tapering percocet, how fast?

[Silhouette62]

Hey I posted this in the addiction community forum and was told I should really be posting it here. I didn't even notice there were 2 different forums. So if you read this already in the other forum, sorry.
I'm on my11th day of tapering and its a slow painful process. I started at 6 a day and went to 4.5 within 3 days with little discomfort. I was super excited thinking this wouldn't be as hard as I thought. So  I'm down to 4.5 but its weird cause the wd didn't hit until day before yesterday. I was ready to go to 4 but the last 2 nights I had restless arms and legs and couldn't go back to sleep. Plus I had terrible stomach cramps! Luckily I'm not workin cause I would just get up 3am and wait till I felt tired again then go back to sleep. Should I go ahead and go to 4 anyway? Or wait till my body gets used to 4.5? Does .5 make that much of a difference? (They are 5mg percs) I have to go back to work tmrw. And btw this forum is helping me tremendously with the emotional part! Yay!

[Silhouette62]

Oops! I wish there was a way to delete posts! Didn't mean to double post. Sorry about that.

[Silhouette62]

Thanx! I know about recovery cause I was clean for 10 years. My hubby and I cleaned up off meth and stayed that way for a long time. He went thru a program and I did it myself. I would go to meetings with him which helped a lot. Then my husbands cousin gave us some percocet. Of course I didn't think it would be a big deal cause I couldn't get them. My husband soon relapsed on meth and found a pain pill connect for me. So we both relapsed I guess u can say. I just thought that since that wasn't my original drug of choice that it didn't count. That, and my behavior didn't change and I wasn't disfunctional like I was with the meth. Anyway he finally cleaned up from meth but he unfortunately tried herion in his relapse journey and now he's on methadone to get off that. I didn't let my pill intake get too out of control but its still just too expensive and I feel like I can't demand him to get off everything and me keep takin pills. So we will have a system when I'm completely done.
Oh and I didn't count that pill I took in the middle of the night so now I feel bad! Like I ruined it! I read your response too late. I didn't have to take any in the middle of the night last night though. In fact I slept great. Thanx for your time.

[Silhouette62]

Thanx! I know about recovery cause I was clean for 10 years. My hubby and I cleaned up off meth and stayed that way for a long time. He went thru a program and I did it myself. I would go to meetings with him which helped a lot. Then my husbands cousin gave us some percocet. Of course I didn't think it would be a big deal cause I couldn't get them. My husband soon relapsed on meth and found a pain pill connect for me. So we both relapsed I guess u can say. I just thought that since that wasn't my original drug of choice that it didn't count. That, and my behavior didn't change and I wasn't disfunctional like I was with the meth. Anyway he finally cleaned up from meth but he unfortunately tried herion in his relapse journey and now he's on methadone to get off that. I didn't let my pill intake get too out of control but its still just too expensive and I feel like I can't demand him to get off everything and me keep takin pills. So we will have a system when I'm completely done.
Oh and I didn't count that pill I took in the middle of the night so now I feel bad! Like I ruined it! I read your response too late. I didn't have to take any in the middle of the night last night though. In fact I slept great. Thanx for your time.

[lurker]

Yes you do - consider your "day" a 24 hour  period.  If you need to take some in the middle of the night, spread your doses out to include the one during the night.  If you get lucky and don't need to take one in the middle of the night, great, but you do need to count every pill or piece of a pill you take.
good luck!!  You're doing really hard work.  Be sure to think about a plan to stay clean after you get totally off the drugs.  meetings, support people, activities, how to deal with the cravings, etc.  Getting clean is the easy part, staying that way the hard part!!

[Silhouette62]

Wow thanx for the great advice. I was wondering one more thing. When I woke up at 3am feeling awful I took a perc.  Then when I calmed down I went back to sleep for 3 more hours. Do I count that as part of my 4.5 for the day?

[GA Guy]

There's some information on tapering along with some other stuff on my profile page. Just click the blue Ga Guy link to the left of this post.

[lurker]

Look at FLaddict's profile.  I think she has a really good taper schedule on her profile.  If not, post with her name in the subject and hopefully she'll answer. Basically, you'll need to go super slow to avoid the withdrawals.  You should not take them all at once but space them out evenly over the hours you are awake.  Do not take any at night.  You may need to take some Melatonin or Benadryl to help you sleep.  So, if you're awake from 6am to 11pm, that's 17 hours a day. If you're taking 4 pills  you'll want to take one every 4 hours or so.  If that's too far apart, break them in half and take half every 2 hours.  Then try to stretch it to half every 3 hours and so on until you're able to get off.  Good luck, keep going.

[Summer123]

Hi, I'm also tapering from percocet.  I only have the 10 mg ones.  I was taking mostly about 30-40 mg.  When I went down to 15 mg went through a lot of withdrawal and even more at 10 mg.  Stayed at the 10 mg for six days and then went to 7.5 mg where I presently reside.  Probably going to stay here for 6 days or until I feel ready (body usually lets you know when that is).  I've talked to several successful taperers.  Some people say the slower the better.  I've been on the meds for 12 years for pain.  Everybody is a little different about when they feel the withdrawals.  Didn't have much problem going from 25 mg to 15 mg (about 5 of your pills to 3 of your pills).  The sleeplessness is all part of it as the stomach cramps, etc.  If I were you, I would wait until your body gets used to the 4.5.  Best of luck!

[IBKleen]

Hello and Welcome!

God bless you that you are tapering. I could never do it. It is difficult, at best, and very few succeed. If you are going to continue with the taper, get a plan and stick to it. It is important not to go down too fast, and certainly NOT to go back up. I am not surprised that you are beginning to feel the withdrawal, and this is when most people fail at the taper. Yes, the .5 mg does make a difference, as you can see.

There are otc remedies to help you through this tough time. Work is probably going to be difficult. I wish you luck and if you need anything---just post here anytime.