Methadone

[Lisa034]

Not a question, I feel like a part of this place now, I quess you can say I feel like all of you here are my family. You are the only ones who really know how I feel and what I am going thru. I am so glad I found MedHelp.  I am currently on 80mg of methadone and have been free from pills (roxys,oxys,percs,morphine,whatever i could get a hold of) since March 12,2009.  I have been taking pills for about seven or eight yrs now.  I am proud of myself for gettin off the pills but now I want to get off the methadone. I do go to the clinic everyday and I do have a consuler but he does not think I am ready to get off of it.  I want to be free from methadone and anything else that has this much control over me. Plus I do not feel like my clinic has my best intrest in mind, you see they are a for profit clinic. They are here to make money$$$$    So it is not in there best intrest for me to quit. Ultimatly it is my choice. So here is the game plan as of tomorrow: I will request a 10mg reduction once every two weeks until I get to 50mg (as long as my body can handle it) Then once I get to 50mg I will request a 5mg reduction once every two weeks until I am done.  WHAT DO YALL THINK???  Everybodys opion is very important to me

Thank you
Lisa

[theeagle]

I would suggest that you spend a couple weeks at 15 - - and then drop 2mg until 9mg - - - then 1 mg ......... for 8-9  weeks ...... finally a half a milligram for a few days and then a 1/2 every other and then every third day - - - and then jump for your life...........dont get in too much of a hurry.....it can bite you badly.

[whitie]

I think a taper is helpful. but only if a game plan is set in place and adhered to. there are varying opinions on it. some say just rough it out when you get down to a certain level,like 30mgs. but I would say its best to taper down as low as possible. but one must be prepared for the longer than usual wd's that come from the 'done, regardless if its ct or tapered  I would try and go 7 day spreads, then go 10 days if you feel neccessary too. or do 5mg drops every 7-10 days from here on out


why did your counselor say you should not?

[mr.lucky66]

2nd try, my first post disappeared before I finished it. I agree that these clinics don't have a lot of motive to see you get off and are so used to failure in methadone tx they just say "you are not ready yet". There may be and usually there are some good councelers in these clinics who might encourage you if they can see past the constant stream of failures they see every day (I was one too). I stood in thoses methadone lines off and on for over 20 years so I've seen it. Your reduction sounds reasonable and doable so I'd be interested to see if they approve it or let you drop. If you have been off of other drugs and have a positive outlook or some faith, you could do this as me and many other methadonians have done. all the best

[whitie]

thats a good one...............methadonians


I can say, that when I quit the 'done,I had no clue how strong it was.after I used up the majority of the pills,I had like three 10 mgs pills and then tried to spread it out for like for a 5 day span. needless to say i was pitched into a horrendous wd. but I still marched on regardless.........I think the agony really hit home this last time

[gnarly_1]

hi lisa ive been tapering off 150mg methadone for 8 1/2 mo its a long road to get off
but it is doable im currently at 2mg I was getting a month worth at a time and was
told you could only go down 5mg at a time then 2 mg at a time.....woulda been strung out for over a 1yr and 1/2 at that rate so i got ahold of a formula from a neo/natal nurse
that takes babys off heroin it was 10% drop every 72hr it worked for the most part
BUT....there was some times  my body would take longer to adjust...20 mg took me 6 weeks of he11 to get past but 20 to 10 was a breeze since i hit 10mg the drops are noticeable and come with withdrawals usuly last 3 or 4 days so I go down 1 mg a week
now to give my body some time to adjust, im doing the drops myself now i have a
syringe to measure it out this sunday I will drop to 1mg then next sun 0mg
so i only got 9 more days...all i can say is its tuff but doable let your body tell
you when its ready to taper and the one I used is very workable, you just have to stop
once in a wile sometimes for weeks but usually the 72hr thing worked most of the time... ..it is so worth it I already feel much more alert best of luck Gnarly

[whitie]

I glad you showed up,bro.

its helps people to know there is someone fighting on the front line,while they are getting ready to join the fight for freedom.

[Lisa034]

Thank you so much for all the suggestions.  I will let everybody know how tomorrow goes. My counselor suggests that I stay in for 18mths, so that I get a chance to learn how to live and deal with life in general without pills.  But from what I understand, the longer I am on it the harder it will be for me to come off.  I do not want to be a prisioner to anything anymore!!!!  On another note my boyfriend is doing much better.  He is on his 10th day cold turkey!!!! YEAH!!!!!  He has come out of the room today.  I am so happy for him.  He still is not feeling 100%, but wow it is much different then he was feeling on day 1.  He does not want to do the methadone route, he does not agree with it but he does support me.(if that makes any sense)  I am so happy we are both getting clean.  I dont think we have ever been together sober.  We have been together almost 8yrs. We started taking pills together. Very little in the beg. and so on and so forth.  In the end he was taking about 10-15   10mg percs every day.  I was not as good as him I guess I wanted to kill myself.  I was taking anywhere from 30-60  10mg percs a day.  I can not belive I am still alive. If I could not get ahold of percs, anything would do --oxy,roxy,morph and so on and so forth you know how it goes,  Well anyways thaks to everyone so much!!!  It is so good to talk to people that know exactly what I am going thru and more.  Everything happens for a reason.  I found this site for a reason.  I belive thru God, my family, and this site, Tony and I will be successful

Thanks again so much just for being here and listening to me  I love you all!!!!
God bless and have a great night

[Holliee]

hello I am also on methadone and have been 2 1/2 yrs now and I to am off everything else been clean 2 yrs but my done. Lot ppl at clinic do a slow taper to get off done and i mean slow and have success....much luck to you. Have u had any side effects from methadone

[Lisa034]

yes lots of side effects, well I guess not a lot. I guess anything is better then taking pills like I was. I have no sex drive what so ever, my period is just plain crazy, I crave sugar like crazy.  I have gained about 20lbs since I have been on methadone, but I would rather be fat then strung out on pills.  I do hate going to the clinic though. A lot of the patients there are just going to get an extra high.  I hear them talking and I am not stupid I see some of them selling pills and god knows what in the parking lot. I just do not understand it because methadone has never gave me a high at all.  In the beg. it just made me sleep alot. Well I try not to focus on the others that are not trying to do the right thing, but I do not judge them either. They just are not where I am. Different strokes for different folkes. Have you had a lot of side effects?

[Holliee]

Sending you a private message should be in your inbox soon. Holliee

[avisg]

Lisa I am glad to hear you are ready it sounds like you know what you want and are working with your doctor to get there KEEP IT UP .Are you getting any recovery care that would be a whole lot of help especially when your taper down and you need more mental help to help you to the physical WD let us know how it goes .

[mr.lucky66]

I remember how clinic life is and there you can find Ali Babba and the 40 thieves in most methadone clinics. A lot of people looking to get over and and a fair amount with criminal intent. There are some good people there and it can be the beginning of recovery to a drug free life even though the clinic system is broken in my opinion. If you can stay complety clean on methadone for a while, a slow taper makes sense but you don't have to go super slow unless you want to. more soon.

[kiylen]

Lisa great job in coming this far.  You can go to my profile and see a lot of my posts about myself also coming off of methadone.  I am currently in the process and we can stick together and get through this.  I'm coming down 10mg week until I get to 30mg.  Then going down 2mg week until I get to 20 and then going down 1mg week but the last week stay on 1mg an extra week and maybe try to do every other day.  I just started tapering and have only come from 70 down to 60 but so far it's been okay.  I am here for you with any questions you may have.  I don't know about anyone else's advice and I would love to hear their opinion but I'm also taking a calcium, magnesium, zinc combo and B6 because that methadone is nasty and robs your body of all kinds of things.  Hang in there and know we are all here for you.  I have never felt better than knowing I have all of these people on here that support everyone.

[Lisa034]

ok I went to the clinic today and spoke with my consuler about a 10mg decrease.  He said that it was ok but the procedure for decreasing has changed.  So he told me what I needed to do.  So I went to the nurse at the dosing window and requested a 10mg dose reduction, she asked me to take a urine test (no problem I did) I gave her the paper work from my counsuler saying it was ok.  Then she told me when my urine test comes back my decrease will go in on that day. She said it should be back by wed or thurs of next week.  I asked her why the urine test to decreas.  She said they would have to make sure I am not prego.  She said if I was prego that I could not get a decrease.  I told her I have my tubes tied and then I told her that anyways you have to have sex to get prego. Nobody that I know that is on Methadone even knows what sex is!!!!  LOLLOLLOL  Well anyways my dose reduction will go in next week.  I wil keep yall updated

thanks
Lisa

[mr.lucky66]

You should do fine with 10mg. reduction per week. I did it several times and a few times 5 mg per day and did ok until it was over . Then , it's just takes some time and some determantion postive outlook and friends to get through it. It's very doable it just takes time. all the best

[Lisa034]

Thanks I do want to come off it a little faster than once every two weeks.  My decrease went into effect today.  I went from 80mg down to 70mg.  I feel fine.  I have a new game plan so I can come off a little faster.  Today, Sunday October 11th,2009 I am at 70mg.  In three days on the 14th of October I am going to dose at 65mg.  Three more days after that 60mg until I get to 50mg and then I will see how I feel and then I will re evaualiate. I spoke with one of the dosing nurses at the window today and this is what she suggested.  What do you think?  It sounds good to me.  I think I will prob have a few not so good days but I do not expect it to be easy as pie.  If that was the case everybody would do it. I want off this stuff so bad. I am so tired of being a prisioner to anything.  I am a strong girl.  How in the hell did I let myself get here.  I thought it would never happen to me.  I guess I thought I was above it.  Wow did I get a slap of reality in the face.  I was depressed real bad but not at all since I have been to this web site.  This place and all the people are miracle workers. I just to be a myspace junkie and now I do not even go there.  The only place I go on the internet now is here.  I dont want to miss anything   Well anyways just babbling now    talk to yall later

Lisa
Jacksonville, FL

[mr.lucky66]

your detox plan sounds fine. Some people here will tell you that you are going too fast but I say no. I always went fast and it never bothered me until I got into the single diget mgs. but some people have more problems. In the end we  all have to get used to having no methadone in our bodies so why torture yourself for too long with  getting used to less methadone? It works for some people better , the slow way but I think most can do it faster and then try to adjust to no methadone and maybe take some other meds to help re adjust. all the best

[avisg]

Lisa ,
It sounds great keep it up !!!!!Methadone does not have to be a livelong decision.Many get off of it you will have some rough days but it can be done and we will be here for support .It worries me when I hear people state a certiain drug saved there life .The pill did not save there life it may have aided them and been a tool in there getting off all off the other meds  but YOU got yourself where you are now .You  did it :) Just like you can do this .