methadone withdrawal

[pillhead299]

I have been on methadone since last July for an addiction to pills.  I was taking 10 percs at a time and over 100mg of oxycontin at one time.  It was really bad and I am a very small person I am just under 5 feet and 120 lbs.  I started a methadone maintenance program last July and it really helped for a while, but I began to miss getting high, it didn't help that my boyfriend continued to use the entire time although he's not as bad as I was.  I tried taking pills while on methadone and I felt absolutely nothing because of the methadone blocking the opiates.  But it didn't stop me form trying anyway.  A few months ago I began tapering off my dose because I am sick of being on the methadone, there are some days I can't get to the clinic and then I get sick, and at the place I go there is always a line and I hate waking up early on the weekends, there are a lot of reasons.  Well anyway not my dose is at 10 mg down from 100mg and my insurance just ran out and I can't afford to go to the clinic.  Plus I just want to be done with it, even when tapering I still get withdrawals and I sick of feeling like this for months.  So anyway I guess my question is how long does methadone wd take?  I usually start feeling very sick after a day and a half or so and then it continually gets worse, I get a lot of bad symptoms, cold sweats, hot flashes, stomach cramps, runny nose, watery eyes, restless leg syndrome, it feels like the worst flu!  I have gone through this before when I was on the pills and I remember usually feeling better around a week or so.  I have to admit that I have been using since leaving the clinic on feb 27.  I really want to stop though but I'm so afraid of the wd.  Every time I think I can do it and as soon as it starts I beg my bf for something and he always gets me what I want which doesn't help.  I am so sick of this cycle.  I am young and a mother of four children but all I do is lay in bed all day and my bf basically does everything lately.  I feel horrible about it but I still don't get out of bed.  It's pathetic, I make myself sick sometimes.  I have a fentanyl patch 12 mgs i think.  I have never used one of these, does anyone know if this will help with the wd?  Please any advice or comments would help!

[pillhead299]

Wow thank you so much for the advice everyone.  Lisa when I read your comment it was like describing exactly what I'm going through.  About a month ago I did the same thing as you and I left the clinic for a week when I was at 20 mg.  I thought if I took some pills for a few days I would be fine.  I want to say it was the 4th day after leaving the clinic and I had no more pills and I got so sick I went crawling back to the clinic, very ashamed, but I couldn't take the wd.  This time I thought oh 10mg won't be so bad, but it's the same as when I left at 20.  I feel like such a wimp, I went to see my dr today even though I don't have insurance because I was hoping she could give me something to help a little bit.  She know's about the methadone and I think because of that she wont give me any benzo's.  She put me on carbamazepine 200mg because I'm bipolar and then for the anxiety she gave me clonidine.  I was so pissed it's  friggin blood pressure medication, my blood pressure is already low.  I know it can be used for other things but I don't think it will work for me.  Of course through all of this me and my fiance are fighting constantly and tonight was a huge fight.  So I took one of the clonidine and it did absolutely nothing.  I was really hoping to get some attivan or kolonipin because at least when I take those they help a little bit with the wd and at least allow me to sleep. I'm just so sick of living like this.  Some days I don't even want to go on.  
The last three years of my life are such a waste and it depresses me that all I can think about is myself and how I'm feeling and everyone else around me has to suffer because of my bad attitude.  My poor fiance has been putting up with me for so long I don't know how much longer he will put up with it.  I remember when I first started taking pills I loved the way they made me feel.  I finally felt happy and had so much energy and could always get things done.  You all know that does not last.  Now I hate pills they've ruined my life.  

Well thank you all so much for your support, it really means  a lot to know that there are others who understand and who have been through the same thing.  I really hope I can make it this time around and get back to my life that I used to enjoy.  

[cerrone]

I feel your pain, honestly, I was on methadone for 5 years and this past October, I walked off cold turkey at 100mg after five years. I've been through different opiate withdrawals and i must say that methadone withdrawal wasn't as hard as i thought it would be, honestly.  The bad thing about it is that while the symptoms aren't as intense per say as detoxing from oxy or heroin, it lasts so much longer.  

I actually went cold turkey off my benzos on the same day, not by choice, but because i ran out a week early on my 1m 3 times a day klonopin.  There were several things that i did to try and help with this detox.  I took nuerontin, helped with the crazy legs a little, 800mg at a time.  I also bathed in epson salt quite frequently, i had the commodity of having a infared suana.

I know you don't feel like eating or doing anything but its a must that you eat 3 times a day.  Don't drink caffeine!!!!!!  Drink lots of water, atleast 10 glasses a day.  

I don't know if you have access to benzo's, but if you do take one or two a day and it will kill the skin crawlers and the hot flashes.  It was actually a miracle that I ran out of my klonopins at the same time because 7 days later into my methadone and klonopin detox i got my klonopin and restoril back and boy did i feel great just because I didn't feel so bad.  

If you dont have access to benzos, go to a local pharmacy and get some Valerian Root, its for relaxation, often referred to as "Nature's Valium".  This will also help a little as well.  

Hope this helps, and i know its hard but don't just lay in bed, if you do that every second seems like a year.  I sat on my back porch every day from morning until dark and read books, yes i was able to read and i smoked hundreds of cigs.  

Just try and keep occupied, I'm not saying go out and do normal activities, but just don't lay in bed because this will make it much worse for you mentally as well.

[Lisa0345]

Wow, what you are doing is exactly what I did.  Or should I say, what I tried to do.  I was in a situation where I was not able to afford going to the clinic and paying 14 dollars a day just to be treated like cattle.  Also, I was so sick of getting up early, standing in long lines, and being treated like a piece of crap on the bottom on a shoe.  Plus, I just wanted to be clean from everything.  I was at 110mgs.  I went from 110mgs to 10mgs in a matter of about 6 or 8 weeks. (against the advice of everyone here trying to tell me to slow down a little bit)   I was just so sick of going to the clinic everyday, to me it was just like when I was using and getting high on pills, because I was tied to the clinic, my every thought was surrounded by making sure I could get my methadone the next day so I was not sick, you know, making sure I had the 14 dollars to dose the next day, trying to figure out how I was gonna get to the clinic, ect.......Its just that my every thought seemed to be about getting to the clinic the next day, so as not to be sick.  That was the same thing when I was using,  Doing anything to make sure I had pills for the next day.  Well anyways to make a long story short, I jumped off the methadone at 10mgs. I thought I was ready, I thought that it would be ok, I thought I would not be sick because it was only 10mgs....YEAH RIGHT!!!  Holy crap, I was good for the first two days but when I woke up on day three, I thought I might die.  I had never been thru anything like this before.  This was worse then when I was taking sixty 10mgs percs a day.  So I, much like you, decided that I would just go back to taking a few percs a day, just a few, and just enough to make me not feel sick as heck.   At first it worked out good, I was only taking like 3 or 4 percs a day.  Well long story short, by the end of about 2 weeks I was already taking about 20 - 30 percs a day, and spending a lot more money then I would have spent if I would have just stayed at the dang clinic.  So like a shamed dog I went back to the clinic.  It took every bit of will power I had to walk back into that dang clinic, but I am telling you that if I did not go back I would have killed my self.  What I realized is that I did it all wrong in the first place.  I was trying to control something that I have no control of.  I was trying to do things my way and not listen to the people that knew what they were talking about.  I did not give myself enough time to build a solid foundation of sober and clean people around me.  People that could help me if I fell, people that would be there in a time of need when I felt like crap or when something crazy happens and I just want to get high.  I am back at the clinic, I am staying at a very low dose, just enough to quiet down my addict brain long enough for me to figure out this sober thing.  I am now at 45mgs and things are going great.  I know this is a long post but I hope I have helped you.  I can not tell you what is best for you to do but what I can do is share my exp with you and you can decide from there.  Good luck with what ever you do.  I for one will be here to support you no matter what.  If I can give you on bit of advice, it is to listen to gnarly and a few others here that have been where we are and have made it thru to the other side.  
Good luck and God Bless
Lisa
Jacksonville,FL

[Prospero73]

I don't know if my comments will be helpful in your situation.  After seeing what my son went through during his three-year struggle with methadone addiction, I can only make some cautionary observations.  He quit ct three times that I know of, twice in rehab and once as an outpatient, all with suboxone or subutex.  The problem came with relapses, as he had lost his tolerance and miscalculated how much he could take, leading to several major overdoses (with paramedics and hospitalization), the last one fatal.  In one of these, he took a total of 1600 mg.  He was not on a maintenance program: methadone was his DOC, he liked the high and said it was the best painkiller he knew of.  I have read a lot of posts on this site about methadone addiction and recovery, and there seems to be agreement that it is one of the worst, because it stays in your system so long.  In retrospect, if I had known more about it (in particular the danger of overdosing) I would have advised him to just keep using, possibly get on a maintenance program, and try for a really long taper.  I have read accounts of success with that kind of program.  On the whole, it's better to get through life without drugs, but if you're seriously addicted, you need to be realistic about that, and treat it like the problem it is.  Not only is it not easy, it's even harder than that.  

[gnarly_1]

Hi and welcome to the forum...well your doing great if you tapered all the way down to 10ml form 100ml if your using short acting narcotics to stave off withdrawals it will work
but eventually your going to have some withdrawals to go thew to get clean...I had a 6 1/2yr methadone habit was at 150ml so I know where your coming from...jumping off
at 10ml is doable but will be a bit ruff for a few days methadone is a good solid 7 day
detox so plan for it ...if you stay on short acting narcotics like you have been doing
and ween yourself off them starting now it wont be as bad as c/t from the methadone
you already have several days without it being in your system now all you have to do is withdrawal from whatever it is you have been taking to keep the withdrawals off..it could be done in a mater of a few days now the thing is not to get strung out on the pills again it will only get worst the longer you wait so do something now and get it over with...I know of a girl who did what you are doing and it worked for her but she only stayed on the pills for a few days the trick is not to get hooked on the pills again
good luck with whatever you decide and God bless.....Gnarly

[pillhead299]

First of all methadone does block the effects of opiates if you know anything about it.  You won't feel high if you try to use heroin or other opiates.  And if you read what I wrote you would have noticed that I'm not on methadone anymore, the last day I took it was feb 27, I have been using opiates for the time being because I don't want to deal with the withdrawals.  Someone gave me a fentanyl patch and said it would help with the wd.  I do want to quit taking pills altogether, I have lived this lifestyle for too long and am ready to be clean and sober, I was tapering at the clinic but now I have no insurance.  I was not at 100mgs I had already tapered down to 10,  thanks for your reply, I thought there would be more responses than one but that's okay.  

[worried878]

There are some super narcotics out there...it is a matter of opinion in some cases cos they r all different...methadone does not block any drug atall...methadone is not a popular doc for most cos it does not have that "boost" other narcotics do like oxy or hydro..so considered safer if Quitting is what u want to do...using on top of methaodne is very dangerous...sub is another powerhouse//a partial agonist but very strong in its own right..it does block narcotics only as it wins the receptor site race....Fentanyl is known as the strongest of the strong...do not use it on top of methadone
Tapering from 100 mgs of methaodne is a slow process....a dr should help u..they should taper u at the clinic if u tell them too do so,,it is a long wd as it has a long half life like sub and fentanyl....tapering is the best way to go//and slowly..there r articles on successful tapers in the health pages//plus there is another poster if u read down who is now tapering off methadone

I am a bit confused about ur goals tho....do u want to quit so u can get high again?  or r u ready to give up narcotics in general?
To stay clean..it would seem impossible to live with someone who uses..who does not respect ur issues as far as not using/and the dangers of using around u or with u...control and addiction do not go together//if he uses and he loves u//knowing this is detrimental to u//then he is possibly an addict as well//even if he is not as heavy a user as u were...u would be on 2 separate paths in life that r not compatible if u are fighting to be clean and he is content with a life of using.....even tho he is not "as bad" as u were in his use...it just doesnt work to keep urself in a environment of drug use if u r an addict


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