help for addiction to methadone

[missbarbra6]

I am so addicted to methadone. I go to the clinic and get 80 mlgrams and then do 40 more from someone else when I get home. I have tried to go down on my dose and I feel so sick and depressed and exhaused when I try to start going down . I can't tell the clinic that I am taking more than they are prescribing because I get takeouts and they will take them away, or kick me off the program. I am so damn depressed and I want my life back. I was prescribed suboxone by a doctor that I don;t think knew too much about it because he told me I could go ahead and take it and then I took it and had to go to the emergency room. Anyway, my question was after I took the suboxone and went through withdrawels i still took methadone the next day because I was afraid to take anymore suboxone but after the withdrawels was i no longer addicted to the methadone? Should I not have taken it and would i have been over it? Would I have had to take more suboxone after the withdrawels or would I have been over everything. I want to get off methadone so bad i was thinking about doing the subox again and going thru all of it again if it meant I was then through with the methadone after the withdrawels. can someone answer my question. I don;t know what to do anymore. There is no help for me. I am on too high of a dose to go to rehab. I haven't got the money for rapid detox but i wish i did so i could get off of this drug forever. I am so hopeless. is there any help for me?

[HelpMe23777]

Hey, I'm soo sorry that you are going through this. I don't know much about suboxone, but both of my parents are/were addicted to methadone. My mom used to get take homes but she is completely off due to being forced to quit cold turkey when she went to prison...yikes...my dad is still on it and very much an addict, I have seen what it has done up close and personal, and I myself am having problems with norcos. The only advice I can give is just try and ween yourself off by the smallest amts. Maybe take what they give you at the clinic, and then instead of taking 40 more mgs when you get home, just take 35, and try that for a few days, then cut that extra dose to 30 for a few days and so on....this is what they have told my mom and dad in the past when they were thinking of getting off....if you do it in very small amts then it shouldn't be too bad, maybe some discomfort. When you get to the point where you can handle 80, then tell the clinic you'd like to be weened off and they can set something up for you. You just have to try and be strong and not get that extra dose when you get home, or out of your take homes...just try and be strong and I hope you get through this, I want my life back too.

[CleandUP]

Are you a recovering heroin addict?  The statement I am going to tell you is said a lot on this site but this is a very very serious statement. It is either quit and go through very bad withdrawals are you die. SERIOUSLY. You will die from methadone. The reason you will die is because you will need more and more than there will be a dose which will shut down your lung respiration. My friend who I graduated high school with in '06 died this last October 23rd from Methadone overdose. He passed out at work and could not be woken up. PLEASE choose life or death. I know you will make the right decision if you have any care of living

[mtgoat911]

i detoxed of 240mg of methadone in 2004, been drug free since
i would be willing to help you set up a taper plan, i went ct...BUT and thats a huge BUT, i have liver disease and should not have detoxed ct, i ended up in icu, in the past (before liver disease) i went through several ct opiate detoxes including methadone, its not easy but you can do it

do not take sub while you have methadone in your systems, you will go through precipitated wd's and be terribly sick

sub. is not much different than methadone, they both are long lasting opiates

i am personally a fan of using short acting opiates as detox meds
very few treatment centers use methadone for opiate patients, but unfortunantly now they are just putting everybody on sub and sending them home, and people do not realize that the 2 drugs are very similair, you will be the same way on methadone as you are on sub.

the best suggestion i can give you is to goto NA, even if you are not ready to detox goto a meeting tonight

the nest suggestion i am giving is this....when you get your take home doses GIVE them to a family memeber that is not an addict, you go over to their house everyday to take your morning dose, an addict cannot give themselves methadone successfully, infact its overall an unrealistic expectation,

you can set up a taper plan with your take homes!!!!!!! all you need is someone to help you set up the taper and give you your dose

good luck

[christos24]

there are some good post about how to get off. i am currently on 100mgs daily methadone and ahve to go to a clinic too. ive been going there for over 6 months. last week i went w/out methadone for 100+ hrs. stuck in a county jail cuz of unpaid tickets. it was the absolute worst wd's and experience i have ever encountered. i also cold turkeyed from 8 mg of xanax taken daily too.it was pure hell and it only got worse and worse, i even tried taken 24 mgs of suboxone and it did absolutely nothing for the wd's, and ive been through the worst heroin and oxycontin wd's and nothing even comes close to that. suboxone would at least curb the h or oxy wd's but not methadone. you cant mess with that no one can...i still am a fond believer that methadone saved my life from the vicious mess i made with H and oxycontin, destroying everything in its path-family, girlfriend, friends, everything gone..and i was able to stay clean for over 8 months on suboxone at the highest effective dose but it eventually restarted after breaking my wrist, so in the end i am greatful for methadone keeping me clean but the wd's from it is unbelievably bad..i would try getting down to 30mgs or lower on methadone going down about 5 mgs(at most) a week. once you get there go without it for at a minimum of 24 hrs., longer if possible, the more wd's you are in and the longer you wait and then take suboxone probably for you 8-16mgs the better youll feel and have no wd's/ youll probably get a good "buzz" at first but that goes away same as methadone when you first try it..give that a really good shot it has been done and ill have to do that when i am ready and confident enough...a crucial part in staqying clean and getting off of it is group meetings, na meetings, and one on one counseling it is so important

[TrayCee]

OMG Dude!  THATS my nightmare!  I cant imagine withdrawals in jail.  What did you do?