methadone withdrawal

hi there,

i'm steadily reducing off methadone, but once i hit the 50mg/day mark things have got really difficult i;ve managed to get to 35mg/day ive been on this dose for 2 days now and its really hurting me, shaking, itching, cant sleep, cramps, aches and pains as soon as i get to 30mg/day i will be put on the detox list to come off the remaining dose in hospital, which could be upto 6months or more away, in which case i will carry on withdrawing at home if i can, has anyone got any tips. realxation techniques etc for helping me to cope during this time, i would really appreciate any help at all, thanks

[lifesaride]

God morrnung, There are a few good people on here that know alot about kickin meth. I'm not one of them. As far as relaxing goes music, old tunes real old try to find something from before you got into drugs, school days whatever. And get outta the house go for a walk, do some yard work. Garden smell the roses. Go to the beach for a walk, a park, a lake a pond, anywhere there's water. And just know you'll get thru this, and keep on with the forum it really helps. Teddy

[kim715]

Methadone detox is rough.I went cold turkey off of 25 mgs 6 months ago,so I feel your pain.I tried to taper twice and I came to realize that tapering for me was just prolonging the agony.Sadinmichigan has a wonderful journal entry written by a doctor ,who himself is a recovering addict,and now treats patients coming off of methadone.It explains depending on the amount of time you've been on it ,how there is little to no difference at coming off the dose your on now or coming off of 1 mg.It also gives information on some things to help ease the detox process.Once you have stopped taking it all together the average time for the worst of the w/ds to begin subsiding is around 3 weeks.Problems with energy and sleep tend to linger on a while longer.For me 6 weeks was a big turning point.I wish you all the best.It's a rough road but totally do-able and so worth it.You can pm me anytime.I would be more then happy to help in any way I can.....Peace...Kim

[Penelope14]

Congrats to you for making the decision to get off methadone! My personal experience in my quest to get off methadone was not fun, nor as horrible as others, I did a slow taper from 90mgs down to 2mgs this took quite a bit of time, but their was no real rush anyway so it all worked out, as Im sure it will with you to. I took many vitamins and many hot baths, for sleep I took melatonin, for me it didnt help much but others have had better luck. I believe that the key to having success in a methadone detox is time, a vast majority of people including myself have found themselves at week two questioning if it's ever gonna get better, but it does, somewhere around the 3rd to 4th week you will start to see improvement & begin to recover. It's a lengthy detox, but in the end you will see that it will have all been worth it. Good Luck Penelope

[christos24]

getting completely off of methadone can be one of the hardest things to do in the world, so i would maybe try getting to 30 mgs then try suboxone. i klnow many people that have switched over from that dose and have gotten off of both completely and had very little discomfort. you need to  be down to 30 mgs or less of methaodne to switch over to sub because if youre not you may experience withdrawals because methadone is a full agonists and suboxone is a partial agonists/antagonists. and it also has a ceiling effect where any dose higher than 32 mgs will only warrant negative effects. but the subooxne is a little milder tapering down and will still stop the horrid withdrawals from methadone and the cravings for all opiates. and it stops you from getting highfrom other opiates fora long long time. you should defintely give that a shot i know its def. easier than tapering down completely off of methadone and you will feel more stable, structured, productive, and motivated to get compleltely clean. best of luck to you-christos

[Kova]

also, try the amino acids they list at the bottom right of the page.  helps with moods swings and also large amounts of calcium magnesium help with restless legs.  for sleep, ambien saved my life!!

Kova

[nug557]

hi,i've just come down from 65mil of methadone,i got down to 30mil,25,20,18,15 over maybe 4-6 weeks,then i hit the wall,over the next 2-3 weeks i gradually reduce down to 12,10,8,7,5, and then the pain can become unbearable i'm sorry to tell you! i tried going cold turkey at this point because i thought taking this small amount was just prolonging things,anyway..that was 10 days ago,i could'nt do the CT,I've been taking Dihydracodiene and 1 or 2 Tramadol to ease the pain,i know this is not good..swapping one opiate for another is pointless! But,i just want to get that Methadone out of my system,which is supposed to happen after 7-10 days,i'm going to give it 14 days to make sure and hopefully will be negative for methadone at this point?I've then got to taper off the DHC's and Tramadol but hopefully this will not be as painful and long drawn out as the Meth?
Keep in touch if you want,we can try and swap some virtual support! haha,It's so so hard,and talking to someone that understands can help a little i think.
OK,good luck!