When 2 Switch from Methadone 2 Suboxone

[Need2Change]

Hi. First post. I have been on methadone for 4 years now.  About 6 months ago, I got really tired of it all.  I started reducing, 10 mg. every 2 weeks, dropping from 190mg to my present dose of 95mg.  Today, I got a call from clinic saying I failed a drug screen (first one ever).  It was a false positive based on my eating lots of poppy seeds in my food lately hoping that the minute amounts of opiates would help ease my drops.  My counselor swears I used something, but I didn't.  Why lie here, ya know.  So I called a Suboxone doc just a while ago, and the nurse said I need to get my methadone dose as low as possible to avoid the precipitated w/d.  She said get it between 50mg and 30mg, as abosolute minimums.  So, I am sort of lost.  I am dropping my methadone at 5 mg every 2 weeks now.  So I have 2 questions plz.  How fast should I drop my methadone to reach my goal, b/c 5 every 2 weeks is taking too long.  Second question is, what dose of methadone do I need to be at to make the switch, and how long cold turkey b4 making said switch?  Any advice on either or both would be appreciated.  Thank you all!

[Need2Change]

Thank you so much Jamie!  You really did help me with your post - and inspire me to stay on course.  On my failed drug screen, I had a random bottle check today (from that incident) and I proved that it was food related pretty much, I mean, 48 drug tests and 1 positive  vs. 47 negatives makes no sense. So they didn't drop my phase.  It is mindblowing that poppy seeds can do that, but they urine test at the 300 nano level, which is too low.  So, I still get 2 weeks take homes.  But I am going to follow a similar pattern to yours and get out of that place.  I am tired of taking methadone.  No future in it.  I want my life back to near normal. lol. Take care and thank you again.
Need2Change aka Greg

[jamiemarie33]

I was on about 95mg of Methadone too. I came down 2mg a week till I got to 50mg.
I was on 50 mill of methadone and my doc wanted me to be between 30 and 40 milligrams. So I told my counseler at the clinic I wanted to come down 1mg a day. If it ever got to much for me, I had them stop my decline. For example I went from 50mg to 45 in 5 days. I started feeling sick, so I stayed at 45 for 4 days or so, then started going back down again. It has to be whatever you are comfortable with. Do it at your own pace, because every one is different and you definitely dont want to relapse because you arent feeling good. I had the same thing happen to me. I was on monthly take homes because I had passed all my drug tests. They found out I had been drinking though because I had to go to the hospital for something alcohol related and they told me I had to start coming into the clinic every day again. So I wasnt about to do that and decided to switch to Suboxone. My doc started me on 3 8mg Suboxone a day and now Im down to 1/2 a 8mg Suboxone a day. That took about 6 months so far. As far as how long. Wait at least 48 hours after your last dose of Methadone. If you take Suboxone sooner you will only be hurting yourself as you will get REALLY sick. (you may know that already)  You have to be in stages of withdrawl from Methadone for Suboxone to work. You can make an appointment with a doctor who prescribes Suboxone now and he will let you know what you need to do. Thats what I did. He just said "call me when you are down to 40mg of Methadone and I will call in a prescription for you. Then wait 48 hrs before you take it. "
Good luck with everything and take care,
Jamie