how to withdraw safely from methadone addiction

I cant wait to the day I'm down that low, good for you. Listen, if you have a doctor that can prescribe an anti anxiety or something like Remeron to help you sleep it would help you so much. Taper very slowly. Dont feel rushed. Come down slow at a rate that works for you. Really think about going down 1 point every two wks, if thats too painful do 1 point a month. I know that sounds crazy but its worth it to get off of this powerful stuff with no pain. Your not alone. I really hope you can get a doctor to give you comfort meds. Even colonidine can help with withdrawal. Try to get these meds, if not even melatonin for sleep could help somewhat. Anti-anxiety will help more than anything though. Good luck, sorry you have to face this but your almost there!

thank you for that! im down to 25 as of today from a dose of 250 . ive been in the clinic for 10 years next month. i also have gotten married, had 2 more children and a good job. it had given me my life back as well and its great to hear positive feedback from others! great job!

Thats great!!! I'm so very happy for you. Your almost done! I can't believe what progress that is! I'm siked your gonna have your life completely back, no more getting up to run to the clinic every damn day. May God bless you today and ALWAYS, keep up the good work!
One day at a time~Kim

well there's no easy way to get away from methadone it has such an efect on the body and brain that the user must either go down as little as possible at a fast pace he will 2 to 5mg every two week's take's some time ive cold turkyed 240mg and it was hell sleep and anxiety issuses arise and there are these option's 1 suboxen afeter a week away from any earlier could be fatal 2 remain on and try to go at a max of 40 mg for dependece issues 3 herbal find a real chinese herbal store and tell the owner your symptom's 4 detox with a strong family support is key in any recovery COLD TURKEY is horrible but possible so good luck joe s boston mass on methadone

Yes, slow and steady. I'm doing 2 mg every two weeks now. I wish I could speed it up but its not worth it. I'm sorry to hear your nephew has to fight this battle but he's not alone. Colonidine is a good one for withdrawal. Its supposed to be for high blood pressure but its prescribed to many for withdrawals. Stay away from the suboxone unless it really has been 24 hrs since you've touched the methadone or any opiot. Its not worth the withdrawal that will swoop in so fast. I'm so sorry that the only way out of this is to be lowered very slowly. You can do it, we are all here to help u get through. For me it will be a couple yrs until I'm done, it makes me angry but its the only way off of this methadone. Keep strong please and take it a day at a time. God Bless u guys, please know its not forever even if it feels like it will be, it won't. Talk to you soon, let us know how its going. We are here, thinking of you~Kim

Ive just came of my methadone 1week 2day, i was on 120ml an i started comein down 5ml evry 3months, but i hav 2 agree u hav 2 realy want 2 come of it i didnt use anyfin opiate based pain killers but i did use paracetamol an ibuprofen and benzos which i am perscriped from doctor. its not easy but if u want 2 change ur life it has 2 b done i hate Alcohol as lot of people substatue one 4 the other and it is realy hard, an i no wat im talken abt i was a heroin an crack addict 4 8years and im 33years old now and im goin 2 start working with other addicts in 6months time, if ur nephew wants any help im here, plz try wat i done wish u all the best

MOST METHADONE CLINIC WORKERS NO NOTHING ABOUT THE DRUG.ONLY PEOPLE THAT HAVE USED THE DRUG KNOW WHAT THEY'RE BODIES GO THROUGH!!!!!DOES ANYBODY HONESTLY KNOW HOW TO SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THIS HELLISH TUNNEL OF METHADONE????I THINK ITS ALL BULL**** HOW SOMEONE INVENTS A DRUG FOR ADDICTION THAT IS WORSE THAN ANY OTHER DRUG.IT SEEMS TO ME AND MOST OTHERS,ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!!!!ISN'T IT GREAT KNOWING OUR SYSTEM ARE LEGAL DRUG DEALERS!!!!AND WHY DOES IT COST EVEN MORE TO GO TO A PROGRAM AND SPEND THOUSANDS TO RAPID DETOX???WHATS THE REAL TRUTH????SUBOXON IS ANOTHER ONE....ITS ONE DRUG TO ANOTHER!CAN ANYONE HONESTLY JUST BE FREE FROM IT ALL WITH SOMETHING THATS NOT ADDICTIVE AND HAVE WITHDRAWLS OR HAVE TO SPEND MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE????SORRY JUST THOUGHTS AND ANGER FOR NEVER BEING ABLE TO FIND THE RIGHT ANSWER.ITS STORY AFTER STORY.IS IT THAT HARD FOR SOMEONE TO FIND THE TRUE CURE FOR THIS NIGHTMARE THATS RUINING SO MANY LIVES????OR IS IT TRUELY ABOUT THE MONEY?

 

I can definitely understand your view on these clinics. If I could go back I would have never gotten on the clinic, I would have weaned myself off of the oxycodone 30 mg tablets I was addicted to. I'm now coming down 4 mg every other week. I feel like I'm doing time, its killing me jumping up at 5 a.m every morning sick. I was at 150 and am now down to 121 mg. I hope you guys are doing alright today, just know your not alone and you really will one day have this nightmare in the past. Stay strong your all in my thoughts-Kim

Shellyp, My name is Steve. You may already be free of the methadone which is just great. If, not, get to your Dr. or a Dr. that is familar with 'pain therapy', there is such a thing and tell him you want off. You have to do it slowly, believe me. There are too many life threatening consequences going cold turkey, and you will be in pain two ways by com- ing off too quickly. The rule for sensable withdrall is one year on, one month to get off. It would actually be better taking 2 or 3 mo's. Inquire about how low a dosage of 'Oxycodone' which is in the same family, can the Dr. offer you. You might want to experiment with your Dr. for a few days to see what dose keeps you level headed and deals with the pain. Once you establish that you start at point A and keep taking that same amount for one to two weeks. As you feel you can handle it and maintain you will be able to feel how much you can ineach suceeding week. Stay on the reduced dosage until you feel comfortable in dropping another. When you get near the end make sure you have enough to draw that last one out till you are comfy. The next week cut it in half but draw it out so you remain comfy the whole day. The next week you my feel good enough that you forget a dose or two, all that final, we'll say, the 1/2 week where you are just taking a 1/2 your body has adjusted and in finally dropping that your body won't scream, you'll just have whatever pain you were experiancing before maybe not even as bad as before because the legth of time you were on Methodone your body sort of forgot about the originating which started you onthe Methodone. My back pain was so severe that my Dr. started me on Oxycoton i'm sure you're aware of that but it was costing 600 a month so he switched me methodone. 10 years late I lost my provider, my Dr. (he moved) and in such a small town as I live in it was better for me to just eliminate it. I was taking 70mg of methodone and percocet combined. I'm going to be in it for 1 year, maybe less, taking to start 5mg of oxycodone, Clonidine HCL, and an occasional Lorazepam if I need it. You need to be able to function relatively pain free if you work and you slowly drop them out of your life when it feels OK doing so when the last goes you haven't suffered and hurt your body and you are now done withJust maintain your comfort zone and then who cares how long it takes, you're free. In your case you could do it comfortably with 5mg (I don't know how many you were on) for two weeks, then drop one or cut it in half and stay on that till you know you could drop the last one, whatever amount it is and ...Presto Make sure your Dr. is in agreement and that he will be there if you run out, or he makes sure you have ample supply to 'Taper' correctly.

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 You are absolutely right. Tapering down 1 mg every other week is how I got off methadone before. Good luck to you!

Ive been on methadone for ten years ..i cant remember my old self before that ten year period..if i knew what i know now then..thats a sentence.i wouldnt have started this ball and chain..its a numbers game with the goverment.if half the workforce were drug addicts or long term pain releif users more would be done im sure.suboxone ....really is that as far as weve come in 50 plus years since methadone...i dont know what i feel anymore sry...

I was on 180mg sense 1992. I started a  landscaping business the same time I got on Gulf coast clinic in Mobile Ala, I wonted to go into trucking, I had to get off the clinic in order to get my CDL. I toke off work for three months, I  started with 30mg less {I got two weeks take home) Each day. I made sure I was drinking a glass of water every hour our hour and half, I toke name brand vitamins ,1 at night and 1 after I food in the morning, Lunch I drank a Boost. The number one thing that helped me brake the habit was walking 3 miles a day and working out {15 minutes at a time 3 or 4 times a day}. I did not roll up in the bed nor did I get on Heroin or other drugs to get  off. I also would take two or three hot showers. IT WAS NOT BAD COMING OFF and I was on it for 21 years. May I say in the 21 years I never ever missed a day. If I can do it you can,I'm 53 years old, You have to have a reason greater then the drug that makes you wont to get off. Money,job,marriage etc... But until you have a greater reason then the drug it self just saying you wont to get off is not good enough to whip it. Think off what you could buy with the five hundred dollars a month or any thing to motivate you. PLEASE,PLEASE DO NOT LISTENING TO SOME OF THESE POST ABOUT ITS HELL OR YOU'LL DIE, THAT'S BULL S***> you can do anything you wont too. It wont be easy but its not near as bad as some say. Do not lay in the bed, Move around,walk read the bible go to NA meetings. Just remember IT CAN BE DONE AND I PROMISE TO GOD ITS NOT GOING TO HURT YOU. GO FOR IT! Good luck.

Methadone withdrawal is rarely dangerous. It is safe to do it "cold-turkey" but it's unpleasant.

If your nephew wants to do it without experiencing significant withdrawal, I have read that the dose should be slowly tapered over a periods of 6 - 18 months. However, it can be done safely even if he simply stops taking it.

Withdrawal is not any fun, but it's really unlikely to be dangerous. If he can get clonidine from a doctor then that will help a lot. If his doctor is really sympathetic then he could probably get diazepam (Valium) which will be really helpful.

I have a lot of points to make but this post kinda got me a little tweaked. Here's my story and here's why I take issue with this.

It's easy to say it's a p***y way out but everyone is different. I was on methadone for 15 years, got down to 40 and it only lasted 6 hours. I mean I could feel a couple tokes of H. So I figured, switch to a shorter acting opiate and try cold turkey so I switched for 2 months then I tried it. I have to say that I don't know if it's the length of time I used, my body type, my chemical makeup in my brain, but I never ever remember withdrawals being that bad. I had cold T'd Methadone 10 years ago and that was 10 x worse than H but I swear, this felt twice as bad as that did and I had been off methadone for over 2 months. So I really don't think you should be calling people p***y and whatnot. It saved me over a thousand dollars a week, acting like a friggin retarded criminal and stealing from friends and family, I got a degree at college, and you know what, yes, it was all thanks to methadone. I just couldn't have done all that if I didn't do that. Now I agree, if you are strong enough and I do consider myself week in the physical part as we all know the mental is a whole 'nother story when you get passed the physical, then you should never go to methadone. But if it's obvious that you are looking at jail or death because you can't get your sh*t together, then I think it's a better alternative. Look, you yourself took methadone so where do you get off being the one to preach. That's what I love, junkies who preach but can't walk the talk.

To those who wonder about suboxone, I tried that but for me, I had way too many bad side effects. You have very minor WDs for about a week or two and then you normal out, only my problem was that my mind went numb where I had no emotions whatsoever where you don't care about anything anymore, you have dry mouth that drives you mad, swelling tongue, and more. But I'm rare, if I could have done it, I would. I would recommend a try of that before methadone because you can taper so much faster and the final WDs are way more doable but yo have to get down to like .25mgs before you can jump ship.

PLEASE DON"T GET ME WRONG HERE< I despise having to take methadone and let me tell you, getting it from a private doctor is a million times better than a clinic because you aren't chained to the liquid handcuffs. You can travel, work jobs you never could because you had to be pathetic and go to a clinic instead because they didn't open in time to get to work in time. How the hell do they expect people to get their lives together with zero freedom and having to schedule your daily life around a clnic?

I was to 80 mg stated goin down 3 mg every week went form 80 to 65... didnt feel any kind of withdrwals..im ready to start goin down again i stopped goin down when i got a job to see how it was... to me the methadone clinic is very helpful but it depends if you are  the person that really wants to change....dont get me wrong it wasnt a quick fix but once you get your dose right and remove urself from the people that you got ur drugs from ..thats the biggest thing u must not use any other opiate or benzo. to me smokin weed and drinking alcohol is a personal decision...but it gets ur life stable to where u can get off of opiates.. For me i shot herion but before i ate pills snorted pills and then started doin herion because it was better.. so the mental addiction was a big problem i luved the whole thing of shooting dope.. the clinic helped get them cravings away from me.. and  ur whole thinking process will change if u stick to the clinic....i think anybody that uses the clinic to get high obviosuly doesnt belong there and relizes u dont get high off ur dose... it makes u feel normal and stable.. u will kno when ur ready to come down and the best is to ask ur counselor and discuss the best way to tamper down the best way...i wish everyone a good revorvery and remember the good life not the bad!!!