methadone for vicodin????

I was discharged from the hospital at the end of Feb. My Doctor put me on methadone for the pain. The perscription is for one month 8 pills a day. 4 (10 mg) tablets in the morning and 4 (10 mg) tablets in the evening. My concern is addiction. I currently have a vicodin addiction, but since I've been on methadone I don't crave the vicodin and I haven't went through any withdraw symptoms. Can someone give me some insight to what the probability is to me becoming addicted to methadone.? I was hoping that after the methadone is out I'll be free of all withdraw symptoms from the vicodin and just be in the clear. Free and clear of all pain meds. Is this something that could happen?  Is the methadone helping me battle the vicodin addiction? or am I trading one drug for another? This is my concern.

[newmanagment]

i am unsure of the answer to your question. i have heard it is very tough to get off of methadone, but use em as doc says , at least you are not abusing them. im bettin the methadone is helping with the vicoden , but just a hunch. more will be here that can help with an answer, best of luck to ya....

[confused456]

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!    100 TIMES HARDER TO KICK! VERY BAD IDEA!!!!!

[usarmymedic1]

metadone is an opiod it is taking the place of the vic and you are going to have to tapper the methadone and sorry to say you will go through some type of withdrawal from it you need to bring your concernes up with your dr.

[josh231]

yeah methadome is used to treat pilll addiction and other drug addiction cept its helll to get off of if you are on it i dont no what you take the vics for but that is quite a bit of dome to be taking id be carful and you really prolly dont need that much its strong
anyways somone i no really close to me was doin the same thing your kinda plannin on doin it blew up in there face and now goin to a clinc

[skoochie]

the methadone is covering the withdrawal of the vicoden.  When you try to come off of methadone it will be longer, harder and the acute withdrawals will be for 3 to 6 weeks.  Talk to your doctor and tapper very slowly from the methadone, you never want to go cold turkey on this.

[josh231]

the only reason why docs scribe it over vic and stuff the health concerns are alot less than other constipation at the most no liver damage ect cept it has an insane half life

[wait2long]

it really doesnt take long to get addicted to methadone, i would stop NOW is addiction is a concern, wean yourself off if you start to experience any withdrawal symptoms. methadone is highly addictive and it is used to treat heroin addiction, it does curb cravings and stop WD's from the vikes...but it is the absolute worst drug to kick, i would stop now, methadone addiction is far worse than any other addiction, and if you are on it for too long, you may not be able to get off for quite a while, i know people who are on it for life because the WD's are just too bad...i was on it for a year, low dose and couldnt do  it...please stop now if you able to...it may not be too late at this point....
if you have chronic pain , you would be better off with another type of pain killer, or look for a non addictive alternative, at least the WD''s from vikes or perks are only 5-8 days, methadone can be up to 6 weeks...i have heard of some pretty bad cases. and there are some people here who have or are tapering successfully, maybe they will chime in for you...good luck!!

[tammyk_40]

you are trading one opiate for another. the methadone pills are so addicting, like any opiate, but 100 times harder to w/d off of, as confused said.  Compare one week of w/d symptoms from vicodin to 4 weeks and then the endless days of no sleep, restless legs, depression, the list goes on and on. PLEASE, get off of the methadone pills.
If you stop taking one opiate and take another, you have not withdrawled off of that pill. Go to your doc and tell him you want off of these pills before it gets real difficult to do.

[Mikeinthesouth]

I guess you don't have wd. I wouldn't if I were you. Had my doctor want to give me that. Heck no glad I said no too. Hang inthere and work on losing that too.

[feohmoon]

It infuriates me when doctors put people on methadone, especially at such high doses  with all of the dangers.  It is sad that the doctors are uneducated on methadone, or if they are educated, it is by biased info from a pharmaceutical company.
If something was designed during WWII, shouldn't we probably recheck things?
Please do not continue with the methadone...of course, you cannot just stop but you can taper easily, especially if you just started so recently.  Methadone will rob you of your very soul.  I am sorry to sound so morbid, but it is true.  The government is far more ruthless than anyone you have ever purchased drugs from on the street.  Basically, think of it as synthetic heroin without the initial blast.  Many heroin addicts would prefer to come off heroine than methadone.  
My fiance and I gave methadone a year of our life...we were up to 110mg.daily - which was way too much...we began tapering in Aug.'07, reducing by 5mg.weekly down to 45mg., from there we started reducing by 2mg.daily down to 7mg, stepped off cold turkey from there...that was March 6...we are on day 9 - we researched detoxing from methadone heavily...we concluded that if most of the pain associated with wd is from a vitamin deficiency, we should replenish and exceed our bodies supply of vitamins, minerals, aminos, etc.  Methadone renders your body unable to get any nutrients, you do not notice the pain from that deficiency due to the pain killing effect of methadone.
Please read our journals as everything that I have written pertains to methadone.
Best of luck
Peace
Steven & Murphy

[lucyred68]

hun, if the pain is so bad, ask for something else, and don't let them give u ultram either.  methadone is the worst.  i kicked i, but it took me 4 months to start feeling human again, and i was only on 40 mg's a day.  if you are already hooked, start tapering, and ask your dr. to give you something to help with the wd's.  methadone is taking the place of hydro, you haven't withdrawn from it.  the stuff was invented by hitler's scientists to make it possible for wounded soldiers to keep on fighting through the pain.  you don't want to take something that has that kind of history do you?  anyway, with a slow taper and the dr's help, you can get off the stuff.  stock up on vitamins, minerals, immodium, gatoraide,fresh fruit, yoghurt and get some prescription sleeping pills if you can.  ambien cr helped me the most, although i only got about 3 hours of sleep with that even.  without, i got zero.  we'll be watching for you and praying for your success.

Lucy

[mr.lucky66]

It sounds like this doc is lazy and didn't want to try to think of something else. Your chances of getting addicted are 100 % if you were addicted to hydro. Forget hydro, it no longer has any hold over you. "Methadone, there's no future in it". all the best

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

it sounds like the classic cross tolerance to me. Mom isnt having any problems right now because she is on a moderately high dose of methadone. Talk to the Doctor - if you love mom she will detox from the vics and run from the methadone like the wind. After all - the Nazi's came up with methadone when they got cut off from their poppy fields in WW2 - and not much good (if anything) came into the world thru the Third Reich...good luck to you - you are a caring daughter - see if mom will read forum. Best to you and your effort....

[Little11]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.  I have decided today to stop the methadone cold turkey.  I  haven't been taking the methadone the whole time and I really didn't start taking the prescribed amount till just recently (about a week ago). I am so afraid of being addicted to anything anymore. I just want to be DONE!

[wait2long]

EXCELLENT DECISION!! you will be glad you did this, if you do experience any type of withdrawals from it, call your doc and tell him your having troubles, ask about a med called "clonidine" (not klonopin) it helps a lot, also if you do have chronic pain and HAVE to be on something, now would be the time to ask for that, in the meantime look for an alternative that is nonaddictive...good luck to you, and keep us posted!!