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662972 tn?1270166301

Methadone

How many of you or any are on Methadone? How is it working for you. Any tips!!!!!
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Avatar universal
that sounds like a plan going slow will reduce the withdrawals wile tapering down in the end it is a cra p shot to know how you will respond  some people get next to nothing others like myself go threw hell to get to the other side  most wind op in the middle somewhere  keep reducing slowly get into the single digets then jump ship good luck and God bless....Gnarly
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Avatar universal
I am methadone for pain I have pain that's feels like route canal that's was never finished.i even got brain surgery so I would not have take meds didn't work so I went to five doctors they all told the only medicine I could take and get pregant was methadone. Now I have been i eights month but I feel pain is going away so I was on 6o mg a day now slowly I down to 30 what I do every seven days . Now I will start knocking the one of the ten mg done to five then once I am done to all Fives three times a day.  I will then cut them done to halves every seven days do think that slw enough my doctors says yes and should not have bad withdrawls.
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4244020 tn?1351613916
I can totally say 1st post is right. My husband got on methadone thinking it was the answer for detoxing off heroin but he says it detroyed what little life he had left and is extremely hard to get off of. He is detoxing right now. He says he wishes he would have dtoxed off of heroin instead. He regrets it and so does everyone else I have meet at his methadone clinic. Really the clinic made it seem like it was the best thing for him but now we know it was just about the $$. Luckily he is detoxing after only 8 months and was only on 60mg. The ones who have failed detoxing off methadone that I have talked to have been on it for years over 100mg. He still could fail but he has high hopes. I would never recommend methadone to any one.all I can say is seriously do your research before you decide.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have been on and off methadone for the past 12 years. First 2 times on the clinic at around 80-120mgs for opiate use and wasnt that familiar with it besides aunts and uncles on it. Then switched to suboxone when it first came out and weened of that and was clean 3.5 years. NOTHING! Then had an injury and was prescribed 150 30mg roxies every 2 weeks and going through them.

Was on this dose for months and again, switched on to subutex and got stable on 16-24mgs a day and was fine with a benzo. Now on Methaone again for Neck pain since august 40mgs once a day and have to ween myself off, the VA is very wishy washy and so screwed up, I swear.....they are a mess. They gave me 24 10mg pills and gave me some weening dose every 3 days dropping 5-10 mgs basically. 24 pills is a 12-13 day supply.

Long story why they stripped me off the methadone after agreeing to put me on it, but the VA Veterans Administration is redic!!! I dont have a car and the VA clinic is 45 miles away. If you cancel one group meeting ( apparantly, I was never told this) you get stripped of your meds.

So I say " so you have all my MRIs'. XRAYS, ct scans, my injury happened in the military, what are you going to do for my pain? They are researching my case and it is just an addition to my general anxiety disorder, adhd, and major depressive disorder, and possible PTSD.

Good luck to all on methadone cause it does work great for my neck pain on a low dose, not abusing it looking to get intoxicated like when i was 25 years old. Now I just want something for my pain, not to get high. Also, I have tried every SSRI and they do not work for me. None of them. I'm now on Celexa and it is not doing anything. The last would be Lexapro and if that didnt work, I tried every one, literally. Instead of giving me what works for me, the VA wants to try all these meds I have tried and told them they dont work, just please give me alprazolam, clonazapam, or diazapam, they work!

Their response, " Ya , but those are benzos and have high potential for abuse"! OMG, I take my meds as prescribed, as if I am going to take a handful and get wasted....They dont get it that I am not the person I was 11 years ago going over all my history. How can I move forward if they keep brining up my past and discriminating?

anyways, I know what I have to do.. God Bless and hope everyone stays safe and detox properly and if you are injured and are in need of pain meds, TAKE THEM!!!!! Just dont abuse them and drink alcohol on top of them and get reckless. Don't run out, come up short, and end up sick.....it is not worth it!!! Have someone doll them out to you if you are not strong enough to take on your own.

Have a great day!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have been in the Methadone treatment program for 6 yrs. and please let me tell you, I am not so high that I don't know it. Nor am I getting my methadone for free, I am not a loser or any of the awful things you said in your comment. Methadone can help ppl. get off and stay off drugs. I go to work everyday and I am not "nodding" out, like some ppl.You are right that some ppl. abuse the methadone clinics, but they usually can only do it so long because they fail their drug tests. Just because you had a less than great experiance with methadone does not give you the right to act like everyone else is  wrong. If a person is serious about getting clean then methadone can be a very helpful tool. To Hollie, If you decide to get on methadone, then I would advise you to stay on the lowest dose possible but make sure its enough to help you. Don't be afraid to go up until you are comfortable. If you are feeling the "high' after a week or so, then you need to lower your dose. Remember you will have to detox off of the methadone later so please think long and hard about whether you want to start the program or not. If you let the methadone do its job then it can change you life for the better, but you need to be responsible about it. Use your couselor and any other resorces available.Go into this with a plan and stick to it. I have been in the clinic for 6 yrs. and I am ready to start detoxing. I should have done it yrs. ago but I let the fear of getting sick control me. With the help of my couselor, I am ready to face the fear and be done. If I would of went into this trip with a plan 6yrs. ago, I would already be home. I wish you the best of luck and stay strong, you can beat the addiction and go on with your life. God blless.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
hey dude if you want it bad enough you can get off I can show you how you go off it slowly most people make the mistake of ether trying to C/T off of it or go much to fast this is a race one by the tortus not the hare there is some vitamins you can take that will ez the withdrawals message me and we can talk...........Gnarly
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
try not to take methadone!  i was put on it because of oxycontin addiction.  it is harder than oxycontin to get off and from what others tell me ten times harder to get off than heroin.  i have tried twice so far to get off methadone with negative results but i am going to keep trying
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Ive been on methadone for a while, I take 85mgs daily, yes it is a low dose, but it satisfies me and thats all im looking for, if I kept going up to get a buzz, it would never end and I would be up to 300mgs very quickly, that is our clinics max dose, and there are alot of people on that dose. I was a heavy oxy and perc user for 5+ years and when I say heavy I mean heavy 20-30 pills a day, just to stay "not sick" , if I had known my choices I would have gotten on suboxone instead of methadone, now for me to switch, I would have to detox all the way down to 25mgs. and then go 48hrs. methadone free before i could switch over, I hold a very important position at work and have a lively family, so I cant afford to semi-detox then cold turkey it for 2 days.I have been nauseated every since the methadone treatment began, its a constant naggind feeling, I get easily angered. So i really have to watch myself, so I dont hurt anyones feelings, its not their fault, im in this situation.   -Dillon
Helpful - 0
401095 tn?1351391770
methadone gives more pain relief than sub...it is also a bit cheaper as a rule...if ur doctor prescibes it especially...at a clinic u r subject to pay their costs but it is not usually as much as sub...more strict tho and more visits to the clinic....bo0th are hard to wd from and both are addicting (sub and methadone)  both have their place in recovery...being a chronic pain patient if i ever chose a narcotic for life i would choose methadone....,if i chose that route i would know i was on it til the end.....both can be used short term to detox and if safe and short term use/can get out without addiction to the drug....it is a decision that people need to make with much education as doctors overprescribe both meds/especially sub/as a rule
Helpful - 0
511524 tn?1266349934
ive been on it for almost 8 months, i was prior to that on suboxone 32mgs  day the highest effective dose for 8 months and then shattered my wrist and was put on morphine and norcos at very large doses, and taken off of the sub, so I saw the cycle of addiction starting all over, so i took action and starting at a methadone clinic. I am currently at 100 mgs daily and will most likely stay on that dose. I ahd the unfortunate experience of going to the Milwaukee County Jail for unpaid tickets and was without methadone or my prescribed 4mgs of xanax for 110 plus hours and that was by far worse than any wd's i ahve ever encountered, by far. it was horrible. for 24 hrs after taking the last dose i am fine but after that the worst wd's you will ever encounter will hit, so be very very careful, the lower the dosee the faster you can taper off, but dont let taht stop you from being comfortable you need to be comfortable confident and structured tot ruly stay clean. go to group meetings, NA meetings, and one on one counseling that is crucial. It ahs been one year and two weeks since I last use oxycontin or heroin and it feels amazing, but going cold turkey or tapering methadone or suboxone too fast your asking for horrid wd's that both my DOC's would not even come close too..so be careful...christos
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
The majority of people on the forum make it clear if their giving an opinion or speaking from experiance. I"m sure there are success stories with meth and I know there are positive results with sub and the negative experiances with meth far outnumber the positive.I think the results for sub arent in yet but it seems that it may be getting the amount and time using sub is the key.As far as meth I have to agree with those that say using meth to get off pills is like using gas to put out a fire.Secondly if someone is currently on meth then it may have saved your life today but it may also be what kills you in the future or just keeps you a slave to even that 1 lil pill or cuppa kool aid everyday. They say an addict obsesses and worrys and I know if I was on meth I"d always be thinkin what if the clinic burned down and from the storys I"ve heard theres a few folks who would like to burn 1 down lol. metth,sub,taper,ct whatever,,it probably wont last without aftercare cause theres a whole lotta reasons why we use and they dont just go away cause we made it thru wds,,,gl to all
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
With regard to methadone (going onto it) being a huge mistake; I'd disagree.
I haven't personally had the misfortune of having to battle any form of addiction but have patients at work who have, with many of whom I am now fairly close. I think it depends on the area in which you live, as to what the methadone patients are like.

Apart from ONE patient (who is very obviously still using) all the patients seem to be doing well...now of course there are probably some of them still using small amounts on top (although I like to think not, I imagine this is unreasonable statistics wise).
Having talked to a few patients who have tried to detox from the methadone I'd agree that by the sounds of things it's extremely hard to get off (well, duh), but I'd also say that it's been paramount in some of their recoveries from substance misuse.

The physical addiction is there, perhaps the needle fixation (if using needles prior to commencing methadone scripts) but the emotional attatchment to 'escapism' is lost. In my opinion its effectiveness is subjective and should be considered on an individual basis.

There are success stories, and there are stories of great failure.
Helpful - 0
691385 tn?1240073267
I would like to know where going to a methadone clinic is free? I went for almost 4 years and I had to pay for me and my wife the whole time. I really dont think u should be calling people loosers that go to clinics. Going there really saved my life and changed my ways. Yeah, I know some people abuse it, just like they do suboxone and every other drug. But u have to want to do better and it took methadone maintenance the right way for me to open my eyes.,
   I dont know , maybe people are different but I never took over 55 mg. and I tried to quit once before and it was worse than any other opiate that I had been addicted to.
  I switched to suboxone but I think it is no better than meth. if u do not have the drive to quit all together.
   To the question about , any tips? If u are going to go on methadone I would say for u to not go above 40 or 50 mg. and try to get off of it as soon as u can. Personally I feel much better on 2mg. of suboxone a day than I did taking 50 mg. of methadone.
                chris
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Avatar universal
Listen please dont go on methadone ! i'm an x addict ! my doc was lortabs ocycotin oxycodone and any other pill i could get till i was introduced to methadone (illegaly) When i started taking it i did know sever people in the methadone clinic and they told me to start with 20mg and build myself up to a point where i no longer have urges to use ! This did not help me quit drugs ! this was just another drug ! and 90% of the people in the methadone clinic are only there because they are getting there drugs for free - i think most of my friend that go to the clinic are like walking zombeeeesss ! They seem to think that the methadone no longer makes them high ! when it does ! they dont work because a. they can hold a job and b. methadone maintnence is very expensive if not on medicade ! to quilify for medicade (free insurance) in nystate you cant work or have to make very little money ! so now my "x" friends will not find employment cause they are scared to death they will loose there methadone ! i got very lucky when i quit ! i had recentl;y lost a job and had very little money ! both me and my x were methadone addicts eating almost 80mg ( the waffers ) thats 2 -3 40mg each a day - when i lost my job i was no lobnger able to afford that much and for almost 2 weeks i dropped down to somedays 10mg and somedays 20mg which is not much ! i felt very shaky and nerviouse even still taking some ! i ended up getting arrested going into the city to buy the pills ! while in jail with 1000 bail i was expecting to get extreamly sick ! thats all i continued to feel was the nervious feeling - by the time i got out of jail a week later i was fine ! i have been clean from methadone sence june 24th 2008 - although i do eat a lortab once in a while maybe 10x sence june 29th i will never go back to my old ways ! I think it is very dangeriouse to get involved with any pain killer ! expecally methadone - if i didnt wing my self down before my arrest i think i would have been alot more sick ! These methadone clinics tell people they have to wing them off over a long period of time. not true ! i am proof ! i took methadone for almost 2 years everyday and did not mis a day ! while being an addict i thought the same thing most people in the clinic think " i'll never be able to quit ill be so sick id rather die than try to come off this - people it is not hard but we have to step back and take a look at the real picture - people are going to quit if they are ready to quit , if they make the decission in there own mind that they do not want to do it anymore ! if tyhere going to the methadone clinic just so they can get there fix for free then they are lifers ! they will be in the clinic for life ! someone is not going to quit because a family member or a court or a friend or counciler tells them they have to quit or if a wife threatins divorce or kids threatin not to talk to them they may quit temperarly but if it was not them that decided they do not want to live that life style any longer then they will be back to using ! methadone is not a joke and it ruins lives ! ive winesses two family members and several friends go downhill hilth methadone ! another thing i noticed is alot of people go to methadone to quit opiets (so they say , there going to get there free high and satisfiey the people that told them to get help) and they end up hooked on other drugs such as benzo's  zanex, valum , ect .... also every person that i know in the clinic is brain washed and they think they are getting there life back on track and they are doing better ! nooooooooooooooooo your not !!! you still get high everyday !! and dont tell me after the 1st two weeks it dont make you high anymore because yes it does ! i have been there ! i know ! your just so damn high you dont realize it ! your blinded by the methadone and the councilers that are leagaly supplying you with your DRUGS !! did you notice i didnt say medicine ! the goverment is supplin drug addicts with free drugs ! i know im back and forth and i keep changing subjects but im trying to get the point across that methadone is not good and no one if thinking about going on it should do it ! unless you want to keep being a looser and you just want to keep getting high ! these clinic should not be legal ! they are supplying drug addicts with free drugs so they can spend there money on other drugs ! people are becoming brainwashed by the goverment , doctors , councilers or who ever runs these clinics - most think they cannot quit or miss a day ever - guys i am proof you can quit ! and please dont tell me that you are taking 150 mg a day and i was not taking much - because if you noticed i said atleast 80mg a day - if i had the money i would have eating 2-300 mg a day  which i have done and did often)  most have you reading this have probable been on methadone for sometime ! just quit ! it is not as hard as you think it is going to be ! its really not ! its a big head game ! wing off it and then stop ! i know you think you dont get high from it anymore and i know you think your no longer a drug addict but you are !! like i said your just two high to realize it ! you will realize it when you quit and your head clears up ! well im done ranting and raving and im sorry about my spelling but i typed this in like 3 min ! please if you are thinking about methadone do not do it try suboxone 1st you dont have to go to a clinic everyday it dont make you high..... ever ! its cheaper and your doctor can write you an Rx - if anyone has any questions please e-mail me at ***@****
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687729 tn?1397992727
I am currently detoxing from Methadone and it's rough.  On the other hand, it was the best drug my Pain Specialist offered me from his magic bag to help with my chronic pain.  It kept me on cloud nine and helped me sleep.  Oh, how it helped me sleep. :-)  Until the back pain got so bad I couldn't stand it.  
After having another fusion and decompression for spinal stenosis, my neurosurgeon suggested to the pain doc that I should go off the Methadone and now I am a new member of MedHelp and loving all the support I'm getting.  I offer mine to you.  Good luck with it.
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Avatar universal
I was on methadone for over a year.I went cold turkey off of 25 mgs and I now have close to 8 months clean from it.If I can help in any way or answer any questions you may have please feel free to pm me...All the best...Kim
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I used to be on methadone before they put my morphine pump. It was very difficult drug to get off( I had to be detoxed from it before the morphine drip via the pump started). it was done in hospital and took 7 days and than 3 more days of the morphine induction
Helpful - 0
401095 tn?1351391770
I read your profile...u r onmethadone but staying away from ur doc...that is good..looks like u tried detox, sub, and CT...take some time to heal and try to keep ur dose as low as u can..k?
Helpful - 0
401095 tn?1351391770
I have no experience with kicking methadone addiction ...there is a site for support for those on methadone...u can google it...most here are trying to or have accompliched getting off all narcotics...some are on sub short to long term...both methadone and sub long term have their consequences..depends on ur goal and ur situation,,,be safe
Helpful - 0
340590 tn?1290952141
i have not used methadaone but some here have.  i think there is some info on it in the health pages on the bottom right of this page.  please make sure you do your research.  are you going to take it to overcome a pill addiction?  many say it is much harder to get off of than the origial DOC.  check out all your options.  and hang around there is alot of support here.
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