Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Hi all, I take 10 mg oxycodone at bedtime which is working very well for my RLS. I was reassured by the MD that I wouldn't have withdrawal problems if I ever wanted to get off it because the dose is low.

However, given my horrible gabapentin withdrawal issue, and the fact that I have a sensitive nervous system, I have become very skeptical about what MDs tell me about drugs. I am starting to become fearful about the possibility of opioid withdrawal. I was wondering if anyone has been through it and what your experience was.

Thanks...

I haven't taken oxy...but I think you are correct. Some of us have issues regardless of dose. I took benzos for such a short time - yet took months withdrawing. But, I stopped methadone (at a lower dose) without issue. Now that is not the case as my dose is much higher. And, other people here have taken low doses of opioids and had to go through a tapered and slow withdrawal.

When I stop methadone, because of the very long half-life, I taper slowly. Once I stop, I use kratom to help with the withdrawal symptoms - definitely helped me. Not perfect by any means, but certainly better. I also have used pramipexole - it does work to control the RLS-like symptoms that you get. The sensations feel different to me than my RLS and are in my upper body, arms, legs, etc - but very similar. I wrote about them a few years ago and how they are different but don't remember how I described it.

I too suspect that some people might have withdrawal issues even at a low dose. But I encourage you to consider whether it's worth worrying about at this point. You're already taking it and it's working well. There is no plan to come off it, no need to; but if you ever have to, then that's the time to start worrying about it.

Also, you can put your fear in perspective by considering what is the worst that could happen (you have bad withdrawal symptoms), what is the chance of that (very small), what is the best that could happen (WED/RLS goes away! ha, no really: if you have to come off the oxy, there is no withdrawal), and what is reasonably most likely to happen? (no or minor withdrawal seems to be the norm).

We have enough to worry about, so drop that one as not worthwhile

Hey,

so 10 mg Oxycodone equals 20 mg of Morphine which equals 200 mg of Codeine. If you would just stop the 10 mg Oxycodone from one day to another you would for sure have some, most likely mild, withdrawal symptoms. I would assume that the rebound RLS symptoms would be much worse than the withdrawal symptoms.

If you would stop 10 mg Oxycodone cold turkey, you would have withdrawal symptoms for 1-2 weeks and feel a bit weird and different for 2-4 more weeks. Overall nothing major and it would be easy to manage withdrawal symptoms with stuff like Kratom, Lyrica or Benzodiazepines.

People have stopped opioids cold turkey from much higher doses but in most of those scenarios there was no real medical reason for taking them. When there is a real medical reason to take opioids, then stopping opioids cold turkey is not advisable.

I am pretty sure that when you would stop the 10 mg Oxycodone over a period of 4 weeks, reducing the dose by 2.5 mg each week, you would not experience any significant withdrawal symptoms. But for sure you would feel the change with a few unpleasant symptoms.

Thanks for your responses. Yeah, I don't have any desire to stop taking it right now. I'm happy it's working. Agree that I shouldn't go looking for borrowed trouble. It's just upsetting to be given misinformation. Oh well, if I have to go off it at some point, I know I will already be a withdrawal veteran. I also started thinking about it because I had trouble getting it at the pharmacy. But the MD talked with them and this has been solved, at least for the time being. I think it's 15 mg morphine equivalent.