NJPain:

I agree with you 100%. I already know now, IF my current Doc tries to Detox me ... I'm a dead man!! He knows about Dextox like I know about Nuclear Fission. ZERO!!!! I am on 100mcg of Fentanyl, 3mg daily of Xanax & 15mg x 3 day of Oxycodone IM.

My plan is to completely bypass the entire NIGHTMARE and check myself into a hospital. Mainly a detox hospital that deals with drug addicts. I AM NOT A DRUG ADDICT but the only people I am gonna trust is a Detox hospital that deals with this daily.

Most insurance plans cover it ... how are you feeling now? Today is Oct 9th?

Joe

More detox fallout...I took a VA disability hearing test --- twice.

One test is tones and the other is a "word" test. Maryland CNC or something like that. The dr. told me I had to answer before the next test sentence started or the test was over.

I came home from the first test and told my family I had a lot of trouble with being able to recognize some words. Not sure why.

After the second hearing test, Oct.24th, I came home and told them the problem is my cognitive skills. A side effect (for me) of the long term use of opiates. I can't remember nouns. The word "cowboy" was used in the word test. I heard cowboy....click, whirr my mind was processing it ...clank clank....yeah, I think that was cowboy, then by the time my brain told my mouth to say it, the next sentence was starting. I can no longer multi-task. Another apparent side effect of opiates.

I can tell you more of my problems, but let me summarize it by saying the first doctor said:
"Test reports are not reportable for adjudicative purposes at this time. Pure tone and speech testing was attempted; however, reliability of the test results was fair to poor due to inconsistent respones from Veteran. During testing he continually responded with half word SRT responses, extreme hesitation and inconcsistent responses. Behovioral testing was not consistent with DPOAE results (which do not require patient participation) indicating a misrepresentation of his hearing ability (padding thresholds). Vet's behavior indicated nonorganic indicated nonorganic tendencies."

SHE STATED IN WRITING THAT I WAS CHEATING AND MALINGERING. She and I and the California State Bd of Medical Review have a future date, she just doesn't know it yet.
She is NOT qualified to test and evaluate someone coming off long term opiates.

WATCH OUT AND WARN YOUR FRIENDS.

Another finding after being off opiates for over 3 months...... I sleep much less. I went to bed around 1am last night due to congestion, was awake around 5:45am. I seem to feel ok the rest of the day, so who knows. Before opiates I could sleep to 7am easily.

My Restless Leg Syndrome is back with a vengeance. I had RLS around 2002 or 2003, then it seemed to go away. MAYBE it was because of the increasing amount of opiates?

The normal starting dosage of ReQuip is .25mg for RLS (per my Neurologist). In order to calm my RLS I quickly went to 6mg. Not good. Nausea is my new companion.

My memory is still not good. Example is: You and I are talking and a friend asks you what time it is. You answer. I will have forgotten what we were talking about most of the time.
I am trying to be patient (like I have a choice .

The reason I am posting these things is to let all of you know that the opiates may mask our pain, but our bodies ... may have other problems we can't anticipate. I hope that makes sense. I can't remember nouns well. Really a strange feeling.

Again, if you go to a Pain Med doctor, ask him how he will help you detox on down the road..... IF you have to do that. I never dreamed I would leave opiates, but my body demanded it. As one Pulmonologist told my wife, "Get him off the Morphine before it kills him..." I understand most of you will not have my problems, but you MAY be masking a different set of problems with your pain meds.

Well, now that I have cheered you up , keep these things in mind. I had RLS before the opiates, I just thought RLS had taken a vacation.

I have been on oxycodone for 12 years from cancer and then other pain issues. I detoxed myself off all the fentanyls but am having a hell of a bad time getting off this crap. I was taking 45mg every 3 hours and up to 60 when very bad. I started weaning down Dec. 22nd. I am now at 15mg every 3 hours and I take my Xanax (.50mg with it along with a muscle relaxer Skalenx or something like that. It does not make you zonky at all.) I am in such muscle pain in my legs, irritable, and so miserable I don't think I can make it. Why is this drug so hard? Please any tips to get me to the end? I have reduced it by 70% in 9 days but I am not doing well at this dose. Body won't get used to it. Should I just go lower and suffer more? Help I promised my family and I want off so badly. I am using accupuncture and other things for pain. Any tips to end this last part? It is a horrible *****. Can' work or function.

Can u please answer some questions for me? I have been on fentanyl, actiq (took myself off about 15 months ago after being on huge amounts-worked great on arthritis, neck pain, stomache and other issues)but they put me on oxycodone and the others which I can't stand. The oxycodone does work on the leg pain. This leg pain is new to me. I am trying to detox myself off oxycodone myself. In 8 days I have weaned from 45mg every 3 hours to 15 mg but my legs are killing me! I don't have pins and needles feeling. They just hurt all the way down and I have to stretch them straight out and it goes on for over 10 hours! It is new. It did start a few months ago before I started weaning off the oxy, Is this restless leg syndrome? I agree about the Dr.s' Long story but I am filing complaints on 2 myself. Mentally I am so done with these damn opiods-they change your personality and ruin your life but after 11 days of weaning down I am exhausted and hurting so badly. Any advice on how to get from 15mg every 3hours to the end of this hell?

I wish you all luck with your efforts, for me, if I go off pain meds I will die! I have tried most and settled for the one that makes me feel in most control, but my pain will never leave, its a fact, and I have tried doing without, can't live like that! I take only what I have to, always have more then I should at Rx refill time, take all I have so they will know I am not abusing, when something is not working right I demand to try something else! My pain has never completely left me, just dulled, got off all the crazy nerve pain meds that was making me feel like I had dementia, Like Lyrica, Neurotin, stuff like that! They had me on Kadian 100 mg 3 x a day and Ms 15mg 2 x a day and valium 10 mg 3 x a day (so I can pee and keep away terrible muscle spasms) so I had them change the Kadian to Opana 40 mg 2 x a day and it helps a bit better but still hurts. Every month I have anywhere from 4 to 10 ms extra and this month so far halfway through have almost 6 extra Opana, and always have 20 or so extras valium every 3 months and this has went on for years so I know I am not an addict, no way! I have to learn to live with a certain amount of pain, no choice! So far constipation is not as bad on Opana, and other things wrong with my body is direct result of spinal cord injury from surgery caused it all, even the surgeon that did it said so, and my labs are perfect along with BP, ect, just this damm pain and curve in my back,sigh. I do know I am not an addict, my body is dependent on meds that help get me to bathroom and I have never felt high.I have not had alcohol since years before the meds! I agree if you can live without them, go for it, otherwise use it wisely and listen to Dr unless he is quack! I feel anyone that wants to detox should be under care of Dr, if at all possible!
I wish you all well that has a choice, some of us don't!

Hi Junie,
I started detox around July 19th and it is January 19, 2009. SIX MONTHS. No opiates since around the first part of August and that was for Restless Legs Syndrome.

Looking back on it, I have mixed emotions.

Opiates apparently masked my RLS, TN, PN and Fibromyalgia. I just don't know which end is up right now. And I am a little scared. Nerve problems are nasty (in my opinion). I won't bore you with the specifics, but the spinal pain was more severe (at its worst). The new problems are too weird. Both knees quit on me two nights ago. I could not stand up. I now have a Power Chair from the Scooter Store because my feet will not always allow weight on them, so I fall. I use my Forearm Crutch even if I feel ok because I never know when some lower extremity will "short out" on me. Again, this pain usually only lasts about a half hour. There are exceptions, but the other "good" thing about nerve pain ... so far ... is that I can usually "get away from it" by moving my body. By shifting my body, I relieve the pain and can do without opiates. So far.

My Respiratory System is MUCH better. No more taking a half hour to wake me up. My Service Dog/Medic Alert Dog still monitors me closely, but she has not had to rescue me in a few months. My memory is bad. Cognitive skills are slow and not as good as they were.

I am sorry you have to be on opiates and other drugs. I am 63 and have so many weird things happening to me ... I don't know where or what condition I will be in next year. But the Lord has been good to me and life is good. When I fall in the floor my dog runs over to me and loves me. When I can't get out of bed in the morning because my knee won't work, my wife helps me. I am so lucky. It could be a lot worse and maybe it will get worse, but all you and I can do is take it One Day at a Time. Good Luck Junie.

I have been taking morphine since 1997, although I did come off it for 2 years (05-07) but found myself having to take oxycodone IR to cope with the pain. The main problem I had once I had stopped the morphine was restless legs, it very near drove me insane. I tried requip and clonazepan, but with little effect, it was so bad, I was having major problems driving and sleeping very little.

I had an accident at home in early 08 and ended up having to go back to taking the morphine again. I have cut my dose by two thirds recently and want to try again to stop it, but the thought of going through the problems of restless legs again scares me. My pain threshold is so low after taking morphine for so long, but I really want to get away from any opiate use.

Anyone have any experience with dealing with these effects of long term opiate use?

Hi, I am new to this site. I had fought against taking Narcotics for the first 17 years of acute to chronic pain. I was an a car accident and also have brain damage.

About 3 years ago I went broke. All the ways I managed pain, acupuncture, massage therapy, hot / cold contrast baths, Letha Yoga; which is a system where somebody else stretches every muscle and joint in your body for you, are now too expensive. I have Medicare and Humana drug coverage, so Narcotics is the only thing I can now afford.

They enter my system as poison. I want to die for about 15-30 minutes, then I get 4 magical hours of no pain. If I can get the dose just right. Not enough does nothing, too much puts me to sleep.

My doctor convinced me to go on pain killers full time. This ended the poison feeling. For the first 2 years, they worked great. The problem now is, I kept hurting myself and did not know it.

The pain meds no longer make me feel energised and ambitious. Now they just make me sluggish and stupid.

I was using 75 Fentanyl Patches and 60 mg morphine every 4 hours. My doctor advised I schedule down in 3 day increments. My pharmacist felt that was too quick and thought 5 day increments would be better.

I got Valium and Klonopin, just in case. I am also bi-polar, and was epileptic for a time after the accident. I had a bruise on the right temporal lobe of my brain.

I started cutting down on December 28th. My last 25 Fentanyl came off 3 nights ago. I took the last dose of 45 mg Morphine 2 days ago. Last night I took a sleeping pill, Restoril.

So far so good. I am not planning on risking any type of irratic brain stuff, since I already have too much of that. I doubt this is the last morphine I'll take.

What do any of you find is the difference in effects of Morphine and Oxycodone? I have them both. I won't take any more Fentanyl, since I have two dogs. The last patch fell off and I have never found it. I'm praying it was already "dead" when it fell off, it had been over 3 days.

I'm on my 2nd day off pain meds. Have you noticed any difference in mental ability on Oxycodone versus Morphine?