Can Withdrawal Symptoms Re-occur Some Time After Stopping Pain Medication?

Posted on Wed, 11 Feb 2015

Question: I had a son who stopped taking excessive amounts of pain medication 3 months ago. He spent 7 days in a medical detox and went thru a total of 15 days of withdrawal symptoms and then felt very good for 3 months. Then he started having the same types of symptoms all over again out of the blue. I took him to the ER to confirm that he didnt have anything in his system. Can the withdrawal symptoms come back in the future, could that be what is happening? The symptoms are swever nausea and vomiting and cant hold anything down

Answered by Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
No recurrent withdrawal symptoms,why is he taking adderall and how?

Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX

Thanks for writing to us. I can understand your concern for your son.

Withdrawal symptoms occur only when some substance taken for long and stopped suddenly.In his case he has been passed through the same. He has been treated well. He was fine for 3 months.Without taking substance regularly again, it is not possible to have same withdrawal symptoms again.
He has been checked by ER doctors and he himself denied that he has taken any pain medicine again. All these suggest that whatever he is suffering from now is not at all withdrawal but something else.

Adderall should be taken regularly and with doctor's prescription only. It is used for attention deficit disorder. You have mentioned that he is taking On and off. If he is taking on and off, less possibility of adderall withdrawal is there.
However if he is taking since more than 6 months and at least 4-5 times a week and more than 10 mg per dose, some possibility of adderall withdrawal is there. It can cause severe nausea and vomiting.

Let me know his exact detail about adderal intake: indication,dose and frequency.

Severe nausea and vomiting of course are due to gastritis likely in normal scenario. Did these symptoms relieve by anti acidity and anti vomiting medicines?

Hope I have answered your query, I will be happy help further.

Regards,
Dr.Chintan Solanki.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (1 hour later)

I asked my son more specific questions about everything he is taking. He said that he has not taken any pain meds at all since going thru the detox program but after he came home he was very weak and tired so he began taking adderall that he gets from his wife to have enough energy to work because he has a very physical job that requires long hours. His wife is taking it to try to get thru college and has a prescription for itm He has been taking it Monday thru Friday for approximately 3 months and takes 1 to 4 pills a day that are 30 milligrams and the last day he had one was 5 days ago. If this is withdrawal should he take the accrual and slowly stop tsking it or should he deal with this and get clean again? Can you suggest what I should have him do as I know nothing about all of this but desperately want yo help him.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (11 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Best thing is to consult a psychiatrist

Detailed Answer:
HI XXXXXXX

Thanks for follow up question and sorry for delayed response.

I can understand your concern.

From history given by you regarding intake of adderall by your son suggests he has likely withdrawal of the adderall considering that symptoms has been started after stopping the medicine.

From this point two approach can be followed.

1. If he really wants to quit the medicine , do not restart. Already 5 days has been passed. His withdrawal can be treated with symptomatic medicines.

2. He can restart adderall to treat withdrawal and continue it if he is in need. In future when he wants to stop, he can taper it off gradually.

In both approach, he needs to be evaluated and treated by psychiatrist.

He is using adderall on his own without consulting doctor.That is not good approach. If he is not able to cope up with his workload, he needs to be evaluated.After proper examination,detail history and mental status evaluation, psychiatrist can reach to conclusion and start the treatment.

Please take your son to psychiatrist to help him.

Hope I have answered your query. If still any query there, I will be happy to answer.
If not, you can close the discussion and if feasible give your feedback so I can improve service.In future you can contact me directly if you wish with this link:
http://bit.ly/drchintansolanki

Regards,
Dr.Chintan Solanki.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad