New New Strategy for Fixing Me

[EeFall]

Slept from 10pm to 11:30pm. Got up and had instant oatmeal, by 1am I was pretty jumpy. Now 5:20am and I am able to sit down and besides being exhausted I'm doing alright. I guess what this means is that when I initially take my meds at 5:30pm that they are strong enough to cover my symptoms until 11:30pm and it goes downhill from there. By 4am (which has always been the time when I experience the least symptoms) it is getting better. The thing is that I think it is a combination of withdrawals and also not having enough meds to cover the symptoms. My wife talked me into going to bed at 10pm and I was surprised it worked but glad it did. 1-1/2 hours of sleep is far better than no sleep at all.

I keep falling asleep for seconds at a time during night and day so far. There is no way that I should be driving while I am detoxing off of these drugs again, I seem to blank out without any warning at all. I know it is my brain starving for sleep yet the brain also not getting its regular dose of meds for RLS, and not getting enough to counter withdrawal symptoms. I talk like the brain and nervous system is some separate entity but the reality is that it is out of whack and the I that is me is within the structure of it. Sort of mind blowing if one considers the ramifications of it.

My consciousness that is me has to make do with a physical nervous system that is not functioning at 100% (also I just fell asleep because I woke to about 50 lines of gibberish on the screen and this has happened 3 times in the last 15 minutes). I can't just go to sleep though because I am jolted awake. (I just fell asleep yet again, this is crazy). 1-1/2 hours is just not enough sleep for me.

[Polar Bear]

1.5 hours is like a 'taster' of what a night's sleep should be like.

I fully understand and many times drove to work and worked 9 - 5 on that amount of sleep. Sometimes 3 hours sleep and also quite regularly on no sleep. It gives me horrors now when I think of driving in that condition. On one occasion at about 9.30am I drove for an hour to spend the day with a friend, windows all open and air blowing through. Parked facing the wall and in my fatigue switched the engine off while it was in gear.... of course that meant the car jolted forward a few inches causing a dent and scrape to the bonnet (hood). My concern was that it could have been a person that I hit. Also our plans were to spend the day girly shopping and then I would drive the hour home again. During the day I was bumping door frames as I passed through and it appalls me to say that at around 6pm I drove home. Arrive home, shattered, exhausted, and within 10 minutes..... I'm on full alert and ready to tackle anything.

Exhaustion does not mean sleepy.

As you say, there is another 'me' that takes over and to some extent manages to function.

[EeFall]

Another messed up evening. I didn't even attempt to lay down in bed tonight, I could already feel it enough at bedtime to know I wouldn't be able to sleep. It is 1:30 am and I have mostly just sat here most of the night. My tinnitus has become really severe in my left hear. I went to the official tinnitus site today to see what they know, and like WED it isn't much. I did clean out my ear with an earwax remover because it mentioned that could be the reason. Not the reason for mine obviously but whatever. Gotta get up and start pacing...later.

[cornelia]

I hate it that you have to go through this.

What puzzles me is that you have to withdraw from meth and slowly start Suboxone. Do you know why? As far as I know this med is in the same group as meth so why can't you just exchange one for the other? A few months ago I canged from Oxy to meth and did that in one night.

Corrie

[ViewsAskew]

I hate it that you have to go through this.

What puzzles me is that you have to withdraw from meth and slowly start Suboxone. Do you know why? As far as I know this med is in the same group as meth so why can't you just exchange one for the other? A few months ago I canged from Oxy to meth and did that in one night.

Corrie

Corrie, I was wondering the same thing. I switched from methadone to tramadol to oxycodone to oxymorphone to levorphenol and back to methadone over a several month period.

[EeFall]

The doctor is taking me off of Lyrica and methadone. I immediately started withdrawals from not taking Lyrica, just like in the summer when I detoxed, except this time I am taking more Lyrica and methadone than in the summer. He is having me take 50mg less every 2 days for Lyrica and 2.5 mg less every 3 days for methadone. I am also dependent on Methadone. There seems to be no correlation between the 2 drugs (or 3 drugs). Switching to Suboxone for me does not stop the withdrawals of the other 2. Also he is giving me only 1/2 dose of Suboxone until I am completely off the other 2 meds.

I don't know his reasoning, I only know that it is almost like taking nothing, at least at night. One would think that Suboxone would fill in for taking less methadone and/or Lyrica but it doesn't. It seems like a totally different med to me, in fact I don't even know if it will work, and I doubt that Dr E knows that either for sure. He said to take half dose of Suboxone until I was off the others and then he would raise it if needed. From the instructions it sounds like I could easily take 3 times the dose I have now if needed or 3 mg of Suboxone. I hope 1mg will work but actually it may not work at all - do you hear the drumbeats of doom?

edit: As far as Suboxone working or not working for my RLS the only positive hint I have that it may work is that the first night I took the full dose of my current meds and the 1 mg Suboxone and I slept very well.

[debbluebird]

Do you get RLS/WED 24/7 ? I'm thinking that you do. I just can't remember. I slept for a couple of hours in the tub the other day. That's my last resort when I'm sleepy and having symptoms. The hot water works every time for me. I wish there was something that worked for you to get some sleep, just until you get through this. A time during the 24 hours that the symptoms tend to be less. The morning is my time. I guess it would be worse if you weren't taking the Suboxone. I wish you didn't have to go through this again.

[EeFall]

Do you get RLS/WED 24/7 ? I'm thinking that you do. I just can't remember. I slept for a couple of hours in the tub the other day. That's my last resort when I'm sleepy and having symptoms. The hot water works every time for me. I wish there was something that worked for you to get some sleep, just until you get through this. A time during the 24 hours that the symptoms tend to be less. The morning is my time. I guess it would be worse if you weren't taking the Suboxone. I wish you didn't have to go through this again.

Yes, 24/7 and I can't even use the tub until my hernia incision has healed completely and it is scabbing now.

[cornelia]

Thanks for explaining Eefall especially in your situation.

I thought dr E was taking you off meth because of mood swings but now I read it is because of dependency. I don't understand because aren't we all dependent on our drugs?

I understand from reading about Sub that you have to be in serious withdrawal before you can start Sub. That it is not important how long you are in withdrawal but the seriousness of it. Dr E will have his reasons why you are allowed to take a bit of Sub. It is all so complicated when you're not a doctor yourself.

I can imagine you don't even notice now that you are taking Sub but I do believe that it will help you when you are given the right dose later on.

I wish you all the best in this struggle and wish I could do much more.
Corrie

[EeFall]

I thought dr E was taking you off meth because of mood swings but now I read it is because of dependency. I don't understand because aren't we all dependent on our drugs?

I understand from reading about Sub that you have to be in serious withdrawal before you can start Sub. That it is not important how long you are in withdrawal but the seriousness of it. Dr E will have his reasons why you are allowed to take a bit of Sub. It is all so complicated when you're not a doctor yourself.

The reasons for getting off of methadone and Lyrica are as you originally thought, because of mood swings and also because the doctor suspects the meds are making me depressed.

I am on Suboxone because it can control RLS, not because it will make getting off Lyrica and methadone easy (it doesn't help).

I am dependent on both methadone and Lyrica so he is gradually taking me off of them but it is causing intense withdrawal symptoms regardless of gradually taking less medications. Going cold turkey would have been much worse, or impossible.

So what should happen is that by the second week of February I will be completely off of methadone and Lyrica and I will no longer have mood swings and depression caused by one or both of those medications. My dose of Suboxone will be increased until it controls my RLS/WED symptoms completely.

[badnights]

So the reason he is weaning you off as opposed to just replacing everything with Suboxone is two-fold - first, to keep the withdrawal bearable, because Suboxone wouldn't stop those symptoms; and mainly, I think, to get you clear of the withdrawal so you don't start on more Suboxone than you need. It will be important to stay on as low a dose as possible, and if you start during withdrawal and try to cover the whole withdrawal, you may start too high. Like withdrawing from DAs. Maybe.

[cornelia]

I'm sorry you have to sit this out. I'm sure the Sub will help you when you're done with the withdrawal. I find it interesting and hopeful that dr E says that with Sub you will not suffer from depression nor mood swings. I must say that I also suffer from mood swings with meth, but not as bad as you did. Hopefully later on you will feel that this ordeal had a good purpose.

Corrie

[badnights]

Ditto, I hope it works. At least Dr E is trying new things, when other docs have said there is nothing more to try. Gives one hope.

[EeFall]

I am so miserable. I haven't slept in bed for a few days now except 1-1/2 hours 3 nights ago. As I get older, and I suspect going through these problems every few months makes it worse, it becomes increasingly more difficult to go through the withdrawals and changing meds. I have been trying to stay busy but I am totally worn out.

On top of everything else the tinnitus in my left ear is really getting bad. It sounds at the moment like a clock ticking, one of those sprinklers that click around in a circle, a skill saw, and car with its brakes going out and they are making the scrapping sound, and also a rock radio station. I would laugh only I'm not making this up. It was one annoying sound now it is multiple at the same time. I read online last night that some people taking meds like methadone will get problems like that and they can actually get worse if one is going through withdrawals....sounds all too familiar....pun intended. Thinking back on when this was first starting to get bad and I even wrote a few things about it on this site, that it got worse in the summer when I was detoxing but I hadn't realized the correlation. It is really pretty loud and annoying.

I will just have to chalk it up to another one of the many things going wrong with my body. I actually remember thinking when I was a kid that when I grew old that I hoped that things would wear out, somehow showing that I had used everything up to the max. Sounded a little lame to die with everything in working order, as if I had never used my body up, but had sat around doing nothing. Well that stupid idea is equally more dumb now. I would much rather have everything working now for sure.

[ViewsAskew]

Sorry - had to chuckle at the child's perception of aging...children are fascinating, funny, and make us think, but often don't see the big picture, do they!