when should methadone be administered?

Again I'm relatively new...but love the conversation! Not many places in the real world people can openly discuss these topics. My question is when is methadone a good idea...and when is it like taking out an ant hill with a hand grenade? For example...I was 19, had been using Vicodin, percs, and oxy maybe 60-80 mg a day. Even used street methadone sometimes. I wanted to stop but couldn't afford in patient recovery or detox. I tried subs for a minute but again too expensive and I still wanted to get high...so I went to the methadone clinic. Later that day I was dosed and have been going there for 4 years now. Now I feel stuck on this insanely addictive drug. I can see a heroin addict putting their life on the line and homeless using methadone for maintenance ...but much less than that seems crazy. Obviously I feel very betrayed by my doctors and the entire clinic. They make it so hard to decrease your dose and make it clear u should stay on their MDone forever....any comments? Anyone think it is more useful than I do?

[2nd_X_Around]

Sorry to say but those clinics are FOR PROFIT which means keeping you is good for business. This is something you must decide you want an take matters into you own hands, there is enough info on this site to help get you started, but its you that has to make a decision. It aint easy but its worth the fight.

[Hollaatme]

Ya agreed....I'm part of the 1% of people decreasing dose on a regular basis (I know this because I happened to live next door to the clinic owner/GM) but I'm on my way down and soon will attempt to get clean...I'm planning on tapering to 1mg and going cold Turkey kinda....a little help from kratom and some vitamens....but I'm fallowing smooches, a regular on this site, blueprint....taper and kratom! Wish me luck!

[gnarly_1]

HI  I agree with a lot of what you say as well as the above poster all true and it is being prescribed more and more for smaller and smaller habits....but the clinics go where the money is ...if your eating 20 to 25 pills a day it safer then that....if your slamming a needle in your arme its safer then that and it dose save lives but for a habit such as yours it was uncalled for and so many think they can beat withdrawals by taking it...NOT TRUE!!!
the detox is brutal and slow but taper off is like that ....just know you dont have to live
like this anymore we cane help you break free of in the last mo or so I try to help as many as I can spent 6 1/2 yr on the stuff at 150mg just let us know when you want to start good luck and God bless......Gnarly

[becky_33]

I'm detoxing now, and am nearing the end of day two. I have come across "The Thomas Recipe" which gives you the recipe for getting clean. I like how they promote exercise, and a variety of vitamins.

I agree with you, and am also angry with my doctor, since I feel like they keep the cycle going to gain profit. He tried to give me stronger drugs than the Norco I have been taking (such as fetanyl and oxy), but luckily, I never got the prescription filled. He even told me that he could have "illegal" drugs prescribed to me, which I didn't inquire further about.

All in all, these places are not looking out for your best interest. It's tough, but you can do it! Maybe have a reward set for yourself at the end, so you have something to look forward to. This is a great site, since people are here to encourage one another and give advice!

[Hollaatme]

Thanks gnarly and Becky! I'm so happy to have experienced people like u to talk to! I'm down to 20 from 90 so I have started the taper but its really hard to get below 20....mostly mental I guess...today is actually my annual "physical " at the clinic today. Seems more like a scheme for more money considering the only thing really done is an EKG and a reccomendation to slow down my taper. I am literally sitting in the waiting room feeling disgusted w myself for having come here for 4 yrs now. My parents were bad drug addicts and in and out of jail. I have never broke the law other than the opiates ...but I still feel like I'm just like them...part of the chain or cycle of addiction. Still not 100% if I should switch to subs when I get down lower or try kratom or what...thanks for the words u guys!

[gnarly_1]

HI  .....I dont know what it is about 20mg but for me it took 6 friggin weeks to get 2mg below that I went in and out of withdrawals like a teeter taughter there one day it would hold me the next I was in withdrawals ......for a lot of people its the first withdrawals they feel tapering and many people struggle to get over that dose.....you know it dosent have to be hard the rest of the way I went from 20 to 10 in like 2 weeks once my body finely adjusted to 20 then from 10mg down I noticed every drop in dose its a grind to get off this stuff but just know it so so worth it once you do .........you will be amassed at how good you feel once its all said and done recovery can take a wile but again its so so worth it once your there keep pushing forward......you may have to stick at 20 for a few weeks for your body to stabilize where here for support so hang in there and post often let us know how its going and never forget ....YOU CAN DO THIS......good luck and God bless....Gnarly  

[Hollaatme]

Yea 20 is rough......but its been a month so I'm gonna drop to 19 tomorrow...I'm on pills at 30 mg a day but they wont let me drop any lower for God knows why? So I have been making myself go down by breaking up pills. The hard part is at the end of the week/month when I have several 10 mg pills left over I still have the urge to double up. But I'm trying to be good....also to go down single mg I guess ill just break up the pills as small as I can and eye ball it. Anyways it helps to write so thanks for listening!  

[gnarly_1]

HI.....its hard to do with pills you can go to a pharmacy and get a pill cutter .....where not aloud to discuss tapers in detail in the open forum its ageist the rules but in brief the smaller you can break up your dose the better just take it slow from this dose on it can go ez or it can be difficult ......no to withdrawals are the same for me once I got past this it got ez for a wile then I got down to 10 and it got hard again just know it can be done keep posting for support there are many here who have done this b/4 I know exactly what it feel like to be in your shoes...let me know if I can help good luck and God bless........Gnarly    

[Hollaatme]

Thx again gnarly...and everyone who helps! Dropped to 19 today..no biggie...but the further I taper the more I miss the high from higher doses...don't get me wrong I'm 7 yrs into my addiction and"recovery" w Mdone and ready to be normal again, but I feel like work, days off work, and life in general was so easy when I had double or triple my current dose ...does this craving or missing of the high go away?

[Hollaatme]

So took 19 mg yesterday for 1st time...and again that's just down from 20 but I was restless last night and have alot of anxiety right now....this is my 1st w/d symptoms since I started my taper @90 mg.....ugh kinda didn't expect any til 10 or so

[gnarly_1]

it all depends if you just switched drugs or if you used the time you where on methadone to seel out aftercare to help you threw the cravings.....so many people just switch there drugs but do nothing about the addiction during this process your suppose to work on some form of aftercare where it be N/A or A/A  or a therapist  or a substance abuse conslor but the time your on the methadone should be well spent getting over your addiction.....the clinics have conslors but from my experence they where useless to helping you learn the life skills necessary to help overcome your addiction .....its never to late to start plug into N/A or one of the others I have mentioned if not your coming off the methadone and will be just like b/4 you went on it....nothing changes if nothing changes it is critical that you learn the skills of how to be clean as addicts we need to change the very way we think and reason to overcome this its going to take some time so get involved right away it has mad a huge difference in my life and often makes the difference of making it or not I wish you all the best in your recovery become pro/active in it and you will succeed........Gnarly    

[eagle101]

Be very careful using the kratom - - - I would also only endorse the extracts. I know of one case where the person sufferred multiple organ failure from using the kratom leaf to make teas..................it wasnt the kratom, but it was a pesticide/insecticide that was used on the leaf. Kartom is indigenous to SouthEast Asia - I encountered it during Vietnam years - -

[gnarly_1]

I AGREE WITH eagle Kratom comes with its own vises and is addictive its like playing with fire it may make methadone withdrawals a bit more managable but any narcotic will do that the thing is most of this stuff backfires onse your off it and you wind up in full blown withdrawals from the methadone ......we have also had members have a difucult time coming off Kratom so dont replace one addictive substanse for another at best this is dangerous use caution and as they say if it seams to good to be true it probably is...I wish you all the luck in the world getting clean I used nothing but will  power and perseverance to get clean then I learned to surender to my addiction thats when I started living in recovery sorry there are no short cuts or ezer softer ways of doing this wish there was Kratom is not regulated by the fda no telling what potency you will get once you get it its a crap shoot I highly recamend ageist it good luck and God bless.....Gnarly