Some Questions about getting OFF methadone, Please help...

[Marshall1984]

I am 24 years old and I started at a methadone clinic 4 years ago.
I was taking about 20-25 percocet a day and I had some friends who were eating about 10, 80mg oxycontin pills a day who had started on the methadone and had NO withdrawl from the Oxycontin so I figured that was the root I would take for my Percocet addiction..

If I would have had ANY idea that Methadone was MORE addictive than percocet I would have just went the month really sick and came off the perks, Now I have been on methadone for 4 years.. I started on 15mg and gradually have went up over the years and I am now at 50mg..

I would like to come off and I was wondering how many milograms at a time I should go down at, I was thinking 2 every 2 weeks so that I would feel NOTHING at all, I have a 3 year old little girl and I am a single father so I can't afford to be sick all of the time...
I use to be an athlete and now I am overweight, My teeth look like **** (I am going in to have them ALL taken out and dentures put in) and I just want to go back to living like a normal healthy person..
My best friend is my 53 year old mother, she goes through life taking NOTHING but vitamins and wont even take an advil unless she is in intense pain from a migraine.. I want to go back to that life..

So if anyone could help me with these questions I would appreciate it

1. going down 1mg a week am I going to feel withdrawl at all really, or is this going slow enough my body can beat it?

2. If I do feel withdrawl what are the symptoms? I know some people have trouble sleeping at night, I take 100mg seroquel everynight to go to sleep so I am hoping to deek this

[Marshall1984]

Thank you very much..

I have a friend who is on methadone and he is ALWAYS upping and downing his dosage and it seems like he is ALWAYS feeling like ****.. I have been on 50mg for about a year and a half and WOULDN'T go up because I knew the higher I went the harder I figured it would be..

Im not grossly out of shape, I just am about 10 pounds overweight and dont feel myself.. I would like to join a gym and even have a 3 month free pass its just I have my daughter full time, I am thinking of doing this once I get her put into day care..

The reality with methadone is it TOTALLY hinders your life.. I can't go to college because normally twice a week I have to go to a PACKED methadone clinic to leave a urine sample which can take an hour or so and no school or job just lets you take 2 days a week off or 2 mornings off...

I am a total mommas boy haha, she is a great lady and she will be of help.. She tells me all the time to just get off and she will "Help me with the flu for a week" but I dont think she understands the severity and unless someone could TAKE my daughter their is NO WAY I am going cold turkey..

Ill keep ya updated and thank you..

[Penelope14]

I tapered off of 90mgs of methadone & came off at 2mgs, this took about a year, I went down 2mgs per week, some prefer to jump off at higher doses, & thats their choice, but myself personally, I wanted my detox to be as simple & easy as possible. Regardless of the dose someone is on, its typically the same recovery process, two weeks to three weeks of suffering, then it seems to start getting better. I never felt any withdrawals untill I got under 10mgs, then I felt like a wreck for a few days, then Id feel better, till my next drop, this continued till I was off of methadone for about a month. I was on methadone for 5 years & never became over weight or had any problems with my teeth, but Ive heard of others making these complaints? If I were you Id start taking a good vitamin & if you dont excersise, this would be a good time to start. Just try to stay positive & try not to think about withdrawals, this was the mistake I made when I got off methadone, the more I thought about it, the worse I felt. & Its nice to hear that your so close to your mother, she sounds like she may be a good person to help you thru the detox period & recovery process of getting off methadone. Good Luck & keep us posted on how your feeling during your taper!! Penelope

[Marshall1984]

Honestly anybodys input would be appreciated...