Withdrawal From Oxycodone
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I've been taking oxycodone 10 mg for the last five months. Today is my first day without. How long will it take to get it out of my body.

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I was on dilaudid for many years I stopped all at once. Because I went to jail no way to get drugs in jail or any help at all. But I went to ER a few days ago for very bad pain could not get nothing not even tramadol. So I don't understand how people are even getting dope now days. Doctors are in fear of giving any pain meds even for those that are really in pain. The days of going to your doctor and getting dope for addiction is over. So may as well find a clinic and live with it

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I've always found a week is all I needed to kick a hydrocodone habit.

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I've been taking Norco 10/325 and Opana 20mg ER for 10+ years for pain due to L5S1 herniation and Multiple Sclerosis. I could not even imagine going through a day without these medications that allow me to lead a normal life. The Lyrica, Gabapentin, Elavil did NOTHING for me. OxyContin gets me so sick, Fentanyl patch made me a zombie, and Suboxone patch did nothing for pain. It took me a year plus to find a regimen that works, which is Norco and Opana, still gets me a bit sick, but tolerable. If you need to take them, and you do not want to get addicted, dependent is not addicted, addicted something totally different. I found the following will help. Those dependent do not abuse their meds, but depend on them.

1. Set Max limits, no matter how much pain you are in, I never take more than 3X Norco and 3X Opana (20 mg ER) a day, NEVER. Although I am Rx'd for up to 6 and 6 per day, I NEVER go there. I went a few times over my limit, 4 and 5, which was because I was up every 3 hours in agonizing pain in my back and legs, but was sick as a dog the next day.

2. Take drug "holidays", on weekends, or when you can rest and relax, I will not take more than 2 and 2 on Sat and/or Sundays, I can lay down if my pain is bad, or remain in bed with a heating pad.

3. Practice extending the time in between doses. I sometimes will only take the next dose (when pain is 5-7 range) only at 8 hrs, not 4-6 as indicated for Norco, and wait 18 hrs, not 12 between doses for Opana, see how your body reacts and let it know who's the boss, you not the opiates. You need to fool your body so it does not expect the next dose every 4-6 and 12 hrs.

4. Be strong, DO NOT chew or EVER abuse your medication - would you chew blood pressure meds or diabetes meds? NO, why do it with these meds?

5. DO NOT Drink Alcohol - luckily I never had the desire. I got blind drunk at 19 and got my ass kicked by 5 guys. Never got drunk again, and I'm 51 now.

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Debbie (OP) Although gabapentin (Neurontin) MAY have a calming effect, it's an anticonvulsant mostly prescribed to treat Epilepsy. But doctors found out some of the side effects helped deaden nerve pain. Since Lyrica didn't have a generic, and many Insurance plans didn't cover it anyway, more and more doctors substituted gabapentin for Lyrica. But I wouldn't recommend messing with your brain cells to avoid a few very uncomfortable days. Five months isn't a terribly long time to be on the oxys. You're better off trying an OTC sleep aid, Imodium-AD, lots and lots of water, and aspirin for body aches and chills. The worst of the WD's last only a few days. If you can find a clinic to help, many may prescribe a few days worth of valium to get you over the hump.

Going through WD's is an awful feeling. I sure can sympathize with you. And those of us stuck in chronic debilitating pain, don't even feel the effects from our medication. That feeling of euphoria is long gone, taking these meds now only helps many feel "normal" making the pain bearable, if that.

Have a support system in place before you begin to WD. It's never a good idea to go cold turkey if you can avoid it. Weaning down until you're off is the easiest, least painful way to go. If you're able to get one more 30 day prescription, then I would decrease by half to one full tablet daily for the first 3-4 days, let your system adjust, cut down another half for 3-4 days, until you're down to less than one pill daily. If you can wean down and then off, that's the best way to go. I hope it goes well for you Debbie!

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@Debbie (thread starter),

According to nih.gov, Oxycodone's elimination half life ranges from 3-4 hours in its immediate release form. Given this information, you can do some math to get a general idea of how long it might take to be completely excreted. For example: A 10mg dose could dwindle down to a mere 0.00072mg within about 24 hours, based on a 3 hour half life (dividing the dose in half, and half of every subsequent half every 3 hours). As post #1 suggested, my findings also indicate that Oxycodone is generally out of your body well within a weeks time frame. However I'd imagine that these numbers will vary from person to person depending several underlying factors as well (i.e. things like age, weight, metabolism, duration of use, frequency of use, etc)

How have you been managing through the withdrawals thus far?

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It takes about a week for the withdrawals to go away. If you have gabapentin, double up on that, it will take away nearly all of your withdrawals away.

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