Necessary opioids doing damage?

[[Fa...]]

I’ve been wondering for a long time without solid answers about whether or not my opioids are doing any additional damage to withdrawal. I’m two years off 20 years of Xanax. I was hit my a car 14 years ago at a high rate of speed which left me severely injured. Currently doctors have me on bupernorphine, dilaudid and norco around the clock. I have no choice in taking this stuff if I want to stand up and walk. It cause me great worry constantly that it may somehow be having negative consequences on anxiety and panic and things of the sort. Would be great if someone could help me

[[al...]]

This is an interesting question, and something I've considered myself as I've had to take them a handful of times during withdrawal after having surgery. One thing opiates do is that they can have a passive effect on upregulating your GABA receptors which is actually a good thing, and sometimes can result in a window either when you take them or the day after. That being said, they are also just as addictive as benzos. Since there has been so little scientific/medical studies done on the recovery process from benzos it's really hard to say one way or the other. There were also times where when I took them they made my anxiety go way up and put me in a bad mental state. I am not sure if there are any users on here who have taken them regularly while recovering from benzos and still healed, but it might be worth looking into.

[[I ...]]

If you don't taper the opiates when you come down then its possible. Also I've seen some opiate users report Anhedonia after stoppage which I have from the benzo's, but I use opiates too in benzo recovery. I've been told anything that helps in benzo withdrawal you pay for later.

[[Fa...]]

If you don't taper the opiates when you come down then its possible. Also I've seen some opiate users report Anhedonia after stoppage which I have from the benzo's, but I use opiates too in benzo recovery. I've been told anything that helps in benzo withdrawal you pay for later.

 

I’ll be on opiates for the rest of my life unfortunately. So I was just wondering if they were interacting with my benzo wd in some way.

[[My...]]

I am pretty sure it is not hindering healing. I started taking oxycodone 8 months after coming off benzos and it did not do anything to make the existing PAWS symptoms worse. All it did was what it's always done, the only difference was a slightly intensified reactions to side effects because I am already in distress from benzo withdrawal. Overall it helped me get back on my feet a lot quicker because it initially helped with anxiety and depression. If I take too much oxy though it actually makes the anxiety worse for an hour or 2 when it kicks in. With morphine my anxiety goes down with higher doses so different opioids will effect it differently.

 

Opioids cause terrible depression and anxiety with long term use due to hormones being reduced. I have these issues and it feels the exact same as it did every other time I was on opioids in the past and is the reason I always stopped them. Doesn't seem like it's negatively affected my benzo withdrawal at all. I've also taken morphine, codeine, buprenorphine, tapentadol and tramadol since starting and no problems with any of them besides seizure feelings while on tapentadol/tramadol due to lowered seizure threshold. But then when I take some seemingly benign supplements it messes me up for a week or 2 lol. That being said it may prevent 100% healing, but I've definitely improved over 50% in the past year since starting the opioid.

 

Unfortunately if you need to take opioids forever like myself then you just need to get used to feeling a bit bad from it. The way I look at it is I feel a lot worse with the pain, so this is the trade-off. Maybe consider an antidepressant, bupropion is good for my anxiety but bad for others. I also like DXM sometimes for depression and anxiety as it can be taken as needed and it also will give you a big boost in pain relief as it lowers opioid tolerance to some extent. This can be helpful in reducing your opioid dose too so that you can reduce side effects.

[[Fa...]]

I am pretty sure it is not hindering healing. I started taking oxycodone 8 months after coming off benzos and it did not do anything to make the existing PAWS symptoms worse. All it did was what it's always done, the only difference was a slightly intensified reactions to side effects because I am already in distress from benzo withdrawal. Overall it helped me get back on my feet a lot quicker because it initially helped with anxiety and depression. If I take too much oxy though it actually makes the anxiety worse for an hour or 2 when it kicks in. With morphine my anxiety goes down with higher doses so different opioids will effect it differently.

 

Opioids cause terrible depression and anxiety with long term use due to hormones being reduced. I have these issues and it feels the exact same as it did every other time I was on opioids in the past and is the reason I always stopped them. Doesn't seem like it's negatively affected my benzo withdrawal at all. I've also taken morphine, codeine, buprenorphine, tapentadol and tramadol since starting and no problems with any of them besides seizure feelings while on tapentadol/tramadol due to lowered seizure threshold. But then when I take some seemingly benign supplements it messes me up for a week or 2 lol. That being said it may prevent 100% healing, but I've definitely improved over 50% in the past year since starting the opioid.

 

Unfortunately if you need to take opioids forever like myself then you just need to get used to feeling a bit bad from it. The way I look at it is I feel a lot worse with the pain, so this is the trade-off. Maybe consider an antidepressant, bupropion is good for my anxiety but bad for others. I also like DXM sometimes for depression and anxiety as it can be taken as needed and it also will give you a big boost in pain relief as it lowers opioid tolerance to some extent. This can be helpful in reducing your opioid dose too so that you can reduce side effects.

 

That was said excellently. I really needed someone to give me an in depth review of their experience in a longer term situation. I’m on full time bupernorphine patches with dilaudid and hydrocodone through the day as break through. The only odd phenomenon I’ve noticed is when I’m in full panic or anxiety mode and I take an extra pill I’ll actually panic about what could happen to me regardless of the fact that nothing can actually happen. I used to feel this way with fentanyl just because of its power. I guess I get Into my head.  But I just wanted to know that every pill I take isn’t extending the benzo withdrawal by years. I know it sounds silly but my ability to creatively worry at this point is second to none so I really appreciate you writing.

[[Ca...]]

Geez Dilaudid and Norco both wow that's a lot. But yeah, I've been taking mainly Norco at least since my knee surgery couple months ago. I've needed it and I'm already addicted from when I had back surgery then heart surgery. But when I've gotten off the narcotics. It's been tough but doable. Usually a lot of sadness and grief comes out and I'm kind of out of commission for a few days to a week. But it's nothing compared to this Benzo ordeal, not even close. I will say honestly that the narcotics high is it but the only thing that's ever lifted me out of the really dark depression. It's like turning Black to some shade of Gray. I told my psychiatrist but of course he can do nothing as far as prescriptions for that sort of thing. So I don't know what effect, if any it has on the benzo state of mind, or what it does chemically. But I don't care that much anyway I'm already addicted to my antidepressants Plus Gabapentin plus Seroquel and the narcotics. I'm just trying to deal with the benzo ordeal coming up on 6 years now just this month. I don't know if I can ever be clean again. That's just something I'll have to come to, in whatever time frame there is left in my life. I hope that helps.

[[Fa...]]

Geez Dilaudid and Norco both wow that's a lot. But yeah, I've been taking mainly Norco at least since my knee surgery couple months ago. I've needed it and I'm already addicted from when I had back surgery then heart surgery. But when I've gotten off the narcotics. It's been tough but doable. Usually a lot of sadness and grief comes out and I'm kind of out of commission for a few days to a week. But it's nothing compared to this Benzo ordeal, not even close. I will say honestly that the narcotics high is it but the only thing that's ever lifted me out of the really dark depression. It's like turning Black to some shade of Gray. I told my psychiatrist but of course he can do nothing as far as prescriptions for that sort of thing. So I don't know what effect, if any it has on the benzo state of mind, or what it does chemically. But I don't care that much anyway I'm already addicted to my antidepressants Plus Gabapentin plus Seroquel and the narcotics. I'm just trying to deal with the benzo ordeal coming up on 6 years now just this month. I don't know if I can ever be clean again. That's just something I'll have to come to, in whatever time frame there is left in my life. I hope that helps.

 

Yeah I have it piled on. For the pain I take bupernorphine patches, the dilaudid and the norco and hopefully I can walk with all the that. For psych meds I take lithium, tegretol, seroquel, and gabapentin. It’s a heavy load but I don’t have much choice. I just really want to know that none of this is actually messing up my benzo withdrawal which is in miserable condition.