methadone detox 1mg a day

[coletrickle]

I've been going to a methadone clinic for about a year and a half for percocet addiction.  I'm now detoxing at 1mg a day because my insurance ran out.  How bad are my withdrawals going to get and what can I do to reduce the withdrawals ?  I'm a little scared of some of the other posts about methadone being worse than H or other opiates to detox from.  Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Kova]

how much methadone were you taking for how long and how long have you been taking 1mg?

Kova

[pbear14]

How long do they plan on keeping you @ 1 mg? Too bad they don'y allow a half of a mg. Seems like if they REALLY wanted to help, they would lower your dose sown to nothing. 1mg, .50mg, .25, .00  know what i mean????? I think that would really help. i don't understand why they do that???????????//

[coletrickle]

I was at 40 for about 1 year.  now I'm at 7mg and reducing 1mg a day so I now have 6 days left of methadone.

[kim715]

Methadone w/ds are rough but totally do-able.I was on it for a little over a year next week I will have 7 months clean from it.I jumped off at 25 mgs.The first 3 weeks were the hardest the next 3 got easier.How are you feeling since you started the taper?

[coletrickle]

I felt fine until I got into the twentys. Now I'm not really sick just kinda tired and waking up about 2 hours earlier than usual.

[kim715]

Well it sounds like you're handling the taper really well.Methadone is a hard drug to come off of,but we're all different,it may not be as bad for one as it was for another so don't psyche yourself out about the w/ds.Have you looked up the thomas' recipe in the health pages? A lot of people use it to help ease the w/ds during detox.Sadinmichigan has a great journal entry about methadone,I believe that may be in the health pages now also,you should give it a look.Methadone detox,for me,was just about one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life,but it was also one of the best things I've ever done.It was well worth any physical pain or mental struggle I had to endure to get to where I am today.Keep posting.You will find lots of support here and you can pm me anytime.YOU CAN DO THIS....All the best...Kim

[coletrickle]

thanks I'm going to check out those things right know.

[PanSinoeis]

I had to use hydrocodones to get off the Methadone.  Funny thing is, I got on Methadone because I was addicted to hydrocodones.  I never should have been put on the Methadone.  So I don't know how you feel about that option, using hydrocodone to curve your withdrawals off the Methadone, because it's easier to deal with hydrocodone withdrawals, a lot easier.  Valium and Ambien could be helpful.  You just want to make sure you don't take those any more than 5-7 days or so.  But if you been on Methadone for a year and a half, the withdrawals are probably going to take a few weeks at least.  It's hard hopping off that last 1mg.  I know, I also tapered down to 1mg, then quit.  The withdrawals don't start until the addict stops ingesting it 100%.  But you can do it, jst stay focused.  I always say eat a lot and drink a lot of fluids and take warm baths, lots of warm baths, they help a lot for some reason.  All you have to do is sit there in the water a while.  Then there is always the Thomas Recipe.  But I wish you luck and hope you get your life free and clean again.  I'm trying to quit Tramadol.  I'm at 10 per day now!  Which is pretty good for me.  Hang in there.

[PanSinoeis]

I know this girl who was at 80mg per day, dropped 5mg per day to 40mg per day.  Then hopped off.  Insane!  But she did it.  And she did that like twice.  Man she has a high pain tolerance, very high.  She would hop from ER to ER to get Morphine.  I took her once to an ER, and they said we are sorry, we can't admit you, you have been here 99 times this year.  (Actully that was within a 13 month time span)  That was just one ER in the Dallas Ft Worth Metroplex.  She went to every hospital in the metroplex and all the way to Oklahoma even, bouncing from ER to ER, and would get her morphine too.

[PanSinoeis]

...She did that for over ten years, the ER thing.  The wierd/sad part is that she only got to enjoy her high in hospital rooms.  How Lame!

[coletrickle]

I started having to take 1 vic in the morning to deal with wd.  Now I'm up to 2-3 a day and promising myself no more than that.  I'm going to get some of that Sam-e at gnc today and see if that starts to help. Thanks for the advise.

[bselflesss32]

My name is Brian and I am an opiate addict....I have 12 years of opoid addiction and six of that has been at a methadone clinic....I would take 10 to 12 Vicodin a day and within 60 days I was on 85 mg's of Methadone....I know you think getting a cheap high is going to be great....hell the first month I was wiliing to hand out flyers for the place...hell I was spending over 100 aday easy and this place was 70 a week...that was 11 years ago....it is now 110 a week....I have to pay another 60  to see a NP out of pocket....I should have never been admited ....I had a small habit that I thought was big....im on day 12 of zip zero and I  hate methadone clinics.....they are worse than drug dealers.....I burned my bridge to go back on purpose....I have cut my self off from money and had family hide my ID so I couldnt pawn....I know they wont do anything at the ER but im going anyway maybe I wll get a nice nurse and DR and see the hell im in....clonidine helps, but I never eat or drink and drop weight like a bomb.....if I didnt have my kids to worry about I could not do this..........God why have you forsaken me!!!!!!

[mr.lucky66]

if this is how this person lives, going from ER to ER for shots and pills, then she should stay on methadone. I used to do this, not quite as much as you say she did and it's no way to live. Everyone who has read my posts knows that I'm not pro methadone having spent years on and off of MMT but I do think it can be a better way to live for some addicts. all the best

[bselflesss32]

I just hit bottom some days.......which is funny cause Im rock bottom right now.....but its been over 10 days with no done and if I could have just aliittle I think i would be ok and that lets me know that im far from better.....I just feel so alone....

[bselflesss32]

But I have done it every way that a normal working class person with little money and little insurance can......if you are below 20mg drop it!!!!! The DT"S will  be the same when I got my last clinic dose of 5mg I said damn this aint bad...but 4 days later the Atomic Bomb dropped on my head......Run....Run from it.....I just keep telling myself that to go back now would only make them right and the pain and hurt on me and my family would have been for nothing MMT IS NOT **************!!!!!!!!!     If you signed in with a herion habbit and you left a week later the way it was designed, fine...but to walk in talking two roxy's a day and one year later on 120mg daily??? Thats called murder!!!!

[bbq33]

I was on Methadone for three years for back pain. I would get a months supply and they would be gone in 5 days. I guess you could say I had miny W/D within those years. When I finally quit cold turkey, I had vivid wierd dreams, when I could get a few hours sleep. The W/D are easer but longer than OXY type opiods. Very safe drug to go cold turkey to get off. Not like Xanax or alcohol that could cause seizures and stuff. I treated the symptoms as they appeared. Taking a lot of Valerian Root herb helped a lot (like 20 grams a day.
Your not alone. Millions of people are doing it right now.
You'll be happy soon.
bbq33