Methadone withdrawal HELP

[mandi52285]

I have been taking 70mg for about 3 years. I recently just dropped 2mg per week and got down to 58mg this week. I lost insurance coverage and my car broke down and I missed an appointment. I have no family besides my husband in this state to help me get to the clinic, pay my missed appointment fee, and pay the 150.00 per week for my dose.  I have no friends or family that can help me. My husband just got laid off on top of it all we are getting evicted because the landlord who has been taking out money 'forgot' to tell us that he quit paying the mortgage and is in foreclosure I have two kids 6 and 9. When it rains it pours.

Don't want to throw a pity party but my husband has been working at this company for 7 years now and has always worked hard. I was supposed to graduate with my associates degree this semester (fall), which will not happen now. With all that is going on my school has been postponed until spring. We have always worked hard and taken care of ourselves the right way. I got in this situation because I got extremely addicted to a pain medication that I was prescribed for a back injury I sustained and mild scoliosis that I have had since young. I feel as if my life is falling apart.

I have been wanting to quit Methadone for a while but I didn't want the withdrawals to affect my schooling so I put it off. I was however aware that our insurance would be cut off eventually so I started saving one or two doses a week, every week, for a while. I stored it in used energy shot bottles. I have around 4000mgs right now. And as I suspected my worst fear (concerning methadone) came true. I hated duping the clinic by saving doses BUT in my situation I was looking out for me and mine.

My last dose was yesterday morning (full dose). I took 10mg out of my stash tonight. I am well versed in what will happen with WDs start. I have been researching this since I started. I know I will be out of commission when that starts. My husband has locked my stash in the safe and bought an eyedropper to measure my doses. I am aware that I don't have enough for a nice year long withdrawal. At 58mgs I was on and having 4000mgs left I was wondering what you guys suggest. Should I just quit cold turkey?

I want to make an appointment with my physician but the last time I talked to him about methadone he said he was not versed in it and didn't have a good enough relationship with me to help (that was a long time ago). I have not seen him since. Will he help me at all you guys think? I heard sleeping pills and a few other drugs will help withdrawals but I don't know if he will help me at all. Maybe I should get a new doctor if he won't? I am a little afraid because I have had heart problems (was hospitalized once for a problem with my heart-rate). I constantly have high or low blood pressure which I hear can make WDs dangerous. I am going to need help what should I do?

[hangetsu]

You sound like you've got a good plan in place. You made a pretty big drop to start and it may take a little while to stabilize but once you do keep at the schedule you outlined above and you should be able to do it without much discomfort. This will probably be the worst you feel, it should get easier after this IMO.

You should have plenty to work with, just don't drop too fast and you should be alright.

[mandi52285]

Oh yeah. I will tell you guys what I have been doing to stay sane. I have Imodium and Kaopectate (which has potassium) for bubble gut. I am taking woman's one a day multivitamin. I am taking Melatonin with B6 for sleep and RLS issues. I have Tylenol for aches and pains (I think Ibuprofen would help more?).
We have a pool and when I am really sick the floating feeling in the water helps but since I am having hot and cold flashes I find myself cold in there. I also take hot showers for cramps.
I guess it's discouraging because I am not even close to hard withdrawal and it HURTS.
I am going to be asking the doc for Lyrica and clonodine (I don't know if I am spelling it right).

[mandi52285]

On day 4 or 5... Time is slow. I have an unusual sinus headache and tension headache that has been keeping me awake. Bubble gut is rough. I am tired but can't sleep and that is MADDENING. My husband and I took your advice here and went up to 30mg a day which is still just plain hard. I am planning to stabilize myself here over the next few weeks before I attempt to go down to 25mgs. I am seriously still discouraged BUT I am also determined. More determined than I have ever been. I am making a dr. appointment after this post. I will keep you guys posted. Thanks for the advice everyone. I am taking everything you guys say to heart. I have nobody else to talk to.

[atthebeach]

38mg drop is way too much at one time. why did you decide to do that? with 4000 mgs you could go slower.

[Jenelle2020]

Hi mandi, I agree with what weaver has to say about methadone. Do NOT go cold turkey, you will be incredibly sick! I am currently doing a methadone taper and have been doing it for over 2 years. I was at 130mgs at the most and I have tapered down to 27mgs, I had to stop at 39mgs and regroup as I had pretty bad withdrawals, when I was at 51 mgs, I started going down 2mgs/week, it became too much so I started going 1mg/week and I am doing okay but still feeling withdrawal. Methadone is a really tough one to kick. My advice is to take it as slowly as you possible can with what you have, and if things become too much, stop and level out for a couple weeks until  you feel you are ready to drop again. Once again, please do not go cold turkey! I come on here nearly every day to read the posts and I am available to you if you choose to message me and we can talk about this. Whatever you choose to do I will also support you in any way I can. I am currently taking clonidine, daily, it really helps with the withdrawals. All the best!

[weaver71]

That's a pretty big jump, but I will support you in your decision. The important thing is not to jump up real high again. It is awesome that your husband supports you and is locking up the pills. I too have mild scoliosis and eventually convinced my wife to give me more and then I found the stash when it got real bad. Joint pain is a symptom and makes one very uncomfortable. Make sure your husband knows your plan in detail. Write it down and tell him to not give in no matter what you say or how hard it is for him to watch you suffer. Methadone almost killed me. It only gets worse with time, so I'm glad you have started to gain your life back. I can say now that I finally remember what emotions are again. We don't realize it as the methadone cuts us off from friends, family, and ourselves. My 8 and 10 yr old children said that i am more present now and listen to them more. Keep your eye on the prize not the pain. Read other peoples posts, watch a move, just keep your mind off how bad you feel, it makes it worse. Good luck and keep us posted.