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Question about withdrawal

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Posted 7/14/2009 1:48 AM (GMT 0)
I was taking 415mg of oxycontin and oxycodone a day and they arent really working , im taking an obnoxious ammount and its just kinda scary so i want to get off them, and today i cut down and only took 360mg , which is like a 13% decrease, my doctor said i could cut down 10% a day, so does that mean i can just keep cutting down say one 30mg pill a day until im done? Is it that easy? just take 360 today, 330 tomorrow, 300 the next, down to nothing?

What will i feel like if i start to withdraw too fast, like will i feel fine then all of a sudden be pukingand shaking? and if so can i just pop some pills and be okay?

I didnt know what i was getting into when my doctor started prescribing these things to me, now i'm just want off  of them asap.

I just wanna know how im going to feel if i withdraw too fast and how long til it kicks in, say i cut out like 50% just in one day, when would i start feeling crapty and how would i feel?

 

Posted 7/14/2009 2:23 AM (GMT 0)
Ris,
Those questions are definitely more appropriate for your doctor. I'm sure he suggested the 10% tapering plan for a reason. Please do not go trying to adjust that program without first consulting your doctor.
Withdrawal is usually described as feeling like you have a really horrible case of the flu plus either feeling like there are creepy-crawlies on your legs/arms, feeling like you have to move your arms/legs and/or actually having your limbs twitch/jerk/convulse involuntarily. Some people report other symptoms & the symptoms vary in their severity. If you were not on the meds for a long time, you might not ever feel withdrawal symptoms.

There can sometimes be very serious symptoms from cutting down narcotic meds too quickly -- up to and including severe heart or respiratory problems that could cause serious injury or death. These are very rare & often are tied to pre-existing health conditions, but they do happen & that is why a doctor should be monitoring reductions of narcotics & the reductions -- especially from such a high dose -- should be taken slowly.

It will not take very long for you to get off them completely. I'm wondering why you are in such a hurry to get off of them. Even if your doctor literally meant 10%/day, rather than 30mg/day you would still be off of them completely by the end of the month. I'm not sure whether it's possible for you to continue doing that since I don't know whether you can split the oxy's to allow you control over how much you can cut down by at one time.

Please do check with your doctor about these issues. If you need an answer for a day or two until you can get a hold of someone at your doctor's office, maybe you could try talking to a pharmacist.

good luck,
Frances
Posted 7/14/2009 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
Wow!! That seems like more then I would like to decrease each day...but I'm not a Dr. I know when I went through wd's it was awful..but I had to do it on my own and for different reasons. So, if the Dr. says 10% a day he must know what he's talking about. Just remember, if you decide that it's too much for you to handle you can always stop. I mean, slow it down...Do what is best for you...and Good Luck.
me.
Posted 7/14/2009 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
I agree with Rhonda that if you feel it is too fast, give your doctor a call & let him know what's going on & how you are feeling. He has many options available -- either slowing down the pace of the decreases or giving you other meds (non-narcotic or other narcotics) to help with the symptoms.

good luck!
Frances
Posted 7/14/2009 2:48 AM (GMT 0)
I think it depends on your dependence level too. And, for that matter, your ability to handle narcotics. I don't say it with a lot of pride, but I feel that all I did as a teen and in college certainly caused a certain resistance to pain medications. So tolerance could be a factor. I know when I was hospitalized a few months back I was in some pretty major pain, and the morphine they were cramming into that port wasn't doing jack. I slept maybe an hour that 1st night untill the Dr. ordered dilauted (sp?)...then i think I was finally in a state where I didn't care about the pain. I think it has a lot to do also with how you percieve it is going to be as you ween yourself off of it. I am not the poster child for positive thinking all the time, but I certainly try and think that way.

I hope that it goes well for you and as they say, keep this board informed and I am sure you will hear from someone that will at least make you smile...
Posted 7/14/2009 3:06 AM (GMT 0)
Hello Rispeed,

Some doctors are not very knowledagble about tapering and withdrawals, but wont claim to it, cause they know they got you dependent on it, and it's their job to get you off, but yet they know nothing about tapering and withdrawals. Their are not very many doctors that specialize in this, but an addictionologist would be somewhere to start, I have one right now helping me to taper off of pain meds, and I am NOT an addict. But my doctor knows about how the brain and body and how it responds to tapering and withdrawals and would be able to build you a plan accordig to how you feel and what you can tolerate, as every person is diffrent. But if you cant find an addiction doctor (their's none in my town so I have to drive quite a ways to one) their are websights that will give you a list of doctors that specialize in it, just look up addictionologist and your state, I'm sure you can find a list. But sometimes the body wont feel the drop for several days, so usually they have you drop every 3-4 days, but this just what I've heard, but again, I'm not a medical perfessional, and you should get your advise from someone who knows what they're doing, somebody who has gone to school about this. I know in my past when I asked my PM doctor about tapering, they always blew me off, they either talked me out of it or told me to just stop and take some benadryl to sleep, which just doesnt work for me. But good luck either way, I too was taking too much meds that I felt wasnt working for me, but yet the doctor kept upping and upping my dose, but yet my pain went up too, so I knew it was time to stop all pain meds and reevaluate my pain when I'm not taking any meds.

-hellokitty
Posted 7/14/2009 3:18 AM (GMT 0)
Rispeed, I think you need to call your doctors' office again and ask for a call return from the nurse. Explain, just like you did to us, how he explained it to you to start tapering off. Tell her you would like for her to check with him again and give more specific instructions. You need to know exactly what and how to do this. You can't assume anything. And yes, it needs to be supervised by your physican. Good luck to you. I do hope that you will be able to control your pain without medication. That part sounds a little scarey to me, personally. But, you know how you feel and you know whatever the reason is for wanting off. It is yours and your doctors' decision. Take care of yourself. Keep us posted. We will be here to offer support for you. I hope that I didn't say anything to offend you. If I did, please forgive me. It certainly wasn't my intention. I have a pretty big migraine tonight. And my eyes are affected as well as my brain!!!
Anice
Posted 7/14/2009 5:57 AM (GMT 0)
Rispeed,
You really need to consult with your doctor and have him/her answer these questions. You are on a lot of medication and should not be experimenting with your own withdrawal process. And as frances mentioned, if your doctor isn't helping you, try to find an Addictionologist. You may find one if you call a local drug and alcohol treatment program, or local detox center.

If you withdraw and then as soon as you start getting symptoms just "pop a pill" you will defeat the purpose. But withdrawal can be difficult, and even life-threatening.

Keep calling you doctor - or make an appointment and go in to see him/her - and get a taper schedule down in writing, plus ask what withdrawal symptoms you might expect and if he can help you with those, or other ways of managing them.

PaLady
Posted 7/14/2009 10:25 PM (GMT 0)

When I tapered off the oxycontin, it was 10 % every 3 days. Day 1 for the reduction is dosage, the 2nd day for the body to adjust to the lowered dose and then on the 3rd day, another reduction in dosage.

Reducing the dosage by 50% will be a huge drop in your blood levels all at once and could likely cause problems for you.

I would call your doctor back, ask him for a written down taper plan so that you do understand how the taper is supposed to work. It really is not that bad, when done correctly.

I am tapering off the baclofen that I was on , and going on xanaflex instead . Baclofen is one that needs to be tapered off of as well, and I am having no problems with it. But it is being done with the support of my PM doctor, as all reductions should be.

Sandi 

Posted 7/18/2009 11:21 PM (GMT 0)
Rispeed,
How have you been doing? I haven't seen you since this last post and I was wondering what happened... Did you call your Dr. and talk about what was happening? Let us know, we are all family and we worry if we don't hear from somebody...

Me.
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