I have had a couple of people ask me about this. I have only expressed personal experience and have limited clincal hospital experience,. but quite awhile in use of meds. with those who require psychotpic's and or/ opiod type pain meds. (e.g, ER/Surg. Tech, Paramedic, and left clinical practise to pursue Hospital Marketing

Firstly, my experience has only been with "David" (compounded Hydrocodone, MsContin, Oxycontin, and Oxycodone I was also on psychotropics, Anti-depressants, Anti-Psychotics (not for "psychosis" Seroquel for example is an anto-psychotic, but has the dual therapeutic value of also addresing insomnia.

I have been on and off of Benodiazepines for a number of decades. Did a year long stint with Methadaone.

About 3 years ago, I went to my Pain Doc. told hime, I felt habituated to the Hydrocodone, and was worried about what I had read from posters here and the withdrawal....we discussed the idea of "opiod holidays" in which he would script me a small quantity of an opiod "of sorts"...The Methadone was great, but I then started reading about folks doing cold turkey from it,...not real pleasant....I also wanted to streamline my intake of Benzo's (Xanax)...

The Hydrocodone was not as much of a concern, BUT he was very adament that to d/c the Methadone and taper the Benzo, would need Clonidine (Catapres) 0.1 mg. daily. I am now on day 5 of NO Hydrocodone, I take 1.0 Clonidine 2 x daily. and a couple of low dose Xanax @ bedtime. (I take two 1mg. with the Clonidine Catapres....

Both the "Oxy's" are apparently greatly reduced by taking the Clonidone as well. I don't need Immodium, Kratom, nor any other supplement to keep discomfort at bay.

My "Holiday" from Hydrocodone ends on the 12 of Nov. I find my tolerance levels usual go down after this month long holiday.

Clonidine (Catapress) is a fraction for those rip-off "Sub" clinics that charge you for what you can obtain easily, and is affordable.
HTH!...THE MOST DIFFICULT WITHDRAWL I HAVE EXPEREINCED IS WITH THE BENZODIAZIPINES PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THEM

David,
If I may add something here....
Clonidone has been proven to aid in detox from opiates. But is actually a Blood pressure med. And needs to be used with caution. It is advisable to have a BP cuff on hand & monitor your BP several times a day through the use of this med.
Normally it doesn't prove to be a real threat because during active WD's in detox the average persons BP rises. It is still recommendede to monitor your blood pressure.
Didn't mean to jump in on your thread like this. But sometime ppl can take some advise & run with it it, not fully understanding the risks. Also, from my understanding, if you tell any normal Dr you are detoxing & ask for Clonidine, most don't have a problem scripting this med. But they will check your BP to make sure it's not running on the low side before doing so.
I so agree there are many safer, less addictive alternatives to WDing other than methadone & sub. But alot of Dr's just aren't educated on addiction & the best easiest methods at times.

2C

Absolutely correct 2-Cool, and I have should have mentioned this, however, my script is low-dose, and B/P alway's ranges withen normal limits. It's the Doc's call, but this regimen is not "apparently" contraindicated unless of course you have LOW blood pressure.

Taking the B/P before scripting is a matter of course. I do "spike" B/P on occaision, but rarely, still, I havent had a problem..

Excellent thought tho!

Almost a year ago I tapered down with hydro and when I got to a half about twice a day, I used Kratom for about a week. I didn't have any w/d. Now I get 30 Hydro a month and they do help when I need them. I do get Klonopin too. Some days things catch up with me and I take some Klonopin but I try to keep them to help me sleep. I've had trouble sleeping all of my life. I took Valium for over 30yrs just when I needed it and never did have any w/d from it. Several months ago I asked my PCP to change to Klonopin because Valium leaves me really hung over.
Today I had a doosy of a headache in my right eyeball and just took 3 tylenol and slept all morning. Atleast I didn't start throwing up but my head got better and I didn't have to take any Hydro.
I guess that I'm lucky to have taken Valium so long and didn't get a tolerance to it.
Both of my G'sons have taken Seroquel for sleep. The 13yr old gained so much weight, they took him off of it but the 10yr old still takes 150mg every night. They started pop on 25mg several weeks ago and have upped it to 50mg. With his brain disease, they said that a small dose might help with his problems but I can't tell that it has helped him. He is still obsessing about stuff and still hearing things but his anger may be just alittle better.
If your not careful some meds can really mess you up
nanny

People need to realize these are all just PERSONAL experiences and not to take it as a type of doctors advice...It is really not safe to take any form of medication without first checking with a medical doctor...JMHO!!

Good point BB,
And I fear sometime ppl read these boards & try & self medicate.
And there are so many variables. Dosages & such. I've gotten a wealth of info here that I've taken back to my Dr & ended up with great results. But not going off on my own with the info, attempting to self medicate.
I agree, & JMHO,

2C

ABSOLUTE DITTO TO THE ABOVE

Who would have thought that little boys from about 7yrs old til now would take 150mg of Seroquel and more but pop is 61yrs old and they gave him 25mg to start and then changed it to 50mg.
I'm not saying that somebody should take anything without a Dr prescribing it. I'm just telling my experiences. I feel like I could write a book but you never know which way that book is going to go.
Now pop thinks that I'm hiding stuff from him because he can't remember me telling him. I don't remember if I told yall or not but pop already had brain stem and brain atrophy in April. He can't understand a long story news item and when I try to explain it to him he gets frustrated. pop is on 12 meds from the VA now. Thank God we don't to pay for them. One of his meds took him 1 month for him to become dependent to it. He took it for 30 days and they messed up his RX and he already had hard w/d about 2 hours after he missed a dose.
I'm running my mouth!
Like I said meds can mess you up but they sure can make like easier!
I need to go to sleep!
nanny