How Long Can Oxycontin Withdrawl Last?

chronic pain got me up to 300mg.day of oxy - had an operation (spinal fusion) that literally cured this overnight and I quit the oxy cold turkey about 3-4 weeks after surgery!
Wow, does it suck. I am about 4 weeks in and still ZERO energy, motivation, poor sleep, chicken skin, sneezing,stomach issues, and I can literally feel the lack of any "feel good" brain chemistry.
I think that you have to be prepared to not feel better in a week. Now relax a second and realize that some things will get better, like I can eat now and night sweats are only once a week. I can sleep 4 hours at a time, and most often I do 4 hours, wake up for a half hour, and get another 2 hours.
YOU are unique, you may feel almost nothing going cold turkey, some symptoms will be worse than what you read, some will be better. For example I only puked maybe 2-3 times during this whole nightmare.

The MOST IMPORTANT THING I want whoever is going through this to take away from my post is that besides the clonidine for days 2-4 NOTHING IS WORTH TAKING to help you sleep. I tried everything from OTC meds to prescription sleep meds, muscle relaxers, benzos, lyrica, anti-depressents (seroquel, trazodone). Don't waste your time or risk having to do a mini detox off those crutches. And stay FAR WAY from suboxone!!!! Unless you need it to prevent yourself from OD'ing or committing crimes it is not a cure.
Wait until at least the 2 week mark before you try anything. Honestly, I don;t even think the vitains and such helped, the gastrointestinal upset that the supplements caused made whatever small benefit they might have had negligible. YMMV- I wasn't an anemic homeless person, maybe some of the people saying these supplements helped were on death's door or something.

Lastly please DO NOT EXPERIMENT with "chipping" or using just a little to get by you will RESET WITHDRAWALS almost completely if you do. I've done this more times than I can count with every possible combo, and even a tiny amount of subox (maybe 1/100th of a 2mg pill) or 5-10mg reset the clock for DAYS. A full dose, more like a week. I don't know about street drugs, but prescription stuff you need to stay away from for a long, long time or you will suffer again.

I Would just

I would just like to share my expirence with others. I'm currently on day 4 from oxy withdrawal I have all the symptom mentioned above. I've been an addicted for 4 years now. I started of with Vicodin then graduated to norcos then to percs. I started saying what the f**k am I doing!!!!! I have to get my life back!!! My roommate who just so happens to be a pill popper too tells me try these you only have to take one a day and u will save so much money. Really? Ok!!!!! So down the hatch with the devil suboxone!! And holy c**p he wasn't lying. So for the next 6-8 months I took one of these everyday. Never knowing what evil lies ahead. So we depart and im off to utah with no worrys untill day 3 and holy mother of god i couldnt move to do anything. So i got in the phone book and found a suboxone doctor and made an appointment i barley made it there. Sat down with her i asked how long do to withdrawls last and this woman reply. An MD mind you, told me 5 days topps. Well hell doctor hook me up so for the next year i was on subs then one day i said i wanted me back so i started to wean down i did 8 mg to 4 mg then 2 mg then one. And the day came that i was detrmind to get ME back. First day no issues ( figured do to after life of subs) day 3 holy c**p day 4 i thought i was going to die no sh*t. For 6 weeks my life consisted of 8 plus hour in the shower sweats no sleep countless times i put a gun to my head and just wanted to end it but i refused to take another damn sub. The 6th week the fog started to lift and i saw life again life i hadnt seen it before. But i knew it was the light at the end of the tunnel ive waited to see for so long. Its the hardest thing ive ever went through in my life. But i had me back. A year past by and decided it was time to move back. It only took a week and i was back in the game only this time i was takeing 5 80mg a day Jesus how did I get here again?? Well f**k this I'm on day 4 of withdrawal and all I want to say to everyone of you just say no to that first damn pill because I promise to god it wouldnt be you last u just follow that rabbit down that endless hole again. I love u all and know your pain but there is light. U just have to open your eyes

A song that helped me out was a song by lyfe Jennings called, it could have been worse

If ur talking about the suboxine then you may want to read some articles posted about that kinda thing.I was doing abolut 50 to 60 mg or vics,perks,roxi and oxicodone and decided to give the suboxine a try after a friend at work referred this to me.The only problem you will encounter however with those is a much longer withdrawal period and I mean from 15 to 41 days when I say longer.This is even when tapering down from 2 mg a day to less than a half a mg a day as I would cut the suboxine strips into equal sixteenths.I decided after 2 weeks and the fact that the withdrawals werent getting any better from days 6 thru 14 to breakdown and take oxys for about 3 more weeks til hopefully the terrible insomnia that comes with the suboxine withdrawals goes away.I am now hoping that once I get thru the first week of regular withdrawal from 50 mg a day of oxys that this will be the end of this.I will let ya know how this works soon...I am currently 3 days along withdrawal and I am thinking day 4 tomorrow will be much better!Best of luck getting through it all!

Today is my day 13 off Oxy, I started them in 2008 due to severe back condition, did 80 mg per day and came down to 10 mg per day, used some percocets as well, but anyways I have been clean for 13 days now, but my withdrawals are still not getting better, the worst is the diarrhea, they have seemed to get from bad to worse, the chills are bad and sneezing is awful as well. Wonder how long this stomach issues last ?. Can anyone tell me please how long will I go through this.

Wow thanks for your words .I guess I'm only 2 days.off used them with diludid norco. Never dreamed I would have such long and wires withdrawals but your words will keep me going thanks

i am on day 5 of cold turkey, detox, at home...from rx oxys & oxycodone & when they run out (in about a week) i end up buying morphine from some old people down the road who are broke & need the money-i take about 5, 30 mg morphine tabs a day-when i have them & about 10, 15 mg oxycodone &  anywhere from 5-10,  40 mg oxys...a day.  been doing this since may....previously took 10-12, 10 mg lorcet for 4 years....this is the only time in almost 5 years i have honestly tried to come off of these things & it's just like everyone on here says...i have to quit taking them because they control my life, my money, my family's life....it just sucks. so, the first 4 days of the withdrawls were unbelievable hell....felt a little better from physical detox symptoms on day 4 but today on day 5 the reason i was put on the meds in the first place, my back....feels like someone is hammering on my spine with a jackhammer....i can not move from this chair as m back hurts so fricking bad....i can't believe how many people i read about on the internet are addicted to these same meds from their dr....it makes me feel so much better, in a way-that i am not crazy...but then again i am like HOW can these drs give us this knowing we are going to be addicted in 2 weeks??  my sex ife has gone to ZILCH in the past 9 months from the oxys, i can only assume....when i have my meds i too, have all of the energy in the world,   but find myself just wanting to melt into the chair & enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling until it's time to take another one...

anyhow-he anxiety, feeling of not knowing what to do with myself , depression & just general feeling like life is sh*t are full on right now & like i said it's day 5.  i don't know if i am going to be able to stay off of them, honestly, but i know if i don't i will never go through this full on cold turkey withdrawl again...this is way too intense for me.  my scripts can be filled in 7 days & idk if i will get them filled or not....BUT-i hope everyone knows that is trying to get off these things that there are so many other people trying to do the same thing.  we feel you!  i can't even get up to brush my fricking teeth i am so ...just shattered & exhausted from this withdrawl process....bless to all.  xxo

As an intermediate between withdrawal and home base, try breaking down with Tramadol. I didn't go through every post, however, am sure someone mentioned that. It's non-narcotic and sustains the correct bridge between exit. Another thing if you're on multiple Oxys daily, try taking one at 10am and letting it ride 'til bed with a sleep med or benadryl. Smoking some weed helps, too, depending on what you can get away with. No matter how long I am on, the first week or two is nasty coming off, even with help. I only take 120 a day. I have also tried Wellbutrin specifically coming off and it helped, it works on Dopamine more defined that just the SSRI part. Dopamine is the chemical that gets us high and is released en masse with most narcotics. It is a good bridge. Best of luck to everyone, tough being on and tough getting off. Better to talk to many about experiences than to do it alone.

As a recovering addict, I support the reply above:

Seven days ago I quit a 160 mg/per day oxycontin habit cold. It was quite uncomfortable, rarely slept, rarely ate and had a lot of lower g.i. trouble. Now all I have now is exhaustion. I hate the exhaustion but it helps to go to 12-step meetings and to try and be slightly more active each day. But oxy abusers are often hydrocodone abusers and or alcoholics as well, and the drink and the acetaminophen will hurt you badly. If you're a former or current drug or drink abuser, get your liver checked.

Ironically, I began my own liver trouble many years ago as a distance runner eating way too much Ibuprofen.

It's sad and a little pathetic I gave in during a flare up and started taking this again. Even taking less than prescribed I feel like such an id**t that I let myself get into this jam again, so tonight was my last dose- again- and the rest is going in the garbage. Here we go again. This time I'm on less than 100mg a day and tapered a little down to maybe 75mg a day but it's gonna suck. I know now no matter how much I need this for pain I just can't take it a "few days"... even after a couple months taking very VERY reasonable sane doses resulted in immediate physical dependence- tried to break it off after like 4 days and full fledged W/D so I had to wait months for a break in work so I can be sick again. This drug is for people that plan on staying on it the rest of their lives, like hospice care or something. It's an awful drug and it's done way more harm than good for me.

just to be clear I am the original post and what I meant to say is that I took it for 4 days straight after being months off it and was immediately physically dependent again... I hope that this garbage is taken off the market, there are much saner alternatives... and WHY THE HELL is there not a patch type system to take the guesswork out of gradually decreasing without W/D? BECAUSE THEY WANT US ADDICTED. Heaven help me I can't do this again. I pray this is the last time.

THIS POST MAY HAVE SAVED MY LIFE I WAS ADDICTED ON AND OFF TEN YEARS, NOW IM 3 MONTHS WITHOUT A PILL AND MY BODY ACHES ARE CONSTANT . IT FEELS LIKE SOMEONE IS PUTTIN A KNIFE THOUGH MY BACK AND MAINLY STINGING FROM MY NEXT TO THE BOTTOM OF MY HIPS AND DOWN MY SPINE. I never wanna be on roxys again. is there something wrong with my back? ive fallin on it alot... i dont know but can someone please help in 21 with a step baby and I CANT GO THRU THIS PAIN I CANT EVEN GET UP!

If you have insurance get a competent NEUROSURGEON (if in New York Area Columbia Presbyterian is great) NOT a pain clinic and definitely not an "orthopedic surgeon", they have different approaches than a neurosurgeon and I would want a neuro's opinion first.
There are a ton of prescription pain meds that are basically tylenol without the FDA over the counter approval- Etodolac for example is cheap and as effective as narcotics. And it doesn't get you high, have withdrawals, and it isn't an antidepression drug which I hear is as bad or worse than opiate withdrawal.
I an 48 hours into my latest W/D and this time I feel like I can say it's over- I just had my 2nd followup after surgery (6 months) and he said everything is OK, so I feel like there is zero excuse anymore.
The back pain is evident when tylenol/aspirin/ibuprofen wears off.
BUT
1. I have been treating my body like an amusement park for 3 years- a steady diet of chemicals and zero excercise.
2. the above is enough to make anyone 10lbs or more overweight in pain!

for the anguish they cause, OPIATES = MORE PAIN than just sticking with over the counter... everyone I know who tries using them more than a month ends up at least physically addicted.

YOU GOT THROUGH 3 months?!!!!! Go to an narcotics anonymous meeting ASAP if you feel like using- I'm not saying I love the idea but it can get you through a day or two of craving if you go.

http://portaltools.na.org/portaltools/MeetingLoc/

http://www.nanj.org/meetings/index.shtml

Other ideas for now- TENS machine can be ordered from a local pharmacy or online- $50 - I use the GF- TX5 Grafco and it's as strong as a physical therapy one but runs on a 9 volt (portable!!!)

Even if you are suffering 24/7 I hope you stay strong and off the opiates.

do you mean down your LEG? as in Sciatica? I was just thinking over the past hour how there is just as likely a relatively "easy fix" as there is a need for radical surgery or something. Sh*t, I mean an old mattress, lousy unsupportive shoes, those two things alone could help explain your pain- I had like 3 things wrong and 2 docs said fusion was the only option but the first round of epidural injections fixed me for like 2 months... I had a friend that just needed the nerve channel widened, another buddy had a laminectomy (piece of bone removed) and all three of us are pretty much cured. I just dragged 100 pound generator a hundred yards : )
If you look at people's experience's on the net 90% are going to be bad for the same reason when you go to a good restaurant you might tell 2-3 close friends but if you go to a bad one you tell EVERYBODY. We like to complain.
Remember, unlike other animals human beings are born with ONLY ONE INSTINCT- to suck. Think about it.