Withdrawals while tapering off Vicodin

[jayed]

I just had a quick question for anyone who's tapered off Vicodin before.  If you experience slight (mild) withdrawals whilst tapering down, does this make the withdrawals when you finally go cold turkey easier?  I'm just curious that if you are already experiencing some of them whilst tapering...  are you already going through the process so that when you finally go cold turkey the withdrawals won't be either A) as bad or B) as long?

[Mustang01]

Detoxing off Vics can and will be hard. I think at time it was harder to taper than it was off of Oxy. I think it is due to Vics being short acting. You can go CT, taper, or use meds to help such as, Clonidine, Subs, herbal Suppliments and Benzos such as Xanax.
any taper will give you some sort of WDs if not done very slowly and gradually. Chantix is a med to quit smoking but I have found it to help with WD to. As I mentioned in another post, Chantix my end up with another off lable use if some other people tried it for tapering off opiates, I know it helped me alone and with Clonidine.

[K Todd]

I tried to many times to taper...it was a slow misery process and I always caved in.

This time I went cold turkey from 18-20 hydros a day....and I am on day 9...and to me, it is so much better to suffer the fast hard hitting w/d's for 3-4 days, and then let life start returning back to me day by day.

Most of us, go cold turkey of Vicodin...its hard, but 100% possible, if you want it.

God Bless,
Todd

[NautyOne]

How many are you taking and how are you tapering.  Yes, you will experience withdrawal while tapering no matter how you do it, but, can you tell us how you are doing it?

nauty.........

[jayed]

I was about around 6 Vic ES a day on average.  I went from that to four for one day, then 3 for 4 days, did two days of 2 a day, and now I split them in half and took half this morning, and will take half later on this evening.  It's not a matter of will power, I'm not caving or anything -- I'm just trying to think of the fastest route to get rid of the withdrawals.  If I'm tapering and still going to get a long withdrawal period, what's the point?  That's why I wondered if I was getting some of the withdrawals out of the way now whilst tapering instead of having the week of misery that comes with cold turkey.

[ABL4ME]

It's odd that I am finding so many people like myself out there.  I was taking 15 - 30 hydro's daily.  Like Todd, I tried to taper, but going from the high dosage to 4 a day seemed senseless to me.  I knew, if the bottle was in front of me, it would be just like any other day of pill popping...not to mention, YES there is withdrawals in between dosages if you take them like I did...  I am encouraging you to stick with this forum.  I am on day 3...and looking forward to day 4.  I could NOT have done it without the help of so many here, especially Todd.  If you need anything, I would strongly encourage you to stick around and let these people help you.  I won't lie, it isn't going to be easy...but worth it if you want your life back :)
Stay Strong!!!

[NautyOne]

Thats a pretty quick taper. If you are doing ok with it, then I wouldn't worry about withdrawal being too bad.  See how you do with the 2 halves today, and if you doing ok, then dang it......thats awesome.  You should be feeling pretty bad today and tomorrow.  If its doable for you then I don't think your going to have too bad--withdrawals.

How are you feeling now?

luv,
nauty...........

[jayed]

About the same the last couple of days.  I'm tired but not like wanting to stay in bed all day.  I get the goosebumps and chills when it's around time to take the next pill, and the sweats when I wake up in the morning.  I don't want to do a long taper -- I just wanted to get my body in a place that wasn't going to be from six a day to nothing and go through the bad withdrawals for a week.  

It feels the same today as it did on the two days that I took one in the morning and one in the evening.  I just don't want to do all this and have horrible withdrawals anyway after I tried to calm it down before I quit.  If that's the case I would have just gone cold turkey.  This isn't a mental addiction for me, just a physical one of my body being used to it.  I don't dwell on when I can take a pill again -- I'm just irritated at the way I feel -- if that makes sense.  

[landbray]

Hi,
Vic's are hard to put down. The sooner you have none around the better. I don't think you will have really bad w/d's. You didn't say how long you have used them?
You seem determinded  , You will do fine. w/d's is like having a bad case of the flu/ Take immdium for your stomach, advil for aches. Lots of water. I think that if you have been taking less and less then you are having some mild w/d's from your normal amount. Have you felt blah since you tapered? good luck to you
paaddict

[jayed]

A couple months this time around.  I have scoliosis, and have used them more this year due to being in a car accident, and have the luck of a clutz (fell down a flight of stairs and bruised my tail bone, and fell on a sheet of ice).  However, I've taken lots of breaks from them.  I don't like being on them for long periods of time.  

There's never been a mental addiction, like I need to keep taking them in order to get high or feel ok.  I've managed to suffer through the pain of my condition and make it tolerable with other over the counter meds.  Because I do take breaks I've yet to find the right way to get off of them and minimize the withdrawal period as much as possible.  

[landbray]

sounds like you know what you are doing. a mild sedative can help also.
there really is no easy way to get around w/d's. But you have some serious medical issues. Have you talked to your dr about it? If you feel you can't trust him, find another. b/c to many people are afraid to do that. You need someone who knows your pain and your desire not to be addicated to strong meds all the time. Don't short treat your pain. sounds like you need meds every now & then.
good luck to you
paaddict

[worried878]

i was at 80-100 mg of hydros a day and tapered quickly due to readiness to be done..waiting for time off work or i woulda cold turkeyed...i felt like cruddola the whole time i was tapering and was a bad taperer///handed my pills over but an addict knows where to get more!  sad to say..i was very glad when my QUIT day came   when is ur QUIT day?

[jayed]

Tomorrow is my last day splitting up one pill in halves.  So we'll see how bad the withdrawals hit after tapering down.  The crappy thing is I have a fancy dinner party I have to go to on Saturday this week.  So I'm hoping it's bearable by then.  

[worried878]

monday today...tapering can prolong the agony for some..play it by ear...u r probably feeling about as bad as total ct right now or close to it...but it will be prolonged if u keep using halves or whatever...sometimes people just jump off the taper and get it over with..i am not sure of ur dose but 4 days was my real downtime...now it takes a while to feel like u used to pre-use...but functioning and working...to work day 5

[jayed]

I got rid of the rest of my pills, I have two halves left for tomorrow.  So no more after tomorrow.  I am just hoping the mild withdrawals that I've had during the tapering are taking a little bit off the total burden of a cold turkey quit.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[jayed]

I just ended up stopping on Monday.  It's not going to be that much more of a difference.  So far I sleep like ****, and the mornings suck.  But after that, for the most part, I'm fine.  My usual symptoms are sleeplessness, goosebumps (those are the worst), and the sweats at night and in the morning.  Which I'm getting all of, but not to the point of calling into work yet.  So hopefully I made it milder and today (which has been the worst out of yesterday and today) was the worst of it, and then it's all downhill from here.  We'll see.

[GoingToMakeIt]

Good luck to you. Drink lots of fluids, eat bananas, get some otc meds for sleep or try melatonin for sleep. Take a brisk walk later in the day. It helps the muscles and detox.