Want to stop taking hydrocodone?

Question

i have been taking 2-3 hydrocodone pills per day for about the past three yrs due to a foot injury. I want to quit taking these pills but i am afraid of what the side effects will be. Anyone ever went through these withdrawls and if so what were they and how bad was it.

Answer 1

reduce your dosage by eliminating one tablet every three days. You should not experience severe withdrawals. If you do here is my suggestions.

Here is what I suggest to get you over the worst part of the withdrawals.

To help with the withdrawals take hot bathes with 2c. of dissolved Epsom salts and soak for 30 minutes. The skin is the biggest organ of elimination and this will help pull out the drugs. Use a loofa to clean the pores and this will help pull the drugs out even faster.

I recommend you drink purified water mixed with mineral water 50/50. This will replace the minerals that are exiting your body continuously.

I suggest that adults and children drink 40 ounces of water per 100 pounds of body weight every day and 2c. a day of fresh carrot juice, to flush the medicine out of your liver. Taking 500mg of calcium and magnesium twice a day will help you to relax.

Drink chamomile tea throughout the day and evening to help you stay relaxed.

Use a powdered fiber supplement twice daily to pull the drugs out of your intestines where they store.

Two of the questionnaires in this forum did follow this program to withdrawl from drugs and it did help. I've enclosed a link where you can read their response to this program.

If you have any further questions please let me know,
Billie77

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AopDLiRvBnNMTMDFCWdspC3ty6IX?qid=20070420060047AA4ZYt0&show=7#profile-info-kEyWlAuxaa

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=An6XfUvE3KbQrKMfpSI4PLTty6IX?qid=20070423133800AAwiXOD&show=7#profile-info-AA10090817

Answer 2

The side effects should not be too bad as long as you decrease the dosage gradually over a period of a week. Here is a web site that gives you all the details:
www.drug-addiction.com
/hydrocodone_withdrawls.htm

There are plenty of other websites if you search under "hydrocodone withdrawal." The severe side effects are more likely for extreme addicts. At your level, which is mild, it shouldn't be too rough. Good luck!

Answer 3

I also have ruptured discs in my back and neck, and took tons of opiates for many years. I knew there was no way I could get off of them on my own, so I found a doctor nearby who prescribes Suboxone, and I've been taking it for the last three years. I don't mind that I will probably have to take it for the rest of my life... I have an addiction problem. If you want to try without the aid of Suboxone, you must taper down slowly... take less frequently and less amounts slowly over weeks... and hope that you can avoid withdrawls.... they are awful...

Answer 4

that hydrocodone is some good stuff! i had my tonsils cut out this past April (i am 44 years old). i was prescribed liquid hydrocodone. i had to take 3 teaspoons every 3 hours. i felt absolutely no pain but was pretty loopy. after a week i started to ween myself off since spring gobbler season was opening the following week and i didn't want to be doped up with a loaded shotgun in my hands. i first cut back to 2 teaspoons every 3 hours. then stretched the time out to 2 teaspoons every 4 hours and so on. after a couple of days i was off it with minimal discomfort.

in your case, as junkie had mentioned, cut the pills in half and stretch out the time between popping them.

good luck to you!

Answer 5

MY HUSBAND WAS AN ADDICT. I CAN TELL YOU THE WITHDRAWLS ARE REALLY BAD. THE BEST ADVISE I CAN GIVE YOU IS DONT STOP THEM COLD TURKEY. SLOWLY GET OFF THEM. YOU CAN DO THIS BY TAKING TWO A DAY IF YOU WOULD LIKE OR TAKING HALF THREE TIMES A DAY AND CUTTING BACK FROM THERE, THE WITHDRAWLS INCLUDE- THE FEELING LIKE YOU ARE COMING OUT OF YOUR SKIN-NAUSEA-VOMITING-STOMACH CRAMPING. SOUNDS LIKE YOU WERE NOT TAKING THAT MUCH. YOU CAN ALSO TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR AND THEY CAN GIVE ATIVAN TO HELP WITH THE WITHDRAWLS. BETTER TO CUT YOURSELF OFF SLOWLY.
GOOD LUCK. I AM VERY EDUCATED IN THIS AREA SO EMAIL ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING

Answer 6

Well, where do I begin. If you have been taking the Hydro exactly as prescribed, you might go through minor withdrawals. Physical withdrawal from opiates is PURE hell and it includes, "The runs, bone pain, muscle pain, stomach pain, extreme lethargy, mind games." I strongly, strongly advise you to start cutting that dose but DO NOT go cold turkey. I was on Methadone for pain for 2 years, 200 mg 's a day and weaned of completely by-myself so there is not much in this avenue I do not know. Trust me. You may feel like you have the flu, tired, inner calve pain and not even know what is going on, and honestly I think your better off not knowing, my advise, STAY on them completely, and intelligently or drop them very, very fast. Regardless of the fact of not being a drug -addict in the sense of a word, you are addicted and MD's won't say this because they cannot give a heroin addict opiates but they can prescribe opiates to a person that does not want something stronger and inevitably you will need something stronger, no matter who you are. In the addict word, it is referred to as withdrawal, in pain management it is breakthrough pain, A COMPLETE DOUBLE PARADOX!and Nonesense! Anyone that runs a script of vicodens for three months is addicted, period, in one sense, mental and or physical.Your body naturally creates endorphins (opiates) to block pain and once you artificially put them in your body, your pituitary gland doesn't make them as efficiently. If you cannot stay on them, for whatever reason, personal etc, wean off. I can go on and on and god forbid I would not anyone to go through what I did.The arupt stop of these opiates can last up to 21 days, they say 3 to 5, NONSENSE! You, maybe 5 to 7. 10mg's /times 3 a day is not that much, but it is the time you took them, I took Lorcet 10/650 for 7 years with no incidence so get out of them damn things while you can!

Answer 7

ween yourself off by taking fewer and fewer per day. You can even break them in half. Just like any addiction you can beat it.