If you’re addicted to Percocet and you’re thinking of quitting, or you have faced opioid withdrawal before, you may be wondering just how hard it’s going to be to get through withdrawal. Opioid withdrawal is tough. It’s bigger and stronger than anyone who tries to tackle it. It’s ruthless and utterly heartless. You can’t eat, stray more than a few feet from a toilet or even sit comfortably. Everything hurts. You can’t concentrate or distract yourself with a good book or a movie. Your head pounds with a vicious headache. You can forget about sleeping. Your muscles twitch. Your bones hurt. Your back aches. You have a terrible case of restless leg syndrome, one of the most annoying and uncomfortable conditions on the planet. If you do manage to drift off to sleep, it will be for short periods no more than 30 to 60 minutes long, if you’re lucky. This sleep will not be restful. It will be haunted with strange, vivid, highly disturbing dreams. You awake with a start. The whole withdrawal thing is still there, as uncomfortable, miserable and painful as ever. What is the hardest part of the Percocet withdrawal timeline? All of it! Every cotton pickin’ crummy nanosecond of it. It all sucks.
Five to Ten Days
However, the first five to 10 days, depending on the person and the level of ingestion, tend to be the hardest. After 10 days, the person can usually eat without vomiting and the restless leg syndrome tends to be much improved, if not totally gone. The person is usually still plagued by terrible insomnia, though. Unfortunately, insomnia tends to be one of the very first withdrawal symptoms to appear and the last to finally disappear. It’s not unusual for insomnia to persist to some degree for as long as a month. It can be months before normal sleep patterns finally establish themselves again. Of course, medications, such as Suboxone and methadone, will greatly reduce or even eliminate opioid withdrawal symptoms. However, for someone who wants to be totally free of all opioids, withdrawal will need to be faced to some degree at some point along the way.
Of the opioid withdrawals, oxycodone is one of the very worst. Users who have taken both report that oxycodone is worse than heroin withdrawal. One of the main reasons for this is oxycodone’s persistent withdrawal timeline. It’s not at all unusual for significant symptoms to still be present a full month after the last oxycodone dose.
History of Ozycodone: High Hitler
Oxycodone was first developed by a German chemist looking for a non-addictive alternative to heroin and morphine in 1916. While the chemist failed to achieve his primary goal, he did indeed create a powerful painkiller highly favored by Hitler himself, who took it in a proprietary preparation called Eukodal. Hitler liked Eukodal a whole lot. In the book High Hitler by Norman Ohler, the author discusses Hitler’s penchant for drugs in general and oxycodone in particular, suggesting that the despotic leader ran the country while intoxicated much of the time. Oxycodone first appeared on the American market in 1950 under the brand moniker of Percodan, which was 5 milligrams of oxycodone mixed with 325 milligrams of aspirin. Percocet followed some 20 years later, in 1971.
Percocet is a combination product containing oxycodone and acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol. It comes in two strengths: 5 and 10 milligrams of oxycodone with a constant dose of 325 milligrams of acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is highly toxic to the liver when taken in doses exceeding therapeutic levels. Some Percocet users have caused serious liver damage to themselves by taking large numbers of Percocet pills at once, trying to get a large milligram dosage of the relatively meager oxycodone component. Some Percocet abusers have learned about the simple chemistry concept of cold water extraction. This is a simple method of separating the acetaminophen from the oxycodone that can be easily done at home with cold water and a few ordinary utensils.
Percocet Withdrawal Timeline
The Percocet withdrawal timeline typically begins some 12 to 18 hours after the last oxycodone dose. The person will at first feel vaguely restless and anxious. They may actually crash into a deep sleep at this point, but they will awaken to sharp stomach cramps, vomiting and unrelenting diarrhea. Sleep will become impossible from this time on as the body is racked with muscle and bone pain. Overwhelming fatigue sets in. The person may not even have the energy to take a shower. Eating is out of the question. Nothing sounds good and it all comes right back up anyway. Restless leg syndrome typically begins around the 48-hour mark. Sleep remains elusive. Dehydration may set in after the first day. These symptoms tend to persist for about five days before giving way to reduced symptoms approaching the tenth day or so. The two worst parts of the timeline are insomnia and restless leg syndrome. Take your miserable pick!
We Can Help
Modern medical management of the opioid withdrawal timeline process has made the withdrawal timeline far more comfortable. There is no need to suffer through days and weeks of terrifying symptoms. In fact, we can help. Just call us at 833-497-3812. A member of our professional drug counseling staff will help you find a great treatment facility for you.