Getting Ready to Finish Off Methadone

[FinallyReady115]

Okay sorry in advance this is going to be so long but here we go:

I am going to be completely honest with this as I am sure most of you know isnt that easy to do but just hang with me.

I started off taking pain pills a little under 10 years ago for the ridiculous reason of partying and soon realized that I had an issue.  Stayed in the pill area of things for a good while (2 years or so).  In approx April of 2005 I started at a Methadone clinic and have been there ever since.  I have at times been as high as 100mg, but am now down to 15mg and feeling fine.  I am about to move to a new state (FL) in 2 days to be near the beach and get away from all of the triggers and bad memories I have from here at home.

The clinic that I am at now offers liquid done so I have been able to go down 1-2 a week for a good while now.  However, the new clinic that I will be transferring to down there only had pills in 5mg increments.  My original plan was just to go down the 5mg at a time like I am going to be forced to do at this new clinic and make up the 1-2 mg a week difference with some liquid that I have save and a non-needle syringe.

Through reading some posts on this board I have seen that some people say they go off at 10 or whatever the increment around there and that is it, as there seems to be no way to completely avoid the w/d symptoms.  My question currently is should I go with my plan on down to 5mg ish and then drop off or try to do it at 10mg or will having the stuff itself be too much of a temptation.  I have no doubt that when its time to be OFF of it I will need to flush the remainder of what I have so it isnt available but I was just curious about peoples thoughts on that.

I have been seeing Gnarly post about the different supplements, whey protein etc so I will be getting that stuff in advance,  will cut out red meat, pop, lots of water etc.  Also, I think the fact of being in a new place that is so near the beach will be nice and will make me want to get out more.  I have also read about Colonodine (BP Meds) which I may look into trying to get if possible.

I work from home doing tech support so I will be good as far as that is concerned and plan on crutching on this site a lot for support during and hitting up some NA for a while the throws wear off (at least the worst part of them).

Mainly what I am curious to know as of right now (bc I am still on it for a cpl more weeks) is does the plan that I have came up with myself sound good or what would be better.  I have had this be such a big hinderance on my life for so long I am ready to be free again so anything helps.  Hope to hear from anyone soon!

[FinallyReady115]

Its done, I am in for the long haul now.  As of 9pm tonight itll be 24 hours so I almost have the first day down!

[FinallyReady115]

Okay so decision is made.  I am going now.  Moving my computer to the living room and when I get back on here Ill post that I have done it.  Going to flush the rest of the methadone that I have.  3mg is the same as 1mg to me at this point.  I havent slept right in like 4 days already so lets get this crap over with.

[FinallyReady115]

Well to elaborate a bit more I have been on methadone for 8 yrs.  The first 2 I was getting whatever random pain pill I could off the streets.  But either way, a long dang time.

I am very suprised that I am not having any issues other than the back spasms tho.  I have been through w/d's many many times and so far this is the easiest of them all.  We will see tho, not counting chicks yet.

[VICourageous]

Hey you were on this for about 10 yrs Right?? I was on for 12yrs and the other opiates before..I do talk to people on here in my PM that did do a taper..I help them understand these stages..So feel free when you are experiencing strange things..OK..Good for You!!! Ya!!!!!!
May the Lord be with...Just except things as they come..

[FinallyReady115]

Thanks for the inspiring comments.

Yea I think I am just gonna take the plunge starting today!!! I will let yall know how it goes.  I am gonna keep the liquid I have for a cpl days just in case it makes it so bad I cant work well (working from home helps tho).

Ill keep yall posted!

[VICourageous]

Hi..You are doing a good job at tapering..I jumped at 30mgs of Methadone and 2 other meds..Not Good!! I would still continue the taper..You still are going to have some mild w/ds..Not as bad..But 3 mgs is not too high to jump off of from my experience..You do what is best for you..OK

[acesmom]

I just wanted to say you should be really proud of how far you have come. You are almost there. You are an inspiration to so many

[FinallyReady115]

Couple more days have gone by and I am down to 3mg now.  Not having rly any other withdraw symptoms except for some occasional cold chills and these dang back spasms.  Seems to happen always when I have to go to be (likely bc there is nothing else to think about).

I went to the doctor and he didnt seem to know much about coming off methadone so I kinda just asked him for colonopin (20 of them) and he always gave me Ribaxin which is a muscle relaxer for my back.

If I take those when I start to have issues it will allow me to go to sleep which is good.  But I guess my question is, since I am at 3mg and am having issues anyways.  Am I just prolonging my nighttime agony?

[FinallyReady115]

Okay so the day has gone by some now and I was not feeling great most of the morning but for the last hour or so I have felt pretty good.  I plan on taking 5 tonight around 9pm so we will see how things go tonight.  If this goes well then I will be able to take it all the way down to 1 if i need to.

Will continue to update as my final detox draws closer

[FinallyReady115]

Yea last night was not good.  I started to have back spasms within an hour of laying down and then was not able to get to sleep until 3am when I decided to reverse my dosing schedule.  I have always taken it right in the morning when I woke up in the past but I took it last night and am gonna see how that works.

Depending on the results of that I have a decision to make.  I know yall cant necessarily tell me what to do but any feedback helps.  If I am down to the point now that the 5-6mgs I am taking are not gonna last me through the day and keep the w/ds away then I kinda feel like I am just prolonging feeling sick.  Meaning everyday that I take the bit that I take and it lasts some of the day and I have the issues at night anyways I am just adding more methadone to my system which will take longer to get out.

So we will see how tonight goes but if I have the same issues tonight I kinda think it should be go time and I just need to get this done.

[addiction777]

Well myself I just dropped from 55ml to 0ml in 2 months! I have been off my methadone for 6 days now! although I too would have liked to come down slowly , I have 2 young children to look after and my experience with methadone 10 years ago , once u get as low as 8ml I found it stop lasting all day preventing proper sleep so I choose to go  down quickly and dropped by 20 than 10 and then by 5s ! I must say the first 5 days after getting off completely have  been very hard! I would say the slower u go down the better!

[shinty]

It does seem simple doesn't it? It just goes to show--when someone is ready to quit on their own, I mean really "sick of it" and mentally ready to quit, then the battle is already half over. You can do anything you put your mind to is really true in many aspects of life. I commend you, and wish you nothing but the best.
       shinty

[FinallyReady115]

I will also mention that the one biggest thing that I have been doing is "Telling myself that its okay."  That it is okay and time to let go of something that has taken up 10 years of my life this year.  Telling myself that there is a life without being dictated by this crap that is there and a heck of a time once I am able to see it.

This may seem simple but it is something that I have never done before and can say that anytime in the past that even the thought of quitting would make me very defensive and scared.  This is kind of a big thing in telling me that I am ready.

[FinallyReady115]

Just wanted to come on here and give an update.  I am living in FL now and am going through with the original plan that I had of taking the liquid methadone that I had saved and using that to go the last 15mg down.  I am down to approx 6mg now. (I say approx bc the syringe that I have is a 10ml, so once you are below 1ml you cant really tell where you are.

Things have been going good with this plan thus far, I havent been feeling physically sick at all with the main things to report (bc I am dropping 2ish every time) is I will wake up a couple hours after going to sleep with the horrible back spasms in my lower back as I am sure everyone knows about.  Also I can feel in my thighs are very sore, almost feeling like its to the bone.  I have heard that is just the my body trying to soak up the dang drug wherever it can find it.

Either way I am going to look for a 1ml syringe (w/o needle) after work to be able to be more accurate with that.  At night when I wake up with the spasms at night I will get up and fill up the tip of the syringe (1mg or less) and take that and it calms me back down.

Any ideas on what I should be doing right now other than continuing to go down when I can?  Suggestions always welcome!

[gnarly_1]

HI congrats for getting down to 15mg that an acclishment.....now about the new clinic talk to the nurse about giving you 1/2 pill so you can countinue your taper as you are this is all about % in your bloodstream if you try and cut like you are that is 1/3 of your present dose and way to much talk to the clinic they will best suit you with a proper taper we canot provid you with a taper here it breaks all the rules slow is the best way with methadone dont try and rush it you have came to the end the last 20mg are the hardest get the vitamins and whey protein and start them this will help your recovery keep posting for support good luck and God bless...Gnarly

[VICourageous]

Good Job! sounds like you will do fine..welcome to our little methedone click..We have been there and done that..I wish you well..Keep us updated OK..and jump in here with your experiences as well..
vickie

[FinallyReady115]

Its not really at all that I like methadone in any way, it almost ruined my life and has taken a lot of good friends.  But what I more mean is when your in the throws of feeling sick and you know the answer is in the other room kinda thing.  I just know how powerful the brain can be and feel it would be best.  Also to courageous above, yes I will likely be living on this board more and more as the time comes.  I am hoping for no more than a month from now I will be off and going through it.  I also think since I will be able to take it down a little a day in the way i described with my liquid that I have that I may be able to go a little quicker due to the fact that if i drop too much in a day I will be able to take like 1mg and be okay.

[Jenelle2020]

Hi again, yes I do believe that you have a good plan there, dropping as slowly as you can works best, you are on it a longer time but you suffer much less. Also, do get rid of the remaining methadone once you are off, especially if you are tempted by it. I didn't have that problem, I don't like methadone, I was on it for chronic pain and it did the trick but it was time to come off and I have absolutely no cravings. So yeah, I think you have a great plan!

[VICourageous]

Hi great job..I was like you and had the other opiates that lead up the latter to a 12yr methdone plus two others...I will say when I was way up there in mg...My doc and I went to 60mgs for awhile, then we cut the 60mg to 30mgs..Each time we did that I felt nothing.But when we got down to the 15mg I wanted more so I added another med to snort with it..I started to go up the latter again..I just had to JUMP off at 30mg..I was way out of control..So be that said you are doing a great taper job..and I like it in the pill form because you can split it up during the day..Like 1-5mg in AM and 1-5mg at night..The clincis seem to give you a high dose at once...We can not give u info on a taper but I sure shared my experience......
Let us know how you are doing..OK? You will be fine I have seen alot of people come in here for the last 6m and are doing great after they tapered..We all have things we used or still using that helps us alot..
God Bless
vickie

[FinallyReady115]

Yea I have been tapering down a good while now myself and now that I am to this point I also feel I should go as low as I possibly go.  Would you agree that taking the liquid I saved to make up the 4,3 and 2 mg difference when I have to go from 15 - 10 and 10 - 5 would be a good idea?  I indefinitely know that I have to flush the remaining that I have once I am ready to go on nothing bc I dont think any true addict could handle that temptation of knowing that its there when they are trying to finish up.  But, I just want to make sure that is the best decision to make as of right now.