Side effects - opiates and panic attacks

[returntozero]

swim loves oxycodone and hydrocodone, but these substances are now giving him feelings of anxiety and panic even when taken in low doses.

swim was using OC daily for a little over a month and one night he had a massive panic attack (still not sure why) that left him feeling sick for several days after. now its hard for swim to enjoy even 20-30mgs of hydro or 10-20 mgs of oxy

swim is distraught that fear of another panic attack is ruining his opiate highs. what can swim do to get back to his old self or manage these feelings so he can just enjoy the opiates like old times? is there anything to worry about when taking these low to moderate doses of opiates?

swim sometimes takes benzos if he's feeling panic while on opiates but wonders how safe that really is. any help you could give this stranger (swim) would be appreciated

[Ontherooftops]

Swim has experienced this, if one is predisposed to mania/anxiety/panic disorder, repeated use of any sedative will probably exacterbate the problem, especially opiates that decrease the brain's ability to release dopamine in certain areas of the brain.

Take a break, your rabbit will feel especially jumpy for a while, but eventually dope will regain some of it's old luster.

[fiveleggedrat]

Try to analyze WHY it is happening. Is it the set/setting? Bad music/ annoying people? Too many worries/issues going on? Doing it at stressful times? Doing it and afraid of hurting Swiy's body?

Swim believes taking a look at the mental aspect of panic/anxiety/fear helps to handle difficult experiences.

This has helped Swim with bad experiences with Pot, Opioids (which is rare for Swim), amphetamines, and others. Swim has also struggled with anxiety his whole life, and still does.

Does Swiy feel like this is a physical or mental issue?

Reputation Comments on this post:

alot of posts but little substance

[returntozero]

thanks for the responses so far.

swim has never had any sort of panic issues before he had a panic attack while on OC. he did have some bad news that day which may have triggered it, but swim thinks the anxiety was more unfocused. then of course since swim had never experienced a panic attacked before, he had no idea what was happening to him. he thought he had some sort of neurological disorder. he could not drive to work for several days after this and felt very strange. several days later when he went to his doctor, the doc said it was the symptoms of panic/anxiety. swim started to feel much better after he was diagnosed

now when swim takes opies, he questions if his body can handle it, or of it is going to cause some harm to his heart, breathing, etc. is it possible to cause bodily harm to yourself after taking 10-20mgs of OC or 20-30 mgs of hydro, and maybe taking .5mg oh xanax a few hours later? swim thinks it should be fine based on what he has read and what he has handled int he past, but now his whole perspective has changed after this panic attack.

swim mostly feels like this hours after the opiates have been ingested, which is strange because he knows the medicine has already gone through its half life.

[pillpopper96743]

for swim, its almost the same thing. but all of the stress around the place seems to build up and continue to do so until he has to take more to calm down. he had never had panic attacks while on the ops though. he is going through the same thing right now, except it is from oxycontin this time and not vicodin. this is gonna be a harder path to get over for him, but in 2-4 weeks he'll feel fine again. the anxiety for now is shit though. he cant imagine a worse side effect to have from ops besides heroin. it sucks.

[fiveleggedrat]

Yes, Swiy should be able to hand of that type of dose, but that is general info, not tailored to you.

Swim does not believe Swiy has much, if any chance of real damage from opioids, in terms of heart and such.

The most that Swim ever worries about is large doses, and worries of suffocating, but Swim sometimes gets irrational.

[TAz69x]

Opioids are remarkably harmless when taken correctly, and your heart will be fine from your current usage (and any usage therein; barring a foreign manifestation of problems through another heart-affecting entity).

Your panic attacks should be okay if you can control them mentally.
When they come on, are you responding to a physical trigger (change in breathing, sense of relaxation starting in the legs, etc.), or is there something with the opioids themselves (unlikely) that is affecting you?

Consecutive doses can have an effect on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or more rarely anxiety disorders if taken very frequently; though this is tied in psychologically in the vast majority of such cases.
Within the low-dose situation, there would be a good chance to analyze what the effector is, and, knowing you're okay (which you've been able to corroborate with us, as far as opioids singularly go independently segregated from the effects of other drugs), you can observe it and alter your response to it, and analyze it during the next occurrence.
I'd recommend a slightly lower dose than usual, with a few hours increased duration between consecutive doses.
Analyze and deal with any possible trigger, and allow experience on a low-order dose to migrate through to your normal dose.
A mechanism which I've known of for a while that's akin to a panic attack is a heart-pounding reaction to what a few patients perceive as their heart beating improperly. Ironically, this mechanism itself often causes one to mentally affect the beating of their heart and can even lead to an adrenaline (nor-epinephrine)-release state where one's heart beats rapidly, combined with their mentally-affected breathing of a low order, which can cause them to instantaneously induce a situation which exists solely on a mental level, or a panic-attack type state.
This is where observing and reacting can assist you, and the harmless nature of (intelligent use of) opioids protects you physically from harm, residing mental controls as the last mechanism for you to control if need be, and easily discard once realized the non-existence of harm of opioids is mentally registered.

Anyways, aside from controlling the mental aspects of this, a slight reduction and a slightly increased time between consecutive doses should assist (where possible), and I think you should be able to assist yourself with your panic attacks.

And remember, while the receptor affinities of such drugs are still active, don't carelessly mix the "three": (opioids, benzodiazepines, alcohol (ethanol)). Severe respiratory depression can occur with poor dosings of these combinations. Generally, reduce to at least BELOW 45% 45%) of your normal dose of opioids/benzos if any combination of two is attempted, though first-attempts should reduce to below 30% at a minimum to start inclination-dosing to acquire a correct dosage for yourself. And I'd just recommend to NEVER take alcohol with either opioids or benzos, with the effects and extreme difficultly in measuring an accurate dose therein.

Anyways, good luck!, and hopefully something here helped.