how to withdraw safely from methadone addiction

Ashflash, I have a bastard Dr. that has taken me off Methadone 240mg/day to NOTHING!!!!! This has been hell and I hope he rots in hell! I tried to taper myself down and stopped at 30mg/day and its EVIL! My beat of luck to you and for anyone thinking of methadone RUN THE OTHER WAY! This MD is a pain doc and addictiologist but I call him a terrorist!! He promised me years ago h would take me down slowly!!!

go to a pain clinic. if you have legitimate pain, and it is allways, they will take care of you. But, don't get up too high on any drug in case you need to run..........

Went to new pain Dr. Tuesday who does not prescribe Methadone!! Going to physical therapy, psychologist, and having injections! Methadone completely out of my system, but I will have to be on something prob longer term due to messed up spine preventing me from life. Doing better everyday by the Grace of God, family and friends, not to mention all the people at new Doc's office!

I've just been basically kicked off 90ml of methadone, my chemist wanted to prescribe me but the doctor wouldn't let them cause i'd missed 2 days so today is day  number 5 snd i've been so bloody sick, throwing up, hot & cold sweats thank god NO diorheaa yet. Has anyone else ever jumped off a does this high & if so what the hell am i in for?

You better get back on it....They will probably start you back on 25mgs. but it's better than nothing and you can slowly go up in dose. If you remain off it it will be months of feeling lousy...

i've been on methadone 5 years, and i'll tell you what it helped me , it did what it was supposed to do, get me off the dope. since my 5 years i swiched clinics and the first clinic i went to told me, that they recommend methadone for life. if you go for your first year and do what your supposed to do you will only have to travel to the clinic once a week, if that was the case i say if it's doin what it's supposed to, why get off? for those who just want off for whatever reason 5 mg every two weeks, stop if you need to, till you feel ready to continue decreasing once your below 20mg 2.5 every month. also if your offered blind dosing at your clinic it also works.

stay stong, mind over matter, good luck!

I feel for all of you who are having a hard time with this. I've been on methadone for a year, i went up kind of quickly because my metabolism is extremely fast and they thought maybe thats what is causing me to have to go up to 150 mg. Every time I lower myself (1mg a week) I get to 3 or 4 mg and can hardly drive to the clinic. I feel and look like I'm dying. I know that if I'm only down to 143 mg, I have years to go. I don't want to live a life in bed all day, and throwing up all night. I can't do this anymore. I wish a hospital could take me, but once they hear methadone, they want no part of it. I need help or I know I will die soon. My father is dying of cancer and the he needs to see me ok. I cant go on. Please help me

Well I first must say that if you have been on methadone for only a year you shouldn't be trying to get off it just yet. I wouldn't even attempt to lower your dose until after at least 2 years of being on it. It is to get off other drugs like heroin or oxy contin which is a whole lot worse for you than methadone. My advice is to find a dose you're comfortable with and stay on it for a couple years. There is no reason why you should feel sick if you stay on a dose of 150 or whatever and don't be in such a hurry to get off it. That's people's downfall is that they rush to get off it. I've seen it many times.

yes i agree 100% im on 54mg now i used to be on 120mg i said f*#*# this and i figerd it would be common sence to taper of very slow 1 mg by weekly meaning every 2 weeks thats how i did it i felt nothing so far after 70mg down i live in boston ma i have acomplished so mutch ii bught not to brag but i started with being homless with nothing and no trust one day i decided to kick myself in the ass i started to go down everyday it sucks having to drive every single day to go get your dose i have had my take homes 13 times and if you miss one appt with your counsler tha take the away like your a baby f*** them thay dont care for your well being thay care abought their pay check thats it your just a number to them thay wont think twice to hold your dose when ever thay feel like it and mess up your day it happens to offten to people thay dont care abought how you feel again your just a number to them and $$$$$$$$ but we are all alone in this game of life thats why we need to stick together and help each other out or were going to go through thing that thay wont tell us like facts!!!!!

victor wrote:

LeahE wrote:

I'm not an expert but I've been "around the block" far too many times, seen a lot, done a lot, etc. I've been on methadone for nearly two years. Methadone was used to help me get off OxyContin. Now I'm addicted to methadone. Go figure. You trade one thing for another. However, I'll tell you what I've found out.

There is a drug called "Suboxone" that is also being used as a way of getting drug addicts off opiates. It's used for getting people off methadone (who used methadone to get off something else, etc.) From what I've seen, read, and heard, Suboxone is just one more drug for you to get addicted to in order to replace what one is currently addicted to. It's becoming ridiculous. Now I'll quit complaining about the insanity of it all and try to be helpful.

From everything I've been through, which has been considerable, the best way to get off methadone is to taper off slowly. If your nephew is under a doctor's care, the doctor can help him with that. From personal experience and from seeing others go through this, it's really the best and most successful way. For one thing, you have to WANT to get off in order to stick with tapering. Withdrawal by tapering is not a barrel of fun but it's not horrible either if you do it slowly and by small amounts. By "small amounts," I'm talking .5 mg - 1 mg every couple weeks. If you try to do it any faster, there will some very hard times to get through and those are the times when one is tempted to give up and "just go back" to using because it's better than "this." If you taper slowly by small amounts, you allow your body time to get used to the new, lower dose before you do it again. I've heard of people taking a number of months up to a year to completely get off but those are the people who will STAY off or not try to substitute with something else. Of course, the length of time it takes to taper off also depends on the dosage one is on to begin with. Trying to taper off too quickly is very uncomfortable and, for me and others I've seen try it, virtually impossible.

I hope that helps and that an expert will be able to tell you more. My other suggestion would be for your nephew to see an addiction specialist. Yes, there is a specialty for just that.

Good luck.

yes i agree 100% im on 54mg now i used to be on 120mg i said f*#*# this and i figerd it would be common sence to taper of very slow 1 mg by weekly meaning every 2 weeks thats how i did it i felt nothing so far after 70mg down i live in boston ma i have acomplished so mutch ii bught not to brag but i started with being homless with nothing and no trust one day i decided to kick myself in the ass i started to go down everyday it sucks having to drive every single day to go get your dose i have had my take homes 13 times and if you miss one appt with your counsler tha take the away like your a baby f*** them thay dont care for your well being thay care abought their pay check thats it your just a number to them thay wont think twice to hold your dose when ever thay feel like it and mess up your day it happens to offten to people thay dont care abought how you feel again your just a number to them and $$$$$$$$ but we are all alone in this game of life thats why we need to stick together and help each other out or were going to go through thing that thay wont tell us like facts!!!!!

I've been on methadone for 7 years and I tried tapering off 3 different times and I can tell you that there isn't much of a problem until you get down to 15 mgs. After that it doesn't matter if you go down 1 mg. at a time you will feel it. There is no avoiding it. I know others that are tapering off slowly and are going through hell but are determined to get off it.

hi your little passage touched me ive been on metha done for a lil over a year now came from a doc that perscribed me way too much for my scoliosis 300mgs a day i started the md clinic about 6 months ago on 30 mgs i thought i was gonna die if i didnt take my dose up about 3 mnts ago i started taking my dose down 1 mg a wk i didnt even have wdrwls i have a very strenuous job and at first every day i thought about taking my dose up and the clinic encouraged me to do it. but ive been on pain meds since i was 15 oxycotain and opana until 1 yr ago it was methadone.. im only 22 . so i just wanted too put an end too it all slowly and ive been handling my pain well when u get on this junk u loose all your pain receptors they dont know how too work they just tell ur brain ur in pain all the time i bumped my tapering up too 2 mg a wk lst wk and my goals to be done in 2 wks im down too 9 mgs now the clinic will try to suggest taking ur dose up but if ur strong u can do this i swear just look twords the future and the life u will be saving bc needless to say noone is healthy that is on metha done i dont have a support system its just me and god i have faith in u just try i... remember it takes a few wks to be confortable with tapering down

Thank you all for your response, I pray for you all to have an easy way down off the methadone and a drug and pain free life afterwards. I'm down from 150 mg to 140, its gonna be awhile but at least I'm headed in the right direction. I stopped smoking weed which was a major crutch I used to get through the days but I want to be clean so badly. If my dad can be as strong as can be fighting cancer, I have to step it up and just do it. Some days it gets frustrating because I only had a habit of 4 30 mg oxycodone a day. I would spread it out orally throughout the day. I justified my addiction by saying " I'm not snorting it or getting jammed" but the truth is its the same thing. A habit is a habit no matter how its being digested. I really hope all of you stay safe, we can get through this together. I'm going on a year and a half on the clinic and only coming down 1 mg every 2 wks. Just please don't give up. Go slowly so you won't experience any withdrawals. You can do it. I pray all of you are not suffering badly. Bless you all, your in my thoughts and prayers

make sure he doesnt get to anxiuos to be off, after a while on methadone we all start to feel better about our selves, but still have this nagging feeling of being addicted to methadone, so we want to hurry up and get off, but it doesnt work like that. I was on 90mg went down really quick to 30, like 5 a week and you dont notice it at first, i ended up using again, because stuff comes back that your not ready for. so i went back up to 70mg, this time ive been going down 5 every three weeks, sometimes a month, and im down to 30 but feel great and ive had almost no siyptoms of withdrawal at all. little heartburn the 2 days after its lowered. but by the third day im fine, and by two weeks after im feeling like my dose is too high again. ive gotten to the point now that i enjoy being less "drugged" and when it starts to make me sleepy again then i know its time to go down again. But dont be scared by all the horror stories on here, most of the people that come on these things, are here because they were determined to go cold turkey, and wentr through hell because of it. if you go down slowly you can get off and stay off, i know tons of people that have done it, with very mild withdrawal symptoms. so be positive, and i recommend seeing a good councilor, not the ones at the methadone clinics, because they are only there to let the doctor know if your thinking about using, or using or anything else related to that, they really dont have the skills to teach you how to deal with yourself drug free. most of us were on drugs for a reason, childhood anxiety is a major cause of drug abuse, but most teens dont realize what it is, they just feel not normal, and the parents usually just put it off as teen mood swings. but it can be hell for teens, and drugs eliminate it for a while, but then it just gets worse. anyways see a good councilor, it has helped me immensly.

Remember no matter how long we have been on the methadone it doesn't matter, all that matters is that you come down slow and at your own pace. We all have those days that you feel like one more drive to the clinic will drive us crazy and we can't take it, but slow and steady WILL get us there. During the slow detox try to build the life you'll have once your all done with the methadone. Focus on there being no more chemicals to help us through life, try to believe that the day will come before we know it. I'll be there your whole climb down, I'm only down to 139 mg still taking it slow. Its so hard some days, but I think of the fact that we are not alone, we can be one of the many that once was on a high dose and finally made it down to 1mg. We can do it, please just keep fighting. Some days theres a lot of tears and I wish I could just stop, but I have to remember I'm not dead while I'm on it, I can still build a little life on the clinic to get me ready for the day theres no more methadone to worry about. Please stay strong, your not alone. By the way always fight not to go back up once you've reduced. Think of the prize at the end of the battle. A life free of any substance! No more jumping up in the morning to run to the clinic, think of that. God Bless you all, your not alone.

Do not go from 8 mg to zero. Go down 1 mg every 2 weeks until you get to 2 mg. After two weeks at 2 mg then you can stop. If you get bone pain in your legs and can't sleep then do a half-gram of tar over a 24-hr. period, and use Xanax to help you sleep after that. I don't know exactly why, but this worked for me. Just make sure you only do that half-gram and no more or you'll be right back where you started. I think it's actually easier to kick from H than from a small amount of methadone.