Hi. I have been taking opiods for many years. First codeine, which stopped working. I moved on to Tramadol and now Morphine. I have never suffered withdrawal symptoms whilst stopping an opioid because once a week I have a night drug free. I am doing this whilst on Morphine too in anticipation of the time when tolerance will occur once again and I will either need to change meds or have a drug holiday to enable the morphine to work again.However, I now have other health conditions and a weekly night of no sleep is very difficult and distressing. I'm thinking of taking morphine every night.But in order to weigh up the implications of this I need to know what will happen when the Morphine stops working. How long do withdrawal symptoms last? How bad are they? And how can they be managed whilst swtitching to a different drug?
I hope those of you who have gone through tolerance, withdawal and changes of meds will be able to share your experiences. Thank you in advance.
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Jumpey
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I have had to abruptly stop Morphine after being on it for 2 months and similar with Methadone. I was taking the Morphine ER 30mg. I didnt have a major withdrawl, However It appeared to send me into an MS flareup each time which lasted for weeks.
It’s hard to compare your experience detoxing from other people’s experiences. It all depends on your dose and also how long you’ve been on it, how bad your RLS is too. The only thing that I can say because I’ve had withdrawal from hydrocodone (prescribed in the US) and Tramadol is that Tramadol took longer for me to get off.
Jumpey-I was on7-10 mgs of methadone for only 2 months. Had never taken opioids before that time and was assuming I could just stop when my first doctor cut me off. Well, as many on here may know, I had the night from hell. I had rls all over my body, I was pouring sweat, I was intensely rocking and anxious. I considered jumping off my balcony.
I made it until 9 a.m. when the pharmacy opened and the doctor had given me just a few more. Like a jonesing addict, I took half of a pill in the store. When a second doctor cut me off months later, I did everything I could to avoid another night like that. I had to resort to Kratom, which I had never heard of. Not only did it save me and work (although disgusting and difficult to take every couple of hours), it got me off the methadone.
I then got ansty earlier every day while on the kratom and had withdrawal symptoms daily if i didn't take it.
One night last week I desperately tried some buprenorphine that I had from my late brother. I took little pieces over many hours. I had also taken Horizant the evening before and Kratom every few hours.
The next day-last Wed-I vomited for hours and was in misery. BUT the odd bright side is, that somehow got me off o f the Kratom! Just that one night of Buprenorphine!
I haven't take any Kratom or Bup and it is now sunday night. I am totally off any type of opioid and I hope to never have to deal with those situations and that fear again.
The bad news is, I have no idea how to deal with my rls now and have resorted back to the DA's that I worked SO HARD to get off of with the methadone. I am also trying Horizant.
You might consider Kratom as a transitional or place holding option. It is different and has different side effects. Just be careful and do your research.
Hope this helps you! I would never want anyone to go through what I have...not only the withdrawals but the constant fear of running out or getting cut off.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience of withdrawal. It has confirmed for me that I need to continue to take a night off morphine weekly to avoid it.You have had such a horrible experience. I hope you feel better now. Could you try Gabapentin?
I have tried Kratom but sadly it caused oesophagal pain.
Thank you! I had tried gabapentin years ago while on the DA's. I had eye pains and weird head pains and I just didn't like it at all. As I mentioned above but you may have missed-I have started Horizant this past week, which is an advanced form of gabapentin but specifically formulated for RLS. It takes a couple of weeks to work, if it will at all. We shall see.
I do feel so much better off the opioids. BUT, my nights are filled again with terrible rls. I am trying to get through with the dreaded DA's and bits of Buprenorphine-until I see Dr. B. Or maybe the Horizant will kick in soon and do something.
Sorry the Kratom didn't work for you, in your situation. It could be worth another try with another brand though, too. Mitragaia is a high quality brand, fyi. They sell little samples so you wouldn't have to spend much to try it.
Teddi you may not want to hear this, but there is a general belief that gabbapentinoids (Horizant) may not be effective if you've been on a DA for a number of years. (I believe this is Dr. Buchfuhrer's opinion). I'm trying to taper off pregabalin myself. I can't stand the stuff. I'm seeing Dr. B for the first time in two days. I am worried that opioids are in my future...
That's ok, Fatniss. I have told others on here that same thing and I did get that from him. I went to a big hospital sleep clinic a week or so ago and told them my entire story. the main things they wanted to do was put me on Horizant and do a sleep study.
So, i decided to try it a second time and for the full 2 weeks. at least i can tell dr. b if it works or no.
but, why...is it the same thing as pregabalin? are you in the US? these last docs were saying horizant is specifically formulated for rls and not the same as gabapentin. but let me know what you know.
also! congrats on your appt! I have one with him in less than 2 weeks! i had so wanted to continue the opioids i was on before, but now that i am off of them, i am so glad and i feel so normal and energetic. (other than horrible nights of RLS and back to the da's!)
I have no idea what Dr. B can do for me now. I just can't believe this has all been so so difficult; what an awful opioid journey for me. My life was far easier in the old DA days!
please let me know what he says at your appt.! if you don't mind!
Thanks, Sue! I had thought it was 2 weeks. Yes, I will hang in there this time around. PS-the one thing that will make me stop is if I gain weight. I feel it could already be happening but we shall see. x
Opiod withdrawl sucks at any dosage if your body is used to it. But I wouldn't abandon it completely if it's working for you because you fear the day it won't. Usually small incremental increases will get you through for a few more years. If you're not abusing it your doctor should be okay with this as we all know tolerance happens and at the same time RLS does tend to worsen with age. Don't fall into the shame of using opiods for RLS. Long term use is a fact of life for many of us. Lots of medications have terrible withdrawals. For myself, barring a better solution, I will continue to advocate using opiods till the bitter end as long as it's a net positive to my quality of life.
I agree with you and I actually said all of that-until I recently was forced to quit due to a second doctor cutting me off methadone. I was in terror of going through withdrawals again as I almost didn't make it last time I was cut off.
Many of us don't fear it won't work, we fear going through what I did-losing access.
Kratom got me through getting cut off when I couldn't get help anywhere, thank god, and now I am off of that, as well. I feel so different and SO much better. Other than being back to horrible nights of RLS, that is. What a trade-off.
So, obviously, mine has been a super rough road getting off the DA's with an opioid and one I never want to repeat.
The consensus from the opioid studies is that the opioid dosages did not need to be increased even after many years. Which is one reason the top docs are proponents of opioid treatment long term. I just hope there is another solution now that I am off of them. Slim pickins' sadly. I also hope that they get the laws and awareness changed so that patients don't get cut off, like I did, or continue to be treated like a jonesing junkie.
I’d like to share my experience with detox from hydrocodone (about the same effectiveness as morphine). I’ve been on it for 6 weeks and took 2x 7.5mg daily for pain from a large herniated lumber
L4/L5 disc.
I stopped the hydrocodone yesterday. Almost 12h later I had terrible diarrhea. This is accompanied by bad restless legs which are keeping me up. I also feel pain and aches throughout my body. I don’t feel emotional or sad. But I wish I had started on celebrex earlier. It’s not fun but it should be over in a few days.
I’ve gone through this before when I was about to have surgery for kidney stones. During that time I was on hydro 3x a day and then dilaudid for 5weeks as I waited in line for surgery table.
The withdrawal was horrible. … puking restless leg anxiety pain in my legs making sleep impossible.
I do not like being on narcotics … I hate them and hope I never need them again !
There are many other drugs which address pain effectively.. like Toradol and steroids. Sure narcotics are absolutely necessary .. but they should be taken only when they are the last line for pain management
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