Suggest Ways To Wean Off Opiates

Posted on Fri, 12 Dec 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 12 Dec 2014 Answered on

Tue, 6 Jan 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : im about 7 to 8 months from being 66yrs of age. of which when I intend on retiring. im a poker dealer and have been on and off opiates for the last 10yrs. Mostly on cuz ive had so much trouble with good intentions on trying to get off them. ive tried it all. cold turkey, weening almost everyway ive read or heard bout. they do work and I feel doomed and guilty for trying and failing. any ideas, miracles or ideas for me to try? I feel trapped! its so hard..

Answered by Dr. Srikanth Reddy (43 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Quidict or methadone is a solution

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for choosing health care magic for posting your query.
I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through.
Opioids is a difficult addiction to break but not impossible. I agree that there are some failed attempts, but each attempt teaches us what not to do and next time, what to be careful about. Failed attempts also help.
Coming to the option of getting off opioids, there is no magical solution. The best way is to get detoxified in a in-hospital setting then getting a maintenance therapy on either quidict or methadone and then coming out of it gradually under a medical supervision. Further you can also join a support group while you are in this procedure.
Even if you stay at the maintainance phase for ling, even then the risk has reduced tremendously and even this will help.
I could have prescribed you medicines. As health care magic is an online forum, legally we are not supposed to prescribe medications without physically examining you. Such regulation are primarily meant for the safety of the patients as well as the Doctor. Further any prescription given in E-mail will not be honored by the pharmacy in your country. Sincere apologies for the same.
Hope I am able to answer your concerns.
If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you.
If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for me, so that I get a good feedback.
In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link:
bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy

Wish you good health,
Kind regards
Dr. Srikanth Reddy M.D.

Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar