methadone,hydracodone withdrawels

AHHH suboxone AKA taste like sh*t... I was on those before 16 mg's a day... I was taking one 8mg in the morning and another one in the afternoon... you will usually feel like that for a week or two till your body creates a tolerance for it... don't worry you'll be alright... what ever you do DON'T use HEROIN and suboxone at the same time... you will go through instant withdrawals... i'm on 60mg of methadone... to answer the nurses question it'll take about 1 - 3 months to feel normal again... good luck people!

Addiction is addiction no matter how one gets there. Emotional pain or physical pain, we use anything to relieve the agony. So let's not judge one another on our road to and from addiction. My personal story doesn't matter. I just wish everyone success with their own recovery because it is an insidious disease, difficult to conquer, and just when you think you've mastered the demons, they strangle you like a boa constrictor. We need many supportive clean/sober friends, spiritual network of solid people who will offer prayer and compassion and deeper understanding without judging us, and professional guidance, including medical and psychological. Addiction knows no difference between professions, street people, the homeless, the rich or poor. I've been acquainted with the most unlikely people who hid their addiction for years, people I worked with at hospitals, people who represented me legally, people I never would have thought because they were in the same Bible study on Wednesday nights. Addiction is addiction. It is truly a disease, and one of the worst kind, because it most often preys on the emotionally and mentally unstable.

I just want people to know that it is possible to get off methadone by your self. i used to go to a clinic and wait in line everyday for 2 years for that c**p. i got tired of the way people treated me like a low life and did something about it. The clinic i went to did not support my decision. I was paying them 12 dollars a day so i am sure that had something to do with it. I was taking about 115 mg a day when i decided to taper. i went down 5 mg a week until i got to 60 mg. That was when it became umcomfortable. From there i went down 1 mg a week until i was at 10mg. i stayed at 10 for 2 weeks to let my body get used to it and then i went down to 5. I took my last dose 3 years ago..and i feel great. The fear of withdrawl is actually greater than the withdrawl itself. i weaned off so slowly that my body ajusted and by the time i took my last dose my body was ready. i hope this helps.

hi, this is the first time i've ever posted anywhere. just a bit about myself, started doing heroin every now and then which i thought i had under control, then guess what... yeah started doing it every day. this went on for about 6 months then i started injecting and doing crack everyday also. enough of that anyway, one day i just seemed to wake up & thought what the f**k am i doing to myself! since that day i,ve never looked back. i started on methadone 80mgs a day, & over the next 7 months brought it down to 20 mgs. this was when i started feeling very ill. then once again seemed to just wake up again and just gave it up, cold turkey. the first week was HELL, cramps, cold sweats, no sleep looked rough as f**k, i hated looking at peeple in the face i was so ashamed of what i'd done to myself. worst part for me was restless legs and always feeling weak as f**k. The whole point of telling you all this is to try and help others, its only been a month but everyday is getting better and i can feel my old self coming back. I cant enphasize to you all enough that in my experience its all down to willpower, please just stick to whatever path you choose and be strong, dont give up an you'll get there... thanx

I am an addict with almost three years sobriety in..we count being on methadone as 'clean time'' because we only (my husband and I) take enough to stop being sick and not to get any buzz at all..really! I was taking anywhere from 2-10 dilaudids a day (injection) or a couple of MS contin (100 mg or more preferably) so had a dandy little habit on the go..although there are worse ones and I have been "more" addicted in the past. However, it was enough to make me plenty plenty sick, to the point where numerous trips to detox did no good at all since they did not keep me long enough (the usual stay was a week at best, then they cut you lose here). I resisted getting on methadone since I thought it was a crutch and I would gain weight from actually eating food for a change and not be 57 years old and 115 lbs like I was when I was 14. What incredible vanities for a very sick addict! Anyway, it only took 40 ml of methadone for me to be 'not sick'. this meant feeling like I did when I was straight with no help from medication at all for my 'issues'..I think that most addicts decide their methadone 'dosage' based on how good they can feel ..no, not high, but it does affect your mood and is after all used in pain management for non addicts, here in Canada anyway. So, since they would not put my husband on methadone unless we did the package deal (both of us on methadone since they thought it would cause a relapse if we both were not on it) I reluctantly (well, at the end I didn't care I was so sick and I realized I needed it for a while anyway) agreed, but as I said, 40ml did the trick for sickness. I would love to have had more but knew I did not really really NEED it, I just WANTED more because I am an addict but I knew if I took a higher dose, it would be that much harder to come off later with a taper. After 2/1/2 years on that dose, my husband got laid off and we lost our Blue Cross benefits so I decided rather than pay $42 a week for methadone it was time to get off it. Also, I had gained 40 lbs! (This was not because of the methadone, but from making up for lost EATING time!)
To make a long story shorter..I tapered slowly but not TOO slowly..came down 5ml a week easily..and then at the end went 5,4,3,2,1..and quite seamlessly became truly 'clean'..but with no noticeable change in moods or sleep patterns or extra aches or pains. I had to realize that some of my aches and pains, cricks and cracks, etc. are simply from aging and find that going to the gym and keeping generally active helps with most of that. In active addiction the challenge is to be completely honest about what you can tolerate..discomfort, pain of any kind, and even a bad mood are abhorent to the addict generally and also avoidance of any consequences of bad decisions so perhaps folks can relate to some of this and taper slowly under medical supervision and don't rule out counseling if you need it. Good luck and I wish you all 'one day at a time' clean living from here on in. Peace
can help

no duece74 did not wake one day and "decide" to become an addict. why don't you open your eyes and go F%*& yourself instead. I am so tired of addicts like Miss Gayle, whose suufer miserably from the delusion that they are some how "bette" than any other than any of us other addicts. What makes you think that because you are nurses that your life and job are any more stressful than another's life? Are you an addict as well? Well I am, and have been on methadone on and off for over a decade. Stressful conditions? Try walking a few feet in a heroin addicts life. Being on the streets, chasing dope everyday in neighborhoods snobs like you would not even drive through. Live that, and then us all about stressful conditions. The difference between pharmaceutical junkies and regular junkies is that that pills do far more damage on your body (liver, kidneys ect...) than your garden variety heroin does. Being a nurse you should be well aware that the amount of tylenol the average percocet junkie ingests is incredibly damaging to the liver. Far more damaging than heroin which most often has the impurities cooked out and than injected. Do not in any means think that I do not know the dangers using old or used syringes, but not all addicts are out there sharing needles. They are actually very easy to buy at most drug stores, not to mention needle exchange programs, or are you one of those idiots in the medical community that think it should be more difficult for just anyone to buy a syringe. If your sister nurse here actually paid attention during nursing school, she would have stopped taking the vicodine instead of the methadone. My advise to her... join a methadone like all of us "junkies" (because she is junkie just like every opiate addict), and detox after she is stabilized and stay away from the pills. HEY Duece74... Thank you for your reply, you were spot on with everything! It is time these people wake the F up and take a look in the mirror. They are better than no one; in fact, their ignorance truly reflects who they are.

typo there... addicts like Miss Gayle, WHO SUFFER miserably under the delusion... Did not want some uppity snot to pick apart my reply and miss its point.

your a nurse and u need our advice.. maybe u shouldn't be in the medical field on that kind of med. u could hurt someone terribly if i knew who u where id report u so fast.. u r putting those kids at risk and patience too.. wow u should haave skipped that part girl

Honey it happens, all you have to do is take the drug. Then when you stop you get with drawls. I'm considering what you have done , except percocet it's stronger. But if you can stop the Vicodin to much tylenol. Take methadone and reduce it 5 mg. Everyday if it takes a while. You'll still feel the sting of meth. A little but not as bad. If you need pain medicine then transition after the lowest dose of meth. You can go. And good Luck. That other person wanted to be a well you said it well. Good luck.

Why dont we try compassion instead of judgment! It happens to all people! I'll pray for her.