Clonidine good for Opiate Withdrawal?

[Oxywannabeclean]

I'm debating if I should see my Doc and get a prescription for Clonidine. I have a 5 year 120mg a day Oxycontin addiction and will try C/T on June 13th, taking a week off work to clean my act!!! Very nervous and scared about the entire thing. I'm going to follow the Thomas Recipe, try tapering a little first but was wondering if it's worth taking Clonidine, does it really work big time!! Any advice, feedback on your experiences with this drug.
Thanks everyone who responds!
C.

[MHunterL]

I took clonidine for two Weeks. I'm not an addict, I was just tapering down on narcotic pain medication because I have been on them for about five years for horrible back pain. I would say that it helps you taper down but the very tired, extreme dry mouth and make me have to urinate every hour and a half wasn't worth it. I also had a very rare reaction to it (hair loss). I would suggest that if you have a decent dr. try something different or combinations of something. If you are an addict and don't have many options then maybe just go with it for a few days and see how you feel on it. If you don't NEED narcotic pain medication do all you can to get off. I would love for some pharmaceutical company to make a non narcotic pain medication! Something that really helps with pain but doesn't have ill effects on your body or something you don't have to skip around on different ones to not get too used to any one kind. Good luck and god bless! I hope you have better luck than I did, but then again I was just tapering down.

[Map1944]

I think clonidine works different for different ppl.  I didn't take any for the first 5 days of my WD because it would make me tired but I still wasn't able to sleep.  For me it just compounded my situation.  However, it's been 11 days now and I take one at night to try to help me sleep, which it does a little.  

[euphoriaaddict]

i hate for this to sound like a competition, anyone who has touched any opiate, or drug for that matter knows how hard it is to stop. i started pretty young, about 17....i am 22 now, i've finally decided to try and stop. i've went a few days without taking anything, i have slipped up and taken 1 pill a few days ago. i started out with Vicodin, went to percocet, and from there its grown to methadone and oxycontin, its ridiculous really. when i couldnt get ahold of any of those things, i've tried morphine as well. it's embarrassing to admit these things, but hopefully in the end i'll be stronger because i did. I mainly feel like i take it because I feel like it gives me fuel, i can work like no other when im on them, i can clean the house like crazy, and get the best sleep of my life. but i know this cant go on forever. i tried c/t, i've been taking b6, b12, eating energy bars, (id have to say thats the worst for me, no energy whatsoever) i read online ribose is a miracle supplement, it hasnt helped, i've been looking for l-tyrosine, no luck with that as of yet.
anyways, today i finally broke down and went to the emergency room, which was hard to do, admitting you have a problem. but once it came out, it actually felt better. I was prescribed clonidine and promethazine(for nausea), i will start taking them tonight. I've got a week worth basically. I'm afraid to take clonidine because i dont want to be ridiculously tired during the day. the doctor said it shouldnt make me tired, i guess we'll find out! i think it will, but i really do hope it gives the same results as some of the positive stories on here.
good luck to everyone
if only we could go back knowing what we know now........!!!!

ALSO! i was terrified to go to the emergency room, i've heard horrible stories about doctors treating people badly because of their issue, i've heard of them just turning people away. I had a decent experience, they were for the most part nice and wanted to help. I think they were in shock at how young i was when this issue started. but sadly, it happens a lot. in my opinion, if it's that bad and you feel you cant do it alone, get help. tell someone. i finally broke down and told my roommate, who in turn has helped me and supported me.
the doctor said since i was young when i started, as i matured, ive adjusted to that euphoric feeling, and i have to train myself to think differently.....but thats not just me...thats anyone with any substance abuse.

[ascorpioh]

So my boyfriend has only taken it for 3 days and has horrible memory loss, lack of balance and concentration and just wants to sleep, dies anyone know id this will end?

[codyw234]

it did not work for **** for me,But i was also doing alot more than hydrocodone!!!THE ONLY THIMG THAT WILL GET NEEDLE USERS OFF IS SUBOXONE...DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE THE ARE WRONG!!!!!! suboxone for heroin,oxycodone,contin.....i am and addict i was shooting 30 roxy 30s a day till i was broke trust me.... and now clean 55 days today

good luck buddy help i helped.
                                           cody

[BigBreezy]

Hey mike if your only at 3 pills a day then your withdrawals are going to be a NOTHING compared to what I'm dealing with right now coming off a 60 dollar a day heroin addiction of a year of shooting it up. I can handle this cold turkey, and it's hell. If i was only doing what you take, I wouldn't even really notice the withdrawals they would be so small compared to the heavy symptoms that I deal with. I take NOTHING at all for what I'm going through..... WHAT IS THE POINT!??!! Take a bunch of other drugs to substitute quitting an opiate??? That's not the way to go if you want to be DRUG FREE, which should be your goal.  I'm on day 4 and I'm starting to feel better already, the next 6 days or so I'll still feel like i'm getting over the flu or something, and still get only about 2-5 hours of sleep a night, but that will slowly get back to normal, and after about a full week or so I'll have my normal 7 hours of sleep a night, and eventually won't even wake up wet from sweats. BELIEVE ME when I tell you that quitting cold turkey is only hard mentally. If you can't take the physical withdrawals for a week or so then you truely are not ready to quit, your just not. You have to come to terms with the fact that the only way your going to get well again is to be patient and let your body do what it wants to do as far as detoxing the toxins of drugs out of your system. I've been through this before about a year ago I was addicted to whatever type of opiates I could get my hands on besides the heroin. I was up to about 160 MGs of Oxy a day, or about 12 Percocets or Vicodin, and I was taking about 30 anxiety pills too during the week. Coming off the RX meds was alot rougher than the heroin, not by too much, but the restlessness was a lot more severe, but I worked the most hours I had ever worked in my life that week, AND made it to a gym I had just signed up at EVERY SINGLE DAY after I got off work, and I didnt care that I felt like complete BLAHHHHHH I busted my *** all day with whatever energy I could manage, and by the time I got home at night around 730 or so from the gym I was actually ready to CHILL OUT, and EAT things that are hard to do when you sit around all day in your house quitting cold turkey, and being down on yourself, and sitting on these boards hoping that someone has some MAGICAL cure to fix the withdrawals completely....Sorry that's just not going to happen unless you go to a methadone clinic or spend a fortune getting prescribed to suboxone and either way your still just getting yourself hooked on another opiate, and delaying the inevitable.....WITHDRAWALING. It's the only way to get over what you want to get over. Your body HAS TO get rid of everything you've done to it, and in your case it honestly can't be that bad. You really need a positive outlook on the whole situation and know that if you can just hold on for a full week, your life will start returning to how you USE to feel when you were DRUG FREE, and believe me I was sober for 2 full months before I relapsed and got back into drugs, heroin this time, and IT WAS THE BEST 2 MONTHS OF MY LIFE! I gained 22 pounds working out everyday and I was eating like I was 15 and on the football team again, like a pig it was awesome. Of course I started hanging out with a few old junkie buddies and we all fell back into our bad ways in a very short time. IT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE, but that HAPPENS, people RELAPSE, it's why were ADDICTS, if it was that easy to just quit, then everyone would enjoy the Eurphoia of the opiates and just stop them whenever they please.....It don't work that way.  Drink plenty of good fluids like water, sprite, gatoraide all 3 of them would be good for you, and EAT as much as you can. You won't have an appetite but that doesnt mean you can't eat SEVERAL pieces of fruit a day. Try eating an apple, orange, banana, and also get some fiber in your diet that will help suppress the problems you will have going to the bathroom a lot quicker. Don't waste your money or your mind on getting a bunch of benzo's or something like that. YOUR TRYING TO GET SOBER not find help in other drugs..... I'm serious if I can get through this without anything then anybody can. My friend who moved away to get away from the city (Cincinnati....its a BAD Heroin city) and he was doing anywhere from 50 dollars on a bad day to 250 dollars of dope a day...A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT to be doing, basically he was shooting up to the brink of OD every single time, and even died about 5 times where me and a friend had to revive him right there in the car....it's not the way to live. I'm assuming your young as I am, and I'm sure you have ambitions and goals in your life that you want, or wanted to accomplish. Get sober, stay off the drugs, and I promise that in a full week or so you will have so much better of an outlook on your life, and once you wake up from a long sleep for the first nite in a long time and feel good when you get up out of bed you will have the biggest smile on your face and realize that your out of the water, and you just have to jog to the finish line, and stay away from the drugs for a long time. Some people think they can just USE sometimes once they are clean, and yeah I know people who can do that, but I'm not one of them, and most addicts aren't either. Chances are anytime you go back to opiates even for a one night fun deal, you have a great chance of wanting to get something the next day, and then from there you will be entering the life that you just wanted out of so badly.

Many of the times you feel the withdrawals coming on hard, just be patient and relax, most of the time if you do this they will suppress rather quickly (5-10 minutes). Try not to beat yourself up over all of this, because having a positive outlook on wanting to get cleaned up is a must. I don't know how many people I've read about on the Internet that come on here saying they want to get off something, but contradict themselves by asking if they can get a buzz off of another medicine like methadone or suboxone or taking a bunch of benzo's to sedate yourself into a zombie during the whole detox and it makes me laugh, and feel sorry for them at the same time. The life you entered is as close to hell as you can get. It will bring you nothing but the worst of troubles if you dont get out while your still early into it. Hydros lead to big loratabs then to Oxy contin and once you can't afford that ridiculous price of all them you will find out about heroin and that 20 bucks at first will get you tore up like an 80 mg oxy would, and that's when the real hell life starts. I'm lucky to have not ever gotten in trouble with the law buying and doing heroin. It's a serious problem if you were to get caught getting it or having it on you. You don't want to get caught with any prescription that's not yours it all can bring you serious legal problems.

Bottom line is man DO THIS FOR YOURSELF, and not for any other reason. You want your life back to normal and it will be in a short time if you want it to be. The craving for drugs may always be in the back of your mind but what does that matter when you feel great  being sober? Stay away from people who will tempt you into doing drugs once you are clean, atleast until you know you've developed the strong will power to just say no....I'm clean, and I enjoy life again, I don't EVER want to live the life I was just living.....and that will work miracles for you.

This goes for everyone on here.....

***@**** if anyone ever needs to email me a question about going through there problems I'll be more than happy to help out and talk about ways to help you deal and get over your addiction. I don't bite..... I'm here because I know how hard it is to come to terms with really wanted to change your life.

[Helpmeonday4]

I think you just saved my life  I am 62 but it is still a life  I have a family

I hope you are well,

I am on day 4 of a 11 year sub habit after 2 years of oxy after 2 BIG surgeries

i stopp after lowering to 0.5  but still fell awful, my GI is not allowing me to eat or hydrate much at all

thank you I HOP YOU ARE WELL    when will I feel better

[soreadytodetox]

clonidine, zanax, trazadone&seraquil is what i uswed to deal with all the agony that comes with the w/d's. i ct after over 4 years of an opiate addition! i snorted percs 20 plus a day habit. boy that was absolutly the hardest d**m ordeal i ever had to cope with and lasted approx. 2 wks. the clonidine was what helped me after about into the 3rd day!i started on the amino acids dropped the caffinee and high protien foods,chicken,fish,eggs,fresh fruit&fresh veggies no cans NO RED MEAT FOR 5-7DAYS and drink plenty of water,gingerale,7-upclear drinks. about 3 or 4 days before i decided to bite the bullet! i tried to taper and even a scheduale so many times in 4 years but failed so many times it just wasnt funny any more!i took the clonidine get the 0.2mgsx4, 10mgs.x4 of the zanax /150mgs.at 4pm & 150mgs.at bedtime of the trazadone and 200mg at 4pm&200mg at bedtime of seraquil. the trazdone and seraquil i have a script for and have been taking them for a sleeping disorder/mood elivater for thwe past 5 years when i got into that bad car wreck! with the clonidine watch your blood preesure not to low, and it is also great for the ugly creepy crawlys rls, its also used for adhd,migraines,pain full menstruation, flushing due to menopause,diarrha,opiates& methadone detoxification, withdrawal from alcohol and benzodiazepines such as valium. be sure if you decided to use the trazadone or seraquil these 2 will entisify the clonidine & zanax its like a double wammy if you want to sleep this is the way to go! give it a day or two to kick in but i took a leave of absent from work so i would be able to just rest and sweat to death!!!take the trazidone with alittle something on your stomach to increase it effectiveness watch out for the cotten mouth. just be very careful after the 3rd&4th doses you will get very, very, very, sleepy on the second day of sleep start a day or two head.oh yea and a really good multi-vitamin & minerals. take plenty of hot baths, use a water bottle or a heating pad and get the good stuff for the bathroom delima you will be visiting there often& will help with the cramps. i did this satarted on a monday and within  7 or 8 days i started to feel somewhat human but still no energy. it just took me longer and so much harder on me  because of the snorting habit.hope this helps it really did work better than i thought it would just follow the recipe and take the amino acids & force yourself to eat & for sure plenty of the fluids. good luck hope it helps someone as it did for me!   sherri

[wannabefree330]

If  you need something for the aches, take a warm/hot bath-get a massage or take some ibuprofen.  You definitely don't want to trade one drug for another.  You will be done with this soon so just hang in there!  You can do this!!

[gg222]

Clonidine helped me sleeeeppppppp A LOT!!!! Which is exactly what you need when going through w/ds. It is the best thing you could ask for. I'm now a full blown insomniac since off of the clonidine....although I only took it for 3 days b/c had to go back to work and I couldn't function on it...buttttt I will add it helped me get through the sweats and pain in my legs and cravings. It def was a lifesaver for me. Hope this helps. =)

[indyguitarman]

ohh also a g/f gave me clonidine today for my withdrawls and i wouldnt expect anything wonderful,you will still detox,i am lol peace

[indyguitarman]

ULTRAM ARE VERY ADDICTIVE,EVEN THOUGH YOUR DR.SAYS THEY ARE NOT,ASK AN ULTRAM ADDICT OF OVER A YEAR HERE>I TOOK ROUGHLY 600 PILLS A MONTH ,I WAS HOOKED,PEACE AND LOVE TO ALL AND THIER ADDICTIONS<<FREE THE WEED

[PromisedLand]

Remember to take the clonidine exactly as prescribed, and do keep an eye on your BP..it helped me tremendously.  Yes it can make you feel sluggish, and tired...at
times I felt like I was walking in 2feet of mud.  Also, pick up a supply of hard candies
to suck on as you will get dry mouth from it.  It's not going to make you feel 100% better, but it goes a long way towards easing the discomfort.


Jim

[flmagi]

Get yourself some Boost or Ensure with Protein to drink while your going thru withdrawels. Most people find it very hard to eat or drink (a must !). You must drink lots of fluids.
Yes, the Conodine is great and should help you alot. But sorry to say, nothing is gonna make it easy, you're still gonna feel like death. But you'll get thru it.
And while your going thru all this, start makeing plans on how you'll deal with triggers and situations that may arise that could put you in danger of relapse.
Since June 13th is my birthday, I'll concider you getting clean as my birthday present, so you don't need to go buy me anything.  LOL
Good luck !
Magi

[Oxywannabeclean]

Thanks for the comments, looks like I'm going to get Clonidine!! Wish me luck, going to start taking the Vitamins, minerals etc.. Looking forward to ending this vicious cycle. I'll be posting everyday starting June 13th for some support, I will need it.
C

[Mike_B_]

I was just thinking it would ease the pain from the hydros for a couple of days.  I took them last year and you are right they are so hard to stop because when I did I felt so depressed.  I really don't feel depressed now I am just feeling real weak and my back hurts like all get out.  I don't feel like eating either. although I know I should just to give me some engery.  I appreciate your reply.

I was hoping I could stop this weekend because I have so much to do next week and I am tried of trying to get then filled.  My MD wants to put me on stronger stuff that lasts longer but I refused to do that so he doesen't want to give it to me anymore.  My nuro gave me enough to last me 2 months and I have another appointment with them on Tues to get a refill but they are not a pain management group they only do surgery.  I have ultram and opana 10mg er and I have had them since back in Feb but I have not taken any of them because like I said they are stronger than what I really need.  I just want to stop being a slave to these pills.  I hurt and have taken them for so long.  Even though my tolerance has not gone up but to 3 a day.  I just want to stop but it is so hard.  I know so many on here have stopped including you and your wife.  You and I are about the same age and i have responablities I have to do for my business.  It's like I am trying not to tell myself just go ahead and take one and go on with your life and deal with the pain the best I can.  My wife and my cardiologist want me to get another dr, one that does not have a problem writing a scrip for hydrocondone.  Well I'm just venting some, I am sure you understand what I am going through.

[malenurse57]

Please leave the ultram alone trow it out flush it and forget it. They are worse than the vic's to get away from. They w/d's are gonna make you feel like you have the flu x's 4 but it only lasts4-6 days with each day a litlle better than the last. I am addicted to tramadol/ultram 12 or more(usually More) 100mg pills a day. They are very subtle and will sneak up on you.
Good luck and God Bless

[Mike_B_]

I took one clonidine last night but I still feel like cra#.  I only took 2 hydros 7.5 yesterday down from 3 the day before.  3 is the most I take in a day but just going down one pill has made me feel bad.  I have some ultram.  Would it be wise to take the ultram for a couple of days to get over the bad feeling of not taking the hydro?

Clonidine just makes me feel so weak that i just don't want to do anything.  I didn't sleep but about about 5 hours last night and woke up at 4 am.  I took a half of a pill this morning but between that and the after effects of the clonidine I am not feeeling good at all.

[Smiles Are Fake]

clonidine is a LIFE saver, it worked for me, im 23 days clean and i was taking 10-12 vicodin 10/325 a day..it WORKS, helps u sleep too!! its great...ask for it..i take the 0.2mg, trust me, i did whatever it took, i get headaches everyday so i couldnt tell ya if it was the clonidine, but i had my primary care tell me clonidine helps with headaches, soooo im not sure!! but its awesome for withdrawals!! best of luck!!

[ladyboop]

My Dr gave it to me many years ago, when I was still a baby addict. only taking 30 pills 5mgs perc's in 3 weeks. It took away the chills and sweats and leg pain. He did make me come in daily to check my BP. Said it could be dangous if it got to low. However it also gave me a bad headache.. do not know why? so only used it for 2 or 3 days..

did anyone eles get headaches from this med?

                   Lady :-)

[allaboutmary]

Yes, get the Clonodine it will help, but make sure to keep an eye on your blood pressure.  If it gets too low don't take it.  The Clonodine will help with the RLS and some sleep.  Nothing takes away all symptoms, but this is doable. Keep reading and posting it will help. Best wishes.