Clinic not cooperating

[iwillbfree]

Ok I  have a plan to jump at 5 mgs on Monday I take methadone at a clinic here in the US My plan was to pay daily I used to pay for 2 weeks at a time. So this morning my number was on the stop dose list (Friday is payday) I try to give the nurse money for one day and was told They have me ona schedule (thier schedule) to take me down to very small doses. They would not dose me u till I came up with a payment for 7 days. I think that is not rite.

[iwillbfree]

Thank you I am on 7 mgs My plan was to jump anyway at 5mgs the reason I am not jumping now is I have to work I have 19 days off and plan to detox at this time

[EvolverU]

Sorry, make that: call your DHSS (not DPH) ;))

[EvolverU]

@ LatinTwin:

Actually, many people have to pay for their 'done on a sliding scale according to their income. Most clinics out there are private & charge plenty. I had friends who payed $140 per week here in the Northeast. Not everyone is funded by the state. I know I certainly wasn't. Private places usually have a limited & 'locked-in' number of 'low-income' or emergency spots. If you can't come up w/ the money..well too bad. That's the attitude, I generally saw in my considerable time on quite a few clinics in two different states -- so, I don't think what the original poster is saying is perplexing in the least.

Good for you for stepping yourself down, btw! (the only sane way to get off Methadone is a taper). I would however, suggest that it's a bit of a contradiction to mention that you're taking M'done pills (whatever your laudable eventual goal is) & then in the same sentence say that you're not dependent on pills the way 'druggies' are. I have no idea why you were originally there, it's just a viewpoint that perhaps you might want to look @ in the process of getting & staying  clean.

@iwillbfree:

The Federal guidelines laid down by the CSAT (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment -- the overseeing Agency for M'done treatment) changed about 14 or 15 years ago. As it now stands, all clinics -- public or private must be accredited by one of several accrediting agencies -- usually a body called CARF. These regs were put in place to actually make treatment more 'human' :) Some small out of the way clinics may not need the actual accreditation but will still be held to the same guidelines. Now here's where it gets tricky: There are Fed Regs (usually the loosest), then state regs (which vary!) & then clinical regs (which also vary). In my state (MA), clinics can not simply stop your dose for non-payment. They must drop you @ a rate no faster than (if I remember correctly) 5 mgs. every 3 days. It's called MSW (medically supervised withdrawal & is still way too fast. The best thing that I can think of right now would be to call your DPH & ask about the state regs.

[LatinTwin]

What kind of clinic are you going to?  Are you going to a Public Health Clinic run by the State?  If so there are strict guidelines on the dosage of methadone and they can't just suddenly step you down.  Also most of the people I know aren't paying anything for the methadone so I am a bit perplexed by what you claim is happening to you.   I take methadone as prescribed by a doctor so I do go to clinics and I only pay 3.24 for 240 10mg pills.  I used to take much more than this per month but I stepped myself down slowly as I'm not a druggie who depends on pills to get by.  I am now down to 20mg to 30mg per day leaving me with about 15,000 mgs in reserve so that I control my fate.

[EvolverU]

Hi there :)

Could you clarify something for us? When you say take you down to very small doses, what was your dose today & what kind of increments are we talking about?

Did you sign a contract to pay by the week? Are you saying that they're keeping you on longer than you planned to be?

(Wouldn't surprise me as places that allow you to pay by the day are some of the worst 'mills' out there & are all about $$).

Let us know.  There are guidelines for this sort of thing.