Morphine withdrawal-please help

P

Prisoner

New member
Hi - first timer here.
I was just wondering if there is anyone who can give me any advice for coming off morphine. Ive been on zomorph (slow release) for the last year, as well as oramorph for back problems. Just before i had my surgery (4wks ago) i was taking 90mg a day of zomorph. When i went into hospital, they put me on 60mg TWICE a day and i have been on that for the last couple of weeks. As the pain from my surgery started to wear off i decided to come down off the morphine and GP told me to take it down by 10mg every wk or fortnight.

As soon as i did, i experienced the worst pain in my life throughout my whole body. I would wake up in the middle of the night and my whole body would be in pain like severe cramps all over and i couldnt move. Then in the morning, i could hardly get out of bed - all of my joints felt like they were 90yrs old and when i tried to move or walk,it was like knives in my legs and arms.

My GP thinks its the morphine and says i need to come off it slower, but surely everytime i come down no matter how slow i am gonna feel like this, I am now back on 60 twice a day and the pain has gone. Im so scared of what is happening to my body. Has anyone else experienced this coz i am terrified that my body is falling apart and i will never be off this evil drug and never be pain free.:(

I am so depressed, cant stop crying and at times want to die.Im only 30 and feel like life is just slipping away from me.
 
Hey guys,
Saw my GP yesterday and he seems to think that it may be another drug that i am taking that is causing my severe body pains. Im taking Gabapentin. He told me to reduce my morphine by 10mg so im now taking 50/60 a day. Last night i didnt wake up with the cramps but i did wake up and start hallucinating. I became panicky and thinking there were people in the house and monsters in my room. I know it sounRAB childish.
Today i feel very low. I could sleep all day and dont have the energy to do anything. I hate everybody and want everyone to leave me alone. My mum is an angel looking after me and i hate not wanting to have her around me.

Why am i like this? Why does this have to happen to me? What did i do? Im bloody 30yrs old and i have no life. When will the pain go or is this me now? i hate people who have no pain and do what they want. Im turning into a horrible grumpy person, but i dont really care.:mad:
 
Please please someone help. I cant cope with the pain. Ive only come down another 10mg off the morphine and im in hell. My body is scaring me. i cant believe what is happening. The pain in my legs and arms is unbearable - i can hardly walk. My hanRAB are so swollen and i cant bend my fingers - using a knife and fork is difficult. Most nights i lose sensation in my hanRAB and arms, like the blood stops circulating and i dont know why. Im not lying on them funny. Im so so scared.

Today i slept all day. Only got up (or was woken up by my mum to eat). The pain is exhausting. I dont want to go through another day like this. I dont wanna be here anymore. I want to make the pain stop. I wish i was dead. I really do. I cant believe where i am. Why did this have to happen to me? Why?
 
Prisoner, don't despair -- I am coming off oxycodone for back problems and feel exactly the same way. In fact, I was actually relieved to see your post, because I was afraid this is how I'm going to be *forever*. Now I realize it apparently is a normal reaction to coming down off opioiRAB and I'm not the only one going through it.

What I mean specifically is -- I can barely move without stabbing pains and cracking in my back, neck, knees, etc. I feel 100 years old. I KNOW I did not feel this way prior to starting on narcotics, so I believe it is exaggerated pain and will go away once my system adjusts. That's what you have to keep telling yourself.

I don't know much about the dosage levels of morphine, but you will have to approach this one of two ways: 1) Taper off more slowly (1-2 mg at a time); OR, taper at the previous schedule, knowing that you will feel like crap for a few days until your body adjusts to the new dosage before the next reduction. OR, a third option might be suboxone, which apparently has helped some people avoid WD symptoms, but will be another addictive drug that you'll either have to stay on, or go through another taper process.

If you read through my thread ("Taper from Oxycodone - Round 3"), you'll see that I have gone through many, many ups and downs emotionally through this whole process....but I'm getting through it, and you can too!
 
Thanks for your message 'not perky'. You dont know how relieved i am to know that there are other people who are going through my experiences too. (Actually i dont mean that im glad that there are other people in pain,just glad that to find out im not alone).

And thats exactly how i feel......totally alone. When i tell my mum (who is taking care of me) that im in pain and i try and describe it - she doesnt understand what its really like. I tell my GP what the pain is like, but again they have no idea how it feels.

At the moment i am on my high dose of morphine (60 twice a day) and im feeling ok. But i know that on tuesday when i go see my GP again, he'll take me down and im dreading how im then going to feel. I cant believe how this drug has totally ruined my life. Im not the person that i used to be. Yes i feel ok on this dosage - as in not in much pain, but im still so forgetful - DOES ANYONE ELSE GET THIS?? I'll be talking away and then suddenly i wont have a clue what im talking about and my mind goes blank. I cant remeraber anything - names/places and i get SO frustrated with myself. I even find it difficult typing. Even now as im writing this i keep hitting the wrong keys and cant spell things properly. I am a well educated person and im turning to jelly!!

Ill let you know how i get on on tuesday. Thanks for listening.
 
Pris, have you called your doctor??? Some of your symptoms seem like withdrawal, but some don't (sleeping a lot, for one). The confusion and hallucination really worry me. I've never heard of those two drugs (zomorph or oramorph) because I don't think they're sold in the U.S., but it sounRAB like they're extended-release pain relievers. I think those types of drugs stay in your system longer and get "in your bones", so to speak. If you went from 60 mg/twice daily to 60 mg total, that's a BIG reduction! Too fast! No wonder you feel horrible, honey. Ideally in a taper situation, you need to take only about 10% off your total daily dose. And you just had back surgery, so I'm sure that doesn't help matters.

I completely understand the "I want to die" feeling because I have felt that way many times over the past few months of my taper. And I did have to chuckle at your "I hate people with no pain", because I feel that way too. I have a friend in her 60's who's still able to dance her a** off -- no knee, back, hip problems whatsoever. I'm so jealous.

PLEASE call your doctor and let him know your symptoms....and let us know whether you went from 120 mg/daily to 60, as that is way too fast especially for a sustained-release drug. Although, I'm not a doctor, that's just my opinion.
 
Hello There

I was on Morphine immediately after surgery for twelve days. By the twelth day, I was feeling so scared and was crying so much. The doctors stepped me down to percocet and I began to fell better. Years later, I found that Oxycodone was no longer holding my pain in check and the doctor put me on Morphine to see if that would work. It was a disaster. I was miserable and grouchy as all get out. My faithful frienRAB were gutsy enough to tell me I was acting just horrible... always angry or depressed. I thank them for that. I spoke with my doctor and it was back to the Oxycodone. I was on it for many years until I began abusing it and was tapered slowly from it.

So, Prisoner. Honey, the haze drugs cause do indeed make us foggy and forgetful. And during the withdrawal from the opiates, we can expect it to continue. BUT not forever. Withdrawal can be a tormenting process indeed. Diarreha, sweats and chills, lost-feeling, depressed, anxious.. these are pretty common symptoms as we work our body and brain into restoring themselves. Our pain becomes exaggerated as the brain senRAB out pain signals trying to get more of the drug it has become accustomed to having daily. The brain also senRAB out "search parties" looking for any remnants of the drug.... in muscles, bones, everywhere it can reach. These are all the crummy things that happen in withdrawal.

HOWEVER, withdrawal is a process of getting off the drug so that our brains can return to producing what it neeRAB to help us feel normal. It stopped producing on its own when the drug took over. And as we end the drug use, we become fully functioning again. And happy. And not so forgetful. And we feel like we should. We get restored to full functioning capacity.

In a taper, we have a hard time after a cut and then, in a few days, we being to level out again. We learn to be very in tune with our own body and can sense when it is time to make another cut. For me, some cuts were nasty and some cuts were barely noticable. We learn to roll with the hard times because we know we are moving along on a path that will lead us to no more drugs and a clear head. If we can begin to look at each symptom we suffer through as a healing symptom bringing us closer to the end, it becomes more bearable. I would ride out anxiety attacks when they came with controlled breathing and always reminding myself in my mind that it would end and then I would be one step closer to being me again.

Stay with us and we can walk together through this.
Wishing all good
reach
 
You say that your doctor thought some of the pain might be due to the gabapentin. What did you mean by that? Did he recently have you start taking this or did you recently go off of it? Why did he think the gabapentin(Neurontin here in the US) would cause pain.

I can tell you that when you are titrating down on the morphine that what you will experience is withdrawal but also what is called "rebound pain" It occurs whenever the level of narcotic pain medication is dramatically reduced or taken away. Our brains "scream" for the narcotic medication and it will make the pain "feel worse" than it actually is. This will last for approximately 7-14 days after you stop taking the morphine or if you cut the dose down very quickly. It is a complete trick by our brain and if you can get through the pain with other forms (heating pad, hot baths/showers, OTC acetaminophen or ibuprofen, vitamins, etc) Anything that you can do to make yourself feel better then do it (as long as your doctor allows it). Don't hurt yourself considering your soon out of surgery.

It could also be that the surgery was not successful or you have chronic pain. I am only 35 years old and have had chronic pain for the last 6 years. I have to take pain medications every day or I would not be able to function. There is no cure, treatment, or surgery that can fix what is wrong with me. If the pain continues, it might mean that you have developed chronic pain or you just have not taken long enough to heal from your surgery. Only you and your doctor can decided how long you need the pain medication, even if you have to stay on a low dose indefinitely. Check out the Pain Management board on HealtrabroadoarRAB and there are alot of people over there than can give you some better advice. It sounRAB like you are dealing with chronic pain and NOT an addiction issue. Keep us posted though and DON"T GIVE UP MAN.

Your friend in chronic pain

brian:wave:
 
Thank you so so much for your kind worRAB. Its weird but i dont feel so alone being able to share all of this as im going through it with you lot (even if you're only a user name on my computer).
You are right about looking at the pain and seeing it as a step closer to the end.

Will keep you up to date and thanks again.
 
The zomorph is a slow release type of morphine that stays in the body for 12hrs. Although i was on 60/60 a day, i have tapered it down 10mg, but i wasnt getting any side effects at all. I went from 60/60 to 60/50, then 50/50, then 50/40. As soon as i hit this dosage the pain really kicked in. I was 'almost' fine on 50/50 so how will i know when its time to reduce?

I was on Gabapentin prior to my surgery (been on it forabout 9months). When i initially reduced my morphine i radically reduced my gabapentin also. Went from 600mg once a day, to 300mg once a day. My GP said that because id reduced my morphine and my Gab at the same time, he was unsure which drug was actually the cause of all my w/d pain, so he told me to go back to my top level of 600mg a day and reduce the morphine on its own. I think the pain is now due to the morphine.

I am due to see my GP tomorrow (and he is very good) so will see what he says.

Brianpain 33 - sorry if this sounRAB stupid, but what exactly is chronic pain. I know it sounRAB like very bad pain, but how is it caused and where does it come from and why does it start? I never had this sort of pain even before my surgery. Im most scared about what is happening with my hanRAB. They are so sore and swollen and i have no idea why.

Thanks for both of your encouraging worRAB. I was just in a horrible state last night when i wrote my last installment. Was sobbing my heart out and couldnt see a way out of this hell. xx
 
Chronic pain is pain that lasts more than 6 months and can take on 2 different forms.

1. It can be caused from a definite cause like a degenerating disc or an inflamed nerve, but something physcially causing the pain that may or may not be able to be fixed or cured.

2. It can occur after an injury, surgery, etc and it happens when your nervous system becomes programmed incorrectly. Every test in the world can be run but nothing will show up (on x-rays, MRIs, etc). For me, it happened to my feet, the pain signal is still being sent from my feet to my brain even though everything has completely healed. I could have every test in the world run on my feet and everything would come up "normal". But it's my nervous system that is not working correctly. The pain signal is still being sent and my brain still "thinks" that something is wrong because it is still receiving the pain signal.

Does that make sense? The 2nd type of chronic pain can be the most frustrating because many people and even doctors might think that you are making it up, faking it, it's all in your head, etc. But that is completely untrue. I do have to take pain medication and I will probably be on it the rest of my life because it is the only thing that interupts that "pain signal" being sent. Unless medical science can come up with a way to reprogram the nervous system then there is nothing else that can be done. I am thinking about doing a trial with a SCS(spinal cord stimulator) but that is a completely different topic. Please post over on the Pain Management board and you will see many people that are like me.

brian
 
Prisoner, just wondering how you are and what the doctor said yesterday. I hope you're doing better. Let us know when you can.
 
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