methadone withdrawals

I understand you are going through this but about 9 months ago I was hooked on oxycontin but I took methadone for 4 months to come off of the drug and it help but when I did decide to quit that drug in dec. it was so much hell i did it by myself I remember I couldnt sleep for weeks. I took ambien any sleeping pill you could think of and it still didnt really help me. But, I stayed strong and eventually but slowly you become back to normal. Just hang in there you made it this far and I know you will have your life back on track again....

after 3 years or oxycontin addiction and after that 2 years of heroin addiction i finally was ready and determined to quit. in this addiction period of my life i went from 40mg oxycontin to 400mg per day within 3 years. then sniffing heroin 3 stamp bags per day to shooting up 30 stamp bags a day, 5 or 6 in each shot. this is no exageration. i tried burpernorphin shots twice, suboxan pills 4 times, 2 detoxes and none lasted longer than a month sober. then i joined methadone maintence program. ill be 2 years sober in august. i went all the way up to 80mg per day in 6 months or so. i was 100lbs 5'2" when i joined and in when i reached 80mg i gained 40lbs. this past october 2006 i was at 150lbs and began taking decreases. i tried 5mgs once and wasnt sleeping well. i went back up to 79mgs per day. then i tried 2 mgs and was ok. the next week i took a 3mg decrease. i wasnt sleeping well. the doctor precribed me elavil, the generic name is amitryptlin. it is an antidepressant. i take it 100mg everynight and it helps me sleep. so since november ive been taking 2mg deceases every week. it is may 15th today and im down to 35mgs. the only side effect is anxiety. its mild, not panic attacks. but this is something ive had my whole life even before i was on methadone and used drugs. anyway it doesnt interupt my work or daily routines. and i have lost 15lbs! im at 135 now.
so my point is that methadone works. it helped me save my life. its not the devil. and its possible to get off. i go to a clinic so the doctor does the decreases for me. *oh and one very important thing to do is... have your doctor give you blind decreases, have him decrease 2 or which ever mgs you want some time that week. if u know which day it is u can mentally cause yourself mild withdrawl simptoms.*my point is that its possible to get off just take your time.

Hi , to all,
I am a drug abuse Counselor at a Methadone clinic I have over 70 Patients. As far as bringing someone down to get off of methadone I always start them out at 10 mgs. every two weeks if they are above 50mgs. I really like to bring them down 5mgs every two weeks, that decison is made between me and the Patient. No matter who they are when they hit 50 mgs. they start coming down 5mgs every 2 weeks, until 20mgs then they go down to 17, 15, 12, 10, 7, 5,2 down to zero. In that time if they become uncomfortable they may hold or go up once in their dose and stay there for as long as 30 days. If they chose to stay there over 30 days then they are returned to mmt{ Methadone Maintence treatment} until they are ready, It is all up to them. I also tell them they cannot be in treatment for anyone else but themselfes, if they start treatment because of some else there is a very good chance they will fail
YOU CAN ONLY DO IT FOR YOUR SELF WHEN YOU ARE READY.
THANKS for listing. Counselor from Fl.

? get him off methadone asap is started suboxone instead of methadone you have to go thourgh 4 days of withdrawl but it works if monitored closely watch his med supply .

I was doing about $100 to $200.00 a day in sticking Heroin in my arms. I was clean & sober for 2.5 years, been thru my fathers death and all this hard stuff during that time. I had one stupid day where the drug was calling my name and I got high! So I went on Methadone, started at 15mg and went up to 30mg for two weeks. I was moving to Ky from Ct and when I went to the Methadone clinic to see if they would give me a few bottles to take with me, they said no. Good thing I had my 30mg Sunday take home bottle, I broke it down to 5 days. Mon thru Friday, it is now Sunday and two days without Methadone, I been sleeping the whole weekend away and my stomach is in knots. I'm surprised I have enough energy to write this? My advice is to either get on Suboxone, www.suboxone.com or dextox from your current addiction. Methadone in my eye is prison!

God Bless,

Johnny Boy

Ok, this may be deleted but i hope it is'nt. I've been taking met for 2 and a half years;my final dosage was 300mgs. I'm a musician and the met robbed me of my spirit and soul,not to mention my sex drive. I had to get off fast. Anyway what i did was talk to doctors,addicts,recovered addicts,naturalpaths, and family off addicts. I then came up with my own plan(very unorthadox). So first I learned of which vitamins to take;here are the top 5 Calcium/magnesium(lots),fish oil,flaxseed oil,daily amino acid,L-Glutamine,Phosphatidyl Serine 300,Garlic oil,and tons of vitamin B's(Pantothenic acid (b-5)caps is a good one,plus a strong b complex)Tulsi Tea also helps with your state of mind. If you've taken methadone for awhile your body is a wreck,and requires alot of help. NOW FOR THE TRICK! in order to get through the first 7 days of an abrubt stop you must use a substitute(oxy codone, morphine,demerol,DD's, or even street dope)Don't get high on the stuff, just keep yourself semi comfortable. after the 7 to 9 days of this stop,then wait till you start to feel withdrawal again. Ok, now you've switched your addiction. At this point you take 1/2 the dose of met you were previeously takeing,go at least 48 hours and then take the other half. After that wears off thats it, your done. you'll have hot and cold flashes,insomnia,chills, and fatigue+IBS. But compared to Cold,cold turkey its very tolerable. Keep taking the vitamins, and try to keep moving no matter how bad you think its gonna be;FORCE YOURSELF. If you can go somewhere isolated,like the country and clear out your head i highly recomend this. Its inportant to be stranded one way or another. I did this, and it worked. try to eat regular meals,and read. This should get you out of the woods, but remember met stays in you for years, so know your triggers and prepare for cravings. You can leave "Hotel California" God Speed, it can be done. You may want to find some sleep aids,there's many but i'm only going to recomend Benadryl, Unisom,excercise,calcium/magnesium,and carbohydrates. Then do out patient for as long as necessary.

I admire your strength, I am still on methadone. I have been able to cut my dose in half however after 9 years of being on it I tried and tried and failed...I know it feels as if termites are chewing on your bones, get a bag that you can kick and punch to get that urge to just flip out, out of your system. I know this sounds stupid but whenever I tried to get off, when I would try to lay down I would rock back & forth just a little bit. I would keep rocking and it did take away the flip out feeling and made my muscles a little more tired...Write me whenever you need to vent...

Well I have to join the party and say whoopsie, that I started Methadone. It helped me so fast. One day I was just lying on the couch and inactive in a state between when can I get my stuff to make to okay and then getting the stuff and blah, but better than being sick. I got on Methadone and bingo I felt alright and thought I should have gone on this years ago. After 5 years I was so tired of it and now I am down to 20 mgs. It took a long time to get down to 60mgs and then I told the dr. that I wanted to go down 5mgs a week, which they were against. I see the dr. on November 27, 2008 and I don't know if I still keep going down 5mgs or what. I took clonidine because I have the bone aches and sweats, but I fine take 10 mg valium stops that. I know for addicts that is probably a no-no but I just want to get through this period so I can work and be almost normal. They tell me at the clinic the lower you go the more spacey one gets. I don't know and I don't know once one is off it how long you feel withdrawals. I've heard so many things. In vancouver Canada, they started putting the people who had been on the methadone program and who were doing really well, as in working and all these other conditions on heroin, so they can cut them off at a faster rate than with methadone. These are people who really are at the end of the addiction road I would assume. I thought why would they give them heroin wouldn't they start using again. I don't know how it is going but I heard that it has been successful. Go figure

Hi My name is mike i'm a addict i've been on methadone for 14 months. We all wish we weren't on it but it's better then oxy or any other opiate i could get my hands on. Before the clinic my job i stole all kinds of money to pay for my oxy i was on 10-15 40's a day very expensive those of you that know prices know what i'm talken about . Since iv'e been in the clinic i have realized how good i am doing , my parents thank god that i'm in the clinic my mom has seen the biggest change in me an how i go about everything. I now have money saved in the bank i feel good about myself and everything i probly would be locked up in prison or dead if i wouldn't have put myself in here So i dont really care how much people talk c**p about methadone it's saved millions of lives i garentee . The best way to go about it is to get stablized stay on it for few months then slowly detox off it take 1 or 2mgs a week till ur off it blind dose at your clinics if you have to. but please those of you thinking of getting on it or parents out there that have a child on other opiates please put them in a clinic it's the best thing you could do. If not they may do things they wished they never done or you prey they never do. i'm serious opiate addiction is the worse addiction in the world i've been addicted to coc crank crack this is the worse thing in the world opiates are the devil.

ANYONE OUT THERE WHO HAD BEEN ON METHADONE, ATT: and

IN RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE MSG:

I am TOTALLY feeling your pain, and sharing your "cell enclosed" vision of methadone. I was NEVER this sick when I have withdrawn from my past pain-pill addiction or heroin addiction. I have been on Methadone for 9 months now. First 6 of those months, I was acquiring it from the clinic I was attending, then the last 3 (now) I have been buying it off the streets. That alone was hell because I depended on others (who were already flaky) to supply me with the drug I needed the most to live. I was going to the clinic, yes, but, due to owing them money they detoxed me from 100 mg a day by 8 mg EVERY day....THAT IS NUTS. Yet, they assured me that I would be fine and have NO problems...Right. I knew better, as I am no fool in withdrawal. SO I did depend on these people on the streets I knew who had some, sometimes, to help me EVERY day. (Unless I could buy it in mass quantities at times, leaving me with no worries for however long.) So lately, (connecting me back to where you are), I CANT find any for the life of me. I was NOT wanting to purposely detox myself right now due to personal issues and detox DO NOT mix! Well, I HAVE NOT HAD METHADONE NOW FOR 4 DAYS and Im ready to freak. People tell me to just quit now that Ive gone this far, and yes Id love to believe I can. But I know that the methadone withdrawal period is something that I am NOT strong enough to handle now. SO I was: sweating,kicking,screaming,crying,puking,in pain,jerking,convulsing,stomach cramping, and I just want methadone!! GRRRRR. So I can get up off the couch now on day 4, yes, BUT, I still feel frazzled at the nerves, twitching, cant sleep, maintain from snapping at my poor boyfriend (bless him for still loving me), and I just want to know what the hell to do?!! I want to go on Suboxone (been on it- loved it), but I have to wait about a month, maybe more, til I can get on insurance to do so. I cant handle this sh*t for a whole month (or year like I heard, to stay off it!) So Johnny, any suggestions from you on this? I am so wanting to be off Methadone, I just cant hang with the big dogs on the withdrawal process, and dont know what to do in the month til I get Suboxone!!! Thanks, and feel free to respond ANYONE!!

Danielle (In Hell), WA

FIRST of all- you people, even those who were "on" or "using" methadone... IT is NOT entirely bad. For more long term herion addicts such as myself IT SAVED MY LIFE. It DEF is not for everyone- but even the ambulatory program(6 months or so) can be used to help less long term users. IT cut my cravings- I DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT HERION OR SHOOTING up, and even if I wanted to i couldnt get high because of my high dose. all of that b.s. about it rotting your teeth, your body- it is all people without any knowledge saying this. look it up - do some REAL RESEARCH. anyway, would you rather the people that could not stop using herion- that had tried EVERYTHING ELSE - be shooting up for 50 years, robbing you, spreading diseases??? HIV AIDS HEP ? DO YOU want your loved ones to get these diseases? HERION destroys EVERYTHING. it ruined my life. UI am grateful for what i learned, it made me who i am today, and i got my life back, but without the help of meth. i wouldnt have been able to get clean. i tried everything else. there are people that benefit so much from this drug. WOULD YOU DENY A DIABETIC THEIR INSULIN? ADDICTION is a DISEASE. anyway, there are a lot of ppl at my program C?LEAN HAPPY going to work, school, N.A., then there are others who try to solely rely on meth. w/out doing other work on themselves, without healing their wounds that caused them to use/or they aquired from using. They still get high. I WAS ON 140 MILIGRAMS and NEVER nodded out, never got high on my meth. . so i hate when ppl say its just a replacement. it is not. not for everybody....ABOUT THE WITHDRAWAL)______________ i was on 140 mili. a week in a half okay. today i am on 40!!!!! i am being rapidly detoxed fbc of financial stuff, and i am just ready to get off it. I feel good. havent thought of using, but then again i go to meetings, have a great support system and a beautiful son (oh yah, i had him on methadone- he is SO SMART, above average, beautiful and healthy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they r doing studies about methadone bnabies high intellegence) to keep me clean. and i love myself now i really do. i feel a little cold/hot flashes when i wake up before i get my dose, my legs a little annoying(the "kicks"), sneeze a few times in the morning, and thats abouit it
1!!!!! grant you i have a little way to go but come on 140- 40 in a week in a half !!!! i know everyone i :-D s diff- but for me and a lot of other ppl - it is ALL in your head. mind over matter. take hot showers, hot packs, EXEDRINE works AWESOME- i think bc the caffiene is VERY good for this, VIT. C pills, vitamins. STAY BUSY, keep your mind off it. if i layed in bed all day bitching im sure i would be very sick. you have to not think about it stay positive go to a meeting!!!!

1st of all- for all you methadone haters out there- i agree thatit is NOT for everyone but it is for HARDCORE herion addicts that would and could not stay clean without it. would you rather us spreading diseases,using dirty needles, stealing, stripping, whoring, lying and cheating to you and our families? I WOULDNT HAVE GOTTEN CLEAN WITHOUT METHADONE. I WOULD ?HAVE BEEN INJail OR DEAD. so don't completely knock it. that being said- i am not someone who needs to or wants to be on it for 50years, i have been on it 2 years and have been going through a rapid week detox from 140 mg to today 5- tomorrow my last 5 mg dose. i havebeen having withdrawal symp. for the l;ast few days and it isnt even tat bad!!!so much of it is mental. when ppl talk about their withdrawals it is like war stories and they are exagerated a lot. don't get me wrong, eveyryones diff but if you stay busy it isnt that bad. this drug has done more much more good than bad.

mr. 300 mg - are you fu********serious ???????????????WHY WOULD YOU EVER TELL ANYONE TO DO HERION to come off methadone/???? weird bc imethadone actually SAVED MY LIFE - HELPED TO SAVE MY LIFE ACTUALLY---
i have a great sex life, am an artist and a musician and am damn good at it. and i am healthy as hell and in great shape. anyway, im getting off methadone through a rapid detox and it isnt so bad as ppl say- evberyone psychs themselves out soooo so much. but PLEASE , if your like me, you are getting off to be compeltely free from drugs(im using drugs in a sense like a diabetic needs insulin not like its dope or anything).... why use herion
?????jesus christ if its that bad go to a hospital, a detox clinic, your primary care dr. for medication!! please dont do HERION!!!!

wow i was taking 5-6 80mg oxys a day for nearly a decade. tried everything in the world to quit, rehab centers, jail, suboxone, and now methadone. i only took a lil bit for about the past ten days, but this is day 3 clean off it all. the methadone is horrible. yea it helped my oxy withdrawl, but i seem to have only created a bigger monster. i dont wish this pain on my worst enemy (well.. idk about that but..)

if you are detoxing off methadone, or oxys, i pray for you.

I've been a pain pill addict for about 8 years now. It started out with Lorcet from a friend for a headache one day and that was all it took. Within a year, Elvis Pressly and I would have been great friends. I was eating 15-25 Lorcet or Vicodin daily. A friend then introduced me to Methadone, and I quickly realized the cost savings involved. Spending roughly $100 a day for Lorcet or Vic's off the street, I realized I could easily get by by spending $20 a day for methadone, and only take maybe 3 or 4 pills a day. To me, this made perfect sense. 2 years later, I found myself in rehab. I had lost my methadone connection and the withdrawals were so bad. I couldn't take it anymore. I hadn't slept for 3 days, and had every symptom known to man. The doctor put me on suboxone but even when I dosed down with that over a couple weeks, I still was withdrawing badly. I decided to "white-knuckle" it and dry out at my moms. Not only was I still withdrawing from methadone (which can take 6-8 weeks), but I was also quitting an addiction to cocaine, nicotine, caffeine and even nasal spray for a sinus condition all at once. I also didn't have the luxury of OTC med's to help because I had recently lost my job and was penniless. On top of all that, I had to completely hide my symptoms from my mom and family, as they had no idea of my problem. Needless to say, I was hating life. But, eventually I began to feel better. I beat the addiction and was clean for almost a year until a serious back injury left me no choice but to get back on the narcotic band wagon. My point is this, I've learned alot about myslef, people and the medical industry over 8 years. And it boils down to personality and courage. If you are a person who has an addictive personality, you will have problems with drugs or alcohol. It takes sheer courage and will power to go through what I went through, and I maybe even developed a little character. Getting off Methadone and all the other substances was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. But I'm proud of myself for having done it, and I know if I ever need to do it again. I CAN. And so can YOU.