trying to get off percocet - don't know which road to take

[Phoenix]

Hello post,

Could he have meant to take the pills only when necessary and if more is needed to call him?

His medical advice is vague at best.

I would, at the very least, call and speak to either the doc or his assistant to get a clearer picture of what is required.

Just a suggestion.

Take care.

Respectfully,

Phoenix

[Kari7171]

You could go to your regular family doctor and see if they could help you. I know there are things they can give you to help with the withdrawal. If you explain to them you've been taking it because of your surgery and now that you are trying to stop it's causing problems with withdrawal maybe they could help. Really the best thing is to slowly taper down.

By the way I'm having a microdiscectomy next week. I've been taking Ultram for my pain. I'm not sure how hard it is to get off of that stuff but I guess I"ll find out. Then it'll be percocet next week and vicodin after my surgery. Last time I had this surgery I only took the vicodin for 5 days and tapered down and the last day without any drugs I had anxiety but it only lasted for 1 day. Not sure how long it lasts when you've been on narcotics longer.

[TopamaxKillsMe]

You need to ween off it. I believe the lesser the dose, the easier it is to come off it. If you're on a high dose, ask your doctor to prescribe a lower dose until you can ween off it entirely. Hopefully your doctor isn't as clueless as mine who has suddenly decided to stop me cold turkey. I'm not looking forward to that withdrawal. (went through vicodin withdrawal about five years ago quitting cold turkey and I was in hell, sweating, shaking, crying, vomiting). You absolultely must ween off narcotics. Any doctor who doesn't get that is an idiot.

[lizzy76]

I have tried to quit cold turkey and it was pure hell! I can't go through that again. I've gone off Fentynal patches cold turkey, and norco cold turkey and they both were hell. Ironically, the first time I went cold turkey (from norco) I didn't know anything about withdrawals - I just thought you could stop taking pills and the only thing that I would struggle with were urges. So, being so naive to things, I thought I had the flu during withdrawals, along with insomnia. I didn't connect the "flu" feelings to my stopping the norco for some reason. I learned about withdrawals quickly after that!!

If you can find someone who can prescribe Suboxone (most primary care docs can't), that will make your withdrawals SOOO much easier. At least it did for me. I know there are differing opinions on Suboxone and I'm just sharing my experience with it. However, Suboxone is also something that you can't just stop cold turkey, but for me it's always been a very easy taper. Just a thought. It also helped with the cravings which was really my biggest challenge. You didn't mention if you are addicted or not, or if you just have a physical dependence, so if you're not addicted the Suboxone probably wouldn't be the best route to take.

Good luck with things!