Yes, you absolutely can. Detoxing from pain killers, particularly stuff like Oxy can be life threatening. It is best for someone to detox in a medically monitored facility.

If she's on benzos then yes it's possible she could die. With painkillers it a lie.

You can actually die because your body becomes too addicted. You need to slowly reduce the amount and eventually stop.

I don't think you could from painkiller withdrawal, you may feel like your gonna but no.

She is playing you. She has to detox just like any other druggi.

Sounds like she needs to see a doctor. He will help her to come off them.

I think so. You have to be slowly weaned off.

yes. many drugs can have fatal withdraw symptoms. that does not mean you are not being played.

She will definitely die if she doesn't stop using those. She won't die if she stopped cold turkey, but she might suffer through that detox process. You have to bring her to see a doctor for help.

There is an intervention technique called a 5150 used in California, I don't know if it pertains to other states; However, it is a 72 hour psychiatric hold on a person who is a danger to themselves, others, or cannot consciously provide for themselves. It's used for when people, much like your sister, are in denial of the fact that they need help. If this doesn't pertain to you, get some loved ones together and stage your own intervention... If you have any feeling of being played, chances are you might be. Do some research on the drug, call a doctor, or use the internet, find out if symptoms of withdrawal can cause death. Your sister obviously needs you, so do some good :D Best of luck.

I know I have already answered this but after reading your exchange with wolf, I and my heartless skills can be of much more help. to start out I will list the KEY which while you said it, you may not realze how important it is. "she's destroying my family now after she's already destroyed hers" your job is to protect what is yours, you house, your property, YOUR FAMILY!!!!! You must neutralize any and all threats to what is yours. your sister, no matter how much you love her has become a THREAT to your family. she MUST be neutralized. yes she is part of your family, but that only goes so far. allow me to illustrate... http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19855.htm yes... I just went there. your sister is EXACTLY like those gangrenous toes. she is as much a part of your family as your toes are of your body. if your toes were going to destroy your body bit by bit until you finally die you would not hesitate to cut them off. your sister is going to tear your family apart and I imagine it is already hard enough to have a stable a family with cerebral palsy (it is hard without). you also can not allow your mom to deny you the ability to cut your toes off. they are going to cost you everything and she does not have the ability to restore it. is making your mom happy worth what those toes are going to cost you? even if she CAN NOT accept your decision and disowns you, then consider her the foot. it isn't infected but you might have to amputate at the ankle because of complications. I repeat, your sister is a threat and must be neutralized. your family is too important not to act now. she can not be permitted into your life until she is completely better no matter what. your spouse and children are too important to risk exposure to gangrene. your mom HAS to accept your decision or she will be removed with the toes. and finally, CHANGE YOUR LOCKS. maybe get a guardian breed of dog (there are breeds which accept guests when household members are present but won't let ANYONE in when home alone) I quick google glance showed bull mastiff as a great choice...

There are some medications that absolutely require tapering off and you need to be under a doctor's constant care while you do that. I don't know which ones they are but going "cold turkey" could do great damage to your body...whether that includes death I don't know. Sounds to me as if she needs to be monitored by a medical professional because if she is taking such medication she is endangering her health at the very least.

The only way you can help her is to get her some professional help. Try finding some nar-anon meetings or even alanon if no naranon meetings are near you. That way you can learn how other family member/significant others have dealt with similar situations.

A lot depends on her age and condition. I'm almost 50 and have heart trouble and have been in methadone treatment for some time and my dose is low. But if it were higher it could be fatal so yes, sudden withdraw from pain killers can be fatal. Time and time again jail inmates die from withdraw who are legally prescribed methadone yet jails routinely withhold a necessary medication from inmates when arrested for minor offenses such as unpaid traffic tickets, etc. Even if she didn't die withdraw can certainly make someone feel like they are dying and trust me on this, it's very easy to feel extremely suicidal during withdraw because the pain is overwhelming. I've been suicidal many times from just the mere thought of withdraw. I just spend this weekend in withdraw because i didn't make it to the clinic Saturday morning and it was very painful. I would suggest if she doesn't need the pain killers for actual pain then try to get her to a methadone clinic where she can at least legally get the pain under control legally and be treated. Because without it pain killers can also be killers. I hope this helps. Good luck.

With painkillers you WANT TO DIE, but DON'T. ONE WORD......SUBOXONE! Go to their website, it SAVED MY LIFE, VIRTUALLY NO SIDE EFFECTS, no withdrawals or CRAVINGS, and works from DAY ONE. I tried for 10 years to get off LEGIT PRESCRIPTION PAIN MEDS, went thru the HELL OF WITHDRAWAL 5 times and ALWAYS WENT BACK..The CRAVINGS are what gets you! Been taking SUBOXONE 9 months and NEVER THINK ABOUT NARCOTICS ANYMORE, and with ZERO side effects....PLEASE CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE!! God Bless!!!

From my reading -- which is thankfully as close as I have had to come to this topic so far -- most opioid painkillers, including morphine (which is related to heroin), require increasing doses over time to retain their effectiveness as painkillers. And many doctors are reluctant to prescribe them because of overly harsh oversight from DEA. (In fact, I understand that many doctors won't even prescribe some of the most effective medical painkillers because of that oversight.) I have also read that when the underlying need for the drug exists (severe pain) the 'dependence on' (not 'addiction to') the drug does not manifest as recreational drugs do. That is, the user definitely doesn't take the drug to become high, but simply to avoid pain. So the pejorative 'junkie' label is strictly not helpful in those cases. I don't know the effects of cold turkey withdrawal from any drug, other than what we see in popular cinematic portrayals of heroin abusers in rehab. (It would be helpful to know some of these effects for real!) But I do know that when people who desperately need pain relief are cut off from their palliative drugs, they sometimes do feel such overwhelming and unrelenting pain that they resort to suicide as the only final option to end that pain. I only know enough about myself to say that I would never -- could never -- be so harsh in my judgment of another person to say that they were 'weak' or 'cowardly' to do whatever they have to do to avoid real pain. Kicking a drug habit is one thing, and getting to a recovery where life is better 'without' than 'with' the drug. But I have all kinds of sympathy for those who need palliative medications for pain but are denied by short-sighted moralists and headline-driven crusaders.