Weaning Off Dilaudid (Page 4) (Top voted first)

I have been taking 8 mgs. of Dilaudid 4 times a day for the last 6 months for a chronic illness. 3 months ago I had surgery to give some relief to my illness, and I have since found some stabilization to my symptoms. As such, my doctors want to wean me off of the Dilaudid. I am very nervous about the idea because I have noticed in the mornings (after not having the Dilaudid for 12 hours), I feel a bit anxious and I have joint and muscle aches and pains. Therefore, the first thing I do is take my Dilaudid. Currently to wean me off my doctor is suggesting that I taper back one pill a day (around lunchtime) each week so that I go from taking 8 4mg. tablets a day to taking one 4 mg. tablet a day. This process should take about one month to complete, and it truly frightens me. Do you have any advice?

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Was dropped by doc. U/A results said I am not taking my dilaudid (impossible) and says I had 2500 mg of fentanyl in my body (also impossible...not even a med I take). I have chronic kidney disease and am a cancer survivor and have lost a lot of weight. Down to skin and bones. Could this have something to do with mistakes in the U/A?

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Also wondering about a realistic tapering schedule? Can I drop by 1 mg/day or should I ride the change for a few days first? Help pls...

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You're the first I've seen mention the slow release? I'm was on 2x6mg/day with about 3mg regular for breakthrough. So I'm down to 3x3mg slow release and will stay on it for a couple more days, then start dropping by 1 mg. I am hoping to be weaned to 0 by end of September. Prayers, best wishes and positive thoughts to you all...

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If you are an addict you should definitely go on Suboxone surprisingly it is an excellent painkiller and should take care of the remaining pain from your post surgery recovery. Plus you have the added benefit of having a blocker if you should have a craving Dilaudid anytime and it 2 day. It will absolutely block it whether your on Subutex or Suboxone.

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Hi MonkeyMom - if you read down, you will see my update from a couple weeks ago. I was in your exact spot - on the Dilaudid for 7 months, had my surgery to repair my back 2 months ago. I weaned myself in one month, and it was hell - I WILL not lie to you. If you take the time to read my responses below, hopefully you can see it can be done. Not quick enough - and you get worse before better. You can see day by day the effects of the drug leaving. It comes out of your marrow, so your bones ache so badly. I didn't find a lot of relief using anything - just time. Sounds SO lame - but just trying to get through it one day, one step at a time. Having great support is essential. Someone to massage your legs is really great, and cut caffeine if you can - as it make it worse. I found chamomile tea and Gravol helped for a time with the sleep issue - but it has taken 2.5 months to FINALLY sleep mostly through a night. The leg cramping and restlessness from the withdrawal is the worst. I found distraction watching withdrawal advice videos online helped me pass time. Oh and take Iron and Magnesium to help with the legs and sleep. I found that helped too.

But here I am 1.5 months clear of that poison - and I have my life back. My memory is back (I suffered from some memory loss of words! It was so strange!) and I have my energy back. It took up until last week for the aching to leave my lower left leg. Just day by day - and lots of patience from your family and for yourself. I truly, truly am thinking about you, positive thoughts. You can do this!!

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I have been in hydromorphone now for over two years. Innocently started with a detached retina and at 50 had never other then Tylenol ever took anything. It went from Tylonol 3 and then got a little backache and Doctor offered I think it was 1 mg OxyContin , it then went up to 2 mg and then we switched to hydromorphone. Wasn't in real hardcore pain, was in pain but nothing that stopped me from living. Then went to 4mg every 4 hours , referred to pain clinic who upped it to 6mg and then 8 and recently 12mg. But they didn't do much by just eating them, I'd finish my 3 week supply always a week ahead but my doctor never turned me down , always said " do not handle withdrawals we will ween you down when time is right " but after 2 years now, I just go to doctor and he gives me 360 - 4 mg pills for 3 weeks . If I run short I go to pain clinic they just write a fresh prescription. I tried to stop cold turkey and couldn't , pain 10 times worse then original. Now t he pharmacy has stuck it's nose in and has been blocking me from getting my doctor to write a new prescription if the other prescription that I had say for 3 weeks they want to force to wait 3 weeks. I finally because I had no more pills and 3 weeks away ( got pills for 6 weeks doc went on vacation ) when you get 720 - 4mg in one shot for 6 weeks you say to yourself " oh no problem this will last me 6 weeks " but it doesn't. At any rate . I quit not because I wanted but because I ran out, now a week and the worst is over. Am I the only one who can smell the horrible smell from these hydromorphone pills sort if COMMING out of your skin pours ? The smell is unique and so horrible and showering is irrelevant. So now thinking not going to do any but will still pick up my prescription. In case I one day get sick , I will have quantities lol.

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If you do not reduce your intake slowly you will have withdraw the slower the better. You just have to have it in your mind you want of this crap and do it you will have some symptoms but it will not kill you. Watch your blood pressure I was at the peek of my withdraw symptoms and had to have emergency oral surgery and my BP was off the charts 188/168 they thought I was going to die right there I think so they refused to put me out and I did the surgery with just a local. Go slow have the right mindset and you will be fine

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First you do not know me and has nothing to do with being proud , I sought medical advice and this was the end . I haven't taken any now for 8 days ( today ) and I feel so much better now , I think the worse has gone . But on your comment , when I would pressure .the doctor for more pills he would often answer " I can't give you I can get in trouble with college of medicine " anyway peace ..

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Quitting cold turkey: how many days or weeks does it take till u can move around. Or how long till u feel normal again?

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I came here hoping to read what doctors had recommended and how people had done with their recommendations. What I found was a lot of people talking about going cold turkey.

Seriously do some research on this drug. it can be extremely dangerous to just quit. If you slowly taper off you won't have cravings and it's not hard to get back to normal life.

I was given the pain killer after my liver transplants. The last one was about 9 years ago. I believe I naturally weaned myself as the pain subsided, though strangely I don't recall my doctor giving me a plan. (I guess that was before all the concern about opioids that we have now.)

I want to say about a year later I started suffering intense throbbing bone pain in my back and skull for about 2-7 days after taking shots to artificially stimulate red blood cell production as I had suffered kidney damage from TPP and surgeries. I still had some meds left over from surgery and found they worked extremely well for the pain.

They used to help me sleep at night but now I am super excited/wired for a few days and having troubles sleeping. However unlike some of the other pain killers o have tried I have been able to function enough to carry on with the things I like to do (with the exception of the one or two days that the shot wipes me out).

I was able to get my renal doctor to subscribe 2mg tablets to take every 4-6 hours as needed. I have been taking 2mg, once a day, two days prior to the shot, and then the day of, and one to two days after I would take every 3-6 hours as needed, and then drop off over the course of a week to a week and a half. I got down to where I take a fourth of a pill the last few days and have no anxiety pain or craving.

I suppose I'm not truly weaned from the drug In one sense but while I do enjoy taking the drug for a couple days, I feel in control. I have even taken a couple months off to see if I could manage the pain without it. As far as withdrawal from the drug I didn't notice any problems at the time.

Well now here are my concerns: it turns out I have developed a level 3 heart murmur and some palpitations. The heart murmur has been going on for a while and could be that my blood pressure meds, anemia, sleep apnea, and low red blood count are contributing, maybe even a spike in potassium could be contributing to abnormal heart beat activity, though my monthly labs are usually fine.

I had noticed the palpitations along with shortness of breath seamed to be getting worse (though it seams some of my breathing problem may have been a nasal infection that has since cleared up) non the less I do still have a bit of shortness of breath which can be expected with all of the above.

I had been trying to cut back on the pain killers a bit quicker, last month, dropping after several days of four to five pills to just one. my wife also commented that I seam to be more aware and alert when i'm on the drug. Could just be my ADD, (stimulates tend to help us focus better), but I have read about short term memory loss that can take up to 2 years to heal after getting off of opioids. I've never been good with short term memory so who knows.

So anyways I am trying to go much slower with the withdrawal this month. I feel like the palpitations have been very minimal while taking the pills every 4-6 hours but then again they were probably the worst right before taking the shot which is when my red blood cells would have been at their lowest.

I made an appointment with a heart specialist to follow up on the heart murmur. I will be getting a heart monitor and diagnostics so hopefully I can get to the bottom of this and figure out if I need to get off opioids.

I know I can stop and look forward to bouncing back to my natural high. I have always had a very high natural high and happy go lucky attitude.

If I do get depressed I can usually just remind my self it's the meds and then I'm alright.

I actually have more problems from prednisone causing mood swings, anxiety and depression when I have to take a high dose burst for a gout or crones flare up.

All in all I despite all my health issues I actually have a great life despite how it sounds. I'm off dialysis, have a great wife who takes care me despite me driving her crazy half the time, and I own my own part time dream job working with my kids, i'm basically living the retired life working on my passions and hobbies and playing stay at home house wife cooking the meals and cleaning the kitchen.

My only complaint is I wish I had more energy. I am hoping I can get this heart murmur sorted and experience a rejuvenation.

Good luck to all of you. please especially those of you on high does of opioids discuss a plan with your doctor. Slow and easy is the key. These drugs mess with your CNS. With long time use your body will become dependent on it.

Stopping cold turkey may do much worse then just put you in a bad mood, or give you the shakes. It can actually stop sending signals to your heart to beat.

But if you set reasonable goals you can get down to 2mg, 1mg, and finally .5mg a day giving your body a chance to heal and adjust eventually stopping all together with little to no side effects.

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I am going through this right now. I usually take 20 2mg pills a day. The past 4 days I have been cutting my doses in half and just been feeling like total s***. Marijuana, ibuprofen, caffeine, food & water have been helping me. It's extra s***ty for me because I just started a new job and can't afford to take time off.

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Update, I had hoped to get off all pain meds but I still take 4 10mg/325 hydrocodone a day. The pain is just too much. On the 3 16mg exalgos and 8 10mg hydrocodone a day I was laying a round waiting to die. Now that I am down to 4 10 hydrocodone a day the pain makes me lay around and wait to die . When i was more heavily medicated I could do more when I was not. Asleep now it seems I do a lot less due to the pain. If I had to be real active before the pain would so bad I could not sleep for days. Now that my drug intake is way down it seems if I do anything my pain gets out of control. I try to focus on other things but the pain just wears and wears on you. Right now I do not see any chance of getting off pain meds completely. I have been on some pain meds since I was in my early 30s I am now in my 50s I guess I wil never have a pain free life. One suggestion for those getting of hydromorphone drugs is take imudium I found this out after going through my withdrawals but it is a narcotic and my help. You will also need it to help with the diarea that you have for weeks or months after you get off the drugs. Wish I had better news for those getting off hydromorphones but it is not easy.
If you take large doses now you might not be able to get it in the near future to many non pain suffers have abused it and the government is going to shut it down for non terminal issues. Ohio is the first state to sue the drug companies who make theses drugs. If Ohio wins it will be very difficult to get any pain meds for non terminal problems.

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I feel so bad for everyone going through the withdrawal from this poison. I cannot tell you how much better you will feel once you are off it. Just be strong. I found watching videos on YouTube from people going through withdrawal really helped me get through it all. Plus taking Gravol to sleep at night and then Magnesium for the horrible leg aches. It took me a solid 6 months to be free of the aches - but it's the clear thinking that has finally come back. The memory loss took about 6 months too - I could not remember words! Don't be frustrated that it's taking so long (esp if you see the one video on YouTube of the woman who claimed to be through the withdrawal in 48 hrs - I call BS on that.) I have read it takes as long as you were on it - to get over it. I was on Hydromorphone for 8 months - so it took almost that to get over the obvious symptoms. The worst side effects I had ON the drug were the constant nausea and short temper. All back to normal now - and I will NEVER take that drug again! In fact my husband was diagnosed with a kidney stone last week and the Dr. was going to prescribe Dilaudid - and we both said NO!!! LOL - he made it through without it. Anyway - please stay strong - and best of luck!

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My doctor has taken me from 16mg every 4 hours to 12mg every 4 hours. Then in three weeks he plans to take me from 12mg every 4hrs to 8mg every four hours. Will I still go through withdrawals?
I've been taking two 8mg pills every four hours for over 3 years now. So I am concerned.
He's also trying to take me off my 4mg a day of Klonopin (clonazapam) and replacing it with Venlafaxine XR 75mg (uping it to 150mg over a two month period) Honestly, I'm so confused and baffled as to why on earth he's making these changes all of a sudden?? I take dilaudid for severe chronic pain (I was dx with Lupus in 2010 and I have osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and I'm now in a wheelchair- but mostly bedridden now! I can't SIT due to my coccyx (Coccydynia) which is by far the worst pain I have to endure!! My hips are misaligned and I have terrible pain trying to stand by myself. My legs get wobbly and often get that "falling asleep/pins and needles" in them. I could go on and on about my health symptoms) I guess I'm more confused than anything?! How are these new pills going to help me with pain?? Why the sudden panic to reduce my pain medication?? I would sincerely appreciate ANY advice, opinions or information that might be helpful. Thanks so much!!

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I have a pain pump with dilaudid. I have essential tremors and since dilaudid I now have to get botox injections for my larynx spasms. I gasp and stutter - found in Google laryngeal spasm can be a side effect of dilaudid. anyone else have this problem ?

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Re: Bigpw (# 5)
thanks for your post. I've been on a dilaudid pump for a little over a year. I was on dilaudid pills for several years after that. I am now recovering from intense radiation, and there is no more pain from the tumors in my head. I am currently weaning. My catheter has pulled out many many times. I'm quite good at putting in new ones now. I am down to .2 mg per hour now with a .1 mg bolus button that I never press. It's been that dose for several days now. Last night my tube got pulled out again and I woke soaked in sweat and freezing. I don't see any way to taper further with the pump because even at such a low dose, I'm still getting a very steady dose. I want to be off this drug in the worse way, but I'm not healthy enough to be dope-sick. The radiation really made me weak and I have a lot of heart problems. I have an implanted pace maker/defibrillator. Any advice or recommendations on dealing with the cold sweats and muscle anxiety it would be much appreciated. Thank you.

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I have been working all summer and I was supposed to not take any tonight because this was supposed to be my victory over this ordeal of being stuck and dealing with diarrhea on top of the high anxiety sometimes causes panic attacks. The clonazepam doesn't always work for me and since I have several chronic and severely painful conditions, I got a prescription for medicinal marijuana. I take two droppers full of the cbd tincture and I don't get stoned because there is no thc. I take it in the daytime to help with pain, depression and anxiety, and at night time I take one dropper full of thc with one dropper of cbd oil tincture (you just put it under the tongue, swallow it and have a sip of water or juice cause the oily taste isn't horrible just not great. And the cbd helps to keep you calm while the thc oil relaxes and sedates so I can get a full night's sleep without nerve pain and usually no anxiety to keep me awake or wake me up in the night. Dr. Oz spoke highly of the benefits of medicinal marijuana for overcoming withdrawal of opioids, but tonight I had a relapse. It was a horrible day, no pain meds in my system, I was so sick even tonight I struggled to settle to watch netflix in bed to occupy my mind. I couldn't sleep in bed or on the couch, my husband came home from an extremely stressful day at work with the military, and even though we're here on a compassionate posting, his superiors have no sense of understanding and help him juggle homelife caring for me, and our two autistic kids so that was a stressful trigger to my already high anxiety. On top of it all I used the strength I had to cook a good supper and came out to the living room to console him, but when it was time for me to sleep I tossed and turned.

I felt like my gi tract was in a knot with a stomach sickness worse than I've felt so far and sick with anxiety. But the pain escalated an I brokedown took a dose if dilaudid that did take my pain and anxiety away. Of course I may have to start the weaning all over again or just one then none next week. I'm gonna call 811 to talk to a nurse and see what they suggest. I don't have a doctor. I'm like over 3000 people in this city waiting to get a doctor. I went to er and even begged them a couple weeks ago when I was so anxious etc to admit me and help me with the withdrawal symptoms. This was after two different visits to the after-hours clinics with no help. So I'm going at this myself, I'm waiting to get into mental health to see a counselor an specialist there to help me with pain management and anxiety management. But I still have to wait a month, another anxiety trigger waiting trying to deal in the meantime. So my only other option is to return to a 12 step program not just for addictions but for anyone with any type of hurts, hangups and habits called celebrate recovery. I know that program works as ive had success dealing with family trauma from my past so even though this will be a new group in a new city, I attended last weeks open share session followed by small groups with a leader to always read the guidelines in the beginning to help keep it a safe place to share, cry or say nothing, it's up to you. Its an international program an I have not met anyone who went through the program an said it didn't change their life for the better or didn't work. I'm in the recovery of ptsd an always will be an in our last posting there was no group so I tried to start one on baseman the year before at our church in the evenings once a week, but people were hard as it was to join or attend any new group activities, too much pride preventing them from releasing their pain shared with your weekly small group share sessions. So I got away from the fellowship that made bonds with others who didnt judge because they were hurting for all different reasons. I missed that those people in the program kept me calm, at peace and having victory over challenges. I also found that I was equipped to handle each week after a meeting, relieved, and small stressors were no longer big ones. I learned how to deal with problems with family in a healthier way. This time I'm going to start the healing and recovery journey to getting me off opiods. If I have to take anything for pain I rather take cbd oil. So far the severe pain I always dealt with hardly able to stand let alone walk some days an after a month on cbd tincture my pain has lowered a great deal, I can do housework pain free. It was advised to me by the pain clinic staff in several meetings to take cbd because it isn't addictive and you can miss a dose without getting sick. Great for mothers cause your not baked and you can do daily household/family activities clear headed.

They explained that fibromyalgia patients have success with it like cancer patients. It is natural and helps with pain, depression, agitation, anxiety, and you don't grow a tolerance to a point where it doesn't work an you go to a stronger opioid whereas fibromyalgia an cancer patients who are on medicinal marijuana don't have that problem an it works right away. You could smoke the cut flower but there are too many carcinogens like smoking maybe more to inhale. They suggest either baking the shredded flower in cookies or brownies, using a vape pen with flavored nicotine free vape juice (glycerin oil in any flavor toy choose mixed with shatter which is marijuana oil in a high concentration so a little goes far and after you melt it to mix with the vape juice to inhale by vaping, you can also buy already prepared vape pen refills of the high concentrated oil to attach to your pen. There is a youtube video that shows you how to safely melt the concentrated wax called shatter. The easiest way I found was putting the shatter in a shot glass an place it in a small sauce pan of water, boil the water and stir the shatter as it melts with an empty syringe and when melted add vape juice so the shot glace is 3/4 full, remove with oven mittens or safety heat resistant gloves, stir an cool then use syringe or eye dropper to fill an syringe to your vape pen till its full then add the rest to a childproof bottle, preferably one with a dropper. I used an empty cbd oil medical marijuana dispensaries. And doctors will tell you cookies, oil or shatter for vaping which is more discreet with no smell of mj is the safest for inhaling. But if your under 25, I wouldn't as a doctor wouldn't suggest or prescribe medicinal marijuana as the brain is still developing an marijuana especially the thc can affect the development an has in a lot of cases caused a psychosis or psychotic episode or triggers schizophrenia. My husbands aunt had that happen as a teen offered it to her an after taking it the drug triggered a psychotic episode which led to a diagnosis of schizophrenia diagnosis an has needed to live in a care facility since. But if your over 25 then your chances are minimal with thc. You cant take thc without the cbd because the cbd keeps you relaxed an prevents an panic attacks.

This is a lot of info to take it but its all I know based on experience, I don't feel anxious usually or its at least manageable with cbd oil. But coming off opiods this summer has put me in a rollercoaster ride. My counceller in my intake session was amazed that ive been doing this on my own. I can't wait to feel at peace, well an somewhat normal whatever that is. If you are interested in checking out the celebrate recovery program, google celebrate recovery. Dilauded isn't a street drug but its addictive if taken for a long time, ideally under the supervision of a gp doctor you can beat this. And if it sounds like you are strong an determined to do it alone but you will need a support system because you will be stomach sick, have diarrhea an anxiety which sounds like you already are experiencing that, plus get a councillor at a mental health clinic to give you tips for coping with anxiety an maybe have info on supports for you. Just keep going an at its worse remind yourself it wont be like this forever. Remember recovery is for life and if you go to celebrate recovery you will gain the support an tools through short lessons on dealing with your hurts/hangups an habits learning how to remain strong an prevent any habits that try to pop back in your life to gain the knowledge of what to do to keep yourself from falling into old ways or temptation to use opioids when chronic pain is bad.

Be careful with how much sedatives you take like ativan or clonazepam as they too are addictive, can increase your chances of getting a alzheimer's dx which is why the cbd oil is probably a better alternative to synesthetic drugs. Just take things one day at a time, don't overwhelm yourself with the what if's and how you will cope with pain after your opioid free. Just get a support system to help you physically as well as mentally. Coming off opiods can make you emotional even feel broken an depressed an to help you from letting withdrawal getting to you, physically attending a support group like cr, even when you don't feel up to it can turn your day around an help to build a family like bond eventually as you get to know one another an share each others story learning things from just listening to other ppl's stories can help a lot too. A safe place to vent in a surrounding of peers with no judgement struggling in different ways but the common thread of searching to be free of demons an habits looking to heal and recover just like you. I wish you well. Sorry for the letter, not a simple paragraph but I hope something there helps. Just cut down one pill every week or two weeks till you are done. For example if you were taking 4 of the 2mg tabs then take one less every two weeks till your down to zero tabs and bring the left over tabs to a pharmacist to dispose of the rest. Best of luck & god bless.

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Put your fears aside. 8mg is a small dose. Decreasing one pill a week you won't even hardly notice it. I was on 5mg every four hours as needed one to two weeks out of the month for several years and would wean myself off every month after the first week. usually by half or quarter of a pill a day to two days depending on how I was feeling. Its been two months now since I have needed it and have little to no desire to go back on it. If you feel out of sorts try splitting it up instead of decreasing a whole pill a week do it in half a pills increments or smaller throughout the week. This drug can be easy to get off of when done slowly. Unfortunately many doctors don't understand this leave many turning to street drugs or thinking they can't get off of it.

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Good luck getting off the Dilaudid! I've been taking 8mg Dilaudid three times a day for years now, and will probably take them for the rest of my life....they enable me to live with the pain I have from back, neck and knee pain. Hope you have a blessed life!

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