Trying to quit oxy cold turkey, could use some advice

[Scott]

well im in college my junior year and ive been taking oxycontin for the past 2 months id say. i was never prescribed it i just happened tolike doing drugs. I was stupid enough to think that because i took alot of percosets and vicodins and never got addicted that i could do the same with oxycontin. I started out on 20 mg a day and now in the 2nd month i was up to an 80 mg a day. Im at my parents house for the week on spring break with no way to get these things (which is a blessing) and im going through some withdrawal (insomnia, cold and hot sweats, and lack of energy to do ANYTHING but lay in bed) i am just wondering how long it is going to take my body to detox physically off this horrible drug. i am currently in my 2nd day of being oxy free.

thanks so much in advance
scott

[JPizzy]

I feel your pain scott but dont worry one 80 a day isnt that bad although it is kind of a lot for recreational use ecspecially if its 7 days a week. The withdrawls I know are worse than heroin and wouldnt wish them on my worst enemy. stay calm try to be active and wish for the best. One good thing is that you only have been on Oxy for 2 months. If you were on your 6 month of being addicted you would be far worse off. From research it should take no more than 3 months maybe less for total detox. Oxy is a strong opiod and when digested turns into hydromorphone hense the intense high! try to score some ativan or some other sedatives, try pharmer.org and do some research, these pills curve the craving and actually help out. Stay recreational and dont get to the point where a couple 80 wont do nothing short and f*** you up. Take care and be safe.

[Wendy]

Hi Scott,

I am recovering from an addiction to Oxycontin. Like the person before me advised you, I would like to back up a couple things they said. You are so far ahead of a game that if you don’t get out now; it will steal your life away. I lost 15 years of life due to oxycontin. With the amount you are taking and the short period of time, you have a little bit of a struggle ahead of you but with proper care and knowledge, you can beat this before it beats you.

I was taking twice the amount of oxycontin in one day than you have taken in a week. I was taking 1,000mg a day very easily. From that point I went through years of hell in the attempt to be free of opiates. I feared the withdraws and being sick. I tried many times and many ways to get clean only to fail every attempt. The oxy eventually led me to methadone. I was sucked in to believing that it was the best and safest way for me to remove opiates from my life. I was promised it was safe and it was temporary. WRONG!!!!!!!

You are really not in too bad of shape right now and if I had someone back then to help me maybe I would not have gone thru so much and completely lost my entire life before I found proper help.

Please feel free to e-mail me for any reason at all. I may be able to answer questions for you or even just give you support. I know what you are going through right now and regardless of how you feel Scott, you are not alone. I promise. I would also like to refer you to a web site that you can get some great advice and information from. There is even a place for you to ask medical staff questions. You will find people there who are going through the same as you or have already gone through it and will offer you help as well. These people saved my life after so many others just either didn’t care or didn’t know any better.

These are the people who after 15 years of doctors and rehabs and detoxes finally gave me proper treatment. I learned through them why I could never get better each time I tried to detox . I thought I was feeling so bad each time I tried to detox because I needed the opiates. Now I have detoxed successfully and I am being treated for an under active thyroid. If only someone had given me the proper medical care years ago instead of just blowing me off as some junkie, I would not have lost so much time. Don’t let it happen to you.

Here is the link to the forum. Check out their information and take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions. Don’t forget, you are welcome to e-mail me. You can beat this! You are not alone!

http://www.floridadetox.com/forum/

Wendy

my e-mail is [e-mail]

[Kate Reed]

I take oxycontin 20 mgs/3xday/& 4 oxyirs taken every 6 hours for breakthrough pain. I was in a bad car accident in 1991. I took Nsaids for 8 years due to excessive problems associated with nsaids, both prescibed and OTC.and finally switched to the oxycontin upon my doctors suggestion. I have chronic pain all the time and have very bad flares up RA.

I would like to know if I should continue to take these medications as prescibed. They do help me deal with my pain but I feel like a junkie for taking them. I dont know why I feel this way. I feel like quitting them but what are alternatives that worked for others with ra and chronic pain from broken neck and back.

I have tried and continue to follw a candida diet ..yoga ...herbal teas, osteopath, etc

[Kate Reed]

Sorry for the bad spelling in my post.

Kate

[david]

i am so tired of "Florida Detox" people spamming every serious oxy addiction question on oxy board I find. This business seems to be exploiting people's misery. People want advice on how to manage and mitigate the misery of this 5 to 10 day struggle ... they do not want a sales pitch.

[Joe]

Wendy wrote:

Hi Scott,
I am recovering from an addiction to Oxycontin. Like the person before me advised you, I would like to back up a couple things they said. You are so far ahead of a game that if you don’t get out now; it will steal your life away. I lost 15 years of life due to oxycontin. With the amount you are taking and the short period of time, you have a little bit of a struggle ahead of you but with proper care and knowledge, you can beat this before it beats you.
I was taking twice the amount of oxycontin in one day than you have taken in a week. I was taking 1,000mg a day very easily. From that point I went through years of hell in the attempt to be free of opiates. I feared the withdraws and being sick. I tried many times and many ways to get clean only to fail every attempt. The oxy eventually led me to methadone. I was sucked in to believing that it was the best and safest way for me to remove opiates from my life. I was promised it was safe and it was temporary. WRONG!!!!!!!
You are really not in too bad of shape right now and if I had someone back then to help me maybe I would not have gone thru so much and completely lost my entire life before I found proper help.
Please feel free to e-mail me for any reason at all. I may be able to answer questions for you or even just give you support. I know what you are going through right now and regardless of how you feel Scott, you are not alone. I promise. I would also like to refer you to a web site that you can get some great advice and information from. There is even a place for you to ask medical staff questions. You will find people there who are going through the same as you or have already gone through it and will offer you help as well. These people saved my life after so many others just either didn’t care or didn’t know any better.
These are the people who after 15 years of doctors and rehabs and detoxes finally gave me proper treatment. I learned through them why I could never get better each time I tried to detox . I thought I was feeling so bad each time I tried to detox because I needed the opiates. Now I have detoxed successfully and I am being treated for an under active thyroid. If only someone had given me the proper medical care years ago instead of just blowing me off as some junkie, I would not have lost so much time. Don’t let it happen to you.
Here is the link to the forum. Check out their information and take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions. Don’t forget, you are welcome to e-mail me. You can beat this! You are not alone!
http://www.floridadetox.com/forum/
Wendy
my e-mail is [e-mail]

Uh, one problem. OxyContin hasn't been out for 15 years. It came out December 12, 1995.

[Heather]

My husband is an oxycontin addict. He has been taking the pills since Jan 2006. He is currently trying to detox on his own. I am so scared that he will have a relapse. Is there anything I can do to help him with his withdrawals. We really can't afford rehab at this point, is it really possible to beat this addiction without rehab? Another thing I would like to know is about how long do the withdrawals last?

Thanks
Heather

[Pamm]

Heather wrote:

My husband is an oxycontin addict. He has been taking the pills since Jan 2006. He is currently trying to detox on his own. I am so scared that he will have a relapse. Is there anything I can do to help him with his withdrawals. We really can't afford rehab at this point, is it really possible to beat this addiction without rehab? Another thing I would like to know is about how long do the withdrawals last?
Thanks
Heather

Hey! there are quite a few posts on this site with good advice on things that help. Three days is a fair amount of time for the really ugly feeling to subside,a few tips: drink lots of water or gator aid, go for walks,fresh air and sunshine is good!! Use something good for the accompanying diarrhea. Ginger tea helps some for nausea. A sleepaid at night to sleep. Benedryl helps some. Try to keep busy!! There is no way to know if a person will relapse, if someone wants to kick they will, and if they want to stay clean they will. Good luck, and dont give up!!

[Leeanne]

I am hoping to soon be a recovering oxy addict. I have been taking the medication is all the forms since 2000. I started with Tecs. Soon I was taking oxy. A soon after that I was crushing them up to b e snorted. This went from a weekend recreational use to a everyday I cant live with out use. I am currently taking about 160 mgs a day and everyday I tell myself that I am going to start to reduce this amount the next day. I try to take them later in the day but when I wake up I am feeling the pain and it is the first thing I think about. I lost my good job that I had for 3 years because I could not tell them the truth about why I was missing days...I really dont think I knew exactly what I was feeling then. But I was embarssed to tell anyone that I had let this get out of control. Iwent to my doctor so many times and chickened out and told him I was stressed out and got some Lorazapam. I feel guilty as this medicine is for people with server pain and here I was abusuing it for fun. I went through a fews years of partying when I was young but all the drugs I experimented with never stuck around like oxy's did. I have tried so many times to kick it but I just cant. I am now interested in rapid detox. This is very expensive but seems to work. Does anyone kow if there is anyway to get loans or anywhere that offers this service a little cheaper? I am willing to travel...I need my life back and I want to start to look for work again before I lose my house too. Thaks any help is very appriciated.

[Waldo]

try methadone or methadose get yourself about 6 or 8 40mg tablets and start him off on 10 mg everyu 4hrs making sure that the last dose is taken at 1 to 2 hrs before bedtime and making sure that he does not take any more than 40mg on day 1 the next day take 10 mg every 6hrs day 3 only take 30mg in the same time space as you did on day 1 with the 40mg same way day 4 as on day 2 then day 5 20mg on the same toime line as day 1 and day 3 anso on and so forth dropping 10mg per day and in is a 90-100% chance that his oxy addition will be gone It worked for me and I was taking some days up to 1600mg per day for 2 years. good luck NOTE methadone and methadose are ten time as hard on the withdrawal aspect

Heather wrote:

My husband is an oxycontin addict. He has been taking the pills since Jan 2006. He is currently trying to detox on his own. I am so scared that he will have a relapse. Is there anything I can do to help him with his withdrawals. We really can't afford rehab at this point, is it really possible to beat this addiction without rehab? Another thing I would like to know is about how long do the withdrawals last?
Thanks
Heather

[Breezyjr]

Not to step on anyones toes here,,,,but,,,,,,why Methadone?,,,It's just another addictive drug that is just as bad as oxycontin,,,,,,try an oxycontin taper,,,go see a doctor and do it right,,,good luck.

[Bryan S Florida]

I am on my 3rd day, I think, of kicking the habbit of about 120-1600mg a day. It has been a habbit for about 6 months. My legs keep going numb and my heart is about to pop out of my chest...does coming off oxy mess with the circulation of your blood and if so, is it a thing that will go away soon or kill me? I don't wan't to get hooked on methadone or rehab, but I feel like I could die at any momement.

[Bryan S Florida]

00ps....120-160 mg a day!

[BCG]

do u have a script for your oxy's? Bryan,,?

[BCG]

cause if u do,,,you can go to your doctor and ask for a oxcy taper,,,it works

[JAy]

Getting off oxycontin can be dangerous and should not be attempted cold turkey you can have seizures and or a hear complication so pleas at least consult with a medical professional for your own benefit.

[Tammy]

No you can not have seizures if you dont go through medical detox. You have a lot of pain though and vomiting. I work as a nurse and am a recovering addict myself, and I know this to be fact unless you have some other underlying medical condition. But going through outpatient detox will cost you about 2000$ for 6 weeks and well worth it. It IS better to be under a MD's care.

[JAy]

Tammy wrote:

No you can not have seizures if you dont go through medical detox. You have a lot of pain though and vomiting. I work as a nurse and am a recovering addict myself, and I know this to be fact unless you have some other underlying medical condition. But going through outpatient detox will cost you about 2000$ for 6 weeks and well worth it. It IS better to be under a MD's care.

I actually know of somebody who had a seizure while trying to quit cold turkey of course he was on a very high dosage of Oxycontin and all the stress and withdrawls overwhelmed him, so you being a nurse cant know it all because I witnessed this first hand and it changed my life, Im not saying everyone is prone to seizures in this type of situation Im just saying that it is possible. I asked the doctor why my friend had a seizure and he said because of all factors surrounding his withdrawl attempt. So in conclusion it is not safe to taper without medical proffesionals helping you through the process.

[Ron]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned subuxone or subutex as a tool for quitting. It's much easier to kick than methadone, as it's not a full opiate, but is VERY effective at curbing the w/d of even large addictions.