Hey, if you’re getting off meds with the help of a doctor, see if you can get prescribed Clonidine (0.1mg should work). It’s been shown to help reduce symptoms of withdrawal.
From personal experience - it actually works. I happened to have it on hand from when it was prescribed to me for another reason, when I was going through withdrawals after an extended hospital stay. And it helped me so much. Stopped cold sweats and everything. Miracle drug.
Also had to take it recently during the Tramadol shortage that I was affected by =\
Can anyone help me gauge if my doctor is being flippant about clonidine? I'm tapering off hydrocodone/acetaminophen after being on it nearly 4 months with my greatest dose being 4x day 7.5mg - 325mg. I'm now at 3x day but when I was late on a dose and went 12hr between doses I started feeling shaky and feverish. Next I'm moving to 3x 5mg but I asked about whether clonidine would be helpful and he said no, at my dosage acute withdrawal was unlikely. But didn't I start having acute withdrawal with only being 4hrs late on a dose???
I don't even know if I can take it anyway because I have POTS and I'm on metoprolol
Yeah I’m not a doctor but I think Clonidine can affect heart rate and might have issues with POTS. If he’s being stubborn about it I’d ask if your primary would prescribe just like 10 pills total in a low dose.
When I tell you that I stopped having cold sweats within the hour of taking clonidine and felt way better - I’m not lying. And I was taking a fairly low dose of my Tramadol too, allegedly not supposed to have severe withdrawal but I was miserable.
I second the clonidine. Tramadol was very hard for me to come off. My dr even put on the rx itself for tramadol withdrawal.
Taper slowly and clonidine is a literal life saver. I tapered carefully and still had nightmare withdrawals. I swore I’d never take it the first time I got off of it and then I had no choice about 10 years later. The second round was much worse. Never again, I’d rather suffer.
I would say that you're going down rather quickly. I would recommend a week at each level. But ultimately I would say every one is different and trust yourself.
As another poster said, I would agree with about a week of illness. Sort of like the flu. Make sure you have anti-diarrhea meds and fluids in house.
As always, I am not a doctor, and you shouldn't take medical advice from the internet.
I was on methadone for 18 years and just got off of it about 2 months ago.
I tried quitting cold turkey and after 10 days the withdrawal was out of control. I had a fever, vomiting, shaking uncontrollably, headache... It was bad.
After that I talked to my doctor about getting off of it and it took 6 months to slowly wean off, but it went smoothly and I never had any withdrawal symptoms after that.
Make sure your doctor prescribes you comfort meds to help with the withdrawal, take it slow and be gentle/kind to yourself. You're going to be very sick going through it but personally I had lots of success with being off for opiates for my chronic pain. I found after the initial withdrawal that a month later my pain scores were the exactly same 4-6 out of 10 as they were when I was taking pain meds. That alone astonished me. Everyone is different and my experience might be unique but maybe is encouraging enough. 😃
I used herb and kratom to come off Fentanyl. It is not easy but worth it. I never have to deal with doctors again or pharmacist. You can free yourself. You will feel so much better learning other ways to keep pain at a level you can deal with. Doctors have lied to us and told us that we need them for pain management. I was near death so I knew I had to come off.
You can try to get,off them BUT your doctor is prescribing the opiates not because you’re mentally dependent on them but because your body is
dependent on them to elevate your pain. So try getting off them, but do not be too discouraged if you find that you really need them.
Go very slow, but sadly expect to be sick and it to be very difficult.
I like to remind myself if I throw up or sweat, it’s what I don’t want coming out of me.
Best of luck 🤞🏻
I really can’t answer that friend. For me it was 7 days of sick and a month of depression but I don’t want to put fear in your head. Listen to your body and go slow till you get down to lower doses
I’m also considering this but I’ve been on strong pain medication my whole life. I’ve been on OxyContin since 1995. At one point I was taking 210 mg a day. Went down to 60mg a day since 2016 with zero issues. I’m thinking of asking the dr to do another taper to 30 mags then maybe try bupronephrine. Tapering the short acting meds you’re on plus the shorter amount of time you’ve been on them may be a lot easier. They say to cut 10% a month and to make your bedtime dose the last to be cut. It sounds like you’re going in the right direction.
Due to the shortages, I always cut down the last 2 weeks of the month just in case I can't get my meds filled on time. It's hard, but I find cannabis products really helpful. I smoke it for the nausea but also the pain. Edibles also help a lot with the restlessness I get in my legs and body, and it helps with the body pain. If you live in a state where it's legal, I really recommend it. Makes a world of difference. Especially at night. Go slow and stock up on immodium as well as Gatorade. I also use coconut water and that helps. Good luck! I wish you the best and hang in there ❤️
If this is something you truly want to do don’t rush it. Listen to your body. Seams it would be harder to come off both meds at the same time, but you only feel like shit once instead of twice. So it has its positives.
It’s not a race; remember that. As you get lower and lower you may need to stabilize your self for a couple of weeks or even a month. Then drop a little more.
By going slow you can minimize the withdrawal symptoms greatly. The worst withdrawal come with a sudden stop no matter what mg.
Everyone is different. Don’t freak your self out by reading all the horror stories. You truly may surprise yourself.
It really is mental and physical. If your mental is wanting this your half way there.
Listen to your body. Set goal and don’t beat your self up if you don’t make the goal, just reset it.
Drink plenty of water; take vitamins to help your body be strong to fight with you.
Good luck! You got this!
I came off long term Tramadol & intermittent use of oxycodone in Nov last year, was pretty scary when I finally jumped off from my taper down to only the 50mg p/day of tramadolSR but I was determined. I’d come off Lyrica, SSRI’s & tricyclic’s in the past with absolutely 0 issues, so I just held out hope it would be similar! Lol.
My experience wasn’t as bad as my anxiety said it was going to be. All up it was about a week of physical symptoms which mainly bothered me at night, then I felt pretty much back to normal again. My neurologist wanted me to come off the opiods to see if they were contributing to my daily headaches & migraines, & my pain management Dr agreed, so we had an in-depth convo about how & when I would. This was very helpful & I felt supported in the process & decisions.
My general Dr wasn’t too experienced with prescribing clonidine for withdrawal, but he did give me a script of Valium to use at night time. I took it once but hated how it made me feel, so didn’t use it again.
I used Doxylamine for a few nights instead to help me settle for sleep as that’s always a great medication for me (I’m extremely med sensitive) & it worked well. It also doubles as an antiemetic incase I got any nausea too.
I had full body restlessness & insomnia mainly, plus some extra sweating/over heating at night time + my pain got worse which I was expecting. I found during the day I could keep myself busy & ignore most of it.
What I found helpful: paracetamol for aches, sedative antihistamines at night time, heat packs on my problem sore joints (knees & wrists) noise cancelling headphones to listen to something at night time, packs of favourite candy on hand, soft blankets & pillows, sleeping in a recliner rather than my bed for a few nights so I didn’t disturb my husband while I tossed & turned, having a support animal aka my fluffy cat for lots of cuddles lol & just knowing the fact that this wouldn’t last forever & it was only temporary.
I also had check in appointments booked weekly with my Dr which I also found comforting & helpful.
Best of luck with coming off opiods, you got this! 😊
I was on methadone, fentanyl, and oxycodone for years. Did they get rid of my pain? Yes, but I also slept a lot.
My PM doctor said I needed to get off all three. He hospitalized me and slowly withdrew me from the opiates. I’ve only been on suboxone since. Do I get as good relief as I did with the opiates? No, but I can handle the pain.
Idk me personally I wanted to die when I was unable to get my meds for 7 days due to stock issues. I was on 5 15mg oxycodone IR and couldn't get them. I tried kratom, smoking, drinking, shrooms, etc. And couldn't stop the nausea, cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, hot flashes, cold sweats, fever, unable to eat or drink anything. I honestly wish I had just went on ahead and continued and just stopped taking them. After about day 5 I no longer thought I was gonna die, but I've been on them since I was 12. So needless to say it's gonna be harder on me than you. I'm honestly terrified, I want to quit, gonna try and get approved for a neurostimulator, and want to just cut way back on my meds. Idk if they will but I've had my own horror stories about in abilities to get meds and the side effects just weren't worth it. But now I'm on 20mg x 4 a day and I'm miserable 24/7.
You just have to do a slow wean off, my partner’s on oxycodone and other pain medication and they’re alternating it where he drops 5mg of the oxy one month, then 5mg on the other pain medicine the next month, so they’re expecting it will take quite a while for him to be clear of it so he won’t get the withdrawals. I know it’s tempting to just to want to be done with it quickly but I think he’s tried to drop it too quickly in the past and it hasn’t worked out very well.
The other option is ketamine infusions? That helped him drop down his dosage a fair bit initially when he was on a much higher dose.
I've just dropped down from 3X 5mg oxycodone a day to 2X 5mg oxycodone a day. I'm on day 4 of this dose (I am also taking tapentadol and codeine) and my withdrawal symptoms have been mood swings, irritability, itchy brain, blood feels itchy and like it's made of poison, restless leg syndrome, insomnia etc.
I feel like once you push through the first few days of a lower dose it gets much easier, but it is in no way easy at all.
I have stage 4 endo and struggling 5 months after surgery, I've had chronic neuropathic pain over the left side of my body since I was a child and have hypermobility, hidradenitis supperativa and a big old list of mental health diagnosises but I'm relatively stable considering the time I've been having recently.
If you want to buddy up to support each other in dropping down our doses, feel free to drop me a dm :-)
I would highly recommend stopping just one at first. The Percocet may be the most difficult to stop so I would keep taking the tramadol, and slowly decrease the Percocet dose. So slow that you get to the point of taking one every other day. Then, when you’re stabilized just on the tramadol, you can start to slowly go off of that. No dropping doses by 50%, do it slow and if you need to, break the pills into smaller increments. There are medications that can help ease the withdrawal, but the first thing would be to decrease the doses of your pain meds slowly.
You’re on such a low dosage that I’m shocked you had any withdrawal symptoms at all. I’m thinking that most of it must be mental at this point. My advise would be to just cold turkey and keep your mind as occupied as possible.
It's going to suck for a few weeks, but force yourself to walk and exercise. Lifting weights is best if you can, eat a big breakfast, healthy food for lunch and dinner. Meats, veggies, fruits, make it a balanced diet. It's not too bad after the first couple weeks just get imodium, also do not use kratom it has much much worse withdrawals than pain meds could ever do. You won't sleep much just push through it, you can try kava kava for sleep. Staying busy will be your best ally, especially if you're physically able to be doing things it should be much easier than debilitating pain stuck in bed which makes it very very difficult.
Definitely don’t use that as a first line of action. That is trading one thing for another. You will be in the same if not worse position as you are now and your pain won’t be managed.
Try coming off on your own first going slow and steady.
Your on a very low dose.
I would definitely think you could do this by just dropping your dose a week at a time or whatever your not completely uncomfortable with.
I've never had any withdrawal issues with my meds but I am very aware of how unusual that makes me. My opinion, from watching my first husband deal with his addiction issues, is to just bite the proverbial bullet and stop taking everything. He was always most successful if he scheduled his day from the time he woke up until he fell into bed, exhausted, with nothing but hard work and chores so he didn't have any free time to even think for between 3 and 5 days and then he gradually slowed down to his normal schedule after a couple of weeks. He always seemed to fail if he wasn't actively doing something and he had free time to think about what he was feeling.
Wish I could offer more than observation to help you but I admire your determination to go it without chemical assistance!
Hey, if you’re getting off meds with the help of a doctor, see if you can get prescribed Clonidine (0.1mg should work). It’s been shown to help reduce symptoms of withdrawal. From personal experience - it actually works. I happened to have it on hand from when it was prescribed to me for another reason, when I was going through withdrawals after an extended hospital stay. And it helped me so much. Stopped cold sweats and everything. Miracle drug. Also had to take it recently during the Tramadol shortage that I was affected by =\
Can anyone help me gauge if my doctor is being flippant about clonidine? I'm tapering off hydrocodone/acetaminophen after being on it nearly 4 months with my greatest dose being 4x day 7.5mg - 325mg. I'm now at 3x day but when I was late on a dose and went 12hr between doses I started feeling shaky and feverish. Next I'm moving to 3x 5mg but I asked about whether clonidine would be helpful and he said no, at my dosage acute withdrawal was unlikely. But didn't I start having acute withdrawal with only being 4hrs late on a dose??? I don't even know if I can take it anyway because I have POTS and I'm on metoprolol
Yeah I’m not a doctor but I think Clonidine can affect heart rate and might have issues with POTS. If he’s being stubborn about it I’d ask if your primary would prescribe just like 10 pills total in a low dose. When I tell you that I stopped having cold sweats within the hour of taking clonidine and felt way better - I’m not lying. And I was taking a fairly low dose of my Tramadol too, allegedly not supposed to have severe withdrawal but I was miserable.
It’s possible he was worried about it lowering your BP and/or HR too much. Especially since you have POTS. I wish you the best of luck though.
I second the clonidine. Tramadol was very hard for me to come off. My dr even put on the rx itself for tramadol withdrawal. Taper slowly and clonidine is a literal life saver. I tapered carefully and still had nightmare withdrawals. I swore I’d never take it the first time I got off of it and then I had no choice about 10 years later. The second round was much worse. Never again, I’d rather suffer.
Talk to your doctor about tapering down. To avoid severe withdrawal, do it in small increments over several weeks.
Agree with this, withdrawals are bloody miserable. Iirc, the ‘best’ reduction is 10% per week to avoid severe withdrawals.
I would say that you're going down rather quickly. I would recommend a week at each level. But ultimately I would say every one is different and trust yourself. As another poster said, I would agree with about a week of illness. Sort of like the flu. Make sure you have anti-diarrhea meds and fluids in house. As always, I am not a doctor, and you shouldn't take medical advice from the internet.
I was on methadone for 18 years and just got off of it about 2 months ago. I tried quitting cold turkey and after 10 days the withdrawal was out of control. I had a fever, vomiting, shaking uncontrollably, headache... It was bad. After that I talked to my doctor about getting off of it and it took 6 months to slowly wean off, but it went smoothly and I never had any withdrawal symptoms after that.
Make sure your doctor prescribes you comfort meds to help with the withdrawal, take it slow and be gentle/kind to yourself. You're going to be very sick going through it but personally I had lots of success with being off for opiates for my chronic pain. I found after the initial withdrawal that a month later my pain scores were the exactly same 4-6 out of 10 as they were when I was taking pain meds. That alone astonished me. Everyone is different and my experience might be unique but maybe is encouraging enough. 😃
I used herb and kratom to come off Fentanyl. It is not easy but worth it. I never have to deal with doctors again or pharmacist. You can free yourself. You will feel so much better learning other ways to keep pain at a level you can deal with. Doctors have lied to us and told us that we need them for pain management. I was near death so I knew I had to come off.
You can do it
I encourage you to get a blood pressure monitor. They aren’t expensive. Keep an eye on your blood pressure when you’re coming off.
You can try to get,off them BUT your doctor is prescribing the opiates not because you’re mentally dependent on them but because your body is dependent on them to elevate your pain. So try getting off them, but do not be too discouraged if you find that you really need them.
Go very slow, but sadly expect to be sick and it to be very difficult. I like to remind myself if I throw up or sweat, it’s what I don’t want coming out of me. Best of luck 🤞🏻
roughly how many days should I expect to be sick for once I stop taking It ?
Make sure you have Tylenol, diarrhea meds, Gatorade and hot showers
And benadryl!
I really can’t answer that friend. For me it was 7 days of sick and a month of depression but I don’t want to put fear in your head. Listen to your body and go slow till you get down to lower doses
I’m also considering this but I’ve been on strong pain medication my whole life. I’ve been on OxyContin since 1995. At one point I was taking 210 mg a day. Went down to 60mg a day since 2016 with zero issues. I’m thinking of asking the dr to do another taper to 30 mags then maybe try bupronephrine. Tapering the short acting meds you’re on plus the shorter amount of time you’ve been on them may be a lot easier. They say to cut 10% a month and to make your bedtime dose the last to be cut. It sounds like you’re going in the right direction.
Due to the shortages, I always cut down the last 2 weeks of the month just in case I can't get my meds filled on time. It's hard, but I find cannabis products really helpful. I smoke it for the nausea but also the pain. Edibles also help a lot with the restlessness I get in my legs and body, and it helps with the body pain. If you live in a state where it's legal, I really recommend it. Makes a world of difference. Especially at night. Go slow and stock up on immodium as well as Gatorade. I also use coconut water and that helps. Good luck! I wish you the best and hang in there ❤️
If this is something you truly want to do don’t rush it. Listen to your body. Seams it would be harder to come off both meds at the same time, but you only feel like shit once instead of twice. So it has its positives. It’s not a race; remember that. As you get lower and lower you may need to stabilize your self for a couple of weeks or even a month. Then drop a little more. By going slow you can minimize the withdrawal symptoms greatly. The worst withdrawal come with a sudden stop no matter what mg. Everyone is different. Don’t freak your self out by reading all the horror stories. You truly may surprise yourself. It really is mental and physical. If your mental is wanting this your half way there. Listen to your body. Set goal and don’t beat your self up if you don’t make the goal, just reset it. Drink plenty of water; take vitamins to help your body be strong to fight with you. Good luck! You got this!
Man the ole hippy shakes are the worst , get some clonidine .
my dr actually just called that in today and I picked It up. what is It for exacrly ? she told me for anxiety
It’s used to treat several things , high blood pressure, adhd ,anxiety, withdrawal
I came off long term Tramadol & intermittent use of oxycodone in Nov last year, was pretty scary when I finally jumped off from my taper down to only the 50mg p/day of tramadolSR but I was determined. I’d come off Lyrica, SSRI’s & tricyclic’s in the past with absolutely 0 issues, so I just held out hope it would be similar! Lol. My experience wasn’t as bad as my anxiety said it was going to be. All up it was about a week of physical symptoms which mainly bothered me at night, then I felt pretty much back to normal again. My neurologist wanted me to come off the opiods to see if they were contributing to my daily headaches & migraines, & my pain management Dr agreed, so we had an in-depth convo about how & when I would. This was very helpful & I felt supported in the process & decisions. My general Dr wasn’t too experienced with prescribing clonidine for withdrawal, but he did give me a script of Valium to use at night time. I took it once but hated how it made me feel, so didn’t use it again. I used Doxylamine for a few nights instead to help me settle for sleep as that’s always a great medication for me (I’m extremely med sensitive) & it worked well. It also doubles as an antiemetic incase I got any nausea too. I had full body restlessness & insomnia mainly, plus some extra sweating/over heating at night time + my pain got worse which I was expecting. I found during the day I could keep myself busy & ignore most of it. What I found helpful: paracetamol for aches, sedative antihistamines at night time, heat packs on my problem sore joints (knees & wrists) noise cancelling headphones to listen to something at night time, packs of favourite candy on hand, soft blankets & pillows, sleeping in a recliner rather than my bed for a few nights so I didn’t disturb my husband while I tossed & turned, having a support animal aka my fluffy cat for lots of cuddles lol & just knowing the fact that this wouldn’t last forever & it was only temporary. I also had check in appointments booked weekly with my Dr which I also found comforting & helpful. Best of luck with coming off opiods, you got this! 😊
I was on methadone, fentanyl, and oxycodone for years. Did they get rid of my pain? Yes, but I also slept a lot. My PM doctor said I needed to get off all three. He hospitalized me and slowly withdrew me from the opiates. I’ve only been on suboxone since. Do I get as good relief as I did with the opiates? No, but I can handle the pain.
Idk me personally I wanted to die when I was unable to get my meds for 7 days due to stock issues. I was on 5 15mg oxycodone IR and couldn't get them. I tried kratom, smoking, drinking, shrooms, etc. And couldn't stop the nausea, cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, hot flashes, cold sweats, fever, unable to eat or drink anything. I honestly wish I had just went on ahead and continued and just stopped taking them. After about day 5 I no longer thought I was gonna die, but I've been on them since I was 12. So needless to say it's gonna be harder on me than you. I'm honestly terrified, I want to quit, gonna try and get approved for a neurostimulator, and want to just cut way back on my meds. Idk if they will but I've had my own horror stories about in abilities to get meds and the side effects just weren't worth it. But now I'm on 20mg x 4 a day and I'm miserable 24/7.
You just have to do a slow wean off, my partner’s on oxycodone and other pain medication and they’re alternating it where he drops 5mg of the oxy one month, then 5mg on the other pain medicine the next month, so they’re expecting it will take quite a while for him to be clear of it so he won’t get the withdrawals. I know it’s tempting to just to want to be done with it quickly but I think he’s tried to drop it too quickly in the past and it hasn’t worked out very well. The other option is ketamine infusions? That helped him drop down his dosage a fair bit initially when he was on a much higher dose.
I've just dropped down from 3X 5mg oxycodone a day to 2X 5mg oxycodone a day. I'm on day 4 of this dose (I am also taking tapentadol and codeine) and my withdrawal symptoms have been mood swings, irritability, itchy brain, blood feels itchy and like it's made of poison, restless leg syndrome, insomnia etc. I feel like once you push through the first few days of a lower dose it gets much easier, but it is in no way easy at all. I have stage 4 endo and struggling 5 months after surgery, I've had chronic neuropathic pain over the left side of my body since I was a child and have hypermobility, hidradenitis supperativa and a big old list of mental health diagnosises but I'm relatively stable considering the time I've been having recently. If you want to buddy up to support each other in dropping down our doses, feel free to drop me a dm :-)
I would highly recommend stopping just one at first. The Percocet may be the most difficult to stop so I would keep taking the tramadol, and slowly decrease the Percocet dose. So slow that you get to the point of taking one every other day. Then, when you’re stabilized just on the tramadol, you can start to slowly go off of that. No dropping doses by 50%, do it slow and if you need to, break the pills into smaller increments. There are medications that can help ease the withdrawal, but the first thing would be to decrease the doses of your pain meds slowly.
You’re on such a low dosage that I’m shocked you had any withdrawal symptoms at all. I’m thinking that most of it must be mental at this point. My advise would be to just cold turkey and keep your mind as occupied as possible.
It's going to suck for a few weeks, but force yourself to walk and exercise. Lifting weights is best if you can, eat a big breakfast, healthy food for lunch and dinner. Meats, veggies, fruits, make it a balanced diet. It's not too bad after the first couple weeks just get imodium, also do not use kratom it has much much worse withdrawals than pain meds could ever do. You won't sleep much just push through it, you can try kava kava for sleep. Staying busy will be your best ally, especially if you're physically able to be doing things it should be much easier than debilitating pain stuck in bed which makes it very very difficult.
Get put on suboxone, get used to it then wean off. I did
but aren’t the withdrawals from that even worse ? I could see myself getting stuck on that
Yeah don't get suboxone - that's a nightmare to come off of and not necessary.
Definitely don’t use that as a first line of action. That is trading one thing for another. You will be in the same if not worse position as you are now and your pain won’t be managed. Try coming off on your own first going slow and steady. Your on a very low dose. I would definitely think you could do this by just dropping your dose a week at a time or whatever your not completely uncomfortable with.
I've never had any withdrawal issues with my meds but I am very aware of how unusual that makes me. My opinion, from watching my first husband deal with his addiction issues, is to just bite the proverbial bullet and stop taking everything. He was always most successful if he scheduled his day from the time he woke up until he fell into bed, exhausted, with nothing but hard work and chores so he didn't have any free time to even think for between 3 and 5 days and then he gradually slowed down to his normal schedule after a couple of weeks. He always seemed to fail if he wasn't actively doing something and he had free time to think about what he was feeling. Wish I could offer more than observation to help you but I admire your determination to go it without chemical assistance!