Getting off methadone

[mmafan84]

I have been on methadone for 5 1/2 years. I am currently at 65 mg and have been for a while.  I have been wanting to get off of methadone for a long time now.  I have tried tapering twice and i just wasn't ready then.  It has been two years now since i have last tried getting clean of methadone.  

I also have a benzo habit as well.  I haven't had any benzo's in 8 days and im doing fine with that. However, now im pretty much going cold turkey off the methadone. I saved my sunday bottle, well today's dose and i am spreading it out over 4 days and then i'm done. I know what it feels like to be without methadone so i know it won't be easy but i'm really ready to be drug free and have a drug free lifestyle.  

I do have a prescription of klonopin and temezepam that i can get filled, but i've done so good on not taking any benzos.  I know going off methadone and benzo's at the same time is crazy, but its what ive decided to do.  Today i just took 20 mg of methadone so im not sick, but i know its going to be a long long road.

My question is this:  its been 8 days since i've had klonopin and temezepam, would it make the detox off methadone any easier if i got these filled and started taking them again????  I don't think it would really make anything easier because methadone detox is just a ***** period, im going to be in pain either way. I never found anything that would get me well through dt'ing off of methadone so i don't think the benzo's would be too much help, some might disagree though.  I also think that if i get back on the bnzo's that i won't think clearly and i will get right back on methadone so that was what prompted me to get off the benzo's first.

[mmafan84]

i also have a lot of physical pain, which im going to have to deal with. I have four slipped discs in my back, L3, L4, L5, and S1 along with two messed up discs in my neck. So it isn't going to be easy with no pain meds, but im just ready to do it.

[worried878]

We r all different..but i am a chronic pain patient as well..we weigh out the odds cos we are all in different circumstances...what works for me wouldnt work for somebody else for sure..people can guide u and share their experience..but that is all

U will need to find an alternative to narcotics for pain relief..u have done well with the benzos /8 days is great!..if it were me i wouldnt go back to them unless i had to..if i simply was gonna relapse on the methaodne again..and i had tried safer anxiety and sleep meds/i guess i would use them in small amounts after u totally stop the methadone...if u have to...even ambien and lunesta are safer..some use muscle relaxers and drugs like neurontin or lyrica during this time/also phenergan..25-50 mgs will knock most out...1/4 of a 25 mg pill helps anxiety during the day and it is not habit forming

Looking ahead is hard..u r jumping off a high dose of methaodne//most would taper slowly but u gotta do it ur way/what works for u..Clonidine is a great drug for jumping off high narcotic doses...also safe but u cant take it if ur blood pressure is low so u need to talk to ur dr first...
methdone is just a narcotic with a long half-life like sub...mg for mg it is not really much stronger than hydro or oxy..it is just that darn half life that extends wds and makes sub and methadone wd a bit tougher..but do-able

There are a couple of great articles in the health pages on methadone wd...put the balls in ur court..u have ur plan..but returning to benzos would not be my first choice...as a rule people do stop the narc first if they r a dual narc/benzo user..but u have already stopped the benzo for 8 days!  Congrats..going back might be a step backward but again it depends on ur situation..keep us posted

[Lisa034]

I think you should stay away from the benzos unless everything else has failed. The people on here say valerian root works good. They say it is natures valium.  Kinda funny you posted this, I am up this early so I can go dose and talk to the doctor while I am there. I wanna ask him if I am gonna go thru awful withdrawl at 1,2,3,4,5mgs then why not just go thru it now at 60mgs. This way I can just get it over with and I will not have to drive over there 3 days a week and I will not have to give them 14.00 per day. Please keep us posted as to what you are doing, I may follow suite.  Also I am sure you know this but I am gonna tell you anyways  MIXING BENZOS AND METHADONE ARE A LETHAL COCKTAIL  I am sure they told you that where ever you get your methadone from.  Please be carefull   I have faith on you I know you can do it. I will be praying for you all the way
Lisa
Jacksonville,FL

[mmafan84]

Thank you for your support worried, and Lisa.  Today is the beginning of the 2nd day, i took a small amount of methadone from my sunday dose that i saved, yesterday i took 20 yesterday and 15 today.  I know it isn't going to be easy, but thats just something i have to deal with i guess.  I know mixing the benzos with methadone isn't good at all, im probably really lucky to still be alive as my benzo habit was a everyday thing with the methadone.  

I have heard so many horror stories about methadone w/d.  I have experienced the w/d myself many times over the past 5 years but i never got past 6 days before i went back to the clinic.  I have heard some talk about it lasting for months, however i choose not to believe that i will not sleep for 3 months but we'll see.  A good friend of mine was forced to go c/t off methadone because he broke his probation, he was on a 120 mg for 3 years and went to jail.  He told me it was rough for about 12 days and after that it wasn't bad at all and he could sleep and he has chronic pain as well.  

One of the worst parts for me is the nightmares that you have while getting the little sleep that you do get. If anyone has any suggestions on how to limit these that would be great but i doubt there is much to control that.  

Thanks for the support, i'll continue to make a post atleast once a day.  

And Lisa, it's great that you have decided to get off of methadone. For some people tapering down does work a lot better. I've seen people do it successfully both ways.  For me though once i got to 30 mg i started feeling bad and i couldn't imagine going to the clinic for another few months tapering while i felt like that but thats just me, some people are a lot different.  Hope everything goes well for you, keep me posted.

[Lisa034]

I really agree with you. What is the point? Why should I keep paying the clinic and why should I keep wasting my time and gas to go over there. By the way its about 30 miles away from my house. It takes me 45min one way just to get there. And plus I just hate to be there. It makes me sick to stand in line and listen to some of the people talking. I mean for me, standing in line at a methadone clinic is the very very rock bottom. I will not even tell you what I used to think about people that went to a methadone clinic, but yet here I am. How in the hell did this happen to me. This experience has been a real eye opener. I just can not belive the people at the clinic doing pill deals right in line and right in the parking lot. Stand in long line and get take outs and go right in the parking lot and sell them. I mean it is just sick. There is a cop right in the parking lot, they dont care they do it right in front of him. I want to yell out and say Look you retards, look were this behavor has got you, and you are still doing it. Sometimes I just sit outside the clinic after I dose and I just watch everybody. All walks of life there. Rich,poor,black,white,asian,tall,short,fat,skinny this drug will just take over anybody. I hate what pills have done to me and where I am at in my life, a methadone clinic, I can not belive it.  I am telling you just watching some of those people there and seeing for my own eyes what long time drug use does for you, Well that alone is enough to keep me sober.  Well anyways sorry toooo much about me. Sometimes I sit on my pitty pot for a minute or two. I will be here for you!!!  I am in your corner for sure!!!!  I know you can do it.  Do it for you, do it for me, do it for all of us on methadone that need some hope!!!!!  You have helped me more than you know!!!!  I will never be able to thank you and some of the other people on this site enough.  I know this site has saved my life!!!!

I love you all
Lisa
Jacksonville,FL

[christos24]

it would make the methadone wds somewhat lighter and easier to pass with, but you are running a fine line in getting your habit back with benzos again by doing so, methadone wds are by far the worst out of any opioid out there so i would take some benzos to ease some of the utter misery and be able to get some sleep..i also have been on methadone for a few years and did have a ver nasty addiction to benzos as well it got out of control, but be careful if you do fill the scripts

[mmafan84]

I totally know what you mean when it comes to the clinic and what goes on there, etc.  For some people its like going to the clinic is the highlight of their day and some big social event, for me i want to get in and out as fast as i can.  Sometimes i may smoke a cigarette afterwards but thats the full extent of it.  I know how bad it ***** about the driving thing too, i live in kentucky and the clinic i went to in indiana was 70 miles away one way, driving that 6 days a week for several months is crazy.  Not to mention that i flipped my last vehicle in the sleet going to the clinic at 4:30 am.  I'm really not trying to bash methadone clinics but the one i went to is just ridiculous.  They just put CAMERAS IN THE BATHROOMS 4 weeks ago, yes cameras because over half the clinic was bringing in fake urine, sorry to be graphic but thats just some dumbshit im not going to put up with and i don't even know how its legal but whenever you sign those papers on intake day you are pretty much signing your life to them.  Liquid handcuffs is what i call methadone.  But anyways, i don't have to worry about that anymore i feel a huge weight just lifted off of me just because i don't have to go anymore.  The clinic i went to also had certain times for each patient to come in depending on if and when they worked, etc. It's like they want to control everything.  

By the way, how are you doing with your detox???  Are you still decreasing 5 mg every 3 to 5 days???  What mg are you on now anyways???  I don't know how long you have been tapering but don't let me talk you out of tapering unless thats what you really want to do, i mean it can be done c/t you just have to be strong and you seem like you are.  For me its just easier this way because i've tried both and i felt the w/d's just as much after i had tapered but everyone is different.  One thing is for sure, no matter how many times you have detoxed on methadone, it never gets any easier.  We both have some unpleasant times ahead of us but when we make it through all of this all those hard times is what is going to make us not want to go back to methadone or other opiates, or atleast i know it will for me because detox is a ***** and this will be the first time in 8 years that i will have been clean.  

I didn't ever go and get my benzo's either, i went and got some valerian root from cvs and i have a sauna that i'm going to use so im hoping that will help.  

[Lisa034]

I got your message thank you so much. It is so nice to know that I am going thru this with some else that knows exactly what I am going thru. I am so proud of you for not getting the benzos refilled. I know that was really hard for you. By the way, yes I did decrease today, I went from 60mgs to 50mgs. I am really thinking hard about jumping real soon.  I am praying about it. You and I are so much alike. I have been going thru this addiction thing for eight years also. The last time you did this when you tapered, what mg did you get down to before you jumped? I just can not see myself driving across town and paying money for 1 or 2mgs. Who knows maybe I will but I do not think so. I am ready to be done now!!! But that is just the kinda person I am, I want everything right now. I am in your corner we will do this together.
Lisa
Jacksonville,FL

[mmafan84]

thanks for the support, the last time i got off i detoxed 10mg a day til i got to 50 then i went down 5 mg a day till i was at 0 so the process was really quick but thats just how i wanted to do it.  I didn't succeed because i just wasn't ready, i didn't really try but im in a whole new mind frame now so i know i can do it this time.  You can as well and i know ya will. And i don't blame you for not wanting to go all the way down to 1,2,3 mg and so forth getting down to a couple of mg and still being sick isn't my thing but do whats best for you.  If you think you can jump off at 20, then go for it all that really matters is that you get the result you want, not how you got there.  

But definitely keep me on the up and up and let me know where your on your dose and how you're doing.  We can get each other through this!!  You'll be in my prayers-