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clonidine dose in opiate withdrawal

Hello, I am currently planning to get off pills after 5 years. I am very scared of the wd symptoms. I was wondering if anyone has tried clonidine. How much did you take and did it help.
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Avatar universal
YES IT HELPS ALOT LOWERS YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE BRECAUSE IT GOES UP WHEN YOUR IN WITHDRAWLS.  ITS BNOT AS BAD AS YOU THINKS DON'T THINK TOO MUCH JUST DO IT DAY BY DAY
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182493 tn?1348052915
I think they prescribe 1mg twice a day. However I would see a doc. Clonidine is a blood pressure med and you should be monitored while taking it. It lowers your blood pressure, withdrawl makes your blood pressure go up so this helps lower it. You should have your blood pressure checked before taking it.
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Avatar universal
It lowers your blood pressure by surpressing your adrenal (sp) system. The adrenal system goes haywire during the first few days of WD. The thought is by calming down the adrenal system, you lower the intensity of WDs.

I've tried clonidine on 3 seperate occassions - it may 'reduce' physical symptoms a little, but I didn't notice much difference.

On the flip side, it makes you really sleepy the first few times you take it - so the extra sleep helps. :)

Do not take for more than a few days - it can cause rebound hypertension - even in people that don't have hypertension.

And if I recall correctly - the doses are 0.1mg - 0.2mg & 0.3mg -- but it's been awhile.

Good luck no matter what you try!
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Avatar universal
I switched from hydro to oxy and from 80mg a day to 20mg a day in the last week. My blood pressure has gone up and I think it is from the mini wd I seem to experience every night waiting on 6am and my dose to get through the day. I saw my dr. and he has giving me a blood pressure med but I think he would prescribe me clonidine if I talked to him. After reading a few things about it I was just wondering if the blood pressure dose and the wd symptom dose was the same. I plan to reduce dose another week then stop. Is there any other suggestions. I am single mother of 2 and I cant leave for treatment. I have to get up and go to work every day. I have a 3 day weekend over memorial day and plan to use that time.
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Avatar universal
i used clonidine to help me through withdrawls when i tries kicking subutex or suboxone... whatever the heck that stuff is. it helped me sleep through the withdrawls but not for long. every time i would wake up i would feel twice as horrible. i smoked some weed and it helped
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Avatar universal
I have been off and on opiates for a few years. Hydrocodone is pretty much my pill of choice, mainly because I have access to 240 10's a month at cost. Its funny how having this supply makes me use less. I like to stop for a few weeks or evrn months at a time. W/D's are always tough. Colonidine is also something that I have access to. As far as it helping with W/D. It really does help, mind you this does not get you high. Many people seem to confuse "easing the symptoms" and "getting high again" For me (your mileage vary) Colonidine seems to take away the hot/cold flashes, restlessness, and helps me sleep. I recommend preparing for W/D before you do it. My "kit" includes the following medication; colondine, ambien, xanax or Valium, ibuprofen , Imodium AD, and mufti vitamins. Drink tons of water and eat soups, oatmeal, or broth. The idea is to sleep though most of it. Lucky for me my metabolism is very high and the worst of my symptoms are less than 36 hours (which I sedate myself) Aim for a weekend and blame it on the flu. If you can stay off this ****, do it! Other than that be smart about what you do. Just remember as good as you feel from the high is the exact intensity of how bad you will feel when you stop. No needles and don't lie or steal to support your habit.
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696149 tn?1314320959
I too, came off Vicodin...almost 5 weeks now and they Clonidine really helped me allot!  From what I'm seeing here though is it either doesn't work as well with the harder stuff or you'd need a higher dose.

I would definitely give it a shot though.  It would have been much harder without it!
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Avatar universal
it did not work for **** for me,But i was also doing alot more than hydrocodone!!!THE ONLY THIMG THAT WILL GET NEEDLE USERS OFF IS SUBOXONE...DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE THE ARE WRONG!!!!!! suboxone for heroin,oxycodone,contin.....i am and addict i was shooting 30 roxy 30s a day till i was broke trust me.... and now clean 55 days today

good luck buddy help i helped.
                                           cody
Helpful - 0
1162610 tn?1262829016
My pain management specialist prescribed Clonidine for me.  The bottle says it's .1 g.  And yes, it does make you sleepy.  Very sleepy.  Nighty Night..............
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Avatar universal
I knw that wd cause your blood pressure 2 go up. Bt I was curious while doing opiates is your bp increased or decreased. Just bn studying abt opiates alot and seem 2 be gtn alot of dif info
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Avatar universal
Clonidine may be a blood pressure medication but withdrawal from opiates is more than elevated BP.When someone takes opiates for an extended period of time then stops,the bodys adrenaline/adrenal gland kicks in hard.I have been through this before and the Clonidine did actually help. I am not sure of the doseage given. I do know that Xanax was prescibed along with it and BP was monitored regularly. The best thing for opiate withdrawal is not to lay around and struggle through it.Find a good Dr.preferably an addiction specialist,get some medication. Somehow find the strength to get out and be around family and friends,this can be excellent medicine.
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Avatar universal
I Am A Pill Addict I Take Loratabs And Roxys... A Friend Told Me About Clonidine...  How Do I Go About  Getting It?
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Avatar universal
For the person saying that the only thing that helps for needle users....is suboxone... You are right about that.  IF you have suboxone or methadone or subutex or ANY type of ******** maintence drug-- then withdrawal is non-existent.  I remember being in rehab in detox--heroin or oxy shooters what have you would ***** about how sick they were and this is while they were on subs or methadone.. haha.. such ********.  I've done it all and there is no being sick while your receptors are constantly being filled.  Yes, you may want to get high and shoot your bags-- but be happy you aren't in withdrawal hell is what I always tried to tell these people!  I am addicted to Suboxone.  I've been on it for 3+ years now, and it is the HARDEST thing i've ever had to come off of... i'd rather be back on OCs or heroin and that is no joke.  I often think about doing OCs again to get off the subs--yea i'll still withdrawal, but not nearly as long.  SUb withdrawl has lasted months in my experience, and no doctors seem to know what i'm talking about. but for people in my situation, you know what it is.  Bottom line: you're going to have to be sick eventually to get off drugs.  there's no easy way out.  Clonidine doesn't help me personally- i wish it did-- but it does lower blood pressure. and thru withdrawal. it can get dangerously high. So there you go.  Seroquel is the way to go if you want to sleep through it.  And also, for those of you out there seeking no pain (which is ridiculous, it's wd) then get some adderall or coke and do speed... now that may sound ****** of me, but some people out there will not quit because of withdrawal--and will continue using hard ****-- sooo why not substitute it with amphetamines for about 2 weeks.  Adderall and seroquel to sleep.  try it.  But if you want to do it the RIGHT way--  TRy Neurontin, vistaril, bentyl, seroquel, even clonidine-- these won't get you feeling great- but will help a little.  and no, suboxone is not my drug of choice and i don't get high from it--- i just can't kick it like i have oxies,dope, etc.  it's ******* evil
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Avatar universal
you may end up in the ER though if you take the speed route. just sayin.
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Avatar universal
Taking clonidine does help a little with the withdrawals. Maybe a few days, and then cut it off. As for doing other drugs like uppers, you will really be putting your life in danger. Uppers spikes your blood pressure up and speeds your heart rate up horribly, which can lead to a heart attack, so you would have to be insane to listen to kismetdaisy. As for taking seroquel, you will have some terrible nightmares, and you will be disoriented. There is no easy way out of withdrawal symptoms. You are going to have to go through some kind of pain and discomfort.  Putting off a few weeks of discomfort is nothing compared to the years to come of disaster and torturing your body and mind, and possibly even death.
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Avatar universal
Lol seriously @Cody, 30 30mg roxies a day? Uh yeah ooooookk
BUT anyways I'm trying to detox from a 4 year habit (started doing ocs, roxies etc, then graduated up to heroin since pills started to become scarce). I have detoxed about 6 times before and relapsed every time. 2 outta the 6 times was cold turkey, and the rest was done by using suboxone. Of course when I wanna detox now I cant find any subs so a friend suggested clonodine. He swears by it, so I decided to try this route after detoxing for the past 3 days and just can't handle it anymore. I'm starting it tomorrow, and I'll keep y'all updated with how it went, what I took etc. Good luck to anyone that's trying to detox, the hardest part is trying to stay clean afterwards, but just surround urself with like-minded ppl and keep ur head up!
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Avatar universal
How did your WD go with the clonodine? My husband and I just got some today. We're trying to get off suboxone. We were down to only taking half of a 8/2mg pill a day, so I hope it's easier this time. We tried to get off subs a few mos. ago after taking 1-2 a day and it was hell! We dragged our ***** back in the dr. and kept paying 400-500/mo for the script. Well screw that, we need that money and we're done relying on subs. So here we go with clonodine and sleeping pills (trazodone) and some wine at night. Let me know your thoughts... Thanks
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Avatar universal
yeah 30 , 30mg Roxi's daily.. I did more than that as well before stopping..crazy huh.. and it didnt even phase me ... not proud of it...but its very true after taking for so long.. good luck everyone
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Avatar universal
I too have at one point done in excess of 30 Roxys per day with several 10/325 percs thrown in too and functioned like normal. I  started 2 weeks ago starting to ween off by using only the percs(7.5s)0 maybe 5 or 6 daily and was relatively comfortable....well Friday morning at 9am I ran out of everything and I braced for the worse....I started taking the clonodine almost immediately and its now sunday almost noon and I have not felt a single withdrawal symptom. They usually hit me between 12 to 18 hrs but its now been 48 and I have been sleeping fine and actually just came in from playing with my dog this morning.
   Ive been in total WDs several times including the whole laying in the floor in front of a heater with a blanket around me sweating my butt off , terrible hopless thoughts crossing my mind , every joint in my body hurting etc. but I cant understand whats happening now....I feel great. Am I out of the woods?
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Avatar universal
ive been taking 1 to 2 roxy 30s a day for about a year now how bad should the withdraw be for me and can you reccomend anything?
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Avatar universal
i hate doing pills and im scared to withdraW i only do 1 to 2 pills a day how bad is it gonna be for me i do 30mg roxys
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Avatar universal
It would be very hard for me to say my friend , Ive never been that responsible with pills to be honest.....Ive always taken way more than that and the withdrawals were horrific. If I had to take a guess Id say yours should be pretty minor , even less if yo0u can cut down to one a day for maybe a week or so then maybe a half for a few more days,
  I still can not understand why Im not in full blown wd's right now Im going on 60 hrs with nothing....not even a single chill
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Avatar universal
I am going through roxy, morphine, and xanax withdrawl. I am on day 12 and still suffering like a *****.....do not want to ever do this again...any advice????
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1831920 tn?1320857757
Congratulations on your days clean!
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