How to stop the pain of opiate withdrawal?

Hello everyone!!

  I am staring my journey today of getting off hydro  I have been on them I would say for 5 yrs. These pills have absoultly destroyed my life I have almost lost my family because of them thats because all I did was lie and not be the wife and mom that I should be its like I have lost myself!!!

I know that it is going to be HARD but I hope by reading all of your post that it will push me through it My husband knows now I told him he kept asking me and I would lie but he knew in the back of his head he just didnt wont to belive it I have lost soooo musch weight I only weigh about 99 to 100 pounds so it totally shows! He said he would stick by me but this is going to be so hard its just cold turkey time I just hope that I can make it through it I have read so many post I guess the best thing to do is just hang in there and suffer through it. Please keep posting to help me through this I can talk to my husband but he is sooooooooo pissed about this because I have lied for so long and he wont even take a asprin ever so he hates pills and I dont think he understands how bad this is going to be because he has never taken anything. So just pray for me and talk me through this and I have read that other people have made it and feel alot better so HERE I GO!!!!!!!!!!

Treat it like you have the flu. My advice: exercise up until you can't. But do it because it releases the chemicals in your brain that bring you a natural high. It will help.But you know that you are going to feel like dirt for a week or so. Quitting opiates often creates rebound pain. You may feel that running hurts your back, or you get shin splints for the first time. Your blood pressure and heart rate will increase. These things could make it dangerous to run. Gather up some DVD's of yoga that you can do at home. Just for the 3-5 days peak physical symptom time.
Bottom line: run til peak symptom time to increase the natural high. During peak symptom time, use the strength you used 5 yrs ago, and add some at home yoga to relax the mind and the cramps.

Well Im going on the 4th day of no hydrocodone and the pain is terriable!!!!! I feel like I have been horsed kicked right in the neck I can't even hardly turn my head I hate this. I can only sleep 20 minutes at a time I am sooooo tired. But I am sticking with it and just trying to suck it up and move on !

Hang in there. You should be back to normal anytime now.

The best thing for opiate addiction is Kratom powder. It takes away all symptoms.

For the last 15 years I've battled back pain - started as a sports injury turned chronic pain turned lifestyle changes which put me on a roller coaster ride emotionally.  Good years bad years, and every thing in between.  I've been lucky enough to never move into the really hard narcotic drugs on a long term basis, but have had my ups and downs with tramadol.  Not that I haven't taken the hydros and percs, but not on a regular basis, only during periods of expected heavy physical activity during sports events.  I decided a few days ago it was time to see if I could live my life without relying on drugs.  I'm not advocating for people to give up what they truly need for pain, but I am advocating we who have been victimized by doctors solving our problems with drugs and society silently snubbing their noses at our prescription containers to take back our self worth.  I just want to shout out to all those who suffer without the support of your family and friends (like me), you can and will do it.  Allow yourself to feel, sadness, pain, hurt, confusion, regret and then move on, take step after step & those feelings will be replaced with happiness, laughter, forgiveness, hope and acceptance. 

On to what most people come here for...DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT TAKE TRAMADOL.  Despite popular belief it is safe to use without physical dependence, that is BS!  If that were the case my knees wouldn't feel like they're in vice grips, and my shirt wouldn't be soaked with sweat.  I've been here before, but always find the pain of my actual injury starts to outweigh being drug free, so it's become cyclical over the years.  What to expect...

Even using Tramadol as prescriped 1 50mg 4 X day (an extra occassionally for intense pain);

6 hours - cold, tingly, ill feeling, lethargic

12 hours (bedtime) - cold, ill feeling, goose bumps, legs hurt, tingly, insomnia, sleep 2 hours at time

24 hours (next morning) - sweaty, tingly, stomach pains, loose bowels, achy, joint pain, lethargic, flu-like

30 hours (day 2 afternoon) - not hungry, knees killing, stomach still hurts, many trips to the bathroom, slight headache, sleepy but can't sleep, not moving & no one cam make me, worthless feelings, unproductive

40 hours (day 2 evening) - my knees are going to explode, tingly, goose bumps, hip pain, am I hot or cold?, rapid heartbeat, headache, ate dinner with no side effects (dodged a bullet so far), feelings of guild for not getting stuff done I need to do

Welp, that's where I'm at - not feeling great, but not dead either.  I know that sounds morbid, but I'm not & you're not which means we have the chance to change.  It means we're probably hitting that rockbottom we often hear about, every problem we had during our habitual euphoric lives is still going to be there when we reach the other side, but I know dealing with them without rose-colored glasses is a much better approach.  Most of these posts also don't talk about after care, or how to rebuild our lives after narcotics.  Considering I'm holding down the couch so well tonight, I'm going to do some research on the subject.  We can't go back into the world expecting different results without the skills to make good decisions and find other ways to manage pain, stress, hurt, boredom and (insert whatever makes you pop the pill bottle).   

Good Luck!

I know this is a relatively old topic but I figured I'd throw in my experience as it might help someone who comes across this thread.

DO NOT TAKE TRAMADOL for long periods if you are a opium abuser! here is my story i was never addicted to anything for the longest time the first time i touched any type of narcotics was wen i was 21. i have had major back problems that i had been born with and was prescribed Vicodin.. and well there we're things going on that added up to the proper timing for my body to build a crutch my Grandmother who had raised me had just passed from cancer and i was really depressed. i got theses meds took them for a few months with no issues and then one day i realized WOW wen i'm on these i don't feel sad or angry i actually want to be around people and talk and have fun. so i thought to myself ill start using this as not only a pain killer but as a anti depressant for days i'm down. that was the worst mistake i had ever made i have done horrible things for my addiction not like sleep around or anything but steal, lie etc even though i didn't want to this addiction had control of everything any way i went to my doctor told him my problem asked if there was something non addictive i could take for pain he gave me tramadol i took that for a year and a half.. well i went and saw him 6days ago and told him i have a problem for some reason it seems no matter how long i stay away from opium i still go threw what feels like opium withdraws wen i don't take my tramadol.. i kid you not with out skipping a beat and with no emotion in his voice he said "Yeah thats the tramadol" he said although tramadol is not a narcotic medicine it is in a class the call Artificial opium it plays with the same area of the mind that the opium does and gives off the same affects so pretty much tramdol is like taking a narcotic but it's not a narcotic. it still risks dependency and withdrawal i personally have quit cold turkey it hasn't been long enough for the withdrawals to start yet but it's getting close! i just want to go back to my normal life man i didn't ask for this if there is only one thing i am happy i will take with me is my ignorance of the drug society has been removed.. i use to think drug addicts we're idiots they did what they did by choice but now i understand.

Tramadol IS a Class A narcotic, it is NOT however anywhere near as strong or Lethal as Methadone, or Opium itself! In fact the as someone who's been a hardcore Opium user I can tell you for sure Tramadol will not even effect someone with a high Opium / morphine tolerance... For me tramadol has become like tylenol due to my immensely high tolerance for Opium. It only takes away physical pain...

Methadone on the other hand still gives me about 3/5 of the Opium high if taken in high doses, which is why I mentioned it should ONLY be taken to remove withdrawal symptoms...

What you were explaining is Methadone withdrawals, so you were either given Methadone, or you simply abused your Tramadols to such an extent that you permanently damaged your receptors... I know people that used Tramadol for years and decades with no such symptoms.

I personally used Opium everyday for about 4 years now, and at times that I couldn't manage some I would get Tramadol or Methadone... I can say with 100% certainty Tramadol is the WEAKEST of them all. It is how ever the DIRTIEST, in the sense that it has a lot, and I mean a LOT of c**p in the pill, unlike Methadone which is relatively cleaner.

hey guys...
its good to quit the opium but if you are going to quite suddenly its worst for you in coming life...perhaps you happens it for quiting opium but after some day or wks you abuse it but what will happen to your inner body you cant imagine this, yes you may no more need it in future but if you quit it fastly without any maintenance you will fail your immune system automatically, if you did not use any maintenance ad recovery process your immune system will get so weak and it will not fight . ipium have 3 important elements they helps to body to fight with extra energy so a opiatite never feels ill or he never gets deseages, if you abuser without maint and recovry -your sex ability goes worst, your Jens will weak which helps to generate our nextcoming generation (your son/daughter), you will feel angry within a moment and without any hard reason you will no more become a joy person , you will ever talking like serious and borred and your mind behaves like engry any time, its my personal exprience because i am a health advicer in drug prohib. in india and in india many persons have these types of symtums so its my suggestion to not quit opium without any maintenance process coz without this process your immune system will weak and your body will become so hard to bend after many years you will find yourself as a tree which will bend by wind, so please its good and feel good too quit opium but with maintenance process ..it takes 2-3 months and you will get a great future as alse..there are many cases i handled and all they quit without any help/maint and recovery btu now the times has gone for those ppl so its only recovery process helps them but its very hard to recover again after 2-3 years of quiting opium.

so take care of your health because human body is very precious and parts of human body cant be buy from market ...and its system too.

a PERSONS LOG HOW HE QUIT WITH SYSTEMATIC PROCESS AND MAKE HIS BODY BALANCED IN QUITING TIME SO BEWARE OF LOOSENESS....


Withdrawal as you know is not pleasant ....It usually takes 4 to 7 days to get the drug out of your system. I suggest gradually if you can coming off. start with (lets say your normal drug dose is 4 pills a day) start with 3 pills for 2 weeks, not increasing the dose for whatever reason...then at the end of 2 weeks take 2 pills for 2 weeks, then 1 pill for 2 weeks and finally every 3 days take 1 pill.. then stop totally. gradual long reduction of tapering works best. The person will most likely have symptoms but they will be less worst then stopping abruptly. For treating symptoms I found over the counter dextromethorphan (its in cough syrup) It helps with cravings irritable problems that occur. It also helps with stomach discomfort, there's been investigations that it can help with withdrawal of pain meds. It is NMDA receptor antagonists. So it can be abuse and produce symptoms such as those of a hallucinations,
Also I found that Pseudoephedrine helps with the constant urge to urinate ( it has also been successful in treating stress incontinence by increasing the pressure (tension) exerted by the muscles of the bladder neck and the urethra, which helps retain the urine within the bladder.) but again be carefully when using the above med. Make sure one you don't have any medical problems that unable you to take the above meds. and 2 make sure you don't abuse them.
Antihistamine works great for irritable and restlessness. Also if possible alteast try to get out of the house go for a walk. Because exercise is another great weapon in the battle of withdrawal. Your body produces endorphins which is also what the pain meds do to a larger degree. So by producing your own will help your body re balance its self. And if you have access to sauna they are good helps you sweet out alot of the toxins in your body. But I stress strongly to go to your doctor. There are medicines that are out there that work to reduce the withdrawal one being wellbutin, suboxone. I been battling this addiction for 3 yrs now and I tried them all and to me truthfully I rather take the taper down and over the counter medicines. Because (not so much wellbutin) but others like suboxone, valium they just lead to dependence on them. Another problem I had with my withdrawal is lack of energy, motivation, chronic fatigue and weakness and low testosterone levels. I am still battling with those. I drink an energy drink through out the day and take supplements for testosterone such as tribulus etc... they don't help as much as I would like but its getting me through ... hopefully my body will balance itself out soon and I can get back to my normal self. I have been 1month off this time for good. I don't want to go through this ever again. And finally another thing that help me ALOT was watching motivational movies I like action movies and by watching them gave me motivation to get out and exercise. Hopefully this is a help to someone but I again stress strongly to talk to your doctor. He understands and he will be glad to help.

You really have to go into the mind over matter attitude. I took oxy, vicodine, perks, opanos for over a year, never thinking I would develop a dependence. I was bartending at the time and it was what everyone around me was into. A few friends of mine went to clinics for Suboxone scripts and raved about how great that was, how "normal" they felt without having to spend $100 a day on opiates. Problem being, Suboxone is only supposed to be used to slowly "taper" yourself off other opiates for 3-4 days if you are legitimately trying to quit. Needless to say, I kept on the Suboxone for probably 6 to 8 months, and unfortunately developed a dependence on that as well. Hell, it was way cheaper than the oxys!

What I did was slooooowly taper down my daily dosage of Subox until it was barely a crumb. Then I quit altogether and hell set in. I can deal with the cold sweats, hot flashes, stomach problems, flu symptoms, etc. But the worst was a constant and all-consuming restlessness and inability to sleep. As bad as it may sound, alcohol and klonopin helped a bit with these intolerable symptoms. Without that, I just wanted to start screaming, running down the street and ripping my hair out. Yet at the same time I was completely exhausted.

It's been about a week and I am still feeling these symptoms, although not nearly as bad. I quit bartending and switched to home-based employment just to get away from all the influences in my circle of "friends". Stop contact with anyone that could influence you to go back to your old ways. My fiance and my pets and my home make me smile a little in the midst of it all. Depression, crying bouts, anxiety, panic attacks and heart palpitations have all become familiar to me, but I KNOW it's all in my head, so that makes it easier to deal with.

Just know that you are strong, most of what you are going through is in your head, and the rest is your body ridding itself of a toxin.

Wow I jus lookd up opiate withdrawls n this was the first I saw. Everything u said help. im going through this bs now and it sucks. I jus happen to have a cold or I jus tell myself its the cold but it makes it way easier. Thanks for the tips they helpd

I have been using for over 3yrs now and this is the first time I've gone cold turkey and it sux bad. I've always been able to get bupe 2 get me thru the off days but now they're harder 2 come by then the opanas themselves. I jus hate that feelin in the back of my throat. I can't sleep because of it. Any tips 2 get rid of that would be greatly appreciated

tks for the open spell is out situation, my case was only 3 years of RoxyC 100 mg er day....now off for seven weeks but still very tried, 3x per week I sit is dry sauna at 115 degrees and enjoy rock n roll, I then

follow up with 3.5 mph on treadmill for 15 mnutes , this makes me very tried, sometimes wiped out and a 2 hour knap is required.

I find acholol is a negative, however at the time it is good. Oh, Tramadol is addictive as it follow is opiates category.