Home Remedies For Opiate Withdrawals

Alright its the same guest thats been posting frequently:

Feeling much better today. The physical stuff should be totally gone in about 24 hours. Again the benefit of a taper and the lighter habit I had. I want to stress that. If you do slip up, catch yourself, quickly taper off and be done with it. I took my last dose on thursday at like 4:00 PM. Yesterday I started to feel much better about that time. I'd say my worst day was probably in between the 24 to 48 hour mark. Symptoms are still there but they are starting to reduce. Last night I really started to feel like I was "coming back". Also really cut back on the alcohol consumption. I took some Unisom, still woke a few hours later but just laid there and eventually feel back to sleep. It wasn't an alert, wide awake like the previous two nights where I knew I was up for the rest of the night.

When you do notice that you are feeling better (for most around the 4 to 6 days) make sure you get up and do something if you can. Really start taking in solid food if you can. I'm going to go to the office after I eat and put in at least an hour or two of work. Just some simple paper work or something. Maybe stop at the gym for a quick walk because it is like -6 degrees outside. Hopefully next week I will be hitting the weights again. If not the gym then a quick workout at the house. Then I will give myself tonight to just relax and watch some sports.

However, for me its getting to the point where these relapses are getting to be unacceptable. Its been years since I had any type of decent habit, but each time I go through this the WDs seem to strengthen, the mental stuff especially. Thankfully, I now live a much healthier life style when off the stuff and know the benefits of proper exercise and diet.

Also if you smoke or dip, but prepared for some major increases in cravings. I rarely smoke anymore, but during WD I usually smoke like a fiend. Then when it lessens the cravings start to decrease. I think maybe its because nicotine acts on the depleted dopamine receivers.

Again I want to state that this is all coming off of a minor dependency, a little more then a month's usage this time (its scary because I often realize I have been using longer then I'd though when its coming to to the end). I've been through WDs with much heavier and longer habits and its a totally different ballgame.

Well hopefully I have helped someone with this post. I know its just soothing to read these and know you are not alone. I may post one more update tomorrow but I've gotta live my life. I hope to make this my last time here. I'm really starting to learn that I can just not mess with these things.

Same guest thats been posting. Spoke a bit too soon in my last post, still had some physical symptoms today but lessened dramatically. Was able to function the full day at work and actually got alot done, feeling pretty good now. Got home and thought to myself how good it was to be done for the day. Now I could relax. I did not think "well I can get high now". Just "I can enjoy myself for a few hours". Just kicking back with a good beer and watching some tube. Appetite isn't nearly all the way back but I am able to eat a meal or two a day.

Still slept kinda bad last night, waking up at random intervals with anxiety. I just breathed deep and tried the self talk/reassurance. I can really tell this is on the out now though. Going to continue with the supplements and will probably hit the gym tomorrow.

Reminder: It is just as important to treat the mental "blahs" that come towards the end of the withdrawal. I have seen people pull some crazy mental stuff/excuses to use in days 4 to 7 or 8ish. You need to keep pushing on. Its going to get easier and you will recover even more. Realize that you just got over 3 days of c**p, so any improvement is going to feel dramatic... but this is nowhere near as good as it gets. Every day will get easier.... this is where the real recovery begins.

KEEP IT UP! YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS! It will seem like an eternity, but at some point you will look back at it as a short blip on the screen.

Just wanted to say.. all those posts that recommend taking tramadol to help wean you off of other opiates, DON'T! It IS an opiate. Several countries have already thrown it in as a scheduled drug (and some states as well). I've been legitimately taking tramadol for almost a year now and I don't think I need it anymore (but it's hard to tell when you take it all the time). Tramadol is incredibly physically and mentally addictive. I found out I was running out of refills and decided not to go for another one (unfortunately it coincided with visiting family out of town who don't know I'm addicted). I'm in about 48 hours and still have chills, sweats, aching joints, shaky hands, diarrhea, and even with over-the-counter sleep meds I can't seem to shake the insomnia. I can handle all of that pretty quietly, but the intense all-day exhaustion is terrible. I feel like I can hardly move most of the time. I've also read that during tramadol withdrawal, you can get spikes of pain, which is the drug in your system trying to get you to take more. That has happened to me when I tried to wean off, which made me think I really wasn't ready to drop it yet (until I became more informed). The other terrible thing about tramadol withdrawal is that, unlike most opiates, the withdrawal symptoms typically last weeks instead of days. Never ever start taking tramadol to "help" you get off of something else. Switching something bad for a lesser-known bad one is not a good idea. Oh well. I know this will pass - although it REALLY doesn't feel like it. Good luck everyone.

I have been taking tramadol for about 4 years now. my usual dose is 6 50mg pills a day. 2 in the morning, 2 at lunch and 2 before i go to bed. I haven't taken any since yesterday morning so i am about 34 hours in. I tried to take Darvon to relieve the Restless Leg Syndrome, but to no avail. The RLS is the worst part about this to me. I cannot sleep. I used to take Lorcet 10 mg's when i first moved here, i would take about 5 a day, but this habit grew dangerous, as it was illegal, and expensive, i would blow anywhere from 2 to 300 bucks a week on those damn things. Well my wife was prescribed Tramadol. So i started taking those, and then eventually was prescribed them myself. Well, every now and then my wife over does it and takes more than her alloted amount, and ends up taking some of mine, and i will be stuck for a few days until i can refill mine. I am sick of it, i have had enough of the dependancy that comes with this drug. Tramadol was a wonder drug, it got rid of WD symptoms and even my bad allergies would magically disappear. The worst part about this is i cannot take off work, i cannot lose hours, so i just have to fight through it. I am going to try and fight through this thing, but its really hard. The worst part is shaking at night and not getting any sleep. I just sneezed about 5 minutes ago and it was the most painful sneeze ever. Gotta be strong.

Hey all, this is the same guest that posted on 1/4/10.

Still doing fine. Haven't used. Craving are gone. Sleep is back to normal. Depression has really lifted, anxiety levels feel pretty much back to normal. Back on my workout routine and hitting the weights hard. Thankfully I didn't lose much strength, however I did lose time.

Looking back on it, its just so not worth it. I really hope I get it through my thick head that I simply cannot use opiates, especially if I have a steady supply.

Anyways, keep it up everyone. You can get through this. It gets easier every day.

I've been trying to kick my 15 mg oxycodone habit for 3 months now. I've been hooked on pills since 2004, it started after surgery I had..first it was percacets...then it escalated to 15 mg oxycodones. For awhile there I was buying 80 mg oxycontins and was hooked on those for about a year back in 2005-2006. I finally got off of those and just stuck with the percs...thinking I was "cured"....only to wind up on the 15's. The longest I've been able to stay off is 5 days and then I relapse. This has been going on since November, this back and forth off and on and withdrawal mess. I'm always able to find a friend or two that has a 15 or 30 I can buy. The only reason I break down is so I'm able to get things done around the house and work on my school work. I'm taking online college courses. Then I go through the withdrawal all over again. What is always constant is the exhaustion and extreme fatigue I suffer from. I barely have enough energy to make coffee or change the channel on the TV or barely move from the sofa. I can hardly even look up things on the internet..that's just how exhausted I feel off the meds. I'm trying to figure out why this is happening. Like, what did these pills do to my brain? I thought getting off these stupid pills was going to make me feel great once the withdrawal passed, but not even close. I'm like the walking dead and my family thinks there is something medically wrong with me. I don't feel depressed but I'm guessing that is what it is. I have gone a few days without even missing or craving the pills while I was off of them or the whole ritual of doing them, but when I have work that needs to get done and the house starts to get to beome a mess, I start seeking the meds because I just don't have the energy within myself to do it without the pills. Today I tried so hard to talk myself out of calling the doctor because I was due for my appointment and they let me come up and pick up my script. I even told them last month that I wanted to be weened off. Yet, today I asked them if they would prescribe me the same amount as last month and they did. It's pathetic and so weak. Now, I'll be going through the withdrawal all over again. What's worse is the script barely lasts me the month...I'll be lucky if I can make it last 2 weeks. Although, I will say this, usually the first day I get a script I go way crazy. Today I took exactly what I was supposed to for the first time ever. God only knows how long that will last. But, when I'm on them I stay up all night and I'm supposed to be sleeping right now because I have to wake up early for a class. Like someone else who posted, I need some serious help. She lost her job and I've been unemployed for 14 months now. I haven't had medical insurance for almost a year...so no way I'm getting to go a rehab and I would love too. I was confused by something she had mentioned though. She was able to get a bed in a rehab, but they told her she had to go through detox first....that doesn't make any sense to me. I thought they were a rehab and helped you get off the drugs...doesn't that include detox? I watch Intervention on TV, they send those people to rehab still totally wasted..some of them are still doing drugs on the way to rehab....so why aren't they getting "detox'ed" on the way to rehab? Why does this poor lady have to go through this before she can get treatment? That doesn't seem fair or right to me. What about when those vans drive around those bad neighborhoods and ask the drug addicts, usually the ones who are homeless and at the end of their rope, if they want to go to rehab? Do they make them go through a detox program before they send them to rehab? Maybe I just don't know enough or understand the entire process entirely. For that woman though, I recently read in one of my classes, it's a Social Work class, there is a government program called SSD. It is specifically for people who are addicted to any type of drug or alchohol. It's similar to SSI and you can collect for up to a year while you get the treatment you need. Although, I'm not sure if it actually pays for the rehab program itself...it may though. I'm on unemployment right now and have been working with the local community college to try to get back to work...they have several programs up there to help....and I saw they also help with substance abuse. I am going to ask about it tomorrow. I am also going to look into this SSD program in my state. So, if she reads this, I hope she checks it out and see if its available in her state and it will give her some type of income in the process. People who have addictions in my opinion are no different than the disabled, it's just temporary. We are completely deserving of this type of government help just like anyone else. In fact, I have seen so many people who are not disabled lie and abuse the system by telling them they are disabled when they are completely able to work and it infuriates me. People with addictions have a real problem and getting help for an addiction is not abuse of the system at all. I could sure tell you some disturbing stories of people who can work the system like you've never seen...yet people like me and the women who lost her job are not able to get help, even temporary help, to get our lives back on track so we can go get back to work. While these other people intend and plan on spending their entire lives on SSI, have completely free medical benefits, and the two people I know, barely worked long enough to have paid into the system in the first place. They have zero intention of ever going back to work...and they also have substance abuse problems...but that's all part of their agenda...the government pays for their meds too. The government is paying over $14000 (so she says) on fentanyl per month for her. She said she couldn't use the generic, so they foot the bill for the brand name!! She sells them for a pretty penny too!!

Anyway, I have been looking for supplements that might help to get through withdrawal. I saw that evening primrose oil and
L-tyrosine are two supplements that are supposed to increase energy and help with withdrawal symptoms. I also read that drinking Ensure helps as well. It's supposed to strengthen your immune system and is loaded with antioxidants. Just a couple of suggestions. Good luck to everyone fighting this tough battle and it helps me to know I'm not alone in this fight....because it sure feels it sometimes. Hopefully soon, I will be there with you and be clean as well. I'd sure love to read about your progess as people's energy starts to return. Take care!

Sad to say but i have posted to this particular thread for over two years now. I posted a couple day by day accounts of my symptoms and always came out like a champ. So here I am again..once again withdrawing. Guess what i realized..I have a BIG PROBLEM. I'll go weeks, months even without an opiate or even the thought of one. Then..BAM!! I'm using again. This time for about 12 weeks...hydrocodone...about 80mg a day. What is even more sad is I'm so used to these withdrawals that they are becoming easy. I prep for it...get the necessaries (immodium, klonopin, marijuana, a couple muscle relaxers, a few days off, stack of movies or the X-Box). Complain of the flu to all my friends and family..and off I go. It's Thursday..my last dose was Monday. I know I got a couple more crappy days then I'll be over it.

Here's the problem. I'm an addict...and I haven't addressed why. I don't know why I use...just the escape and Euphoria I guess. I have a great life compared to most. I'm smart, funny, good-looking, great family, great job, etc. I have plenty of non-using friends as well as users....and those user friends never push anything on me. So why?

I had a childhood friend commit suicide this week. Nobody knows why. He had a great life, great family, job, etc. and he never left a note. I won't give the details but the mode of death was obviously self-inflicted. Anyway, the only thing odd that showed up was traces of opiates in his blood.

I'm not saying he went into some kinda of opiate rage and killed himself or anything. But I imagine he was like most of us. Started taking for a lift..a little life booster...then got hooked...depressed....and well...who will ever know.

I'm quitting again..I hope its my last time through this....put its a viscous cycle once it starts.

Godspeed to all.

YES!YES! and THANK YOU for saying this... I tried to post a similar comment on the thread that came up first, but it has been closed (due to too much activity)... I have bee an addict most of my life (and I mean like since as far back as my mind takes me)... when I was a child it was sugar, attention (much of it bad), shocking behavior (for the rush of it) and excessive sexual self stimulation. As I grew (at around 10) I began to seek sex and physical attention however I could get it, drink/smoke/do any drug I could find and steal (for the high of the thrill of getting away with it) by the time I was 12 I was selling drugs (and doing them with my "lovely" mother) and already had an abortion because of my need to feed my addictions. Everything I did at that point in my life could have been directed at achieving fulfillment of anyone of my now well developed additions. As you might imagine I was the product of a pair of addicts (neither of whom ever recovered in the sense that they admit their addictive "misgivings") .... I have come a long, long way from there and am very lucky that the external damages that could have happened ( Incarceration, overdose, physically harming others and even death) have been avoided but have not been able to overcome that addictive personality that is so dangerous. I do mean lucky, so many minute events and gigantic blows to the way my world revolved lead me to be aware of what I do an why, giving me tools to make it diff rent and hopefully better. BUT... BIG HUGE MOO MOO WEARING BUT, I have also come to terms with the idea that I never be addiction free. One of the things that taught me that was TRAMADOL or ULTRAM ... I had been clean and sober for two years since I became pregnant with my son my son ( although I began smoking about a year after he was born which I rationalized was my one allowed vice and as long as I did it outside and away from him it was okay) when I damaged two lower vertebrae in a slip and fall. This was 11 years ago now, and I refused to accept any opiate pain meds because I knew my past, I knew my parents addictions were still holding tightly onto them, and refused to become them. So I was prescribed Ultram... non opiate, they said. non addictive, they said. Just a NSAID, they said. So I took this new wonder drug thinking how amazing science was to create a pain reliever that worked AND was not addictive...... until three years later when my original doctor closed his practice and my new doctor expressed concern for my use and apparent tolerance to normal dosage of the drug and took me off it.... With drawl from opiates and wd from tramadol are EXACTLY the same... every classic opiate wd symptom in the book was there plus I began having seizures. I was quickly put back on the drug and spend six months tapering off... only really stopping when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. A year after my daughter was born and I was done breastfeeding I was asking my new doc to prescribe me trams again. And, boy did I miss my old friend and the energetic, painless happy feelings it educed ... suddenly I was walking the kids to the park instead of driving, dropped 15 pounds of post pregnancy weight and actually wanted to have sex all of the time again.... that should have been my first red flag... when my daughter was six my doctor was getting worried that my scripts were emptying too fast, that I was most def. addicted and wanted me to stop... I rationalized, that I am a better person, a better mom, a better wife, a better worker and all around happier with it and it wasn't like I was scoring drugs from a dealer or hurting anyone.... so I began buying them online. I stopped seeing my docs all together... and for a few years it was good ( a drug educed good, but good none the less). Then one busy soccer mom weekend I had been up till the wee hours of the morning and had taken a dose around 3am.... went to bed within a half an hour and got up at 6.. on our way to the 7am game I decided I should take a dose now, so I won't have to leave the field (or be popping pills on the field) ... while walking across the field to bring my daughter a blanket to play with her friends on... I dropped and had a full gran maul seizure.... it was horrible and so scary for my kids and their friends and families... I woke up scared and on my way to the hospital. I didn't know who I was where I was or why I was there. (many of my daughters friends still are scared of me to this day)... and that's when I found out that not only can wd from Trams cause seizures but too close dosages after a "build up" period can cause seizures and even death.... I could go on and on. But here is what it comes down to, I am still battling my addictions to trams.... I may never be able to live without them now that my body can't live with or without them... I am a slave to them. I will most likely spend the rest of my life battling my addictions to them (or trying to fill voids with other things) and I NEVER would wish that on my worst, or even my best, enemy.

TRAMADOL IS JUST AS DANGEROUS (IF NOT MORE SO) THEN ANY AND ALL OTHER DRUGS OUT THERE!! YOU JUST CAN NOT SUBSTITUTE ONE ADDICTION FOR ANOTHER AND EXPECT TO BEAT IT!! IF YOU ARE STRONGER THAN ME AND WANT TO BE ADDICTION FREE USING TRAMADOL IS NOT GOING TO HELP YOU GET THERE.

I WILL PROBABLY MAKE DOCTORS AND REHAB CLINICS WANT TO PUT ME TO THE GUILLOTINE, BUT FOR ME, ACCEPTING THAT I AM AN ADDICT AND CHOOSING WHAT I ALLOW MYSELF TO HAVE AND UNDER WHAT TERMS IS ALL I WANT. FOR ME... ADDICTION IS JUST PART OF WHO I AM.

Probably a terrible metaphor but it's like "hey, I know I can not live without eating, so I choose to eat things that harm me the least w/o being unhappy. I know I can not live without sleep so I choose to sleep in my pillow top bed because it is what makes me comfortable and creates a way to rejuvenate my spirit."

Okay lengthy and pointless rant concluded.... and the moral of the rant:

DON'T USE ONE DRUG TO TAKE THE PLACE OF ANOTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT DRUGS IN YOU, YOU MUST FIND A WAY TO LIVE WITHOUT ANY!

okay, Im 22 years old and have been dealing with ope's since i was 18 years old (so almost 5 years now) started off with my boyfriend almost getting his arm ripped off in a factory that he worked in... 6 surgerys in 8 days, and every opiate you can imagine this guy was given and i guess you could say every time he dosed, i did too. So i picked up a nasty habbit of about 160mg's of oxy's a day, he was on the pills until about 2 years ago, and i can tell you these past two years have been hell, from the minute i wake up all i think about is how and where im going to get my "fix" it completely consumes me, im truely weak to my addiction. And iv realized that i dont wanna stop in fear of the pain and withdrawl symptoms. so let me tell you i have tried everythinggg to calm my withdrawls but still havent found anything to completely pull me threw but i will share with you what i have found that works (if your strong enough to get through the w.d).....

..... now for me nights are the worst, with the restlessness crawling skin cant get comfortable and unable to sleep, it becomes irritating and the next day becomes even worst becuz u have gotten no sleep the night before... i dont really think over the counter sleep aides work so i try to get my hands on valium, xanax, weed, or seroquel they work the best! seroquel completely knocks u out and im sure just asking a few friends if they have them from a doctor they do and will throw u a couple, take atleast 75mg of seroquel for a good night sleep. valium and xanax work great on high doses giving u alittle energy that u need and also taking away most w.d symptoms, mainly ur emotional but also some physical.

..... GET DRUNK! i know that sounds so stupid but remember guys this is ways to withdrawl urself at home, like a home remedie. drink seriously drinking helps you sleep, feel better take away the opiate cravings and put ur mind to rest for a while. and please do this in moderation, us addicts have a problem with moderation but its key in withdrawl and in the rest of our lives.

i have to stop posting right now and go but i have many more things that will help you fight this evil.

After reading what the rest of you have been through,I realize that my road might be a little harder that I had hoped.I got on opiates due to pain from crushing 3 vertebrae during a training incedent doing a low level nighttime simulated combat jump at age 21.I didn't start on meds until 10 years ago.I'm on oxy,tramadol,xanex,and other things from time to time.I was on methadone for pain a few years ago,but it made me drunk all the time and ruined a good business reputation due to acting drunk all the time and the small town wispers that I was going to a clinic(no offence to those of you that pick that route,I picked it because the VA wanted to put me on morphine and a fellow back injured grunt(a term of pride for me) took a whole bottle and didn't ever wake up.So here I am staring a month of extra pain and violent diharea in the eyes due to it sucking the life out of me.Oh God please help me throught this.I quit methadone cold turkey a few years ago,so I know I can do it.I asked the VA for help(suboxone) and they turned me down,Officially I'm not an addict,I'm just physically dependent.I guess if I were a junkie it would be there fault for giving me the damn things.Don't let you're children grow up to be dependent on the VA.I'm uninsurable otherwise because I did this on active duty.THANKS AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANYS.A decade of oxy's gonna hit the fan..cold turkey TODAY to stop the arguments with my parents(I had to move in with the..m to help me with back surgery last fall.They try.)So if you believe in God,PLEASE SAY A PRAYER TO HELP ME.Sorry for all the bitching...bring on the suck!!May God help all of you dealling with the same group of problems,let us all break the chains of this form of slavery!!You know that is what it is!!We have to fight for our freedomagain and again.

I have read some of the posts but not all of them, and I am sure this has been mentioned but I will reiterate. Lyrica helps immensely with Opiate withdrawel. I discovered it accidentally when my doctor changed my prescription and I didnt realize it. He had changed it from taking 10/325 every 3 hours to every 6...I continued to take it every 3 and ran out over a week early. I see a pain management dr and signed a contract stating I would not get an early refill no matter what. And to be honest I was too embarrssed to admit I didnt read the bottle. So I sucked it up and went through 7 days of hell. I had several bottles of Lyrica that I hadnt taken because I don't like how they make me feel but I was kinda desperate after spending two nights sleeping in the hot tub. It was immediate and such a relief.

Can someone answer me please, im going to try and start quitting opiates tmorrow when i wake up, gonna try and wean off them if i have enough left, until i run out then i'm going cold turkey, i've been taking 5mg oxycodones about 12 - 15 a day for the past id say 8 months, is this going to be as hard as those on this site that have been on them for years or is it going to be easier? i also notice alot of people on this site are on a much higher doses as me, but take less pills... perhaps i make up for it in the ammount i take, i'm just curious on how bad the withdrawl is going to be seeing as i havent even been on them a solid year, after reading these posts and seeing the pain and suffering you guys are going through, theres no way im goin to stay on these meds any longer and perhaps go through an even worse withdrawl, please give me some input and thanks for ur time

Please take my advice with a grain of salt, but I think everyone handles their withdrawals a little bit differently. Everyone has a different amount of pain that they can handle (AKA: pain tolerence level) I just wanted to say good luck to you on quitting. Remember that you can do it! (I'm trying to convince myself, as well) lol



Okay so I have been looking at this board for a little over a week now and have finally decided to post. I have been doing oxycodone for a little over 4 years. I started doing pills when I was 15 and I'm now 20, and haven't stopped. I keep running out of resources to get the cash and/or drugs, so I have decided to try and quit them. For a poor college student and the oxy's being $1/milli., they get pretty expensive. Friday at around 5:00 p.m. was my last time snorting one. It was so weird just now to type that, I thought I would never make it this far. My boyfriend has been by my side the whole time helping me through this.



I took everyone's advice and got what I call "The Essential's for Quitting.":

- Alka Seltzer plus (runny nose, body aches, insomnia)

- Neurontin (restless legs, helps with sleep)

- WEED (antsy-ness, mental anguish) just makes you feel good!

- caffeine (tiredness)

- Valium or Klonpin or Xanax (helps with anxiety)

- Imodium A.D. (diarhea)



This is almost day 4 for me and I wanna know when it is going to get easier? I can't go home because my whole family does pills and will either have money to get one or they will have one. I'm stuck here at my boyfriend's house by myself (he's at work) with just my homework and me. These past 4 years I have enclosed myself with pills, pills, and more pills. Hell, I don't even know what it is like to be normal anymore. I'm used to getting up, getting ready, and going to look for money to buy a pill with so I won't be dope sick.



I just feel so depressed right now. :(

In my experience, coming off opiates was about my relentless commitment to getting on the other side of being on drugs, no matter the cost. What boggled my mind was how no dr. ever told me that opiates actually cause pain!!! Yes, they do!!! And when coming off them, it's like the body is saying, "NO! NO! You aren't taking that away from me!" So just to show you, as you are coming off, more pain than normal kicks in... just to "remind" you of your dependence. But what a lie!!!

So I pushed through the pain... that means, I was in pain and I endured the pain. But actually, it wasn't worse than a lot of other kinds of pain I had... it wasn't worse than the having the flu for a week, in fact, it was comparable. ...and really, only 1 or 2 days made me want to stay in bed. Personally, I'd save your money and avoid detox center. Look how much you've already reduced what you're on!!! I am a little concerned you are taking oxycodone. What is the amount? It's just substituting one opiate for another?

I was taking total of mscontin 60mg/day and 150mg oxycodone/day - on this c**p for 7 yrs - after a serious auto accident that left me with a compressed spinal cord injury, damaging my neck (C3, C4, C5). In 10 days I weaned myself off all of it.

- Here's the Trick to Weaning -

1. Endure more than you think you can.

2. Cut down everything you take every one to two days. (I did it by cutting it in half, or more if I could, over and over until I was left with just a small amount - so small I couldn't practically break it any further.)

If you can't function then take slightly more, but remember, sacrifice is part of the deal to the other side.

I don't know what to tell your family or work, but if you do this at home and have a couple of really bad days that put you in bed... tell them it feels like the flu and you won't be lying. On the other hand, why would they think less of you for getting off pills... you said you had a legitimate reason to start (headaches) and any opiate (and a lot of other drugs including OTC) create physical dependency. Wouldn't they admire and support you for taking control of your life and finding a healthier way to deal with things?

3. Put greater spans of time between taking any pills.

At first I was experiencing withdrawals after 3.5-4hrs. So I extended time of next pill to 6hrs, then 8hrs, then 12hrs, then 14hrs, then I jumped to 24hrs.) Do this at the same time you are reducing the amount you take. The way you judge how much (time and pills) is by asking yourself, "Can I endure the way I am feeling? Am I pushing myself beyond my comfort zone and am I still 'all right'?" It's kind of like working out... the more the muscles burn the more good it does. So make it burn - that's what you want!

4. The last little pill - when to jump off for good: not when you're ready, but when you can... and don't lie to yourself!

You'll never know what it's like to be free and on the other side of dependency until YOU go there. There is nothing so liberating!!! There is nothing like pure freedom!!! (I could write a whole book on this part of the journey alone!)

I whittled down to taking 3mg oxycodone to 24 hrs. and only did that for 2 days and then I was done... never looking back.

By the time I got down to 3mg oxycodone 24 hrs apart, it amazed me how good that tiny, little amount could make me feel! It brought me back to life... that wee, miniscule piece! It made me mad that it had that kind of power over my body. I became defiant! Since I had already been going through withdrawal, I wondered how I would feel without taking anything and would it make me feel even worse? Well, it didn't get any worse than what I had already been feeling. It did drag on another week, but I was able to endure it well and my life didn't stop either... I kept doing things every day, leaving my home, working, etc. In fact, "doing" is a great distraction for what you're body is going through - takes the focus off suffering, granting the gift of passage of time.

There are some things you can do to ease the effects of withdrawal. There's a lot of great advice in these blogs. I'm happy to share too if you're interested. One thing for sure, for sure: take good nutritional supplements that work (I take Lifepak Nano and some others from Pharmanex - I can point you to a discount on them if you want) and that was a lifesaver!

Stay strong... strength is a choice.

What a rough ride it has been. I am so happy to see that there are others here going through the same as I. I have been taking percocet 10/325 for about a year now. In comparison to some of you, I feel silly since it is a short amount of time. I do get them legit, from a doctor, 120 pills per month. I have chronic knee pain, and am waiting on my third and fourth surgeries for patella dislocation. Yes, the pain sucks, but I have noticed that I have been taking them all day, every day for a long time now... sometimes going through 10 per day and running out long before they were due.... I am now taking charge of this. It seems the pain is worse once the pills wear off than it was to begin with... bad sign. The pain wasn't too bad last week so I finished off my bottle Saturday (no refill till Friday) and decided it was time to detox my body. Day one wasn't so bad.. just basic irratiability. Day two (yesterday) was pure hell on Earth. I even contemplated going to the Urgent Care to get a script (which I have done before once I ran out) but stayed strong somehow. Today is day 3 and I am feeling a little better... it still sucks and the cold sweats and hot flashes are still here... the knee pain is pretty bad too... but is definitely an improvement over yesterday. I want to detox my body so I can actually use the pills *as needed* for when the knee pain becomes unbearable. I am *hoping* this experience will help me resist the urge to take them all the time as I never, ever want to go through this again. I don't know though, I have to admit, what is getting me through this is that the first pill I take will feel amazing since I haven't had them in awhile... but hopefully I can stay strong. My husband knows about this and has been more than supportive, he went through it awhile back (we had the same Dr. prescribing us both the same amount... his was for his shoulder) and he says since he stopped taking the meds his shoulder doesnt hurt nearly as bad.

Day three is thankfully better than day 2, Im not sure I could of taken another day like yesterday. I have followed some of the tips on here....I have a RX for xanax 1 mg for anxiety that I barely use (as well as cymbalta daily) and the xanax really helps my mind relax and stop dwelling on the pills. Im also taking cold meds with antihistamine, immodium for the diarrhea, plus I have been smoking pot. I must say... pot is the best... it makes the sweats go away and actually made me feel somewhat normal. Im not sure I could have done this without it. I also ordered some of that Kratom that one of you suggested, that should be here today... I am really hoping that that works well because it could help me later on down the road if it really helps with aches and pains the way it says it does... I am really hoping not to need the pills anymore but I am not ready to tell my doctor that and not be able to get them anymore. The truth is they really do help with the pain, I have just abused them wayyyyy to much *hence the decision to detox my body for a week*. I am hoping that I can just take one or two on a bad day and that will take care of the pain and I wont have to look back.

All of you are a great inspiration and I will continue reading these even after this is all over, hopefully to remind myself not to go back to the square one. There is hope I guess. My doctor also does suboxone therapy as well but I refuse to take it, thats just replacing one addiciton with another for what I hear they are very addictive. Ive seen ppl in the office going crazy to get more. Its on the lines of methadone and I wont go near it.

All of you are very strong people. I read these posts before making this decision and you inspired me to do it and that I CAN do it.

Thanks for listening :-)