How to successfully get off methadone?!

[NellyGirl]

I have been on methadone on and off for eight years now.The last five and a half years have been on methadone.It's always helped me stay clean.I feel that it's time for me to get off now and I am really scared because this is a road I've been down before and was the worst experience I've ever had to endure.I feel that I am strong enough to handle the withdrawl symptoms but I am very worried about not being able to sleep.I have a son who is two n a half and he is extremely demanding and energetic.I also have to take him to daycare and generally thats a great thing but he is currently going to a daycare that is over an hour away.I'm very concerned about having to drive him,that far on no sleep.Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get sleep while detoxing from methadone.In the past I would have smoked some weed and that would help me get at least a couple hours but that is no longer an option for me.Also,is suboxin worth the money and worth being addicted to another drug?Is suboxin easy to get off of??? PLEEEEEASE HELP ME WITH THIS.I am currently on a dose of 60 mlgs,give or take.I am on a blind detox that I stopped a few months ago.I was going down two mlgs every other week.It really scares me to have gotten as sick as i did at still such a high dose.Any advice from someone who has successfully gotten off and stayed clean,during and since would be greatly appreciated! thank you

[dden664]

my wife and i have ben ddealing with this for years can you send me that thing you were talking about with droping babies. eail is ***@****

[dden664]

hi my wife is so down and depressed about her addiction i try to understand her pain and hat she is going thruogh but i havent ever had a drug addiction. She really hates this stuff and wants to be done with it completely. i seen you talking about a step down program for babies i was wondering if you could send me that in my email it is ***@****. please she is going to a clinic and its breaking us. its tearing up our marriage and her self esteem. she thinks that i am always mad at her for this addiction and i try to be supportive as i can. so please help any way you can thanks.

[penelope65]

Hi gnarly_1
I read your peace on detoxing off of methadone and greatly appreciate it. I'm interested in the taper schedule u were talking about. Could u please send it to me @ ***@****. I'm a AOD couselor and I have a few client's tapering. I would like to share this with them.
Thanks alot,
Penny

[gnarly_1]

hey dude thanks for the web sit....I try and learn as much as I can about methadone
this dude is in mesa az a suberb of pheonix I e/mailed him to see if we can hook up mabe do lunch thanks a million......Gnarly

[justneedtotalk]

gnarly is defintely the expert when it comes to methadone withdrawal.  I too recently went cold turkey off of methadone.  Throughout my hours and hours of research I found a really good site that had an article from what I believe to be a doctor.  He manages a methadone treatment center and I followed a lot of the natural suppliments that he recommends which I truly believe helped out immensly.  It is a great article and I highly recommend reading it in its entirety.....Good luck and God Bless!

http://www.dpeg.org/methadone_withdrawal.html

[gnarly_1]

HI  and welcome to the forum....you came to a good place for help to do this..I detoxed off 150ml of the stuff...I tapered myself off it in 8 1/2 mo was on it for 6 1/2yrs b/4 that 10yrs of pills so If I can do it so can you..methadone is a funny animal to get off of it is different for everybody that dose it some people dont seam to struggle with it others struggle every time they drop doses most people wind up somewhere in between ...as I was coming off the stuff
I hit what I call "road blocks'' along the way....you do ok then all of a sudden out of nowhere you start getting hit with withdrawals ....about all you can do is wait it out they eventually go away ..I remember getting stuck at 60 40 and 20ml was shere hell to get past but if your pacent you will get past it...tapering off is going to be uncomfortable theirs no two ways about it..but if you taper correctly you can manage the withdrawals ....this is very doable we have had many members do it successfully...try not to get discouraged when you hit a road block ....it dosent mean the rest of your taper is going to go badly its just certain doses will bother you wile others you wont notice at all
blind dosing is a good way to avoid a lot of this but its still hard it may take a day or 2 b/4 you notice the drop in dose so what your feeling on wensday may be from the drop on monday ...as fare as speed of tapering I think you need to go slow enough not to be in withdrawals but fast enough to get off as quickly as possible...I have a good taper schedule given to me by a neo/natal nurse that brings babys off heroin methadone  oxy ext if its safe enough for a baby its safe enough for us...we no longer post taper plans in the open forum but if you like I will send it to you via our messenger it worked grat for me and I recommend it to everyone...as for your concirns about sleep...sleep is always a problem some people find melatonin or valarian root helps others have went to there doctors and have had a lot of success with trasadone its non addictive and has worked for many...I will tell you this you can get by on a lot less sleep then you think you can
and the no sleep is just part of this detox it took me 2 mo to start to get back to some normal sleep but I found out I did ok with a lot less....its the energy crash that most find debilitating you just have to fight it out with good nutrition and exercise one thing I recommend you do right now is get on a vitamin regime in specific go up to walmart they cary a 3 in one vitamin calcium/magnesium/zinc..its 6bucks for 250 start taking 4 with breakfast and 4 with dinner in a few days this will build up in your system and greatlly cut down on the withdrawals you feel...I only wish I had found out about this sooner it really seams to help...just know when it all said and done it is so so worth it not to be chained to that stuff anymore...today I got 344 days clean I couldent have done it without God and this forum I will do everything I can to help you...I have helped others this is very doable it just takes some pacents and perseverance good luck to you and God bless...Gnarly    

[dominosarah]

Gnarly has a ton of info and experience with Methadone.  He will be on at some point today so keep checking back........sara

[vicki595]

Hi~~  Sleep is a big issue for everyone. There are OTC's you can take like Melatonin,
Valerian root,maybe some Nyquil without the decongestant,Hylands Calm Forte.

One of the CL's on the forum,Gnarly1,has a lot of experience with coming off Methadone.
He'll see your post and get in touch. I am surprised that you feel effects with just a two mg. drop every two weeks.  But,we're all different.

From everything I've read here on the forum,Sub is also difficult to detox from. You would need to taper way down to almost crumbs before jumping. It's pretty expensive,as well. Do you have a doctor you could speak with?

Good luck~