The medication weaning process

[ReachtheSummit]

I thought I would start a new thread on what everyone's experience is as they begin to taper down on meds. During the past weeks I have been feeling very blah and down/depressed at times. Even my family has commendted. I keep trying to figure out what is the matter and the only change I have made is to begin to taper off of oxycontin. Not sure if this is it but wanted to know how some of you have felt during this process and how long it lasts?


Poncho I know you weaned all the off of all opiates...is what I described common when you begin to taper?

Withdrawal from almost all opioids causes transient depression. This will last a few week or more, depending on the dose you were taking. The higher the dose, the longer and more severe with withdrawal.

[Harrison]

Sorry I can't speak from experience to help; I was lucky enough to not need any serious pain meds before or after ADR.

You may also want to check on the same subject here.

[Justin]

RTS,

I weaned off of Oxycontin. To say the least, I felt depressed at times like you are describing. The best thing is to develop a taper schedule with your doctor. I got so sick of the side effects from my meds that I stopped one day cold turkey (after stepping down from 60mg to 30mg). Although I knew I could handle the cold turkey approach, I would not recommend it as it is best to be under the supervision of a physician. This is especially true if you have been on opioids for a long period.

It is normal to have aches, chills/cold sweats, muscle/joint soreness, etc. The tapering process is a very trying time. When I stopped Oxy completely, I felt like a truck hit me and my head and body hurt like nothing else. Overall, I felt like crap for 3 weeks and I was on an emotionaly rollercoaster---my wife will agree!

Sorry to be so bleak about tapering, I just wanted to be honest as the withdrawal process was a very difficult time for me. It take time for ones brain chemistry to normalize.

Good luck--what you are experiencing is completely normal. If you want more info via phone, don't hesitate to send me a private message.

Justin

[Poncho]

RTS,

Yep, it was very similar. I stayed on my anti-depressants until I was done weaning because of this. Unfortunately, this depression does occur - BUT keep in mind that it is temporary and will go away.

How much Oxy were you on and how much have you tapered down to? Are you doing this under the supervision of your doctor? Are you on other medications? Anti-depressents? Just wondering I guess. If you are on an anti-depressent - I would defintiely recommend staying on it until any withdrawl symptoms are done and over with from the pain medications. For me, it took me a month to feel normal-ish after my very last dose of pain medication. (However, I was on methadone which has a very long half-life) I think Oxy has a long half-life too. Not quite as long as Meth, but still not a picnic. I think mmglobal was on oxycontin when he was ready to taper. I do know that we both were stepped down from our long acting medications to short acting ones such as "Vicodin" (Loratab) to help out with the withdrawls and taper down. It did help take the edge off quite a bit.

[Poncho]

BTW - I also had the aches, cold sweats - soreness & etc. IF you have been on opiates a long time - this is almost inevitable. The good news is that the weaning process of like the first 80% of my medication was not bad. But the last 10-20% of it is the hardest. This is when you may get these symptoms and is normal - but you will want your doc to be in on this with you for support and guidance. This is the toughest period of time. Once you get though that - you have it made!

[Kristine]

RTS,

I so sorry you have to go through this but remember that there is alot of support here for you. Just think of the life you will be leading after your recovery! Its a great goal!!

All the best

[mmglobal]

The day after I got back from Germany, I cut my Oxy in 1/2. Then, I took 4 weeks to go from the remaining 60mg/day to zero. Total of 5 weeks withdrawals. They were mostly mild to moderate, with a few severe episodes. (I probably shouldn't say severe. It was laying on the floor in the fetal postition for a couple of hours wishing someone would come shoot me. However, I assume it can get much worse.)

Severe episodes were brought on by mistakes on my part. I was in charge and kept a steady cutback in small steps (every couple of days.) If I went too fast, I could dial back a little.

At week 6, I took my last opiate. I had quit my Neurontin on surgery day... by the time I was several days out, it seemed stupid to start again just so I could taper. I had already done it all at once with no ill-effect. (Just as I'm typing this, I'm wondering if my horrible dreams could have been due to stopping the Neurontin suddenly?) I had only been on 1200mg/day of Neurontin... I know that most take much more.

The day after the opiate withdrawals stopped (week 7), I started tapering the anti-depressants. that took 3 weeks. At that point, I was only taking anti-inflammatories. I still take them. I frequently try to quit, but I need them. I currently take 10mg/day of Bextra. If my activity level is high, I bump to 20. Often, I can skip days, even if I'm taking 10... but if I skip more than 1, I start to get more numbness in my foot and some LBP.

Mark

PS... Jenny... you've got mail

[Mariaa]

Jenny,
I missed Saturday night's meds and Sunday mornings because I had a GI thing going on that was super severe. Have been catching up and I was really depressed on Monday. Felt like I was just so sad about everything and helpless almost. Have been extremely tired and was in bed most of the last 2 days until today which I think I turned the corner catching back up on the Methadone.
Anyway, was talking to my PM today about weaning off drug should I have ADR and do well enough to come off this stuff and he said that the withdrawl process should be about 10% per week taking about 3 months for the dose that I'm on which is up to 5mg 4x/day. Actually I only take it 2x/day am missed 2 doses this weekend (plus the Neurontin).
Was feeling like I had the flu coming on really badly besides the emotionally downed out crappy feeling...

[Breia]

At this juncture of my recovery, 13 months post-op, I could not be without mine. I take Neurontin and Hydrocodone several times a day and night (I have a few Oxycodones for extreme pain). I LONG for the day when I can toss them all aside and say "I am pain free!" I want to thank everyone on this board for your care and concern. I might not post every day, but I lurk and read. Have a great day.