New New Strategy for Fixing Me

[EeFall]

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!

...and grandkids let you live the whole thing over for the third time.

[Polar Bear]

Eefall - I am really sorry that you are going through this, it seems no time at all since you were coming through your previous withdrawals with success.

You have been very determined in the past, and again now. Well done.

[EeFall]

Eefall - I am really sorry that you are going through this, it seems no time at all since you were coming through your previous withdrawals with success.

You have been very determined in the past, and again now. Well done.

I actually laid down on the couch this afternoon with a couch pillow and fell asleep. My wife sneaked out of the room and let me sleep, I guess I slept over 2 hours! Not the best sleep without my VPAP machine but it was the best sleep I have had in 4 days. It gave me enough energy to finish a project I have been working on to install shelving in my wife's (wo)man-cave closet not sure what to call it.

[EeFall]

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.
Corrie

Sorry to hear you have depression and mood swings with methadone too. Maybe if the Suboxone (pronounced with a silent 'e') works others can switch to it also. It is a schedule 3 drug in America while methadone is a schedule 2. Schedule 1 drugs are like LSD and heroin. In other words it is much easier to obtain Suboxone, many physicians can prescribe it. I think the government wanted it that way since it is used to get people off of many types of drugs so it makes it easier for people to obtain it, at least according to an article I read recently. It also said it is a class C in the UK, not sure if that is equivalent or not.

They never even batted an eye when I gave the pharmacy the script for Suboxone which felt wonderful after all the hassle I have gotten from different pharmacies for getting methadone and other opiate type drugs.

[ViewsAskew]

Very good to hear.

[debbluebird]

So is the Suboxone supposed to take away your WED/PLM after the withdrawals are over ? For a couple of weeks or so I get symptoms in the afternoon or mainly the evening, Usually before I'm supposed to take my Methadone at 5 pm. I was wondering, if it's more the drug causing them, like a craving for the Methadone. So that I will take it early, or take more. I don't though, I just get through it since I'm not trying to sleep. During the night I usually get symptoms around 2 to 4 am. I get up walk around and right back to bed. It doesn't come back until morning. If I want to sleep more I take a third pill, if not I get up.
Just wondering.

[ViewsAskew]

So is the Suboxone supposed to take away your WED/PLM after the withdrawals are over ? For a couple of weeks or so I get symptoms in the afternoon or mainly the evening, Usually before I'm supposed to take my Methadone at 5 pm. I was wondering, if it's more the drug causing them, like a craving for the Methadone. So that I will take it early, or take more. I don't though, I just get through it since I'm not trying to sleep. During the night I usually get symptoms around 2 to 4 am. I get up walk around and right back to bed. It doesn't come back until morning. If I want to sleep more I take a third pill, if not I get up.
Just wondering.

People who take opioids seem to fall firmly in two camps.

Camp A: after awhile, need/want more of the drug to satisfy symptoms. I fall into that camp. Every 6 to 9 months, there it is, a desire for more. The only way I've resolved this is to not take it every day OR take breaks from it regularly. For me, taking pramipexole once every few days allowed me to keep the dose the same for at least two years, after several years of continually increasing it. Since I've had to stop all dopaminergics (again - and even for just one day every few days), I've reached this point again. It really sucks. Since I've now gotten to the point that ONLY opioids work, the only way to take a break that I can think of is to take nothing....not what I want to do.

Camp B: take it for years and never need an increase.

[EeFall]

So is the Suboxone supposed to take away your WED/PLM after the withdrawals are over ? For a couple of weeks or so I get symptoms in the afternoon or mainly the evening, Usually before I'm supposed to take my Methadone at 5 pm. I was wondering, if it's more the drug causing them, like a craving for the Methadone. So that I will take it early, or take more. I don't though, I just get through it since I'm not trying to sleep. During the night I usually get symptoms around 2 to 4 am. I get up walk around and right back to bed. It doesn't come back until morning. If I want to sleep more I take a third pill, if not I get up.
Just wondering.

Yes, the Suboxone is supposed to be the only med I will have to take for RLS/WED. Not sure how much I will have to take but it is possible just the 1 mg half dose will work for the entire 24 hours, but it may take more. The prescription is for 2 mg a day but in the directions explaining how to put it under the tongue it mentions that 3 can be put under the tongue at once so I guess that would be 6 mg, but I suppose the dose for getting off drugs is probably more than for RLS.

If I don't take meds I have RLS 24 hours a day so I have to take a low dose of methadone in the morning and lunch besides the larger dose in the evening when RLS is worse. Without medication and without any withdrawals I will have to pace most of the day and night. I have always had the least symptoms about 4 am but without medications it is unlikely that I would be able to sleep even then. The last time I detoxed during the summer it seemed like I couldn't sleep during the day but did not have to pace the entire 24 hours, maybe 16 hours a day. I have no idea how it might be now, it always seems to be getting worse, but I don't know about that either.

Your WED might be becoming worse. Usually I would just need to increase the meds for the night before I had to also increase them for the morning and day. There is a tolerance buildup for methadone but I doubt at the low doses we take it that you would have cravings for it earlier and earlier. Methadone pretty much stays in your system 24 hours a day anyways, and it builds up in your body over time. I think my doctor initially thought that I might be having a craving for methadone and he took me off of it and it wasn't that, the RLS had just gotten worse and gradually spread so that even my 4 am quiet time was gone. On the other hand since the doctor (this was 3 doctors previously) thought it could be the methadone craving, I suppose it may have been that way for other patients that he had.

[EeFall]

I realized this morning that I misread the directions from the doctor. Yesterday, after 9 days of taking 1/2 dose of Suboxone I was suppose to start taking a whole dose and then he would not increase the dose until after I was completely off of Lyrica & methadone. I had read the 2 instructions as though one superseded the other so I thought that the 9 day thing had gone away. One of the problems with having a lack of sleep, I have trouble understanding simple instructions.

So now I will just have to try a full dose of Suboxone tonight instead of last night. It could be that it will fix me off enough to go back to work! I am keeping my fingers crossed If I can sleep tonight I probably will not go to work tomorrow but test it over the weekend to make sure that it is fully working.

I had another night of sitting on the couch in a haze much of the night. I remember being up and about at 12:30 am and 3:30 am because I made myself some instant oatmeal both times besides cleaning the kitchen up, loading/unloading the dishwasher, messing with little things around the house, and replacing all the rechargeable batteries all over the place and recharging them. My wife must think the elves have come during the night but no it is just me bored out of my mind. I have stood in front (and side) of refrigerator for several hours just updating the location of everything that is stuck on with kitchen magnets. That is boredom and not being able to sit down.

[ViewsAskew]

I hear you on the elves part!

That's actually how I ended up with 800 plants . I was tired of cleaning the same things at 3 AM, but I wasn't brain-capable of doing most things, and I needed to be able to stand. I started buying African Violet leaves and propagating them, watching the parent leaves product progeny, removing the progeny and watching them grow, and so on. I bought 8 leaves, then 8 more, then traded for some....until I had hundreds. But, my nights were now fun and my days were filled with pretty blooms. I then started trading streptocarpus, episcias, and several other gesneriads.

Every time I can't sleep, I'm grateful all over again for my flowered friends.

Here's hoping a full dose solves the problem!

[EeFall]

That's actually how I ended up with 800 plants....

Every time I can't sleep, I'm grateful all over again for my flowered friends.

Turning rust into diamonds, great story!

[EeFall]

I tried going to bed about 10:30 pm but got up at midnight. I don't think I went to sleep, about like just sitting here on couch like I am now. This was the first time with the full dose (2 mg) of Suboxone. I think it is not necessarily because the med does not work for RLS/WED, it is that I am going through withdrawals for Lyrica and methadone. I know one thing, I'm exhausted, I should be sleeping like a baby. Right now I am having trouble not moving.

[cornelia]

I think the med does work for RLS and that you are right that is is the withdrawals that you are going through. I hope that you will have slept by now.

Corrie

[EeFall]

I think the med does work for RLS and that you are right that is is the withdrawals that you are going through. I hope that you will have slept by now.

Corrie

I didn't have much to report so I didn't. I didn't sleep Friday. Yesterday (now it is Monday) it occurred to me that 4 am is usually the best time for me so I went to bed then and slept until 6 am. 2 hours sleep with my VPAP is better than nothing. My last Lyrica was taken Thursday, probably the main reason I am having problems, I know from the summer detox that I get extremely dependent on Lyrica and so now my body is saying what gives, you haven't given me any Lyrica for 4 days! I am down to 10 mg of methadone a day. Taking 2.5 mg in morning and lunch and 5 mg in evening.

It is about 1:30 am now and I have been standing up most of the time since about 9 pm or so. I'm sitting now but it is very difficult to do. I'm taking 2 mg of Suboxone a day now so it almost has to be withdrawals and I know it is. My left ear has gone really bad, it is pretty noisey all the time. My fingers are cracking like crazy so I have been using Nexcare Skin Crack Care. It is sort of like superglue for keeping the finger cracks covered and together.

I was drying off after shower this morning and my right shoulder came out of socket for a second. I have to be very careful with both shoulders now because the cartilage is all gone, bone rubbing against bone. I have been working on the inside of the house when I am not too exhausted. I am going around filling up all the cracks in walls with caulking. It is pretty normal to have to do that to a new manufactured home because it settles.

I finished watching all 10 seasons of Futurama (a really stupid cartoon show developed by same guy who did the Simpsons), but hey I like it. It was really fun for me while home the last few weeks. I wish I could go back to work sooner than later but there is just no way. My wife is doing all the driving, I just am not getting enough sleep to drive and so working would be terrible too. I am afraid I won't be ready to go back by the 7th of February but I almost have to for the money. I might have the time off but I am 99% sure they won't be giving me any medical leave pay.

[EeFall]

It is back to torture. I am writing this on tablet as I walk, can't sit down. I am just miserable, getting too old to go through withdrawals. It makes it worse cause I have huge stash of lyrica plus other meds and it weighs on my mind.

I can't do anything constructive but think how nice it would be to be free of this. The enemy is within, I hope this doesn't last much longer. Another long night ahead hopefully it will get better soon.