The Opiate Withdrawal Survival Kit Part 2: Drugs for Detox
The Kick Pack
I remember when I was younger, there was a clinic by my house that would give patients an opiate withdrawal “kick pack” to help them with their detox. You had to sign all of this paperwork, much like the methadone clinics of today, and then they’d give you this little kit full of drugs that you could use to detox with. I personally never got the thing, but I’d heard that it had stuff in it like, Darvocet (warning: do not use Darvocet/Darvon/Propoxyphene), Clonidine, and maybe some Valium or other tranquilizer. Ideally, you want to get through your detox without having to resort to using any other drugs, but sometimes that’s either too difficult, or just not feasible. If you believe in harm reduction, then this post is for you. If you think that a good detox is one that is completely “cold turkey,” then that is understandable, and more power to you…go for it!
Anyway, throughout the years, I kind of created my own kick pack, that helped me get through my withdrawals. It really varied depending on what I had available at the time.
Kratom
Several participants in the comment section of this site have recommended Kratom as a great aid for withdrawal. I’ve personally tried it myself, and can vouch that it works very much like other opiates because the main ingredient targets the same areas of the brain. The downside is that there haven’t been many studies into the plant, so use it at your own risk. Kratom is legal in the US, so it can be purchased without any problem. I’m not sure how long that will last though. There are several online sites that sell the stuff. There are several online sites that sell the stuff. ArenaEthnobotanicals was mentioned as a good resource.
Over the Counter Remedies
There are a ton of over the counter herbal type remedies that will help you out during the final stages of your withdrawal. They are usually worthless during the initial stages, just because none of them are powerful enough to have any impact when your symptoms are at their worst.
With that said, you might want to give Withdrawal-Ease a try. It’s a combination of a bunch of plants and herbs like, passion flower, cayenne, ginger, milk thistle, l-tyrosine, magnesium, and a whole list of other ingredients. The price is pretty decent too. You’d probably pay much more if you were to buy all the supplements individually.
Herbs like Valerian, Kava Kava and Chamomile all have relaxing effects on the body and mind. Valerian has actually been a great stress reliever and sleep aid for me since I’ve been sober. It’s closely related to benzodiazepines, which include the above mentioned tranquilizers.
Marijuana
The weed was really more for the mental anguish that came as a by product of detox. When you’re coming off of vicodin, you’re chemicals are all out of whack so depression is a major symptom. I used to get very depressed for those first few days, and actually even stayed depressed for months. There were times when I felt like I would snap, but smoking a joint really helped ease my thoughts enough to where I didn’t feel like using opiates again. So if you can get a hold of some good bud, then I would recommend you include that as part of your kick pack, but remember that your ultimate goal is to get clean. Don’t let the weed become another drug that you end up having to withdraw from. You’ll get stuck in a horrible cycle of using one drug to kick another.
Clonidine
The next drug that has been known to help with opioid withdrawal is Clonidine. Clonidine is a antihypertensive, so basically it helps to reduce your blood pressure which usually spikes during a detox. The Clonidine helps with the chills and hot flashes that can be horrible in and of themselves. I’ve personally never tried Clonidine but I’ve talked to people who have used the Catapres patch, and they said it worked wonders for them. There are however some dangers involved, so be sure to do your research on this.
Opioids
There are a few other prescription opioid drugs that have been clinically proven to help you kick the habit like Buprenorphine and Methadone, but I’m going to have an entirely separate post for both of those drugs so stay tuned.
Benzodiazepines
Tranquilizers like Valium, Xanax and Clonopin can all work wonders for the stress and anxiety involved with a kick, but withdrawing from those drugs can be even worse, so again, proceed with caution.
All the drugs in this post are options that you can use to minimize the unpleasantness of withdrawal, however, they are not meant to be used as substitutes. If you’re dedicated to getting clean and staying that way, you should resolve to eliminate your dependence on any of these drugs as soon as you’re able to lead a normal life. That way you can be sure that you’ll never have to go through something like this again.
331 comments
i am now down to my last 4 pills.i am just about broke from my habit of percocet,oxycodone and oxycontin.i am 3 months post surgery of hysterectomy.the pain pills they prescribed wouldnt even touch the pain from surgery.but i need to quit taking these things.its like i cant function w/o them.doctor said i had every right to be in severe pain where my omendum (part of your colon)had attached to many organs.but now i only have my RLS and thats it.how do i not break down and buy more?i have been taking these for at least 4 years and take an 40 mg oxycontin twice weekly for my leg pain BUT i just cant afford them.i have ran out before and found out how bad my legs truly hurt.i think i just need to learn to deal w/ this chronic pain but how do i start?
hi fellow opiod sufferers, I take 20 x 60mg dihydrocodiene per day , in the mirning i drink about 160ml of vodka then 15x 60mg dihyrocodiene and chew them up for a stronger effect, then later in the day i take another five. is this a serious habit? Iam going to stop taking these over easter. any help would be much appreciated, thankyou
in was on methadone for 1 yr. worked my way up to 70 mgs. Now that im off that im back on my one 30 mg a day habit. i kno thats not bad at all but with the methadone for a year and now for 2-3 weeks the whole pill thing AGAIN what is your reccomandation on how to do this with just otc. and the more i sweat the quicker it will be gone, please tell me yes and tonight is the first night lol
Hello, I’ve been addicted to opiates (Percocets, Vicodins, Oxycotin) for the last 6 years. I’ve never been into any drugs until I had an abcess and was treated with Vicodins for a a few week. After that the addiction started. Pain pills were always easy to come by after that. I went “Cold Turkey” last June after taking at least 7-8 pills a day and was three months sober. It was painful to do and I regretfully relapsed in October and have been on the amount of pills everyday since. I recently made the decision to distance myself from pills again. I went “Cold Turkey” again four days ago and I feel like hell today. The leg spasms and I only slept a few hours the last 36 hours (did I mention I’m at work?). I praise you all for making the choice to quit and all your suggestions have been helpful, It took about 10 days for me last time to feel better, but the battle to stay sober will be my next challenge.
I have been addicted to Vicodin for 5 years now. I have taken up to 8 a day but currently I have been taking 3 a day and when I run out I loss all control. I am emotional, crying and I am so mean to my spouse. I don’t want to get out of bed let alone make it through the day doing everyday shit. I quit when I found out I was 4 weeks pregnant and I started up again after I quit breastfeeding. I am going through withdrawals now and I am so depressed to the point to were I can’t focus at work or at school and I feel as if I’m going to die…I know that if I just stuck it out for another week I would be ok. I have gone months without taking any Vicodin and I was fine after the withdrawals and I know that if I could just make it through I will be alright. On the other hand, I have become to addicted to them that I want to get more. After I take a Vicodin I am ready to just into my day, running after my son, playing at the park, laundry, work, cooking… ect… I am so happy and alert when I take them I feel as if I’m on top of the world. I am the best mother, wife, friend, worker and student I can be. I am a very hard worker and I love school but when I am going through withdrawals I am the complete opposite. I just want another Vicodin and all will be good in life… or something to help me through the withdrawals until I get better on my own…
Hi everyone,
Here I go again. My back was injured in a work related accident in 07. At the time I was given vicodin and soma. Had several injections, no results. Continued pain meds and of course started taking more than prescribed. Dr. upped my script and put me on norco and sent me to a pain management Dr. He took me off the norco, and put me on ER morphine twice daily with ir tablets for breakthrough pain. I did not abuse these, they just made me crushingly depressed. 14 months after my accident, I decided enough!! I cancelled my next appt, took my last pill and suffered my ass off for two weeks. I still wasn’t right, but better. Made an appt to see my md and told him what I had done. He suggested this little non narcotic, non habit forming pill called tramadol. It was great. I had no pain, energy, and was in a fantastic mood.
Fast forward four years. I do not abuse these one bit, but I still feel like a slave to them. I want off but I am terrified of the awful w/d I have read about. More worried about the depression than the pain, that will go eventually. Going to start a taper next week and take neurontin for a couple a weeks after I stop. I have read it is wonderful for w/d. Also going to get some trazadone for sleep, and phenegran for nausea. Everything else I will combat with OTC stuff. Planning this for two weeks, then done with it all. I can’t wait till the day I am liberated once and for all from these drugs. I did it once, I can do it again. Congrats to all of you on here who fought and suffered for your freedom!
Story is a very long one and i will begin soon, if it can help ANYONE then great!! But anybody going through WD stick with it, it seems impossible but it will pass and you never have to do it again if your wise, don’t give in your not on your own, someone is having a real bad time lokie you right now! BE STRONG!!
so here i am on day 8 cold turkey for the first four days i took lyrica, baclofen and valium not that i hav slept more than a wink, but they eased withdrawl . its the sleep thing right now thats getting me. been looking at a few websites that talk about p.a.w.s and there is some interesting info on some of them, mainly to do with re-lapse. best of luck to everyone out there going through the opiate hell.
Hello. I’ve been on opiates for pain about 4 years. A few days ago I ripped of my fentanyl patch and went to my pain management doctor. He gave me a script for 90 Vicodin for me to taper off of. That’s 3 a day, but yesterday I had 8. I am fine except for the RLS. Maybe I’ll contact my sleep specialist to get some benzos to help with that. A year ago, I was on MS Contin 30mg twice daily and 15mg of oxycodone every 4 hours. Getting down to 3 vikes a day will be a miracle, but my receptors will keep down-regulating the longer that they are deprived and it will be possible.
it hasnt been that long for me but i feel like im really ready this time. i took my last pill which was for my wife for her tooth lol about 10 hrs ago and while shes gone with the girls for the weekend im going to try to restore my life back to the it needs to be. i just ordered Withdrawal-Ease, so ill let yall know how it goes.
Cornelius – good luck – I know it is hard – look into the Thomas Recipe. The vitamins and minerals were a God send to me when I was quitting. Man, I feel for you cause I have been there. But there is light at the end of that tunnell…believe me.
Anyone wishing to discuss anything while you are detoxing, please let me know at
kittymom001@gmail.com
I am not an expert, but have been in your shoes 18 months ago.
Love and best wishes
Kitty
Hang in there, folks!!! You CAN kick this! I just realized that I have been free from the vicodin he’ll for two years now. And if I can do it, so can YOU.
Does anyone watch Nurse Jackie on shotime? I just discovered it this past weekend..wow…what a true to life show for us!
Im with you all!! Ive had it with pills. Im sos sick of them. I was taking pills for herniated disks in my neck and artritis, for years like 6 0r 7 years and Im so sick of them. I want my life back!!! My kids and boyfriend dont want to talk odr deal with me because there sick of it and its hard to try to explain to them what Im going through, they dont understand. 2 to 3 weeks ago I tried stopping and withdrawls have been the worse experience/pain/feeling what ever you what to call it. The worse for me was the creepy crawly feelinh in my arms. For 2 days it fely like my arms were 500lbs and like I had straps on them. I dont ever want to feel that again!!! I was taking 15-20 a day percs and am down to 5 or 6 a day. In the next week or so I want to be off completely. I find it hard when I still have pain though I dont know wht Im going to do about that. I feel foreveryone on here. Ive been through alot in my life and Ill be damned if this is going to kill me. Plus I dont know about anyone else but have had tons of teeth problems too. Anyone else have that? Good luck all!!!
Hi Imwithuall …this is a ditto to what I told newgirl/dude on the other board –
I know it is hard because I have been there/ But, you know what, this is one of the most important decisions you have made and I pray and hope that this is it for you and you continue to make it to the other side of the tunnell – there is light there my friend and if I can do it, anyone can. I was so sick with addiction to pain medication that I could not leave the house without the freaking stuff….I did not know who I would be without it, and I was paying a fortune for internet pharmacies and multiple prescriptions. It is over now – I am one month shy of two years clean. I would not have made it one week without the folks on this site. I hope you keep posting as I will be watching out for your posts and chirping in with my 2 cents worth…..you can do it newbie – Hang strong – you CAN do it….take it one minute at a time and remember that each little increment of time without the devil beast – is one minute closer you will be to freedom…..email me at kittymom001@gmail.com if you like – would love to hear from you.
Love and best wishes,
Kitty Mom
PLEASE READ. A couple of months ago I came here because I was dying. Been on Vicodin since I got my leg chopped off at 18. And then ten or so years later the pain doc put me on Tramadol because it was a “non-opiate”! BS! Withdrawal from Tramadol/Ultram is far worse than Vicodin. Anyway, I’m 45 now and of course the drugs have wrought Hell on my life. (I got my wife hooked 23 years ago: because I wanted her to feel goo, too. 🙁 ). Been going through all the jonesing horror stories written here and then some over the decades and that’s when I found this place. Then two weeks ago I bought two Suboxone from my jerk addict cousin. He sells the Suboxone so he can buy Crack and Shrooms. I took HALF a Suboxone, gave my wife one. I took the other half 36 hours later, didn’t need it but you know how it is afraid the withdrawals would hit. But they didn’t and I haven’t had withdrawal pains since. TWO WEEKS! I don’t know if I it is some sort of freak accident; the Suboxone jammed my opiate receptors or what, but I’m off for the first time in 27 years! And even if they come back tomorrow half a pill for two weeks of peace is a miracle to me. I’m not an Suboxone salesman! 🙂 Just a regular guy from Texas. Anyway this page and reading of all the people like me helped a while ago when I was curled up on the floor with my spine on fire so I felt it was my duty to let you know there might be somthing out there for you. The Suboxone only worked for 24 hours for my wife, but personally I think that might be psycological, or because she still gets a buzz off enough Ultram or Vicodin. I don’t no matter how many I take so I just wanted off! I don’t know how hard it is to get a doc to prescribe Suboxone, but I swear to God it worked for me. I sincerely hope it works for you. Questions: knightender@gmail.com (John) Good luck.
HELLO !
My name is Kathy I am 39 years old . I was prescribed hydrocodone well over ten years ago for chronic back pain . For at least the past 5 years I have struggled with opiate dependency for both pain as well as pleasure of how it makes me feel .I have also struggled with methamphetamine addiction . I am hoping to get feedback on is since I have been blessed with an addictive personality and/or a character defect. So here is my question; does SOBOXIN and METHADONE work; and if so… I am hoping some one can explain how these medications work, and how and why they are different from opiates (since they are both opiate based medications) .I have a friend that was on soboxen for approx 9 mo and was recently taken off due to a dirty UA for street drugs and he is having withdrawal symptoms from soboxen. That being said he did awesome while taking it. I am questioning if I were to try and get on soboxen or methadone ,would that be prolonging the agony ? I have broken the methamphetamine habit, however the pain control and dependancy on these opiates is a completely different issue as well as raising questions as to what route to take to become free of opiate dependancy…..If anyone has feedback or insight please contact me as my life is hell at this point ….Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Hey everyone I was wondering about why my experiance kicking pain pills that were prescribed to me for almost six months are so much worse kicking than both heroin ive kicked many times or methadone ive kicked a few times now. These pills are the wrse yet. I dont know why they would be worse than the other stuff. I never was into pills when I was off and running doing dope and being on the methadone program so I have no experiance detoxin6 off pain pills…just looking for some knowledge on the subject…
Oh, and I should add that I have been taking 20+ Tramadol a day for about 2 years now. I have yet to have a seizure, thank God, and I am SO ready to be rid of these, just so scared of the RLS.
If anyone knows of a pharmacy that sells “withdrawal ease” please let me know. I live in connecticut and cant seem to find them anywhere.
I have 3 years sober from heroin and pills. used pills from age 17-20, then dope for about two years til 22. Got sober in july of 09… found out I was pregnant in sept. 09… had my daughter 10 weeks early at 7 months, 3lbs and change… and went thru serious depression. I was sober my entire pregnancy, after leaving the hospital and my daughter having to stay there (over an hour away, and me with no car) I was devastated. Had a week and a half long relapse… and IMMEDIATELY got on the methadone clinic. I have pretty much been on the methadone clinic since. for a total of about 3 years. Started at 60 mgs and leveled out at 40,mgs. I got invited on a free trip to disney world for me and my two year old, that I could not pass up… I didnt have take home bottles so I was gonna have to drive two hours to get dosed daily on someone elses family vacation that I was just invited on. (still with no car lol, it was in ct at this point) Anyhow I tried to detox myself… I went 40, 35, 30,, 30, 25, 25, 20, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10, 5, 5, 0, 0 AND THEN took a few suboxins once the withdrawals set in. Was doing OK, not great but OK, got back to ct, wrecked my car, got BACK on the methadone.
I am detoxing now, I am tired of the handcuffs of my past controling my life. I have 3 y ears clean, no dirty urines, no slip ups… I have been coming down alot slower now since I am not paying for it ALL myself… I went down from 40 mgs…. started by jumping down 10mgs the first week, figuring i wouldnt feel it, and i didnt. then I waited a few weeks, went down again 1mg a day for ten days. When I got to 20 I started waking up feeling like shit (I have a high metabolism and the low dose was burning thru me like nothing) So I bought a buncha backup methadone (so instead of having nothing when I start to feel really sick, I AT LEAST HAVE THAT!!) So what I have been doing is, Giving myself either a 2.5 boost dose or a 5mg boost dose at like 4-5am every morning. Right now I am down to 10mgs… plus the 2.5 or 5 I give myself. I also have the clinic doing a blind detox, meaning they only tell me where my dose is at when I ask them to. I made an appointment at a regular dr to get help with the stomach ache. Because shitting liquid 10+ x a day, gets old FAST and its fucking frustrating. the dr gave me zofran. WORKS GREAT. Also before I had my appt I had bought some anti diarreah medacine from walmart, 88cents so its affordable to even the poorest of detoxer. I also found something at walmart called “nerve tonic” Because I was noticing AFTER BEING NUMBED BY DRUGS FOR YEARS AND YEARS whether it was dope or the methadone I was numbed. Noticed my emotions were on a roller coaster, being female im already part cunty so this was not gonna help. I figured I would try them since they are hemeopathic meaning all herbs and vitamins and shit. WORKED GREAT. I was having super anxiety before hand… I also am taking a homeopathic pill at night called “restless legs” both of these are by a brand called “hylands” I used to get homeopathic teething tablets by them for my daughter that worked like a charm. THE restless leg pills work wonders. Also noticeds the more active I am during the day, the less I will have restless legs, so I try to tire myself out during the day. I also have 800mg ibuprofen that I take for lower back pain and just over all achy and soreness.
I did all of this for pretty cheap.
I also spoke to a pharmacist who told me that taking vistiril or librium really help during a detox. Unfortunately you have to go inpatient somewhere to get either of them ussually. Because you go in there telling the dr your a recovering addict so they are more hesitant to give you pills that have the potential for abuse. I was told vistirl is like an antihistamine and if you double up on benedryl it has the same effect. I havent gotten to the desperation point of trying that however.
My boyfriend also rubs my legs belly or back when needed. THAT HELPS TREMENDOUSLY!!!!
If anyone needs someone to talk to or some advice… message me on Facebook Vanessa Hoyt from Connecticut. I will be more than willing to help you, or take advice you have to give me too.
THIS IS ALL DOABLE, GOD BLESS ANYONE WHO IS ATTEMPTING THE JOURNEY. ITS A TOUGH ONE, AND ADDICTS ARE SOME OF THE TOUGHEST PEOPLE THAT GRACE THIS EARTH!!!!!~
God blesssss*
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