Methadone withdrawal!

[McGame]

Hi There,
Was wondering if anyone could help me? I was a heroin addict for about a year and then was put on a methadone prescription. I was only on 45mill liquid form stablised for 2 month then i started reducing myself b4 my drugs coucillor said to and i reduced to 10mill in about 2-3 weeks. Then i went from 10 to 5 to 2.5mill in 3 days n now im on nothing. Im obviously withdrawing now quite bad and was wondering if anyone knmew how long the sleepless nights and no appitite and basically feelin s****y will last? Keeping in mind i have only been on meth for about 3 months maybe a lil longer? Please can someone help me??!!??

Thanks

[Thomas07]

you're welcome, and best wishes on your new life! You sound like you're far enough through the withdrawal tunnel that turning back and re-initiating the methadone would be a waste of time and effort. You're fortunate you only have a 1-year and change habit to deal with. I didn't mean to imply that you used heroin and 'done at the same time, not that it would make any difference at this point. I was simply including your period on methadone in your using time because all opiates essentially have the same effect on the receptors in the brain intended by mother nature to join with natural (endogenous) morphine, for short, endorphin. Of course, different opioids bind to different opiate receptors and stimulate them to varying degrees and for varying durations, but the overall effect of strong mu opioid-binders is the same. Heroin is devilishly unique because its particular chemistry allows it to cross the blood-brain barrier with abandon and flood those receptors -- for six seconds, anyway, since heroin breaks down into plain old morphine in about 6 seconds. After that, your smack high is indistinguishable from morphine. But that 6 seconds of nirvana seems to be quite the life-destroyer. I'm glad you got past it.

Are you exercising at all? Aerobic exercise, especially, is really the best long-term solution to feeling consistently good after recovery, and if you're not doing any now, and you're physically able, I urge you to start -- anything that gets the breathing and pulse rates up and keeps them up for 20 minutes or so (fast walk, jog, lap swim, bicycle, stair master, the list goes on).

Good luck,

Thomas

[McGame]

Hi M8,
No it wasnt my drugs councillors idea i just wanted to get back to a normal life as soon as possible as i have a new job starting and basically my life is starting over again. I wasnt on heroin and methadone at the same time tho was just the meth stable for 2 month then i reduced 5 mil every 2 days. im startin to feel better as days go by but my legs are still really shakey and i haventt got my full appitite back yet. I start work tomorrow as well :(. But yea the main reason to get off was coz meth made me sweat alot and i hated it. Its been 4-5 days now so shud feel better for tomorrow. I know people that have come off heroin on its own cold turkey and they were better in about 5 days but i know meth is a longer lasting drug so im hoping this week ill feel ok well about Thursday time.

Thanks for your help and information!

McGame

[Lookyhere]

i kno whatcha mean. this what i do.
Start typing your post reply and when you want to go back to see original post-hit the "history reverse" button in upper left corner.
What's good is that it will take you back to the original post. When finnidhed reading hit the "forward" button to take you back. When i do this, i do not loose any of the words i have typed. They are still there when i go back and forward. and you can do this over and over.
This works on my borwser.  I hope it works same on you.

[Thomas07]

A bad feature of this forum environment is that you can't see the post that you're replying to while composing the reply. Anyone know of a preference or whatever that makes this happen?

Thomas

[Thomas07]

Hey McGame (good handle for this forum),

Do I read you correctly, you were on heroin full-time for a year, 45ml of methadone for 2 months,then in 2 or 3 weeks (I'm guessing 2) went from 45ml to 10ml, then from 10ml to zip in 3 days?

What's the hurry? Did you really want to be off this quick or was it your drug councilor's idea? You're probably feeling methadone withdrawal plus the long-term effects of your heroin/methadone use on how your brain perceives pain without the presence of opiates. Remember, opioids (includes synthetics such as methadone), are received by the brain as endorphins, and over the course of a habit, the brain scales down its production of endorphins in response to what it perceives as an endorphin surplus. When all opioids are discontinued, you go into an endorphin deficit state and that's when you suffer. Takes the brain "a while" to realize it's all alone again making endorphins and boost production.

I think you went off too quickly.

Thomas



Replying to this post:

Was wondering if anyone could help me? I was a heroin addict for about a year and then was put on a methadone prescription. I was only on 45mill liquid form stablised for 2 month then i started reducing myself b4 my drugs coucillor said to and i reduced to 10mill in about 2-3 weeks. Then i went from 10 to 5 to 2.5mill in 3 days n now im on nothing. Im obviously withdrawing now quite bad and was wondering if anyone knmew how long the sleepless nights and no appitite and basically feelin s****y will last? Keeping in mind i have only been on meth for about 3 months maybe a lil longer? Please can someone help me??!!??