Methadone withdrawal (low dose 3-mgs)

[Jbeaux]

Hello! i've been on methadone for 12 years .On tues.feb,17, 2003 i took my last 3mg dose(liquid).prior to that date i have been having trouble sleeping for about two weeks. i have been reducing my dose over the last 16 months from 80 mgs daily.I am not afraid of the withdrawl but do not truly know what to except.the program i was on was about keeping people addicted not helping you get mentally or physically well.i.e(money).Can
anyone give me some additional information. Thanks alot.

[Bodymechanic]

The easiest way off of methadone is by using subutex.  It is now widely available and you will have no trouble finding someone who will sell you on the a program.  It is expensive even compared to methadone.  I think that 3-6 months on subutex will save you a lot of miserable days and nights.  I kicked a 100mg a day methadone habit cold 25 years ago.  It is something I would never do again.  It is my understanding that even a slow taper with methadone is difficult.  You have reason to be proud.

At least you will be free of the never ending leash that is the methadone program.  The more I learn the more I realize that the methadone program (not the drug itself) is a huge, dehumanzing scam.  The system is set up to encourage failure and relaps.  It is a system of never ending probation that not even the worst criminal, murderers and even child molesters are subject.  No one is more heavily "monitored" than the methadone patient.  Not to mention the never ending "councelling" you are required to under go by mindless 12 step robots.  Regardless of individual wants or needs.  I could go on and on about these self serving bureaucratic assholes. Just thinking about it pisses me off. No one is more in need of a patient advococy board than the recoving addict.

Bodymechanic

[mrmichael67]

You do have much to be proud of.  I am a methadone patient and the only thing I have to do is pay and go and get my dose every day.  I am not required to do anything else.  It is a private clinic and I will go less and less over time due to takehomes.  I am a chronic pain patient and this is what I had to do in order to take pain medication.  I am sure if it was a state clinic, it would be different.  But, I am a different situation as well.  Methadone is very strictly monitored.  I do know there are bad clinics out there as well as good ones.  Some people have to go to multiple meetings at the clinic a week.  Kind of hard for them to keep employment.  At my clinic, medicaid patients have to go to meetings.  Some people also don't have the luxury to pick and choose their clinic.  Subutex and Suboxone will definitely take a big population away from the clinics.....rightfully so.  It was a long time coming.

[hyjack]

In your previous post you said that Subutex is widely available...

As a fellow "buprenorphiner", I have yet to hear of it anywhere besides California.  I do know that Suboxone is readily available, but haven't heard of Subutex yet.  Can you direct me to get more info?

[sharonver]

Welcome...

I am also detoxing from meth, was on 65mg for 15 years. Down to 5 millagrams. If you want to exchange any ideas or support on our detoxes you can email me at ***@****

Sharon

[longtimegone]

If you have gone from 65mg down to 5mg. a day then you are doing great!! If I were you I would stick with that 5mg. dose for a week or two before walking off the clinic, just to make sure. Sometimes it sneaks up on you if you have been detoxing too fast. I have had to detox from meth several times for reasons beyond my control...lol  When ya get to the Penn. they are not very sympathetic to us. I was detoxed from 120mg. to 0mg. in two days. Not alot of fun. I was a maniac for well over a month due to back aches, cramps.. I'm sure you know all of the symptoms. You are doing really well, everytime I have tried to detox voluntarily over time I always end up telling them to take my dose back up to the top. I have been on this particular clinic for ten years and I wish I could get off of it. My life is flying by and I haven't really noticed. I'm 41 yrs old and the clinic I go to is a private program, "gas&go", as long as you pay the 80 bucks a week they try to talk ya into never getting off of meth. But, ya miss a couple of payments and they will put my ass off quick...lol  Anyway congrats and I wish ya the best of luck!! I hope you are able to continue to stay clean, there are not allot of success stories on the clinics I have been on over the past 23 years so I always like to see someone beat it. I will probably die on this ****. Take care.

[sharonver]

It wasn't easy coming down but I did it very slowly. 1 mg every other week!! It took some time but it worked.  The first time that I had tried to come down 5mg at a time and it was too fast. When I got to 15 mg I was very sick. This time I was ok until I got to 6-7mg.  Then I started feeling uncomfortable.  So I would stay on it for awhile to adjust. Since this is in liquid form they will let you get to 2mg before you are finished.  So I have 3mg left to go. Very anxious about it but I am determined to see this through.  My life is so different now and I just want out of the whole scene.  I pray and hope that I can make it.

Sharon

[Chezz2]

Sharon,

I have been reading your posts for a while now.

You will make it. You have the right attitude. Just continue to keep positive and look forward to life after the dragon. Start getting a plan in place now though to take up the time spent on getting your meds and stuff before.
I can't stress that enough. When you are totally off it, you really need to change you whole life. Since the time while you were on it, it changed YOU. YOU need to change back now.
As you know it is a long and arduous. Although, if you have a plan in place to take up that spare time, something to take away from the time of the cravings, you will make it.
You have just got to want to do it more than you want to go back to it. It has to come from within. And from within you will heal.
Time is the tale of all truths...you will make it...

Chezz

[brideofchucky]

I was on 90mg of methadone for 10 years a few months ago i took myself down to 30mg 4 weeks ago i done a rapid detox and went on naltrexone. 22 days on i feel absolutley great! With methadone you have to have the strenght to get thru the withdeawls and have a very positive attitude and lots of supportive family and friends. I thought i would NEVER get away from that ****! I now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

         I wish you all the best

            YOU CAN DO IT! If I did it ANYONE CAN!!!



              LOVE AND PEACE TO YOU ALLxxx

[sharonver]

Thanks to both of you for your support and understanding.
Chezz: Since I was only going in once a week for 5 minutes there isn't much to change as far as that goes. Over the past 15 years my life-style, employment, friends and activities have changed dramatically. I have a great office job, bought a house and got engaged.  So I have plenty to keep me occupied. Most of all right now the change in me is that I am more motivated to get off. I want it pretty badly. And that is helping me get through this.  Thanks again.

Bride of chucky: It is good to hear a success story from rapid detox. I am happy to hear that you are doing well with it.  I hear that it is expensive!! and risky.  I think I would have been afraid to try it.  I hope that all stays well with your recovery.

Sharon

[RobynBanks]

Stay at 5mg for at leat 2 weeks. I came off too fast and it was horrid but I got through it and boy did it feel good to CUT THE CORD!
that was 6 yrs ago....now i'm addicted to Oxys
think about a plan for dealing with WHY you b=were on drugs in the first place.
That was my downfall=no plan.
All the best, Robyn

[tessie69]

Hello everyone,
I am on day two of my withdrawls from Darvocet. It is absolutely horrible. I've been taking pain killers with opiates for years, usually to take concurrently with the med's I am given for my Rheumatoid Arthritis.  What is most puzzling to me, is that after surgery a few years ago I was taking liquid morphine for about 3 months, and suffered nothing akin to the withdrawls I am having now from Darvocet!  Anyone else familiar with this dichotomy?  Thanks,  suffering in NC, tess.

[brideofchucky]

yes rapid detox is expensive, but i felt it was the only way i would get away from the demon methadone once and for all! I was absolutley petrified and had no idea how i would feel but only 3 wks on it was worth the money and the w/d and pain!

    If anyone wants to e-mail me my address is

         brideofchucky@***@****

[brideofchucky]

made mistake with e-mail address

***@****

[brideofchucky]

yes rapid detox is expensive, but i felt it was the only way i would get away from the demon methadone once and for all! I was absolutley petrified and had no idea how i would feel but only 3 wks on it was worth the money and the w/d and pain!

    If anyone wants to e-mail me my address is

         brideofchucky@***@****

[MethMan]

Just wanted to pop in and tell you that you are really doing great!  You've come a long way and seem very dedicated to reclaim your life from that miserable clinic environment.
Everyone responds differently when at certain levels coming off Methadone.  For me, I made the mistake of comparing my intake level for years versus just 3mg then 2mgs.  The way I figured it is that the way I felt on as little as 2mgs was not too bad, I had it made.  While there was fatigue, weakness and aches, it was really no big deal.  About 24 hours after my last dose of Methadone is when full on detox hit me.  Its tough, but VERY doable.
One thing I know of that will get you through the rough spots, ease the detox feelings, lift your spirits and provide you the strength to carry on your fight is right here.  There are so many people in here that lift each other up and carry them over the rough spots.  It is nothing short of miraculous.  The only way to really understand the power that is available to you here is to be the recipient of this free gift.
After over 16 years of Methadone bondage, today is 120 days.
When I received help here, I felt that I needed to give back. Help if I can.  In this light, I offer the three most important things that helped me.
1. You've already found this place.  Keep coming back.
2. There is hope and it lives in you.
3. A promise.  The other side of addiction is well worth the journey.  Start walking.
All the best to you.  I wish you hope, happiness and a new found joy in life.
Methman

[sharonver]

Thanks for all of your support...

You always have something worthwhile to say.  Many times I have thought of you and your story,and I have always thought if you could do it so can I.  It has been a long time for you and I am so very proud of you, it does bring me hope that things will get better. The only thing that worries me right now is your sentence that said when you got to nothing the full detox hit you! I remember you saying that to me in another thread awhile back and it scares me to think that maybe I will not be able to handle it!!

Sharon

[sharonver]

Forgot to add this in my upper post... If you can give me any suggestions on how you made it through after you hit zero, I would appreciate it. I did get some valium to help with the insomnia and anxiety. Hopefully that will be enough to get me through (of course not without the help of all my friends here)

Sharon

[wantoffmeth]

I don't even know where to start.  Last year (February, 2002), I was checked into a rehab for detox off of painkillers (oxycontin - 280 mgs/day).  They treated me with methadone. (25mg, 3 days later 20mg, and so on until I was down to 2.5mg and released).  The cravings were so bad when I got out.  WHAT I WILL TELL YOU NEXT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END).  I let what was a "friend" that I met in the program stay with me until she had enough money to get back on her feet again by staying with me and working.  It got so bad for both of us that (her drug was heroin) she "introduced" me to the life of heroin.  At first I snorted it, then I ended up shooting it.  Finally, I had enough, and it was suggested to me to try to get into a Methadone Maintenance Program, which I did in March of last year (2002).  I started with 30mg and am now (a year later) on 175mg.  This was the worst mistake I have ever made in my life.  Nobody told me it was the worst/hardest drug to detox from.  I feel like I have a ball and chain around my ankle.  What's worse is that my insurance doesn't cover it, so I have to drive 60 miles round trip 4 days a week (I have 3 take homes - it's taken me this long to have 4 clean urines) and pay $420/month.  There are so many problems this has caused.  Family trust, my relationship with my husband (we have money problems already, so I'm making it 10 times worse because of what I have to pay for this "poison clinic".   Ofcourse they let me keep going up because compared to what methadone costs them, they don't want to lose us "self-payers".  It's a privately owned clinic.  Anyways, alot of IMPORTANT facts were not explained to me before I got into this nightmare.  I finally got the guts up to tell my mother.  She has spoken with my counselor and now thinks this is the best move I ever made, thanks to what bullshit he told her.  Now I am plain SCARED SHITLESS.  I started tapering down 5-7 mgs a week, and will continue, until it get uncomfortable.  I once had to go through an administrative tapering because I didn't have the money to pay them one week.  I just couldn't come up with it.  I got down to 50 mgs, and I was SO SICK.  I finally borrowed the money and then they were more than happy to get me back up as fast as they could.  

I guess what I'm getting to (SO SORRY this is SO LONG), is that I want to taper completely and get off of this ****.  But I'm scared to death.  I know how sick I will be.  I've heard horror stories that it takes 6 months to detox completely.  And it's another year before you feel like you did before you started this vicious cycle................... Last week I did EXTENIVE research on going under anesthesia to detox.  I've heard that is very dangerous.  I called the clinic.  The people there were so nice.  A nurse told me basically everything about the procedure.  She told me the the Dr. would even call me if I wanted to speak with him about it.  Problem is, I don't have $6,500.  Who does?  Obviously some people.  I would almost give me soul to get it done and be off of this ****.  I am so scared and depressed right now.  All I can think about is that I want my life back.  Since last year I haven't shot up once, I quit drinking, smoking pot and taking painkillers.  But this one thing is worse than all of those put together.  I just don't know what to do.  I wish there was a way I could detox at home and it wouldn't take so long.  I am so lost............

Can anyone out there help me before it's too late?

Kat

[duckman0605]

Kat your post is from March 9th of 2003. I read these posts and have to wonder how you all are doing now. I just quit methadone a few days ago. Today is Saturday Feruary 11th, 2017.

[duckman0605]

February

[sharonver]

Kat,

First I want to say that you came to the right place for help, there are many out there who will be more than willing to help you in any way that they can.  This is a great forum with wonderful people.  One thing you have in your favor is that you were not on the meth for a long period of time. I was on for more than 15 years so it will take longer for it to get out of my system. If you come down slow you should be ok.  I came down 5 millagrams at a time until I got to 30 millagrams then I went 1 millagram every other week. you need to go slower when you get down to the lower doses.  I am now at 4 millagrams and not doing too bad.  If you want to talk more about it you can email me.

Sharon

[gagirl95]

Here again, I have a story that could also be very long. Both of my daughters were members of the poison clinic. It all started when....well my oldest daughter was in a very bad car wreck and during the recovery she discovered the good feelings of pain killers (mainly loritab) but really didn't continue taking them until later in her life. My children (by the way i have 4 kids, 2 girls, 28  and   22... and boys   27  and  21) lived a very hard childhood and the seams have been coming apart in the last few years and now I know why they have turned to everything from smoking pot and pills (most anything except needles and crack) to cover the hurt and pain they suffered.
Any way that takes me to my daughter that was in the wreck,  several years went by and she basically done what she wanted to.
Then she got involved with a guy she fell for and a few months into their relationship found out she was pregnant and she had been taking loritab 7.5 or 10 what ever they come across. Quite a few maybe 10 to 15 a day. When I finally found out, the histerical mother, i went crazy.... she told me that someone had referred her to the methadone clinic, so we went and talked to them and they made it all sound well and good. They made it sound like if she didn't do this the dfacs office would take her baby away. So she started going to the clinic and trying to work everyday to and being pregnant and sick was really tough. The bad part was that this was to be temporary and after the baby was born she would be weaned off. NOTTTTT....instead they had her by a ball and chain. All to say, she started at 30 mg a day and was so sleepy she had to sleep before she left work most everyday. That did not matter to the clinic. They moved her on up to 45 and then 60 and then 80 and by the time she had my beautiful grandbaby she was on 100. So go figure.....and that is the only good thing I have to say about meth. My grandbaby Cali was born with no withdrawals and very healthy. A little underweight. but BEAUTIFUL. My daughter went to Florida Detox(rapid detox under anesthesia) and the doctor there said that was the hardest detox he had ever performed. They are wonderful and yes very expensive but worth it.
Now my other daughter is still a member of the poison clinic and I don't think she is ready to come off just yet but one day it will happen. I really think it is killing her and I am trying my best to figure a way to get her to a detox facility. She is on 110 mg a day and they got her on klonipin and geopan. she walks around like a zomby and throws up every day, with no energy, she does not work, so i have to help her all I can. I want her off asap.... but i am scared she will go back to taking pills, anything she can get her hands on. I have got to get them allll into a counseling program. none of them have insurance so , we have to do the best we can.
As for the girl that is pregnant, if you go to the clinic and start on methadone, it will help, but make it clear that you want to wean off as soon as you have your baby....
As for my boys that is another story i will tell later...
God Bless each and everyone of you out there that is taking any kind of drug. I would say that most addicts have pain and hurt to cover up and believe me i understand.
write me if you want ..e-mail  ***@****

[wantoffmeth]

Thank you Sharon, for getting back to my long "comment".  I guess since i do not have the money for detox under anesthesia program (ProjectStraight), I will have to try to hang in there and taper.  On of the scary things about that is "will I have the money to taper", since it will probably take over a year?  I hope so.  It takes as much money to stay in the methadone clinic per year as it does to do this under anesthesia procedure.  I just wish I had the money, I would give almost anything to get off this poison.  I feel like it is controlling my life, and me.  It's a comfort to know other people care, so thanks again.  I have so much I'd like to say, but there' truly not enough paper, if you know what I mean.  I read above from someone that there was  detox "recipe".   I don't if it applied to Methadone, but I figure, from your information, that you're still detoxing at even 2 mg!  That amazes me.  After you are done with that, do you know all that facts, like how long it will take to feel somewhat "normal" again, what to do for withdrawals, that kinda stuff?   One other thing I wanted to touch base on is that I have always had quite an irregular digestive system, as far as going to the bathroom (this is kind of embarrasing). But, my system is so f----- up now, it's pitiful.  I have literally tried everything.  Now the only thing that works for me is Colace and Ex-Lax Ultra.  And, if I miss even one day of that medication, it will screw me up so bad.  One time I did not have a BM for almost 2 weeks.  I know how bad this is for your system, and this is also a very bad worry for me.  Sorry so long again, thank you Sharon.  You seem like a superior person.  I wish I could meet you in person. What is your e-mail address?  Please keep in touch.  Reading these comments really does help.

Kat

[sharonver]

My email address is: ***@****  Feel free to write and ask questions, I will gladly help all I can.

sharon

[lost groove]

As i was reading sharonver's post, i thought of a cheaper way to ween off but, please be advised, it is not by any means a "maitenance program" and can be an awfull experience. I did not know this going in, but, as long as you do and have a family member or friend help you, it may work. If you have any records of chronic pain from any doctor-i.e.back problems, migrain headaches, etc. Chronic pain doctors are sprouting up like cold sores everywhere. Here in Fla. they are as bad as lawyers! I had a pretty bad experience with one but as far as money wise, they helped me and you don't have to go but once a month.
Now- before anyone runs out thinking this is the cool way to go, please read the rest of this before you gas up the ole family truckster...
I am a working, traveling drummer that after a couple of breaks in my right hand and having the med.s from that, plus, just likeing things that made me feel "happy",I became a 30 a day 10 mg.perc and vic user. After going to one detox facility and relapsing a week later, my doctor there almost freaken killed me with oxycotten (something i'd never tried till then)(he cut me off before i was finished with my "long taper program!)I went back into detox (a much cheaper one that made you feel right at home, if you lived in jail) they recomended methadone maitenence. I should have listened to the addicts! They said "don't go there".If you took the help out of that place and just left us addicts to talk, much more would have been done! Anyway, because of my travel, i couldn't go into a place every day, not to mention that just sounds like a bad scam/or as i've heard it mentioned here, the ball and chain..Like most other doctors office, they had heard of the classic rock group i was with then and were more than willing to "help".(you don't need to be in a band)I was completely honest with my doctor about my past and i told him i thought a low dose of methadone every day would help me be able to maintain and work. This freaken guy put me on 100mg.slow release morphine capsules!They were called something else amd i had no idea it was morphine till i read the pharmicy notes. They made me sick as hell and i just couldn't take them. (guess my tolorance was down at the time from the detox)anyway, the doctor then put me on methadone and he convinsed me that i needed to take a certion amount every 6 hours. i questioned this but, hes the doctor..I was sick with them as well as i was taking 4 to 6 every 6 hours. After a month, i was so hooked and sick all the time. Now if your job is to fly into the weekends shows, do what you love to do in front of thousands of people for 90 minutes, then fly back home and your to damn sick to do that, there's a big problem!! I quit the band and put all my energy into "getting better". Well, in 6 months, this guy prescribed me 3,800  10 mg. tabs! On my last visit (the 6th month)i told the doctor that i was in hell and wanted to cut way down and thought i could deal with a much less dose. I should have been tapering myself the whole time but, i guess by that time i was so hooked.
Don't know about you all, but, i was like a walking swimming pool with the sweat and was throwing up 4 to 6 times a day, just looked and felt like walking death.. This doctor had given his notice BEFORE my last visit, just didn't tell me. I called to schedule my next visit and was told the doctor was gone and the new one would not see me..oh yea, and to not call back! I was in Austin, TX looking for studio work at the time. (they would mail me a script one month and the next i would fly or drive back to FL to get that one. I decided that with my bad experiences with these people, that no matter how bad the pain, i would go it alone.(not such a good idea with that much in your system) For 5 months i was taking 250+ mgs per day,on the 6th month i was only taking 120 (give or take)per day. of course i was sicker on the 6th month. When i was cut c/t, the pain was pretty bad, but after the 3rd day i really thought i had licked it.With other opiates that i'd been on, 72 hours and the aches and pains went down pretty well. BUT! this is a whole other beast! Sometime during the afternoon of the third day, i started feeling very different. Turns out, i wasn't over the withdrawls, they just hadn't started yet!!I had no sleep for 16 straight days and couldn't stand to sit, lay, walk around, nothing. I was talking to God a whole lot!! The only thing that gave me any relief was sitting in a tub for as long as possible. I started going through "rages" and "surges". Couldn't go out of my studio apartment because i was just plain mad as hell! then my blood would turn from hot to freezing. My Mom was scared to death as she was in Florida and i couldn't hide the pain on the phone. It was as if the only thing i could do was stand and hop in a circle then get in the tub, then lift weights and box my punching bag. I scared myself because i had turned into a negitive thinking monster that was filled with pain and rage. i always read as much as possible on the internet and in books(although it was very hard to focus) hopeing to find some relief. I'm slowly trying to finish a book from an addicts point of view (i can't spell for **** but hope i can get help in that area)It got so bad in Austin that my mom came out and got me!I'm 37 for heavens sake. Guess at the end of the day, with drug dependancy and withdrawls, etc. doesn't matter the age, money status or what color skin you have. It will put you down fast and keep its thumb on you. Wish i had a happy ending to this..8 months later i still felt so bad and drained of spirit. The rages were gone but still can't sleep normal or even close and my body is just like a limp dishrag. Mentally, i've stepped out of the building. I am very thankfull that i was not on methadone for a longer period of time. That drug is so great if used properly. If you do go to a chronic pain doc, be wise, think ahead and stockpile your methadone. They don't have to know a damn thing about it.
I've been offered a great gig in L.A. but now i've got to beat another addiction...I became so desperate to feel "normal" that i started taking hydrocodone again and the guilt is incredible.
Do what ever works for you as long as it doesn't hurt others. I havn't found what works for me yet. I have not given up though.
Be strong.
Kevin

[sharonver]

WOW Kevin-that's quite a story!!  I have been on Meth for 15 years and I am hoping that my choice to come down so slow is going be be my salvation.  I am not doing too bad right now but of course I am very worried about when I get to nothing!! One thing that may be in my corner is that I was never on more than 65 millagrams.  Half of the time I was on 65mg.and then went down and the other half I was on 30mg.  After a few years of 30mg. then I started the tapering to get where I am now- 4 mg.
3 mg. next week. I have heard from some people that it is when you get to zero mg. that the full withdrawals set in!!  If I have any problems with it I have decided to get through that period with a month or so of buphenorphine.  That will help I have heard.  Good luck with your book Kevin.

Sharon