methadone

just read the thread where someone wanted advice regards methadone. they all basically said stay the hell away. uh, does anyone have anything good to say about it? at all? um, i've just recently gone on it after unsuccesfully trying to quit and options running out and serious depression - ie, i wasn't ready to quit (hell, when wuld i ever be). so , i hear horror stories. so, i'm going to go to hell and back. ****. anyone out there have any positive stories regarding the methodone program?anyone managed to get off it? does it take up to a year to recover? i know i totally hooked now. at least...well at least it's available to me. and its all legal and **** . suppose i should come down real slow with lots of counselling and nutritional support. they tell me don the clinic not to worry about that yet - just to stabilize. i'm happy. look,,,anyone have anything good to say about? i feel like i've just ****** up my life if i take those threads to heart. cruder
new zealand

[chi-town guy]

ok, I took M'done for 6mos to get off a long and heavy opiate use and it work ok but had to get off because of side effects but over all i not graving lortab's for the 1st time for over 13yrs. I do feel for most ppl taking Suboxone or M'done should be taken for a short time, enough to get the opiates out of your system. I know M'done is suppose to be the worst to get off but i got lucky i quess and quit M'done at 115mg and had no real physical problem but did have and do have PAWS after 10 days and i am working on that now. If you feel good and you feel like your on a stable dose than thats great but at some point you might want to think about getting off and see what it feel like to be on your own without meds controling your body. I wish you the best in your recovery cruder. I am leaving out alot of stuff but i think this is about as positive as i can get.          

[DeezNuts]

it helped me a lot. granted i only took 10mg each day. the reason you are hearing horror stories about it is because it is THEE hardest thing to kick. basically methadone, as you may know, has a huge half life. one dose could last 36 hours. there fore the withdrawel from it is extended as well. up to 5 weeks.

comparitively if you are addicted to oxy, hydro, or other opiates...even heroin. the physical withrawel is a fraction of that.

Methadone isn't all bad, BUT every rose has its thorns. and methadone has some pretty damn big ones. The biggest thing methadone offers people is the stability. It will allow you to feel somewhat normal. you can go throughout your day without the need of getting high. It does a great job keeping you on baseline, without the highs of getting high and lows of not. Methadone will make you very lathargic and sleepy all day.

Why not sub? most people here would say that is the lesser of two evils.

good luck, but the sad truth is there is not much positive to come from any drugs. its all destructive. just don't get discouraged

[dng]

run as fast as you can away from methadone......ask your doctor for anything but that...i promise you, you will regret it every day if you go on it......please reconsider.....dee

[94orchard]

I was a methadone maintainence patient for 3 years for substance abuse.  I was on 170mgs of methadone for 3 years.  Finally I was accepted by a local doctor for the suboxone program.  Well it took almost 6 months just to detox myself of methadone.  I was going down 1mg every other day (if I could) When I got to 75mgs I started feeling really ******.  I pushed on and finally got down to 25mgs, I made the switch the next day to suboxone.  At first it got me really sick, my dr. says it was becuz I still had alot of methadone in my system.  He gave me 3 days worth of Subutex (it doesn't have the blocker Naloxone in it) After the 3 days I continued with Suboxone 1 8mg pill in the morning and 1 8mg pill in the evening.  Well needless to say I have been on suboxone since 12-01-06 and I have never felt better.  I could skip 2 or 3 days at a time and not take anything and still have no withdrawls.  Methadone was a nightmare for me.  I was smoking crack (which I NEVER even did before the methadone) Since 12-01-06  I haven't done anything but the suboxone.  Just to add a little note, my methadone clinic was 180 miles round trip each morning, I crashed 2 brand new vehicles and paid the clinic (are you sitting down) $13,000 in the 3 years.  Biggest mistake of my life.  In my opinion methadone is only for people who plan on being on it for the rest of their lives.  It is impossible to detox off.  Suboxone saved my life.  Thanks.  Kevin.

[lilacs4me]

WOW. very informative answers guys. Thanks for sharing.
I am a little surprised that clinics actually CHARGE for the methadone there!! This drug is like pennies to make by the pharmaceutical (sp?) companies!!  What does it cost for a dose or a week or a month there?  Or was it the doctors visits that you were paying for in that $13,000 that u mentioned?

[No name22]

I know my friend went to a clinic every am and they gave her a liquid dose and her health ins paid for it...But THANKFULLY she got off of it in time I proabably would have lost my b/f....

[Geehelp]

  When I evacuated from Katrina I ran out of drugs .... methadone was one of them ... I detoxed for two whole months...don't get me wrong the detox gets better day by day...BUT for the first week I had to go to the hospital ... I felt like I was dieing .... It was worse than kidney stones 1,000 times worse than the flu!!! I am not trying to down methadone clinics b/ c I know if I were to relapse I would turn to the clinic.... It works for some people .... others just can not do drugs period .... if it works for you ....GREAT ...it's better than being back out there on other sustances .... at least this one is controlled...again I am now tryingto knock the clinic...just warning you!!! if it helps keep you sane and away from other drugs than do it !!!

[Savas]

...the only good thing I'll say about it, is for a person who's out of control...their life and income are sliding down the tubes...it will give them the chance to get their feet back under them. not because it's the best thing for this, but the only option offered right now that's affordable.

Of course, you're trading off a few days/weeks of withdrawal for weeks/years of withdrawal later on. Which is just wrong and awful. I suppose it is better than dying.

I was in this position myself...and I'm happy for the chance I got to pull it together, but now I'm about to come off, and likely going to lose months of my life (year?!?!) where I'll be incapable of health, happiness, and security. Which is why most people end up stuck on it. Not many people can arrange the financial, emotional, and physical support to get through it.

Basically, getting stuck on methadone is having your body enslaved to a government sanctioned chemical control of humanity. If you can live with that...well...

[Savas]

sorry, forgot this; it is better than destroying your life. Freedom is meaningless if you can't enjoy it.

[hellc@mst]

heya cruder.Thanks to mdone and the stability it provided i was able to get a degree and a decent job.Unfortunately i fukd out and started using again.I recently got off the juice after 13 years and im still dealing with some health stuff.I now get really bad hay fever(never had it b4)and severe insomnia.Im also in NZ(mighty Aucks)and am well versed in mdone protocols here.Since ur at a clinic i assume u r being stabilised.Try and resist the urge to scam 4 a high dose.Its a lose/lose tactic.

[Savas]

Yeah..it takes a few weeks before the dose will last 24 hours. They should split dose you (half morning/half night) but won't. Instead they throw more at you (doesn't help!) Ironically, after three weeks of being risen, you're at 170 milligrams...and get the same result as if you'd stayed at half that for the three weeks.

I think all of our biggest problem with methadone is the dishonesty behind it's use, over how it works, and the calculated way it's being used to dehumanize us and control us.

After all, they claimed it blocks other opiates for decades when it so obviously didn't. Suddenly, when they started doing doses in the 100's, they decided to claim conveniently that it blocks opiates at higher levels. I could walk down to 42nd street and point out 15 methadonians on over 150 milligrams who shoot heroin every day and DO feel it.

[cruder]

i'm on 40mg and won't go higher.
so not lethargic on it and maybe will be not as extreme to come off as say 120 or whatever. although, yeah, it's gonna suck. i know it. it's like this far off abstract concept . I tend to have nightmares on mdone, maybe it's a warning as to the severity of the withdrawl (withdrawal). might stay on it for a couple of years. i dunnow. alot of my friends are on it . it tends to polarize opinion, some will refuse to go on it, even though they're ******* their arms and losing hours in the day hunting **** down. and all the other social ills it causes. ..paranoia, criminal aspect,isolation, money.
at least mdone kinda, i dunnow, 'socializes' you a little.
As to the governmental control. It's sorta like stalinist communism or something. State controlled droids. But I work with concepts such as 'freedom in slavery'. I am also an economic prisoner here also. Maybe I'm a gimp.
I am a govt subsidized being. A robot. It's great. I make industrial music. Cold.