Help with withdrawal ms contin

[rallenebe]

I'm 44 and have been on ms contin for 6 years now. I was taking 300mg 3x daily two years ago. To help with the drowsiness my doc gave me dexedrine 45mg 1 x daily. The dexedrine got out of control and I stopped using it last year and now I'm kicking the morphine and need some help.
My latest dose is 180mg 3 x daily and I've weaned myself down to splitting the 60mg tabs into halves and taking one half 3x daily.

Like any long term user, I've left my meds at home while on a day trip or even an overnight stay along the way.... so i know exactly what the withdrawal is like but I don't know what to expect for anything longer than 24 hours.
I have 10 ea. 60mg pills left and they will be the last ms contin meds I ever take. I want to know what you all think is the best way to help me get through the next two weeks.
I own a business and I cannot stay at home in bed kickin this habit.. This demon will need to be fought head on in front of everyone so I need to have some sort of herbal supplements or something to help with the edge.
I've had diarrhea for the past month and today my stomach hurts so bad I can barely stand straight.
For some reason the hot flashes get me worse than anything else.... I will sit and sweat until my socks are wet.. its the worst.
As you know, Morphine causes constipation and I''ve literally been constipated for 6 years. So having the runs doesn't bother me... in fact, I welcome it. It may sound crazy but after crapping cotton balls for the last 6 years it feels good to empty my intestine.

I've used drugs most of my life including meth. I used meth for 17 years and still ran a business.. All be it my business eventually failed do to my meth use I have to hand it to the human mind for being able to function after a sleepless week.
I just gave up smoking too, 15 days ago ( I know right!) so I'm a glutton for punishment. I did find an old can of Copenhagen in my desk and I have to admit my lip is full of dirt and my trash can is rather gooey at this moment.

I'm having my first child in 4 months, I promised my wife I would welcome our baby into this world sober and by God that's exactly what I'm doing. Free from everything intoxicating so that she can intoxicate my life.

So, I've made it from 180mg 3x day to 30mg 3 x day but today i weaned myself a little more and I'm only taking 1/2 pill twice. My body is hot flashing so its time to let you good folks give me your ideas and prayers if ya got em.
My wife is big on herbal stuff but I've always been a skeptic so if you have any kind of over the counter stuff to help me with the withdrawals I would be thankful.

Thanks again and God Bless
R.ALLEN

[kdiquattro]

Obviously You have never hone through withdrawls!!!! Cutting  MS contin in half actually do sent release all the med at  once, the medication contains a gel/wax substance through out  the pill so even cut in half as it starts dissolving the wax, Has to also. And if you were listening he was taking 300 mg 3 times a day and is now down to 1/2 of a 30 mg. He obviously has a high enough tolerance to deal with 15 mg, even if it was released all at once. He was asking people for help not bashing them for taking there medication wrong.

[rallenebe]

Hello friends and new members.

Its been close to 7 months since I first came here and yes, I've been clean ever since!
It was a long tough couple months but I managed to get past it and I actually stopped counting the clean days I have because I put that part of my life behind me.
I took meds for pain not for pleasure... That's probably helped me get past the relapse issues.. I really don't know. All I know is, thanks to you good folks here, my wife and kids, i was able to get over my problem.
I still have withdrawal symptoms, albeit the are mild.... i still find my legs are restless at night. Taking 900mg of morphine a day for 8 years took its toll on my body and I don't expect everything to go away in one day.

To anyone reading this who has just began or continues to struggle with dependency... keep up the hard fight! I know its not easy... but life with a clear head and withdrawal free is worth every minute you struggle with now.

Good luck my friends.

[dede2121]

wow, sounds like you are doing great.
i am new to this place and only 4 days clean but i am trying.
and good for you for not taking the vicodin. ibuprofen works great for my arthritis. i just used arthritis as an excuse to get pain meds.

[rallenebe]

Hello everyone!!
Ive been clean now for about a month. The first 11 days were really tough.... I knew I was going to make because I have such a great support system at home but I really did need all of you here too.
Thanks to everyone who sent me prayers and private messages... you all are the very very best.. THANK YOU!

i wont lie, the first two weeks were the toughest days of my life. I shook and shivered and cried out for my legs to stop moving around. I didn't sleep at all for the first 5 days... It was the worst.
To everyone reading this who is still going through WD, I want you to know that 2 weeks isn't crap compared to the life you lose and give up everyday when you use these medications.

I took baths... yes it helped.. a little. More than anything it was getting up and going to work each and everyday that helped me survive.
I took walks at night and went to the gym as well. Sometimes it feels like you can't move but I assure you that you can!
its much worse laying in bed than it is out in the fresh open air.  The minute I would walk outside the jumpy legs would go away and I felt better.
Even without sleep for 5 days, work was better than laying in bed feeling sorry for myself.

So now I'm off...... I' clean and I will remain that way permanently.
I broke my foot last week and was offered vicodin for the pain... I just laughed and said HELL NO!
Aspirin is just fine for this old man. ;-)

Thanks again everyone... Great website, Awesome people.

L8ter

[pillguy]

I thought we had lost you.  Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dominosarah]

Congrats on 7 days!!!

[recoveredfromamonster]

7 days is HUGE! Sometimes wds are like this. It can take more for some people. Don't ever kid yourself though. Addiction is very cunning,baffling, powerful. Everyone who has ever used or drank again sometime said "never again." Some die, they don't get the chance to come back. That's why the word "slip" or "vacation" is so upsetting to me. Any who, We're pulling for you. I'm praying for you. No one said this would be easy or quick. Your doing great. Tell the demon to pissoff! Can I say that? Keep us updated brother.

[RickRilla]

Great job man! I'm 5 days clean today. I'm pulling for you bud. I was on pills for 2 years. I feel better each day, but my eyes and mind are clear.

[rallenebe]

The wd started back last night and I can't figure wtf. I'm sick of getting wet in the bath tub and I'm tired of having the chills.
I slept 3 hours last night and I felt a little better this morning but I'm still in wd. Should have been done by now but I'm not gonna get discouraged.

This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life....... Having cancer and losing part of my hand wasn't anything compared to this. I hate opiates and the wd..... I'm not sure why anyone would go back especially after everything I've been through the past week.
I couldn't imagine going back and I never will.
I would probably kill myself if I had to go through this kind of pain again.

Anyway.... on a more positive note : 7 DAYS CLEAN TODAY!

[laurel453]

hey, congrats on your 6th day :).. don't give up, it seems it was yesterday when you came here to the forum and you are now counting clean days...almost a week, well done.

lack of sleep and energy are  two of the  physical symptons to last longer... this why it is so important to keep taking the vitamins for the lack of energy ( and the B's complex), eating a protein rich diet ( some protein shakes with aminos and vitamins are a good idea)...and keep walking and exercising when you can.

[rallenebe]

Good morning everyone!

It's been a tough few days but I'm back at work feeling better.
I almost broke down and took meds on Friday but I stayed strong for my family. Thank God I did because I would be in the same place I was last week and that was hell.

I attribute my success to my family and my will to live a normal life. Taking hot baths (4-5 day) and saunas every night. Taking vitamins and continuing to eat along the way even when I had no appetite. One of the hardest things about starting recovery has been the lack of sleep. The first 3 days was very very tough and when your awake all you do is think about taking pills.
My dependence on meds was a little different than some folks as I never took them to get high. In fact, mymeds haven't gotten me high for years. Its always been about maintaining the same level of opiates in my system at the same time. I got addicted and abused the dexedrine and adderall for about two years, mainly because speed is my drug of choice.

I'm six days clean and I'm still having wd. Not nearly as bad as before but they are still with me. I will continue to check in and update my progress.

Thanks again,
God Bless  

[recoveredfromamonster]

How ya going? Talk to us. Remember that if you reverse your course you may never come back. One can only hope. How many years did it take you to get to where you were ready to quit? Do you really want to risk not coming to that point again? I know you prolly don't even care about getting on a pc now. That's fine. Just freaking don't use!

[Florida_Guy737]

I used to take 15 minutes at a time especially when cravings or wds were hard.  If you have too, take one minute at a time and think that time is closer to bring you to recovery.  You'll be surprised on how fast that time accumulates once you get going.  

I just had a surgery a couple of months ago and stopped taking my percs when needed.  The physician also gave me some vics for f/u pain but honestly, I can't stand them.  The only reason I'm keeping them is that I have to travel quite a bit on business and I don't need to be limping when interacting with clients. My point is if your dedicated, you'll find that you're way too busy to 'zone' and need to keep your head together.

Guy

[pillguy]

I'm going to check in on you in a few hours.  Its 4:30PM PDT

Larry

[pillguy]

Only you can make the decision about what you do but if you give in you delay your freedom.  I couldn't do it the first time.  That's not the end of the world.  The downside was that I spent well over a year slowly reducing that amount that I abused.  If I had been diciplined, that year would have been mine, instead, it belonged to the pills.  And when it came down to it, I still had to go through the WDs in the end.  In fact, that's one of the things that got me through, I was tired of doing 3 or 4 or 5 days of WDs only to fail and start over.  Just got tired of it.  And you will too.  My advice would be this; take today and tomorrow off.  Put those days together with the weekend and you are there.  Now it won't be fun on Monday but you'll make it.  You'll be tired as heck but it will be manageble.  Then a few weeks of "damn its hard to get up in the morning".  Then one morning you'll get up and you'll be kicking a$$.  You won't even notice at first that you're different, that you are having something close to a normal day.  You won't recognize it at first because its been so long since you've had one.  And you'll know that freedom is yours.  

Everyone here knows how you feel today and we wished we could make it go away.  Its just awful and we know that.  Still, we know that the best thing you can do for yourself is hang in there.  We all know the freedom is more than worth the agony.  Its so good we don't just want it for ourselves, we want it for everyone.  We want it for you.

[rallenebe]

this is getting harder and harder by the minute. Rational function is impossible at this point. Sitting is nearly impossible and so is standing. I feel like my skin is crawling and I keep going from hot to cold.

I feel like running through my office door (closed), like a cartoon character. Hot flashes are nasty business today. Almost gave into the demon earlier but I decided to stay strong.
I just don't want, nor can I handle a week of this.

R

[rallenebe]

Thank you everyone that's posted here.
Today is day two and last night was no picnic. I actually screamed out a couple times for wd to stop. I find that laying in bed makes everything so much worse. After getting home and soaking in the tub I took a 2 hour drive in the country then a two hour walk.
Withdrawals were less than half during those hours.

Went to my favorite around 8:00pm and knocked back a few drinks. symptoms disappeared during my time there and didn't resurface until around midnight when my buzz wore off.
I'm just a social drinker (maybe once twice a month) but I can put away some alcohol. Never was much of a cheap date.. ha!
No sleep yet but its only 2nd day. I'm going to the gym after work, gonna try to work out and use the sauna to sweat some of the poison out of my system.
Hopefully I can last 3 hours at the gym which should allow me to nap at least an hour tonight.

[Florida_Guy737]

Hi,

Take the sweats as they come...your body is adjusting right now.  I used and still to this day because I'm pretty big (250lbs bodybuilder) clinical antiperspirant and baby powder.  After the shower, I dose myself with tons of baby powder---armpits, neck, lower back and sometimes feet as well.

Guy

[gnarly_1]

HI I just wanted to take a minute and welcome you to the forum you have been given some good advise already I would just like to try and help also...one of the best things you can do is go into this with a positive attitude...that will do more then any other single thing...what you are about to undertake is difficult it is ez to get discouraged..try to use your symptoms to strengthen your resolve to quit...take a negative and make a positive out of it..I alway tell everyone doing this get comfortable with the saying..."you just got to be ok without being ok for a wile" remember this is only temporary ....it is about 1/3 physical and 2/3 mental so be prepared to fight on both fronts the physical only last about a week...its the mental 'mindscrew" that brings most people down...the best way to prepare for the mental angle is with some form of aftercare N/A and A/A our free progams and many here on the forum have used them successfully if thats not a good fit try a substance abuse conslor or and addiction therapist but some outside  help is critical to making it threw the mental side of this thing...I to share a life time of addictions the last one was to narcotics for 16 1/2 yrs...I have found aftercare to make the difference in making it or not for me...we need to dig down deep to find the root that drove us to the drugs in the first place otherwise the high will always win so get pluged in somewhere it will make this whole process ezer...the best thing I have found for treating the immediate symptoms is a hot soak in the tub...it works on a host of symptoms
hang in there keep posting where all out here to help you get threw this good luck and God bless......Gnarly          

[recoveredfromamonster]

Hey brother, I wanted to come in here and see how you were doing. I know it's rough, believe me I know. Your a good man I can tell. And you will do this. Your gonna go through close to the worst thing you probably ever will for one of the best reasons you ever can.  I'll tell you, I was not far off from your dose when I quit. I quit cold turkey too. ibklean is spot on. Tapering delays the inevitable. It's a medical fact that the only drug you can suffer death from is dt's from alcohol. You may feel like your gonna die but your not. Contrary to some opinions you canNOT die from wds from opiates. The toilet may be your friend for a couple of weeks but you will live. And you will get to be free with your wife and baby :) if you need to talk you can call me 24/7 I will list my number in my profile. Don't worry, I get calls all the time. You won't be a bother, OK. GOD bless and I'm praying for you.

[laurel453]

Hi,...

did you have a look at the thomas recipe and the amino acid protocol ? there are some stuff that can help you now, rallen.



i will copy a list so that you can start with, ok ?

immodium ( diarrhea )

advil

a good vitamin complex and a good B's ( best sublingual )...

some magnesium chelated+calcium supplements... to help you with muscle cramps and aches

potassium rich food... apple/orange juice  , bananas, spinach, raisins, nutcrackers..

a good chicken soup, tomato soup, eat as healthy as possible ...some protein shakes.

this is very important, .....drink a lot of fluids to keep you hydrated ... gatorades, green tea ( theanine on it, will help your mood and to relax), tonic water ( it has quinine and it will help you with RLS )

Hylands restful legs to help you with RLS

maybe some natural stuff to help you with sleep like melatonin and valerian root ( good for anxiety too and it helped me with the stomach cramps , imo).

lots of hot baths ( with epsom salts if you have them ...)

start with walks and some light exercise as soon as you can to boost your endorphines, enjoy the sun ...





good luck with your new life and congrats for your baby !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[rallenebe]

Haven'T had meds since yesterday and I'm feeling it.
I have to be strong... i heard coming off of 60mg a day was hard so 90mg is probably worse.
Not to mention being on this stuff for 7-8 years now. I'm sure every fiber of my body has opiates in it.

[rallenebe]

Today has been tough but not as bad as right now.
After reading a post from IBKleen I decided to quit tapering and just do it cold turkey.
I'm not sure if IBK is man or woman but he said "detoxing is like removing a band aid, either you remove it fast or slow.
I figured why agonize any longer than I have too.. So I didn't take my taper dose and flushed my remaining script (no worries septic here).

This *****.... I'm sweating like I'm in a sauna and I have ants crawling.

[rallenebe]

Good morning everyone,

Last night was terrible....... I managed to sleep for less than an hour and still had to come to work. Unfortunately I own a business with employees and a phone that never stops ringing. I can manage a sick day or two along the way but I can't do 5 days away or it will cost me.

pillguy: thank you for the post... we have similar backgrounds and bad habits habits my friend. Meth was such a huge part of my life (for much of my life), it's only now that I'm able to make fun of how bad it really was. I spent hundreds of thousands on meth in my life and if it wasn't for my wife I would probably still be using.
You know you have a meth habit when: "you hire your connection and give him a menial job just so you have the convenience of getting your stash the minute you walk into the office" Ha!

recoveredfromamonster: thank you for the post my friend. According to the manufacturer; ms contin has a wax built directly into the medication itself. Unlike most time released meds that use an outer coating of the pill to dissolve the medication by time, ms contins wax makes the entire pill (including the medication itself) dissolve by time. So, it shouldn't matter if the pill is split or not. That's how I understand it works. The manufacture states that when IV drug users shoot ms contin they are shooting the wax too, even after removing the outer coating because the wax binds with the medication during manufacturing.
I took six baths last night, sometimes they help other times not so much. My wife put lavender in my bath, supposedly it helps too.
No worries about over dose my friend, I'm cutting back from 900mg a day to 60mg. That's a huge swing over the course of 12 months. My last intake was 2:00am this morning. I'm at work, sick and chatting with you good folks. Thank God for all of you here. I really needed to talk to other addicts. I've tried NA but the people in there are usually in a much different place than I am.

Florida_guy: Thank you for the post my friend.
Your the third person to say Thomas recipe so I'm gonna give it a try. Were very close to the same age and I hear everything your saying. When will the sweating stop? I hate it so much, I would rather have the chills any day.
OK this is gonna sound strange. My dad was heroine user for 40 years... i remember one time he told me that whenever he was sick it felt like ants were crawling up his ***... I have that exact same feeling. My sickness makes me clinch up and I feel that awful feeling... when the heck does that stop? It's as bad as the sweats... if not worse.

I would stop using and trying to taper if i was out of pills but I still have a few left. I still think that I take too much medication to be cold turkey. Last night at its worst, I actually considered going to the hospital. I heard Suboxone was a good med to use when going through this but dammit man,  I don't want to get on another medication.

My only relief and will power came when I reached over and put my hand on my wife's stomach and waited to feel the baby move. I just laid in bed sobbing asking God for strength to get through this. It's really sad when you think about it. I've been married 3 times before and each time was a mistake. The marriage always ended in one way or another because of drug use. I'm an addict. I always have been, and always will be.

I love my wife unlike I've ever loved anyone in my life. It's a miracle that anyone can stand my bull sh*t more than a week and I know its hard for her. That's another reason to get clean. Sitting at bar in Hawaii 11 months ago, my wife looked at told me that I never spent one minute with her sober... That little remark hit me hard because I relized she was right!  
I didn't need to be on meds any longer. Pain from surgeries had subsided years before but you know what they say, "old habits die hard".

Thanks again, God Bless

RALLEN