What to expect when withdrawing from Fioricet

[octoberblues]

What are the dangers of withdrawing from fioricet?

How long after my last pill will I go into withdrawal?

I do not abuse it as in taking more than 6 a day, and have been only taking 4 a day for awhile now.  Sometimes 3.

I am not sure when I began taking them daily but it's been probably six months.  I have a 2 left, and will most likely get an RX for 90 tomorrow, but it's not certain.

I planned on doing one less pill a week at a time until I'm down to a half.  I won't be going to a hospital unless I end up there in an ambulance against my free will.  It was doctors who did not treat me properly in the first place that got me here, and I will not be using anymore of them unless I lose my faculties and am forced to.  I'm very serious about my decision, and I just want to know what to expect.  

I have Propananol for chest pains that I get from mitral valve prolapse, that helped lower my blood pressure yesterday when my pain levels were unbearable.  I have a lot of neck pain, and it gives me tension type headaches.  

I don't feel high, drunk or impaired when I take fioricet so I don't know what people are talking about when they say they feel euphoric or good, or energized.  I just feel as if it helps with the pain in my neck and head.  I have muscle relaxers for the spasms in my back/neck but when I take those I feel weak all over.  I noticed taking the fioricet helped tension just as well and didn't make me feel like crap.

[dominosarah]

Great advice mayberry~~

[my_mayberry]

vicki...i think i understand what jim was saying. it's something i've said before, but most people don't have an interest in listening to. the half-life of butalbital is 35 to 100 hours, depending on the person, and also which source you read. thats a HUGE window...but basically it means that a seizure might not happen right away till the drug has began to be eliminated.  so, say the drug is elminated at a rate of 50% every 50 hours....it could be 50 hours before you reach the seizure threshold. it just depends on where the seizure threshold is vs how much butalbital is in your system. if you reduce the dose too fast, you could have a seizure and yet it may not present itself for a couple days after the reduction in dose. i THINK this is what Jim was getting at.

in any event.....to October....i won't suggest anything as far as a taper other than SEE YOUR DOCTOR! i will say, though, that propranolol DOES help some people quite well with migraine prevention. it does for me! what dose are you taking? thats also something to talk about with your doctor....but to be honest, i'm not sure what type of migraines you're getting. i couldn't really pick up on it from what all you said. if it is something to do with nerve damage or related to muscle tension, then it will be ineffective probably. this is why for TENSION headaches or persistant migraines where the cause is from a nerve or neck muscle.....fioricet really does work better than anything else....but i'm so happy that you understand that you can't be on it forever. as you said, your dose will only continue to increase. you probably do not feel high from it because you are treating a legit problem. for example, when i take one and i have a full-blown knock-down drag out migraine, i do NOT feel high....only relief. there are those who take some pretty heavy-duty opiates for chronic pain who also do not feel high when they take them because they are treating such severe pain. this obviously isn't true for everyone, but for some it is. for others, they just don't get high off of it. even for opiates, the addiction rate is no where near 100%....which means that not everyone actually gets loaded off of them.

i hope you find a way to get to the specialist you need! i would suggest also asking your doctor about midrin...it works decently for the types of headaches you seem to be having......however, they took it off the market for now. the FDA wants them to PROOVE it works.....so i suspect its only a matter of time before they do the same with fioricet. Midrin was the only alternative to fioricet that had a lower rate of addiction. much lower, actually. now, they are switching those on midrin over to fioricet....by far a much more dangerous drug.

does your propranolol help with your pain? also, have they tried topamax or anything? amytriptyline works for nerve pain, also...you might ask about that.

the moderate mentioned your heart condition, and that does factor into things. by the way....butalbital greatly reduces the effectiveness of beta-blockers....especially when used on a daily basis. keep that in mind!

[vicki595]

Overopiates:  Hi!  A lot of people have been/are prescribed Fiorinal/Fioricet and the stuff works very nicely for headache.  It doesn't create a problem with prn use. It's always or should be prescribed as prn only!  I never took it that way and paid the nasty price!  Some take it once and awhile,it works,and it's all good.  The thing is,for some, it's easy to take it everyday. Then you go from 2 to 4 a day. Then 8 a day,everyday....then run out/stop. Then the awful rebound headaches,anxiety,dizziness,all over pain...terrible!  You're fortunate that it wasn't a problem. Kind of like me with opiates!

October: It's good you're stopping these for now. You may need to take them again because they do work well.  You should just never take them everyday,ever!  I have no idea what "Jim" means by:"Taking a lot less than prescribed is a dangerous thing to do"...
How much lower can you get than 3 per day?  Anyway, that's for your doctor to decide and not us. We aren't free to comment on tapers or give advice in that regard.  I will say that you really don't need to feel this crappy. A slow taper with this particular drug works very well. Feel better...

[overopiates]

Well mine r also prescribed for migraine headaches too not just tension from a neurologist.We tried them n combination of like6+other meds for prevention NONE worked.They were initially prescribed from a PM DR.I have noticed since quitting the tabs I get a lot less extreme headaches which is common as a side effect of opiates(so I take less now than I ever have).

[Oxy480Jim]

As vicki595 says, they aren't supposed to be prescribed for prevention, they should be taken 'as needed' at least that what the drug sheet says.

sounds like you have the same Doc as Octoberblues, LoL!   They are specifically prescribed for tension headaches. You shouldn't take them for other types of headaches. I don't get headaches very often, but when I do a tylenol works for me.  For some strange reason, despite all the oxy I take, it doesn't do a thing for headaches. I should be immune to headaches, LoL!

[overopiates]

I'm so confused about fironal as I've been prescribed them for yrs.I used2get90now I had them dropped2 60amonth cause there expensive+didn't need that many as I'm prescribed2a day but I will go about half the month w/o them(will take them when I get headaches like there r days I take them everyday4- 3-4days but have times where I can take otc meds to fix the headache/or won't take them4a week of so.These r fironal capsules.I've NEVER had w/d at all even when I was getting90+had days of taking3-4a day.I didn't even know these were addictive until this site