Oxy W/D and physical dependency vs addiction

[girbabe]

I am pleased to have found this forum although it was quite by accident.  The compassion certainly shows through all the posts I have read.  So that said, I would love some feedback and clarification on withdrawal symptoms and weaning.

My history:  I am a 52 year old woman with Fibro and disk generative disease.  I never took even so much as an aspirin my whole life until 4 years ago when I was prescribed Oxycodone for my conditions which are particularly severe and debilitating at time. I can't leave my bed for up to 3 days sometimes because of the pain and/or fatigue.   I'm no longer able to work and considered permanently disabled.   I'm now tired of being a slave to Oxycodone so I've decided to wean myself off/down to see if my condition has changed.

I was taking 30mg of Oxycodone 3 times a day and 40mg Oxycontin once at night.  I have 10mg Percocet for breakthrough pain.  I began tapering off by reducing the dose by 2.5mg per dose (3 times a day) every 7 days.  This doesn't work for the Oxycontin so I am combining a 20mg Oxycontin tablet with the short acting Oxycodone.  The only withdrawal symptom I have noticed so far is that I am a bit tired.  Nothing more.  To date, I am down to 22.5mg 4 times a day.

I was horrifed by the number of people who feel impending doom or experience unbearable withdrawal while weaning themselves or otherwise quitting this drug.  I would really like to know if I am an exception since I'm not experiencing anything remotely close to what other people have described?  And if tapering slowly of this drug minimizes the discomfort, why wouldn't everyone choose this same method?  Please forgive my ignorance.  I really don't know much about addiction and this is the first time since I started using Oxycodone that I decided to taper off.   Could this also be the difference between physical dependency and addiction?  

Thank you for your time.

[luckytobealive30]

I tapered down to nothing and have been back on 30s on a regular basis and just as bad as I ever was.  This is embarassing to say because this was a good day for me lately, I was at 400 mgs today which was between 13 and 14 30s today I actually lost count.  Yesterday I was over 600 mgs.  This is driving me crazy cause I really want to stop and I don't even know how to approach it cause I try to put like 6 30's in a botttle when I wake up and say this is it today but it never stays at 6.

[girbabe]

I was under the impression that a slow taper over a prolonged period of time allows the body/brain to adjust because the small amount being reduced isn't enough to cause severe withdrawal symptoms.  Once acclimated, the tapering continues with very little discomfort.  Is this incorrect?  If so, then regardless of the tapering process, am I to expect that I will wake up one morning, at whatever point my brain decides it isn't getting enough Oxy, and start experiencing the level and degree of symptoms that everyone here describes?

I was hoping to experience a few minor symptoms throughout the process rather than go through a week of sheer hell and expect my brain receptors to be shocked into compliance!  Yikes!

[dominosarah]

Alot of us have found that our pain actually got better after we stopped our pills.  Hopefully that will be the case for you.  I commend you on tapering down but you will go thru some sort of wd's at some point.  I couldnt taper as i am an all or nothing type person.  Keep posting and letting us know how you are doing......sara

[leeisgettingclean]

the reason everyone does not do a taper could be one of many reasons..no more pills, no more money, health, cant controll usin good enough to taper..and as i said another reason and the # 1 reason for me is the feeling of only prolonging the w/ds because again, they do come, maybe not as bad as cold turkey but they do come and they last longer because once you hit that point were they begin you will feel them for a few days at a time at every drop there after

[leeisgettingclean]

no it has nothing to do with you tapering slow..slow is good, remember the idea is to try as much as possible to avoid w/ds, however there comes a point in even the best taper that w/ds start to happen, its just when your body no longer has enough of the meds, this point is deff for everyone..I never was successfull in a taper, however it sounds as if you are doing it right..good luck and you are doing a smart thing

[girbabe]

Then...is there a certain "dose" where withdrawals begin?  Or, is it that I am tapering at such a slow/low reduction?

[leeisgettingclean]

no your dose is not low enough to be having w/ds actually IMO its strange that you are feeling anything with the low dropp in your mg