I’m taking dihydrocodiene and fentanyl but want to stop them
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I want to stop taking the dihydrocodiene and fentanyl I take 37mcg of fentanyl and 60mg dihydrocodiene 4x a day I didn’t put any patches on Monday till Wednesday but couldn’t stand the pain and anxiety so I put a 12 mcg on and today I’ve put another 12mcg on I think cold turkey was to difficult I just need advise on when I will feel ok to stop the dihydrocodiene as well the pain clinic wanted to stop them then give me tramadol and a different patch but I don’t want to go on them
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Pumpkin1 jiz16
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Yikes, that's a lot of pain medication, I can understand why you'd want off it all, but......as someone who had to stop all my pain meds including dihydrocodeine cold turkey.....your body will have built up quite a tolerance to your medication and stopping them abruptly will trigger withdrawal that's really horrific for longer than you'd think. Withdrawing from one of these drugs is pretty hard core but both together? Yikes. I wouldn't like that.
Maybe think about stopping them one at a time? And taking it really, really, really slowly? Your brain needs time to get used to not having its regular supply of opioids as well as coping with the pain, so you need a plan. Be prepared to give this a few months to slowly taper down whichever one you stop first, to taper down your doses by a bit every week, and up all non-medicinal forms of pain relief / pain coping techniques.
It's tempting to stop everything at once but the withdrawal is brutal. There are some meds that ease it a bit but it really is grimmer than grim and deeply disgusting, sweating, stomach 'issues', deep aching, hot and cold flashes, shivering, loss of appetite, shaking, confusion, weird thoughts, it just goes on and whilst the immediate symptoms ease after a few weeks there is a horrid lingering of weirdness that can also affect the mind. Some people do take other meds to ease this phase but I couldn't so can't comment on that.
But remember, you'll be coming off two opioids so double trouble. I'd recommend talking to a doctor who you get on with about the best approach - I'm surprised the pain management people didn't go into detail (my doctor offered to admit me to manage the withdrawal but I declined then deeply regretted it when forced to stop cold turkey!).
There are lots of plus sides when you finally get off one or both the medication you're on, though...getting rid of side effects you may not even realise you're having, clearer mind, and you may even find the pain changes in a good way. I do feel better being off all the meds but it was so, so hard. Good luck