Weaning off opiate

[BillyKueek]

After being diagnosed with fibromyalgia years ago, my neurologist has put me on a variety of medication and up until now, none seems to really work. I am currently on opiate and feel it is also not effective. Am fed up with the side effects and withdrawal symptoms of lexapro and opiate, I plan to stay off these. Anyone has experience on how to do it without disrupting my lifestyle and work? What can I take to effectively counter the withdrawal?

Currently, I am on Lyrica 75mg x 3, lexapro 10mg, cymbalta, Fentamax.

 

[nascarmike]

Billy wean yourself off slowly, like decreasing by a dose or even half dose at a time. One medication at a time. You really need to talk to your Dr. so he can properly monitor you so that you stay safe. I decreased dosage every week by one until I was off all of the pain meds prescribed. I'll be honest there were times I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin, even minor withdrawal can be unpleasant but it can be done. Good luck.

 

[GemmaRowlands]

If you don't feel as though something is working for you, and you want to stop taking them, the best thing that you can do is see your doctor, because s/he might be able to offer a replacement that might work better for you. You might find that it is difficult to wean yourself off them, and it is important to understand that there is a chance that you could experience some withdrawal symptoms, but remember that this is normal, and it is simply what you need to go through in order to try and get yourself back to normal again.

 

[Trellum]

You need to do this under the supervision of your doctor, so he can help you with the withdrawal symptoms, which can't be avoided, but if you decrease the doses little by little should be less. My mom made a huge mistake by going cold turkey on her sleeping pills. So be careful.

 

[BillyKueek]

Thank you for the well wishes and suggestions.

On occasions when I forgot my Fentamax patches, the withdrawal symptoms are very uncomfortable and very disrupting to my daily routine and work. Hope it'll get better and soon I am back to the me before all of these medications.

 

[BillyKueek]

Today is day 2 of going cold turkey from my fentanyl patches, Oxynorm, lexapro, cymbalta, Lyrica. Yesterday at day 1 was easier than today when I took a tab of clonodine. Today, I am trying half a tab of clonodine, twice a day. Researched on this online on my own. I've spoke to my neurologist before but he doesn't seem to understand my problems and the withdrawal effect so I've decided to do this on my own. Wish me luck!

 

[Forgetmenot]

As pp said do it slowly there's not a lot u can do to stop the withdrawing feeling ,I came of tramadol and I hurt all over like flu my skin was sore more sore then normal for me.
So I dropped my midday pills but still had them in the am and pm ,I did this for 7days .then I dropped my morning ones but I did this one pill at a time so just one in the am and two at night for another 7 days then I dropped a night time one.again 7 days. I no it seems a long time but it made it a lot less stressful on my body.i did up my paracetamol insteed of the tramadol
Now if I do take tramadol I don't use it everyday I don't wanna go there again.

 

[BillyKueek]

Thanks for the advices. My doc advised me to drop by half dosage of cymbalta for a month before cutting it off. As for lyrical, lexapro, fentanyl, he told me to hold the dosages first. Thereafter, we will work on the next thing.

 

[Brismom]

I got tired of taking Norco once so I weaned off a half a tablet at a time till I got down to one tablet then weaned that down by 1/4 tablet till I was off! I think I did get help in the middle by taking half a Xanax. But when I was completely weaned off everything, I felt exactly the same, except in a lot of PAIN, so after about 5 days I said nope, I am not living without my pain medicine, so I started taking them again. Now, I do think I want to switch to a patch because I don't want to have to think about it. I just want my pain to be at a manageable level. The pain is always there~but it is tolerable. Good luck.

 

[nascarmike]

Hi Billy glad you and your doc have a plan. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[BillyKueek]

As of now, the plan with my neurologist, so I am hoping to be off cymbalta at the end of the first month and then the next and the next.

I am on the Febtanyl patches and didn't like it either, so eventually I want to be off it too.

However, my neurologist mentioned it's impossible to be off Lyrica and lexapro once I started, which I have took for years now. Anyone with comments on this?

 

[nascarmike]

Just do it slow Billy, and it will happen for you.