Oxycontin and RLS = addiction?

[denno]

Dear all,

After having battled RLS symptoms for 13 years, including beating my legs until they were blue and scratching them bloody, so the pain would distract me from RLS, I was given Oxycontin for treatment. No surprise it worked of course. I have been taking these for 2 years now. Currently I am taking up to 40mg of Oxycontin per day.... but not for RLS anymore but simply to fight the addiction I have developed over these two years. 10mg of Oxy will only last me 4-5 hourse before withdrawals kick in. I am a wreck at work and a recluse at home. I am literally living from dose to dose to avoid withdrawals from kicking in. I must say that I am not high or somewhat off-beat when I take them, no I feel great, mellow and compassionate but only for 4-5 hours, then as I said withdrawals come up and I need the next 10mg. During the nights it is a bit better but withdrawals often wake me around 6-7am and I need to take another shot of Oxy.

Living with RLS was a hell but living with Oxy is another hell all the same. Anyone have similar experiences or is there simply something wrong with me?

Thanks

Dennis

[Hidden]

It does sound like addiction, if you are craving for your next fix of it. You need to tell your doctor so he/she can get you off it. Why was your doctor letting you take more and more..?

[Madlegs1]

Nothing wrong with you--these are common issues with oxy.

It lasts only about 8 hrs with many people.

Two strategies--take your daily dose in three parts- 8hrs apart. Say you're on 40 total daily dose- then try 15 , 15 and 10. Adjust accordingly to pain and tolerence thresholds.

Secondly- take paracetamol when you feel the effect wearing off. This potentiates the opiate enough to get you to the end . ( I'm on 10 ×2pd) and need 250 paracetamol after 7 or 8 hrs)

That generally works.

However , you need to be very careful with inhibitors and potentiators.

Grapefruit and sour citrus fruits and their juices will play havoc with the efficacy of oxy. So will alcohol. Even Seville orange marmalade will do a job on the oxy. ( oh, it's a sh1t life , isn't it?)

Also I have found high fat meals taken near pill pop time is a major inhibitor (prevents absorption ) There's my Greek style yoghurt and honey treat gone for a Burton.😢

That's probably enough for you at present. Be very careful upping the Oxy- plenty of people are dead from going that road. If you are in Usa there are plenty of court cases where Purdue have settled OOC , on this very issue.

Just Google " how oxy ruined my life"

Basically- keep in mind what I've said above ,and try to get back to your base dose level ,consistent with effective pain relief ( not withdrawal control) and tak it from there.

Oxy is a very good and effective drug- it has got a very bad name because of immoral marketing and lack of good advice.

At low doses of upto 20mg it should have no issues of tolerence or addiction.

All the best- and do let us know how you get on.😎

[Hidden]

Dennis it might be worth contacting your local addiction team and organise a proper detox/withdrawal program. Addiction is multifaceted and as such needs all elements treated. The guys in the addiction unit will be well used to taking people off very high doses of opiates and will be able to help you bring yourself back to sobriety.

Of course you could always bite the bullet and go cold turkey - get yourself prepared for a bad couple of weeks and bunker down. It can be difficult - I went from 400mg of tramadol a day to nothing over night and my RLS went nuts and I had a difficult withdrawal but it was over in a few weeks, (tramadol has a longer lasting withdrawal syndrome than the oxy). Mind you that approach is not for everyone but its the quickest way if that is important to you.

Opiate withdrawal although initially hard will be over soon but the habits and cravings can linger - there are many ways to deal with this but there can be specific issues that need addressed and as such not to belabour the point the addiction ones are best place to help.

Best of luck and if you need any advice/support feel free to shout.

Take care and good luck.

[Kelvin45]

Hi Denno, i am just completing a withdrawal program for Oxycontin addiction, initially I was taking 120mg twice daily and now with the help of my GP am down to 20mg am and 40mg pm. speak to your doctor, trying to get off smaller does of Oxy is incredibly difficult without help. I speak to my GP monthly and we discuss progress and my plan for the next month, hopefully in another few months i should be clear of a drug i've been taking for 6 years.

[Sleepless1950 in reply to Kelvin45]

I was taking Mirapex for 20 years until I started worrying about the long term side effects.

I have tried a few others to treat RLS but none of them have worked.

I am now taking Hydramorph and it is working well for me. I have been taking it for almost a year and I haven't had to increase the dose. I am worried if the same will happen to me because I am taking an opiate. There is nothing else that works for me.

What do you take now for your RLS?

I think I would try almost anything than live with RLS!

I have rubbed my legs until they bled. I have tried to ease it by staying in my hot tub for hours.

It was ok until I came out of the water. I said to my Husband the other night when I had break through RLS because I didn't take my Hydramorph soon enough, that I wanted to cut my legs off.

I am terrified that there will be a time when nothing works. I will not be able to live with it. It never goes away without drugs. How will they ever find a cure. It is neurological.

I feel for all RLS sufferers because it is not far from our minds all day and night, every night forever.

I'm sorry to sound so pessimistic but I am so tired from RLS or RLS treatments.

I just started taking medicinal pot.

It does work and it is good for sleeping but I am very tired the next day. I have an appointment to see the distributor of the pot to see if there is a different kind and dose that may work better. Pot is available to everyone who has a need for it. I live in Western Canada so I don't know if you can get it where you are but I really think this might be the way to go for us. There are so many different kinds and doses that you would think you could find something for you.

Good luck my fellow RLS suffeters! I really count on all of you. It helps knowing I am not alone.

[involuntarydancer]

Can totally relate to your problem (and also to the lovely mellow feeling you describe). Luckily I decided to reduce my dose of oxycontin when I noticed that I was needing more in the mornings just to deal with the withdrawals from the night before and not for RLS as such (I needed 30mg in the evening to settle my legs). Having previously gone through the rigours of withdrawing from a dopamine agonist, I was determined not to get caught by another drug dose gradually titrating up.

I concur with the others who suggest withdrawing slowly from it and possible seeking help for the withdrawal. I found kicking the last 5mg was particularly hard and might be on it still but it was found to be causing central sleep apnea and I was robustly told to stop it. I had horrible withdrawals for quite a few weeks after. I am so glad to be off it now. Having said all that I still highly rate it for RLS treatment when all else fails - it just requires very careful management. Incidentally, I found that as I reduced the dose, the need to supplement it the following morning diminished dramatically. As I set out below, I supplemented the lower dose with other drugs to manage my RLS symptoms and now believe that RLS is optimally treated with low doses of more than one drug to avoid the worst side effects and risk of addiction.

I would expect that it would be very difficult to manage working at certain stages during the withdrawal process and you may be required to take sick leave.

In relation to managing the RLS while coming off it, I found that a cocktail of drugs was required in the early days of withdrawing from oxycontin. I used neupro patches and pregabalin and these worked as well as can be expected when battling against the problems caused by withdrawal as well as the RLS itself. Raising my serum ferritin levels also helped a lot. I would suggest getting these checked (your GP surgery should be able to do it). Make sure they give you the actual number - they often simply tell you that your levels are 'normal'. Normal for RLS is totally different - you should be aiming for over 100.

Don't despair. It is possible to kick oxycontin. Your dose is comparatively low. Even if you don't manage/choose to eliminate it altogether you could consider reducing your dose to a level where you don't experience the same level of craving throughout the day, perhaps managing your legs with additional drugs such as pregabalin and/or a very low dose of dopamine agonist.

Very best of luck.

[Hidden]

I developed RLS as a result of coming off Oxy. I have managed to get to 20mg a day and take 1 5mg 4 times a day. I don't get any RLS symptoms at the mo but think the next stage will be the test. Missing out 1 tablet until I am off Oxy all together. It is a slow process but the slower the better. Reduce by one tablet every 10 days. See how it goes??? Good luck

[denno]

Thanks to all for sharing. I am somewhat reluctant to kick off the Oxy. I know it's a pain using it but it is also a blessing. I will however talk to my GP to reduce or substitute. Maybe there is something for the cravings or the in between periods. Gosh, I was someone could do this with me. My RLS already ruined my marriage and the Oxy broke up my relationship. I am somewhat down in the dumps right now and really wish there would be someone. Sorry to bother you with this as I am drifting off-topic here.

[Lola43]

I know that this post is 6 years old, but wanted to know what happened to you? I have been a long suffering RLSer- I am currently in rehab for 28 days for oxy and kratom addiction. I went from taking 30mg of oxy per day to 90 mg plus kratom and any other opioid I could get hold of 😔 (ie oral morphine stealing from my husband). I had to detox from oxy and it was the worst week of my life . I am now on buprenorphine and doing well. No RLS . Buprenorphine was what I wanted at the very beginning, couldn’t get Targinact prescribed which would have been much safer - all thanks to guidelines and local prescribing rules etc .