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MedHelp Member's Question

oxycotin detox and methadone maitnance

by hippy, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
i have a neice who is 19 and has been hooked on oxycotin

for about 2 years,in the philadelphia area the neww solution

for young people to get off it is methadone maitnance for

a one year program, that cost 100 dollas a week.

with all my experence with drugs , useing them and getting clean

she asked me what i thought,it was drastic but probley safer.

my question is , im i crazy but woulden't a 30 day detox/rehab

be smarter then getting locked into a year long metadone program.i would think as a society we could offer young people

a better solution,my neice has told me she has more then a few

friends who are now involved with the methadone program due

to oxy addiction, all being under 21. due they have shorter

methadone programs, she also said they want cash and you can try to get your ins to reinburse you.

i have no experence with these programs.

any input  would help.

thanks --------------hippy
Member Comments (52)

by pammy0690, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
To: hippy
I have several young friends who entered a methadone clinic for oxy addiction three years ago.  They are still there!  She would be better off going inpatient or do a suboxone detox at home or an outpatient program.  She need not be embarassed oxy addiction is so common.  Please try to steer her away from methadone.  Even if you could team up with family members to help her detox would be better.  I would hate to see her wind up like my friends.  As a fellow PA resident I can tell you our clinic here in the Northwest side of PA are money grubbing pimps.  THat is the best thing I can say about them.  Please tell her to be careful.  Pamela

by pax, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
To: HIPPEE
SOUNDS LIKE A HELL OF A LONG TIME TO DETOX AS I AM NOW 3 WEEKS OFF OF 4 1/2 80MG PILLS(CHEWING THEM) TWICE A DAY PLUS 18NORCO AT ONCE AND I FEEL PRETTY GOOD GOING ON THE COLD TURKEY USING A CLONODINE PATCH AND SOME ATIVAN. GOING FROM ONE ADDICTIVE DRUG TO ANOTHER DOESN'T SOUND LIKE THE CLINIC HAS THE PATIENT'S BEST INTERESTS IN MIND @ $100 A WEEK TO BOOT! CASH! MY ADVISE WOULD BE TELL HER TO SEEK ANOTHER OPINION OR BETTER YET DO WHAT I DID UNDER DOC SUPERVISION AND COULD WASH HER HANDS OF THE WHOLE DRUG SCENE IN A FEW WEEKS. 2 OF WHICH DO SUCK! THE FIRST TWO OF COURSE. TELL HER GOOD LUCK-

by hippy, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
To: pam
thanks pam,

i was thinking the same thing about them

but i did not want to rush to such a judgement

without 1st getting some input.

the people i know who have been on methadone maitnance

were buying other peoples dose's

my only concern was ,my neice and her friends drink

and i read that drinking and oxy   can be a deadly mix.

i have already lost a younger brother to an accidental

overdose, he was drinking and taking xanax but his friends

spiked his beer with heroin,when he fell out they took his

money and went to cop , when they came back later the next morning he was dead. these were all people he went to grade school and high school with, one of them was a friend of mine and he told me what really happened 6 months after the fact,

because the guilt was eating him up.

my brother had been clean for 14 years , a few months previous to this. so i have to be carefull what i say to my neice.

my neices mother , my sister and i do not talk as it is, due to

her being an active alcoholic.

thanks agian

by RobynBanks, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
Methadone works well for some situations. I am on a low dose of methadone but I am not 'locked' into anything. I can decrease in dose anytime I want and do not feel like I am a hostage. Many abuse the methadone program-I suppose its like anything-If you want it to work for you, you have to do the work. There is discomfort while tapering down. If you DON'T really want to get off of all drugs-you will end up on methadone for perhaps the rest of your life. Its not a cure. There are short term detox programs available-perhaps that's better. She certainly has to be serious though. Yes, If she does oxys with meth-she could die. I guess it all depends on the person-if she has only been on oxys a short while and sh'e so young...maybe its not the best thing OR maybe she will end up in jail detoxing one day (might be a good thing). I think you need to be tough on the young ones...maybe you need to scare the **** out of her?....take her to a morgue or something. Its a tough call.

Good luck

by RobynBanks, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
on the other hand...I went on methadone at the age of 26/27 (sorry can't remember exact) and stayed on for 1.2 yrs, It stabalized me and it was much safer than the heroin that I was on. I kicked the meth and stayed clean for 7.5yrs.  I was going to school at the time, stayed on a low dose and took it very seriously  ...I didn't mess with any other drugs. I think it saved my life but I see some people just  accepting that they will be on meth for the rest of their lives and this to me is kind of sad.

Hope she gets the help she needs.

by hippy, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
To: robyn
thank you for your input, your experence is very helpful.

peace!!!!!!!!!hippy

by Anhedonio, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
To: Hippee
How would you feel if you had just celebrated your 1st anniversary of switching to Methadone instead of what you have accomplished? 19 is too young to be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.



I'm assuming your niece is not using oxy for chronic pain, but simply abusing it. Is it worth $5000+ to put your addiction on hold for a year? Then what?



JMHO,

James



(congratulations on your year BTW. I'd love to be able to look back on a year clean)

by RobynBanks, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
on the other hand...I went on methadone at the age of 26/27 (sorry can't remember exact) and stayed on for 1.2 yrs, It stabalized me and it was much safer than the heroin that I was on. I kicked the meth and stayed clean for 7.5yrs.  I was going to school at the time, stayed on a low dose and took it very seriously  ...I didn't mess with any other drugs. I think it saved my life but I see some people just  accepting that they will be on meth for the rest of their lives and this to me is kind of sad.

Hope she gets the help she needs.

by AKA Fool, Apr 21, 2003 12:00AM
I've been a lurker for years, however, this post has prompted me to speak up.  I am a 30 yr old ex -  x-treme knuclehead..meaning I've done many stupid dangerous things in the last 15 years that have hurt my body probably beyond repair.  In any case, I have been battling chronic back pain for over 4 years now.  During this time, I've tried pain meds, steroids, and pt.  The pain meds have been the only thing that has allowed me to sit 8 hrs a day to make a living.  Without them, I can't last 15 minutes.



Eventually, the 6 Norco/day wasn't cutting it and I began uping my dose.  My doc thought methadone (30mg daily) was the next logical step as it would give me a more constant pain reduction throughout the day to elleviate the ups and downs I was trying to deal with (you know, being a clock-watcher for the next available dose according to your script).  Supposedly, this was to be only for 8 weeks.  



A year and 1/2 later, the 30mg isn't enough and my doc says its time to take a break from the methadone to reduce my tolorence--- at least a 3 month break.  I tried tapering for the last 3 months, but it was too much.  However, I knew what was coming (doc walking in and saying, NOW is the time).  So, last Saturday, I c/t on my own.  



I am now on Day 8.  The first 5 days I had all symptoms (constant cramping, willies (RLS), no sleep, shits, towering emotions, helplessness, etc..) and thought I was going to die and/or kill myself just to get away from it.  On the 6th day, went to the Doc and told him where I was at.  He gave me some clonipin, ctepress (blood pressure cause I was at 146/100), and some ambien.  He was shocked; which made me feel good because I accomplished what I set out to do, which was take that monkey down on my own terms; on my time (we all know my back was against the wall).  But the reality is, methadone is a gorilla.



I'm depressed, I don't have any energy, patience, or desires-  for anything.  My back hurts like hell and I feel there's no hope that I won't be thinking every day about taking those pills that seem to numb the pain and everything else away.



Doc says this withdrawal phase with methadone can last up to 5 to 6 weeks. Frying pan indeed.Anybody have any ideas on how you beat the methadone gorilla when you have a back pain gorilla too.



Please think long and hard about methadone maintenance for anything.  When it's time for me to decide whether to go back on, its going to come down to whether or not I'll be garunteed to be on it for the rest of my life (which I know he can't); Because I know I couldn't do this again.  



Fool

by theGolden1, Apr 22, 2003 12:00AM
To: aka Fool
You sound like you have been through alot. You didn't say what the chronic back pain was coming from. I have fibromyalgia and after 2 years of ultram, I am using other methods to control the pain. My condition comes and goes and I can do things to help myself. I do a whole routine in the morning to feel better and get moving. I have cut down the ultram to a small dose only in the morning and I quit taking ambien 2 nights ago (after 2 years)

I am using sonata instead ... but my goal is to be drug free. I know I can do it. Long lasting drugs are very hard to get off of. I would never go back to methadone. That is the Nazi drug. So what if you need to use pain meds again ... at least you will be able to get off ..... good luck, Goldie

by ceriedwen5, Apr 22, 2003 12:00AM
hello i am berta,

i found a way to get off the narcotics,maybe this will help someon out there,,,maybe not ,but here it goes. A JUICER ,,,juice your way through the withdrawls,you will feel so good you wont believe it,also there is a vitamins called ULTRA ENERGY NOW,they sell the packets in the jiffy markets,all herbs no jun.et me know if it helps anyone ,,,t took me 4 years to do this and it is the only thing they did it for me and i was bad,,,,love berta

by ceriedwen5, Apr 22, 2003 12:00AM
The JUICER is the answer and the ultra energy vitamins please gie it try,and let me know how you feel.

berta

by hippy, Apr 22, 2003 12:00AM
To: to the MD
thanks for your response,

cognitive-behavior approach, i am not up to date  on such

an approach, i shall talk to my sister in law about it

,she is a doctor like yourself.

when i see the word cognitive , i think of awareness of self,

i am one of the 12 step people you have mentioned,

but unlike my father who is aa, and his step work is very

simple,

i have searched hi and low to find people who understood the 12 steps,working the 12 steps is a lot of writenig of inventory

about one self and what was the cercumstance and the consequence

of any situation.

comein to grip that i am the problem.

along with the principles.



how does your approch work.i am sure some people here

would be interested.

by RobynBanks