Overcoming the Pain of Drug Withdrawl from Methadone

hey i am on methadone and have been for 5 years. i am in the process of getting off of it. just come down slowly. i come down 5 mgs every 2 weeks. but go slower if you need too. also there is a drug called bupronex (bupronorphine) which is also a mild narcotic but if used only for withdrawls and only for a short period of time it will take all the symptoms of withdrawl away. also take hot showers and hot baths to help with the muscle pains and it helps me to keep the house really cold. also there is a drug called clonidin (spell check) it's a blood pressure medication that helps the withdrawl symptoms too.

the point to coming of methadone is to stop the drug use not taking more dope for withdrawal stop everything and lock yourself up for 2-3 weeks.

I've been taking 40 mg of methadone a day for more than 10 years. It works and there are no adverse effects. I have no intention of stopping it. Too many doctors and patients are caught up in the anti-drug hysteria. As a result, they inadvisably and subconsciously brand themselves as guilt-ridden criminals.

Most doctors are idiots when they treat people who take pain meds. You can't be truthful with them.

hello, i am 51 , got down to 15 mls of methadone, (taken me 12 years) i have read much on subject of switching to subetex, from what i can see i might as well go back to india, thailand, cambodia, get back on the gear for say 2 months, smoke a bit of opium after that then do a subetex detox say 2 or 3 weeks, this methadone detox sounds like a punishment from the devils brother in law. in fact i am sure that is the way to go. sick of hearing of doctors opinions that it only takes a week or so. fk them. get yourself 2k (if you can) chill it in if the far east and be strong. cold lime sodas and rice. no way i am doing what they say, they just want to tick boxes. i have come off the gear in these places before and believe me with a small lump of !, or bong, give it 10 days , maybe a bit longer. but as usual its have you got the dosh to survive. i suggest you stay on the methadone till you get your arse to the far east.
get a job save up ,its not hard, and do what i say. who the hell wants all that pain.

you r a addict bro......im on methadone and for simaular reasons ur a . addict go to Rehab...nothing else

Totally agree that doctors ARE idiots, as they have had a BIG hand in ruining my health and quality of life ... mine is a very long, sad story that exemplifies how badly we are treated in this country when it comes to our medical needs! After a stupid chiropractor d**n near broke my neck by herniating cervical discs C5 & C6 approx. 15 years ago because I had developed chronic migraines & all tests showed nothing ... I was desperate to hold onto my good & long-time in coming, best job I ever had with the Telephone Company (Nynex, Bell Atlantic &Verizon) & did not know what to do, so I did put up w/this quack's "adjustments" because he was good about talking to Disability when I needed him to, which was too often after awhile as it got increasingly worse.

Long story short, I have been the victim of misdiagnosis and medical maltreatment for most of my adult life, as when these doctors that we must put our trust and faith in do not know what to do besides their narrow-minded "specialty" , whatever that may be, such as the incessant and increasingly worthless, yet harmful, steroid needles that stopped working for me a long time ago, physical therapy that hurt more, and believe it or not ...being put on a never-ending SLEW of anti-depressants for 10 years, when I WAS NOT DEPRESSED, I just had HEADACHES, which now with age and experience I suspect were largely HORMONAL all my life.

After I had finally had to leave my good-paying job ad go on disability 3 years later, my daughter, who also suffers from severe migraines but had a different neurologist at the time told me to try one of her Relpax pills... and it was a MIRACLE! I NEVER had a medicine that had worked, and I believe they actually caused me to be clinically depressed by giving me something that was not meant for what was wrong with me, as none of the meds they prescribed worked at all on the headaches, or they made me very ill, with some actually CAUSING terrible headaches!

I finally realized that I needed SURGERY, all on my own when I saw an ad for a doctor who performs "minimally-invasive spinal surgery" , as I had taken a very bad fall on some dangerous steps I kept asking my landlord to give me stair treads and a banister, but he kept dragging his feet about it (and they had been sitting in the back warehouse for at least 6 months, even after I and my daughter had fallen twice each on these steps!), so now had both cervical AND lumbar discs smashed, so that the surgeon finally advised me that all the fluid had leaked out while they fooled around and neglected my health for YEARS, and he did take me out of agony, but I was in such bad shape by then he told me I would always have some pain, and so he had prescribed one pain reliever after the next, none of which I could tolerate because they all gave me the severe migraines. After a year of trial and error, he gave me methadone, which I was wary of taking and told him I was afraid of the withdrawal I would probably eventually have to go through, and he told me I would not have to, and of course I realized that he meant he would wean me down easily when the time came to do so, after all the surgery I needed so badly, and when all done, perhaps I would not need any pain meds, which was what I hoped for, as the methadone makes me feel very tired and unwell much of the time, being so sensitive to side effects as I am, and caused me terrible opiate constipation (which no one told me it would do) and I actually got to the point where I BLED trying to go to the bathroom!

Well, about 2 years ago he began drug-testing his patients (which he had TOO many of!) ...a regular drug mill he was running and my husband and I just dreaded the day we had to go to him each month, as it was ridiculously overcrowded as he over booked and a lot of these people were just looking for their fix, it seemed ... which I never worried about because I took my medicine, not sell it, as they were making sure of, besides that people were not mixing illicit OR other prescription drugs other than what they were only supposed to be taking because of all these new laws they have imposed on both the medical "professionals" AND their patients .

Well, I had had a sunburn the beginning of this summer and had only sat in the sun for one hour, being very fair as I am, and had sprayed some Solarcaine on my shoulders without a thought that I was doing anything that was going to cause me hell on earth, because the standard urine drug test (which I have since learned are VERY fallible!) that I took a few days later on June 7th ... showed up, and they did not present me with these findings until September (!), the whole summer! ... as positive for cocaine use!

I was absolutely flabbergasted and had to go through an embarrassing time with the PA that told me this was so, and who would not believe me when I said I did not do cocaine, and I do not know why this happened, and to test me again right there and then ... but NO! They just showed me the door, refusing me further treatment after making sure I signed a sort of admittance paper, with all this stuff about I will not hold them responsible, or anyone on my behalf, if I DIE, just to get my last month 's worth of medicine so that I had time to se someone else before went into withdrawal (they do EVERYTHING to save themselves from a lawsuit or being held accountable for anything!), which I was forced to sign under great duress as I had been afraid of the specter of eventual forced or otherwise, potential withdrawal I might have to go through, for years by then ...

I did my research and was SHOCKED to see that it was all over the internet that people were declaring that "they have to stop ruining people's lives with these fallible standard urine drug tests! I went on to learn that there are MANY substances one might ingest, or absorb, as was my case, that could show up as something else in these tests ...they re called "cross-reactants", and can cause a FALSE/POSITIVE drug test result, and the one that did it to me was the Solarcaine, which contains, is mainly, LIDOCAINE, as I now know can mimic cocaine in these crappy tests they will only pay for, though the cost is certainly high enough, so of course the are not going to pay for anything that is more accurate such as a hair test, for example. He would not even let me come back in two weeks instead of a month to be retested, or nothing, the rotten jerk! And I had been seeing this man for 7-8 years and always complimented him and had thanked him for being the ONLY one who had knew what was really wrong and was able to help it a lot with his minimally-invasive surgery, which not many doctors are doing yet or not all coverages will spring for (and I only have Medicare now), but what many people really need.

I had even wrote him a letter as he is impossible to get a hold of when you are not having an appointment with him, he's too busy making his BILLIONS, after all with his overloaded practice ... after learning what I did and feeling vindicated, at least, but to no avail ... he just told the girl to keep coming back to the phone to tell me he had given me a list of a few pain mngmnt docs I could try to see, but when I called them, I ran into brick walls all the way ... either they did not dispense serious pain meds (narcotics) anymore, which I KNOW is because of all these tough drug laws recently opposed on everyone because of some stupid people who ruin it for those of us who have NO interest in taking drugs recreationally, but are truly in pain and need to have some amount of relief be in order to function. It is absolutely disgraceful, and now here I am in withdrawal and going crazy with the restless legs, which I was so very afraid of getting, and the worst is the insomnia, which I went through once before 2 yrs ago when I was sick after being a victim of Super Storm Sandy, and had been sick in the hospital, but in a coma for 2 weeks, so did not have to feel the awful withdrawal, except for the after-affects that really go on forever, such as the d**n insomnia, which I feel like I will lose my mind from! I have not slept for 50 hours now, and I look and feel miserable because of all the w/d symptoms I am experiencing ...not being able to sleep at all is the WORST, even more than the pain that is back, besides the aching w/d pain on top of it!

I called after giving him enough time to get my letter, but it made no difference ... I even called the laboratory, Millenium Labs, that did the testing and gave them h**l, but I said to them as mad as I am art the doctor for doing this to me, he is just looking at the results they gave him, which was so obviously a BIG error on their part, but of course, got no where with that attempt, either ... I was told I could "have the doctor call them and they will discuss the results with him", to which I responded that he would not call them as I know how self-important and busy he is and that these creeps will EVER admit they are wrong, for sure!

I also found some pretty shady stuff about this lab on the internet and happened to hear just yesterday that people are being drug urine-tested by a doctor who used to be my GP (saw him once after my doctor died a few years back, whose place he took) for no reason, when I had just read that they were talking doctors into testing people even if for nothing, and they would split the profit!

So watch out, people, of these standard urine drug tests, because you could very easily be accused of having done something you did not, as I so unfairly have been and am now paying the consequences that I don't deserve, as well as feeling like I have been branded as nothing but a 'dirty drug-user' whose not to be believed or helped at all, and am hoping SOMEONE will be humane enough to do so, and asap, God please!!

And this is just the culmination of many years of neglect and abuse I have suffered at the hands of this country's (and I am fully American, born and bred!) Health "No Care" System! I have more horror stories leading up to this final insult, and am in total disgust & distrust of those that, God help me, I must keep putting myself in the hands of as I am still very much in need of medical care, and I resent the hell out of the horrid treatment I've been afforded by those who are supposed to be the ones we can depend on to help when we are not well, ha!

That self-centered, self-important man should rot in you-know-where as far as I'm concerned! I wish everyone better luck than I have had, unfortunately!

Speak to your health care professional about gradual withdrawal. Methadone withdrawal can be dangerous and should only be advised by a suitably ranking medic.Don't try to withdraw alone without medical help. Methadone withdrawal, like any opiate withdrawal, presents a unique set of painful, potentially traumatic, circumstances, and should not be taken lightly.Reduce doses slowly. If you are on Methadone, consider reducing your dose. Then switch to Subutex.Consider the idea that getting off long-term opiates requires planning.

I was on methadone for extreme pain for 5 years. I wanted out of this terrible drug and cut it down to reducing 1 mg a day until finished. Even a week later I have been in bed for 5 days with vomiting and diarrhoea and after 10 days feel much better. Because I am a pain patient, I am on Tramadol which cuts the leg jerks and cramps. Paracetamol for aching and a mild sedative for sleep. You can get off it, but with medical supervision and the desire to stop it. It has been the worse drug for pain and please stay clear of it. I have been on morphine, pethidine and fentanyl and the withdrawals from methadone are nightmarish. Good luck to you all.