i remember well, ahhhhh i can do whatever i want and not have to worry about him! What a great feeling it was. Anyways, keep us posted. And if you have any questions please ask.
Catherine
Luv-Erika
POSTING: There seems to be a narrowing window when you can post a question here. Seems like around mid morning. Even though there is nothing for today, the limit seems to have been reached. Am I noticing a greater occurence of pop-up ads, too?
THOUGHT for the DAY: I feel like I've been given the keys to heaven and hell. I've worn out the first key and can't get a replacement until I use the second. Hopefully, when I get through hell this time, I'll have the smarts not to repeat the cycle again.
Does anyone know of any support groups that don't rely on a 12 step program? I'm one of those cynical agnostics that wouldn't be able to deal with NA. I'm in Eastern PA.
Hope all of you are hanging in there and can still see the light at the end of the tunnel.
James
I really miss reading the daily messages. I do think we all need each other's support and I'm sure there are new people who are lurking out there too.
Let's keep trying to post as often as we can.
Take Care
Golden Slipper
anyway, we would all like to hear how finished is doing.
you are such a sweet lady....god bless you for your selflessness.
strength and serenity
maddawg
Thomas
Has anyone here ever fully recovered from Opiate dependance?? (or know anyone who has?)
I don't think it's possible. I think I screwed up for life.
Trazadone is an antidepressant; in the class of MAO inhibitors.
In lower doses(ie. 50 mg), it has reasonable sedative qualities. I've been on and off it over the last year; initially to calm me down after my mother passed away unexpectedly(and very good friend murdered); and more recently, after my percocet detox....August 19th last pill, as sleep was almost impossible for several weeks.
I've been very happy with it.(and I'll add with no sexual side effects)
So, depending what you mean by fully recovered, I'd say overall, my life has returned to what is was prior to my 3-4-5 year perc run. For the last year, I was bouncing between 12-20/day(perc 5mg), and alternating dilaudid(hydromorphone 4 mg); plus oxycontin 10 mg. I used both recreationally and for two back surgeries.
And I can say, initially after I got clean, I thought I'd never feel great again, but as weeks turned to months, everything returned to normal....and I wasn't just living life by going through the motions.
So you can say you know someone who has stayed in recovery from opiates, and living life again.
I wish you well!!!!! and have to believe there is hope for you also.
Percs No More
But in the meantime, I just wanted to say *HI* to everyone, and I'm so greatful for this board and all of you and cannot wait to be a part of it. : )
Finnnihsed is now home an d doing great. Of course he is in lots of pina but he is just glad to be alive! He actaully stopped breathing twice!
Peace to you and e-mail me anytime if ya like at
***@****
Suzie
Baddgirl, what and how long was your habbit? I'm coming off hydrocodone, heroin, methadone, oxycontin, & fentanyl (in that order). I hope to taper with buprenorphine from the fentanyl. Any other real material insights/experiences are appreciated. -freezing
Thomas
after not seeing you for a few weeks.
thanx for being here.
your wisdom. sense of humor and experence
is invaluable.
peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
your friend --------- hippy
Please keep us posted on how you feel every few days or day. Good luck and well wishes. I hope your experience is better than mine. I was also on Naltrexone. I remain still, freezing.
The key to using it is you must be experiencing the beginning part of withdrawal. You cannot take it before then or it really hurts your system. I know from experience! It sucks! But if you take it at the correct time, it is a miracle drug! You will feel NO OPIATE WITHDRAWAL and be given energy and be feeling mostly normal, although if you are an addict you will be disappointed at how boring normal is at first and may have to adjust. You usually take about 5-7 days worth of this medicine (acitve ingredient: buprenorphine) and taper last two days. Then you are normal.
It is expensive. I have a supply always at the pharmacy for in case I get addicted again. Otherwise I will just find ways to stay addicted because I hate withdrawal pains so badly, like EVERYONE. I can't take them, the insomnia, the cold sweating, the chills, the nausea and then the huge increase in adrenaline....
You can get hooked on Suboxone/Subutex because it is an opiate itself. It isn't a rough wd, I've done it from suboxone once, and it was like 2-4 weeks of misery but not rapid or severe like heroin.
ALSO: To the original poster: If you are taking opiates because you can't get pot/weed, then I suggest relocating to a state where medical marijuana is LEGAL. It is legal where I live (CALIFORNIA) and I have a script. I can have great weed any time I want, although I don't like pot myself so I never have any. But they prescribe it for... OPIATE WD!! And also: harm reduction! And the pot is good, decent. I have used it to come off of my suboxone and it made it a lot easier. And I used it to come off of heroin once too, and it made it hella easier. So don't take vicodin in place of weed, take weed in place of vicodin! Your system will thank you! Withdrawals are rough on your system, every time you do it just is like a total system shock. People who relapse over and over like myself are causing themselves a lot of brain trauma.
It takes the brain about 90 days to recover back to a semi-working state after WD. It takes over a year to be 100% from drugs like methadone and oxycontin, which are both considered "long half life opioids" where heroin, hydrocodone, morphine are "short half life opioids." :-)
Percocets have a lot of tylenol too.
THE AVG ADULT should never take more than 4000-5000 mg of tylenol per day. If I take 5000 mg of it within 24 hours I begin to throw up and get toxic poisoning from the tylenol. Granted, most addicts that take 20 pills, each vicodin on avg having 500 mg acetometaphen (CHECK YOUR PILL BOTTLE), that's 10,000 mg of tylenol a DAY, double the toxic avg adult dose! - granted, as an addict you work your way up to a dose that high, so your liver may be compensating and all that, but keep in mind you are blasting it into death.
Combine it with alcohol and you will likely die. Right there. No kidding!
READ on acetometaphen poisoning... aka tylenol on the net. Or ask your dr or pharmacist. I was put in a ER hospital because I took too much tylenol once... taking tylenol PM to try to sleep through opiate WD pain. I was throwing up all over the place, bile everywhere. It was so terrible. Pounding headache, toxic feeling, inability to move.... it hits you suddenly and you can't turn back. You will have to go to an ER and they will have to stabalize your liver.
One last thought. For a long time I thought this was my fault. I figured "normal" people didn't get addicted to drugs that doctors give them. They wouldnt prescribe them if people would get addicted, right? NOT SO MUCH!! While I still blame myself, I should have been stronger and stopped before it got to this but I also blame the doctors who would rather throw pain pills at you to get you out of their office than listen to you...And when people DO get addcited to the pills THEY prescribed, THEY don't want any part of it. The drs I've dealt with will give you NOTHING for withdrawl yet won't give you any pain pills either. Somehow, someway, I think these ******* doctors should be held partially responsible.
Thanks for any advice you may give.
~ The weakling
All I can say is SUPPORT/SUPPORT/SUPPORT! If ya ain't got it I can't see ya making it.
Now if I could just come off these dang PEPSI's I'd be allllllll Righttttt!!!
RAyBay