Withdrawal from Vicoprofen

[MonkeysWife]

Hi I have been prescribed vicoprofen 7.5/200 for severe back pain (degenerative disc disease, degen. joint disease, bone spurs, herniated disc and osteo arthritis).  I am prescribed 3 pills every 4 hours, however, since I am not able to function at work, I have generally only taken them at night (sometimes 3 pills sometimes 6) just so I can sleep.  Without them I am not able to sleep at all.  I am very fearful of withdrawal.  Even though I need pain medication to make it thru the night, I am more scared of becoming VERY dependent.  I already begin withdrawal about 19 hours after a dose.  Mostly starts with the cold sweats and anxiety.  So, I give in and take another dose.  I don't know how to wean myself from these.  I have been on them 3 months and my doc sees nothing wrong with them since I definitely have a documented medical condition.  But I went thru withdrawal from morphine 3 years ago for treatment after cancer - it was the most horrible experience of my life.  Even worse than chemo.  I am not strong enough to do that again.  I want to stop now.  Can anyone offer help?  I don't know how to begin a taper and am too afraid to do CT.

[matine]

I can write up a taper if you are only  taking them at bedtime. But I need to know that. Also if you are only taking them at bedtime at what point in the  day do you begin to sense discomfort from detoxing? I say this because I cut myself down once from about 150mg a day to just a 5 mg at night. I continued the 5mg at night for about a month until my body adjusted, then I cut the five in half for about two weeks, then, fearful I just quit; I had restless leg for about a week after that.  So if you want and just off the cuff and if you have the pills I would say stay where you at  for a week, then cut 1 pill in half and take that with the others for a week, on down the road; this would take you about 3 months.
Or like I said with more info can write up a slighty quicker taper.
good luck.

[MonkeysWife]

Right now, unless I absolutely can not stand the pain during the day, I am taking 5-6 pills nightly.  Sometimes (rarely) I will take 2 or 3 at some point during the early part of the day.  If I do not take the dose in the morning / early afternoon, I begin feeling the chills/sweats around 6 or 7 in the evening (my bed time dose is taken about 11 PM).  Sometimes I will have nausea in the day time (late afternoon) if I do not take the in between dose.

Thank you so much for your help!

[TB1964]

What is a good, workable taper, if a person is taking 4-5 10mg Lortabs per day?  I'd imagine the withdrawls would be worse if the taper was extreme and less to none if the taper were very gradual?  

If you have the time, could you give me an example taper program that will not make the withdrawls noticable because I have a government job and I don't want to be noticed with bloodshot eyes and feeling and looking sick.  

I currently like to take 4-5 10mg Lortabs per day.  I've only had 1/2 the last couple days and feel very slugish and I don't want to be around people or hear anything they have to say.  I have a new bottle of 120 and another bottle of 120 on the way in a few more days, so I will have more than pleanty to divide up into a workable taper to GET ME OFF THESE THINGS.  

Thanks, TB