Weaning myself of methadone, I need some help from experienc

I know this post was a whill ago but wanted to ask something. I've just jumped down to 10ml after slowly tapering from 80ml (I'm from the UK so the doses are different as ours is in ml not mgs I believe a ml is equal to 8 mg though not 100% sure) . Thing is I thought I was doing fine but I'll drink it in the morning and within 6 hours of having it I'm depressed restless angry cant eat my legs are killing me and the worst part is I have zero energy. The energy bit is killing me because I'm a runner and can't get out there and run at the min. I get around 3 hours sleep and spend my time from 2am clock watching waiting for 6am to drink my dose (it kills me but I wait because I can't bring it forward due to the domino effect). Sorry to go on not sure how all this works as I've never posted on these sites but ..... will all this settle or is this going to continue till I get off it completely. I fly out to Egypt in 8 days for Xmas so am staying on 10ml for a bit well I was hoping to. So tempted to ring up on Monday and go back up cos I can't spend my holiday like this its horrid. I'm hoping you'll tell me my body will adjust to this dose if I give it another week (dropped down 3 days ago from 13ml). Sadly I'm in a hard place though I've been clean 10 years I've been on this script 10 years since I had my son a long time I know and I know it won't be easy I just want a nice holiday. Sorry to go on but I'm at my wits end and can't take advice from my key worker as they don't know and tell me it's all in my head (like waking up every 10 mins is in my head). Any advice will be so helpful I'm lost. Thank you. Well done to you ...don't think I'm strong enough. If I'm posting this wrong I'm sorry.

It doesn't settle in the marrow. There are so many myths. If I was you, I would stop the detox. With the thoughts and cravings etc,this is what happens. Being on a stable blocking dose is where you were at. Now your body is feeling the WD. I have heard many PAitents that claimed to of done so great in the beginning and then at the 20 mg/10mg all the withdrawal starts kicking in hard. Maybe wait for another week to drop anymore Mg's. Best wishes to you!!

y choose my legs are giving me problembI'm coming off method

can I get some advice

My fiancé is coming off too, he's at 4mg but it's killing me. I know he is gong through hell n I can't imagine his pain. He has these crazy mood swings constantly accusing me of seeing my ex. He wants off real bad. I'm scared for him and I'm scared I can't handle anymore! Any hints can be helpful

I am a 64 yr old woman who has been on high high doses of methadone for 35 yrs. yes 35!!!! I've had severe pain issues and I went to pain management I've been on 60 mg of meth while I was in Fla. I came back & went to my monthly appt. he was arrested and told me he can't write Oxus which I never took so no referrals I have 2 days left before I get sick He even dropped me from 4mg of Xanax to 5mg of Valium and wean down to stop when he didn't even give me enough to follow his instructions for 2 weeks what can I do my grown children do not know about my taking this?

I have read a number of these posts and want to add my experience with methadone and trying to come off of it. I used opiates for about 3 years before seeking help. I first tried Suboxone and ended up wasting more than a year trying to get stable on that. I would still use because I could not get to where it worked well enough and it never stopped my cravings. Finally, I went to a private methadone clinic and told them my experience. They said my habit was too large and some people just don't do well with Sub. That was me. My other Dr and most of what I read online said that sub would work for even heavy users. I wasted that year trying low dose suboxone, high dose and everything in between. If it works for you, great. If not, don't be afraid to try methadone.

At first , my methadone dose was not high enough and I still was using for several months along with the methadone. I ended up at 100 mg and that finally stopped my cravings and I stopped using anything else. It really does make your life better and helps to get onto a normal routine of work, home and family.

After about 3 months I decided I was ready to start reducing. I dropped 5 mgs a week. I was anxious at first but quickly realized the drops were barely noticeable and I actually started feeling better as I got down to 80-70-60-50. It was the drop to 40 from 45 where suddenly I started thinking about using a little extra dope on top of it. Beware. I also read that someone else had the same response at around 40. After a "dirty" test result at the clinic, I admitted my problem and upped my dose back to 50. If this happens to you, don't do what I did and try and convince yourself you can stop using on top. Admit it right away and they should let you go back up. I ended up forcing my tolerance up so that even the 50 mgs was a struggle for a week or more. I wanted to use on top. I did get thru it and now plan on reducing again.

The Dr recommends that you go down in steps. Instead of straight down, go down about 1/4 or 1/3 of your max and stop there for a while. Then continue down slowly.

I have read of many people that got all the way off with almost no withdrawal symptoms by going down no more than 10% at a time. That means a 3-4 mg reduction at 40, 2-3 mg when you get to 30, and 1-2 in the twenties. You want to do this all the way down to 1 mg or less. Don't stop at even 5 mgs. When you get to 1 mg - which is the lowest dose with the liquid at my clinic, start skipping days. First, skip one day a week, then 2 days. When you can go 3 days without methadone, you are home free. After 3 days, the methadone has cleared your receptors.

I don't see why anyone would want to try and tough it out from higher doses. That is a sure way for me to fail and use again. I'll update my progress once I start down again. Should be within 2 weeks.

Good luck to all. And remember, its a marathon not a sprint.

One thing I want to add as a caveat. Don't take suboxone while on methadone or any opiate. It will throw you into precipitated withdrawal and you may end up so sick you'll have to go to the hospital. You have to be in full blown withdrawal before starting suboxone. For methadone, that usually means three days of no methadone or more before you start on suboxone. Ask your Dr if you want to switch. Mine says you have to be below 30 mgs methadone, wait three days until you are in withdrawal, then start suboxone. I had such a hard time with subs that I just plan on coming all the way off methadone.

Some people use while on suboxone. But, it has to be after the suboxone not before. The easiest thing to remember is don't take suboxone unless you are in full blown withdrawal and it should be under a Dr supervision.

Methadone is very deadly. Many people die the first time they take it recreationally to "get high". Like all opiates, people who take them daily build up a tolerance. It takes more and more to have the same effect. A dose that a former heroin user takes to feel normal is enough to kill several people who have no or little tolerance. And, methadone does not make most people high - just sleepy.

How most people die who want to try it is that they take some and don't feel anything an hour or more later. Methadone comes on slowly. So, they take more thinking it isn't doing anything. The problem is that they get sleepy after a while and go to bed thinking they are fine. Methadone like all opiates depresses your breathing. Your breathing gets slower and slower until finally it just stops. They don't ever wake up. I know kids who have died or been brain damaged from this. I also knew a methadone patient that went in the hospital for a few weeks, then went back to his Dr and got the same amount as he had been taking and died that night. His tolerance had dropped rapidly in only a few weeks without it. 5 mgs is the max anyone who hasn't been using opiates can usually tolerate and you aren't likely to feel anything but sleepy. Don't play with fire.

she would NOT need 8-12 mg of subutex if she's only on 7.5mg methadone. best bet would be to slowly reduce her methadone by 1mg a week until she reaches zero and then use loperamide for 4 or 5 days just to clear the last bit of methadone from her, she would be fine this way. good luck you can do it

The med ur talkin about is IBOGAINE ITS A MIRLCLE ONLY IN MEXICO NOT LEGAL IN USA. IT HAD SAVED THOUSANDS LOOM INTO IT COST MONEY BUT SO DOES DOPE. Could save ur life. Go Google IBOGAINE

dreadful advice, subs are just as hard to detox from and to suggest that someone on 7.5mg of methadone should start taking 8 - 12 mg a day of sub is plain criminal. if u were to take sub then 1 or 2 mg would be more than enough for such a low methadone dose and if u do take sun then I would start low and reduce down immediately ie day one 2mg, day two 1.5mg, day 3 1mg, day 4 0.75mg, day 5 0.5mg, day 6 0.25mg and then jump off and use normal comfort meds like ibuprofen, lofexidine or clonodine, otc sleep aid etc and if you really need to Imodium for a few days. this will see you off pretty painlessly. Good luck

I got as close to all the way off methadone as I comfortably could ...which actually was not near as bad as I thought it would be (was on it for well over 10 years)...I got it down to where I was taking like 2.5mg/day ....hard to remember now for sure but then I switched to buprenorphine (suboxone with out the narcan or whatever it is called) ....one great thing about getting off methadone? I lost a ton of weight without even trying at all! In fact I was getting worried for a while I would waste away to nothing! In like 6 months I went from 235 down to 175!! YMMV but one thing I did to help myself is a couple of big doses of morning glory seeds .... It is like LSD but without all visuals typically ....It seems like it is conducive to some very honest meditation and if nothing else it was a great distraction getting the seeds, processing them to consume etc ...might be a bad idea for some folks but it seemed to help me....

Use kratom if you feel sick it makes you feel alot better most smoke shops have it

There's one right down the rd from me in Rochester MI. It's called rapid detox. It is $7500, and they finance. It take 72 hours. They use an anesthesia. You sleep under a red lamp that makes you sweat everything out for 24 hours. They also keep you very filled with nutrition, and hydrated. You wake up, and they keep you in the hotel with a nurse for the last 2 days. All the withdrawal symptoms are gone, and you're supposed to be just as good as before you used. That's not a time to just quit after care, such as groups, and stuff. Good luck. I would have loved to do that, but I am also at a clinic, 80 mlgs and ready to start weaning down. I'm going to stay on 80 to let it adjust to my body, then start going down 1mlg every week, and then every other week once I get to like 20mlgs. It's a process, and it takes time. I hope my Dr will tell me how to wean down with no withdrawal. Isn't that the point of the clinic? I can't imagine using all this time, and going every single day for a year, or most likely longer just to fall right into withdrawal, which was the whole purpose of going there. It's like a paradox. I'm not so sure I like the answers I've heard. It's kind of giving me the opposite of what I'm supposed to be feeling. I've been off the bad stuff for 3 days, and now I'm at 80 I don't need it anymore. So now it's time to start figuring out how to wean myself down. Good luck everyone. I did see this post was from over a year ago. If you see this, please update us on how you're doing.