Anyone come off methadon cold turkey 30mg, if so how did you do it

[josse722]

I am switching from methadon to suboxone. I start the suboxone on monday. This is day 2 of no methadon. I have 2 more days to go. I am not feeling as bad as I thought I might at this point but it only has been 2 days. My purpose of switching is I cannot stand being on methadon. I have been on meth for 10 years and in that 10 years I have gained 80 pounds 2 of my teeth have rotted became extremely lifeless and my home has become quit cluttery, when I use to be a clean freak. I worked my whole adult life up until 5 years ago when I found it to hard to even get out of bed. I am on antidepressant which do help. On top of all this the most painful is I have 3 beautiful boys 8,9, and 15 who I raise with very little help they are the ones who are suffering the most. I lucked out and for the first time  I was able to have my 2 younger boys stay with my mother for a week and this is the week. So I planned with my closely with my doctor and made a decision to switch to sub. I don't want to stay on the sub for a long time, I just want to stay on the lowest does of suboxone as possible. I was wondering if maybe my best bet is to just not to bother with the suboxone. If anyone could share some HOPE and ENCOURAGEMENT I would love to hear their stories and what made it work for them.

[Ejm7263]

I'm 11 days clean from meth. The NA groups around didn't work. Years ago I went to a wonderful NA group but I've moved. I have found a wonderful AA group. I go to church but I do both & I have a AA sponsor & am doing the work. As sick as I've been I haven't missed a day going to meetings. They really, really help. It's an amazing program.

[JasonfromNewJersey]

I have been on Suboxone for a year and a 1/2 now. Started at 24 mg and I'm now down to 2mg a day. Soon 1mg ..then a half and weed off slowly but surly. I read that even after you taper off too next to nothing you will still have a rough first month until things get better...I have a lot of knowledge about it. If you ever have any questions please feel free to ask me. I would love to help you in any way. First let me tell you as far as living a productive life Suboxone does give you that. I'm not where I used to be but I'm far away where I was. Just some fast advice. There are two things that I think are the MOST important !  First one - You don't need that much Suboxone! It is some strong stuff and could play with your emotions as far as having any period or your emotions will be all over the place. I'm a pretty mellow guy but my attitude and sudden mood changes were nothing I ever had. plus I had dry mouth real bad with anything 8 mg or more. Constipation ***** with anything over 8mg or more as well. The more you take the worse some of the above symptoms are. Please Don't start out at anything over 8mg. And if you did already then cut it down to 8mg fast. You will be fine. I promise!  You don't feel to much extra after 8mg anyway as far as feeling good or high. I was taking it as if I was still taking 140 mg of Oxys a day. An 8mg in the morning a 8mg by later Midafternoon and one at night. Way, way, Way, to much. Start at 8 please. Break it into a half or into 3 equal parts. Only reason that I stopped taking more then 2 separate doses a day is to try and break that addict tendency to always want to chase that next high. I find two is what works. One would be the best like taken a multi-vitamin for the day Lol, But I'm still a addict and always will be one and need to make sure I don't relapse. So I do what I think I can handle. I commit to tapering until I'm free. But anyway back to You. Take half about 2 hours after you wake up and then at around 4 or 5 p.m. Again try not to wake up and take it right away. You will start relying on it to get out of bed! You can easily make it a couple hours. You can go a day without it easily without feeling to to bad. That's how strong it binds to your receptors in your brain. My first year on this sucked. This past half year I have cut back real fast. From 16mg to 2mg in the last 4 months. I'm no doctor So listen to him please but I have lived through this for the last 500 days of my life and I know exactly what you will be going through. MOST important thing # 2 - If you can PLEASE do not manage these on your own. Ask your wife or girlfriend or roommate or friend or Mom if she lives near you. Point is Its tough for us addicts to manage our own drug usage. Almost impossible Lol That's pretty much a fact! So if you can, give them to someone and let them give you one or maybe 3 at a time for how many days. It works! I started doing it and since then I have been on the right track! Good Luck and get better for yourself and So your boys will have there Mom healthy! I've been depressed and felt worthless. We all make mistakes and all have done things were ashamed of or feel guilty about. Great thing is that none of that matters because it is in the past and the past dose not even exist anymore. You have so many things to be proud of. One of them' is taking time to better yourself by coming to this site and asking for help. Another is raising your boys to the best of your ability and making a true honest heart felt effort to give them a better life. Kudos to you. Stop thinking about the people you hurt including yourself during your days as an addict. I hurt plenty of people. My daughter who is everything to me was only 1 when my ex left me because I told her the truth about my addiction after hiding it from her like a well crafted magician. I can go on and on about some of the piece of $hi# things I did. But why? I don't do any of those things now that I'm getting my life back. That wasn't who I was.  And I can say sorry a million times but the best thing I can do for anyone I effected is to stay sober and love them. That's when they will know how truly sorry I am.

[Ejm7263]

What's the Thomas recipe ??

[Ejm7263]

Hi welcome!  I'm on day 10 of no methadone. Please repost this as a question. As this is a little older thread people may not respond & they have amazing advice. You can do this. Hang in there.

[Mentalwar]

Hi I am just wondering how you tapered off methadone? I am on methadone and my highest was 130mg as well. I was tapering got down to 48mg and I got really bad anxiety, shaky, nauseas, and my mind was something I didn't know. I went back up and now I'm at 76mg. I'm very disappointed with myself but I'm also scared now as well.

[Riicco]

Now u did  it!!!!!!!!! :) I am so happy f or u!!

[josse722]

It has been a week since my last post and wow what a week. I went last Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun without methadon and yes it was hellish, but it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Come Monday I made the decision to start the suboxne. I was sooo scared that I would get that participated withdrawl that many people get when they first start Suboxe. I just thank god that it went smoothly . It is day 4 on the Subox. My Dr wanted to increase my dose so rapidly. She started me 4mg then 8 mg and she still wants to increase my dose as I still have withdrawl systoms. I told her I was not going to increase my dose as my decision to go on suboxne is for me a short term to get off of all opiates.  Your post help me a lot. You mentioned to me about making a plan and sticking to it. And your right. I long term plan is to be all med free. First plan was to get off of meth by getting on suboxe. I have done that. You got my head thinking now what is the plan for the Suboxone. I decided that I will give myself 3 months. I will start tapering from the sub in a week time. I need to find some sort of support circle. I tried NA meetings, but it is such a trigger for. I do really need a support system not sure. Actually there is a nondenominational church across the street from me which I heard there are a lot of recovering addicts that go there. I just have to push myself. I have been doing all this **** alone and maybe it is time for me to allow support into my life. I just feel so much safer and comfortable on my own. I don't know. Have any suggestions. You sound like your doing good. I know how absolutely hard kicking this addicition is. You must be doing something right. You must be a very strong person. How did you find your strenght within to battle this nightmare. I would love to hear some of your story
take care for now
josse722

[weaver71]

I agree with Vicourageou on many of her points. There is a choice to be made. There is no way to avoid withdrawal, so use the subs to build a program of recovery or taper down the methadone and form a recovery program, or form a program and CT, but pick a path and stick wih it. There is no wrong way to get and stay clean, as long as you get and stay clean. One thing I have found universal, we all need local support, church, 12 step meetings, therapy, something, or all of it in my case.

I took subs for 20 days to get off 250mgs methadone, that was not long enough on subs. My methadone detox picked back up after subs were gone. In appearance and in logic, I did it all wrong, but I am off methadone still, so it was good enough, because I stuck with my bad plan.!i wish I had tapered down the methadone to 5mgs a quit, but I could never get below 160mgs. If I could have, I would have tapered lower. The reason I used subs is because all other efforts had failed. I at was at a high dose and was gonna die soon if I didn't quit.

Anyway, I'd rather be on subs than methadone, but being off all opiates is by far the best. I know it is hard to think straight when deciding a path to quit, so let me know if you want my opinion on your choices. All I care is that you find your way to freedom, I just love how amazing recovering addicts are. It's really amazing to see them seek and find their potential. No matter what you decide to do, we I be here to encourage your efforts.

What is your doctor's plan for you on subs?

[VICourageous]

Hi..I too was on the Dones for around 12 yrs after I switched from the other opiates. Was way up their for years. Then I got down to 60mg cut that right to 30mg. But that is when i started to add another med to make it stretch out a bit. I got down and went c/t off 30mg with 2 other meds. The Subs are not going to be a miracle drug to go on..They tried to put be on a big dose and I did cut those stripes and only did this for 4 days. I did not want to substitute one for the other..That was not good! If you do the Subs you need to use this as a tool and get into some aftercare like AA/NA or group counseling. Most likely if you go to a Sub Dr they will have you do all of this as they also will test your urine. IF you think you need to do this and get some time in by going to those meetings then I would do the Subutex and at a very low dose like 2-4mg a day and for only a few months. However, you can taper off the Dones a bit lower like they said above..Meanwhile you will want to replenish back Vit/Min that we have lost during drug use. You will want to eat very Healthy and stay away from caffeine, sugars and simple carbs..How you build your body up with nutrition is a big plus for the detox stage. I am really into the Natural vit/min and I get mine in a liquid form and it is all plant based..The Min comes from a natural Mine. Get some Amino Acids all in one..It will have all the Ls-a-v on here..Protein is very important for the Brain & Body..You will be better by taking Magnesium,Potassium, Ds and Calcium at night as these things relax the muscles as well..Then you can get the others vit/min for the day..Pick up some Protein Powder and mix it in blender with Berries..Berries are a great detoxer. Also get some Electrolyte powder and add to water..Staying hydrated is a must and it also will flush these poison out..Methadone is very synthetic and does not like to let go. When you are completely off the Dones it will take some TIME for the Brain/Body to adjust back..All of this goes in Stages as you Heal..Patience is SO important here. It is not going to happen over night or in just a week..There are many factors that play here, like age, health, how many years of using and how many meds at once, plus how many mg you jump from..In my opinion I would NOT go to these Subs becasue they too are so synthetic and it will be just like detoxing off the methadone. The detox will be over soon and then the Mental comes in waves.Working on staying clean is what it is all about..Please do not try to do this alone..SUPPORT is a must! This is a WE thing not a ME thing..The Me thing is what got use in trouble..You can also go and study all of this in a more Scientific way too. You will see what drugs hit what area of the Brain and what part feels the pleasure and this part of the brain will repeat or remember it over and over if you keep feeding it or go around ANY Triggers. Well I guess I said enough. It has been a very interesting Journey so far and it take LOTS of Changes as we keep learning more & more..Even at 621days I just keep on picking up more and more even at my meetings.I wish you the best! Feel free to ask me any question through a PM..
Bless

[jleeflcntrygrl]

I just wana say you can do this! Just make sure u drink tons of water n gatorade. Also vitiamins!! Props to u!! Love , prayers and strength sent your way!! YOU ARE WORTH IT!!

[Jenelle2020]

Hi there, congrats to you for taking your life back. Methadone is a very hard drug to detox from, I was on it for 7 1/2 years and I know this sounds crazy but I tapered for 3 1/2 years, my highest dose was 130mgs. I would be leery of starting the suboxone though, and that is just my opinion. My doctor wanted me to switch to Suboxone when I got to 30mgs but there was no way I was going to do that, Suboxone is very potent and addicting as well. To me you would be switching one addiction for another. Also I don't think I would jump at 30mgs either, that is still quite a high dose to jump from and you would be quite sick, although you would have it over faster. I tapered right down to 1mg then just quit, because methadone lingers so long in your body it takes quite a while to get out. I know that these days Suboxone is the " go to " drug but I think you need to think long and hard about this, do as much research on Suboxone as you can before going on it. Ultimately it is your choice, personally I would not do it, you may think you can do it just for a short time and you will be all done but sometimes it's just not that easy. Either way, whichever way you choose to go we will support you and I wish you the very best.

[josse722]

Good for you!! Day 10! That is so awesome and encouraging. I am not sure how I am going to go about this, but I will just worry about getting through one day at a time. I have heard that slogan a million times over,  but only now do I really know what that means. I am starting to find every minute feels like an hour. Thank-you for your advice and encouragement as it really is needed and appreciated over here.
Good Luck
josse722

[josse722]

Thank-you sooo much for your comment. It really does encourage me, as I do find it difficult to find people who successfully  kicked this nightmare.  I laugh when you told me about the calcium vit. as I have been drinking sooooo much milk I mean I just can't seem to get enough of it. Anyways good for you for getting off. I am determined to get off and get on with life and start living like I once did. Meth did save my life at the time but now I feel like it is just heavy weight holding me back from my potential. Your the 2nd person to tell me about  the 3 in 1 calcuim/magnessium/zinc vit. I will definately look into that.
Take Care josse722

[gnarly_1]

Hi well 30mg is a lot to C/T from you should get into the single digits I tapered off 150mg after being on it for almost 7yr it took me 8 1/2 month to get off of it but it is so so worth it my advise is to just keep tapering there are some vitamins that will help with the withdrawal symptoms if you already switched to the sub try only to do it for a month  the vitamins that will cut your withdrawal in 1/2 age a 3 in 1 calcium/magnesium/zinc  you can get it at walmart for 6 buck take 4 in the morning and 4 at night  I only wish I would have found this sooner it really helps... keep us posted on what your going to do we all want to see you get clean......Gnarly..................

[Dryan8313]

Unfortunately methadone is a hard kick due to the longevity of the withdrawals. And sometimes people don't really feel the w/d's until day 3 or 4.
I did a long, drawn out taper and got to 4mg before I finally jumped. I too was on for almost 9 years.
I'm at 10 days today of being methadone free but even at such a low dose, I still experienced some discomfort and restlessness, sleepless days and nights. And the feeling of that discomfort still comes and goes. Day 7 was great for me, days 8 and 9... Not so much. Feeling ok now but only got 3 hours of sleep last night.
That's just an idea of what I'm going thru, even tho I tapered down to 4mg.
Jumping at 30 is definitely possible! A girl recently jumped off at over 100mg a few months ago. First two weeks were hellish for her but it got better and better, day after day.
If you decide to do the suboxen, you have two options... Either try to get off it right away... Take it No more than a month or may have to deal with w/d from that eventually OR you'll get stuck on that for years too...
Or, try to keep the sub dose low, and taper VERY slowly. I've read a few stories on here from people who didn't suffer any w/d symptoms by doing this. However, the fact that you've been on methadone so long, it may take you a bit longer and may be a different experience.
Congratulations on getting down to 30mg, and taking the step to get off this poison!
I wish you nothing but success!!
P.s. There are some vitamins that help with the w/d. The one that really helped me was the 3 in 1 Calcium, Zinc and Magnessium. I took 4 before breakfast, and another 4 around dinner time. You can also check out the Thomas Recipe...