Does anyone know about opiate withdrawal in hospital and giving up painkillers
Does anyone have any experience in giving up pain killers in order to give preventitives a chance. I have had daily migraine for 23 years. For 18 years it has been managed with prescription opiates (Diconal) on a daily basis and in large quantities. I am under pressure from my doctor to give them up in order to give preventatives a chance. I have been told I will need to spend 4 weeks in hospital giving up the opiates and then up to 2-3 years with medication only twice a week in order to try and find a preventative that works. I find this very daunting. I have a high pressure job and am convinced I could not function without medication. I am also very concerned about the giving up of opiates in hospital. Just how unpleasant could this be? I currently take 68 10mg diconal tablets per week and have taken them since 1992.
Hi Andrew,
Good for you for thinking about taking this big step. Yes, withdrawing from long term opiate use is not pleasant and if not done properly one can have all sort of nasty complications. These include but are not limited to: vomiting and breathing stomach contents into the lungs, and then getting an infection, vomiting and diarrhea can cause severe dehydration, sleep depriavation, and more.
You have been on opiates a very long time. If you have a good relationship with your doctor and trust him, I would certainly give it a go.There is also new evidence that opiate use, especially in men, increases the risk of another type of Migraine called Transformed Migraine . Continue reading this article for more information: Transformed Migraine- Risk Increased by Some Medications
I hope this helps,
Good luck
Nancy
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