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Anyone have a taper schedule for painkillers?


NoMeaning25

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I know this isn't a psychotropic, but i am in need of desperate help. My mom has been addicted to painkillers for 40 years. She recently (well, 2 years ago) started adding anti-inflammatories to the mix and she has been complaining alot that she has kidney pain. She refuses to go to the doctor, she has serious anxiety when it comes to doctors or dentists.

 

So, i need to start helping her, or else things will turn out really bad.

 

Please, does anyone know how this can be done? The anti-inflammatories are in capsule form, the others are pill form. 

 

She takes around 6 paracetamol and around 6 anti-inflammatory pills a day. 

 

Should she taper 10% like antidepressants? I dont want her to have serious withdrawal problems like i did, so the slower she can go the better.

 

Please i would appreciate any advise

Was on Citalopram 20mg since Feb 2008 - switched to Paxil 20mg in August 2010

Tapered way too fast in April 2012 by skipping days. Taper completed in 6 weeks

Tried prozac 20mg for 3 days - felt spaced out, not better.

Tried 30mg Cymbalta for 2 days. SEVERE ADVERSE REACTION

Antidepressant free since 14 August 2012

Birth control on and off during this time - Last taken 18 June 2017 - Morning after pill 

Started mainly using 0.5mg Xanax beginning 2016 for severe panic attacks and anxiety due to trauma

Xanax on and off never more than 0.5mg at a time, never taking it 3 days in a row - used sparingly 

 

6 Years antidepressant free - Still in severe withdrawal with over 60 symptoms

Severe setback started May 2018 with no let up to date. Developed many new symptoms like tremors, inner vibrations, insomnia, visual distortions and dr/dp are 100x worse, i have severe sensitivity to movement, My dizziness and vertigo got worse and it now feels like im constantly rocking on a boat, my anxiety is sky high, suicidal idiation is back, i feel extremely brain damaged 

 

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I don't think paracetamol (known as acetaminophen or Tylenol in the US) is addictive the way psych meds are, nor anti-inflammatory meds either. She could probably reduce faster than 10% at a time, maybe drop one pill from her daily regimen and give it a week or two and see how it goes then drop another etc.

 

HOWEVER the most important thing I want to say is that she MUST see a doctor immediately. Anti-inflammatory use at high doses over time is a common cause of kidney failure. You don't want to play around with that. She needs to at least get kidney function labs and make sure her kidneys are working okay. Impress upon her that she could DIE if her kidneys fail. They may be fine but she needs to have them checked.

 

High doses of paracetamol can cause liver failure, too. 

 

So please get her to a doctor and at least get her labs checked.

Started on Prozac and Xanax in 1992 for PTSD after an assault. One drug led to more, the usual story. Got sicker and sicker, but believed I needed the drugs for my "underlying disease". Long story...lost everything. Life savings, home, physical and mental health, relationships, friendships, ability to work, everything. Amitryptiline, Prozac, bupropion, buspirone, flurazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, Paxil, citalopram, lamotrigine, gabapentin...probably more I've forgotten. 

Started multidrug taper in Feb 2010.  Doing a very slow microtaper, down to low doses now and feeling SO much better, getting my old personality and my brain back! Able to work full time, have a full social life, and cope with stress better than ever. Not perfect, but much better. After 23 lost years. Big Pharma has a lot to answer for. And "medicine for profit" is just not a great idea.

 

Feb 15 2010:  300 mg Neurontin  200 Lamictal   10 Celexa      0.65 Xanax   and 5 mg Ambien 

Feb 10 2014:   62 Lamictal    1.1 Celexa         0.135 Xanax    1.8 Valium

Feb 10 2015:   50 Lamictal      0.875 Celexa    0.11 Xanax      1.5 Valium

Feb 15 2016:   47.5 Lamictal   0.75 Celexa      0.0875 Xanax    1.42 Valium    

2/12/20             12                       0.045               0.007                   1 

May 2021            7                       0.01                  0.0037                1

Feb 2022            6                      0!!!                     0.00167               0.98                2.5 mg Ambien

Oct 2022       4.5 mg Lamictal    (off Celexa, off Xanax)   0.95 Valium    Ambien, 1/4 to 1/2 of a 5 mg tablet 

 

I'm not a doctor. Any advice I give is just my civilian opinion.

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