methadone and droopy eyes

[ineedinfoplease]

My adult son (31yrs old) has had an addiction to pain pills, heroine, and speed. He recently started on a methadone program. Would methadone alone cause him to appear very drowsy (in/out of drowsiness) and have droopy eyes? Or should I suspect he is doing pain pills or something else he should not be taking with his methadone? Also does methadone help him not crave the speed as well as the opiates? I am trying to educate myself on this topic, but as of right now I'm pretty clueless. Thank you for any info and advice you may have for me.

[atthebeach]

does your son live with you?  speed and heroin, pain pills? they are definitely in opposite directions.  methadone is used to prevent the cravings for heroin. it would not stop the cravings for speed. if he uses methadone with pain pills  it will definitely make him high, hence droopy eyes and drowsy, google methadone and you can read lots of info. about it. most methadone programs make them provide urine samples. if they give a dirty sample they have to go to the clinic everyday and don't provide take homes.
hope this helps some,
god bless
debbie

[ineedinfoplease]

Thank you for the info. No, he doesn't live with me, but close by. He does go to the clinic everyday and only gets to bring home his Sunday dose. So the methadone alone would not cause the droopy eyes and him being drowsy?  I've suspected he was taking lortabs or hydracodones along with the methadone but of course he denies it. I believe he takes the speed (meth) to give him the energy that the opiates are draining him of?? I did google methadone, but didnt find out if methadone would cause droopy eyes. He tells me it is because they haven't got his dose at the correct dosage. He has only been on the methadone for a little over a week.

[gnarly_1]

HI....welcome to the forum.....I was on methadone for 6 1/2yr and ''noding off'' is one of the sighs of to high of dose he would also have drooping eyes from this most clinics will only tolerate dirty u/a a few times b/4 they throw you out to much liability of you killing yourself
mixing other stuff with the methadone.....as for the speed methadone will do nothing to stop the desire for speed....what you son needs is to plug into aftercare like N/A or A/A even the clinic has a conslor he can see the idea is to put your addiction on hold to give you time to work a program to build your foundation so you can get on your own 2 feet again and be drug free.....to many people just take the methadone and never work a program hence never get well and become long term users of methadone.....methadone is hard to kick
one of the worst as far as drawn out withdrawals it would be best if  he only stayed on it a short wile and kept his dose low....if he is droopy eyed and noding off his dose is to high
if you have any more questions please ask I will do my best to get you answers if I dont know them myself keep posting...I wish you luck with your situation ...God bless...Gnarly

[ineedinfoplease]

Hello and thanks for the welcome. Thank you for answering my post and for the info. He has been on methadone before, but went to county jail and then sentenced to state jail, so was off the stuff for about a year. Has only been out for almost 3 months and started using again already, so started back on methadone. Does not go to N/A or A/A, but said he will go to counseling. What you stated is what I'm afraid of....just taking the methadone and not working a program will not help him get well. He has been an addict for about 10 yrs now and its affecting my entire famly. We all want to see him well, but I'm afraid that some of us and myself included are just enableing him. I'm sure I will have more questions, so thank you for being here. God Bless you also...

[gnarly_1]

HI im not only an addict but im the father of one also and my daughter cam close to ripping our family apart.....I would highly recommend alaonon meetings for you and your family
it will teach you how to love your son without enabling him...it will also give you some outside support the worst part of this is feeling all alone..........Gnarly

[atthebeach]

hello,
i know all to well about the enabling. i enabled my husband for years and also my son. we think we are helping them but, it turns out to be to everyones detriment. i asked about him living with you because it was only after i kicked my son and also my husband out that they cleaned themselves up. my son is 25 and has been clean for 1 1/2 years and my husband 9 months. my family is still healing,by God's grace and mercy. my 4 children and i endured my husbands drug abuse for 14 years,too too long. it  definitely affects the whole  family. the lies,stealing,verbal abuse and could be  physical,their anger,deceit, its embarassing. i felt i always had to apoligize for my them.my husband didnt go on vacations with us for years becausw he had to "work" ( go to the meth clinic). is he single?   i know how hard this is. try not to give him money.
my heart goes out to you. pray don't loose your faith. try to be strong. your son has to want this more than you do. try to get him into the counseling and to detox off the meth quit. keep posting.
will keep you inmy prayers,
debbie

[ineedinfoplease]

Thank you for your prayers Debbie. I do believe that my son is in God's hands. Please let me be more specific. My son does not live with me, but he lives with my mother. (Just a block away from me) My brother and his wife & son live there also. My son manipulates my mother and me. Then we feel sorry for him and its just a vicious circle. My son was put in jail the day before Thanksgiving. My brother bailed him out with the agreement that my son would stay away from all connections and no more pain pills, heroine, or speed. Also that he would be home by 6:30 pm for the night (kinda like a half-way house rules) and to get a regular 8-5 job. He has been delivering phone books and yard work, but this gives him too much freedom and time on his hands. My son agreed to this of course, but he has convinced my brother that he needs the methdone and that it is a good program. My brother has told my son he has around 3 weeks to ween off the methadone and then stop it altogether. My son says we should see how it goes. This is just a bad situation all the way around because my brother & his wife had problems with addictions in the past. They are doing well now, but I don't want anything to cause them to relapse. My mother says she just can't bare the thought of kicking my son out. I am praying constantly and asking God for wisdom. I'm so thankfull that I found this forum. Thank you again.

[ineedinfoplease]

Thank you for recommending alanon meetings. I will check into it and find locations and times. Am I supposed to get a sponsor or something? Someone that will help me learn the difference between love and enable or does the group just talk about that in general?

[gnarly_1]

HI .....my wife and I went and just use to sit in on group discussions you not required to do anything its for both drugs and alcohol....heres a link that should be helpful to you

http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/newcomer.html

[atthebeach]

hey just wanted to check on things. they definitely manipulate and promise the world. only to break their promise as soon as they are released. if your son was bailed out does he still have to face the judge? if so this would be a perfect time for him to enter a christian drug program. you can ask that he be stipulated to the program.he then serves out his sentence in the program instead of jail.  teen challenge is wonderful and there are lots of them in texas. has your son ever been on meth. before?
the withdrawals are horrible. my husband endured horrible withdrawals for three solid months. he had a ten year addiction.so of course the amount of time and dosage affect the length of withdrawal. after three months he started to feel better. as compared to heroin or pain pills those only last a few weeks. he felt like a mack truck hit him and he is no wimp.after six months better yet and now 9 months. he is pre-meth. and back to his old self.
the point is once they start it is very hard to stop. if they are giving him a high dosage he is definitely getting high from it and if he mixes pain pills, more high. the methadone clinics are from the pits of hell and  are run by our governments. should only be for detoxing and not maintenance. please have your brother stick by his word that after three weeks he will kick him out if he hasn't stopped,do urine tests. hard but they need to hit bottom so they can go up from there. have him go to church, talk to a pastor, he has to be sick and tired of the same grind for 10 years.
i don't want to scare you but we just had a friend at church who bailed her son (32) out of jail, we told her to make him go to a program and within one week he was found dead in the bathroom of a heroin od. she is distraught and says she was only trying to help him. he was complaining about the food, it was cold, he would do better when he came out.
please talk to your son about a rehab. program  tell him that everyone is done enabling him and if he wants to be clean you will help him with that, but being on methadone
is another addiction.
god bless,
debbie

[stilltrying1965]

Hi my nameis James.Iam a heroin addict of 14 yrs. I was clean for 7 months b4 mixing with the wrong crowd im now 5 days clean.Your son is on a methadone program. I dont think he is using on top of his methadone. When you start a methadone program it can at first make you look out of it. I would like to say that your son is doing something about his addiction. And i bet you are so proud of him if you are really worried that he is toping up ask him to do a drug test. If he refuses then you will know he is toping up. But i personaly dont think so.After a few days he should just look normal no droopy eyes or anything. I wish you and your son the very best of luck,,,,,James

[ineedinfoplease]

Good morning all. Thank you Debbie for checking in on us. Nice to meet you James and thank you for sharing and your thoughts. You are 5 days clean...that is great news! I am proud of you and will be praying for you. I AM proud that my son is doing something about his addiction, but I do have concerns about the methadone program. I don't want him just finding a legal way of staying high.

I have some more questions please. I found out that my son is smoking pot some along with the methadone. Would that be contributing to the droopy eyes/drowiness?  He told me this morning that pot intensifies methadone and that methadone intensifies pot....is that true? My husband and I went over to my mom's last night and at first my son seemed ok, but the longer we stayed the more he couldnt keep his eyes open. It was not from lack of sleep because he stayed home all day and slept on and off. He tells me he has only been on methadone for about 8 days and that he is on 90mg....does that seem like an accurate dose for such a short time? Would a 90 dose make you so drowsy??

[Misssy2]

Hi my son is 24 and smokes pot with his methadone because it enhances the "high" feeling.  My son has been on the methadone program and is on 130mg.  We have been talking about him weaning off of it because he said he has no desire to do drugs and he waits to get to the clinic to pee everymorning..he is sick of holding his pee...because they do random pee tests weekly.  I try to support him in his efforts to wean off the methadone...but I am also worried that if he does...he will use drugs again.
I agree with a previous poster who says...the clinics should be used to WEAN kids OFF drugs and not keep them on a maintenance "high".  My son went in because he was doing alot of oxy drugs...so I expected they would put him on Methadone and then wean him off....they say...it is against medical advice to wean him off right now because he is going thru a seperation....and they are "afraid" he will use.  My thing is...he isn't afraid he will use and wants to give it a shot...but they are giving him conflicting information and he is scared of weaning off because of what they are telling him.  Maybe you should start by getting your son's view on how long he thinks he will use the clinic....will he use it to wean or does he see himself on the program for an extended period of time.  I know when my son STARTED...he wanted to stay on it and not talk about it...Which said to me...he still wanted to be high.  He has now reached a point where he wants off...and they are suggesting he stay on it.  I don't get how this program ever came into play...I think it is too weird for the government to be having all of these people on methadone maintenance.

[atthebeach]

they can be started on a high dosage 90 mg is not uncommon and it would definitely make him "nod" off. when my husband wanted to detox from meth. i went to the clinic with him,(they won't give any info. to family unless the "patient" signs a waiver, patient confidentality, yea. anyway, the doctor actually told us that no one ever gets off meth. that is why the clinic is telling your son not to taper .they wouldn't have a job if everyone detox thats why they do maintenance, run by the government. you can go with your son and say he wants to get off and demand they put him on a taper plan. it is very slow. about 2 mg every 2 or 3 weeks so it would take about a year. the withdrawal is worse the longer they are on and the dosage. my husband went cold turkey from 20 mg. it has been 9 months the first 3 to 4 months real bad. one of the worst withdrawals. start his taper now.
god bless,
debbie

[atthebeach]

does he  still have to face the judge?    have you considered the inpatient rehab. or talked to him about it? since he doesn't have a wife or children, no full time job there is nothing preventing from going inpatient except his rebellion about not quitting. if inpatient isn't an option. there are iop (intensive outpatient programs that meet 3 or 4 days a week for 2 or 3 hrs. a day. they do random urine tests. i believe you need to give him an ultimatium. if he wants a place to live ,rehab. the enabling needs to stop, some tough love, it will save his life and your family.
god bless,
debbie

[ineedinfoplease]

Not sure if he will have to face the judge or not. He and his girlfriend are going to try and go talk to the d/a to try to get the charge dismissed. It was a burglary charge at his gf house. He was not trying to break in, but shining a flashlight thru her windows trying to see if she had another man in there with her. Stupid stuff! Long story. Will tell u more about it if ur interested. Anyway he does have an 8 yr old son that he is ordered to pay child support for, so an iop that meets 2 or 3 hours a day might be out of the question. He was working for my husband (his step-dad), but he was let go because of coming to work high and not showing up some. One of my brothers stipulations for getting him out of jail was for my son to get a regular 8-5 job. My brother and I are going to drug test him in a couple of days and if it shows anything other than the methadone we are going to insist an inpatient rehab. There is just no way between the 2 of us (brother & I) that we can keep him with us 24/7, We have been trying, but we both work (me just part-time). Will employers hire an employee that is on methadone??

[ineedinfoplease]

Hi Missy2.....thank you so much for commenting and sharing with me. The info on the pot with the Methadone was very informative. Please keep me informed about your son. You and he are in my thoughts and prayers.

[stilltrying1965]

Hi The weed will make your son get the droopy eyes Bt if he is sticking with his methadone hes doing well Only thing about using weed on top of meth is it can cause paranoia and the more he smokes the more out of it he will seem. Im sorry i cant add much more . But will read through the thread tomorrow when i feel a bit better and il tell you everything i know about heroin and using other drugs with it. But the meth he is getting shold not make him look out of it as its only a maintence dose and should just be helping him look and act normal so if hes smoking pot then this is why he looks out of it Hope this helps ,,,,James

[ineedinfoplease]

Hi James......thanks for taking the time to post ur comments even though you are going through a difficult time yourself and you are not feeling well. How is it coming along?

My son has been delivering phone books trying to make some money until he finds a job because he has to pay his bond and pay my brother back. My brother or I have been with him while he is doing this. Yesterday evening I drove him around and half of the time (we were out for about 3 hours) he couldn't keep his eyes open or stay awake. Well he did good at first and then for about 30-45 minutes or so he was like this and then he woke up about the last 30 minutes we were out. Just doesn't seem right to me, but he said it was because he smoked pot before we headed out. He says he has been on the methadone for about 9 days now, of course he missed 2 days of dosage while in jail (Thursday & Friday). He is on 90mg. What does this sound like to you? Please don't feel like you have to answer until you are feeling much better. You are in our prayers. Thank you and get better soon.

[stilltrying1965]

hi if your son is going out working i think he is doing good do you think while you drove your son about it would be quite easy for him to smoke even 1 joint and that wold be enough to make him drowsy i honestly think your son is sticking to his meth program and its the weed making him drowsy if it were heroin i doubt he would be able to deliver books and if im correct his doc will take samples and in my country they stop your meth prescription if your sample is not clean can you ask him to take a home drug test if he refuses then you will know he is using more than pot.and if his sample is not clean and only shows pot he would be ok with his doc as weed is in the blood stream for months. i hope this helps with best wishes and good luck ,,,,james

[atthebeach]

having a son adds a whole new aspect to his use.he needs to want to be clean not only for himself but for his son. his son is definitely being affected by this. my son started to use when he was 13. he did as my husband did not as he said.
depending on the job he is trying to get, but alot of employees do a drug test before they hire people. i don't believe they would hire him on methadone.  would you? did you tell  him you are going to drug test him? he probably wouldn't  do the pills or speed whatever else he does and be clean they only lastin the urine for 2,3,4, days. pot for 30 days, but he already told you about that. he will never beable to keep a job for any length of time while he is using. my son who has been clean for a year and a half he will be 25 next week has had his longest job for 10 months now, since he started working at 15.always lost them or quit didn't last more than 3 months anywhere. my heart and prayers go out to you. i know all too well about the "babysitting" component and watchdog we have to be. it can be very draining.i wil pray for you for wisdom and peace.
please consider a christian rehab. the secular programs are usually only 30 days basically a "drying out" their longterm success rate isn't very good.
god bless,
debbie

[ineedinfoplease]

Thank you Debbie for the prayers. I pray every day for wisdom and have been doing this for months along with reading Proverbs daily. Please pray for my mother also....my son is living with her and she worries all the time also. My husband....(step-dad to my son) will not allow my son to live here with us. I am trusting God that all of this will have a good outcome.

[atthebeach]

hey mom,
how are things going? any progress with your son? did your test him? how did the discussions go about inpatient rehab. is he willing to go to church or talk to your pastor?
if he continues to deny his addiction he hasn't hit the bottom yet. your family will probably have to force his hand in regards to your helping him and giving him somewhere to live. it is one of the hardest decisions that have to be made but sometimes that is what it takes. continuing to pray for your family.
blessings
debbie

[stilltrying1965]

Hii want to thank you for helping me especalywhen your so worried about your son. I hope you get the answers you are looking for and your son hits his bottom soon.Maybe he needs inhouse rehab i tried everything and got some good clean time then blew it.Ask your son to read some of my posts 14 yrs is a long time. But we both know he wont quit till he is ready. I wish i could tell you everthing will be ok but i cant. I can only pray your son comes round and see,s what he is doing to himself and his loved ones. Any way i leave in 40 mins. I would like to say thank you for your kind comments and i wish you a very merry x mas and happy new year,,,,,,,James