Fentanyl Withdrawal Help (Top voted first)

Hi all. I have seen a lot of posts in the drugs forum about Fentanyl withdrawal. I too have been struggling with the withdrawal symptoms for 10 days now. Trust me when I say it DOES and WILL get easier. I know that if you have just recently started a taper or have gone cold turkey because a taper hasn't worked for you, you're probably not feeling very well right now.Trust me when I say it will get better. It may take weeks to finally feel normal again, but the worst will be over before you know it! I was on 100mcg/hr for about a year, and just recently tapered to 12.5 but went through withdrawal anyhow. Here are a few things that might help, and that have helped me get through the worst of it.

****REMEMBER*****
To consult your doctor before pulling yourself off any medication :)

Clonidine - Actually a blood pressure medicine, but helps with withdrawal effects.(Like restless leg syndrome) Clonidine is in a class of medications called centrally acting alpha-agonist hypotensive agents. It works by decreasing your heart rate and relaxing the blood vessels so that blood can flow more easily through the body. Your BP will rise when you're in the stages of withdrawal. If you can't get in to see your doctor right away, just head to the ER and tell them what's going on and ask for some. If you already take a BP medicine, make sure you tell the ER that!

A benzo (such as Ativan) - This helps immensely with anxiety and sleeping. Do note that it's suggested not to use for longer than needed, (4 months max) so don't trade one physical addiction or dependency for another!

A mild/moderate pain reliever - I had a prescription for Vicodin leftover (very small dose) from my wisdom teeth surgery. This helped to keep the worst of the withdrawal at bay after Day 3 or 4. Once again, if you can't see your doctor, ask at the ER. If you're in pain and they see that you were once on Fentanyl recently they'll give you a small prescription until you can see your doctor.

Loperamide - is an anti - diarrhea medicine, (Imodium) and helps with both withdrawal and the runs. Loperamide is an opioid-receptor agonist!

Proper Nutrition and Hydration is really important. Although you won't want to eat for awhile, at least arm yourself with vitamins or a vitamin shake. Relatively cheap! The generic work just as good as the expensive brand. I lived off water and Gatorade as well as a decaf tea to get the hydration I needed.

Hot Baths and Showers - will relax you and help with RLS, body cramping and pains. You can add some Epsom salt to your bath to really help you soothe those aches and pains. Everything will hurt for no reason, it'll be THE FLU GONE WILD!

Something to keep your mind occupied for a week! (Movies, Magazines, Laptop, GOOD FAMILY AND FRIENDS) This isn't a quick withdrawal, it's not going to take a day or two, this is both a mental and physical dependency, and although you may feel super sick for only a few days, your brain's opiate receptors (natural pleasure, reward center) will need time to heal. You'll feel depressed, emotional and angry, but it gets better!

Don't beat yourself up if it's not going as quick as you thought. If you've been prescribed this medicine, it's not your fault that your body has become dependent. Many of us don't or didn't know the severity or strength that this medicine has to it! If I would have known in the beginning I would have said absolutely not!

I truly feel that a medicine like this is best left to those that are suffering a terminally ill disease. I can say though that I feel for all of you and know exactly what you're going through. Your best defense is to see your doctor before going ahead with a taper or cold turkey. This way, you can talk about it and arm yourself, prepare for the week on the couch, and know that although you feel like death, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Another thing that is very important in this major step is SUPPORT! If you have children or pets maybe get some help with housework or a babysitter. Friends and family can be very supportive when you honestly discuss what is going on in your life, and the benefits of having great support can be very therapeutic! It's great to be able to talk out your feelings while going through such a major time in your life.

And remember as I said above, talk with your doctor. Explain how you're feeling and how you want to win the war over being narcotic dependent. Also, if you do go to the ER tell them everything that you're feeling and suggestions to help you. Many hospitals will try and get you by with the smallest support. Don't stand for it!

I wish all of you the best of luck in your detox and don't forget there are MANY people out there suffering in the same way. Just know that you can find support all over the internet, you're not alone :)

God Bless!!!

Avaritia

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@ Avaritia,

I'm not personally dealing with Fentanyl withdrawal but I just wanted to say that I think you have posted some very helpful and encouraging information. I can tell that you spent a good amount of time on this post and I think it was time well spent, good job! I'm sure information like yours is helpful for anyone suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

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Sorry for the late reply, I hope that you finally found some relief. I was on a 100 mcg /hour fentanyl pain patch and went down to 12 over the course of the summer and then to nothing. I went back on the 12 and this week I will switch back to a very small dose of morphine and then to nothing again. Titration of doses, back and forth really helps.

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Theresa, you need to go to the er and tell the doctor there. Bring your records from the doctor that is dropping you. Bring remaining medicine with you. If you go now, this will keep you out of withdrawal. A person of 40, or 50, or 60, years of age cannot physically handle the very long weeks of no sleep, hard to eat, shaking, sweating, burning pain, etc. Ask them to please make an appointment for you at a doctor that will prescribe what you need. Be very polite. Since you do have a psychiatrist, he is a doctor and he should be able to help you with a referral. Good luck!

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I have been searching ad nauseum to find help regarding my choice to wean off my fentanyl pain pump. FINALLY, I found your post. Thank you for being straightforward about this! I take it that you were on a pump too? I've gone from 1.9mcg/day to .385 and keep asking my Dr. at what point can you turn the pump off? Keep getting different responses. I have the Medtronic pump that was recalled (nobody told me about) and decided to try a more holistic approach to my back pain. I thought the worst WD was over until last week she turned it down 36% & the withdrawal started that nite. Blood pressure ihas been high & its gone through the roof. I see my Dr today and now I am armed with a lot more information to make a decision as to which course of action is good for me. If you did have a pain pump, did your Dr. ever dilute your med's with saline?? Any other info. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again & God bless!

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Hi Avaritia,

I just wanted to thank u for normalizing this process for me. I am a recovering addict that relapsed on fentanyl when it was prescribed for me, ending up using way more than I needed. I was very irresponsible with it for 3 years and screwed up my family's life considerably. Doped all the time and zero awareness of what fentanyl was actually doing to me. Horrendous consequences followed, including many falls, neglect of my duties as a mother, and rendering myself unemployed and unemployable.

I returned to my family town and worked with my dr to taper down from 200mcg/hr to 12.5 over roughly 5 months. Because I was wearing AND chewing the patches though, I was realistically getting shed loads more dumping in my body! Trying to fix my feelings as well as the chronic pain I genuinely thought I had quickly became unbearable when I went back into recovery and owned my problems. So I stopped cold turkey a week ago. I went through 5 days of pure hell withdrawal and no sleep but I'm a lot better now. Just so weak and floppy!

My head is in a better space and I'm working my NA program again. I'm ok. You really helped reassure me that I'm not broken, it just takes a while to get back to strength. I also thought your suggestions above are brilliant. I did nearly all of them and it made all the difference. It's a horrid thing withdrawal. The worst and I feel so for anyone else going through it too. Trust me, I thought I was going to die but you can and will get better. I'm being patient and doing a bit more every day but I'm not stupid enough to rush it. For addicts like me, the sentence is death. Maybe I chose to ignore that, I don't know. More likely I was just looking for something outside myself to fix me. It never works for long of course, yet still we do it. We dig ever deeper, chasing the magic well spring even as it dwindles, always thinking 'next time, next time', and knowing only chaos.

I do miss drugs but I don't miss being ME on drugs. As painful as this is, I would rather be in reality. Not because I'm remotely noble but because I know from experience that it just works better for me. A whole lot better.
Thanks again for the great help.

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I've been on 100mcg/3days and 3 vicodin/day for 10 yrs. My Dr cut me off because they quit doing prior authorizations for my insurance. I got a little pushy about the prior and he just dropped me! I am 60 yrs old and have no doctor besides a psychiatrist. Um scared to death! My patches run out I about 3 weeks. What do I do?

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THERESA: If I were you, I would get to another doctor as soon as possible. You are going to be sick. See all the above from the OP about how to combat withdrawal if you cannot get to another doctor. These doctors just cutting people off like this really tick me off. They know full well that their patient is going to be sick as hell, so I find it very unscrupulous what they are doing. A couple of things about what the OP said, though. First, I would NEVER recommend substituting one opioid for another. Using Vicodin to get off of Fentanyl is completely and totally counterproductive, and will just make the withdrawals take longer. Second, while yes, the worst of it is over relatively quickly, there is something called PAWS, which stands for Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, and that crap can last MONTHS. Just feeling bad, not being able to sleep, basically feeling a bit of withdrawal symptoms all over again at random times. So if that happens, just realize it is normal. It depends on how long you have been strung out, how much you are doing, etc. Some people go through a week of withdrawal and are fine, others have PAWS for up to a year. Good luck to you, and as I said, you should try to find another doctor to help you. Maybe get hooked up with a Suboxone doctor and get on a low dose of Suboxone just to help get you through this. Suboxone.com, go down to "find a doctor" and enter your zip code. The ones nearest to you will come up. Good luck.

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Hi, I really hope you can help, I'm so scared. I ve only used 4 50mg patches, and want to get off them, when I try I have the worst restless leg, and just feel horrible. Since I've only been on then this short of time, do you know how long my w/d will last. I have an 8 month old baby to take care of and no help. Please give me some advice.

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Avaritia, are you still taking replies? Considering the date of the original OP, I thought I'd check first. I'd really like to email with you off-site. I'll check back here...

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I am taking amlodipine for the last 4 yrs,recently my right ankle begin to swell. Could you recomend another drug for my hypertention.

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RENE: This thread is about opioid withdrawal. Try searching for a thread regarding blood pressure meds or ask the question to start another thread.

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Thanks for your advice. I found a place where a nurse practitioner would see me. I set up an appointment with her but didn't tell them why except that I hadn't had a primary care physician in over 10 years. When I got there, I was on the 2nd day of my last 100mcg fentanyl patch & scared to death. When I told her my circumstances and that I'd been on them 10 yrs and I just wanted my health back., she decided to help me wean off. Even though she hates prescribing narcotics. She spent over an hour with me, going over my history. She lowered my patches to 75mcg for a month. Next month, she'll reduce it again. She really seemed to care and before I left, she gave me a hug! I really needed it, too. I've gotten blood work and found my cholesterol is elevated and am starting a new medicine. I'm scheduled for a mammogram and I've had my drug panel. I got lucky, it seems. Nobody wants to help you wean off. It's all about detoxing as an inpatient. I didn't need that but I needed help. So far, I'm into the new patches 4 days and doing pretty well. I was gonna stop my one hydrocodone/day but she said to break it in half instead. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get through this without too much problem. She also told me, as you did, that it was dangerous at my age to go cold turkey.

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The same thing has happened to me. i've been prescribed opioids for over 16 years. did not know this was wrong. now my doctor's health organization will not let him prescribe any pain Rx longer than 2 months, only for an acute condition. i've gone to see a pain mgmt doc and he gave me the reality of NOW. post, michael j, post prince, post a bunch of dead people in america, i now feel like COMPOST. i'm trying to comply. after numerous car crashes, and spine ops, i'm heading into cauda equina syndrome (CES), losing power in my legs, and losing bodily functions. the pain in my pelvic floor and genitals is unbearable, but i'm bearing it. for break-thru pain i've always used marijuana. now i have to choose: either my meds or MJ. they give me a U/A. i feel like a full-on criminal, and of course i want off of the meds! but what happens to me and my permanent injuries when i'm taken off? hope suboxone helps. and GOOD LUCK TO YOU. XOX

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THERESA: Can you get a doctor to give you things like Clonidine and Soma? They are very helpful for withdrawal. Clonidine helps with the anxiety, skin-crawling, generally feeling wired and fast heartbeat, and Soma for aches and pains. And both will help you sleep. Benedryl will help with any runny eyes/nose/sneezing, and can also be helpful for sleep. Good luck.

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Avaritia that was an awesome post you put up for withdrawal.....i was at 200 for 2 years and have managed to get to 100 since jan 2016.....my doc wants to bring me down to 50 next week.......i have been coming down at 25 a time for about 3 months each and have been at 100 for about 6 or 7 weeks.....why so soon ....dont know....also i have been using hydromorphone for the last couple months but managed to hide it......i really want to get off all this s*** and was just wondering if you had any help you could give me? It would be appreciated as this unfortunately is a hidden thing from everyone i know and live alone.....i was using oxycontin and 180 of methadone for 10 years prior so my addiction problem is not a small problem .....any suggestions would be grateful .....thank you.

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BOB: Any methadone clinic that would give a person 180 mgs. of methadone should be sued, reported and shut down. They are scumbags who are only in business to make money. They help NO ONE. I don't give a damn HOW much opioids you were abusing, 180 mgs is a JOKE. Ever notice how when you want to RAISE your dose, the dispensing nurse can do it there on the spot. But when you want to LOWER your dose, suddenly you have to "see the doctor first", who will then try to talk you out of lowering. They are vultures who make a living off of people's misery.

As far as your opioid withdrawal attemps; if you can get a prescription for clonidine, Soma and maybe a light benzo like a small dosage of Tranxene or Valium, you would be greatly helped. Whatever doctor has been giving you gargantuan amounts of opioids should have no problem giving you those things, at least the clonidine and the Soma. Good luck.

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Firstly, you're going to be okay. Restless legs is the first of the withdrawal symptoms and, whilst it feels absolutely hideous while it lasts, it passes quickly. I've been clean off fentanyl for nearly a year now and have never felt better. Life on track better than ever. But I will never forget the desperation of withdrawal. Even if you're not someone with the illness of addiction, opiate withdrawal is pure hell. But take heart. Not only does it not last long, but you never have to do it again if you choose not to.
Tough it out. If it hasn't already improved by the time I am posting this, I should be very surprised.

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