is methadone the answer?

[hawaiiii]

Hi Everyone,
I know the consensus seems to be to avoid methadone at all costs.  I have a question though, and hopefully someone who is on methadone maintenance could respond?

I have a 10 year addicion to narcotics (oxy, vic, etc.)  My habit is formidable: average between 100-3 or even 400 mgs. a day.  
I have detoxed myself before, usually because I had to because of lack of supply.  
I know that I will always crave these drugs, and would continue to do sometimes horrible things to get them.
Last week I decided screw this.  I started at a methadone maintenance clinic.  I'm on day 8, my dose is about stable at 60 mg. a day, and I finally feel normal.
It takes 11 months to get to the point where you only have to visit the clinic once a week, you can get 6 take home bottles a week.
I honestly think this is the answer to my addiction.  If I take suboxone, and get off the oxy, so what??? As soon as I get some I'll take them again.
Methadone doesnt' give me the euphoric rush I love, but I sort of fills what feels to me like a missing part of me.  
I wish I was a person who could get off all together, but after 10 years of trying, failing, stealing, crying, all the trauma that comes with addiction, why can't methadone be the answer???
Thanks for opinions.

[gnarly_1]

HI welcome to the forum.....dont be adtrade to come off methadone true it is hard but the withdrawals are manageable get with your nurse or keyworker and est up a slow taper you will feel it less this way take your time this is not a rase it took me 8 1/2mo to get off 150mg let your body make the final decision of when to drop doses if your feeling withdrawals wait it out getting off methadone will be one of the greatest accomplishments odf you life ad so so worth it good luck and God bless message me if I can help I help most of the methadonians that come there the forum.....Gnarly  

[kylea1972]

i feel the same waY but im scared to stop going to the clinic,dont wana get sick

[Nativemumma]

ok i dont understand the people that say they just up an quit methadone at 160 mg etc etc... of course your going to feel the withdrawl worse then the pill withdrawl but why would u just up an quit like that?? My doctor has always told me to taper off of it by 5 or 10 mg when ur at 70+mg and once you get to 30mg you should taper down by 2-3mgs at the most because when your as low as 30mgs your more likely to relapse because u will feel the effects of coming down to fast off the methadone i been going down by 5mgs every week and have not had a problem and now im at 19 i been goin down by 3 every week since then and i still feel fine i would not recommend just stopping the methadone at once if your on a high dose, and i am another one that methadone has saved the life of without it id probably be dead or in jail without my children and everyone ones experience on methadone will be different just like any other medication we all have different effects depending on the person but in the end its totally up to you what route in life you want to take and if you want to stay on the right path

[kansasgirl30]

Hi I'm new here, have been off methadone for 18 days. I was addicted to painkiller for about 6 months till someone told me about methadone.They said it will help u get off the painkillers.Boy were they wrong!I started at 10mg then just started going up from there when i finally decided I'd had enough and was going to think about my family I was taking 120mg a day.I pray to god every day for saving me I could have killed my self on that much I am a little thing.
That Damn drug(cause that is what it is)almost ruined my life and my family's.I am so glad I have such a caring husband and Mother to help me through the withdrawels.It was not easy but it was worth it.First the cold sweats,and no sleeping,couldnt eat,had the shakes,my back wouldnt stop hurting,I had no energy.I know it sounds bad,but not as bad as knowing you could loose your family,or even your sense of yourself.It will get better,you just have to keep going.Still a little weak,and have to make myself eat,but it was worth it.So keep your head up!

[Max_Power]

If you have made many other attempts at quitting (suboxone/short term methadone, treatment houses etc..)  and ended up going back to your old lifestyle then methadone maintenance is a good option to get away from the people places and especially behavior/thought patterns inherent in addiction.      

This is especially true if your drug of choice is definitively opiates and you are not likely to just do everything you would normally do except replace opiates with cocaine, benzos, and/or alcohol. Alot of addiction has to do with habits and thought patterns. I think the 2 most common self-defeating behaviors of addicts are inability to take personal responsibility, instead blaming everyone and everything but themselves, therefore giving away all their personal power and turning them into a perpetual victims. The other self-defeating behavior is an addiction not to drugs but to the highs and lows. It is completely non-intuitive but they become a part of the addiction experience. When one is agonizingly sick doing drugs feels that much better because emotional intensity of the high is based on a relative response. To use a cliche "the bigger you are the harder you fall" but that also applies in reverse.

Methadone maintenance is a solid option for people who have not been able to quit even after trying many other methods. I believe in those cases there is likely some type of minor or extreme mental health problem complicating matters. Methadone can enable some stability and normalcy that gives a person enough breathing room so that they can begin to re-prioritize their life and identify negative thought and behavioral patterns, slowly over time. In my opinion this would occur with any opiate under the right circumstances but the illegality of these drugs and their placement in the black market precludes this from happening due to high prices, lack of professional support, and the subculture that grows therein. Do not get me wrong I do not believe drugs should be outright legalized, though I despise the nanny state, but I do believe opiate maintenance through medically supervised professionals with low cost drugs for treatment resistant addicts while concomitantly raising sentences for trafficking would lower street values to the point where dealing drugs would no longer be worth the risk, drastically curtailing the amount of new addicts. This would have a threefold benefit, not including lowering the availability of drugs. 1) It would stop the imprisonment of people for possession (a victimless crime) freeing up resource for murderers, rapists, violent criminals etc. 2) The current self-destructive subculture of addicts would no longer be isolated in their own little world which is for the most part divorced from the reality of the majority of non-addicted society and which fosters negative attitudes and behavior. 3) Addicts would be much more likely to treated by professionals while being in a much more stable living situation than what most addicts are used to, giving them the opportunity to slowly readjust to a normal life and focus on what they want in life vs constantly running around trying to find the next fix. Since this is not currently the case I believe that while the withdrawals from methadone suck it is a short term problem when compared to spending the rest of ones life stuck in the mindset, subculture, hopelessness and extremes of the addict. If you have tried many other avenues only to go back to the life of an addict then it is worth trying methadone maintenance until you feel comfortable and stable enough to quit. A stable life on methadone is definitely better than an unstable one spent chasing the next fix!

[bmdad]

Hey Tiffkiah...welcome to the forum! I myself don't have any experience with methadone but wanted to let you know that you should start you own tread. Doing so will give you a thread that is dedicated to you. Sometimes when new questions are posted within a post they can be overlooked. At the top of the page click on the green button that says "post a question". This forum is full of some wonderful people and will bend over backwards to help and support you.

Best of luck!




Brian

[tiffkiah]

I was on methadone for only about 6 months.  I got up to 50 mg and then started reading all the negatives about it on the internet so I started decreasing.  I am now at about 1mg a day and have been for about 2 weeks.  I have had some withdrawals but nothing too too bad to complain about.  What I would like to know is with it being so low of a dose (1 mg) will I feel more withdrawals once I stop it completely??  If anyone can give some good advice or has been like this before, please respond.  I have 5 children to take care of and can not afford to have major withdrawals.

[Beau333]

What is the easiest opiate to wing off of? I have access to morphine, hydrocodone, Norco, Oxycodone, and Methadone but I want to wing off of one of them or actually all of them but what is the best way to wing off. I know everyone is going to have different opinions but I'm just curious.

[was22]

Methadone is a good and a bad thing. I have been on a mmp for the past 12 years. I can go on with my everyday life without drugs but, it is very difficult to come off of methadone. I will take decrease of 5 milligrams and feel alright and then sometimes when I take the decrease I can feel it. I have a month at a time take home status. Yes, the withdrawals are bad but, there is positive as well . You can function an everyday life style and not be nodding out all the time and you will save money because your not spending all you have to the drug dealer. My advice to you is to stay on the program but don't have positive urine screens or they can and most likely increase your dose and get stable and when you feel that your ready to come off of it slowly decrease. The bad thing is that everyone at the clinic that I go to has been on this for years and years. It is difficult to withdrawal from. Good luck to you.

[Nancy_Julian606]

Jesus people, enough with the lame cliches. Oxycontin led me to the gates of hell, methadone withdrawl *****, blah blah frickin' blah. I was on heroin, morphine, dilaudid, whatever for um, I'm not sure really. At least 9 or 10 years. I did about 6-8 100mg morphines (in my fingers, my arms were shot, ha ha!) usually 3 at a time for much of my addiction, and yeah, I sold all my ****, stole some more ****, went to jail, went through withdrawal, had abseccess, all that stuff, and it sucked. I mean, it was fun, but it sucked. But it's just a physical and mental reaction, and there's a lot of things a lot worse, and I don't see why it's so bad as long as you have a steady and high quality supply o' dope (i.e. methadone) I've been on methadone for 2 years now, 175mg per day, and I wouldn't trade it for the world, nor do I ever intend to get off it. I go to work everyday, don't ever crave drugs, don't do any other drugs, have a wonderful boyfriend and a nice apartment, so why exactly is methadone so bad? I couldn't do that on street drugs, and I couldn't go cold turkey, and I don't WANT to go cold turkey (Should a diabetic go "cold turkey" from insulin just cause for some reason not being on a drug is automatically a good thing?) Yeah, you can have withdrawls, yeah it's expensive, but it saves people's ***** who can't get normal any other way. I was in jail for 6 months and was still going through withdrawal when I got out, so I don't think my brain is ever going to begin producing enough mu endorphin to fill all my extra opiate receptors. You might be the same, so stay on your medicine hun, and f*** anyone who tries to tell you it's "evil". Despite standard mythology, not everyone on methadone is just placeholding to reattain active street drug cravings, and not everyone on methadone lacks self control. And no, there's no major contraindications as far as methadone and tramadol go. Unlike Buprenorphine, methadone is not a mixed agonist/antagonist (there's no such thing as a "blocker") so the tramadol will not send you into withdrawal. However, tramadol does cause a seizure risk, and opiate drugs may elevate this risk. This is why tramadol is placed on "do not take" lists, not because of any antagonist action. As far as I know, the only antagonist drugs on the market are Suboxone, Nubain, Narcane, and Tubain.

[AlexNixon]

in addition to my post, the tapering i am referring to is not through a methadone clinic where you go home after. the one i did was at a treatment center, where they take you down slowly and comfortably. it`s not one where they just give it to you and send you on your way. i suggest looking into something like that. it`s the best way.

[AlexNixon]

I suggest methadone tapering. it`s a program designed for oxycontin patients in particular, or any opiate addict. they formulate a dose of methadone based on your dose of opiates. they cut you off opiates cold turkey. every day they slowly reduce the amount of methadone, so by the end, you walk out clean of opiates and methadone. i went into methadone tapering treatment on 300mg of oxycontin daily. i walked out of treatment clean off methadone and oxycontin after 8 days. methadone is dangerous if it is not used properly. people who use methadone themselves to get off an opiate, misuse it. they become dependent on the methadone. methadone withdrawal is worse than you can ever imagine. it makes things like oxy and heroin look pathetically easy. it;s the hardest to withdraw from. so if you use methadone, do it in a facility where they can taper you down, and monitor you and your dosage. it saved my life.

[lin136]

I don't know about oxy but methadone is terrible when trying to get off of it.  They say it is the worst opiate to detox from.  Please think twice before getting on that suff.  Good Luck

[krissy30]

I was on Methadone for  6 years, 160mg.  It was much harder to come off of then the Heroin.  Heroin is harder to kick that Oxycodone.  I've had this terrible burden for 15 years.  Anyhow, my life was great while I was on it. I was able to function.  However, once i was no longer able to afford the clinc I had to stop and relapsed straight away..  The withdrawal was gosh awful.  I would recommend Suboxone, in fact, if i could afford it, I'd be on it now.  It acts almost the same as Methadone, but with less intense withdrawal.  It also acts as an opiate blocker and allows an addict a chance at a normal life again.    It will block opiates for about 24 to 36 hours, so if you get a craving you'd have a wait at least a day for the sub to stop taking affect, and hopefully by then your craving will have calmed enough for you to hurry up and take your next scheduled dose.  I know it's more expensive but pls check into the subs.  Methadone, causes severe mental and emotional damage.  Please do yourself a favor and check into these to drugs very closely.  I was devastated.  I used those 6 years of Methadone maintenance to build my life up again.  I had moved into my own place, and could no longer afford the weekly bills at the clinic, and was kicked out.  Those people totally screwed my sobriety up.  When I got down to a about 15mg, it was awful, I got very ill, and it was not a strong enough dose to block opiates, I relapsed and lost everything....again.  After losing everything, I said hell, I got nothing now,,I turned into a junkie again..  I still struggle daily.    My life has been turned upside down.  Please check into Suboxone.

[TonySuprano]

I say this becuz i care .

[TonySuprano]

Please for god sake get that thought out of your head?, I would compare it to Hitler concentration camps. SEriously please dont do it ..You will end up a life in misery and if you can get out you will be 2% of the lucky ones. Look up its side effects and expect to gain 100lbs on top , then add constipation, then add depression, If you want to feel like you have had a Labotomy chemical go ahead.

[tellit2her]

Good post, was looking for something along this category for some time, I do notice that it is an old one, but much needed. I was addicted to most narcotic pain meds for over 20 years. I have been in rehabs over 9 times, detoxed 10 times, NA, AA and church. Nothing seemed to take away the endlessly strong desire to use, and I mean nothing at all. I was clean for almost 2 years, but some little upset out of the blue came and got me and went back out. Time and time again, my disease destroyed my marriage of 29 years, broke ties with family both children and sibling, I turned into a liar, a coward, a thief, broke savings accounts like water, overdosed, and almost passed away the last time. Until the last time I was in a rehab center I met a doctor who specializes in methadone. We had a long talk, and not one of those in the door for five minutes and see ya later pal and good luck, it was heart to heart. It was my life on the mat, pure and flat out. I had ran out of resources, and my disease had tore up a nice, and sensible man into pure rubbish. He suggested that I at least give methadone a try. I went into a clinic where they not only disburse methadone, but they have councelors and doctors who monitor you the minute you walk into the door. Another words the place is not your ordinary "koolaid stand". You are started out at a low dose, which is monitored and it is raised upon your request 10ml every week up to 100ml and then after that they do a peak and trough.. a blood monitor that measures the amount of methadone that works in your system and leaves your system. At this time I am on 115ml, and I feel that I will stay at that amount for some time or I feel that it is my right dose. I have never felt good about myself in decades, and as long as I do the right thing and listen to the doctors and the therapist I should live a healthier life style. That is my opinion, but there are so many people against this type of treatment, and I will never knock them down because maybe their system works better, but I tried them all, along with that I am able to focus physically, mentally, and foremost,, "spiritually"... I do respect everyones opinion and we are all on the same plane as far as that we are all addicts...... god bless, mike in nc

[BottomFeeder]

I would stay away ,,But this is what I did..Your Habit sounds like mine was..Ive been abusing for many years as well...It was not until methadone that I could start tapering my oxy doses down to about 20 0r 30 mg a day...Methadone will help you escape the grueling physical withdrawals from oxy ..But if you go 2 weeks or longer on methadone you are getting the methadone gorilla to knock that little oxy monkey of your back..And that is not what you want,,I'll take oxy withdrawals any day over what Methadone can do...Methadone withdrawals has been known to finish people off...

However,I have found after taking methadone for around 9 days and then quitting  helped me..Even though I returned to the clinics months after I quit because I was back on pills or patches..Because Even after the physical withdrawals are gone the battle of the mind still continues and it is easy to relapse..But I feel like I got back up and kept trying...just do not let the Methadone counselors fill your head with bs so will get hooked on that mess.Do some research..Take it No longer than  9 days at the most at no more than 30mg a day and stop.....And stay away from it for a couple months at least..

If you take it and get off the pills then stay off the pills...If you start back the pills you have to go through hell again.And if you keep going back to the clinics you will risk gaining the methadone addiction again..If You will get to a point where you will go through the physicals withdrawals with no relief from methadone or anything,,,Then that will really teach you to stay away for sure.everytime you get pills after 3 days of withdrawls you start it all over again.But you should get stronger and better as long as you stay away from the methadone after 9 days.

Ive been away from methadone a few weeks I believe.. Ive been clean 3 days off any pills.. But out of 10 days Ive only had a couple pills ..I'm much much better than I was,,, I'm still trying myself.  I'm nowhere near in the shape I was in though,,,THANK GOD...I'm getting so much better. it's the hardest thing I've ever done...keep trying and good luck to you and be carefull...

[Tymoo]

I think methadone is the answer for some people.. I know several people who methadone has worked for.  for the last 4 years my life has gotten extremely better then it was although I still feel like crap occasionally cause im detoxing i was doing 2 mg a week now am at 1 it gets harder once you get down to 30 i didn't get sick at all really until I had gone down significantly and  I haven't been dopesick yet from it just sweats occasionally and nausea.  I used IV opiates mainly and pills when i didn't have enough money for dope.  for me the life style change was essential I guess it matters whether you want to draw out the uncomfortableness or get it all done with and get really sick and probably not change your life style, and have a higher chance of going back to pills.  Methadone has worked for me so far I am back in school and my life seems to be slowly getting better  I wish you luck I hope that might be helpful maybe not

[Tymoo]

i know several people who have gotten off methadone and are still clean and good.  I myself am still on methadone maint. but have gone down from a high dose to 14 mg. I feel kinda bad  emotionally but not as bad as I would feel if it was a different opiate, for me it allowed me to change my lifestyle which is an essential part of getting off.  I think both ways get you sick as hell whether you quit cold turkey or use methadone you get sick. for me I needed the time methadone maint. gave me to get my life together because everytime i did it myseld i ended up using as soon as i felt better, for some that might not be the case. and different people respond differently to different drugs and treatments  I am really scared about getting off of it again i have been clean for about 3 years and 6 months on methadone and xanax  for almost 5 years.  What scares me is I have no clue how I am going to feel once I am totally off I just hope i can stay clean

[fogmussher]

My story is almost parallel to mtgoat. Oxycontin led me to the gates of hell and Methadone rolled me on through the gates. At the time it seemed like a better alternative
because of it being legal and all. I spent 2 years laying in bed, not getting "rem" sleep. I was going insane and couldn't concentrate or accomplish even the slightest tasks. It is frightening to know how may people suffer from this. I felt so alone. Finding this place has been a god send!

[kc156]

I am tapering now,for the third time.Also working while doing it.Your stories here are very helpful.In my Province they mix the methadone with orange tang drinks.I am scared that I wont be able to work.But,I damn well will try.They sure don't tell you what a ***** it is to get off of.

[Mememe79]

I would agree with skippysizemore on the methadonewithdrawals. I know coming off of oxy you feel like your in hell but withdrawing from methadone will make the oxy withdrawal feel like a stomach ache. I just did 8 months at the methadone clinic, I jumped off of MS Contin, I was taking 4 100 mg MS Contins a day. I was still in severe pain most of the time so I went to my doc and the only idea he had left was to switch me to the 200 mg pills. I got upset and decided I wasn't taking them no more. I cant stand the pain, but I hate being a slave to the physical dependency thats brought on by this ****. My methadone dose is 160 mg a day, I stopped taking it 12 days ago, I thought I was going to die, I still cant sleep but I actually have energy today and I want to eat. I know you dont want to go through withdrawal, but the only reason I stayed on methadone so long is because of how well it handled my pain. Otherwise, its just the same as trading one drug for another. I know the pain is going to kill me but I'd rather deal with that today.

[mtgoat911]

i was on and off methadone for 10yrs, at the end of my addiction to methadone i was getting 2 weeks take home, it was impossible for me to take one dose a day at the end, eventually i was unable to shower by myself, clean my house, work, nothing about my life was ok at the end of methadone matience, i ended up in icu
but i think that its good you are trying the methadone clinic, we learn from experience, addicts in general have to see for themselves, keep posting and let us know how it goes
methadone is a very progressive addiction, but like you said you already knew the cons of this medication, most of the people here that have experience with methadone are already off it, the best place to recieve possitive comments about methadone use is called MA, your clinic should have details
i have had more experience with this drug that anyone on this forum, if you want to really explore the truth about methadone please email off the forum
i notice that people get upset when i share my experience with this drug and other matience drugs, ofcoarse its always people who are still taking it, but my effort here is not to offend but to share what happens when you devote you life to matience, there is no do over, we cant ask for the years back that we have turned over to drugs
if i do not hear from you i wish you well, i have been reading detox stories on medhelp for a long time but none of them compare to the detox i suffered from my last methadone wd
soon the clinic will be the most important aspect of your life, having the money to dose, getting to the clinic on time, stressing over the drug test, once the energy goes you may turn to speed like diet pills or adderal to help with this common side effect of methadone, dont worry there will be dealers outside the clinic waiting to sell you these drugs, oh yes the people you will meet, hopefully it will not affect your family like it did mine, my parents got sick of me nodding off during family get togethers, i stood in that line to get my "medicine" for years, i am so glad that i am free, i used to get so happy walking up to that med window to drink my coctail, it was like i always had to have something different and i thought i found it in drugs, what a life i had, i had to drive several a week just to get my take homes, walked in with my little lock box, paid for my governement dope and hoped i would make it to my car without someone asking me if i wanted to by herion or sell my doses, man methadone clinics are a trip, this is the first time i have talked about all this on the forum, but i figure its better to let you know what your getting yourself into, its not just a drug its a lifestyle, a lifetime lifestyle
wow after spending 10yrs in the clinic, i have so many stories to tell i should write a book, think anyone would read it?\
i have had more friends die from methadone then any other drug, i know atleast 500 people who are on or have been on methadone, and none of them would say it saved there life, so statistacally speaking your looking at 1 in a thousand, for more information on death from methadone please visit
http://mothersagainstmedicalabuse.org/default.aspx
read the memorials, and driving after dosing