wondering what your personal experience was using a home detox or the one on this board. I went to get an assesment at a substance abuse clinic today and they said I could detox myself at home. man I was ready to check myself in and get it over with. they refered me to a adiction specialist to help, wondering how a doctor helps with a home detox .....anyway I have been taking oxys for 10 months now and feel I need to get off of them I was taking up to 7, 10-325 a day with a 40mg of oxycotin in the morning wich really didnt help any so stop taking the 40s and just take the pills as needed I tried to go 24hrs without any oxy today and really kicked my butt had to take 2 pills to kill the withdrawls very scary to me. anyone with info please help....

Hello Bass

I came off of Oxycodone by way of a taper. I did it at home under my family doctor's care, and over a period of six months or so. I was taking 60 mgs a day of Oxycodone when I began the taper. ( I was also taking Xanax which I tapered from after I finished getting off the Oxycodone). I had the choice of being hospitalized, but chose not to. I did not want to come off the opiate cold turkey. I had been on various opiates and pain meds for ten years and just felt coming off quickly was going to be too much for me to handle as I was already in clinical depression ( much of it due to the long time use of opiates for pain).

I used many of the supplements suggested in the Home Detox, making surre I always informed my doctor of exactly what I was taking. My doctor and I sat together and carefully planned and wrote out how the cuts would be made. It had to be modified a few times along the way according to how my body and mind were adjusting to each cut.

In the beginning, I made a cut of half a tab a week. As I progressed, the cuts became a quarter tab a week. Eventually they were an eighth tab cut, then down to crumbles that I eyeballed, always making sure I was taking less and less until it was over. The cuts got smaller and smaller in an effort to keep the prcentage of the cut stable.

As I tapered, I had withdrawal symptoms for sure. Because I had had a complete breakdown, I was not in a strong position when I started the tapering. It was pretty horrible at first, but gradually I leveled out more easily each cut as time went by. I was very frightened in the beginning of the withdrawal symptoms. Scared silly actually. However, as I read and researched more and more and came to understand why each symptom occured, I was able to handle it better. Withdrawing and restoring balance is a long, long process. No matter how you detox, there will be a process of restoration to go through. The brain must restsrt in producing its own pain relief chemicals. Anxiety heightens greatly as this process happens. Depression will come because of the detox. It will pass eventually. We can help the process along by exercising to the extent that we can. We can also help ourselves with many of the suggestions on the Home detox thread.

I wish you well. Come back and asl as many questions as you have.

Best wishes
reach

thanks reachout,
so a long taper of a few months is what your doctor and you recomended, WOW, I think thats what I have to do also I just got off of the xnax about 10 days ago so it may contribute to the withdrawl syptoms as well. wondering did you have to take you pills first thing in the morning to feel better, cause as soon as I wake up I have withdrawls about 10-12 hrs after my last pill. I have to be going to work here in a week so getting real scared because my job does not alow you to take narcotics while at work. I cant be going to witdrawls at work either.......... going to see the addiction doc tomorrow. thanks again, reachout thanks for you reply

I would like to add that evryone is different. Ive detoxed many times and have learned that for me knowing the way im feeling and what to expect has made it easier for me especailly w/ the depression and othr mental parts ,crying for no reason etc. that this will pass.
My wife and i are detoxing now and she is have a harder time of it that myself.I think part of it is that i have been taking the vitamins and supplements that aresuggested in the detox plan.Another part of it IMO is the her metabolism runs faster than mine. I.E. all her symptoms came on sooner than mine.
One detox i did aftr coming off of large amounts of Oxy i took 20 mgs 2 times a day of Oxy for about 2 weeks when that ran out i cold turkyed it, and had virtually NO w/d at all.

I do recomend tapering as much as possible, taking the vitamins recommended Starting NOW and wish you GOODLUCK.

Heya Bass

Wow, if you have just come off Xanax, I would take a bit of a break before starting to taper off the opiate. For me, Xanax was a harder withdrawal by far than the Oxycodone. Let your body and head get on an even keel before starting the Oxy taper if you can.

When I started the Oxycodone taper, I took doses 4 times a day. 8AM, 12PM, 4PM, 8PM. As I progressed, I moved that first morning dose towards the noon dose little by little ( like 15 minutes at a time) until they melded. Then was down to 3 times a day. Kept working it like that until only nighttime dose was left. Started moving that further away from bedtime to try and get on a natural slep schedule ( which can take months).

People do come off cold turkey, but truthfully, if you do that, there is no way you will be ready for work in a week. My experience leads me to say, taper and the slower the better.

Does your job not allow you to take narcotics at work, or to not be on narcotics at work? You should be able to maintain for an 8 hour work day. Keep yourself really as busy as possible. This will distract the mind from the withdrawal.

Much good luck
reach