Positive only pls on Methadone detox

[mom2spence]

Im on day 13 of detoxing off methadone at home. I have been on MMT for going on 4 years for treatment of painkiller addiction. It was the right time for me to get off it for so many reasons. Today is the first day ive been up to actually using the computer and moving around some. And I know getting up has probably helped more than anything else.
Im hoping to start a forum that will be positive about this difficult process.  id love to share what has been helping me and hear others stories and aids. I havent been able to find what foods to stay away from and what to eat more of besides no red meat or sugar for awhile.. Really? There has to be more..
Im 13 days in and dont plan on going back. so I ask that people please refrain from posting other drugs or treatments used. I know about lots of options out there but this was what I had to do for my situation.
I have a wonderful husband a family supporting me I just felt like it might be time for some new support and connecting with others in this situation  

[Hollaatme]

Awesome mom2! Happy to have gotten to know you a little over the last few weeks! U r a strong woman and we r all sooo proud of u! I promise in the next 6 months I will have a new chapter in my success story! Thx to u and gnarly u guys kick a*s!!!!

[gnarly_1]

hi nice to meet you.......well read over the first post I wrote here it will give you what I recamend that helps rebuild your brain time is your best friend the first month isruff right now your in the throws of acute withdrawal witch will last a good 7 days  lots of hot soaks in the tub for the aches and pains the sleep thig is just a b i t c h you may ask julus she has a formula with vlarain passion flower chamomille and a few other things that actually works.....I still suffer some insomnia frim time to time im bi polar and have forund a great tea its called YAGI kava relaxing tea 2 bags is like a xanex but its all natural you may want to google it to see if ytou can get it in your area but in all honesty I dont think theres much that helps with sleep the next stage your going to hit will be the energy crash even the simplest things become impossible you just have to push threw exerosize will help out a lot with that try starting with walks around the block I know its hot this time of yr but if your sleeping or notsleeping like a typical methadonan you will be up b/4 sunrize and even here in the desert of phx it cool enough for a walk this will really help and you will have to force yourself at first keep posting what dose did you jump off from and how long did you youse??? let me know Good luck and God bless......Gnarly  

[lamar1335]

hey! I'm on day 4 off Methadone and its really different than any other detox I've been through. it sux. any advice on what to eat and drink herbs or vitamins etc.. I'm all ears. Thank all you guys for being there for people. Just knowing there are others seems to help.

[Methsuxbad]

Hello was reading your post thought id share some of my experiences..I detoxed off methadone 37 days ago...as far as the anxiety think its pretty normal...I still have days where my heart races ect.  I have noticed that caffine seems to bring it on for me.  I didnt allow myself any the first couple weeks but noticed even just drinking a little coffee or soda in the morning seem to make me more rattled throughout the day.  You jumped at a pretty high dose so it may just take some time for your "nerves" to relax...Dont give up there are some all natural remedies gnarly told me about some tea "yogi kava kava" seems to work well...try to limit the benzos if you can very addictive!  get some exercise it really helps with the anxiety aswell...good luck

[mom2spence]

hey gnarly. First I wanted to let you know I'm on day 27 and feeling so much better than the last time I wrote. I wanted to make sure you knew I didn't disappear because I relapsed or anything. I actually wrote you back the day I got your last reply and lost it when I hit send. It was so frustrating I didn't write it again that day. I've also been so scatter brained lately it's more like shiny thing's make me forget what I was doing. Lol.  I've been dealing with a whole new issue i wanted to ask you about. So the last three days I've got on to write and ended up coming across an interesting thread and forgetting why I was there in the first place. Ugh! But that's not even the issue I'm having trouble with.
So on day 27 I can say physically I think this is the best day so far. I've even had about 4 or 5 nights that a couple benadryl or a Xanax was enough to help me sleep and stay asleep long enough to feel rested. Last night I tried with nothing expecting to have to get something when I couldn't and fell asleep and slept for about 6 hours with no aids.  So obviously things are progressing well and I feel I am at a place where I should be super proud of how far I've come. Especially because our thing has been to celebrate the small victory's.
Man I'm rambling tonight. So my issue and question are this. Through this whole process no matter how bad it was I new what was coming to an extent. Even when I started feeling better and started becoming extremely emotional it made sense. But the last few days or a little more I've started to feel what I guess is anxiety. Like i always have butterflies and feel like Im waiting for something bad to happen. It's gotten so bad the idea of going anywhere freaks me out. So now I'm super Moody, in my head about everything making me crazy and feeling so much anxiety I can't stand it. It's also super weird because my body was starting to accept meds again so I was able to go back down to Xanax twice daily and pretty much nothing else. Other than my zoloft.
It just came on so fast and is something I've never read or been told was part of the process.
I'm so sorry if this is long and chaotic. I was just wondering if this was something you knew anything about. Thanks.  J

[gnarly_1]

hi good to hear your getting out that will help you out of this .....I know first hand how difficult this stuff is to beat your doing great so far remember it all about attitude so keep your head in the game and push past the pain.....right now you try and coast a little be ez on yourself and yes there will be those days methadone is very cyclic so ya you just start to think your past it then bam it brings you down again ....keep your eyes on the prize and keep telling yourself you can do this it will get ezer as you get more days behind you right now it is tuff and you got to fight for it but it is so so worth it in the end I will keep you in my prayers and check back with you tomorrow if you need to talk or vent just message me ....Gnarly

[mom2spence]

Thanks so much for your posts. It does help so much to hear from someone who understands both the experience and the need to be off of it.
I'm hanging in there and feel a tiny bit better each day. Some days seem like a step backwards but I know that's the addiction trying to pull me back.
My doc put me on seraqul(?) TO help sleep but it's not ready yet of course.  Last night was my first night to sleep some. It helped my mood so much remembering dreams so I knew I had slept.
It's day 15 and I've been up and left the house twice and it was really hard. But my small victory's are what keep me going.  

[gnarly_1]

HI Well you jumped from a fairly hi dose so this might be a bit ugly for a wile the first 30 days are the hardest ......if you need encouragement just post where here to help are you sleeping yet???......hows your energy?? hand down this stuff is tuff to kick but it is doable
keep posting for support there is like about 5 of you guy/gal out there right now I look after all the methadnians so I will watch for your post get on the shakes as soon as you can they really help and remember to force yourself to exorsize every day even if its just a walk around the block your doing go like you said your up and thats a great start I spent the first month down but my wife forced me to walk every day it helps hang in there hope you find our forum helpful I know it helped me when I went threw it just to have someone to talk to that knows what it like talk with you soon ......Gnarly

[mom2spence]

Thank you so much for responding. Well I started at 40 in the very beggining then got pregnant and was told the baby would go through the withdrawls to if I didn't pay attention to how I was metabolizing it, so I ended up around 70 split dose.
I've never felt positive about being on mmt.  It's always been something I'm ashamed of. I got down to around 15 once, but life happened and I ended back up to around 40.  
My husband and I are both home right now so we decided it was the best time to just do it. So I halfed my 29mg for a few days than stopped.
Today is two weeks with no mmt and I'm up so that's positive. I also have a doc appt.  Today so that will be a big victory when I've done it.
And to answer your question on God? I'm not christian but i still welcome and appreciate your prayers.  :-)  lets just say im more of an earth based religion  ;-)  
Thanks J

[gnarly_1]

BTW ment to ask you what dose did you jump from and how high where you dosing at for most of the time you where on it /??? I will check back tomorrow .........Gnarly

[gnarly_1]

HI CONGRATS ON 13 days clean your still in the really tuff part of this I seen you post and just wanted to encourage you it can be done i did it 654 days ago and still count them and it as one of lifes greatest achievements I was coming off 16 1/2 yrs of pain management with the last 6 1/2 spent on 150mg of methadone so my habit was long hard and heavy so if I can do it so can you....I make a point to try to help all the methadnions get off this stuff but your in the post withdrawal stage it takes a wile to get well from this stuff for me I was miserable for the first 30 days kinda layed in limbo for the next 30 it was around 90 days that its spell wore off and I started to see the light....I always say it not so much the withdrawal that makes methadone so hard but the post withdrawals the lack of sleep the energy crash you just feel like your going to die.....you wont....you will slowly get better both time and God make a big difference in how you feel and wile you not feeling well it all about attitude evey time you get up and look in the mirror you got to choose to have a good day or at least make the best out of what you have to work with attitude will make or break you...I do recamend a good multi vitamin addition vit-C and go to walmart and pick up some whey protein shake mix its 15 bucks for a 2lb can the chocolate flavor is good you just mix it with milk this will give you the amino acids extra vitamins and the extra protein your brain is going to need to heal drink 2 a day till you start to come around
exeosize is critical ...I know its hard enough just to get up and walk to the bathroom but force yourself to take a walk around the block every day and work yourself up from there
aftercare is critical to weather it be N/A or a substance abuse comnslor A/A or a tharipist find somthing that fits and work it you will need the added support to get threw this if you can find a N/A meeting that has the most to offer and its free....I know im throwing a lot of stuff at you right now and thers more but this is the basics of how I recovered also I dont know if you believe in God or not and im not going to shove him down your throat but for me knowing theres a living God that wants whats best for me out there helping me in my weak times someone to cry out to when you cant stand it any more and then someone to pray to to lay my burdens down ...I cannot over enfisize how helpful a relationship with Jesus has been for me.....I really struggled to get off the stuff ....I tapered for 8 1/2 mo and there where times I couldn't do it on my own power by the grace of God I got past it
enough said let me know if you believe I will pray for you ether way that God shows you favor and you recover quickly.....now if you have any questions let me know if I dont know the answer I will put you in touch with someone that dose thats one of the things I do on this forum thats what the little purple star is for we serve the community you can just post here or message me....I will do my best to help you out of this whole you in now try not to get discouraged and keep telling yourself '''you just got to be ok without being ok for a wile '' this to shall pass....good luck and God bless........Gnarly