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i want to stop taking methadone

Hello everyone.  Some background information is that i am currently on 18 mgs of methadone from a clinic nearby.  i have been taking methadone on a MMT program  for a little over three years.  i am sick of the ritual and want to be free of this drug once and for all.  i would like some advice on the best way to be free of this drug.  i have a job and cannot risk taking more than a few days off.  some people have told me to take my last dose of methadone and wait until my withdrawls are moderate to severe (72 to 96hrs) and then begin with a low dose of suboxone.  i know that withdrawls must be  pretty severe before taking suboxone to avoid precipitated withdrawl.  another approach is going cold turkey once my dose is in  the 3, 2 or 1 mg range.  if i were to go the suboxone route i would probably only use it for a month because my plan is to be completely off of opitates.  i have access to a jacuzzi  at my house and told this would help as well.  im not  sure whether i should  just cold turkey or gain access to bupenorphrine.

any suggestions for me.  this is my first time detoxing off of methadone.  i have detoxed off other opiates in the past and am aware methadone will make those detoxes seem like childs play.  i was also told to buy immodium, as well as laxatives, multi vitamins, and mineral supplements as well.  which brands are the best?  gel caps or regular.  also will any benzodiazapines help. i have about 8 klonopin 1 mg from an old prescription (havent needed them so they just sat there).  please any suggestions would help.  



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Avatar universal
i think im leaning more on the suboxone road to temporarily subdue the physical effects. i want to make it clear that i only plan on using suboxone for a month or two and then taper off that completely so avoid any withdrawls from methadone and suboxone itself.  will this work? am i better off cold turkey from 1 mg methadone and no suboxone?  i would love tto get subutex which is without the nalaxone jbut it is hard tocome by.  also i made a mistake on the above post.  i was only on 70 mgs for a year not 1.5 yrs.  ive been under 50 mgs for probably another year now.  
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Avatar universal
hhey thanks for the post. my highest dose was 120 mgs when i first entered treatment.  i maintained on that dose for only  2 or 3 months, because i felt overmedicated.  i tapered down to  70 mg from original 120 dose and maintaned there for about a year and a half.  recently however i have been under 50 mgs for 6months.  i was maintaining at 6 mgs and ended up relasping so my clinic bumped my dose up to 20.  i have told the clinic to lower my dose by 2 mg every other week until im at 10 mgs.  thhen i will be dosed down 1 mg a week.  my gameplan is to get to 1 mg and then either go on suboxone or withdraw without suboxone.  

i can break it down  like thtis

120 mgs for 3 months
tapered about 9 months (very slowly) to 70 mgs in increments of 2 and 5mg
70 mgs for 18 months
tapered to 6 mgs in about 4 to 6 months in increments of 5mg
6mgs for about 6 months
back up to 20 mgs from 6mg
then went down 2 mgs last week.
18 mgs for about 1 month now.

the   main thing is ive been under 50 mgs for most of my MMT.  

i  have tapered in the past with little or no sideeffects.  the problem i ran into is when i was at about 6 mgs
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Avatar universal
You are on a pretty low dose, have you tried to taper down your dose, what was your highest methadone dose in the three years? If you have been on a low dose, below 50 mgs, I think you could taper down as easily as come off with sub use. If you do the quick detox, which is what I did, you will still feel the the methadone and a little weird from the subs after they're gone. You're brain doesn't start healing, because subs replaced part of the methadone. I wouldn't cold turkey at 18mg, personally. The klonopin, in my opinion, are better toward the end of acute detox, when insomnia hits. I really never anything that helped the rough part. All the nutrients you mentioned, plus amino acids and b vitamins really help with healing. The immodium is pretty universal, it helps with the stomach. What kind of plan are you leaning toward at this point? Give us more info. There's a lot of experience and info on these pages, stick around.
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