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Detoxing off Methadone
by tomma, Apr 26, 2003 12:00AM
I've been slowly tapering off of a 15 year Methadone maintainence program for about 2 years now. Roughly dropping 5 milligrams every month or so. About a month ago my dose was at 3 mgs. At that point I really didn't feel to bad during the day although the nights were horrible due not being able to sleep.
At that point I decided to just stop the meth all together, rather than prolonging the agony of dropping from 3 -2, then 2-1 etc. I stopped altogether about 3 weeks ago and have not slept more than 3 hours a night since. What makes it worse is it's not a simple toss and turn all night, it's an almost indesribable twisting, knawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that forces me out of bed, even though I'm so tired I can't hold my head up.
I've tried having a couple drinks before bed, over the counter sleep meds, even got some halcion from a friend, all to no avail.
How long can I expect this to last, or is there something I can do to lessen the pain in the meantime?
At that point I decided to just stop the meth all together, rather than prolonging the agony of dropping from 3 -2, then 2-1 etc. I stopped altogether about 3 weeks ago and have not slept more than 3 hours a night since. What makes it worse is it's not a simple toss and turn all night, it's an almost indesribable twisting, knawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that forces me out of bed, even though I'm so tired I can't hold my head up.
I've tried having a couple drinks before bed, over the counter sleep meds, even got some halcion from a friend, all to no avail.
How long can I expect this to last, or is there something I can do to lessen the pain in the meantime?
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All the best, Robyn.
This is a great place for help..
All the best, Robyn
Sorry, I am not posting with any answer, but I just wanted to say that you all deserve a medal for your strong wills and determination. My hat is off to you. You may have seen my other posts here, I was in a relationship with someone that went into a methadone clinic as a means to an end to a 4 year vicodin addiction (not for pain). The methadone clinic was explained as a detox program, but then once she was on it for 4 months and was supposed to start the weaning off part, that's when we discovered the addiction factor of methadone. Gradual tapering off is the best way to attempt it, she was going down 1 mg per two weeks - pretty darn gradual, and she still couldn't do it. She even went on antidepressents to help, but when she went down only 3 mg, she was freaking out and decided to go back up. Then she found a website about methadone and the people in the forum there promote staying on it forever. They actually compare methadone to insulin, and when people go there asking questions about detoxing they get angry at calling it "detoxing" ("you wouldn't detox from insulin would you?") and they give the person reasons to stay on it. Very disturbing to say the least. With those people I think they have worked very hard to be OK with just accepting the addiction because it's difficult to get off, so they just change their mindset instead and compare it to insulin. Kinda sad.
I would think a very gradual tapering down is the key. Methadone clinics also actually have what they call a "blind detox" where the patient doesn't know when there dose is being lowered - this is to help abate the psychological factor. The only prob with that is you still know you are going off, so it's not really "blind".
What about those places that specialize in rapid opiate detox (like opiates.com and detox24.com etc.)? I wrote the former and they told me they specialize in methadone detox.
All the best to you.
Thomas050
i have been drug and alcohol free for a little over four months now and take a drug called seroquel to sleep... i had pancreatitis in december and was on ambien again at the time and they tried me on seroquel instead for sleep... seroquel is an anti-psychotic, a neuroleptic drug used to treat schizophrenia... but it has such a sedative side-effect that it is effective as a sleep agent..... i am not schizophrenic!! but it sure as hell helps me sleep at night~ i also suffer from depression and take prozac and neurontin and the seroquel helps with mood also...
just remember,this too shall pass, it really will... our bodies want normalcy... your body will work with you and your mind set will really help you... and i see that you have the mind set to get through this!!!
peace,
amber
How many times have I heard that?!?!?!?!?!?!
rwc~
rwc~
I've done research for when I go off again in two months (taper) and it seems you need to take a blood pressure medication like clonodine for the weakness. The sleeping is a hard one. I'd say alternate between the above mentioned to avoid further addiction, and after six months, stop taking everything and just try to deal until you achieve normalcy. I've read about Amino acid supplements that help with the process, among other things.
PLEASE BEWAREE OF THIS DRUG! IT IS WAY WORSE THAN ANY OTHER DRUG WHEN IT COMES TO DETOXING FROM IT!!! I WAS ON 160 MGS /DAY AND DID A 16 DAY DETOX @ 10 MGS /DAY!!! THE PHYSICAL PAIN WAS UNBERABLE AND THE MENTAL ANGUISH WAS INCONCIEVABLE!!!!!!! PLEASE BEWARE THAT REPLACING VICODIN ADICTION (addiction) FOR METHADONE ADDICTION HAS TO BE THE DUMBEST **** I HAVE EVER HEARD!!! VICODIN IS SOOOO EASY TO DETOX FROM COMPARED TO METHADONE!!! ANYTHING LESS A THAN MORPHINE/,PHARMACUTICAL OXYCODONE OR STREET HERION ADDICTION SHOULD BE CAREFULLY THOUGHT OVER BEFORE EXCHANGING A LESSER ADICTION (addiction) FOR THE WORSE ADDICTION IN THE WORLD METHADONE!!!!!!!!! PLEASE BE VERY CAREFULL IN YOUR DETOX IDEAS! IF YOU CAN WEAN YOURSELF OFF OF YOUR DRUG OF CHOICE PLEASE DO SO, OR YOU ARE LOOKING @ A MUCH WORSE PROBLEM THAN STARTED WITH IN THE BEGINING!!
IF ANY ONE WANTS OR NEEDS ADVICE OR JUST WANTS TO TALK ABOUT YOUR ADDICTION PLEASE EMAIL ANYTIME @ ***@**** AND I WILL HAPPILY HELP YOU FIGURE OUT A BETTER OPTION THAN DELIBERATELY GETTING YOUR SELF HOOKED ON THE WORST OPIATE DRUG LEGALLY PRESCRIBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASE DO NOT WASTE MY TIME WITH JOKES AND PRANKS! I AM HERE ONLY FOR PEOPLE WITH THE SAME WORRIES AND ADICTIONS I ONCE STRUGGLED WITH. I AM A "ADDICTION COUNSELOR SPECIALIST" AND WILL HELP ANYONE THAT WANTS HELP THERESELVES AND BEAT THIS HORRIBLE GORILLA THAT RIDES ON MANY OF OUR BACKS EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!
GOD BLESS YOU AND KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!
When I go down, I "save" a little of my dose. I then take it in the morning when I get up. Mornings are worse, when you get up after a dose drop, you tend to feel really crappy. This will get you going and feeling well enough to get through your day until you get to your clinic. Ususally it takes me about two weeks before I don't wake up feeling crappy and don't need to do this. The obvious suggestion is that methadone works best as a split daily dose drug. Everyone I know who does this is on less than 40 miligrams.
The people who can;t do this tend to be on over a hundred miligrams. Hmm, I wonder why!!!
If you don't have take homes...well... just be careful not to get in trouble.
To this point I have chosen to stand by her and see her through to cleaning up.
She pretty much keeps the issue to herself and I really do not know very much about Methadone. To the fact that even I don't know haw much she takes a day or where she has tapered from. If I broach the subject she gets very short and really tells me anything to avoid the subject. Hence my internet search brought me to this discussion .
I find my patience starting to wane with this problem. I live a healthy outgoing lifestyle where physical fitness is important to me. I am beginning to see that there is no end to the methadone on her part, I find this as unacceptable.
As the relationship chugs along many factors has changed since the beginning of the methadone. I have found that sex and passion has become extinct. Effort to make it out to social gatherings is a stretch. Communication is becoming non existent. Almost like we are now living two separate lives and are roommates. I have found that everything is an effort for her to do and things are easier if they are not done and she is left alone.
So do relationships get better or is this a drug issue that I have to live with as long as I choose to support her, and judging by the responses here Methadone a monster that can't be tamed.
Although this forum is geared more towards the end user of methadone any form of comment is welcome for those who live with a methadone user.
Then I got in a bad cycle accident on the highway, ended up in the hospital for months, on morphine the entire time, physical therapy afterwards.
The end result was I ended up with a vicodin addiction. Eventually I was put on methadone (still shocks me that was their answer!)
So I got a first hand experience of what she was dealing with. Let me tell you, they DON'T make it easy. They DON'T wasn't you coming off it. A lot of money is tied up in keeeping addicts on methadone, it's a billion dollar business.
If she is coming off it, keep in mind they *make* you do it very slowly. If you don't have the money for private doctors, you can't get the appropriate medications and treatments to get you off addictive drugs/medications. So your only option is to let them jack you up to like a hundred miligrams when you first go on (it's mandatory, no thought to anything but getting you on a high amount), then allow you to do perhaps 5 miligram drops once a month. Without alternate treatment, it can be painful and stressful. It's not really that bad, but over months and years... well, imagine having a cold or the flu for a year straight. Get the picture?
The drug does affect your sex life, relationships with people, abilty to even get out and about. If she's actually tapering, she's probably feeling tense, irritable and low on energy much of the time.It does get better.
But I'll tell you now, the success rate for people actually detoxing off metahdone and staying off is miserable. It's in the health care industry's best interest to make it that way.
I'm just about to come off myself and have done *alot* of research on appropiate aftercare.If you want, let me know and I can arrange getting it to you.
And I understand what your wife and you are going through, but if she's really coming off, you need to discuss with her the ramifications of how this will effect her life and yours, because it will. Everything your decscribing, we've just gone through and we're just starting to come out the other side of that dark tunnel.
someone be on a dose as high as 120 mg's. I was on this dosage because they needed to pull me off of 2 fentanyl patches of 100 mg's each arm. I was crushed in a motorcycle accident.
(no need for gruesome details), and needed severe pain management. Thus methadone was the
answer to get me off other strong opioids. I am weaning and I am in hell.
Most heroin users can count on one hand the number of "bags" they use a day. Yet when they join a clinic, they're put on a 70 to 100 milligram dose, regardless of weight, height or usage. At some point it became standard practice to dole out huge amounts to patients. Standard dose used to be based on usage, average users starting at 30 and going up as needed. The split dose clinics put you on even less.
Stopping split dose is one of the main reasons the doses are so high. Methadone may be a 36 hour drug or not, but when you first start, it takes weeks before it "holds you" for a full day. Split dose used to take care of this problem. But now that they don't allow it, patients are being put on much higher doses than they need, and are forced to acclimate to those high doses, rather than give them a safer, lower split dose.
Unfortunately the addiction came from some terrible advice.
She was taking percocets courtesy of a fellow worker at a low point in her life.
After I found bottles of someone else's take home prescription I confronted her and the pharmacy that allowed the user to have take home methadone only to sell it on the street.
The story goes as follows:
She went to a walk in clinic and got some advice how to kick percocets. For some reason the front desk person suggested methadone.?? As she was there a methadone user overheard her concerns and sold his methadone prescription to her.
You can put the rest of it together from here....
It been two years now. I did find out that when she went to get medical advice they did stabilizer her at 100 mg a day. She says she is now down to 50mg a day and trying to ween 5mg at a time. Mind you I talked to her before about weaning and I thought she was much lower than that. (like 20mg/day) She told me that it is way harder to get off than she realized.
For the most part I trusted her and program she was on and her eagerness to come clean for the past 2 years.
At this point her head space is in a better place, she is more positive about herself, working two jobs.
Although she gets to go in and discuss the issue with her doctor, I really do not have anywhere to go to find out the real issues with methadone. I have initiated the intake process for myself to see a drug councilor as I have chosen at this point to live with a person with an addiction. This being said I need to know more about this addiction.
Better yet I need to discuss my boundaries with her addiction. At this point after two years it is getting very tiresome. (let me add that we are not married, and yes I said I would help her through to weaning off, but I am not Mother Teresa, and I want to get on with a healthier life.)
I read this post from another forum it reads as follows
" This is going to sound pretty cold - but decide your boundaries, how much you are willing to put up with - make them clear to your loved one - and the minute those boundaries are crossed ( and they will be) - leave. It is NOT loving to stay with someone caught in addiction. It only enables them. It is often the losses that make us addicts realize how far we have gone. Why would someone be compelled to change if there aren't consequences? Most of all - take care of and love yourself. "
Although the quoted advice above is cold hearted, people have to live with their choices.. And I need to start making choices that are now in my best interest instead of hers.
Thanks once again to all who post here and all comment are welcomed.
This is something you'll both have to come to terms with, accept and deal with. Methadone is a HUGE money making industry. The clinics, doctors, health insurance companies and Government have NO interest in helping addicts get off. Every official treatment offered is ****, useless. They could medicate her using blood pressure medications, amino acids, and alternating between various other drugs that prescribed and taken carefully won't lead to alternate addiction, dropping her swiftly.
But they WON'T. It's in their best interest to keep the failure rate for detox/taper high. It supports the illusion that addicts can't get clean and get off treatment. Taper is uncomfortable and over a long period, debilitating, which is why they drag it out, and why so many people fail.
So yes, she is fighting what could be the most difficult battle in her life.
I always feel sorry for the pain management people. It's a sad thing, but there's no effective way to manage long term pain. Addiction sets in, and the med's stop working well. You just end up medicating to stave off withdrawal. I wonder how many pain-management people if left alone, there bodies may adjust and compensate for the pain in time (I did, rods and pins in my leg). But they'll never know, since they're addicts now. When they go through withdrawal, it brings the pain back tenfold (withdrawal accentuates every little thing).
I don't know what to tell you on the relationship. It's a hard choice, and you've no guarantee you'll win the prize next time. (Statistically you won't!)
Let me ask you this; is this a person you can see yourself spending the rest of your life with, if it wasn't for these current problems? If so, it may be worth a few years to get thru this to a point were you'll have 40, 50 years together. Of course, there's no guarantee she'll get through Thibaut if she does, she'll only doing it by stopping listening to the clinics and doctors and taking control of the situation herself. Because I got news for you, if she doesn't, when she comes off totally, it gets WORSE. And if she doesn't prepare accordingly, she'll fail.
Staying on methadone is very enticing. She's got a reasonably normal life right now, and coming off will just disrupt it. I'm stuck at 5 milligrams right now for that reason. I'm not looking to 6 months of possibly feeling like low level **** if things don't go well...
Do they offer group meetings? $50 per attending patient.
They keep statistical tracking information on patients. This information can be sold to related groups for studies. Do they ever give you additional meds, even aspirin? Another lovely charge!
You get the idea? By the time they finish tacking on billable hours and services per patient, the tally is so high it's outrageous. What do we get out of it? 85 cents of methadone a day.
Remember, this is the same government that invented billing $50,000 for a toilet seat!
I have no problem with staying on methadone for life if you need it. My problem is that our government is deliberately blocking potential treatments and giving people no other CHOICE but to stay on methadone ,or go through excruciating, life threatening pain to get off it. Because it's such a money making industry. Because it's an easy way to control people who they consider "undesirables". If they really cared about us, do you think the "New Disaster Protocols for Katrina Like Emergencies" would be so cruel? MMTP patients and addicts DIED from withdrawal and situations they couldn't handle due to withdrawal during the Katrina disaster. I finally hunted up the relevant report.
You know how they decided to handle the next emergency?
1: Drop MMTP patients 20 to 40 milligrams until they reach 0 milligrams.
2: Give Pepto-Bismol and "Anti-Inflammatory Analgesic (aspirin!)" For discomfort.
3: If Patient is excessively uncomfortable, give small dose of clonidine (blood pressure medication).
So in other words, give them a few doses of methadone, some aspirin and something for the "upset tummy" so that if they survive the disaster or the treatment they can't sue us!!! (*Make no mistake, this recipe will = death for MMTP patients.
Sorry, I'm ranting here, but I just saw this report and I'm *furious*. For those who compare methadone to diabetes, how much you want to bet diabetics will have no trouble getting their insulin during a disaster???
I hope your husband can mamage without it. Because one of the things doctors neglect to tell you, is pain medication only works for so long. Then you're fighting addiction on top of it, and then the meds stop working efficiently for the pain...
A friend of my moms had serious ovarian cancer and when she came to visit she had a very large bottle of methadone with her. When she pulled it out of the fridge and took her dose I questioned what it was she said "methadone and you can never get off it"
I understand methadone for pain, but my common law is not suffering from pain but stupidity...
She addicted for no reason but bad advice and not opening up to me first about the percocet dependency. Which breaks the trust between the two of us. I found out by the left over bottles lying around. Not by her coming forth.
There is a lie here that is hard to overcome. Trust has been broken and perpetuated by the lack of couple councilling to deal with the problem.
I guess that is the root of the problem for me.
Personally if it was me I would have spent a month or two in the wilderness and dealt with the withdrawls. But hey thats me. I would rather deal with 3months of hell vs. years.
Honestly, it sounds like she's depressed and in a rut over this. She feels like she's lost control of her body, her freedom of choice, and her right to her dignity all at once. She can't keep trying to split the two worlds and ignoring the methadone clinic part. I'm not big on AA/NA/MA (anonymous groups), but it might be a good idea if she went down to one of their meetings and talked to them. Then maybe she won't be so alone in all this. I guarantee she'll be totally resistant. She doesn't have to JOIN or take up the party line, just take from it what she can get. At least she should head over to the soberiety.com site. We've got threads there that support people and give them information, the AA people are cool about us "non-AA" types using their board.
Suboxone is actually cheaper in the long run for the insurance companies. The medication's bloody expensive, but with a once a month pick-up, there aren't all the extra charges they tack on at clinics. I've never tried it, but if I get stuck on SOMETHING, I'd pick that. It's HELL to get on, but better than the clinics. Sadly, it's turning out to be just as addictive as any opiate in terms of withdrawal.
Until our government takes a responsible attitude on methadone addiction and MMTP, and stops using it as their little "Brave New World", people will continue to be suckered ni to getting trapped on it. Look how perfect it is! They get all the "undesirables" on it, then control them by threatening to withhold treatment. And a good disaster can come along and wipe out the excess patients! Hell, they don't even need a disaster, have you read the statistics and relevant court case records on MMTP patients who've been arrested, thrown in jail, and then died when refused their medication? Our tax dollars at work!!!
Y'know, I'm going to start a thread on here or one of the other boards next week or so. It'll contain all the data I've pulled together on what WORKS for treatment and what DOESN'T (sadly, A LOT of it is what doesn't.). I'll probably have to do it somewhere else, this site is a little...strange. It's a med-help ask-the-resident-doctor site, with no doctor support (ever try asking in the doctor forum? It's always closed, and you always get an advertisement for the doctor's "treatments"). Don't think they'd take to kindly to this sort of thing here...I've had a few posts I put up like this just "disappear". Maybe it's coincidence...
I hope some of the information will help others, as well as myself!!! It'll take me a week or two to get most of it up (I do get distracted by..well... life and all that. Annoying, ain't it?!?!)
I wonder how Tommas made out all those years ago...
peace
nick
My spouse and I had a long talk about our future together and how we are going to tackle methadone.
I have set up an appointment next week with a councilor to begin dealing with my support for her and her dependency.
I told her that I was going to councilling without her, regardless if she wants to keep methadone her peoblem or not. I asked if she would join me and she agreed.
I believe she has just been maintaining lately and the taper has been on hold. She has expressed a keen interest on tapering and wants to ween herself off. She did admit it been way harder than she expected.
She is embarrased and feels shame for the problem in the first place.
I had expressed my views that it has been two years now and that was the time I had given myself for her to get off methadone. I basically told her the relationship is being put to risk. I let her know that her libido was lacking, which she agreed, Energy was lacking, which she agreed also and that our social life was nil.
She has agreed to be more open towards the issue with me, as I laid it out that if she wants my support then she has to let me know what is going on.
The best part is I will seek my own coucilling and she has agreed to join. I will see the coucilor first to get through my issues with her and the mathadone then we will work as a couple to see an end to the problem.
I will let everyone here know how things progress.
Thanks once again to all who have posted here
Avascular Necrosis of my both hips. Even after having them replaced,I was still in chronic pain.
I was taking between 60 and 80mg per day including very high doses of Oxycodone. The pain
was never releived by the Methadone at all. It was just one of those things that if I didn't take
at least 30mg before I went to sleep,I'd be doing that tossing and turning thing all night and it
got so bad,I always had to jump out of bed being totally irritated with the insomnia. I didn't know
how dangerous this drug was when I did a weekend taper and eventually stopped it cold turkey
a few days later.The withdrawls were so bad,that I had to self medicate with the oxy just to stop
the debilitating symptoms. After about 5 weeks of "Pure Hell",I had to get back on it. Not being able
to sleep for a month,just makes one completely "Nuts".The insomnia due to the mental disturbance
was the worst symptom of all. I thought about suicide every minute of everyday,but just kept the
faith that it would get better in a short while,but after 5 weeks of torture,it wasn't getting any better.
I gave up. I was consuming lethal doses of sedatives and anything I could get my hands on,but
still didn't get any sleep or peace with myself. Now that I'm back on the "Done",I'm only taking just
enough so I could sleep. I did get off the oxy also,but not having the Methadone in my system would
send me into full blown withdrawl just after 4 hours after taking the oxy. I just couldn't take my life
the way it was without the methadone at least. No matter how much oxy I took per day,so long as I
was on the Methadone,I would have no withdrawl symptoms at all if I were to abruptly stop the oxy.
I'm ashamed of myself now,but at least I can tell myself I did really try my hardest to stop everything.
I made the mistake of getting the important info about the drug once I was already a week into the
withdrawls. If I knew what I know now,I would have never tried to do such a stupid life threatening
thing like try to quit the worlds most dangerous drug without any help from anyone. The saddest
thing about my drug issues,is the fact that neither drug helps my pain,it's like I'm a complete drug
addict and not getting any pain releif at all. The drugs are causing me more pain than their worth.
I'm going to a new pain management Dr. in a few weeks and hopefully they will be able to help me
get off the Methadone properly and prescribe me something that will ease my pain issues,not cause
them. I just wish I would have been warned by my PM Dr.,back 5 years ago,about how deadly and
dangerous the Methadone was,cause I would have never touched it with a ten foot pole. God bless
Everyone who is going through the horrible reality Methadone brings to your life.
ago. About a month before I decided to do cold turkey on the meds,UPS lost both my meds off
the truck. We all know that they were stolen,cause the stupid pharmacy had their name on the
package and if you shake it,anyone with half a brain would know what was in. UPS never admitted
that the package was stolen,but common sense tells me otherwise. The pharmacy got super
involved and ended up realizing that they were never even suppose to be shipping meds to my
new state,due to the fact that they didn't meet the states requirements to do so. Talk about a slap
in the face.LOL. So,now instead of flying or driving the pathetic 1200 mile trip every 3 months,my
PM Dr. said that he would have to see me every month in order to give me meds. Is that insane
or what? Keep in mind that I really can't work from the pain and where am I going to get the money
to travel from every month? I'm lucky that I do receive SS Disability benefits,but they just about pay
the bills,ya know? The thought of the possibility of the Methadone making my pain worse was just
another reason that I wanted to get off it,to see how my pain would be. It was the same off it,but the
messed up part was that the Oxy worked 100% better without the Methadone. I just couldn't sleep
or function without the Methadone. It's a shame,but I'm almost positive that I'm not the only one
with these type of issues. The most annoying part of my whole messed up situation is the fact that
it wasn't the PM Dr. that started me on the "Done" It was this jerk surgeon,who had a bug up his
butt because I got the bone disease that destroyed my hips from being a coke and alcohol addict
prior to my surgeries. The really messed up part of all this addiction stuff,is the fact that I did in fact,
go to rehab for the addctions I had and was totally clean for 3 months. One day at work,I lifted something heavy and collapsed. I thought I had a double hernia. After the stupid specialists did MRI's of my lower back and gave me steroids,which can also attribute to the bone disease,they did
an MRI of my hips and said that I was in stage 4 AVN. No one told me of the possible debilitating
pain from having the surgeries,either. My PM Dr. said that all my issues were normal. Why would
he risk his career by giving me meds I didn't need? Anyway,I'm thankful that I can still function,at
least with some type of meds,even though I have to abuse them so much,just to get the slightest
releif.. I'm only 34 now and was 30 when I had the 2 surgeries. I'm a mechanic,or at least was one.
After moving across the country,I have only worked a total of 5 mnths of part time work,and that was
even pushing it. It's just the fact that almost all types of mechanics have tobe on their feet all day
long. The medication issues and the depression from not being able to work at a job you love has
debilitated my mental state more than my physical one. Please don't think I'm only on this forum to
complain and whine about my sorry *** life,I 'm here to get help and especially try to help anyone
in need of answers about these drugs the doctors give out like candy,that will eventually cause
us serious issues down the road. To answer your question Wait2long,yes to my pain being worse
when I'm not on anything. I'm in pain even sometimes worse with the meds,I just can't wait till this
new PM Dr. can try to help me releive some of this pain,so I can get back to work and get my life
back on track. Thanks to all for the kind words of encouragement and God Bless.
Savvas: Methadone Detox: What works, what doesn't
Someone asked for the link for the Katrina Disaster Protocols, here it is;
http://www.atforum.com/SiteRoot/pages/current_pastissues/fall2005.html
Reader, don't be surprised by everyone's reaction, and everyone shouldn't be surprised by his. There's a real stigma that goes with being on MMTP, it's almost worse than admitting you're a heroin addict.
MMTP clinics take away your privacy, your freedom of choice, your right to be treated as an adult, and humiliate you in the process. So it's understandable that people would be ashamed to admit to being on them. It's not the drug that's shocking, it's the dehumanisation of self by the clinic system. To be part of a system that views you only as a warm body to increase their statistics to keep their funding up, and does everything it can to keep you on drugs... people think that MMTP patients are losers, lost causes, and unimportant low lifes.
And alot of patients give up and succumb to this attitude. The whole clinic thing is very disheartening. But you CAN break away from it and get control of your life again.
Like Haas and Reader, I was dismayed when I first found out my wife was on it. It was an invasion of our marriage. Like a prisoner in jail, I and my wife weren't allowed contact when she was in the clinic in an emeregency, they ruined vacations for us because they refused her adult right to want to...take a vacation! All those little things they do to make you feel like less of a person.
Now that I've been through it myself, of course, I have greater sympathy for those going through it. People don't realize just how bad it is, how they're taking advantage of addicts to make a profit. Remember, this is their answer to the drug problem and making money off it. They can't legalize heroin for political reasons, so they substitute methadone and refuse any other treatments that can help you. Once you realize this, AND accept it and stop raging against it, you can work on making it work for you so you CAN get off it.
Why is this? Can't say, but it's understandable that they would think it's "all mental".
I hope you never do have to go through a hard detox, it's terrible. My last one I had to give up after three months because I was told it was all in my mind by an irresponsible doctor. If I'd known then what I knew now, I might have survived it.
So I'll hope I'm lucky this time and I'll stop and I'll just be fine. But I'll plan otherwise. Since once you stop, if you have problems, you're generally in no condition to deal with them properly and safely.
There's nothing worse than feeling weak and sick and barely able to move, and going to a doctor for help, only to have them insult and dismiss you. Or worse, to throw dangerous narcotic prescriptions at you that you don't need!!
Otherwise, there was a recent lawsuit in which a methadone clinic was sued by a patient's family.
The patient drove home after getting their dose and had a fatal accident. The family sued the clinic for "causing" the circumstances (she nodded out and went into oncoming traffic).
Surprisingly, the family won. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
now , I;M JUST GOING TO STOP. If I had no withdrawls this long Im hoping none willl happen. What do you think about this??All you input is great. My doctor at the clinic said it would take 2 days to get this ut of your system. Sounds like he was wrong about that. And can you drink coffee through this or will it make it worse.Coming off a 2 year program.
Thank for input.MN
once. Trying the taper route now. I was at 80mg/day before I C/T'd for 5 agonizing
weeks. After I failed,I slowly started back up in dose,just so I could function somewhat.
My new Pm Dr. is insane,since he wants me to drop 20-30mg in only one week. I
see him on Monday,and have dropped 2.5mg almost everyday,but have been feeling
the ills ever since. I know from past experience,what my lowest dose is,so that I could
function,which was 40-50mg. I'm at about 35mg,after 6 days,only. It takes time,right?
This Dr. is nuts.I have not lost the desire to quit,it's just easier said than done.LOL.
I tried every Sedative known to man almost,to help the withdrawl symptoms,to no avail
also. Maybe it's just better,to not substitute one drug for another? Don't take my word
for it,but maybe we will just have to tough it out to get clean. Take whatever sedative
or herbal remidies you can get a hold of to ease the pain and suffering and keep getting
help on this forum. Sorry I couldn't be of much help.God Bless.
from your last Methadone dose,to start going into major withdrawls.Each
person is different. It only took me about 12 hours to get slammed going
C/T from a 5 year 80mg program. I had to hit the ER about 5 days
into it,since I was having severe panic attacks and my BP was thru the
roof. Don't think I'm trying to scare anyone,just being honest. Anyway,
the nurse asks,"When was the last time you took Methadone?" I said
on Monday. She says,"It only takes 3 days to get out of your system"
LOL. Then why am I here,on Friday,having the worst symptoms,now?
She has no idea,what she was saying. The Methadone may have been
out of my system,but the affects,were still playing out in my brain,I guess?
Since your at 5mg,Mark,I'd say you will not be going thru,what I did. Your
symptoms should be mild. You were very smart to taper,for so long,not
do what my stupid butt did,just jump right off the bridge,head first with no
taper.Glad to see you on your way to being clean. Good luck and keep
up the good work. About the coffee,I don't think it should affect you too
much. Peace.
I am currently in the throws of a brutal headache jag, courtesy of methadone withdrawl. I am trying to mark the hour so to speak, so I never forget this nightmare. Some people out there may take
this all lightly, but methadone is truely the "Bytch-Godess" of all temptresses I've ever met.
She was there when I needed her. She stole away the pain of a lifetime, that only crushed bones
and torn nerves have to offer. She shushed my sorrows, when crying out for relief. I climbed in bed
with the seemingly savior princess, who promised me a full nights sleep, and she assured me that
all would be well, as long as we were married... and she of course, was to be my only significant
other, and the rest would be a story book ending, as long as there was no ending...
...But she came with bagage! I was suddenly introduced to her friends; side effects and
possesivess, they too wanted to move in with us in the house of Methadone!
This has house many rooms.Each room has modular mood swings. The master bedroom Is the
even keeled room,..It's where I keep my "game face" it's the one that writes out the bills, and makes
the phone calls. THis is the room I go to sleep in every night, however I don't awaken there.
I always wake up in the "dark room" , this room has no light or windows and this is where the princess injects her morning headaches and reminds me of every raw nerve and damaged body part.
I quickly flee this room and bolt for the kitchen! grab a glass of water for my morning dose.
Occasionally I visit the other rooms "uncertainty" and down the hall is "hope". Once in a while I peek into this room although the princess beckons me not to!
For now I am sitting on the living room couch "contemplation" and I am planning to leap out the window. Awsta-louwaga-baby... I've already tried the front door, and threatend divorce but the
bytch-Godess protests and threatens to sue! she's already got custedy of half my mind,
memory and patience and promises to leave her mark constipation and humiliation! We will be
breaking up soon, but I'm afraid Im afraid I'll be needing the house.
I think I"ll stay single a while and warn anybody who meets up with the princess, She is wicked
beautiful, but she's got teeth and she bites!!!
sincerely,
Sunshine
-Sunshine
Mark, there's a big difference from being on even a little methadone and no methadone. And I wish I could answer your question, but it's never simple. I'd need to know more about your addiction history to guess, but if it's under a year, yes, you could be fine.
Check out a thread I put up called "Methadone Detox:What works, what doesn't. It will at least give you an idea of what could happen.
You sound like me, I taper easily as well. But actually coming off hits me hard and heavy. I'm hoping that will not be true this time..
update:
I personally am Still in the "Methadone" house. Far from over, Im afraid. I'm sitting in the
room of "irritation", where the furniture is made of sandpaper, and void of sunlight. I'm
breathing in "used air" mingling with my last marlboro!
I been laying on the bed with a bag of rice cakes and the little crunchy crumbs that fall onto
the bed are sticking to my clammy body. When is my next meager dose of my rationed methadone
is all I can think about, ...besides the panic I am experiencing because I am running out of
marlboro's and ricecakes.
I don't want to go outside because it is too bright, I need shade and whispers. Everytime the phone
rings I recoil, and freeze...please don't let it be for me! Even my thoughts are in short, choppy
sentences. My headache has morphed into bone pain. I need to be in another part of the house
maybe??
P.S I heard that they can put you asleep for the entire process of withdrawl. Has anybody heard of this or gone through it? (I would sell my car if I have to!!!!)
-Sunshine
I did a google search specifically for "methadone step down" info/support.
When I did the search;.... the result of the search brought me specifically to THIS thread (tomma's
message post) which I had no idea, was attached to the "addiction forum" no wonder I kept seeing
post after post of "naysayers" constantly reffering to "pain not being real" etc..) This particular
forum is addiction (all drugs) absolutely stuff. I'd like to stay focused on the task at hand~
I am kind of new to posting questions and comments, I reposted my question under the "tab" that says "Post A Question". I hope this don't sound dumb, but did I do it correctly????
Here is my problem/fear she cut me down to .25mg once a day, and this will be my last perscription. I am afraid of withdrawl, will the same thing happen to me once the methadone is out of my system. The pain clinic can find no organic reason for my pain, and suggested Tylenol. I have been in constant pain for 3 years. I also have recurring moderate depression, I am on drugs for that.
I just want to know what to expect.
Kathy
There are things you can take to help with withdrawal, keep reading this site, the Thomas Recipe gets mentioned reguarly and seems to help. Also, I guess you could negotiate with your doctor, and have some arrangement in place to be more gradually weaned off. Here in Australia, it is very much done at the patients speed, what they feel comfortable with - maybe another difference between the States and here.
Good luck to you, and repost your question, I'm sure ppl will be able to advise you
Alex
I have five pieces of advice which other methadone users might find useful in their tapering process:
1.) If you start to feel withdrawal symptoms, you’re tapering too fast. If that happens, do NOT increase your dose; just stay where you are until the withdrawal symptoms subside.
2.) Once you reach the 20mg mark, plateau at that dose for several weeks. After that point, decrease your dose by no more than 1 or 2mg per week. When you reach 10mg, plateau again, and then decrease by no more than 1mg per week. Don’t be afraid to plateau for a few weeks on whatever dosage you’re on. It’s not a race. Give your body ample time to adjust to each new dosage before you decrease again.
3.) Get as much exercise as your body will allow. Due to my back problems, I am unable to perform strenuous exercise, but I walk for at least an hour every day. This has helped me tremendously.
4.) Eat a healthy diet. Avoid excess sugar, and particularly avoid lots of caffeine.
5.) I am not a doctor, but it seems relatively obvious to me that taking benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, Ativan, Temazepam, etc.) as sleep aids, or to lessen withdrawal symptoms, is an altogether bad idea for any drug addict.
I’ve heard a lot of differing theories about methadone tapering. Many people seem to think that it’s better to rush the tapering, in order to shorten the ultimate duration of withdrawal symptoms. I know several individuals at my clinic who have rushed their tapering, and ALL of them eventually went back up to 30mg or more. My experience has been that a slow, methodical taper, if done correctly, gives the user a much higher chance of success.
At any rate, my point is that I have been able to have a much better quality of life, my life is so full, I am living a life that I love, I have a very competitive position and I am able to support myself and help my Children with College, I am active in my community with volunteer activities and active in my Temple. I guess it all depend upon what kind of life you want to live, I left a shell of person that was in a dark, morbid place I do not want that life back.
r
Taper by Percentage not by millilitres! Doctors tell you to drop by so many mils in so many days. This is wrong. Five mils reduction per day is only 5% of 100 mills but when you get down to 10 mils it is 50% of your dose gone in an instance!
Lofexidine helps withdrawals only slightly. Strong sleeping tablets and Valium make the nights easier.
Sleep returns normally 4 or 5 weeks being clean from methadone. Did with me, anyhow.
i'll keep in touch in a few days to a week but i'm fine
i've signed up at a gym but only used it a few times
and been sunbathing a lil i feel comforted by a mild sunburn as crazy as this may sound maybe it drains me a little well so long for now
I am a heroin addict, I wont say an ex addict because I still slip up, and if I am honest I think I always will.
I have done many detoxes, my first after my girlfriend found out I was using and dumped me. This was a girl I loved so much, and the worst part was that I knew i was screwng up and had already started a detox when she found out. My first detox was on Subutex, or buprenorphine, and it worked well, and is so much easier to come off than methadone. I cracked obviously, mainly because I came off heroin for the wrong reasons, you have to stop and want to stop for yourself, not for anyone else. Eventually we got back together, but the doubt was always there with her, and the trust was broken. We never recovered.
Now I am back living in the UK, subutex is not as widely prescribed, for some reason the doctors prefer to stick you on methadone. Currently I am on 100Mg a day, which I know will take me a long time to get off. Compare this to subby and you start to question the doctors motives.
I find it strange that your boyfriend isn't happy with you taking methadone, and yet he uses coke, speed and weed. How many times have I heard this one, Coke is somehow a better drug than heroin??? is it really!! The main point I see here is that you aren't using Heroin, you are using a substitute which keeps you well and balanced and prevents you having to do all the stuff that goes with a big heroin addiction. We all know and have all done those things to get a bag. I am not proud of it, but I did it, and now its in the past, and personally what I went through I feel has made me a better person. Less judging of others and more willing to listen and try to help others going through troubles, why does this cause him a problem? nobody needs to know you take it.
Your boyfriend knew you when you were on heroin and must have seen you in some bad ways, and he stuck by you then, now i imagine you are in much better shape, so I guess his main problem is the stigma attached to being on a methadone script.
If he is not prepared to accept this and be ok with you using meth, you obviously have some choices to make. One thing i would say and its always my main point, what ever you do, YOU HAVE TO DO IT FOR YOURSELF, not to please someone else, I have been with someone and detoxed for them, only to find they preferred me when i was using, and we split up anyway.
You are on a pretty low dose of methadone, if you want to get clean, I would really recommend trying to switch from Methadone to Subutex, or Suboxone which is the same but with Maltrexone in the tablet also. That way you can get the meth out of your system and lower the sub dosage which is so much easier than doing the same with Meth. Stay away from lofexidine or britlofex tablets, man they are horrible, and in my opinion make your rattle worse.
That would be my suggestion, and in fact where i used to live in Jersey Channel islands, that is how the doctors got people off the green, they reduced doen to around 20-30mg of meth then switched onto the subutex to get rid of the green and then detox off the subutex. I cant over state how much easier that way is.
I guess i havent given you any answers, but I have tried to make points you can use, I have had very similar experiences and being brutally honest, you have to do whats best for you, if that means losing someone you care about, then that may have to happen.
Stay strong.
Best regards
Craig (32yrs old)
If you are well in yourself and balanced now, will you be that well balanced when you finish?
I know many clinics try to lead people down the abstinence path without really finding out what you want to do.
I would be interested to hear your opinion on this.
Well done for getting to where you are already though,
Best regards
Craig
"laughter helps pain, depression, immune system, etc. at least laughing, which helps my pain and depression immensley, has no ill side effects (for an average person, not post surgery etc.). i can laugh to excess…well except for being seen as abnoxious by those not partaking…there really is nothing bad that can come of excessive laughing. so, laughing is a luxury i can indulge in. i do make an effort to laugh and my friends know the routine. i know all the good places to score a laugh from. i had to take a friend to “evil wal mart” the other day. if you go to the childrens’ toy section…seek out toys like “tickle me elmo”…set off as many as you can. juvenile…yes. but in matters such as these…the need to score a laugh…who cares what anyone thinks! it is never right to score laughter at another person’s expense (it’s not good for your karma, etc). no, no one or thing should be damaged in the process. well, some things can be damaged…i had a pile of old records that had been left in my garage…they’d been water damaged…i had brought my bb gun over and was shooting cans (yes, juvinile hill billy entertainment), but then we decided to play skeet with the records. i shouted “pull”, my friend tossed an album and i shot it in the center area! we laughed and played album skeet for awhile. the album i shot was an old grateful dead album. well…it was dead already.
finding the good, healthy habits in my childhood. i think of things that made me laugh when i was a child. it seems children laugh more often and more freely than adults do. it’s another healthy skill we loose as adults. we’re so groomed to behave ourselves and act like adults that it can smother the very healthful skills that can keep us well. (belly breathing is another skill well loose as we “mature”.)
yes, thinking back to my younger years, unfolds many answers to health in my…gulp…middle age.
so, that’s where the bb gun came from…my youth. when we were younger we spent a lot of time in the northwoods of wisconsin. our parents would be inside playing cards, talking and drinking beer. we’d go in and collect cans as they were emptied, put them up on the log pile and shoot them with a bb gun. as long as the cans kept comming we had a good time. it doesn’t matter that there was always a great presence of alcohol and drinking and thus the behavior issues…darn it the cans and shooting are what i’m going to remember! i may have not had the greatest childhood but i do have many good times i can refer to. looking back at my childhood in this way also helps me “reframe” what has been such a sad portion of my life. i’m learning to pull these great positive things from what was a dark and murky area. gradually, my childhood is becomming a wonderful resource! cool side effect."
as i began detoxing off of suboxone i found myself laughing again and realized that is something i had not done in a very long time. its amazing, the power of laughter.
is there anyone out there that has struggled with opiate addiction for 10+years that is now in their early 30s and completely abstinant from any and all drugs and actually happy? cause i know of none in my personal life. all the long term addicts i have come across are either on some kind of treatment, still using, or dead. to me it feels like there is no hope for a "normal" life for long term addicts. mentally i feel as if my addiction has pulled me so far down a hole that it will take more than a lifetime to get out of. i really hate putting this negativity out there but maybe someone who has had simalar thoughts can give me some words of encouragement.
sorry i kinda got off topic there. for all those detoxing off methadone, my biggest words of advice is not to put a time frame on your detoxing. it took me 15 months to get off of 200mg/day and that was still to fast for me and i went right back to heroin within days after my final 2mg dose even after i was clean for 3 years. i am now tappering off of suboxone after being on it for 16 months with all the same withdraw symptoms as methadone even on just 1.5mg/day. my restless leg syndrome is so bad that it wakes me up and i cant go back to sleep until i take more suboxone.
as long as this is i guess i should have just started a blog the way i am just going on and on about nothing and everything...
good luck in everyones recovery!
i'm feeling good i am down to 8mg
sleeping well no more hot flashes
very lil if none in the nodding dept
but i still feel a lil tired around 5ish pm after taking an 8 am dose
anyhow i'll check in again take care all
The fact is you still have to detox even if its off 1mg! it is just prolonging the inevitable. I still have trouble sleeping at night but I can get a good 6 hours a night in most nights. There is no easy way out, after a month of detoxing I started feeling better durning the days but nights were still bad, and they still are a little.
Just hoping and praying that my body does get back to normal, methadone effected me in many bad ways... weight gain, depression,gynecomastia,my sex life, and the list goes on and on with embarrising things.
There is no normal life on methadone. 4 years on now Im off for good and never looking back. by the way the gym does help you sleep! good luck to all it will be a bad 6 months for all of us but at least it WILL END!
I feel for ya having to detox off this **** in jail & it doesn't help that they don't care a bit. I know about all the embarrassing things it does like all those you mentioned and it really destroyed my teeth. They should have to tell you about all the side-effects before starting because I did't know it got soaked into your muscles & bones. Instead they said it was the best thing ever and it was easy to come off of tapering (might be if you taper down 4-5 years!!)
Anyways though I had been going to a clinic for roughly 2.5 years & on 115 mg liquid dose. You get on their bad side for whatever reason & your basically stuck on lvl 1 driving 3 hours everday to get your dose. I finally just quit going about 2 weeks ago. I waited for a 5-6 days then took a few suboxone i got off the street to rip it out of me quick instead of having to wait through months of hell.
I was actually feeling better until about 3-4 days ago and now I feel like i'm dying (sweats, twitching, cramping, etc). I'm having a hard time eating now, but have been drinking powerades thinking the electrolytes would help.
Dose anybody know of anything I can do or take to get this junk out of me any faster please? I don't really have any friends/family to count on helping. Any help/advise would be hughely appreciated.
There were remarks about Xanax as an aid to enduring withdrawals. Be very careful: this can be a lethal combination, because both inhibit respiration. I think, (pending the tox report) that that was what killed him.
I really wouldnt advise just quitting from 87ml, the clinic are following the guidelines by dropping you in small amounts, although you can probably do a rapid drop down to around 60ml (thats just my opinion) possibly even 50, at which point you will start to notice the drop.
Quitting cold turkey will obviously be difficult, but I guess it depends on whether you have to work/attend school etc etc.
Unfortunately I find some clinics think that the guidelines are what must be done, when in reality, the best people to take advice from are the people who have done it.
Have a chat with your key worker, and ask to drop a bt quicker, it will be easy enough to but you back up if the withdrawl is too severe.
Regards
Craig
i ve been on Methadone for over 3 years and was at 65 mls, i decide to go on holiday a long holiday...7 weeks to Qatar...my doc wasnt willing to prescribe no more than 4 weeks worth, however my keyworker had recently made manager of the clinic put in a good word for me and being clean ie street drug free my doc leaned to my side and i left the UK with 2730 mls of methadone!.Everything was really good until 20 days left into my holiday when i realized that i should have 1000mls, but looking at the bottle i had approx less than 500mls, i will never forget that day....Oh my God, as Methadone is unavailable in Qatar, not sure but either way no one but my clinic in the UK was going to help, i looked at it another way, and f*** it! Im gonna F****ing going to see this through....Bring it ON.... i was *******! I was on 65 mls of meths each day i had tried cutting down but always screwed up when the withdrawal cravings kicked in.....Now i had no resolve according to my calculations i would need to drop from 65 to 37mls and my body kicked off if i drop by 5mls.....What was i suppose to do?
The clinic had given 6 weeks even though they had the dates which added to 7 weeks?(Theories Guys?)The exact dates was written on the damn licence....How could they f***up?I knew a rapid drop of a large dose would mean a major ball buster so i decided to do a rapid decline detox, something which i ve never been able to do, even at a slow drop off! Anything under 60mls made feel like ****. Now i had to do a detox on holiday.........To cut the story short, i came back this week and ive dropped from 65mls to 34mls Dropping 5mls every 3 days!!!!!!Sure it was like hell at times but even i was suprised that i had managed to do this, I even found Allah! and i think faith plays a big part psychologically.
Rather than give the clinic a good hiding i gave them a big THANK YOU, now my keyworker believes i will be clean very soon, but reading the posts above ive noticed about sleep problems, and above all is the worst, i dont want to take any other pills.i.e. anything from the 'zepam' family but im having a lot of nasty non sleep nights......help pls???It feels good though i suppose when we are faced with such an ultimatium its do or die in this case smoke or rapid detox? Rapid detox pls!. I address Metodone as great big brass cjhain tied to my wrist, but now that chain has become a wire, one which i beliee i have the mind anf faith to break.....iwas an addict for 10 years but psychologically/mentally my mind has locked that door which leads me a stray...........Thanks for listening.
I too was a heroin addict for 10 years i lost everything, i wasnt from a poor background, hell my old man had 6 figures in his bank....it was from a lack of respect for drugs, somethings are best left untouched.......I still remember clearly the day i asked my old man for money and he as he passed me the money he stopped and said: "Please come clean, for once, let me see you clean before i die". He died that day hit by a bus outside our houses main gates........The irony is that after he died his wish came true...... i was lost for a long time, i got married a year later..... which meant i once again i gained a loved 1 however when this person my wife stated one day "i will leave you, you have to choose me or your vices......i sat down at the lake which runs at the side of house and thought f***, what????? Its now been two years im on the meth program me, no street drugs...but if you read my other post you will see ive done something which very few people are able to, no sorry, they do but cant maintain,i dropped from 65mls to 3mls in 20 days...even i am now surprised at myself as my mental resolves like a rock.... i feel that chain is now almost broken, but i lost the biggest thing to me....My Hero.....my Dear Father, to have reality treat me such a harsh lesson Ive realized 'The meaning of Life', and i feel im on the last step.....I ve finished my Masters and look at the future with open eyes, hoping that my Father would be proud as i have done as he wanted only that i was unable to do so when he was around, as when all family deserted me he was there, faith in hand that 1 day i will see my dream as reality....my son clean.....I wouldn't even wish Heroinon even the worst of my enemies, is there a better statement to explain heroin's viciousness?Thanks for reading........I really for everyone who loseses a loved one a result of drugs, directly/indirectly....
my personal experience is as follows,
hard childhood, hard teenhood, hard preadulthood
filled the gap with DILAUDID 8 mgs by orally administering
got bored of waiting for the onset so i started insuflating them via nostril
got bored of waiting for the onset so i started performing intravenous injections
fell in such deep love with the rush of I.V. hydromorphone i didnt care about anything else
a day in the life? check it out...(the following is a breakdown of the beginning of I.D.U)
12:00am- its midnight, i love it. i have a "dirty" bottle of dilaudid 8 mg (i am not prescribed)
1:00am- ive already hit 2 tablets in my left a c fossa and nodding off slightly
2:00am- im so euphoric from the effects that i take off all my clothes and am naked in my basement
3;00am- go outside in my boxers and scratch myself stupid as i walk around the backyard in barefeet and smoke about 6 cigarettes...one after another
4:00am- theres about 4-5 pills worth of hydromorphone (about 40mgs) dancing in my veins and heart.
5:00am- i tiptoe around my room littered with seringes, cotton balls, and blood-stained alchohol swabs grinning as i head to bed. the good thing about dilaudid is that its 100% water soluble. no matches, no lighter, no bubbling poison.no grimy spoons...no solvants.
6:00am- laying down in bed naked i stare at the ceiling. when i was younger, i hated doing this cuz id only do it if i was bored...now i could lay here day in day out....
7:00am- ive been asleep since 5 30am i think? faack, the clock has no batteries cuz i took them out to fly my remote control airplane about 3 hours ago.....
8:00am- wake up from a itched-out sleep or so to speak...cuz i wasnt actually sleeping i was just laying there lifelessly but happily. im awake only because i have to pee
8:10am- jesus, ive been standing at the toilet for 5 minutes now???!!! i cant get the pee to start the syphon.....i cant pee right now.
8:15am- jesus, its only been 4 hours or so since my last injection.,..and i already feel uncomfy....(dilaudid has a super short halflife) ill lay here a bit longer maybe i can sleep
9:00am- eyes wide shut, i open them as wide as i can, close them, then re-open them....yep! im in withdrawal. no problem
9:02am- bolt outta bed, get to my desk, grab an 8mg dilaudid, grab my lucky paper, and my ballpeen hammer.....crush that puppy up...tap it into a PLASTIC spoon...add my cc's of water and go and get the swabs and cotton while the water begins to saturate heaven's dusty white stuff....
9:05am- i can hear my parents upstairs...i have witnessed almost every hour of the clock not because im dopesick and cant sleep....but because im so high im itching myself like a crackhead
9:10am- ok the rig is loaded and ive swabbed my left a c fossa...eww..its effing dark, reddish, yellowish, and purple...i always hit my left a c fossa cuz its a massive vein that returns to the heart with no detour....
9:11am- swab the site, insert the needle, pull back the plunger, she flags red...baby dont move...im coming home....
9:15am until 10:00am- i am still sitting at the desk.....nodding off so badly i forgot i was still there...theres paraphanilia EVERYWHERE
10:00am- i sluggishly get up...start cleanig the desk....ow! i just poked myself....ok so now the floor....i stare in disgust...theres atleast 10 used seringes littering the floor, and about a tablespoons worth of blood staining all the swabs....
10:10am- ok everything looks good in my haze of observation...now i can go and sleep the day away and if daddy or mommy comes in, they wont see the carnival of sins that occured in the basement of 123 fake st. last night.
5:00pm- (if i was low on d's, id call Mr. Dilaudisaurus, and grab another 60 or 70 pills...they are only 2 dollars because he doesnt know what they are really, and steals them from his father in law...he has insane amounts....8's....4's....even 30mg hydromorph contin capsules...so its not obvious.
6:00pm- walking out of the pharmacy grinning as i clutch a bag of spikes and jog back to my car......im so excited all over again, i dump my clutch haha wtf...and peel out of shoppers drug mart and head home....cops see me speeding but i dont care....they didnt pull me over either...
7:00pm- Hey billy boy! do u want some supper or WHAT daddy says...ummm ok..sure
7:10pm- rinse my plate thank them both with gratitude cuz now i have a full stomach...better off. better off because now i have the capacity to inject another 60mgs or so tonight and no barf my bile out. atleast its food that comes up.
7:10 until midnight- i write music, i design a turbojet.....im very productive. i applied to college even between the lines. aircraft technician-airplane mechanic
and so....you see the lifestyle....THAT is when methadone is right for you. not a 10/500 ratio of hydrocodone every 4 hours as needed ....if only i needed only that to execute my carnival of sins....id be pretty happy. id withdraw on PURPOSE just to get higher on my next dose.
dont take methadone unless you are an I.D.U patient. intravenous drug use.
u can kick anything u take by eating them in a month or so. if u start pokin at ur veins...well than quite another ride at the fair.
love y'all.
Good Luck
and for you people talking about how you might abandon your loved ones because they need to be punished, you should be banned from thos forum. People need love, support, and most importantly something to look forward to. methadone is not a good thing, good things dont destroy lives, families. People who validate this are ones that dont have the strength to do what each and every one of us are trying to do.
The last thing i would like to say is every one here should be proud that they are dealing with this and i speak from experience, IT WILL END, and you are in control not the pill, deal with the anxiety, deal with depression, deal with the pain because for a small period of time you will gain years of happiness and yo will know you beat something that many CLAIM is unbeatable.
GOOD LUCK, HAVE FAITH, and LOVE YOURSELF
PS. avoid stressful situations and dont be afraid or humialited to tell family
all of us have to remember that if we continue down this road, we will end up withdrawing in prison or on the streets, also what happens if ur dealer gets pinched, now you hadn't been planning to quit and your forced to, at least this way its on your terms and not someone elses.
Ask yourself how many times you've checked these forums to read that the detox would only take a week, but instead you read two weeks, three weeks, a month , etc. ask yourself why there is now diffinitive answer, people say it depends on your dosage, how long you were on them, and many other variables. Stop looking for the shortest solution, and realize that you control it all, yes while your staring at this sweating, shaking, anxious, etc. you have the answer. this is not bull**** i promise you that you can make every day better and ultimately decide when your going to be better, I DID IT, and two others who taught me DID IT. Your sore right now and freaking out, so instead walk your *** upstairs take a shower, and as you FORCE yourself to do little things you will start noticing peaceful times throughout the day. i know in very beginning this is a little much, but after a week its time for you to fight it out not expect it to just leave. so do you want it to prolong or do you want it to be gone on your terms.
and remember the only thing you have to do to beat this is NOT TAKE THE PILLS,
Hi, I was an IV drug user for 7 years (Heroin), I had been in and out of rehabs, rapid detox clinics-you know the bit, someone told me about Methadone-the worst and best thing I could have done, not only did I trade one addiction for another but I thought well Im not doing illegal activity so this MUST be ok............several years later and 30grand later I thought to myself........hmmmmmmmmm, the counselors and nurses sure aren't singing the same tune as when I first got here"Come in will start you out on 30mg, go up till you feel comfortable and then we will get you wined off"-YEAH RIGHT-I went up to 160mg and got down to 90mg, thats when I got pregnant-THEY will NOT let you get off methadone being pregnant-My son was born on 145mg(thats what I had to go back up to, not only did I have to have an emergency c-section, his heart stopped beating, had to resuscitate him, he spent 2 months in the hospital-he was shaking, had diarrhea, cried all the time, didnt sleep-BUT you know what that precious innocent little boy was a fighter and a survivor-it was one of the worst things I had ever seen-because of that I was convinced if he could do it SO CAN I!!! At 145mg a day I started detoxing by 10mg a week till I got to 55 then I went down by 5mg a week-Do the math-with in a few months I was down to 5mg-I had drive and I wanted my life back!! In the middle of the week(I had take homes,was approved for more than a week but didnt want because they wont split dose) I decided that I was DONE -I had 3 doses left and looked at my lock box every day and said"NO Longer wil you control my life" It has been 2 weeks-sure Im a lil tired ;P But if I can do it SO CAN YOU!!!!!-For sleep I have found that melatonin works or at least helps also they have a drink called (dRANK-it is in a purple can "slow your roll") this has also helped because of the ingrd...Rose hips,melatonin and Valerian root. Hope I encouraged someone, I am not saying that it is easy but if you are wanting to be free-Tell them to Detox you-Get FREE!!!
This thread is old and I would love to hear what has happened to some of you? I agree with the others that have stated its "the worst withdraw I have ever done"
yes, it is and has been. but on a positive note, it can be done. I say get off it while you can. we all know it can be very dangerous. there were times where I know I was close.....very close to taking a dirt nap from mixing.
It was hard, but on a positive note, give yourself plenty of time and mentally prepare yourself for a long battle. first week is very tough and miserable,sick as a dog,sneezing alot(I never had alergies (allergies) or sneezed before???) major diharea, and not to mention EXHAUSTION !!! OMG !!!!!! no sleep hardly at all. never did any norco WD's feel as bad as this!!
second week, a little better but the same as above. 3rd week some improvement, sleep starting to come back to normal,,,,,,arrgh!! finally some half way decent sleep !!
4th week, certainly much better,but still very tired and restless. getting better bathroom wise,but still not there...sleep is getting decent thanks to teh valarian root and the occasional night time cold meds, to get through some sleepless nights.
now after the 5th week, I can say I am getting closer to normal. this weekend I was out swimming and going nuts with a bunch of kids in the big waves of lake michigan. man did that feel good!! I drink a few beers at night to chill out,seems to help me maintain.
now I am prepared to fight on as long as it takes. this now is nothing compared to the first 2 weeks,thats what I keep saying to myself. what is interesting through all this, is the mental end of it. I dont have cravings!! I did not find myself wanting to run off and find some done or norcs. I even had a bottle of em right in front of me for about 3 weeks,finally got rid of everyone of them. I think my mind is different now, its tried one path of failure so long it just has not bothered me so far......Its like the good angel is running the show,right now. I just keep wanting to get back to normal, and I know its still going to be a while longer. but the way I feel now is soooo much better than I was drugged out and miserable. I know the war is still raging on in my body, and it will take time and patience to win it.
this forum has been huge for me, I call it my support group. when I read stories like above,it sure seems to motivate me !
I'm hoping by my 3rd weekl I will be able to sleep.Thanks for sharing your experience!
If anyone else wants to tell me about their first few weeks please let me know!
GOOD LUCK!!!!!
PS- you might get more replys if you started a new thread, this one's almost 7 years old.
Who decides to taper you down in those increments.
Once you fall below 60ml the drops should be no more than 1-2Ml a fortnight.
It is no surprise to me that you are suffering.
There is no harm in telling your doc/clinic that you cant cope with dropping so quickly.
I would really advise you to speak to your treatment co-ordinator and ask to slow down the drops.
Speaking from experience, when your drop too quickly it always ends up the same, and I am sure you dont want to go back to the bad old days.
I hope you can sort it out, because the last thing you need is to be ill while you are on Methadone.
Craig
its day 2 without methadone, and she's been achy and tired but doing amazingly well. This morning we went for a walk, and this evening we got in the sauna. I thought it was going to be much worse, but, thank god it hasn’t been too bad.
I think a big part of this is she has been living a very healthy life style since she got clean and on methadone 2 years ago. We exercise regularly, which helps flush toxin out of the body, I believe this has help because it doesn’t let the methadone build up in the body. Also a clean room, with lots of light and fresh air, very important for the mind. She also has a strong belief in herself and god to help her get through this. She is drinking chicken soup with rice, lots of lemon water, vitamins and minerals, and taking vicadin a few times a day to help the body aches.
I know we are just beginning, but she is off to a great start, and I encourage all of you to get off methadone, it serves its purpose, but I feel people stay on its way to long.
you can be free!
best to all....
The aches and pains I get when I go under 30 mg per day just make me crazy though and I am unable to function. I'm considering not using the Ultram and maybe just using the vicoden as I taper down. I think I can get by using small doses of the vicoden for pain throughout the day. I used to use it pre-cancer for a nerve intrapment I had and I was able to use it without going up in dosage or developing an addiction, over the course of several years. Anyway, how long do you guys think it will take for me to get off the methadone? What kinds of problems can I expect as I taper down? Whatever you can tell me would help. God fobid the doctors explain anything! It should tell you something that I had to go all the way to NYC to get help with this problem, even though I live in a relatively large city! Also, my psychiatrist who happens to be an addiction specialist (I have no addiction but he handles the cancer patients at the hospital where I"m treated) suggested using suboxone. Any opinions on that? I'm not really of the school of using one drug to help get off another, but if I have to resort to that I will I suppose.
thanks
Lisa
Lisa
Jacksonville,FL
With regard to some of your side effects, I also sweat terribly on Methadone, but have managed to find something that takes away the sweating completely.
If you live in the USA, ask for Biperiden (Akineton) which is usually a tablet used to treat parkinsons, if you live in the UK or europe, ask your GP/Key worker to try you on Procyclidine.
I take 2 tablets a day and it has been a wonderful success.
Initially the Clinic Doctor said no and that I had to suffer it, but I went above him and the lead GP was keen to try it, and now I know many other people are benefiting from taking the tablets.
Best regards
Craig
p.s @mom I sent you a PM re your post.