OT: Percocet Withdrawl

[squid13]

Thanks Pugsy I'll check into that and give it a try. What I like about diphenhydramine is you can get a bottle of 600 25mg for $4.48 cents at Sam:s Club.

[Pugsy]

What I like about diphenhydramine is you can get a bottle of 600 25mg for $4.48 cents at Sam:s Club.

Yep. Cheap. And while I don't have a Sam's or Costco membership I do buy in bulk the plain diphendyramine which is the active ingredient in most of those OTC sleep aids with fancy names and pricey stickers for cost. Antihistamine that causes drowsiness and sometimes drowsiness is a good thing. I take it and even give it to my dogs. It's fairly benign and safe even for my fur babies.

[khauser]

I'm late to respond to this. First, congrats! I know (first hand) the effort involved!

Of the two opiates I had been prescribed, stopping oxycodone (which is the opioid in percocet) was by far the hardest. The other was morphine, but for me that was much easier to cut back.

For me the side effects were short-lived, but in fairness, I eliminated oxycodone but still take (a much smaller dose of) morphine. This was my doctor's advice as I started to get some bad pain trying to kill it completely. I take 15% of what I used to take ... it was a big change.

Are you able to work with your doctor? There are things that can help with the side effects of withdrawal. As for how long, this depends a lot on how much and how long you were taking it. Unfortunately, your body learns to deal with the presence of opioids by reducing natural endorphins it would otherwise generate. It takes time without the opioids for your body to resume normal endorphin production.

Diphenhydramine can indeed help with sleep, but you may find the sleep it provides is not what you want. Worth a try though!

I still desire going further, but there are impediments. I can't take large amounts of NSAIDs (that's what I did before the opioids, and my kidneys filed an official protest). I am scared to death of acetaminophen because of liver toxicity, and it really didn't help that much.

Again, great job at doing this!

[squid13]

I was on percocet for a little over 5 years. I started a 4 a day , then 3 a day and the last 2 years at 2 a day. The being sick is over and all I have is insomnia but it's getting better, it will pass with time I just have to stick it out. I'm 83 so I don't have to worry about work.

[Nick Danger]

Amitriptylline (Elavil) can cause or aggravate depression... I'd be very careful with that.

It is a tricyclic ANTI-depressant. Its primary use is to treat depression. It is also used at lower doses to treat chronic pain. Depression is NOT a side effect of amitriptyline. Julie, please do not make recommendations about medications.

[Julie]

Nick - I was working in the office of a neurosurgeon for yrs and some patients on Elavil for pain reported depression, so we moved them to other things after looking into the issue for a while. I suggest you MYOB now.

[chunkyfrog]

Unluckily, many drugs have side effects equal or contrary to their intended use.
Whether the side effect is common or uncommon, the INDIVIDUAL must be treated as unique,
and dangerous complications prevented, even if it is inconvenient for the provider.
The needs of a RKIA* are of no consequence.

(*random know-it-all)