TO MINNIE:

[vicaddict]

Hi hun;
I thought I would post up here make it easier for you to find. I guess I would try going down to 6..you have to remember to do what works the best for you. Your siggestion for yourself sounds fine to me. For me yes..I do it by week...alot do it every 3 days going down as I think it is only in your system like 72hours..thus making it about 3 days for your body to adjust to the nweer doseage. You will have some withdrawels I am assuming as like me..I am only putting in a small amount -vs- what I WAS putting in my body. So you can decide which works best for you.
I found a few different suggestions on the forum here on tapering. I have them all saved and I will post them to you here one by one. Just copy and paste it to your documents or what I did was copied it to an email and sent it to myself and have it kept in it's own folder in my e-mail.
But again, you rplan sounds just fine with me. It has to be something your comfortable with and how fast you want off. By all means if you want to try c/t do try it. Some people can handle it..some people cannot. What works for me may or may not work for you and vice versa you know.
Ok with that said let me get those posts for you.
Hang tight hun.
Tracy

[CaughtButWantDeliverance]

After 7 months on 500 mg hydrocodone, Dr lowered dose to 200 mg/ wk, I - in my denial- believed that I could just cold turkey off. Wrong. Felt like I was dying. But I began taking 4 5 mg per day to stave off wd symptoms...and after 5 days of this, took 2 5 mg yesterday. Trying to take less today. Bad back pain makes me reach for them now. Initial symptoms were the ones listed, including a hopelessness that I would ever be able to get off these without medical intervention. I need to work 7 more weeks and to perform. On 0 mg, I was at work...but not functional. Research on net gives me hope that this tapering may allay the worst I'd the symptoms. The worst symptom was a burning feeling in my core...which I may have thought was related to rotator cuff surgery. Now, I believe that pain minor compared to withdrawal symptoms. Ambien cr at night is my saving grace. Have had a good day on taper day 5, but was taking a 5 mg every 5-6 hour. Not taking it sent me into withdrawal symptoms. Will give my body time to adjust and keep taking less as tolerated. Killer drug.

[minnie11]

Thanks so much for the information, I will read it more closely and try to make a plan. It will probably be the best way to proceed as I can't at this time take time off work, and I might be able to function almost normally if I taper, even though it will take longer. I so much hope I will have the strength to do it and not relapse, because of the wish to feel better, both physically and psychologically, and because it is easy (when tapering you will have to have the pills in the house - and be tempted to take more, when it becomes hard to cope), and I still can't make myself tell anyone, even if it is stupid. But don't you know the feeling that you have always been regarded as a strong person whom other people relied on, and then suddenly feeling small and weak? I know it is stupid, but it's how I feel right now.
Thanks so much for your support, it helps a lot.
Minnie

[vicaddict]

I can't find the one that has every detail in it..but here is the jist of it. It is similar to the above one I posted. However you can make your taper how you want it.
This pertains to "shaving off" so much of your pill each day. I think it means each pill you take. Not totally clear on that but you are to shave off anout say 1mg from each pill, each day until nothing is left to take off. Here is the email I received from another member, THANKS TB!:

Tracy, my sister has been strung out on Lortab 10's for many years. She's tried everything short of methadone to get off those pills.

I told her what the detox center at the hospital told me about giving your body three days to adjust and how they recommended trimming 1-2mg off the tablets and laying them on a counter on top of a calendar so you can actually see your progress and see the actual day that you will be off of them.

It's worked for me (thank God) - 3/4 of a 10mg pill for me today, it may not sound like much hydrocodone, but my body expects it, I'm just shaving around 1/2 mg at this point - by my calendar my final day of opiates will be the 31st of January.

It's been a fun journey this month - my eyes are a bit watery and my nose runs a bit from time to time, but I don't feel like sh*t and I haven't felt like sh*t the whole time while I was tapering down.

There were days when I wanted more, but I looked at my calendar and my allotment of pills and just said no - I got busy and the feelings passed.

Good Luck Tracy - If I can do this and my sister can do this, I know you can beat these white devils!

[vicaddict]

This is from another member here, I saved this one and I have another to post as well for tapering.



Here's some advise you may want to consider. You are tapering too much at once. If you are taking 10-12 7.5's a day, that's approximately 75mg of hydrocodone per day. I recommend the following schedule, it will lead to very little withdrawls and allow your body to adjust.

Here goes:

Day One: 75mg
Day two: 74mg (take a razor and shave off approx 1mg of a pill
Day three: 73mg (use the razor and shave off some more...
Day four: 70mg (shave off some more)
Day five: 65mg....
Day six: 60mg....
Day seven: 55mg....
Day eight 50mg...
Day nine: 45mg...
Day 10: 40mg...
Day 11: 35mg...
Day 12: 30mg....
Day 13: 25mg...
Day 14: 20mg...
Day 15: 15mg...
Day 16: 10mg...
Day 17: 5mg...
Day 18: 4mg...
Day 19: 3mg...
Day 20: 2mg...
Day 21: 1mg....
DAY 22....YOU ARE OFF THE HYDROCODONE!

Three weeks may seem like a long time, but this is the most painless way. I am currently on 16 (two 10's) and have suffered NO withdrawls to date. During the afternoon hours, I crave some more mg's, but I just get busy doing something and in about 5-10 minutes the urge goes away.

Don't shock your system by drastically taking away such a very powerful chemical - it could be dangerous. Try the 21 day taper and I bet it works for you too.

Good luck - you can do this!