Weaning Off Dilaudid (Page 2) (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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Omgosh. This has helped me so much!! I am so frighten to come of the oxycontin I have been on now for 2yrs... but I have been on pain killers since I was 23 yrs old. (I was in a head on collision w an 18 wheeler) and then major back sugery ) and I just turned 47 .... I don't know what it is like NOT TO BE ON OPIATES. Do you know anything about suboxon??
Mahalo for your information... I hope my fear will lessen

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I have been on Dilaudid 4 mg for 10 years due to chronic pain from an injury I sustained at work and a car wreck I was in. Today because I also have chrones disease i have moments when meds do not show up. I was told today that he was dismissing me from his practice. I am scared as heck coming off of this med. I am a single mom raising three kids and works 3 jobs. I do not know what to do.

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How has it been going for you? I just need to get off 3 mg Dilaudid divided through the day now. My doc wants me to stay on because of the level of anxiety I've been experiencing while tapering, but my pain isn't bad enough to justify Dilaudid. Almost on it two months now after a lengthy hospitalization, but I do not want to be stuck on it.

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i have been on pain killers for a little over 3 years now started out on t3s and due to the pain i was in worked my way up to taking 3-4 80mg oxycontin per day. I found that it didnt work for the pain i was having( ligements tore off bones in my hand so pain was from the bones rubbing together in my hand and a facit joint in my lower back was pintching a nerve) as well as people said it would work. i have never taking anything for pain my whole life up untill the last few years... im 39 now was 34 at time of injury.. when i decided to stop taking the oxys cold turkey because of how they make u feel witch i dont recemend any body to do... It was the worst 5 days of my life hot/cold sweats, whole body twitching, dierria, (could barely get out of bed to do that) ,throwing up, unable to eat,couldnt even keep water down, dilusional,.. i never knew how awfull going through detox was..but 6 months and 2surgeries later i couldnt go with out anylonger. so this time they gave me hydromorphone (dilaudid)..was taking 8 8mg pills a day .now its been a year since my last surgery, im still in pain but these drugs are making life unbearable. mood swings, no libido, confusion some days, irrebility, cant focus, no ambition to do anything, hard time retaining new infomation, or recalling things i know well, stiff and sore joints, major swelling from the thighs down to my toes, vision problems, hard time sleeping and wen i do fall asleep i cant tell u how many times ive woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air because ive stopped breathing..hands and arm going numb, bloating, hard to pee an poo. I've have come down to taking 4, 8 mg pills a day now. ive tried taking less than that a day but start having hot an cold sweats at this level. my dr wants me to try methadone now but going to school part time and looking after my 2 year old boy and diagnosed with major deppression disorder from dealin with the out come of my surgeries and capabilities ,while still fighting with worksafe b.c.i dont think i can handle any type of withdrawl . any body have suggestions on how to cope with all that while weening off this terriable drug....????

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I truly believe the advice given is of substantial value.nothing to b frightened about. Weaning is exactly that..you follow tge directions you should have nothing to b afraid of. But you'll surely feel better about yourself good luck

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Please see trigger point injections ,from Chinese medicine, like you I had back pain,I wanted to end my life ,24\7 then I found out about this from a friend ,,I went got full injections into my back,,not acupuncture the next day ,I swear to god I was 100 pain free for the first time in years!!I layed in my bed and cried !!!!now I go once every 4 months or so,,good luck

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I've done withdrawal twice- not taking a whole of Dilaudid the first time, maybe 12-16 mgs per day, it was hell for about 4 days before I felt better. I abstained for a few months and went back to it for pain for almost 2 years and this time was up to some days 20mg. I am on day 8 of cold turkey (I did wean for 10 days) but it has been horrendous. If you are going to detox at home, make sure you have a friend or family member there to help you get through it. I have been so sick, that if my girl wasn't here, I feel like I am at death's door. The doc suggested "island therapy' which is a small amount of opiate during the withdrawal (very small) but I declined. I am going to push through. I am 3/4 of the way through the river of blood and turning around now will be a long swim. I might as well swim straight to sobriety at this point. Good luck to all.

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Try clonidine , any Dr should prescribe it, it lowers your blood pressure and helps immensely with withdrawal

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I was taking 8mg:3xdaily for eight years & stopped cold turkey. I was a bit uncomfortable with chills & sweating but they kept me on my Hydromorph Contin 24mg/3x daily. Maybe still being on something made it easier for me. I must say though that I was DETERMINED to get off the stuff no matter what. Now I'm working on getting off the Hydromorph Contin as well. Neither were helping with my chronic pain. I was addicted to them, period!!

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I was taking the same dosage as you were & had no problem whatsoever coming off it after three years. It took about five weeks & I feel clear headed with no more aches & pains & sweating & nervousness. You can do it too. Just believe in yourself & really really want it

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But isn't Tramadol also an opiod? I have some still, but afraid to wean off that too. I'm in agony with sore joints trying to get off hydromorphone. I have dropped from 15mg to 8mg per day in a week, but suffering!!

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Cut dose 50 % for a week , then 10% every 3 to 5 days after. Find someone to hold on to your pills if you can't due it. Get some Valium or something similar to help you sleep at the start. The first week can be tough but we all tend to take too much if we have it , it's a nice warm sweater when your feeling bad.I have done this a few times and works

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I have been on 16 mg Exalgo 3 times a day for years due to several failed back surges and a failed artificial disc. My doc suggested I get off all meds so I stopped taking one Exalgo a week for three weeks. I still take Hydrocodone maybe 8 10/325 mg a day. I tried to do both at once, well I gave up stopping the hydrocodone. I have been sick for a week now. No sleep freezing sweating nausea ect.. I had to have emergency oral surgery 3 days after my last Exalgo my blood pressure was 190/188, they almost would not do the surgery. They agreed as long as it was done with local and not put out. Today I feel better than the last few days so maybe I am over the hump. I always hated taking all these meds for the pain but I had to work. Now I do not work. The pain can be controlled mentally so once I am done with the hydrocodone I will never take another pain med. I will use laticane patches and aspirin, that is it. I was just laying around waiting to die on drugs, never again. I will never understand how people could enjoy taking this s***. I hated it and going through withdraw, I never craved the drug. I was too sick to crave anything. My doc suggested rehab to help me but I said no that it would not be an issue. Well I have to admit it was worse than I thought. I estimated 72 hours of withdraw but it's been almost 7 days. I only hope since Hydrocodone is not time released like the Exalgo my withdraw will be a little easier. If I had known this about Exalgo I would have never started on it, but it was the only med that I could get sleep on. I was on Opana before but that made pee all the time. I would really think before putting this s*** in your system. It is terrible to get off.

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Michael,
Any doctor that prescribed Dilaudid in that quantity for something other then terminal conditions should have his LICENSE REVOKED patients that use Dilaudid recreationally like you seem proud of doing just adds to legit chronic pain patients suffering the indignity of being treated like addict themselves. A treatment center may impart the seriousness of your Dilaudid use. It certainly isn't humorous to most adults trying to find legitimate information on pain relief. So pathetic....

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If you live in CO have you tried the legal marijuana? If I lived in a state that had legal medical marijuana and was off all my drugs I would try it. Do not think I could smoke it but I could eat it or use it in a vaporizer. Cannot hurt, it might work for you. My Doc told me a patient that has a bad back due to an auto accident had requested the Marijuana Pill because the only thing that worked for him was smoking it illegally and he wanted to go legal. Doc said it worked great for him.

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I, too, am in the process of weaning off of Dilaudid (been on for 4 months due to surgery complications) - I am taking 4 mg. every 4 hours including the 4 AM dose. I am down from 12 mgs every 4 hours on March 2nd. I go down 1 mg. once a week - I hate the slowness of this way, but i'm less scared this way. I so hope everybody is doing well.

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Do NOT TAKE SUBOXONE. You'll be sorry ! Getting off suboxone is the worst withdrwals you will ever expierence. Also withdrawals can last over 1 year !

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That is the way addictive pain meds work, they cause more pain because the body craves more opiates, they refer to it as "ghost pain"

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I am presently taking 8 ml of hydromorphone three times a day. For about 10 years or more I have been on a narcotic. I was on 4 ml of hydromorphone every 3 hours for about 1 year and without notice I find my new prescription last week it was changed to the 8 ml 3 times a day. Taking 4ml every three hours didn't get rid of my pain but it allowed me most days to get into my scooter and go shopping. I was very angry at my doctor for the error in my prescription and after three phone calls and no response I decided to take myself off this med. I have a very chronic (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) breathing problem and while finally looking up this med on this site I find I should NEVER have been put on this med with my lung problem. My pain began with a horse accident at age 16 with my father. The horse went down in a full gallop and so did I. Back, neck and knee problems plagued me all my life I am 71 on Jan 11 2014. I fear the pain and inability I will experience when I go down and off my meds. Question: how is the best procedure? I have requested an appointment with my resperolagist? My old resp. Retired and a new man took over his patients. I hope he can also help. Please any info from you will help. Ken

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at that low of a dose you should be fine, as long as you don't have pain, tell your doctor if you have pain because once your off the pills he's not giving you anymore, so if need that one a day stay on it. the pill itself will not hurt you, but it's nice to have if your in pain 1am and you can't sleep

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