Recently i have been using morphine for recreational purposes. About a month ago, i got prescribed 20mg morphine tablets for an injury. Ever since i have been a morphine user and it makes me sick. Im addicted and i do not know how to handle the withdrawl. Its horrible. Every time i try to quit, i get the sweats, im restless and i feel HORRIBLE. The only way out is to pop some pills. I have heard that gabapentin (neurontin) and pregablin (lyrica) help to manage withdrawl symptoms of opiates. The problem is i used to be addicted to lyrica and i dont want another addiction. Is there anything else i can use to help the withdrawls? or am i on my own for this one :(

You said you used to be addicted to Lyrica. When was that? For how long? How did you get over THAT addiction?

Have you ever been addicted to anything else? If so, what and for how long?

I ask these questions because the answers could help me form what I would recommend.

Feelin' your pain,
Sue

Dear Squishey,

As a former opiate addict, I would suggest medical supervision during detox. Be it inpatient or outpatient, as you have experienced first hand, it is an unpleasent & scary experience. Please give yourself the proper care that you deserve during this.

Best of luck.

Just toss out the morphine and withdraw. Oral morphine has a pretty weak bioavailability so you're not THAT strung out. Opiate withdrawal is usually pretty hellish for one or two days but honestly if you're still getting high and not just using to maintain normalcy you arent that bad off. If you were using via IV i would reccomend what the user said above me but unless theres some underlying condition like a heart issue i wouldnt get all scared, opiate withdrawal wont kill you but it'll sure as hell make you wish you were dead.

I am also a morphine addict, but unlike you, I have no intention of stopping. But I can answer your question. Get a suboxone doctor to prescribe you some buprenorphine. Its kinda like methadone but easier (way!) to get. It curbs both the withdrawal and the cravings. It actually gets you a little high but you can't really abuse it. It's a substitute that you can withdraw from easily.

I'm not sure it would look good for your add prescribing doctor though. One reason I'm not doing it is because I don't want my doc to think I'm going to abuse my ADD meds. (and I don't)

Also, you could just try tapering yourself off. I've done it before with both opiates and tobacco. The trick is to take only what will help reduce the WD's but not actually make them go away completely. I won't kid you; it will be hard.

any update(s)?

If you're really really stuck. Can't kick no matter what cold turkey...

then talk to a doctor about subutex/suboxone...you just want a quick taper, don't plan to stay on maintenance doses for a long period of time...as it'll probably be harder to kick the sub. than the morphine. Maybe a 2 week taper MAX. Take as little sub. as possible.

If I can recommend this site to you that has helped keep me clean for almost 100 days.

www.soberrecovery.com/forums

There are people there who can give you the experience, strength, and hope that you will need to get and stay clean.

Also, you could just try tapering yourself off. I've done it before with both opiates and tobacco. The trick is to take only what will help reduce the WD's but not actually make them go away completely. I won't kid you; it will be hard.

Easier said than done......if there is a ready supply of Morphine in your house, you're almost certainly not going to taper off because the temptation is too great. It doesn't sound like you're too deep into it to quit cold turkey. You're looking at 5 days of tough withdrawals, but it does get easier.

Suboxone is good to help with a serious addiction, but when I finally got off the Suboxone, I had ZERO energy for 7 days. I mean it took all I could muster just to get up and go to the bathroom.....it was brutal.....felt like someone was siphoning everything out of my muscles.

Oh, and you can't just switch to Suboxone from Morphine....you first have to go into full withdrawal from the Morphine (30+hours without) before you can move over to the Suboxone, otherwise it can throw you into a serious withdrawal as the buprenorphine tries to force the morphine from your receptors.

Good luck!

The Forums on SoberRecovery.com are fabulous - helpful in every way!!!!!


If I can recommend this site to you that has helped keep me clean for almost 100 days.

www.soberrecovery.com/forums (http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums)

There are people there who can give you the experience, strength, and hope that you will need to get and stay clean.

The Forums on SoberRecovery.com are fabulous - helpful in every way!!!!!


If I can recommend this site to you that has helped keep me clean for almost 100 days.

www.soberrecovery.com/forums (http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums)

There are people there who can give you the experience, strength, and hope that you will need to get and stay clean.

Oh, and you can't just switch to Suboxone from Morphine....you first have to go into full withdrawal from the Morphine (30+hours without) before you can move over to the Suboxone, otherwise it can throw you into a serious withdrawal as the buprenorphine tries to force the morphine from your receptors.

Good luck!

I found that I could take sub. about 12 hours after my last dose of morphine. I was just starting to go into WD's at that time. Mind you it's probably different for everyone, and in this case it definitely pays to play it safe!

I've seen someone take a sub. a few hours after a hit of heroin and it was one of the most scariest things I've ever seen. He was writhing in pain, vomiting and defecating (sp?) everywhere. Had to get the doctor in quick to push some diazepam but that hardly made a dent.

I agree that it's very hard to taper yourself off morphine if you have decent amounts laying around. Probably even harder for the ADDer than most.

Love your avatar by the way.. Labradors make me happy for some reason.