Hello everyone, my name is Andrew and I'm from western MD. On January, 8, 2016 my methadone clinic prematurely discharged me due to me getting a little angry with "their" idea of how i should taper down my dose. The doctor, nurses, and I had somewhat heated discussions on the topic twice before and i thought it was understood that i know my body better then anyone else and i should be able to control my taper the way i feel necessary. Well on the 8th of January i tried to drop my dose 10mgs for the second time in 10 days and they refused to decrease it. Their reasoning was, i should only be allowed to drop 10mgs every 14 days minimum if the doctor does not feel I'm at risk of relapse due to W/Ds from to fast of a taper. I tried explaining the agreement between the doctor and i but it was a futile argument and eventually i had to dose but i did not take all my methadone. I left about 1ml maybe 2mls in the bottle and this caused the nurse to throw a fit and have me stopped before i could exit the clinic by the 2 security officers that worked there. I "HAD" to speak with the doctor before i was "permitted" to leave the clinic. i was getting pretty aggravated at this point but i agreed to it. Well the doctor was waiting on me when they walked me back to the room with 2 nurses and my counselor to tell me that if i cant follow "their" guidelines for a safe methadone taper that i could lose my take homes or even be discharged from their care. At this point i became slightly belligerent, even a bit pissed about how i was being treated and how "their guidelines don't fit every patients needs and goals. After they heard my rant about the money hungry clinics and them threatening me with my take homes or dreaded W/Ds from a high dose after discharge, they gave up on getting me to take my entire dose and let me leave. Well, later that evening i get a call from my mother, informing me that i am not to show up at the clinic the next day because i was be formally discharged from their care. They had my phone number but never called me at all, not even a voicemail letting me know i was being discharged. My counselor did call me 3 days later on a Monday to apologize to me about how i was treated and discharged, adding that he was not involved with the final decision and that was against the decision to even discontinue my take homes. Also, he said he was asked to leave the room when they were discussing what administrative actions should take place. I was a patient at this clinic for almost 5 years on MMT. I did have some discipline issues during the first year of treatment, maybe 3 dirty UAs and I was caught splitting my dose because I tried to divert my dose instead of taking the whole dose at the dosing window. ((FYI) i was diverting my dose for almost 5 months because i have a high metabolism and also take adderall and the methadone would not keep me well all night long. also i would sweat profusely because of the adderall and methadone which im sure didn't help.)) The doctor and i had a chat about what was going on with my counselor present and we discussed my options on splitting my dose but it never happened. Other than those couple of mishaps in the first year, the rest of my treatment was flawless other then one dirty urine in my 4th year because i was prescribed "Tussinex" and I was unaware that it has hydrocodone in it. I took them a note from the ER doctor that prescribed it and that seemed to clear things up. i never missed a dose, never had a failure to produce a UA or mouth swab, and I kept all appointments with my counselor.
With that said, I believe their decision to discharge me prematurely and force me to cold turkey off of 120mgs of methadone was unwarranted, unjust, and borderline unlawful. I was never offered a 14-28 day rapid detox before discharge, nor was i given adequate time to find care under another physician. Also, the clinic doctor had on record, two separate occasions that i was hospitalized for multiple seizures during acute withdraw and still did not give me any options but to cold turkey from methadone. That was the biggest factor, for me, that put their actions across the line of reckless and unprofessional medical practice. It also scared the crap out of me because of the previous experience of having a seizure during withdrawal.
sorry for the long, drawn out, and over detailed post but i was figuring the more information a reader knew about my situation, the better they could answer my questions, lol.
QUESTIONS: Has anybody else had this type of negative experience with a clinic prematurely discharging them for little or no legitimate reasoning?
Is it unlawful for a clinic tho force you to take your complete dose and upon refusal, threaten you with losing your take homes or discharge?
Is it unlawful for a clinic to discharge you without a 14-28 day rapid detox or without adequate time to find care under another physician?
If it is unlawful, has anyone seen or heard of malpractice lawsuits taking place based on this type of reckless behavior from a methadone/suboxen doctor? (no lawyer, that i have spoken with, would even hear me out completely about the experience because of the cost of malpractice suits. Just curious about anybody else who might have had success with a lawsuit of this type.)
Anyone with experience going cold turkey off of a high dose of methadone, i could use some insight on the PAWS and how to regain energy and motivation. also a estimated timeline of symptom relief could be useful as well. (I understand everyone is different and we all heal on our own time but im hoping it could give and idea on what actually works to shorten PAWS and/or acute W/Ds. please be sure to post your regiment, (supplements, vitamins, medications, exercise...ect) so that we can try and compare with others. i know it wont be spot on accurate but it could point out some beneficial areas or patterns that could be useful in showing what products work and what may be malicious to the recovery process.)
Thank you for your time and answers!!! :)