Hydrocodone & Methadone - Help for Wife

[aNewman]

Dear Good People,

I'm a first time poster here, so I hope I'm doing this right. My wife informed me about this board a couple of days ago, so I've spent several hours reading messages. I hoped that I would have found the answer to my question without having to post, but haven't found it yet. Hopefully without overkill, please allow me to tell her story and my question:

My wife is mid-40's -- we've been married for 22+ years and have 3 beautiful children. In the mid-1980's, my wife sought help for Depression/Anxiety/Panic Attacks. At some point in the quest for help, a doctor prescribed Prozac (new at the time), and it seemed to give life back to her. She has been on it continuously ever since.

Fast-forwarding to October 2003, my wife reluctantly admitted a 3-4 year pattern of Hydrocodone use; starting with a pill every now and then, escalating up to 10-12 pills each day (5.0 or 7.5, not 10). As I understand it, the original reason for the prescription was headaches associated with menstrual cycle. The reason for continued and increased use (over a year ago) was to provide energy to counteract the "dragging effect" of Prozac, AND to prevent what she discovered to be the flu-like symptons of withdrawal.

By April of this year, we made several attempts at our own weaning process, but finally saw this as a vicious cycle and sought the help of our family physician. He admitted that he was not an expert on the subject of opiate addiction, but indicated that he knew which drug was used -- Methadone.

Based on her 500-750 mg/day use of Hydro, he determined a starting point of 40 mg/day of Meth. (which she had a hard time taking) and within 3-4 days dropped to 35mg/day. Over the last 4 months, we've tapered her down to 10 mg/day (for roughly two weeks) and yesterday was her last 5 mg.

I explained this whole thing to one of our other doctors yesterday, and he said that she should be to a point of stepping away from Methadone without any withdrawals. My wife would love to hear that fact from someone who's been there!

She has also read enough on boards and in books to know that there are Methadone programs that believe in "methadone maintenance" for life -- and she wants to believe that that's OK as long as it keeps her feeling "normal."

She also worries (from her reading) that "if this is not done right" then she will relapse and again be craving Hydro.

My gut feeling is that she was on a small amount of Hydro (compared to others that we've heard of) and subsequently a small amount of Methadone, therefore, shouldn't we expect that any withdrawals be minor? This is my main question.

Assuming that this "step away" is really IT, what advice does anyone have in dealing the mental side of being drug free (for someone who's been accustomed to taking pills for so long).

I appreciate your input!

[windysan]

For one thing she'll need to get some help.....meetings at AA, NA and or Smart Recovery. That'll help with the mental part. As far as methadone goes....she's in for trouble if she goes that route. That's just my opinion but I think it would be easier to just kick the hydros. Methadone is a mean kick. You might want to get a second opinion on that one.

[murphy65]

I think she is already taking the methadone and weaning off of it.

[aNewman]

Originally Posted by windysan

As far as methadone goes....she's in for trouble if she goes that route. That's just my opinion but I think it would be easier to just kick the hydros. Methadone is a mean kick. You might want to get a second opinion on that one.

Thanks for the reply!! She did start group meetings last week.

This is what I'm trying to figure out...

It's been 4 months since she had a substantial amount of Hydro.

In that 4 months she has been on a continuous taper (40mg - 10mg) of Methodone. Is it likely that she can quit the Methodone now without any withdrawals?

She's predicting "the aches" and wanting Propoxophene to help deal with it. That makes me feel that we're opening another can of worms, but I don't want to see her suffer. She probably has enough Xanax to keep her sedated for a couple of days.

Any ideas as to what her next few days will be like? Advice to make it better?

[DallasAlice]

Hi,

I just started methadone after being on hydrocodone and other opiates and benzos for over 20 years. I am 47 and understand the premenstrual headaches and fatigue she feels. I had a hysterectomy 4 years ago, but I was already addicted way before that.

About the meth, because of the length of time I've been using opiates, I was started at 30 mgs, and am now stablilized at 105 mgs./day. I don't want to be on it forever, but I am aware that some folks do just that and feel and live totally normal lives. That's the point of the meth, to "get back to normal," and whatever that is for each person...the best thing is you do know it when you feel it. I was stable for awhile at 60 mgs. and then w/ds hit really bad just out of the blue! I was increased 5 mgs. a time for 1 to 3 days to see what dose was working. I stayed at 100 mgs. for 10 days, and then boom, some physical cravings and insomnia again. My clinic's dr. wants me to go very slow as I am very undisciplined and prone to relapse.

I have only been on the methadone program for 6 weeks, so I have no idea what the future holds, but I am already in a better place than I was. I now have a job and am not adding to my huge pile of debt and consumed with the "worrying merry-go-round" we create over how to get our next script...your wife knows what I mean.

The other poster is right on about the support. I am alone and I am just now looking into meetings, etc. Your wife is fortunate to have you with her : )
The only thing I have heard that is disoncerting to me about meetings is that from what I've read, some are very "hardcore" in that the line of thinking is that you are only clean if you are not on any drug of any kind and that using drugs like methadone or suboxone to stave off the withdrawals is not really being off drugs but more like trading in one drug for another. I've decided to go and just not tell that I'm on the meth and hope that I can still get some ideas and tools to help deal with having given up my pills--my best friends--that have been with me for more than half my life.

Good luck, and I'd like to stay in touch as I'm anxious about when (or if) the time comes to get off the meth. Some chronic pain patients end up abusing their methadone and from what I've read, that is when they've crossed over from dependence to addiction. It's all really just semantics, though, wouldn't you say? I mean, if we feel and think we're addicted to something, then we probably are addicts as I think we know ourselves the best...

Best wishes, good luck, and I'm very happy for you both for your wife's success!

Dallas Alice