Aa
I cant taper hydrocodone...going to do CT instead.
I honestly dont think i am cut out for a taper. i feel like I am just drawing out the inevitable and I am not responsible enough to take my taper pills as scheduled. So this is it- i am going to flush the pills I have from my taper plan and just do cold turkey. I was on a 40mg taper and keep screwing up, I just have crazy anxiety and not knowing how i am going to feel makes it so much worse. I am going to start CT tomorrow as I just took 60mg when i realized i am not strong enough to do this, and I kind of felt like oh well, might as well get rid of the anxiety today and start full tomorrow.
so if I will feel the worst 72 hours out is what i am reading, how soon can i expect to begin feeling bad? is there anything i can do to help minimize the anxiety? I honestly think that was why I began taking the hydrocodone in the first place. I had pain, but it made me feel like i didn't have the anxiety which clearly is still an issue.
so if I will feel the worst 72 hours out is what i am reading, how soon can i expect to begin feeling bad? is there anything i can do to help minimize the anxiety? I honestly think that was why I began taking the hydrocodone in the first place. I had pain, but it made me feel like i didn't have the anxiety which clearly is still an issue.
You wrote, "this fear/anxiety of quitting has far outweighed the benefit for too long."
I was stuck there for a long time, too. *****. Good to be in the solution, even if it's temporarily uncomfortable.
I was stuck there for a long time, too. *****. Good to be in the solution, even if it's temporarily uncomfortable.
I was an abysmal failure at the tapering thing too....when the high started to go away I didn't see any sense in it.Got down to around 45 mg oxy but couldn't take the next step. Knew I was gonna suffer one way or the other so I jumped in. 10 days later I feel pretty good. You will too. Book it!
Peace
Jimi
Peace
Jimi
so today i only have had 15mg and honestly felt fine! I have a headache but that is it so far. I think one of the things that was holding me back from quitting was this fear of what I might feel like or what might happen and I am so happy I am taking the leap!
I dont think its going to be nearly as bad as I have been anticipating or as other have made it seem, or at least thats what I am telling myself! When you are expecting the worst thats usually what happens and this fear/anxiety of quitting has far outweighed the benefit for too long. its time :)
I dont think its going to be nearly as bad as I have been anticipating or as other have made it seem, or at least thats what I am telling myself! When you are expecting the worst thats usually what happens and this fear/anxiety of quitting has far outweighed the benefit for too long. its time :)
I had xanax from before- I see what your saying though! he said to be careful with the xanax and I asked for the Clondodine and maybe he thought it was klonopin.
I will ask again though, i need to tell him that i am doing a different taper plan as well!
I will ask again though, i need to tell him that i am doing a different taper plan as well!
yep-
I started at 160 mg a day or so (should have been 120mg) and i was just taking them all the time. so i tapered down to 20mg and the dr said i went too fast and upped it, but honestly i think it was fine. I did go through wd then, and i dont want to keep drawing this out! I am not good at it!
thanks for the support- i am going to start zoloft today and see what happens. I will leave the neurontin the same and just do a much more rapid taper. Dr wanted to do a 4 month taper and there is not a chance I will stick to that!
i am going to do 20mg today for 3 days, 15 for 3, 10 for 3 and then be done!
I started at 160 mg a day or so (should have been 120mg) and i was just taking them all the time. so i tapered down to 20mg and the dr said i went too fast and upped it, but honestly i think it was fine. I did go through wd then, and i dont want to keep drawing this out! I am not good at it!
thanks for the support- i am going to start zoloft today and see what happens. I will leave the neurontin the same and just do a much more rapid taper. Dr wanted to do a 4 month taper and there is not a chance I will stick to that!
i am going to do 20mg today for 3 days, 15 for 3, 10 for 3 and then be done!
The poster who said clonadine is addictive, did s/he perhaps have it confused with Klonapin? I think that's how it's spelled, and I believe it's a benzo.
To answer your question about what happens when: I went CT from 30mg Hydrocodone a day. I went into full withdrawal somewhere between 24 to 36 hours. I had 4 really bad days and then started to get better slowly but surely. I went to my first NA meeting after CT in one week. Prior to that I didn't want to drive anywhere. By two weeks my sleep started to come back, again slowly but surely. I'm 66 years old and it took me a month to get back into really good shape. From day one I never gave up walking. I average 2 miles a day (still do). The exercise helped me through, especially with the sleeplessness and my bad back. I did lots of hot baths. My doctor prescribed Clonidine the first time I went through WD 3 years ago. I had no problem with it. I take blood pressure meds now, and Clonidine was out of the question. I used Hyland's Calms Forte' and Valerian root for anxiety. Doc wanted me to use Xanax, I declined. Scared to death of how addicting it is.
Back to the fact I went thru WD more than once. Believe me, you only want to do this ONCE! I went thru it 3 times. Each time my WDs got worse. Make recovery the most important thing in your life once you get through to the other side and to freedom. Freedom from opiates is a blessing to hold on to. Good luck with your decision.
Back to the fact I went thru WD more than once. Believe me, you only want to do this ONCE! I went thru it 3 times. Each time my WDs got worse. Make recovery the most important thing in your life once you get through to the other side and to freedom. Freedom from opiates is a blessing to hold on to. Good luck with your decision.
Welcome Dukie....I couldn't taper either. Well....sorta kinda...I went down from 200-300 mg of hydros a day to 100 mg/day before I jumped off.
That dread and anxiousness, to some extent, is completely expected when an addict finally decides to "just do it". There really isn't anyway an addict can "not" anticipate or dread the process ahead. If you can keep from overanalyzing and creating "what if's" and keep your FEARS at bay, that will help immensely w/the anxiety, too. FEAR = false emotions appearing real. We really can't have FAITH and FEAR residing in us at the SAME time.....so we get to choose which thoughts to feed, if ya know what I mean? You doc suggested a taper....mine did, too. But, if I had them in my house, I panicked just thinking about HAVING to taper and would take MORE. I just wanted to quit draggin it out at some point.
I, too, was on gabapentin when I quit. I took it for nerve damage/pain. I chose to stay on it for awhile. In my early clean days, I researched it and found that there ARE people who feel like it helped them. It may have helped me, and shoot, I just didn't KNOW it was helping me, lol.
But since it affects your gaba receptors in your brain and helps w/sleep, I'd stay on it...don't know what your current prescribed dose is, but I wouldn't INCREASE it at this point. I think you will find that it works BETTER in your system w/o opiates competing. I did research the gaba and 77 days into my journey, opted to wean off the gaba, too. My reasons for that were more to get a "real" idea of my pain levels, my nerve damage, find out what is permanent, if my whole left foot would remain numb, etc.
Whether you choose to get back on an antidepressant (AD) and whether you choose to take the xanex will, of course, be your own personal assessment of how you feel, but I'd encourage you to realize that what those meds did or didn't do ON opiates will more than likely change when you are OFF opiates. I also would recommend researching all you can about ANY drug before you choose to ADD it or TAKE it away. I've certainly had a huge awakening since getting clean.
Glad you are here.....we will be, too!
That dread and anxiousness, to some extent, is completely expected when an addict finally decides to "just do it". There really isn't anyway an addict can "not" anticipate or dread the process ahead. If you can keep from overanalyzing and creating "what if's" and keep your FEARS at bay, that will help immensely w/the anxiety, too. FEAR = false emotions appearing real. We really can't have FAITH and FEAR residing in us at the SAME time.....so we get to choose which thoughts to feed, if ya know what I mean? You doc suggested a taper....mine did, too. But, if I had them in my house, I panicked just thinking about HAVING to taper and would take MORE. I just wanted to quit draggin it out at some point.
I, too, was on gabapentin when I quit. I took it for nerve damage/pain. I chose to stay on it for awhile. In my early clean days, I researched it and found that there ARE people who feel like it helped them. It may have helped me, and shoot, I just didn't KNOW it was helping me, lol.
But since it affects your gaba receptors in your brain and helps w/sleep, I'd stay on it...don't know what your current prescribed dose is, but I wouldn't INCREASE it at this point. I think you will find that it works BETTER in your system w/o opiates competing. I did research the gaba and 77 days into my journey, opted to wean off the gaba, too. My reasons for that were more to get a "real" idea of my pain levels, my nerve damage, find out what is permanent, if my whole left foot would remain numb, etc.
Whether you choose to get back on an antidepressant (AD) and whether you choose to take the xanex will, of course, be your own personal assessment of how you feel, but I'd encourage you to realize that what those meds did or didn't do ON opiates will more than likely change when you are OFF opiates. I also would recommend researching all you can about ANY drug before you choose to ADD it or TAKE it away. I've certainly had a huge awakening since getting clean.
Glad you are here.....we will be, too!
Well to be honest the gabapentin will really help. Are you prescribed it? Just be careful to not stay on it too long if it's something you don't take regularly because it can have worse withdrawal symptoms than opiates. I am sure if you just took it for a week you would be okay but just make sure you don't take it any longer unless you are prescribed it.
I also wanted to note that I don't believe going cold turkey is dangerous at all if you don't have any underlying medical issues. It can be rough but it is not life threatening at all.
I also wanted to note that I don't believe going cold turkey is dangerous at all if you don't have any underlying medical issues. It can be rough but it is not life threatening at all.
Hello-
I completely understand the taper thing; I could not do it either. If the pills were around I would take them. I did a c/t from a very high amount of Tramadol that I had been taking for a long, long time. I did just fine - it was not pleasant by any means, but I got through it fine. BUT - like Pat said, if you have anxiety issues about it you may want to call your Dr. first and ask about the Clonodine. I have heard from many people that this helped them through detox. I used some Klonopin in my w/d to help with anxiety and other discomforts but it was prescribed for me months before for anxiety and I knew how if affects me. It did help, but again, I had taken it before. So to answer your question, yes, the worst of the w/d will probably peak w/in about 3 to 4 days. Get the Thomas Recipe ingredients, have some extra clean clothes and towels to change into for if/when you get the hot/cold sweats and sit and soak in a hot tub as much and as long as you can through the worst of it. But most important - if you start feeling severe chest pains or racing heart beat GO TO THE ER and tell them why/what is going on. C/t w/d can be really dangerous. Again, everyone is different; you could be just fine. But it really would be your best bet to call the Dr and ask about the Colodine just to be safe. Good luck you will get through it and by this time next week you should be feeling much better!
I completely understand the taper thing; I could not do it either. If the pills were around I would take them. I did a c/t from a very high amount of Tramadol that I had been taking for a long, long time. I did just fine - it was not pleasant by any means, but I got through it fine. BUT - like Pat said, if you have anxiety issues about it you may want to call your Dr. first and ask about the Clonodine. I have heard from many people that this helped them through detox. I used some Klonopin in my w/d to help with anxiety and other discomforts but it was prescribed for me months before for anxiety and I knew how if affects me. It did help, but again, I had taken it before. So to answer your question, yes, the worst of the w/d will probably peak w/in about 3 to 4 days. Get the Thomas Recipe ingredients, have some extra clean clothes and towels to change into for if/when you get the hot/cold sweats and sit and soak in a hot tub as much and as long as you can through the worst of it. But most important - if you start feeling severe chest pains or racing heart beat GO TO THE ER and tell them why/what is going on. C/t w/d can be really dangerous. Again, everyone is different; you could be just fine. But it really would be your best bet to call the Dr and ask about the Colodine just to be safe. Good luck you will get through it and by this time next week you should be feeling much better!
So your doctor gave you Xanax instead of clonidine? That doesn't make much sense because Xanax is way more addictive than clonidine....in fact I didn't think clonidine was addictive at all...it's a blood pressure med that has excellent results when used during detox. You need to find a doctor who is familiar with addiction and is willing to help you the way you want to be helped. I couldn't taper either...if I had them I would take them. Good luck!
I asked for that when i went in and he said no, to taper. he said that the clonodine was addicting too and that it was trading one for another, but i agree. i need a long term plan for anxiety and I used to be on an antidepressant which i am going to begin as well.
I have xanax but dont really feel like it does much, and its just this feeling of dread with the taper. like delaying the inevitable and since i've decided to do it I've just been struggling with the unknown and i think i just have to get that part over with?
i also have gabapetine (neurontin) for nerve pain, will that help reduce WD? would increasing that dose help?
I have xanax but dont really feel like it does much, and its just this feeling of dread with the taper. like delaying the inevitable and since i've decided to do it I've just been struggling with the unknown and i think i just have to get that part over with?
i also have gabapetine (neurontin) for nerve pain, will that help reduce WD? would increasing that dose help?
Hi Dukie
Normally I would say you are making a great decision but I am really concerned about your anxiety. Is there any way you can talk to your doctor and tell him that you are quitting? He could prescribe clonodine which many people use for withdrawals and it is quite safe which can help with anxiety.
Detoxing is likely to increase your anxiety and I am afraid it may lead to relapse if you don't address it before you start.
I am saying this because of your previous anxiety issues and you saying it was probably the reason you started to abuse narcotics in the first place.
Normally I would say you are making a great decision but I am really concerned about your anxiety. Is there any way you can talk to your doctor and tell him that you are quitting? He could prescribe clonodine which many people use for withdrawals and it is quite safe which can help with anxiety.
Detoxing is likely to increase your anxiety and I am afraid it may lead to relapse if you don't address it before you start.
I am saying this because of your previous anxiety issues and you saying it was probably the reason you started to abuse narcotics in the first place.
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