Each drug has it's own way of wheening off of. If I were you, I would not stop cold turkey. I also am on oxycodone for chronic back pain. I only take two 7.5/750s a day if I need them. Really depends how long and how many you are use to taking. I would use the taper. See, what is happening is that you body is getting to use to the lower doses and needs to keep increasing it higher. You need to turn that around and go the other direction. There is help out there if you can do this on your own. As a matter of fact, I really don't think it is a good idea to do it on your own. Find out the best way to taper and follow those directions.
I hear ya and I wish you the best of luck.

Carrie

You should try and cut back on the doseage of all the pain meds, maybe take half of what you usually take. If the pain for which you are being treated starts to hurt more (the pain for which you were initially treated) - Then you need to follow what the Doc says. It sounds to me like you started to "withdraw" and It is HORRIBLE - If you were to just stop outright, then you would feel the worst you have ever felt in your life for 3-5 days, and then not sleep for almost a month. ------NOW, if you feel that you do not need the painkillers anymore, then you should ask your doctor for Suboxone. (subox-in) It is a 'opiate-replacement' and it makes those 3-5 days feel like nothing! you will probably need to be on it for a month, but after tapering off of the suboxone you will be physically fine. its the psycological issue you may have a hard time with. But if you truely do not want to be on painkillers anymore, that is all that matters! and the psycological issue wont be an issue.

I was a Barb/Benzo gal in my younger days. The bottle says take one, I take three. I have found and learn some big listens in my life. The most important is, don't take it if ya don't need it. I am on Oxycodone 5mg as needed for pain right now for two herniated bulging disc's. This time it is for real pain and believe it or not, I don't even take them most of the time. The more you take, the more your body requires. Tolerance build up. I am so proud of myself. I like myself now in the real world and saying OK big deal, I have a little pain. But is it really enough to take a pill?

Carrie

I have been in chronic pain for 2 years due to 4 herniated disks. I am perscibed 10mg percocet 4x a day but I take about 10-12. I am suppose to be on Suboxen but I dont take them due to my pain. I guess i am a addict, so sad. My doc perscibed me 25 micrograms fentanal patch and I dont put it on due to me taking soooo much of the other. What to do? Why am I so scared to just take the Soboxen, I always feel Im not going to have the High, and the energy I have with Perc's. Can youbelieve this. A mature mom of 3 with a wonderful life and a husband ect. anyone want to chim in and give some advise, dont worry you can be brutally truthfull and yes I know my spelling sucks, sorry about that.

hi gearcar your post attracted my attention as i too use fentanyl. been on it a year now and had increases from 12,25,50 and back down now to 37. I refuse to go higher because of side effects. I suggest you keep on any meds your doctor prescribes as i had a rough 24 hrs coming down from the 50 patch after only being on that dose for 15 days and it was scary.
been a chronic pain sufferer for nearly three years and even with the patch im still in pain. If i never had the patch i would be screaming with pain from the roof tops. far better to suffer some pain on medication than no medication at all.
I sympathise with your discs problem its my L5/SI disc and longterm.
take care and good luck.

I was glad to find all your replys and reas them all. I am 65 and was put on fentanyl for disc pain before having surgery by my family doc. I feel I no longer need the patch after all most 2 years but don't know how to get off the thing. My family doc is no help at all except to keep giving it to me. I wish I had never heard of it. We moved to NC from NY and all I wanted was more hydrocodine and he put me on it. I never heard of it till them. My neurologist chewed me out for taking it but it wasn't my fault. I never heard of it till then. I just wanted the codine for pain. Now I can't get off it or poop good anymore. I am full of waste up to my eyeballs and now have to have a contrast exray done tomorrow by my protologist. I just know what they will find....and that's lots of poop. Please help!!!! I can't stand it!!! Oh and by the way, its now 4:30 am. 'that's how nutty I am, I wake up all hours of the night!!!!

After 7 years clean I had gastric bypass surgery and was given oxycodone I was given 180 10 mg pills a month now 5 years later I am 92lbs and horribly addicted. The past year has been hell my husband died in front of me & my daughter in my livingroom and our lives have been a complete mess we had to leave our home and I have been having severe pain in my stomache evrytime I eat. We finally have a new place to live and I am trying to make a good life for us. My sister in law called my doc & made him stop giving me meds and he did just like that he cut me off (witch I think I have a law suite there, but thats another story) I have since been getting meds from drs & ERs here & there and I want to get off but I'm hooked. I was given 60 yesterday and have 35 left I want to stop I'm hoping to wean myself off but I am so afraid does anyone have any advice the best way to wean off? The best way to take the ones I have I was thinking takings some 10's today then cutting them in half tomorrow I guess like every 4 hrs do you think thats good? Im sorry for the long draged out story I'm just so scared and I want this nightmare to end please help if you can Thanks Nicole

i have been taking pain killers for years now it all started with a bad car accident and i have been hooked for so long! it seems like all i worrie about is were i am going to get my next pill from i am so tired of this life i have tried to stop so many times but when i do i hurt so bad i can not hardly walk! i dont know what to do! i dont have any energy and i cant do anything! it is like an endless cycle and i want to break it so bad but i can not! my family worries about me so bad and they are on me all the time they say i am not the same person i used to be and i am just unhappy! i dont want to admit it to any of them but its true! i am so unhappy with my life i never thought it would end up this way! and i have gained weight so that dosnt help either! if any one had any advise please share!

jeffsgirl09,

you just described my life to a very sad T. I blew out my back 3 years ago at work and had to have a fusion in L5/S1. Just a few months prior to injuring my back, I had broken my foot in 3 places when I smashed it with a 2ltr bottle of pop on a wooden floor while doing dishes. It did other damage the doctors didn't know about until recently. I have been on pain meds solid for those 3 years. At one time I was on about 9 different meds including fentynyl 100mg every 3 days, oxy 60mg er, oxy 15mg 2 at a time up to 6 times a day (up to 180 every two weeks), gabapentine (900mg a day), muscle relaxers, and anti depressants (didn't help at all). I am off of it all, on my own, accept the oxy er and oxy ir. I quit it all cold turkey at once. That was a very bad week and I can't do that again!

Last month, after almost 3 years of begging for an mri of my foot my ankle finally ruptured. As I said, I had additional damage from the broken foot that went unchecked because docs wouldn't listen. After coming out of surgery for reconstruction of my entire foot it was like they had given me nothing for the pain as my body was so use to the meds and they couldn't give me more, safely. I was in so much pain I was writhing on the bed moaning for an entire day before I knocked my self out with muscle relaxers for a week as I couldn't take the pain.

If I don't take the oxy my back kills me, but I am so sick of being tired, grouchy, and miserable. It has also affected, as many of you have mentioned, my bowel system. My husband can't stand me anymore. He says I am not who he married. Of course not, I am in pain 24/7. That takes it toll on a person quickly. What happened to "in sickness and in health"? My loyalty to him over the years seems to have just disappeared in his head. Never mind I put up with his verbal and mental abuse for years before getting my back hurt. (We have been together for over 20 years.) In the last few years he has tried very hard to be a better person and treat me better after we almost split, but now that I am injured he is so unsupportive and acts like he is so much better than I am because he has "turned over a new leaf" in his behavior. I am really going through a hard time right now and I feel like I have NO support. I also feel like I am nothing but a burden to everyone and I am afraid my kids will hate me when they get older. He assures me that I am not a burden when I tell him how I feel, but that is not how he acts.

I want to stop taking the meds so I can get my energy back and try to be who I was again, but it hurts so much when I do. I know my body is dependent on the meds and I will let myself get all the way to withdrawal symptoms most days before I take them for pain, but by the time it gets to that the withdrawal symptoms have made me sick and the pain is uncontrollable. I don't know what to do. I wish I could get the suboxen on my own to try it as I don't want to talk to my pain specialist about it because I am afraid she won't prescribe my meds again for me if the suboxen doesn't work or the pain is too severe to go without the. I would like to try the suboxen to see if I can survive the pain on my own without involving my doctor, but I don't know how to do it. Is there any herb, other medicine, or anything else out there that I wouldn't need a script for?

My other issue for not talking to my doctor about it is that the injury was work comp and I am fearful of what they would use against me to cost me my teaching job with the meds I am on.

Other than being tired, my meds do not affect my teaching, but I have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars medically and legally and I know they would hose me if possible. They already tried to prove I was faking by having me and my children followed and videotaped. They not only thought I was faking, but thought I was working another job on the side while taking work comp money. Not true! I was off work for almost an entire year and missed another year half time. I have 2 doctors that have told me I shouldn't be working more than 4 hours a day, but the comp docs wouldn't admit to that as all of their practice is work comp related and it would have cost them their contract. My care is being run by the lawyers and not my doctor but I can't change the docs as the work comp company has the legal right to send me to who they want and in Kansas I have NO rights!

I never thought my life would turn out this way and I am to the point of wondering if it is even worth it anymore.

I am so sick of hurting, physically and mentally. I am just completely drained. I need help and someone to talk to but I have no one and no where to turn.

Signed Desperate to live again!

Dear Desperate,
I can only imagine how alone and awful you feel. Keep your wits and try to contact a professional who can help with the medical (this includes medication=drug issues) and the legal work issues. Try your Union/ the Union Lawyer.
Workers Comp docs are not going to support what you need and so you must do it another wa
BUT YOU MUST KEEP TRYING!
Keep trying and especially, don't give up or give in to the pain and craziness all this involves. No judgments! Not your self, not from others. You need to handle this with objective smarts, not irrational crap.
When you try to cut down or stop meds, do not wait till you are nearly detoxing! or in agony. You must maintain a reasonable level of pain control in order to be able to function and decrease medication carefully, slowly, smartly.
When you get to the point that your pain is out of hand and you are detoxing, it is beyond reasonable. It is way beyond what is necessary and
you need to deal with it differently! You must keep your pain under control in order to be successful....
....so don't go to either extreme!
Try for a middle ground and keep your sanity. Then try to find an appropriate and professional doctor or maybe a good Clinic - I know how hard to find these may be, but keep looking. Try to connect with a solid doctor or counselor from a clinic with whom you can relate and be honest.
You need to find experts in pain management who are experienced with (drugs/meds) everything that goes with it all without the judging and preaching. Find anyone with knowledge and experience maybe try 'Fort Help' for referrals and networking help. Or other possibly online resources for info and contacts. JUST DON"T GIVE UP! Try again. and again and.....
Keep trying. You can work it out and do so with some reasonable sense of integrity, control and success!!!
Try to make the best of your support system: Use your husband and family and any doctors / friends who can be there for you without all the
judgmental insanity. You don't need that which comes from ignorance (even your own).... you need knowledge and intelligent strategies for successful management. It is out there. Got to find it!
It is hard, but you can make it! And you can do so and be better off than you think possible and certainly be way better off than you feel just now.
Good luck! You can do it! Many of us have.
J

Fentanyl Patch And Oxycodone are known to have painful withdrawals especially when you take the medical detox program upon your rehabilitation. Just seek for medical advises and keep on staying positive until you achieved full recovery from addiction.

Hi I started this post a few years ago when I had had enough fo the drugs and decided to eliminate them. It will be two years in November since I took the Fentanyl patch off for good and I really have felt much better as a result of it. Yes I still have the negative pressure headaches but I can control them by either laying down until it relieves itself or take a tylenol 3 or sometimes and Oxy 5. I still have a Oxy 10's but rarely use them now. The less drugs I take the mosre effective they are when I do use them.
It was difficult for a week or 10 days to get rid of the drugs in my system but after that I have not have any more sweats from each three day withdrawal from the patch.
I can't say that I would recommend this to everyone but I certainly would do it again if the need be. I feel so much better today than when I was taking the mndication for the pain.
Everyone is different and each person knows if the side effects are worse than the origianal condition. You must make up your owm mind and make it an individual decision.

Hi all....
I am about to embark on this seriously scary part of detoxing from hydros 10/325's 3x day and fentanyl patches as high as 100's x 48hrs. and now I am down to 25's and will reduce to 12's tomorrow which I plan to take until this Sunday. This is my second try at getting off the patch as my pain mgmt doc rapidly reduced me off the patch per my request going from 100's to 12's in a short 5 weeks. I had a surgery back in sept. of 08' that went bad and lead to 5 more surgeries over the next 7 months that was living hell. I had never been on opiates of any kind other than the occasional hydros given for when I pulled a muscle in my back or groin, etc. I had only been given about 10 to 14 days worth and never experienced w/d's from them. I had no idea what I was getting into when they prescribed me the patches!!! I feel so stupid for not researching out how hard it is to get of the crap!!!! I am a very intelligent man and did read up on what the medication was and it did state it would be addictive but never explained to this level of w/d's.... I am furious with the docs as they should clearly explain the end result of the road you about to go down. Anyways, after the rapid detox off the patches I had no problems for the first 7 to 9 days as I was still on the hydros. and then it all hit!!!! Every w/d symptom you can put in the book hit me and it was living hell... I went to the pain mgmt. doc cuz I was going out of my mind and he told me I was having a reaction to gabapentin which I was using due to a nerve being severed in my leg on my 3rd surgery. I didn't know any better cuz it was a nerve medicine and I felt like I was crawling out of my skin!!!! I thought it was from the nerve meds. This went on for 2 1/2 wks. of sweating, sleepless nights going out of my mind along with all the other things associated with w/d's!!!! I finally went back to my pain mgmt. doc who was on vacation and I had to see his partner and she confirmed it to be w/d's and not a reaction to the nerve meds. I was devastated as my suspicions had finally come to reality... This was last Wed. and she told me to go home and put a patch on as I had a couple of 12's and a 25 left.... What kind of an answer is that!!!! I no longer have pain as I have recovered from the surgeries and am dependent upon the drug... I didn't know what to do besides follow her advise to keep from going insane.... Now I feel like I am back at step 1 again. Since putting the patch back on I have not taken a single hydro and plan to use the Thomas Recipe to try and kick this crap once and for all!!!! It has been devastating as I called my primary doc and he didn't even call me back!!!! I feel so alone with no one to turn to as I asked about Suboxone with the pain mgmt. doc. and she would not even engage the discussion. Maybe cuz i'm not her patient or maybe cuz i'm $$$$ to them!!!! If I get off the drugs I can no longer make that Benz payment for them... Who knows with how screwed up the system is.... Anyways, I live close to the Mexican border and went and picked up the necessary drugs for the Thomas recipe and am going to face the BULL come this Sunday.... I am scared and called my primary doc back yesterday and threatened complaining to the board if he didn't contact me so I can talk with him about all this and make sure I am doing this right!!!! I know it can be done and I will be successful as this has gone on too long and I feel like I have no life or energy.... I am a successful structural engineer, but am about to loose my job cuz I can't go back to work like this and have been out since my original surgery on 9/17/08. My benefits are about to run out and reality has just set in. I am very depressed but I WILL PREVAIL OVER THIS MONSTER!!!! All your comments and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE your success stories will be much appreciated. I plan to write on many blogs starting with day 1 as this is going to be part of my plan to stay off the crap!!!!

Thanks for listening/reading and God Bless us all....
None of us deserve this misery that I believe the system wants to keep us in.... You break down a person's will and desire and you control them!!!! That is what all these insurance and pharmacy companies want along with our doctor's as we are $$$$ in their pockets too!!!!

I have heard of the Thomas Recipe and it should help you out. Good luck to you...when it's all over and you are back to the person you were before this started you will feel much better...
I suggest you go to a forum called Topix just google it and go to the OxyContin, Roxicodone, Oxycodone Forum and ask a poster in there by the name of Piercit for help..he is an expert in the field of the correct vitamins to take while withdrawing..although I don't post on that forum I can tell you he is absolutely informed..and he will help you through this situation..I promise you that..he will help you out and be supportive... Good Luck To You..