Methadone withdrawal

[Mandymuffin86]

My boyfriend is on day 5 of withdrawing off of 240mg of methadone. All he does is sleep, probably to avoid all the pain. He has restless legs, runny nose, diarrhea, restlessness in his sleep, and is only able to sleep at all because an urgent care MD gave him a 5 day supply of lorazepam to help with his anxiety. No MDs will take him on as a patient because he has no insurance so he is stuck withdrawing. He has herniated discs so he is in severe pain with nothing to treat it. I am wondering if there is anything I can do to make the withdrawal process easier for him. I am also wondering if there are any resources I can utilize to help him. We are located near Syracuse, NY and all methadone clinics we found have a 6 month wait. Any advice at all would be appreciated, I've never taken anything stronger than Motrin so narcotics and withdrawals are not something I am familiar with!!

[gnarly_1]

HI THIS might be a good thing or might not be if the doctor gives him narcotics it will halt the withdrawals but it will also halt the healing narcotics are not the answer for long term pain control thus will only screw up his sub doctor visit you have to be in active withdrawals to go on sub if they give him narcotics his visit will be in vein they wont be able to put him on the sub need at least 24hr of withdrawals to indues sub you need to go with him to make sure he is not drug seaking when he goes to the doctor on wensday good luck to you with this on my bet is thats exactly why he is going there........Gnarly

[fbcoach]

Glad to see things are going better. Just a note....I'm sure, as a Pharmacist,  you already know that if he needs to be on pain meds the rest of his life, that it is OK. The pain meds will allow him a higher quality of life, if used appropriately, and a healthier life. Anyway, Good Luck and again, glad things are looking up.

[Mandymuffin86]

My how quickly things change! I just got off the phone with my boyfriend and it seems he has finally found an MD to see him this Wednesday.  This alone has helped his attitude, he now seems to have hope.  He is seeing a spinal doctor (since he does have herniated discs).  He is not sure what to expect from that appointment, he does not know what the MD can prescribe, but if nothing else he is hoping for some mild pain meds and something to help him sleep until he can get in with a suboxone prescriber on the 15th.  As far as as whether or not he is motivated to get off the meds himself, I am somewhat torn.  Before he was suddenly forced into detoxing he did frequently express interest in getting off.  He said he felt like the meds were both controlling and ruining his life.  He was always coming up with different ways that he though he could taper (taking his meds every other day instead of every day, decreasing by 1 tablet/dose/week, etc) but never seemed to follow through with them, probably because he was more dependant on them than he thought. We also talked about rehab but the cost for those programs we out of our current budget.  It is sad to have to put a pricetag on your well being, but financially we just couldn't do it.  Since he has been forced into withdrawing he has made dozens and dozens of calls to treatment facilities.  Part of this motivation I'm sure is to get SOMETHING so that he can stop all the physical/emotional distress he is going through.  On the phone he said he is really committed to getting off everything because he doesn't want to always worry about withdrawing like this again.  He asked me to help him stay committed to that goal, which is a big step for him because in the past he has always asked me to stay out of his business when it came to the medications.  He said I was getting too involved, probably because I'm a Pharmacist and that's why it peaks my interest.  In reality it peaks my interest because I want what's best for him, and I'd love to start a family with him some day, but not until all of this is resolved.  So, I am buying him gatorade and supplements whether he likes it or not, and I am hoping he will appease me because he loves me and give it a shot, to at least make the next couple days until his appt easier.  The last 6 days have been no walk in the park, but I've tried  to be supportive, whether it was massaging creams on his back, taking care of his dog who he isn't able to care for very well at the moment, or providing the financial backing for his MD visits and taking him to the urgent care myself and trying to use my status as a healthcare provider to make the doctors listen and not just blow him off as a junkie.  It seems there may be some light at the end of the tunnel and I just hope the MD he sees on Monday will be able to help him enough that he can return to work in a week.  Thank you all for the support, it seems I'm on a rollercoaster and things keep changing so quickly even by the hour, but knowing that others have made it through this gives me hope for him.

[fbcoach]

One year ago I was forced to come off 400-800mgs/day of morphine, due to the negligence of my doctor. Some of the things that helped were, as others mentioned,1)  stay hydrated, 2) 10mg ambien allowed me to sleep from midnight to 2:00am (others have used anti-histamines),3)  forcing myself to walk 30-40minutes helped with the pain and emotional state and allowed me to relax afterwards for about 30 minutes,fter 4) eat something you can keep down.
After 14 days the withdrawal seem to subside (just a little). I statrted noticing my stamina increasing. I coinguld walk farther without pain, as well as watch (and focus) 20-30minutes of TV. This was all very gradual. After 4 weeks, I actually made myself get back on a workout routine. It was painful, but exhilarating. What had seemed like years, I soon found myself back to Coaching Football. The whole experience seemed as if time passed in slow motion and at times agonizing. Please know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and he will be all the stronger for the experience.
He is lucky to have you by his side. I don't know what I would had done without my wife. I thank God for her every day. I am one lucky guy!

[gnarly_1]

HI your best bet is just give him space take anything he says right now with a grain of sand coming off 20 mg is torture I cant begin to imagine what he is going threw both physically or emotionally I went threw 8 1/2 mo of one miserable taper my wife and I go back28ys at the time and it was quite trying on our relationship if he has to wait 2 weeks to do the sub dont bother he will be threw the worst of it right now sever him because you love him but dont expect anything back he is going threw a very traumatic experience when atthebeach comes on talk with her debbie went thew it with her husband and is very knowledgeable im sure she will be able to relate to you trust me what he says and dose wile under this amout of trauma he dosent mean its the dope talking he might not be a very nice person for a wile just keep it simple and dont expect much back you 2 will get threw this if I can help just message me........Gnarly  

[atthebeach]

mandy,
i absolutely understand your frustration with him. you are right, it seems you are doing all the work to help fix his addiction issues. if he doesnt actively try to help himself during this he doesnt seem he truly wants  to get clean. he if only doing it because he was forced into the detox. that is a totally different scenario. i think you should step back and let him make or break himself. he needs to move around laying around is not helping him. yes the vitamins will definitely help. he needs to change his mind set.
i lived with my addict husband for years and if they arent ready they arent ready. you live together?  has HE looked into any counseling or support groups yet? my husband & i work with alot of addicts, we do intervention and try to get them into inpatient programs.
when they want to go in patient they are the ones who need to call and do the interivew ,that shows they are being proactive about their recovery. mom,wife,sister,brother,gf,bf,husband you get the idea cant call for them. take a step back
in love.
keep the faith.
debbie