New Here: thinking of quitting methadone cold turkey

[benfieldcutie]

Hi, new here.  Trying to do some research before I decide not to go get my take homes from methadone clinic this Thursday.  I started my second voluntary detox about a month and a half ago.  I was at about 65mg when I started this detox.  My clinic (on e. coast) started me at 25mg and raised me 5mg every other day until I was comfortable.  I am a mother of two and married, but other than the hubby, not much help and no daycare.  I am involved in Celebrate Recovery, very active in it.  I have a great support system through them, but not very much help with the kids.  I took my last FULL dose, at the clinic on Thursday of last week and then about 5mg on Friday and about another 5 on Sat.  I haven't had any since.  

But here's the catch...I've been at the clinic for a year and a half.  Since I was moved to level 2 I have sold some of my take homes to someone else.  So, I haven't had it on a daily basis since about three months after I started going.  If you are familiar with how the clinics work, then you know how the scale goes.  But if not, after three months of neg. drug tests, and good behavior, you move up a level and get to get one take home a week.  After getting to the highest level, which is 6, you go every two weeks and receive 13 days worth of tk homes.  So, level 5 is go 1x wk, and get 6 tk homes.  

Since I have been on LVL 5, I have been keeping two of my bottles for myself and selling the rest/giving them away.  Making them last a week.  But the last 3 weeks or so, I have tapered down to making one bottle last a week.  Now, I am experiencing the hot/cold sweats, dizziness, headache, high/low bloodpressure and sneezing.  Is this the withdrawls, and do you suppose they will get worse?  

My last detox was unsuccessful due to incorrect info on how suboxone worked, so I have decided I am NOT replacing this addiction with another.  I sure wish someone would have warned me ahead of how HORRIBLE methadone really is.  Thanks for any info!

[Lisa0345]

I agree with gnarly.  I would try to grind it down as low a possiable it I were you.  I was at 120mgs at one point and I went from 120 down 10mgs in a matter of 2 months with no problems at all.  I jumped off at 10mgs because I thought since I had no problems going down that it would be ok........I could not have been more wrong.  I was ok for the first 3 days, but then holy hell hit me.  I have never felt anything like this in my life.  By day 6 I was back at the methadone clinic.  I am now working on detoxing again but this time I am gonna do it the right way.  I am going down very slow.  I am gonna do it just like gnarly did it.  From all the people that I talk to and all the people that I read about, the ones that are successfull are the ones that did a very slow taper.  This is just my experience and I hope it helps you.  Lots of people jump off at different doses but for me, I want to be a low as it goes. Keep posting and keep us up to speed and let us know what you are doing.  We will be here for you no matter which way you go.  
Good Luck and God Bless
Lisa
Jacksonville,FL

[gnarly_1]

HI and welcome to the forum....your message is a bit confusing but from what im gathering out of it you are getting by on one bottle of 65ml  for a whole week???
if so thats about 10ml a day you could jump off from that but your withdrawals will be prity ruff....what your already experiencing is just the beginning of them ....it took me 7 days to get thew my final withdrawal and its a real grind but it is doable...if I where you I would go to a pharmacy and get an oral syringe ...they keep them behind the counter
at cvs and will just give you one if you ask....it would be better to have a real syringe if you can come up with one ...it makes measuring eazer..but you probably want to try and get down to 5ml a day b/4 jumping off... methadone withdrawals can be tuff at any level but the lower the better...you stated that you already failed at detoxing once so I wouldn't take the chance of failing again ..with the syringe you can measure out exactly how much your taking each day ...you want to taper by 1ml a week till you hit 5ml then jump off....I tapered all the way down to 1ml but dont recommend it
the last 5ml make you miserable  it sounds like you took your time to get your level down so whats a few more week to make it more comfortable on yourself  
good luck and God bless.....Gnarly