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I've been on 45mg 2xday of MSContin for chronic pain. I didn't want to start it, but I was in terrible pain, was a shell of a person, and my teenage daughter told me I had to do SOMETHING - she could see me closing in on myself. So, I started taking it, and the Cymbalta (and some Ultracert for breakthrough pain) in 2006. Well they finally found the source of my pain, and I have surgery, and feel totally better. So why am I having this terrible withdrawal. I don't behaviorally want it, I don't medically need it, but the side effects of going without totally suck!

I didn't realize that Cymbalta also needed to be tapered off slowly, and trying to come off both at the same time had a yucky-bad outcome! So, I'm going the morphine now (took my final dose) and will deal with the Cymbalta later.

I've been taking klonopin (my anxiety/panic attack) med almost constantly to deal with the shakes/restlessness. They gave me some clonidine (patch) which is supposed to help, but if it is, I sure would hate to see what this was like without the patch. Maybe I'll try the Benadryl as the other poster suggested, but I worry about interactions with all this stuff.

Well, thanks for any input.
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Hello.
I too have been struggling with this. I originally took my first morphine pill, which was a 30 miligram morphine sulf. instant release by accident. I needed to take an aspirin for an approaching headache, so I got into my brothers pills and found the wrong one.
That is no excuse for my later use of it. My brother always had serplus, so I could always palm one here and there without being caught. I never did large ammounts, I always broke the 30 miligram talbets in half, to take 15. Eventually I got myself down to breaking the tablets into 4's.
I then, like an id**t, tried the fentanyl patches. I would cut them up and put them in my mouth so I would get a small dose at a time without risking overdose but would still get that good feeling.
Over about 4 years, I decided enough was enough. I started to wean myself down to miniscule ammounts taken farther and farther apart.
I myself never head headaches, but the hot/colds really messed me up. That's the worse part, in my opinion. I also had a problem with having too much energy and no energy at all. Like, I just wanted to lie down, but I kept kicking my legs and mocing around because I just couldn't keep still.
Eventually, an out-of-state trip cut me off from my supply and helped me mask the sympots. id**t me packed enough for a week.. but I ended up staying two. I ended up claiming the change of climate and food had thrown my system out of wack, and I just needed to be left alone.
In this time, I found that cold medicines, mostly fever reducers, helped curb some of the effects of the withdrawl. I would consider it like shooting a bb gun at a freight train, but when it's that bad, ever small relief is like a miracle.
I also found that being outside making myself sweat and staying physically active helped keep my mind off the withdrawl symptoms as well. I think weaning myself to such a small dosage also helped, since I didn't have to come down very far to get off it. After about 3 days, I started feeling a little better, but I kept hitting hot/cold patches for many days after.
The sad part is, if I'd packed enough for two weeks, I'd probably still be on the stuff. I hope some of this helps.
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i have been running at least 180 mg of morphine a day for 2 years. i have decided to quit i am on the 4th day feel like s*#t. does anyone know how long this will last. i have a great support team they have helped alot. pray 4 me
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I've been on morphine since May 2008. It was the last resort for incapacitating back & leg pain. My 2nd back surgery was in april 2009, 6 rods, 8 screws, 2 cages, all titamnium, in my lower lumbar. Now pretty much pain free. Just soreness from Physical Therapy. Only 15mg twice a day. So I really did not expect any problems with weaning off. Started in late June, once a day. Last Tues. 8/12/09, went off completely. I'm miserable. I've had a dull headache, my legs are restless, I havent slept for more than a couple of hours for 4 days. Hot flashes. Doc thinks its allergies, complicated by withdrawal (me too). Regardless, I'm miserable.
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Guest wrote:

get a tatoo it helps



Dumbest thing I have ever heard anyone say! just go away fool

I have been on Morphine sulfate for 5 years two 60 mg pills a day. and a 180 loratabs 10's mg. a month.
I'm here to say you can quit it .{get off IT that is)
First don't be afraid!!!!!!!!!!
withdrawals don't last as long as some want you to believe. a week to ten days.
The first three days ARE the worse.
I am 66 years old and it didn't kill me. {yet}
GET SOME BLOOD PRESSURE PILLS!!!! it's going to go crazy believe me.!!!!
first get pissed at your self. you don't need a doctor they just want your money!!!
I went cold turkey 10 days ago.
they say never do it without a DR. ===========DR.S. love money

I knew a man that came off heroin in a jail cell vomiting green shi* in the middle of the floor balled up in the floor with cramps and screaming they never got him a DR.

are you that big of a man? no I don't think so.

I had the cold sweats but I have sweated before. used to put on roofs in the summer sun in Arizona and Florida a strange feeling when you feel cold.

sweating when your cold but I didn't freak.
Nerves done a flip flop, thought I would loose my mind.
find you a Doctor ( not the kind above) that doesn't hate people on pain pills and ( and they are very hard to find) I hate most of the as* hole* they treat you as if you are a murderer a child rapist or somebody that should be just set on fire and thrown to the dogs.
for ever taking a pain pill. at least that's how they are in the Bible belt of South Carolina Damned fools I hate them.
I could only sleep two hrs. at a time at night and that can make you have a nervous breakdown ( for real)
I found an old country Doctor and just told him the truth, said I didn't want Valium or Xanax because they are as addicting as what I was trying to get off of.
that made him listen to me.
looked up a drug called LIBRIUM.
Used it 25 years ago when I was on a quart of whiskey a day. think i had a drinking problem, what do you think?
any how it helped out lots and stopped the DT's from happening. thought it might help out my nerve's IT DID!!!!!!!. HE GAVE ME THEM TO ME AND BLOOD PRESSURE PILLS
I sleep most all night now and that helps the nerves.
I am never going back, it was to much to do over again.
you can quit if you want. are you a sissy or a man?
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Hi, I have been on pain killers for almost three years, ever since all of the nerves in my shoulder were stretched. They had me on Cymbalta and Avinza (150mg moraphine in one long release pill). A few months ago I decided that I would rather deal with the pain than keep on the these pills. My blood sugar was continuly dropping, once 37. I decided to kick both of the pills cold turkey and together. I have been taking tylenol pm to help me sleep at night. It has been the hardest three weeks on my life! I am STILL having withdrawals and I want to know if anyone can tell me how long they will last? My legs and arms start tiggling to bad at night along with the sweats and that is why I am trying a sleep aid to try to sleep thru some of it. I have also had intense diarrhea starting from the next day after I stopped taking the pills. (approx. 3 weeks). My doctor has me on prilosec with the theory that my stomach lining was damaged due to the years of pills. It has not helped. I also want everyone to know that they need to think before starting any of these antidepressants and painkillers! They may help you in the short run but they are so very hard to stop taking! Mentally I am starting to feel better but for almost a month I have kept myself in my house with only a few times leaving. Please if anyone knows how long this will go on, let me know.
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Hang in there....i went from 400mg daily for 3 years. I reduced it myself by 220mg without any problems. Anytime I moved lower I got sick. I am now at a point where I have no choice and have to get off of it. I am down to 60mg a day after 3 weeks...its hard but doable...it is really, really hard.
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I just wanted to make note that physical withdrawal and addiction are two COMPLETELY different things. If you take the drug for legitimate pain the chance of becomming addicted are slim. I've been on morphine (MS Contin) 100mg four times a day (400mg total) for years now. If I don't take it I'll have physical withdrawals. If anyone takes any opiate for a period of time and stops that person will have physical withdrawals. It's the psychological withdrawal that mans you're addicted. I just wanted to make that clear. A lot of people are ignorant to the fact that taking morphine or opiates for pain doesn't mean you're an addict. If anyone is reading this that has started taking morphine, Please take it as prescribed. Don't take it in high doses to the point where you get high and if you have timed release morphine don't crush it up. That's how you get addicted. I've seen it happen to many people. Also, don't ever assume that you can't or won't get addicted. ANYBODY can get addicted. I've read studies on this and have found out that less then 5% of people that take opiates for legit pain get addicted. It's the less than 5% that start abusing the drug to get the high feeling that get addicted.

As far as easing the withdrawals... It's not easy. Sometimes (rarely) when my pain level goes down I don't take my morphine for a little bit because I don't like to take it if I don't have to. When the withdrawals start my muscles geet sore, I can't sleep and all that. I think the best thing that works for me is easing each symptom. I take robaxin (muscle relaxer) to ease the muscle pain. Nyquil to help me sleep. OTC pain meds for the body pain. Xanax for the anxiety (caution, has abuse potential). an antidiarrhea is good to use (immmodium seems to be the best, it's very similar to opiates, but doesn't cross the blood brain barrier). That's all I can think of really. Just try to ease each symptom. I know people that have bee truely addicte to opiates and many of them have had success with suboxone. They say it not only helps the physical withdrawal, but it helps the psychological symptoms too.

Good luck to anyone trying to get off opiates. Don't forget.... Most people that eventually get clean may fail many times. Just because you fail once doesn't mean you can't do it. It might take a different method, so if one don't work try another. Make sure you have the support of other people and try to stay away from people that have/take opiates. Don't ever try to quit with a partner (it doubles your chance of failure IMHO). Professional help is always good to have. Doctors not only know what they're talkin about, but they can be a good form of support to have. They can also prescribe medications to increase your chances of success.
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I'm 19 yrs old and I broke my back and leg in an accident 3 months ago, and I can almost say that morphine withdrawal has been harder on me than the actual injury. I started taking 30mg ms contin and 15mg ir's on a dosage schedule.. I got fed up with taking the morphine after just a month so i stopped. The withdrawal was moderate with the worst symptom being lack of sleep. I truely believe the withdrawal was so mild because I took them just for pain and not for pleasure. A month later im still having wicked pain so i decide to go back to taking the morphine, this time snorting anywhere from 2-6 15mg ir's a day and taking the 30mg contins by mouth.. Needless to say after a month of abusing the drug, the withdrawal symptoms were substantially worse than the first time around. Now its been exactly a week since ive stopped using the drug and the withdrawal symptoms have finally subsided to a manageable level.. As i look back on the situation I will never take morphine ever again, just alcohol and weed from this point on. Its really true when i tell you that the drug will cause more problems in your life than it will help with. Going thru withdrawal i smoked a lot of weed. It helped a little but many times i would puke immediately after smoking, then feel fine for a while (Gotta be something psychological because I used to snort morphine and then smoke weed ) I learned that the withdrawal is just as much mental as it is physical. Think positive and just man up. (Imagine people goin thru morphine withdrawals while fighting in the cival war, "the army disease") Withdrawal has been terrible, but when you make it thru in the end you feel liberated. Free. Reborn. No need for morphine anymore, nothing to tie you down. If you didnt know already your gonna learn whats really important in life, family friends and love..not drugs.
Anyway I really hope that this post helps someone in the world going thru morphine withdrawal rite now.. stay strong, get it done.
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I was on 200mg (100 morning and 100 night) of MS Cont as well as 4-5 daily doses of liquid MS. I started reducing my dosage 2 months ago and now I'm just about to try and quit for good.
Dropping from 100mg by about 20 mg per week was entirely painless until I got down to about 40 mg per day. Now I have stopped the MS cont completely and am relying on 2-3 ml of ms liquid and co-codamol just to keep the monley off my back.

I now feel it's time to make the jump and stop the MS completely but the shakes, lack of concentration and anxiety are beyond belief. I must be driving my wife and kids nuts !!

Hopefully this wont last long but I feel positive about coming off. (I really want to do it) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, to all those coming off opiate based painkillers, keep going, its worth it, you'll be back to being the normal you in no time. Stick at it !!
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My tenant and friend is a morphine addict. I am now watching him through some serious withdrawal due to the fact that he has lost his enabler and I won't give him a penny for this hellish drug. He won't go to the hospital and has no insurance. If I had the equipment, I would tie him to the bed and let the detox run its course, and the law be damned. He does not inject but that does not matter--he has told me that he has been in 23 rehabs in the past and nothing seems to work. His habit is legal but I think incarceration is his only hope and am actually hoping that he gets a simple DUI, or a semi-serious injury at work. ANY event that keeps him in confinement either in the hospital or in jail.
I am an old ex-pothead and have no experience with anything like this. I have also never been much of a drinker. This is all new to me and very scary. Anyone have any advice?
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The tat is a pretty sweet idea! maybe a small pill in shape of hydromorphone contin and something like the quit date instead of some dumb mg. HMC - 2009
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swim has been taking morphine for about 7 months, amongst a sh*t load of other prescription mind altering narcotics. Was originally prescribed morphine after a hand injury and a prolonged stay in hospital with mrsa. 80mg per day dosages, great at first but swim starting banging the meds, upto possibly 300mg per day may be more. swim seems to like them more than he should. Swim goes to the docs with a shopping list after googling the issue and finding the most awesome treatment recommended on the first three pages, and the doc always obliges no probs. It's come to the point where swim is eating this this for breakfast dinner and tea....it helps him get sh*t done and blocks out the bad karma surrounding his life....however after prolonged use swim looks like c**p and blacks out consecutively. so swim decides not to do the morphine for a week. drink 4 litres of water per day force 2 cans of ensure down, a banana and apple. after a week swim feels better and his body has re-adjusted. it isn't easy getting there. then after a few days...things get on top of swim because he can't face life and he reverts back to the morphine. it's a cycle swim is keen to break and this is his third day off the stuff, how long it lasts i don't know. Swim barely needs the morphine anymore but it makes him get sh*t done.
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The original poster has a tough question, I'm assuming by morphium he means the grey area plant. Well that stuff lasts in your system for ever, but like any other opiate the main WD is 5 to 7 days with 1 to 3 being the big days. Problem is that WD often takes a day to really set in which catches people by surprise. I count day 1 as 24 hours after you have reduced or cut out your dose. I myself use the stuff in short spurts (stupidly) but the problem is it has a serious half life. The stuff can keep you "well" for 18 to 24 hours. I do not think a once a week use can bring one to that level, but a three or four time a week use can for sure.

Anyways for any withdrawal the most important thing is a true desire to quit. Hopefully you quit and never have to come back, but if you do you were learn what is best for you. For me its short and quick tapers with big drops and then a jump off when I have two or three days to myself. I use supplements as well, OTC meds, plus a few beers and maybe marijuana at night. Also plenty of good tips in the "home remedies" thread.



Best of luck to everyone. Get off and stay off.
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Hi. I am currently in the Australian Navy and have developed a morphine addiction due to chonic back pain suffered thanks to a Navy Doctor's misdiagnosis of a certain condition. I have had 20 operations on my back and have had a sacrel nerve stimulator implanted to now combat incontinence. Not bad for a 38 year old.
On top of that, I have been taking approx 200mg of morphine sulphate per day for about 2 years and have managed to cut it down to 120mg over the last 12 months. It has been tough, but definately achievable.
The problem I am currently experiencing is that whilst over the Christmas period, I noticed my script would run out 4 days before my usual Doctor returned to work. I am still racking my brain as to how this happenned because I rarely take more than the prescribed amount of medication. Anyway, I went to a different Doctor whom I had never seen before, and after a 10 minute consultation I was told that my back pain is not as bad as I make out and that I would not be receiving any more medication until the Monday, 4 days later. Resenting the insinuation that I was abusing my meds, lets just say the conversation deteriorated quickly and was not very pleasant.
I had basically 120mg of tablets to ration out over the next 4 days and did so, but not without riding the rollercoaster of withdrawal. The first day was pretty bad with the runny nose, diahorrea and tremors kicking in as well as sever migrane headaches and sweating. By the Saturday morning I had hardly slept and it was then that I took my last 60mg tablet. Amazingly enough, this seems to be doing its job because I am not half as bad as I was, but the real test is going to be today I think. I have just taken my last tablet, a 20mg, it is 4am and I will have nothing until tomorrow morning (hopefully). Although I have not hit the brick wall like people on here, I definately do sympathise with them. What I have learnt is that morphine addiction can last for years, even after you have stopped taking the drug. Small amounts remain in fatty deposits in your body, triggering the cravings for quite some time which is scary.
The good thing for me is that my 'cold turkey' period will only last for 4 days, but I know that with my impending discharge from the Navy after 23 years service, I am faced with the prospect of withdrawals once again, but on a larger scale. Not looking forward to it at all.
Good luck to everyone with your attempts at kicking this terrible habbit. Be strong and seek help where you can get it. Don't be too proud to put your hand up and say "I'm struggling". There are plenty of people out there to assist you in your battle.
Cheers
Petty Officer Noel Christoffel
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