Ever Kick a Dope Addiction?

[Atomic Punk]

Specifically Opiates/Painkillers? If you have, or knew someone who did, how did they do it, and how did they stay off of it--assuming they did? I have a friend who is having problems with this. He was addicted to Oxycontins, and went to a methadone clinic to help get him off of those. Well I guess you are only supposed to stay on those long enough to relieve the withdrawal from the PKs, then you are to quit the methadone as well. Apparently, he didn't. Now he is having problems with quitting the Methadone. I tried to come up with a half-assed regimine for him to wean himself off of them altogether, but he didn't seem too interested. I figured that maybe could take one day off from using, and see what kind of withdrawal symptoms he was having. If they were bad, he could "dose" a small amount to relieve the symptoms. Then he would try to take 2 days off. Eventually weaning himself off altogether as I said.

Any suggestions?

 

[Nathan]

If you ask me, the worst part about giving up a serious drug habit, is filling the time. A person could go mad going from having the day filled FOR them with fun things to do that are only fun because you're on drugs to having to come up with anything that's even half as fun as being high, and an entire day of it no less. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm all set over here. Anyways, not sure about your friend, but my bet is he needs to give the shit up alltogether, brave the withdrawal bullshit for a few shitty weeks, then find something to do with his time that excites him. Not that I've ever been addicted to drugs or anything, I just read about it in a magazine once and that's more or less what they said.

 

[Atomic Punk]

If you ask me, the worst part about giving up a serious drug habit, is filling the time. A person could go mad going from having the day filled FOR them with fun things to do that are only fun because you're on drugs to having to come up with anything that's even half as fun as being high, and an entire day of it no less. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm all set over here. Anyways, not sure about your friend, but my bet is he needs to give the shit up alltogether, brave the withdrawal bullshit for a few shitty weeks, then find something to do with his time that excites him. Not that I've ever been addicted to drugs or anything, I just read about it in a magazine once and that's more or less what they said.

Alot of what you said is true. This dude doesn't work, and has alot of free time. I heard Richard Pryor say one time in an interview, that the worst thing an addict can have is money and time to kill. If he could get out into the work force, I think he would be fine. Thanks for the reply bro.

 

[The Terminator]

for gear I would not recommend tapering...But for this type of "habit" I think it can be beneficial...

If he takes say 50 mg of oxy go down to 45 then 40, then 35...and so on...This could work for a strong person...a weaker individual may not make it with this regimen though. (this is how I quit smoking years ago...and it worked for me )

 

[Nathan]

Alot of what you said is true. This dude doesn't work, and has alot of free time. I heard Richard Pryor say one time in an interview, that the worst thing an addict can have is money and time to kill. If he could get out into the work force, I think he would be fine. Thanks for the reply bro.

No problem. That was my trap this past year. I finished school and was doing shit all but bounce for a while, which I did high as well. I've never had a problem with opiates specifically, never done them daily for very long periods of time. Like I said, getting high just gets to be something to do. Hell, he'd experience withdrawal from the opiates, but he could even try moving to a less harmful drug, like marijuana. Get him a vaporiser online (like $130), and then he doesn't even have to smoke it. Opiates are garbage for you liver. I'm surprised he isn't sick all the time. I tend to catch everything I so much as hear about after excessive drug use.

 

[Buddy_Christ]

when one is trying to kick an opiate addiction, the worst thing to do is to turn to alcohol. what happens is that alcohol will eventually take the place of the opiate in the brain, meaning it will eventually cause the same chemical reaction in the brain. i believe this study was done in houston, tx. when a dead bum would be found and still be warm, the doctor would do an autopsy as fast as possible. what they were finding was that the brain was showing signs of opium use, but these street bums were too poor to afford opium/heroin. however, they were able to obtain alcohol. it is believed that this occurs in alcoholics as well. the brain will eventually have the same response.

pretty interesting actually, at least i thought it was.

that being said, your friend has 2 choices - cold turkey or wean off. if he goes cold turkey, the drug will be out of the body in 2-5 days, approximately. intake of a lot of water and exercise might help to flush it out sooner. after that, the only effects are mental.

the thing your friend must do is "retrain" his brain. he must find good pleasure sources, such as exercise, sex, good meals, etc, basically anything that makes him happy w/out getting high. when the brain has seen long term opiate use, it eventually only knows to release dopamine when the drug is taken. retraining the brain is the hardest part, and it's part of recovery.

i am not an expert on this, some of what i have said may be slightly off, but it's pretty damn close. when my ass got stupid a few years ago and got a DUI, i ended up taking DUI classes in california as part of my probation. the counselor was a former alcohlic and heroin addict with 15 years sober. we were taught a lot about effects of alcohol and other drugs upon the brain, and he openly and willingly shared his personal experiences and how he beat his addiction, which was doing it cold turkey and battling it out for a week or two.

opiates are hard to kick because they are so powerful. good luck to your friend.