Discussions that mention methadone

if anyone has any info on the withdraw that comes with methadone maintence. im trying to get weened off by august and im at 60 mils. how do i keep from getting sick? please write back with info. thank you jason

Jason-

I was on Methadone maintenance for a year and half. I maxed out at 95 mgs a day – started to wean myself, found out I was pregnant and the clinic would not let me go down anymore (65 mg.) My daughter was born addicted to methadone and spent 2 weeks in the nursery while they got her through it. After she was born I started back detoxing – from the end of March until July 4 is when I took my last dose of methadone – I believe I was at 12 mg a day. By then I was already feeling pretty [email protected] and didn’t see the need to continue down to 0 mgs a day. For a solid month, it was all I could do just to drag myself into work and home again. I didn’t get any kind of meaningful sleep for that month either.

At the clinic I went to they weaned you off by 10mgs a day until you were at 50 mg, then 5 mg every other day until 30 mg, then 1 mg every other day until you were off. I don’t know what the policy is at your clinic, but if you felt you were going down too fast they would hold you at the dose you were at until you were comfortable again. I had to do that several times.

As far as getting through the withdrawals, I have to say that methadone withdrawal is pretty bad. However, I don’t think you’ve been on it as long as I was, so that should make it somewhat easier. This may sound hokey, but the only way I got through it was uncountable cups of hot tea and music – I listened to every CD in the house every single day. There are a lot of posts here on getting through opiate withdrawals, and some of the other hints may help – I didn’t know about them so I didn’t try them. The worst part is not sleeping – the doctor at my clinic prescribed Deseryl (Trazadone) it’s an anti-depressant that in non-therapeutic doses helps with sleep. Be sure you’ve got a good support system in place, go to meetings if that helps, and concentrate on focusing on something other than yourself. You will feel so much worse if you lay around and think about how lousy you feel. I am really behind you 110% - there are so many people that stay on methadone for years and years and never even try to get off until the clinic forces them to give it a shot – you are to be commended. Hope this helps – please let us know how you’re doing.

thanks als771. i really hope it isnt that bad, i just want to off of this methadone. but if i start to feel sick then im going to stay at the same milagram or go up for another week or so. i think being sick from heroin was the worst thing i ever went through in my life. and people say that methadone withdraw is worst, i just dont want to have to put up with that sickness again, thats why i got on the methadone in the first place. well if you want to write back please feel free, it maay take me a day or two to get it because i work all the time. thanks jason

I once worked in a methadone treatment program. Opiate addiction is ugly, hard to break and causes tons of pain and grief. I saw methadone do wonderful things for folks, but stopped working there because I didn't like seeing what getting off of methadone did. I do believe that in many ways it is better than the illegal opiate drugs, however, it is equally as addictive and difficult to stop using as well. Good luck and hopefully once you're off of it, you won't ever go back to opiates (in any form!)

[This message has been edited by Lance2 (edited 04-24-2003).]