how to use methadone to quit vicodin

[gingerbreadmand]

I am a 3 year on and off veteran of hydro addiction. also had a short stint with oxy which led me to an inpatient program. I only stayed clean about 30 days and started the snowball downhill with the excuse that I just needed two to help me feel happy on x-mas... you know, not for me, but so my 2 year old would see me smile. anyway, x months later and i just wiped out 240 10/325 norcos in two weeks. I feel better reading in these groups, i feel like i keep seeing my story over and over. the shame is the worst part. i am really resisting rehashing the same old story for everyone, especially since i'm so paranoid that my friends and family are monitoring these sites for clues that i may have fallen off the wagon. just take the worst, saddest parts of everyone's story and put them all together, that's me. briefly, i am a very bright, high functioning addict. i've been told all my life how smart i am and how great the things i've done are. i guess that is why it is so easy for people to excuse my actions and turn a blind eye towards my addiction. again, i must restrain myself from sharing too much because i also tend to get carried away, almost bragging about how cunningly decietful i can be in scoring pills and hiding it from everyone that loves me. As smart as i think i am, i am much more an addict. i can spend 15 minutes in my head going over all the reasons why i should quit, then pick up four norcos and swallow them. i recently gained new hope that i could quit norcos after i recently quit smoking. i used the patch to control cravings and never looked back, so now i feel if i just use the right relplacement to ween off, i'll be able to do it. This leads to my question, finally. does anyone have any information on using methadone to get off of hydrocone. I have access to as much methadone as i need, but i need a good plan to use them. please help!  I'll post more in the future to let people know more about me. Thanks in advance.

[pacnwgrl]

Hey there -
   Here's what  I know/can offer. I  do not understand reading all the posts here about using methadone to wean off hydro.   I am a veteran of all kinds of  pain meds and a couple  of years back, when I was going to a pain clinic and nothing was working (Fentanyl transdermal patches  100mcg) on top of oral hydro. my Doc gave me methadone as a STRONGER alternative.  So if it's stronger than Fentanyl (which is a pretty strong med, usually reserved for long-term pain sufferers and cancer pts) than where is the reasoning that methadone is weaker than hydro??  My experience is,  that it ISN'T.  I had a snafu where I ran out, my docs were on vacation, and the on-call docs wouldn't  Rx more because  of the high dose and the class and they were afraid of it.  I had HORRIBLE DT's/W/ds.   I was so glad to be off it that when they (doc back from vacation) asked if I wanted a new Rx for methadone I said "NO Thanks"   So someone somewhere got sold a bill of goods and now I'm reading where a lot of y'all are trading one horrible addiction for the other.  I worry about that.  
   Just what I know.  
  

[fishmeal]

I'm much like you. I would go through 90 in 10 days and wonder why.  Methadone, from what I understand is very powerful and you can go the perfectly legit route by doing the suboxone.  They are little pills that are very potent and can absolutely make you feel like you did before you ever took the meds WITH MOTIVATION.  I stress that because I could not find enough norcos to function anymore and the sub. got me right out of that funk into the work force again.... i would suggest doing that before the methadone.

I looked into the "Rapid Detox" places and they want umpteen thousand dollars to administer that drug to you.  Now there are plenty of dox that will prescribe it for you,,, (it does take a special cert and if you go on the suboxone website they have a little search engine for your zip code).
best
fish

[Addicted2Pain]

From everything I've read, and from my own experiences, you should only use methadone as a very short-term way of getting off hydr's.

When I'm out of hydro's, I will take one 10mg of methadone a day for approx. 3 days. Wait until you actually are in withdrawal, like 24 hours after your last hydro. That will get you through the worst of the hydro withdrawals.