Getting through Withdrawals
“What are some ways to help with getting through withdrawals?”
(Disclaimer: if you happen to be withdrawing from alcohol, stop reading this and go to the ER. Alcohol withdrawal is extremely dangerous and it can KILL YOU)
1. Sleep - this should be a complete no-brainer. If you are going through some really crappy withdrawals, then the preferred method of coping with it is to sleep right through it. When I finally managed to kick cigarettes successfully, I pulled a little trick on myself where I stayed up all night and got really, really tired, and I timed it so that I would be starting to go through the worst of my withdrawal symptoms right then. It was a piece of cake at that point to fall asleep and stay down for a good twelve hours. When I finally woke up, I showered and grabbed some quick food, then managed to fall asleep again. After waking up that second time, I was well on my way to being through the worst of my nicotine withdrawals.
2. Burn off nervous energy – If you can’t sleep, the next idea on the list is to find creative ways to encourage sleep. You can stay up all night and try to time your withdrawals accordingly, like I did with cigarettes, or you can also try other things to help you sleep. Depending on what substance you are detoxing from, you might very well be wired wide awake, and full of nervous energy. If that is the case, try taking a really long walk, say for a couple of hours. This will burn off a lot of that nervous energy, and also facilitate the detox process by producing some sweat. You’ll also develop an appetite, which will come in handy later so you can eat a big dinner. The extended exercise (nothing to strenuous, just long and consistent) combined with a fairly big meal, should do wonders at producing some level of sleepiness in you.
3. The Power of Distraction – If you just can’t figure out a way to sleep through the worst of it, then the next best thing is to not think about it. That’s right: you have to find some creative ways to distract yourself from the misery that you are going through. One popular method of doing this is to lay on your couch all day and watch television or movies, although this is not necessarily recommended. If you are well enough to move around, then getting out and moving around is going to benefit you much more in the long run. Go to the mall or take a walk in the park. Chances are good that you can burn up some energy and hopefully be able to do a little sleeping when you get done moving around.
4. Medically supervised – If you can afford it or have it arranged, then try to get into some sort of medically supervised facility for your detox. This is definitely the safest route to go, and is absolutely essential if you are coming off of alcohol. There are other benefits to going to a treatment center detox as well, and the medical staff can usually give some sort of non narcotic medication that will ease your withdrawal symptoms, depending on which substance you are coming off of. Out of all the detox centers I’ve seen, they only make you do one thing: sleep. That makes this the safest and most comfortable route to go.
5. Take a Vacation – This one might sound a bit bizarre, and it certainly doesn’t fit for every detox, but planning and taking a major vacation can be a huge opportunity to make it through your withdrawals. Another interesting idea is to time it so that you go through the worst of your withdrawals at home, and then immediately following that, you leave on a vacation. The power of distraction comes into play here, and the excitement of going on a trip can help to offset what you are no longer doing/using/drinking. It can also feel like a reward for yourself to be on a major vacation, as you are starting out on a new healthy lifestyle.
6. Ween Yourself Down – There are bound to be lots of mixed results and opinions with something like this, so always shoot for a fully medically supervised detox if you can. Barring that, attempting to ween yourself off of a substance can sometimes yield good results. But again, this method is controversial at best, and can be somewhat dangerous, so always try to encourage a medical detox instead. Remember, getting through the withdrawals are just the beginning….they are the key to your new life. Now you have to learn how to live and be happy without chemicals. (It’s possible, I promise!)
Finally, I want to remind everyone out there to be especially cautious regarding alcohol withdrawal symptoms, as they can be fatal. I urge you to seek medical help if you or a loved one is detoxing from booze.
First time here? Be sure to check out these posts:
How to Achieve Long Term Sobriety 97% Usefulness Rating
The Secret to Beating Addiction and Alcoholism 92% Usefulness Rating
The Simplicity and Power of Gratitude 87% Usefulness Rating
Jessica Says:
I am currently going through withdrawals off of Effexor or Lexapro (was on effexor and switched to lexapro for a week, now weening off) and it is hell for me. I’m not sure how I’m going to do this.. I’ve had symptoms of withdrawal for two straight weeks now – needing to take a pill when they get too bad. I just don’t know how to handle it anymore. I hate being on medication!
Patrick Says:
Hang in there Jessica. Maybe you could call the prescribing doctor and ask them for advice about how to get off of those specific meds. I really think you should seek medical advice on this one…..good luck to you.
Alex Says:
I’ve been going through withdrawals from oxycodone and oxycontin. The bad thing is I need them for pain. I had a serious back injury and had to have surgery this past may. The surgery got rid of the numbness in my leg but didn’t do anything for the pain. I’ve been on those meds for 8 months. I’d rather deal with the pain than be addicted to those meds. I can’t do it by myself. Tonight has been the worst night. I’ve been going through it for 3 days and I’m going crazy! I’ve thought I don’t know how many times about ending my life but that’s no good. I NEED HELP!!! Someone please email me with some comment and more tips on how to help me. alexthegreat7583@yahoo.com
Alex Says:
I forgot to say, I’ve been praying my heart out! I’ve prayed to every religious figure I can think of! My mom passed away and I’ve been praying to her and asking her for guidance!
Patrick Says:
Check your email Alex.
alicia Says:
I quit taking oxycotin for the first time in months yesterday and I cant figure out how to go about this. What can I do to get tbrough this?
Patrick Says:
Hi Alicia
Your best bet is to get in to a drug rehab with a full detox center. They can help you through the withdrawal in a medically supervised setting.
If that’s not an option, you might find a doctor who has experience in this sort of thing, but that is probably harder to find than a treatment center. Anyway, I recommend that you find help somewhere, because withdrawal from Oxycontin can be very uncomfortable. Good luck to you Alicia
Evey Says:
I have been withdrawaling from roxicodone and oxicontin for more than 13 days. I tried one day cold-turkey and thought I was going to crawl out of my skin so In the middle I did a methdone step-down to ease the discomfort. That really did help. But now I’m off everything and I’m having mild symptoms again: sleeplessness; horrid leg cramps; stomach cramping; general malaise; and a serious tightgness in my chest.
I just want to know when this will end? I have spoken to several friends who have gone through rehab—and are now back on the pills—and they say to curtail a step down as quickly as possible so that you do not get addicted to the alternate pill. They say you just have to ride it out—hold fast—and one morning you will wake up and just feel better. But there is always the temptation and you just have to stay away from anyone who has pills.
My husband is withdrawaling from methadone at the same time. And he has had a much more difficult time. He did 8-days cold-turkey and that morning I found him curled-up in the fetal position and vomiting. I shoved 20 mg of methadone down his throat and started him on a step down – just a five day one.
Yesterday was the first day of sobriety for both of us. I keep telling myself its for the right reasons. We need our lives back, we need to go out into the world again and reconnect with our loved ones. For me, my need started after a surgery. After they cut me off I began buying off the street. And then shame of it all is that three years ago we were off everything—we had a mild pill problem but had no trouble quitting—then I started taking percocets after my surgey 1 year ago … from there it just escalated. I got weak and I felt like I couldn’t live my life without it. I needed a pill to do laundry or wash the dishes.
One thing that is really helping me is my 2 years of sobriety. It was the best two years of my life. I remember being really happy. I know I can find that happiness again. And a life worth living with friends and vacations. We haven’t left the house since we started taking pills. All that money wasted.
But I feel like 7-days from now I will be in a new world and everything will be better. Thank you for listening – any advice?
Patrick Says:
Hi there Evey
I think you are on the right path. You already know what you need to do it is just a very hard thing to do. But once you are through the nasty withdrawal symptoms it gets much easier. Methadone is quite “sticky”, much more so than Heroin, and so the detox takes longer. You are right to be careful with a step-down pill.
The best one to use by far is known as Buprenorphine and if you can get this from a doctor then it can really help you to step down off an opiate addiction.
But it sounds to me like that might be a step backward for you at this point. You are through the worst of it and you’re about to come out the other side and be completely free from chemicals. Just make it a few more days and you’ll be feeling tons better. Good luck to you and your husband!
Jen Says:
I just quit taking norcos last Monday, cold turkey, after taking them regularly for only four months. I have degenerative spine disease and protruding disks in my back, which is how it got started. I was the same way, I had felt like I needed the norcos just to survive the day. I got to where I was taking way way way too many and then when I’d run out of my prescription, same as others have said, I’d get them from the street. I put my family in complete financial ruin (temporarily thank god) but I realized I needed to stop.
It’s been 7 days. I didn’t think it would be this bad. The first three days were terrible, then the fourth day I felt great all day! It was amazing. But the night of the 4th day I couldn’t sleep at all, restless leg syndrome kicked in and there was nothing I could take to make me sleep. After four days of only sleeping a combined 18 hours, I’m exhausted. I have stomach cramps, diarrhea, and just general overall exhaustion, which makes it very difficult to take care of my three kids. I’m so frustrated. I also have anxiety pretty bad. I tried smoking pot but it didn’t help, just made me out of it.
I got on here to see what advice others had to give. It sounds like you just kinda have to go through it. I tried the “thomas recipe” (look it up online) and it helped a little, but i’m still miserable. I feel so alone because my husband doesn’t understand and it’s horrible to have so many things to do but feel like this. I’m going to do my best to start exercising.
Patrick Says:
Hi there Jen
Yeah I think you are through the worst of it though. You are right, you kinda just have to go through it if you cannot go to a drug rehab and be tapered off of opiates using Suboxone. Even then you will have some discomfort, so don’t feel too bad. Sounds like you are miserable too just from a lack of sleep, really. So hang in there, you are definitely over the hump now, should be smooth sailing at this point…..
Venus Says:
Hey I am go through withdrawals of off Norco, vicodin, ultam and the worst thing is that i am pregnant and very scared. i would take about 5-7 pills a day. I just want some help on how to do this like a pattern or something. This is my first day so far and i was wondering you can tell me how i am going to feel the next couple of days or 4or 5 days. I want to know what to expect! Because i have so much to live for and i have to little daughters i haven’t seen in months just started seeing them again and my 4 yr old asked me why i didn’t want to see her or why i didn’t love her. I will get through this ! venus
Patrick Says:
Hi there Venus
Yeah you can try to taper down, like reduce by one pill each day, but really if you are pregnant you should probably go cold turkey out of interest for the health of the baby. Yes you can expect some withdrawal symptoms for a few days but you can get through them if you just take it easy and sleep through most of it.
If you are pregnant then you should try to get into treatment, they might be more likely to try and work you in to admission if they know you are pregnant too….
jeannine Says:
i was sober for almost 18 mos i relapsed mostly just drinking.(took an ativan here n there .. and did tiny bit of coke) .. but i ve had seizures prior when i stopped cold turkey(but i used to take a lot of benzos and percocets also)… i am on lamictal, zoloft and topamax… been seizure free for two years… this passed two mos i have been drinking but really heavily for the passed 10 days.. starting yesterday i am slowly decreasing .. i do not want to have a seizure… how long should i do this for.. i started going back to aa meetings .. and really want to stop .. do not want to go to detox.. been through this before…
Anonymous Says:
also .. how should i decrease.. space it out ? thank you so much for any suggestion.. supplemet and vitamin …
Isaac Says:
Hello All,
I have had quite a rough year to say the least. Beginning the year with the loss of a job, legal squabbles and mortgage woes as surface issues. Nearing the end of January, I was rushed into the ER in an effort to safe my life from a colon obstruction. I had two open surgeries and a stint in a coma. I lost forty lbs. in about a month and a half; I was a skeleton with skin.
I spent the next 4 months of my life in the hospital.
The pain from those 2 open procedures was INDESCRIBABLE! It was months before I realized “pain” was a personal thing and no could understand it!
I was in a pharmaceutical daze with all the pain meds that they administered. For those four months, I was given automatic IV administrations of morphine and dilaudid in addition intravenous breakthrough administrations. With all of the pain, I was given 2 or 3 milligrams of dilaudid by the end of the hospital stay. The damage was unimaginable.
I was still very sick by the end of my hospital stay, still nutritionally depleted–and still I had a slew colon/bowel problem.
Upon discharge, I was given 30 mg of MS Contin. I was a mess. I was going through withdrawals and didn’t even know it since they mimicked my illness.
I’ve gotten through those violent withdrawals and remember the horror that they were. Six months later today, I am still on pain meds, though I’ve been on 60 mg Oxycontin for 3 months.
I don’t know. I shake my head as I write this.
I feel like I live a life I cannot claim. I spend most of it in bed. I am still very ill with my colon and am just so very frustrated with my illness and not having a clear diagnosis. The thing is, I am still surgically healing after all this time and still need the pain medicine. I HATE that!
I still need it for the pain, but I think what bothers me is that it elevates my mood and until I take my dose, I can be a real dick.
I am so very torn.
I remember the withdrawals and I fear them and after all this time of taking these drugs I can feel this dependence.
My body feels better when I take them; I can move better–it just washes the pain away.
I understand that I am one of the population with chronic pain at this point but that prospect of addiction frightens me.
At the beginning of this year I couldn’t even pronounce Oxycontin. I don’t like something have so much control over my sense of “well-being” and my moods.
I need some guidance. Please can someone offer some much needed clarity.
I thank you so much.
Andy Says:
Hi Jen,
I found your letter and it really hit home. I have a sister who i am really worried about. She has been taking pain pills for a couple of years now and it started from back pain and partly from the occasional use of cocaine with a friend when it became no longer a secret between friends. She went from one drug to another.I know my sister well and when somethings not right. We lost our father 12 years ago to a massive heart attack, my sister has never been the same without him here. I am aware of her pill usage and she has tried to quit taking them before. She has just about cut me out of her life, and to be honest i want my sister back ! one way or another this way of life has to stop. I saw her today and dropped in, needless to say she was not thrilled to see me i woke her up. But my trip was not in vain, she told me that after spending all of her money on pills that someone stole them and she has to quit now that there’s no pills. She has no choice. I told her that this is a blessing the best thing. She can’t continue this taking pills and smoking its not good. Today is the first day, I know that her with draws are soon to come, and i am worried for her if she can not only do this alone but also leave these people out of her life that she thinks are friends. I think the worst of it is going to be sleeping or trying. I hope she can do this with out a doctors help. I hope. After all it was with a doctors help that got her onto this road, She was willing but I don’t know why these doctors prescribe these highly addictive drugs to begin with. (the money) instead of really helping people with their pain they give them pills to mask everything. Anyway I wanted to let you know that you are not alone! and i know life is not easy but you have to know that this way of life is not for you. Life is so short and to live it with drowned in pills is no way to live. I wish you well and stay with it ! Don’t ever give up. Do it for your kids , but most of all DO IT FOR YOU!!! keep in touch
Your friend , Andy
skinny Says:
today is my first day….went to the er wanting to go to a detox center no beds so im trying out outpatient. they sent me home with nausa meds and something for my nerves and advice of how long withdrawls last for 10-20 tabs daily….thanks skinny
Anonymous Says:
I was a hardcore user of pills for a year and a half,
and finally put myself into suboxone treatment and 4 months
later I am clean still till the date I walked into treatment! I have
been off suboxone with a good taper for
4 going on 5 days now, and tonights my first night that I can’t
sleep. Any thoughts,
Patrick Says:
@ Anonymous – One night without sleep might be the price that you pay. At least it is a self-correcting problem, if you stay up for 36 hours, sleep will come easier tomorrow night. I know that is not a great comfort but you are so close to being completely clean, you just have to stick it out at this point.
Any other approach means putting more opiates into your body (either real or synthetic). Not good. Stick it out man! Good luck….
Anonymous Says:
i went to detox and got out after 5 days this is day 7 at home and im still battling wdrals with no sleep. i need to stay strong for my family. please God heal me and let me rest. ms cotin 30s for 24 straight months.
John Says:
I was taking 180mg (3-60mg pills)of Oxycontin a day for several years. When I switched to a new Dr. wanted me to get off the oxycontin or any opioid completly so my opioid receptors could get back to normal and react to milder medication. What we did is switched to 8-20mg tablets a day (1 every 3 hours) for 2 weeks and then 7-20mg tablets a day for 2 weeks. 6 for 2 weeks then 5 for 2 weeks and so forth. When I got down to 3 my headaches started uo get worse and at 2 they grew. The Dr. changed some other meds hoping to help. At 1 tablet a day, where I am now and about ready to go to Zero a day!! BUT I am starting with withdraws mainly in my legs. Keeps me awake at night (forget #1 above! and #2 how do you time your withdraws? They just seem to happen by themselves!) Anyway, what I really wanted to do was show you how I slowly came off Oxycontin with no problems.
Jim Says:
John: Was your reason for taking the pills to start with over come? I have been on oxycodone for 14 years, and my reason is still there Im afraid, I will find out after the withdrawl though. However for years 3-5mg did the trick. Make a long one short, I am now up to 12-14 10′s a day. I too, have to come off the pain med, this has taken over my life. I tried the long release also, but my schedule was 2-40′s a day. I found it worked great, except that I needed to take 3 a day to stay sane. So after 3 weeks Im out and trying to scury around to find other stuff to make up the 4th week. What I found out, is that the long lasting works some how so that when I do take a percocet, they dont work. I really want to get off this stuff, but 10 years ago when I was on only 3-5mg aday I did withdraw, only to hobble around for two months in pain. It was awfull for two days, and really the nights were the worse for me by far. After 3 days though I was feeling better. However today taking 10 times as much I have no doubt that all hell will break loose, and to be honest Im not sure if I can cope going cold turkey. What I had the most problem with going cold turkey, was bladder problems with spasms and the feeling of having to urinate 99% of the time. Your post and treatment sounds like it is something I could do, for the month deals are just too long for me. How did you do after you went off the one a day? Believe me, if i can get down to one 20mg a day going cold turkey would be a blessing.
Patrick Says:
@ Jim – your last sentence there about getting down to 20mg per day and then cold turkey being a blessing….that just made me jump right out of my chair and say “no! It’s a trap!”
I did this thing once when I quit smoking cigarettes…. what I did was I was smoking 20 cigs per day at the time, and I cut it down to 18 the next day. Then 16 the next, and 14 the next, and so on.
The thing is, even when I got down to 2 cigs on the last day, I was still lighting them up and putting them out all throughout the day….all I did was to reduce the amount of the drug, but I was still dripping it in continuously. And guess what? Going cold turkey after that was…..pure hell.
It was no easier. Not at all. In fact, it may have been even worse than trying to go cold turkey from a pack-a-day habit.
I’m not sure if that applies to your situation, but I thought I would put it out there as a cautionary tale. Reducing intake does not seem to help much.
I have spoke with people kicking methadone in detox and they tell the same story: getting down to a lower dose before detox does not seem to help them much. They all say it seems to suck just as bad.
Food for thought anyway. It’s like ripping off a band-aid, real slow…..
Jim Says:
First, thanks for the reply. And after thinking about it, your probably right with the band=aid deal. I just know how bad it was 10 years ago, and lookin back I could kick myself for calling in for a refill a few months later. But the bottom line is that my knees were hurting and swollen so bad that it was affecting my work. Im a contractor, and you can imagine some of the stuff I have to walk through. So now I am going to have hurt knees and not be able to take anything for them! BTW I do smoke cigs also, and boy thats another section all together, one the possitive side though I dont drink or do anyother drugs!:)