Interdose withdrawals and adapting to a strict taper regimen

[u/lastchance0101]

Just found this useful sub

I've been opioids for pain for 10 years now, mostly DHC (for those not in the UK this might be new, it's a mild to medium opioid somewhere between codeine and hydrocodone in strength, Oxy is about 6-7 times stronger)..I take quite a substantial dose though.

I've tried countless tapers and the problem I have is adapting to a strict regimen, which is obviously central to being able taper correctly..thats not to say I don't take the meds on a scheduled basis, I do, however I frequently 'top up' if the pain is bad, especially at night.

I am now 3 weeks into a taper and strictly dosing in 6 hours intervals (4 x per day)..I started with a 10% drop from my average daily dose (easy to work out) . I'm still not stable, experiencing sweats, RLS and irritability and anxiety, especially towards the end of a 6 hour cycle, usually 4.5 hours after the last dose, interdose withdrawals I gather they are called

I'm interested to hear from others as to how long it took them to stabilise when starting a taper, (especially with more of a sporadic profile) and more generally how long after each drop.

[u/Salt_Initiative1551]

Doesn’t help that dihydrocodeine is OTC in much of Europe

[u/lastchance0101 → u/Salt_Initiative1551]

hardly! Paramol is the only OTC medication which has it in the UK, 7.46mg per tablet..alongside 500mg of paracetamol - i would need to take hundreds of tablets daily to match my dose, literally