Oxycodone withdrawal

Question

I've been on narcotic for years for hip pain. I finally had a hip replacement one year ago. I've gradually weaned down from MS Contin 30 mg three times a day and oxycodone 30 mg 6 times a day to oxycodone 15 mg 3-4 times daily. 

My surgery will be a year ago on Monday, and my goal has been to be narcotic free by that day. My mind is 100 percent ready; it has been since the day I decided to have the surgery. But these last 3-4 oxycodone per day have been my Achilles heel. On Tuesday I cut down to 1/2 tablet every 8-10 hours. Yesterday, I want 22 hours without a tablet. The withdrawal, physically, is horrible. Body aches, diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, no appetite. I feel there is no end in sight. I see my doctor next week, and I want to tell him I don't need another prescription.

I guess my questions are: am I drawing this out by taking the half tablet? How long is this going to last? Im so diassapointed that one year after surgery, which was supposed to fix everything, here I am.

Thank you for any input or advice.

abritt121222 · Accepted Answer

Hello and welcome to the forums you have come to the right place

sorry to hear about your situation as i was in the exact same spot as you except mine was 2 back surgeries  but as for your question the best way to come off of the pain meds is to do a slow ween if you can do that most of us cannot because we cant control ourselves when we have the meds and wind up just taking them to much and not weening off but if you can do a ween it will help in the end by making the withdrawals not as bad or as long as they would be if you just quit cold turkey and usually the worst of the physical withdrawal is over in 7-10 days but that is by no means the end it is hard no doubt but in my opinion the mental part is just as hard if not harder but it can be done you just have to really want to be clean

Good Luck and Godspeed
ABritt

shilohpeace · Answer

YOu will get there. How are you doing anyway? You know hot baths help a great deal.. take as many as you want or can. You hit the nail on the head with finding the secret.. i.e. have your brain produce endorphins.. laugh, sing... keep your mind occupied. I started to read A Million Little PIeces by James Frey which is very rough to get through the first half.. but wow - parts of it turn into sheer beauty that make me filled with chills. I hope you are good. Let me know. Blessings.

Em709 · Answer

I'm still struggling, but less today than yesterday.  Today is a lazy day home with the kids. Trying to giggle. Make some of my own endorphins. We've decided to take advantage of the lazy day, and have a Harry Potter-a-thon. Haven't had diarrhea since last night. I'm also catching up on some reading and some work. Keeping my mind busy seems to help a lot. If I sit and think about how far I have to go, I just feel defeated. So I try to switch channels in my brain and move on to something productive. laughing helps. Make others laugh helps too. I still have pretty massive body aches, which improve with stretching. The buzzing feeling in my head is the worst. I don't know how to make that go away.  

Just hold strong to what you really want. For me, it's a life free of the haze.

shilohpeace · Answer

Dear Em, I am so glad you are going to make it. I am in an almost identical situation as you.  I weaned myself down (from a crushed/wrist titanium surgery blah blah) from 60 mgs. of oxy a day plus 3 10-325 oxycodone.  When I got off the oxys totally, I was trying to get off the oxys. I got to the point where I was actually drug free one day last week (I started April 28t) but I was in total misery and could no longer suffer.. so what I do is every two hours I take a little bit of the oxycodone just to keep me feeling somewhat human. This is only to stabilize me until I am ready to go through the really bad withdrawals that seem to hid us at the very end.  I hope your feeling good lasts. Please let me know if it does.  I would feel really good one minute and then get hit with the feeling of not wanting to breathe because my body was so tight, and fighting off restless legs and having zero to no energy.  I think I probably take the equivalent of 2 10-325s over a 24 hours period now so in my opinion, I have come a long way.  And you, wow - you are my hero.  And please count your blessings that you have a husband that is taking care of you.  I don't have anybody so give your husband a hug for me, as he is a caretaker. And just my opinion, but I think you could be honest with your kids. You were legitimately on this medicine and to get off of it is difficult but that is your goal and you might not be yourself for a while. I haven't been myself since 2004 when I first started taking pain medicine, but I have really been suffering since April 28th when I first started withdrawing from them.  Blessings to you.  Please let me know how it goes as you and I are in a little bit similar place. I will tell you that immodium helps.. don't worry about not eating, trying to drink orange juice or gaterade. I take the l-tyrosine and vitamin b-6 and potassium tablets. I did the thomas recipe but lord knows, I suffered even with tapering.. with all the symptoms you mention above. Blessings!

Em709 · Answer

Made it through the night. Actually got up in the middle of the night  starving! And this morning is definitely better than yesterday morning. I think I'm going to make it!

criminy1 · Answer

The work you are putting in now will pay off. When it comes time to stop, you will have pre-paid alot of wd pain. You will be glad you did it!

Em709 · Answer

I've eaten an apple with peanut butter, three bite of banana and a stale Graham cracker in the past three days. And yet, there seems to be no lack of material for the diarrhea. And I'm nauseated, and my head feels like it is vibrating. My husband has been taking such wonderful care of me, and he had to go back to work tonight, which scares me. He hid the last of my stash (at my request) and left me 1/2 for when I reach the 16-20 hour mark. I did get out and take the dog to the vet today, don't know how I did it, because now I feel like I've been chewed up and spit out, a miserable glob. I have three great kids who think I have the flu, and they are being wonderful, so I guess I should count my blessings. I just want the time to come where their touches don't send shooting pains through my body and their voices don't sound like amplified shrieks. I know that it's me. I'm pushing fluids (water, water, water), praying, reading this forum, and thanking God for the blessings I do have to help me through. I just hope I don't let those blessings down. Thanks for this forum. It's a safe place to be brutally honest.