For those of you who are thinking about it, good luck. My doctors suck. I am about ready to file a complaint with the state of California on two of them. I called my Pain Med and Neurologist about 3am, left a msg. I requested an emergency appt with my Neurologist because Restless Legs Syndrome is driving me crazy. ReQuip, Neuronitin, Valium, and other things were a joke.

I have only had a few hours sleep since Saturday night. I finally used 15mg Oxycodone for relief and it worked. Just great. I want off Opiates and due to no support from my doctors I had to use an opiate to get some sleep. I am NOT happy with them.

I am feeling better this afternoon, I hope to get some good sleep tonight. Thanks to Oxycodone.

On the bright side of things I don't miss morphine, demerol, Fentanyl, etc. a little bit. I did not miss Oxycodone either.

If I had any advice to you, expect the unexpected.

My legs get restless when I try to stop my pain meds too. Drives me crazy. I hope you find a doctor who will help you with this rather than throw you to the dogs, so to speak. I have stopped all drugs before and after about 5 days it passes...hope that helps.

Best!
J

Thanks for the encouragement. It was 167 hours ago that I took my last morphine.

Due to either bad doctors or uncaring doctors, take your choice....my wife figured out the Librium was causing my RLS. I quit it and have not had SEVERE RLS in a couple of days. Of course, we HOPE it is that simple. I raised my Neurontin from 900mg a day to 1200 during this time, hoping it might make some difference.

I have had 3 or 4 days where I sleep all day and my wife can't wake me up. She shakes me, she yells at me, my Medic Alert Dog is frantic... my wife tells me she licks my face, sits on me (I was laying on the bed), she will even lay on my chest (45 pound Portuguese Water Dog) and lick my face or "punch" my chin with her nose. After I finally got enough strength to get up today, she followed me to the shower and laid outside it until I came out, she followed me into the family room and laid in front of me.... watching me the whole time. I have never seen her so worried (?) apprehensive (?) instinctively concerned (?).
I am amazed at her intuitiveness. She is my Service/Medic Alert Dog and .... wow ... she even follows me to the bathroom. Before I started this ... CCHS ... I quit breathing a lot when asleep. I did not say that well. CCHS is self explanatory. When you sleep, your brain/CNS tells your heart to beat and for you to breathe. Mine does not tell me to breathe. My brain does not know when it is out of oxygen. At the National Jewish Hospital in Denver, CO they ran my Pulse Ox down to 18. EIGHTEEN folks. At 88 your doctor would want you to be checked out. I knew my chest was warm, but I was talking to the doctors the whole time. What I did think was odd was that we had a LOT of people in the room while doing this...seems like at least 7 doctors and nurses. So going to sleep without my Ventilator and oxygen is dangerous for me.

Anyway, my wife is quite concerned too. She does not want to hospitalize me, but she is quite concerned about my not breathing and being so hard to wake up. It can take her a half hour (easily) to wake me up. If she shakes me, I roll over. If she yells at me, I ignore her (so she says ... I really don't remember). I am so tired I can't hardly stand.

BUT I DON'T MISS OPIATES, I DON'T LIKE OPIATES AND I HAVE NO DESIRE TO TAKE THEM.
I HAVE MORPHINE WITHIN 3 FEET OF WHERE I WATCH TV AND DON'T CARE. I WILL TAKE THE AVINZA TO MY DOCTOR AS TOXIC WASTE. I CANNOT IMAGINE WHY I WOULD TAKE ANY MORE.

That said, severe RLS means I have to take Oxycodone. I have taken it 3 times since last Saturday. 7.5mg once and 15mg twice. Since I don't seem to have any symptoms tonight, I won't take any. (Famous last words) It does seem like....if I don't take any and I have a problem, I need 15mg to "catch up" and defeat the RLS. If I take 7.5mg as I go to bed, I "get ahead" of the problem and sleep all night. I may be kidding myself. But I do NOT desire the opiates. They are merely a tool. I tried 2400mg of Neurontin, 15mg of Valium, ReQuip and something else ---- did no good. 15mg of oxycodone nailed the RLS in a short period of time and I could sleep.

If I did not mention it, I only got a few hours sleep the first few days. I fought severe RLS and refused to take an opiate. I think I am better off taking the 7.5mg or even half of that
so I can get some sleep.

If any of you understand this detox stuff, please tell me if I am making a mistake. I know every human body is different, but this seems to work for me.

I had hoped for the legendary "4 day detox" and that life would be wonderful by today. Now I am just gritting my teeth and taking it one day at a time. I am so amazed at how tired I am. Not sore and worn out exactly, just dog tired. As my wife has noted, I have slept most of at least 3 days. Makes no sense to me. Every time I wake up I have a little black nose on my chest or next to my face. My little girl and I are getting closer by the minute. She isn't a fur kid because she has hair, but she has really become my dog in the last few months. She knows..... somehow .... I am sick and she is determined to take care of me the best she can. I wish I were half as good a person as she is. I will win this battle. Never fear.

PS - when I started this, I thought I might get off morphine a few months to see if my other medical problems got better. And if they did not, I would go back on it. NO WAY.
Not after this. I pray to the Lord above I never need them outside of surgery. I am one of the luckiest men on Earth that I don't like them. I don't crave them. I am not addicted. In fact, I have forgotten to take them a few times. I don't want to push my luck. One detox is enough for me and my wife and my little 4 legged girl. Prayers gratefully accepted.

I have no experience with morphine so I can't speak to that. I think we are all different in how we respond to our medications. I hate them too, but I hate the alternative worse. I take as little as possible and go sometimes days without any. Do I have an addiction to them? Not mental. My body will tell me that it missed them, however, by giving my restless legs or a headache. I think it's important to have a doctor advise you on this, and maybe what you need is a new doctor? Good luck and hang in there.

Been 32 days. I am off morphine. At least I don't miss it one bit. But I picked up a nasty cold/flu from our grandson and it gave my wife and I, and our 31 year old daughter lung infections. I have NEVER heard of that in my life.

Anyway, I went into my Chronic Bronchitis Mode and wound up sick again. Grrrrrrrr.

My Pain Med doctor is a good guy, but his staff is terrible. I tried to make an appt with him - again and was told he only sees new patients.

I detoxed on my own. I was told it can take as long as 60-90 days to get all of it out of our systems, so maybe I am premature to say I have detoxed.

My back pain is not as bad as a few years ago, but I am being VERY careful not to do anything to hurt it.

If I learned anything from this, it would be to ask the Pain Med doctor, going in, if he will supervise your detox. I am zero for two doctors locally. The first said he did not know how to detox me, so I started this on my own. I guess I will finish it on my own too.

Enough whining, better days ahead.....

Weird thing about opiates. When I first started taking them, I was never addicted to them, just took them a few times a week if that. They seem to chip away at you until you ARE addicted to them.

By whole life I have never been addicted to anything and I have had plenty of chances. I drank like a fish all thru my twenties and I barely drink at all now in my 30's. I smoked for one year cause my young girlfriend at the time did, only around her. Haven't picked up a smoke since. I just don't have an addictive personality but with opioids, give them time and eventually they break thru and get you addicted.

What I believe happens which is different from other things is that your biology changes. Your body chemistry changes and THAT is something you can't fight.

I just read your coment about morphine. I have been on 60mg 3X a day for about 5 years now and when I quit taking the drug, I have no energy or desires to do anything, plus my pain returns with a bad attitude. Was it like this for you? and how long before the body addition subsides from stomach cramps?
J**P

This is my first time replying on a forum. It put me right in the begging of the message im replying to. No blank block to state my issue.

I have fought a very vicious AML Blast Crisis Leukemia for 10 long years. As far as i can tell ive WON! I had an NDE in 2006 and died 12 other times from severe Pnemonia. MD Anderson in Houston tells me im the only one in the world to have done so. I had a 60% Blast Crisis and died in the Cancer Center.

I'm on my third day of getting of Morphine. I can't even walk well. I take Xanax and Ibuprophen to cut the pain enough to sleep a few hours. I am extremely weak.

Does anyone have any ideas... I hate Narcotics!

TaosGuy

Hi TaosGuy, Welcome.

Are you being tapered off under a doctor's care/supervision, or trying to go cold turkey? What dosage/level were you at when you began coming off, and are you taking any other Rx's that may be relevant?

Doc

to get off any medication , you must be under a Drs care . DO NOT DO IT ON YOUR OWN