methadone to suboxone

I was addicted to narcatics for a little over 10 yrs. before hearing about Methadone. So I joined a clinic 6 yrs. ago. I was on 80 mg/day. I decided a week ago to switch to Suboxone and was told by my doctor to wait at least 12 hrs. since I had last taken my dose. So I waited about 30 hours and took a 8/2 Suboxone and within 45 minutes I was in full withrawal. If he had not called me in Xanex and Dopomine 0.1 I don't think I would be here today to tell about it. :cry:
So I waited another 5 days before trying Suboxone again and this time my withdrawals were so severe I had to go to the hospital.
I am now so scared to try the Suboxone again for fear of the same thing happening and believe me I would rather die than go thru it again. I am only 36 yrs old, married, and have 3 kids. This is scaring them badly to see me like this.
Does anyone have any experience with this or know how long the methadone will stay in my system before I don't develop the withdrawals again??

I'm desperately needing any help that can be provided. :!:

P.S. My doctor told me to wait until I'm ready to try this again and do it in his office so he can monitor what happens. Unless he can give my something to bring me out of withdrawal immediately I hesitate to do it.

Thanks for your help,
Cindy - Macon, Ga.

well color me stupid, as usual. PLease I hope someone learns from my bone head mistake. I thought IO could simply stop taking methadone (was on 60 mg per day), ran out too early (that's bonehead addict here) but had lots of suboxone around. So, I tool 30 m,g of methadone in the morning. Come 7:30 pm strating feeling hinky, and figured go ahead and start the suboxone. MISTAKE!! Ended up with the worst withdrawal symptoms ever! The ended up in the Emergency room, lot of shots of ativan, no help, the docs then called in the big guns, IV dialdid, still not too much help. Next thing I know (can't remember much, but my partner who was there tolkd me they even shot me full of thorazie as I was actting really bad. Admitted to ICU, don't remember a whole day! Now as I hang my head in typical shame I was released from the hospital after telling I don't know how many docs that I was not suicidal, just plain ol stupid. I see my pain management doc tomorrow, expect to get holy hell from him. Well, I deserve it. Bottom line, don't do anything like this. follow your docs orders and remember to eat a big ol slice of stupid humble pie if you are lucky enought to live after an ordeal like this.

I'm going into detox in three days and want to have fun. For the past 3 months I've been taking my sub then shooting up Now I'm sick of waiting 24 hours each time i shoot up so my question is the oppoisite of most, if I have sub in my system then take done, will I get sick? Please someone respond asap. Thanks

It will save your life! Get off meth and pills! Suboxone was no prob for me!

Does not matter if you are on 80 or 30 or 0.5mg.'s of methadone. I came from 90 mg.'s to 0.5 mg.'s in 2 months symptoms are the same in severity if detoxing switching to suboxone is definitely safer if below 30 mg.'s of methadone however try getting off of suboxone. Detox symptoms are the same. I have fibromyalgia, lupus, and diabetes so I am pretty much sentenced to pain for the rest of my life but detoxing too? We will all have to be a little uncomfortable for awhile I suppose if we are to rid of ourselves of all this stuff and maybe the discomforts are a way of our bodies reminding us how uncomfortable we will be if we choose to remain on this roller coaster. At this time I am looking into some alternative methods such as bio-tox foot baths just to ease the symptoms of withdrawl. I am not willing to switch drugs anymore. Good luck to everyone and prayers be with you!

Detoxing off Suboxone is harder than anything i've ever tried-- methadone is a bit easier, but coming straight off the illegal drugs (heroin) .. is by far the easiest and quickest -- though I don't condone it. Stay on Methadone, don't get on Suboxone.

Why do people feel the need to lie?

Your boyfriend didnt go back to meth because of methadone, because opiate treamtments have nothing to do with amphetamines like Meth.

I had a question. I've been reading through all of this and can't find the answer I'm looking for. I've been taking oxycontin on and off for 1 year and have had w.d. So, about 30 hours ago I took 20 mg. of methadone for the first time ever. 30 hours later I am feeling the withdrawals again, with NO METHADONE LEFT. BUT, I DO have Suboxone and was wondering, since it was the first time ever doin methadone, is 30 hours enough time in between to take the sub?

Please trust me. It is different with different ppl. However, please wait 72 hrs if possible before takin sub. after methodone. If you have to take street drugs then so be it. Sub taken while md are still in your system will throw you into withdrawals. This is the only drug sub. does this with. No other. OC'S you just wait a few hours until craving another one, or preferably until you begin to feel small withdrawal symptoms srco=]d

I was on 180mg of methadone and wanted to switch back to suboxone (i originally switched from suboxone to methadone because honestly i got bored with it, yeah, i'm an addict). I got sick of having to drive 45 minutes to daytona to stand in line for 30 minutes every morning with some of the roughest looking people I have ever seen. Plus 14 bucks a day gets expensive, plus 15 dollars in gas, i was spending 29 dollars a day, even though I made it up to four takeouts, which i would just shoot them and be short and have to make like 50 mg work for 2 days anyway. Anyway, i got sick of methadone and went to the dr to get back on suboxone just to get a semi normal life back. Everything I read was you have get down to 30mg or less before even thinking about it so I figured he would write me a script for methadone in decreasing doses (like other dr's have in the past) until 30 then switch. nope. 180mg and he said ok you took your last dose this morning before you came here, wait 72 hours and take up 32mg of the suboxone. ok. I even waited 96 hours and thought i was in the worst withdrawal of my life so I was like sh*t now or never. BAD IDEA. I went into INSTANT VIOLENT withdrawal for 4 hours rolling around on the ground because i couldn't sit still, having convulsions, throwing up, sweating my ass off but freezing cold, absolutely worse than any withdrawal I've ever had (and I shot 3-4 grams of heroin a day for 2 years) until i called him and he called in 2mg xanax and clonidine. i had to take 10mg of xanax and 4 of the .1mg clonidine to put me to sleep for 6 hours until waking up again to the same withdrawal, so again took the xaxax and clonidine and slept it off until the next morning. I dont think I would have made it through the night alive without it. The suboxone finally wore off and i was just back to regular withdrawal. The dr said the naloxone should have gotten all of the methadone out since i took 40mg of suboxone trying to just force through it. So the next day I took 24mg of suboxone and it didnt put me in withdrawal but it sure didn't help very much. If i ever go back to methadone (which i probably won't) or to anyone who is at a high dose like I was, my suggestion is either buy enough dope for 3-5 days to get the methadone out of your system or convince your dr to give you subutex, but they are hesitant to since you can inject it and get "high", if you wanna call it that. I dont care if you have been clean for 20 years on methadone, if you're gonna switch to suboxone and your on a super high dose, easiest way to do it is use for a couple days, as bad as that sounds. I went straight from 3-4 grams of dope a day straight to suboxone no problem what so ever. Then went from 180mg of methadone a day to suboxone and went to hell and back. Put it this way, I have never though about suicide once in my life, but when I was in that withdrawal I was seriously considering it and probably would have if I didnt call the dr. I hope this helps someone not make the HORRIBLE mistake I did.

I have been reading about people trying to find an easy way off methadone..let me tell you it is not impossible to do it on your own. I was a heroin addict from age 16-20 and switched to methadone upon becoming pregnant at age 20. I am now 25 and am completly off methadone. At my highest I was at 180ml and stayed high for about 4 years. In March of this year I decided that I wanted to get off methadone...and I did, no drugs, no help, will power. Please note that everyone is different and a person should only come off methadone if they are clean and ready...withdrawl symptoms vary from person to person...mine was actually not too bad, the anticipation of pain will make it worse..it is true that if you convince yourself your fine you will feel fine.

I never thought that I would get off meth...I began dropping my dose weekly by about ten mls..fearing that I would soon hit that wall that I have been warned about..this never happened. I continued this 10 mls a week until I was down to 70ml. At this point I figured that I was gonna get sick and I stopped decreasing for a month. When nothing happened I decided what the hell....I want off the c**p so mind as well keep going..I continued dropping 10 mls a week until I hit 30ml...with virtually no withdrawl...only a few mildly bothersome symptoms such as runny nose, little bit of that bug eyed feeling(mainly when relaxed) and some mild trouble falling asleep. at 30ml I began to drop 5 mls a week and started to feel a little rough...not too bad but I knew that I was hitting a wall. I continued decreasing until I hit 15 ml then I went down 2 mls every 9 days or so. at 8 mls I decided to see what would happen if I quit cold turkey, no medication and it worked...here i am 6 months later, with no meth, no cravings and I feel awesome.

Something that helped me near the end at about 20 ml was to keep my meth at home but try to make it through the night without taking it...this helped me see how bad withdrawl would be and made my intake less. If I felt alright in the morning than I would take less methadone. Even if you do it really slow..2ml a week, at least it is something. My doctor did not support my decrease in methadone. He feared that the withdrawl would make me too ill and trigger my addiction. He was wrong. My pharmacist kept shaking his head in disbelief and was blown away when I decided to not fill that last script. I hope my story helps someone out there...4 other methadone users that I know have followed this same method and have successfully kicked it without any problems. YOU CAN DO IT!! Just make sure that you really want off it first..its all about "will power." Dont let the withdrawl control you. Embrace it (made me feel human again)!! I am now drug free for 6 years and methadone free since March 2009.

to color me stupid that is the best story i have read yet.knowing this really happened to you my sister and i laugh so hard we cried.there is truly a lesson to learn in your story. my sister is on a hundred of methadone wanting to swith to subs for the first time. any suggestions for her. need as much info as we can get as a.s.a.p. thanks and good luck

Looking for some advice/answers: I have been taking methadone for 4 years (started at 20 mg) i have been trying to wean myself off of the evil drug. Last week I was taking 5-10mg per day I haven't had any meth for the past 3 days however I have taken a very small amount of percocet (15 mg) until i can find suboxen (I don't feel great but I am certainly not feeling the w/d's that I had in the past when trying to quit cold turkey)....Is the meth almost out of my system? if not, if I take the suboxen how long will it take until the meth is completely out of my system?

suboxone withdrawl is the worst

Good site.