Oxycodone withdrawal

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dayandnight
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:24 pm

Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by dayandnight »

I am on day 10 of quitting oxycodone cold turkey. What an absolute nightmare. I have gone cold turkey twice before but I was using Norco then. Just to be clear, the opiates were prescribed by Dr B. and were not recreational. Getting off of Oxycodone is the absolute worse thing I have ever dealt with. I talked Dr. B into putting me back on Requip during withdrawal and he was nice enough to accommodate me. That was perhaps a big mistake. After I take it, I get RLS in my arms and have what appears to be nerve pain in the elbows, hands and fingers, hence, no sleep at at all. I know insomnia is part of withdrawal but I am only getting 2 hours of sleep a night if I'm lucky, from 4 AM to 6 AM. Some nights I get no sleep at all. When I was withdrawing from Norco, the insomnia was not really an issue as much as it is now coming off of oxycodone. With all that being said, is what I am experiencing with oxycodone withdrawal unusual or is this SOP? I think I could get get about 4 hours of sleep if it weren't for the discomfort in my arms. I have iced them, applied heat, and taken hot showers, but to no avail. Any ideas?

ViewsAskew
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Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by ViewsAskew »

No idea. How much were you taking before you stopped? How interesting that the ropinerole is making it worse (not interesting in a good way!).

What happens if you do not take the ropinerole?
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

dayandnight
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:24 pm

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by dayandnight »

I had tapered the Oxycodone down from 80 mg a day to 15 mg a day when Dr. B encouraged me to take the jump. I know 80 mg down to 15 mg is nothing compared to what hard core drug users do, but it is what it is and to me going cold turkey from 15 mg is still hell. If I don't take the Requip I can expect to be able to sit and "relax" for about 20 seconds before I have to get up and get moving around. The only reason I am posting this reply is because prior to typing this I had a foolish thought that I might be able to squeeze in a short nap. That idea lasted about 30 seconds.

ViewsAskew
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Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by ViewsAskew »

I have read that kratom can be very effective getting through that withdrawal period. Stopping it is relatively easy - from what I've read. But, there is no medical research on it - it's anecdotal.

I do know - from when I stopped benzos and was dependent - that the shorter acting the drug, the easier it is to stop. Switching to a very short acting opioid can make this period easier. But, you've already jumped, so that seems unhelpful now.

Do you think it is the RLS or the opioid withdrawal? I think I remember Dr B saying that they are two different things, even though all the addiction forums call it RLS. I've read that clonidine can help with the RLS-like symptoms - guess I spend too much time reading on these other forums, lol.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

dayandnight
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:24 pm

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by dayandnight »

Actually I think it's the opioid withdrawal that's the culprit. I know it's causing the insomnia but it seems like it should have abated by now. I am up until three or four AM before I can even think about going to sleep. Any input as to how long it generally lasts? I thought it was suppose to be acute along with the other symptoms.

ViewsAskew
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Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by ViewsAskew »

In the addiction forums, I've read that it's shortest with the shortest acting opioids - maybe 10-20 days? The longer the drug acts in your system, the longer the period. From methadone, for example, they say it can be 2-3 months before it's completely over.

The insomnia could be the RLS itself - or the ropinerole. It definitely causes insomnia for me - all the DAs do. I take only .125 mg of pramipexole and I am up within 3 hours.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

QyX

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by QyX »

Why are you going off Oxycodone?

What is your plan for the future when it comes to dealing with insomnia and RLS symptoms?

From what I learned RLS won't improve when you get older.

dayandnight
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:24 pm

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by dayandnight »

I had become tolerant to the Oxycodone and it took more and more of the drug to get the results in order to treat the RLS. I was up to 80 mg a day. As far as the insomnia goes, that is why I posted this, I have no idea what to do. It seems to me that it should have started to resolve by now. Today is day 12 off the Oxycodone. I have gotten 2 1/2 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Any ideas?

QyX

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by QyX »

dayandnight wrote:I had become tolerant to the Oxycodone and it took more and more of the drug to get the results in order to treat the RLS. I was up to 80 mg a day. As far as the insomnia goes, that is why I posted this, I have no idea what to do. It seems to me that it should have started to resolve by now. Today is day 12 off the Oxycodone. I have gotten 2 1/2 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Any ideas?


I've developed a tolerance to Oxycodone too after some months. May dose was the same. I switched to Hydromorphone and after 8 more months to Morphine, then back to Hydromorphone for 14 months and now back to Morphine again.

Tolerance to opioids happens. The solution is opioid rotation when tolerance occours. Opioid rotation makes it possible to stay on opioids over a long perioid of time without the need to increase the dose.

From 80 mg of Oxycodone (160 mg of Morphine) I was able to switch to 16 mg Hydromorphone (80 - 120 mg of Morphine).

Right now you are torturing yourself. You RLS won't get any better at all. My opinion is that RLS will worsen over the time anyway.

After being 3 years on opioids my dose is now 150 mg of Morphine.

jul2873
Posts: 445
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2012 7:32 pm

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by jul2873 »

There are many accounts of people on reddit who have successfully gotten off of opioids by using kratom. You can search for them on reddit.com by putting in keywords like opioids withdrawal and kratom.

I've been using kratom for two and a half years now, and have only had to increase my dose by a very small amount, which I think is due more to the RLS progressing, than to my developing a tolerance. The research I've read on kratom suggests that a user quickly develops a tolerance to the euphoric qualities of it, but not to the pain-relieving qualities, which has been my experience.

Anyway, good luck to you!

badnights
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Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by badnights »

I doubt if the insomnia is part of the opioid withdrawal, if all your other symptoms have already gone (or never were). Either you're experiencing the hyper-alertness that goes with WED/RLS - but if that were so, in my limited experience, opioids make it worse, whereas you became worse once you stopped the opioid - OR the ropinirole is augmenting the disease for some reason, which seems more likely because you started getting abnormal sensations once you started taking it. Are you sure you get the sensations after taking it, or might you be getting the sensations in the evening, regardless of when you take it? Had you been on ropinirole before without augmenting?

Perhaps we're especially vulnerable to augmentation when in opioid withdrawal ... but I;ve never heard of that.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

ViewsAskew
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Posts: 16571
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by ViewsAskew »

We really have such a dearth of info about this stuff. I can't tell you how much I appreciate each and every person who comes here and talks about what they did, how they did it, etc. We have such a vast amount of data on this board that doesn't exist likely anywhere else.

And, it's still not nearly enough.

I just did a search on the internet - there are many posts around on opioid boards about rebound insomnia when withdrawing from opioids. Read this thread at Bluelight: http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/649 ... ll-it-last

Or this one: http://www.opiate.com/opiate-withdrawal ... ithdrawal/

Looks like it could easily last a few weeks.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

badnights
Moderator
Posts: 6259
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:20 pm
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada

Re: Oxycodone withdrawal

Post by badnights »

ah - I should have investigated more! Nice one, Ann. Dayandnight, that should be a comfort to you!
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

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