Pain medication Withdrawal

[grasshair]

Hi folks, I have a question for those who have replaced opiates for cannabis. Currently I am on a very high does of Oxycontin and have heard that you can pretty much half your does due to the cannabis making the pain killers more effective. My question is has anyone been successful with this process and does certain strains make it easier. I really want to get off this medication in the long term as it is horrible. The other question is has anyone been able to get their doctor look at sativex as an alternative as a bridge and if so have you had any success with it? 

[max_headroom]

Hi Grasshair I have been on the opiates roundabout for about 12 or 13 years and during that time I was up as high as 300mg slow release oxy a day(plus breakthrough) and had huge issues with side effects. Hardly surprising really.  I Decided it was time to reduce which I did with the help of some canna, lots of willpower and great medical support. This helped me through the worst of the withdrawal effects but it was still a very rough 3-4 weeks. My goal was to drop by half in two weeks, not terribly realistic. 

 

The canna does not deal to my pain but it helps keep me distracted and of course improves appetite/mood/mobility etc etc which I have issues with from time to time. You may find you get better relief with different ways of ingesting the canna.

 

I have had many forms of medication and at the moment have an implanted pain pump which delivers a constant dose of a type of Morphine directly to my spinal cord, which takes it directly to my brain. One of the biggest issues I have had with oral/patch meds is tolerance and the way in which the meds are now delivered, really helps prevent this. Its a constant low dose but you get the entire effect so less medication, less side effects .

 

If there is any help I could give  it would be this...I would be very careful coming off the Oxycontin it can be a tricky little bugger. Taking it slowly and reducing by small amounts is the best way I have found but that has only come with bitter experience. One of things that I didn't do the first time I had to come off it all together, but should have, was making sure I had given adequate time between drops in dosage otherwise you drop prematurely and end up getting a surge in withdrawal symptoms

Hope it works out for you

[merl1n]

No worries Grasshair
I think its great that we share what info we have. The more info we share the better informed we all are 
Everybody reacts to the pharma's in a different way. Hell, I know a woman that 'seems' to get high off of panadol. There is nothing in Panadol to get high from, but she giggles away like a first time stoner from a Panadol. For me Panadol are a waste of time. I need an opiate. I gave her a single Panadiene forte and she passed out.
Weed is the same, for some it has a huge pain killing effect, and that's great. For me it doesn't. It draws my attention away from the pain, but doesn't kill it unfortunately.

 

I do have to agree with Max that you should try different ways of ingesting it, as pain can have numerous causes and therefore need differing approaches. Eating canna butter gives a whole body relax, where smoking for me relaxes the mind
 
I've been on the pharma addiction roundabout before and it can be nasty. Slowly, slowly works best, let your body wind down off the shit, none of this cold turkey, cos if and when the pain returns from cold turkey it can be 10 fold as your body contends with pain and the physical addiction from the withdrawal. Take it from someone who knows. Often the withdrawal pain can pull you back in to the roundabout. Try and learn what works and what doesn't work for YOU. If I sit and do nothing, I have massive periodic pain all through the day. But if I get going, I can go for hours, I pay for it later but I can get shit done. When I stop, things shutdown and I need bed, darkness, silence and meds. I know this from learning 'my pain' what works for me. I keep myself occupied doing something, anything. I HATE going to bed, cos 'ere it comes' and I know it.
 
I haven't had much luck with the medical fraternity, so finding a specialist who will actually listen can be very challenging to say the least. (And if you find one, nurture him ) Although I use pot I have found the often its best not to mention that fact to Dr's. I have in the past and it has followed me around for years. 'Ohh I see you smoke Cannabis, that's probably the source of your pain' So now I don't bother.

Im on high dose Endone but as I say I try not to take them, Ive got tramadol but yuck, but when I need I do take them, so I stick with canna and Panadiene fort and manage (just).

 

Best of luck with it all and let us know how you get on. As I say 'share the info', there maybe somebody wandering thru who finds a key from your info. It all helps

 

Merl1n

[grasshair]

Thanks for your story Max I can totally empathize with you having been on similar quantities of Oxycontin and Oxynorm. I have been reducing my dose over the last couple of years even though my pain has gone up as I really do not like the side effects of Oxycontin, Morphine is not so bad. Don't worry guys about me coming off any form of Opiate though I have become good at reading my body over the years and when I have reduced I do it over months not days. I react very violently to oxy reduction even more so than morphine. I have choosen to reduce only because over the years I have developed strategies and a strong mental ability to tolerate pain without it reducing my mood too much and I really do not like Pain killers except the reduction in pain it gives me. I was almost going to get a pump installed in my spine and I am glad I didn't now. I am happy to hear you get good mobility, appetite stimulation and increased mood, that is half the battle and it gives me hope. I feel more confident with my decision since I have a young son of 9 I do not want him exposed to this activity until he can properly understand. I will give various methods a shot including butter, I will have to give the recipe a whirl when I can cheers Merl1n and Max for that. I appreciate both of you responding this information and your stories have helped me a great deal. I will post the video down below it goes for about 9min and I found it very interesting even though they have done most of their testing on Mice and used marinol in a hospital setting for patience. I apologize if my grammar and sentences are scrambled today I am in more pain today than usual so am struggling to keep my thoughts coherent. Cheers again.

 

[merl1n]

Hey Grasshair,

Great video, it confirms what many of us already knew. In combination canna has a beneficial effect.

Due to the Schedule 9 rating canna has had, very little practical science has been conducted on this (still) illegal substance

Now there is few of the American states have decriminalised its use for medical (and in some states recreational)  hopefully we will see more in depth practical science occurring.

Its great they are doing something but again, it would be more 'practical' to be using grown canna than Marinol and its great that they are testing but, mice. What about us? 

 

At least some small steps are occurring. things are happening. I don't think it will be in my lifetime that we're allowed, well not here. We seem to be reactive rather than proactive. So when the U.S Federal Government finally approve grown Canna for full medical use, Australia will have a think about it, throw in a Royal commission or two. Then they might think about some trials (again, probably on rats) so give it another 20 years, then we'll turn around and again agree with the Americans.

But for now, let's face it, if we want to control our pain adequately, we have to do so behind closed doors, unfortunately.

 

Merl1n