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Suggest Ways To Wean Off Of Hydrocodone

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Posted on Mon, 12 Jun 2017
Question: Hi, as important as this is to me I am on disability and just had a costly event eat up my savings so how much does this cost? You deserve to be paid but my situation is not good although this is life and death also, truly. The question is how fast is safe to ween off of hydrocodone that they've had me on 16 years. I was a saver the last couple years so when they cut me from 5 pills (10/325) per day to 3 I was able for 3 months to use 4 then get down to 3.5 per day. I have a heart condition...litlerally thrown out of getting facet blocks on my neck cause my bp shot up so high due to stomach pain. I cannot fast. I only get one wellness appt. per year and that Dr. screwed that up and now medicare has turned down $450 for the blood tests. I had another one months later (I ate 4 tablespoons frozen yogurt beforehand) and though my stomach didn't suffer my bp was all over the place. only 2 months later they are trying to force me to get it done again only I will only be allowed lidocaine. If they felt the need to anesthetize me for the others then I expect with my heart problem plus a bulbous basilar artery and mitral valve prolapse w regurg and likely unrelated cysts in my pineal gland it could kill me. They are holding the codone over my head like blackmail but I am not psychologically addicted just aware of the physical. How fast is safe from 60 pills to ween off or possibly 120 pills? I was a letter carrier and slipped on ice splitting my head open in 97 thus starting migraines....didn't notice the neck until X Ray showed Herniated disc. Evenually after high level migraines for all that time I was talked into leaving that job, selling a home I had just bought 6 yrs earlier to start over. I have no burial ins. or family to even cremate me....I'm fine with dying as I believe we go on but I've been in so much pain with the stomach over the past 6 years with very little help cause medicare had done okay for me until the bank fall. I'm actually using those hydrocodone pills to help my brain deal with the stomach pain. Now I need to ween off quickly or there is a good chance I could die if I do this next surgery as they expect. They are very cold about it. They don't care to hear one's history and I know the gov't wants this due to abusers. I'm fine with that but I need a Dr.s help and this pain clinic won't help but instead just says they will drop you flat if you don't come up with the money to have all these surgeries I cannot afford now. I've never abused but they are going to treat everyone like that....seems all they care about is money yet they don't even supply physical therapy like my earlier pain Dr. who I wish hadn't passed away. Chances are good for a heart attack (for me) if I try cold turkey. So what is safe for quickly getting off these. The stomach pain is likely to kill me too. I just want to live long enough to "get my house in order"....I'm 59 but look younger even tho I've only been able to cut a 2 pk/day smoking habit 10 years ago down to 1/2 pack per day. Valium will be next but I tend to lose my bowels when nervous since 2013
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Answered by Dr. Dr. Matt Wachsman (36 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
a few issues.

Detailed Answer:
The first is a relatively straight forward question of how safe is it to wean down off of narcotics.

Extremely safe if you have them next to you.

I suspect that someone who has narcotics involved with many aspects of their life will have issues of coming off of them.
So, some people have dependency/withdrawal after a few weeks of being on about 3 to 10 times more than what you describe (30-50 mg a day of hydrocodone). But, do NOT have any other issues and it's always pretty simple and straightforward to cut down by about 25 % per week tilll down to 30 mg a day and then they stop them.

And if it is what people see as what the main point of having a doctor is, if one were to tie it to feelings of anger at previous injuries, if one were to tie it to every aspect of daily life revolving around the drug taking schedule. It will be a problem stopping even 3 mg a day.

So, one could lower by 25% per week. If the medicine is literally at hand it either works or it doesn't and one can backtrack to previous doses taken. One can take other medicines such as clonidine to damp down the withdrawal symptoms.

When this fails then seeing why it fails and the mental blocks that occur with tapering can be explored.
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Dr. Matt Wachsman

Addiction Medicine Specialist

Practicing since :1985

Answered : 4214 Questions

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Suggest Ways To Wean Off Of Hydrocodone

Brief Answer: a few issues. Detailed Answer: The first is a relatively straight forward question of how safe is it to wean down off of narcotics. Extremely safe if you have them next to you. I suspect that someone who has narcotics involved with many aspects of their life will have issues of coming off of them. So, some people have dependency/withdrawal after a few weeks of being on about 3 to 10 times more than what you describe (30-50 mg a day of hydrocodone). But, do NOT have any other issues and it's always pretty simple and straightforward to cut down by about 25 % per week tilll down to 30 mg a day and then they stop them. And if it is what people see as what the main point of having a doctor is, if one were to tie it to feelings of anger at previous injuries, if one were to tie it to every aspect of daily life revolving around the drug taking schedule. It will be a problem stopping even 3 mg a day. So, one could lower by 25% per week. If the medicine is literally at hand it either works or it doesn't and one can backtrack to previous doses taken. One can take other medicines such as clonidine to damp down the withdrawal symptoms. When this fails then seeing why it fails and the mental blocks that occur with tapering can be explored.