8th day of Methadone withdrawal... how much longer will this go on?

I know that you wrote this a good while back. But I am on day 8 after cold turkey at 14mgs. I was only on methodone for 5 months and peaking at 35mgs. I wasn't sure if I could do it. But I did. I read alot of experiences people have had. None were the same. For me the anticipation of cold turkey was worse than the actual process. I read up on what would help me out. I stocked up with clonodine. And alchol ( NOT RECOMMENDING THIS METHOD) I dove in. Day 2-3 were not really bad for me, just uncomfortable. I am starting day 8 feeling better than before. I know that if your plan is to quit, you have to do it fast. Years of methadone use is way, way more difficult to accomplish.
Good luck. O.C.T.

I'm still clean and opiate-free today, years later. I haven't ever relapsed since my official quit date. Stay strong. There's happiness on the other side. It takes a while for your brain's "happy chemicals" to start working on their own again. A really good multivitamin is helpful with this.

Ive been taking 30mg of methadone daily for 8 years. It's for a major back injury suffered in Iraq. I've decided to stop. I'm on day 3 and feel terrible. Have an appoint. Tomorrow for Suboxone therapy. Is this a safe or should I just tough it out? How much longer am I gonna feel bad?

Suboxone is a much better maintenance medicine than methadone! It also helps your brain receptors restore the neuron sites from damage from using opiods. The transition after 4 days from methadone to suboxone isn't bad at all. Suboxone is also MUCH easier to quit than methadone. Methadone makes you sleepy and suboxone gives you energy. You can cut the sublingual film into halves and quarters and eighths to ween down :)

I think you'll find that suboxone is much better! Best of luck! Post here if you have any questions!

Also detoxing methadone can take months before you start feeling better. Quitting methadonet is slow process and drags out. I went from 140mg methadone & weaned down to 2.5mg in 2 months then quit cold turkey. It was hard, I had bad insomnia for like a month, restless legs, super emotional, etc. But it is a gradual detox where it doesn't shock your system like when detoxing oxycontin, or oxycodone. With all that said, I wish I would have transitioned to suboxone. It is much easier to quit suboxone and the detox isn't as bad. I ended up being clean from methadone for 3 years but relapsed to suboxone. Now I take prescription suboxone for the past 8 months.

Hi to all. And God bless us for the pain we endorse. I too have been on methadone for 8 years due to injury/fusion. Never let a doctor do a fusion. I have quit methadone at least once every year. Yes I go through HELL. But I do get through it. But three months go by and the pain is so bad I go back to the clinic. I HATE meth. wish it was never discovered. But my question is, after methadone, what gets you through the pain. Mine is low back into my legs, neck into my arms. Feels like 80 percent of my body is in pain. I exercise every day. Good diet, single but happily divorced. But how do others get by day after day with pain levels 6 plus. Any information will greatly be helpful. Thanks to all. I also learned its helpful to be totally honest with significant other.

So in my experience methadone WD can suck, but honestly if you do a few things to prep yourself it is a lot easier than most people say. I was at 90 mg for about 3 years, prior to that was an IV heroin addict for about 7 years. My history plays a part because I believe the Wds are about 75% mental 25% physical, your coming off opiates, if you acknowledge that it will be tough, it helps, but if you've kicked short acting opiates you got this. A lot of people struggle who haven't dealt with WD, as a heroin user WD was a constant up and down, so if you haven't experienced that you might struggle more.
now on to the essentials that worked for me, tapering is a b***h, long, and discouraging. Before you start, get Clonidine, seriously it's a godsend, I would f**k with benzodiazepines personally, half of the using horror stories involve them. Some Trazadone for sleep, it's not like ambien or other script sleep aids, but helps. Melatonin, valerian root, tryptophan, all can help. I relied on cannabis a lot, especially RSO at night.Do it as fast as you can handle, I dropped 10mg a week from 90mg, and honestly did not experience anything bad until 40 mg. at 40 I slowed my taper to 5mg a week, this is when I was feeling it, but preemptive Clonidine about 2mg, 1 at night 1 in morning is what allowed me to deal with RLS. The hardest drop I did was 15mg 10mg, by this time I was dropping 5mg every 2 weeks, I felt bad the first week, then got better the second week, I took a lot of time off work, and sat around a lot, watched a lot of boring TV that I could zone to golf a lot, also lots of music, hot showers kill the restlessnes for a bit, food is key, protein shakes if you can't eat. That being said I jumped off after 2 weeks at 5mg and honestly I felt better completely off then dropping at the low doses. But to be honest I hear to many horror stories on sites that make it out to be so hard, it's tough and you will need support, some meds, and some recovery time, but I was out playing disc golf on day 5 of detox after I stopped methadone. Attitude is key, if you still are trying to rely on something like opiates as the awnser you will struggle, if you look at it as these opiates being the reason for all your issues it helps. But the stories, the other methadone patients, the doctors make it seem harder than it is.

I know this is old, but as someone who's been detoxing from 90mg down to 5mg then jumped off, I'd like to give my experience. First of to the lady who has been "detoxing" but still using opiates, bupe or short acting, your an id**t. Your simply adding more opiates that are making your symptoms worse, sounds like your thinking this is gonna be painless. Fat chance, years or months of being high is gonna cause at least 7-30 days of symptoms, the latter referring to methadone. That being said it's doable if you accept the fact it's going to probably be one of the hardest things you've ever done. My first two cents is don't f*****g use opiates ever during taper or detox, I decided to get high at 15mg, it cause the next two weeks tapering extremely difficult, mostly due to the fact your putting more opiates in your body causing worst withdrawals when you do stop using, or shall I say if you stop using. It makes symptoms much more intense, also avoid all benzodiazepines, people online love to say get some benzos, no please don't. First they really don't help with withdrawal, second they drrop you inhibition to much making it easy to talk yourself into using. In my experience benzos have been directly related to every OD, arrest, and hospital trip. It's honestly just to risky for addicts to use during this time, and if your doctor writes it for you, he's a piece of sh*t who doesn't grasp addiction. You wanna see your doc and ask for clonidine 1-3 mg depending on symptoms, helps bring RLs to reasonable levels, also trazadone is a very mild drug used off label as a sleep aid, but isn't addictive really like ambien or lunesta can be. These two drugs, plus a bit of cannabis, a lot of TV, taking time off work, eating healthy, protein shakes, showers, and a lot of music. That being said I'm 28 I've struggled with opiates for 10 years, was on methadone for 3 years, and comparing it to heroin withdrawals is a joke, their mild and long lasting, but in terms of physicality it has been fine. But I'm also really over opiates, and dealt with constant withdrawal while using heroin, so being sick off methadone isn't much. I'm at day 7 detox off 5 mg and have very very mild diarrheah and RLS occasionally but honestly it's much more mental than physical, withdrawls always are, it's like a pretty bad flu, with a screwed off mental state, but at the end of the day opiate withdrawls are completely safe as long a you stay hydrated, seems like the only time people are hospitilized is for dehydration, common sense if your sweating and sh**ting out all your water, you need to drink, every time I go to bathroom I drink a bottle of water. I just felt like I had to write this because I'm so sick of people writing stories about how it's so difficult and a struggle. Taper down fast at first,you won't even feel dropping 10mg a week, until your at about half your dose, then drop to 5mg a week, this is where it gets tough and medicines I recommend come into major play. Once it gets to be to much, go down to 5 mg every 2 weeks, took me a week of feeling crummy before the second week I leveled out. At 5 I said screw this, couldn't justify going daily for so little. And jumping off at 5 has been easier so far than my taper while still on methadone. I believe that methadone withdrawls are 75 mental 25 physical if not lower physical. No symptoms I've felt have been so bad that I needed to use or even so bad that I wasn't getting out. I was out throwing disc golf on day 5 of my detox. Don't use shitty drugs that got you to this place to get off methadone, that's just plain stupid, get clonidine and trazadone, drink water, and stop buying into the myth that methadone is so difficult. If it's so difficult your going back to fast acting opiates or benzos, you ain't ready to get clean, and I'll put money on you using again. If your ready, the mild symptoms are a pain in the ass, but not that difficult that I wasn't capable of doing it. Hope that helps someone, but reading that first comment it's clear that she probably didn't get thru, and her mental game was saying you need to get high, if Any of you thinks that opiates will help you than you probably should stay on methadone

I have been on M/M 15 years.I tapered and then stopped. 61 days of being sick and I relapsed. Now I just dropped down to 5mg. I will stay on this until Jan 1 and then I ill drop to 2 1?2. key word is SLOW. Good luck

Hi, can I ask what dose you were originally on?
Your post makes complete sense, but also has me.terrified.
I'm 34 years old and Ivery had back problems since highschool. When I got pregnant with my first child it got really bad. Wheelchair bad, had to be induced weeks early bad. I was advised not to have anymore children but I didn't listen. My second pregnancy I upgraded from Norco to fentynl patch. After having 2nd baby, I wanted to get off everything (patch, and 4 Norco a day, ) and I did at home.while taking care of my 2 babies...but after a few months, the chronic back pain was so.bad, injections didn't help me and they were too expensive for us to afford and eventually started taking Norco again. Eventually doc put me on methadone. 15mg (5 3x/day)
It was the best thing ever, I had a life, I didn't feel high, I even started lightly working out at the gym (an old passion) I got pregnant again and it was difficult, but best out of the 3.
Fast.forward 1 year later (I've been on methadone for.about 3 years now) the past 3 months I got of off gabapenten, amitriptillin sp? And now im.working on methadone...my.doc had me go from 15 to 10mg for 2 weeks, then 5.for 2 weeks, then 0.
I'm on day 7 or 8 of the first wean. It's been really difficult taking care of 3 kids 5 and.under, school.carpooling, im a.Norwex consultant and its.hard to.do Inhome parties...it's hard to sleep...but my doc.knows.I want to.be off of everything so hes.not going to let me.keep taking it. But when I was sitting in his office he told me it.wouldn't be difficult at all to.get off it bc I still.am allowed 3 Norco a day.
My husband doesnt understand hat I'm going through and he has a thriving business and is extremely busy...I don't have much help or support...he's trying to be, but he's also been dealing with my back and pain clinics for years...he lost his backpacking, triathlete, workout partner years ago...
When I'm due for my med, I need it bad...like I can't imagine not being finally able to take it, but in 1 more week im.going to have to wait 12 hours longer and that seems tragic...how will I get through an entire day when I wake up at 3am needing my pill...it just seems impossible. I looked to the Internet hoping for encouragement but it's hard to find when searching methadone withdrawl. :(
I realize u posted this a while ago, but curious where you're at now?

i have been on methadone for 4 years the highest i went to was 80ml I went into treatment because i had enough of being dependent on a substance every day I tapered off in the beginning every two weeks then 5 ml every two weeks until i got to 5ml it wasnt at all as bad as i thought a lot of it was my thinking it took a lot of help and support from close friends and family.. it has now been two weeks since my last dose and i am proud to say I am drug free! i still have bad head aches, diarrhea, no energy and i feel foggy not clear headed, very irritable but as the days go on i am feeling better much better i couldnt sleep for a little over a week just starting to now and i lost a lot of weight.. but at the end of the day I am glad that i am feeling this because it is taking me back to how bad my addiction was and where i never want it to take me again sometimes feeling the pain of something you did will detour you from never making that mistake again and thats what this is doing for me... its hard but in the end it is soooooo worth it ... STAY STRONG.. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!

Hi. So I just wanted to come here and hopefully give someone a bit of encouragement. I am at the end of day four, of cold turkey methadone withdrawal. I was on methadone for about 8 years, my highest dose around 100mgs. Over the last year, I tapered down from 65 mgs to 13 mgs. One day last week, I woke up and had absolutely had enough, so I didn't go back to the clinic. Day one wasn't terrible, day two was definitely worse, but the morning of day three I was pretty miserable. I woke up screaming. MY MISTAKE-I took a muscle relaxer thinking it would help me sleep. WRONG, it kept me up all night with the absolute worst restless legs and body. I was ready to throw in the towel-it was a special kind of hell, but I didn't. I woke up this morning feeling pretty rough, but over the course of the day it's gotten better. I have this clarity I haven't felt in over 10 years, I can feel the old me trying to creep through the fog. I actually felt like exercise earlier today, but I'm a bit weak, so couldn't handle much lol. My lifesavers have been good quality marijuana, keeping myself busy, and hot baths. No muscle relaxers!!! I know it's not completely over yet, but I feel hope today. Hope that I'll get to live out the rest of my life normally, hope that my energy will come back, hope that my family and friends will recognize me again, hope for a better future. Hang in there, keep telling yourself it's not that bad, it's just a means to a beautiful end. YOU CAN DO THIS.

I just took my first dose of 5mg,I been working my self down from 90 mg.i been fine up to two days aha,that when I started feeling like crip with runny nose and the itchy throat.other then that,am eating and sleeping.no drugs other then the meth for over a year.should I be worried,it's that I go to tractor trailer school and I already missed two days

I'm on the 8th day with no methadone or heroin, cutting down script is best way if u do it properly and not using then u won't feel much getting of it is once of getting your sleep pattern back getting that brain to sleep with no chemicals or drugs in your body, I cut from 70 mls a day to nothing now ,5mils of methdone did not even show up on any type of drug test, alot of it is in your head 5mils does not stop u clucking from heroin it just ain't enough to do anything, most of time is because people ain't ready to get of it and make lots of excuses I have done the same, 3rd time clean in 20years I'm 35, people try and put u back as well as they r jealous all u ever here is methadone so hard to get of when your cutting down but those people still want to do it plus use on top as well, use your own brain and yes sleep will take a while to get back to normal but that ain't because your clucking after 10days clean it has gone it is just body now trying Ger those 5 to 2o years back to normal , 20years addict so I know take years to get myself back to the person people new before drink and drugs

I've been on methadone or suboxine for past 15 years. I was currently at 90mg of methadone. But hated that all I ever wanted to do was sleep. And after watching the zombie looking people come and go at the clinic daily. I had an apififfony or blessing from god that I didn't want to be on this sh*t no more. I said f**k it take me down 10 a week cuz I've cold turkeyed it and tried a 1000 different ways to do it. And there's no comfortable way to do it. U can weeken the intensity of it with other drugs. But what does that accomplish. I told them to flip a coin and pick a day on calander to start it down. But never tell me the day it starts or what mg I'm at. I didn't even notice it til I got to 10. Then I asked to step it down one more week to 5. I did 5 for two days and said I'm out. I smoked a lot of weed. But the peek of the storm only lasted 3 days. I feel the best I've ever felt sence I can rember. My body is physically 100% better than it was. I know fora fact that sh*t is poison to your body. And there's a lot of sh*t they don't tell u about it. Get off that sh*t or just live in a hazy numbness. I never had goals or cared much about nothing but why my life turned out so bad while doing nothing about it until I got off methadone.