detoxing from methadone
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: brockton mass
Posts: 57
detoxing from methadone
I started detxing from methadone about 2 months ago. I had gotten up to 90 mg's at the clinic but i couldnt stop using cocaine. so i decided abstinance is the only way for me. Luckily i am a veteran and i have been able to detox 5 mg's a week in a locked detox ward in the VA. i am down to 35 mg's methadone and 1 mg of xanax. i am becoming stir crazy however and i also have alot of legal issues to that are driving me crazy and so i want to just cut off the methadone and the xanax and get out of here. the team of doctors and social workers disagree and think i should continue the detox as is. i was wondering what anyone here thinks how bad would the detox be off 35 mgs of methadone and should i just listen to the doctors
Waiting For Engines
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: brooklyn, new york
Posts: 572
Re: Detoxing From Methadone
Hi….
Wow. To drop 55-60 mgs of Methadone in 2 months is certainly admirable. However, as a veteran of this type of withdrawal, you also know that the last 35 mgs will be the most difficult ones to get off of. Also, you will not have an inpatient setting which is medically supervised just in case something does happen. From the literature I have read—I am not an MD—40 mgs is around the point that Methadone users will start feeling more signs of withdrawal.
I am a pain management patient who was scheduled to receive a Medtronic Pain Infusion Pump and found out one week before that I had to stop the methadone cold turkey. This was in 2008. Below were the list of medications I was on prior to getting the pump.
I had been on Methadone 150 mgs for 4 years, Klonopin (detoxed from 22 mgs to 6 mgs) Gabapentin 3600 mgs T.I.D and went from 150 mgs to O mgs on the Methadone and on the 2nd day, I was fine. When I woke up on the third day, I was in a living hell and barely made it to the hospital for the surgery. When I arrived I saw my PM MD and begged him to put me under anesthesia due to the wild withdrawals I was experiencing.
To make a long, painful story short, my PM MD did not put me on anything since I was going to have Morphine in the pump. Due to the long half-life of Methadone, which had accumulated over the past 4 years, I was facing weeks, possibly longer, before the Morphine could be infused into the machine.
I am going to be really honest with you. Listen to your doctor and continue to titrate your dose as medically directed. 5 mgs a week sounds like a great plan, especially if your are allowed the Xanax.
You have done so well in doing what you were doing with the initial detox. My advice is based on your history and not on anything else—apart from my own experience.
Good luck and know that you are not alone.
Wow. To drop 55-60 mgs of Methadone in 2 months is certainly admirable. However, as a veteran of this type of withdrawal, you also know that the last 35 mgs will be the most difficult ones to get off of. Also, you will not have an inpatient setting which is medically supervised just in case something does happen. From the literature I have read—I am not an MD—40 mgs is around the point that Methadone users will start feeling more signs of withdrawal.
I am a pain management patient who was scheduled to receive a Medtronic Pain Infusion Pump and found out one week before that I had to stop the methadone cold turkey. This was in 2008. Below were the list of medications I was on prior to getting the pump.
I had been on Methadone 150 mgs for 4 years, Klonopin (detoxed from 22 mgs to 6 mgs) Gabapentin 3600 mgs T.I.D and went from 150 mgs to O mgs on the Methadone and on the 2nd day, I was fine. When I woke up on the third day, I was in a living hell and barely made it to the hospital for the surgery. When I arrived I saw my PM MD and begged him to put me under anesthesia due to the wild withdrawals I was experiencing.
To make a long, painful story short, my PM MD did not put me on anything since I was going to have Morphine in the pump. Due to the long half-life of Methadone, which had accumulated over the past 4 years, I was facing weeks, possibly longer, before the Morphine could be infused into the machine.
I am going to be really honest with you. Listen to your doctor and continue to titrate your dose as medically directed. 5 mgs a week sounds like a great plan, especially if your are allowed the Xanax.
You have done so well in doing what you were doing with the initial detox. My advice is based on your history and not on anything else—apart from my own experience.
Good luck and know that you are not alone.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: brockton mass
Posts: 57
thanks for the information. I think like you said the detox has been getting more difficult now that im down to 35 so its almost like i want to rip the bandaid off instead of doing it slowly. but i know success probably has more of a chance if i do it as medically directed....just sucks being on a locked ward. of 20 patients im the only addict. most are accute psych. so i have no one to talk to. no access to AA. its been rough thus far
Waiting For Engines
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: brooklyn, new york
Posts: 572
Re: Detoxing From Methadone
I've been in detoxes like the one you're in and I know how lost you can feel. It's freaking bad enough to deal with the screaming noise of psychiatric patients and, on top of that, you are going though what I remember being one of the worst physical and mental tortures known to medicine.
Doing this taper the "right" way is following your doctor's advice. My situation also involves a mandatory taper as last week I was informed by my doctor that my 150 mg a day dosage keeps getting "flagged" at the pharmacy I go to. Initially, I was told by the Chief Pharmacist that the highest monthly dose I could get filled would be 120 10 mgs tablets or 4 pills a day. I was frantic this whole week, thinking that I would have had to drop my does by 110 mgs.
Fortunately, I do know of a "pharmacy" who can fill my script, although I have to pay him in cash.
Listen, I didn't mean to go on about my silly anxiety over not getting enough medicine, but this stuff controls me.
This is the right move for you, mate. Getting off this drug will eventually free you from the hold that keeps you from living a 100% satisfactory!
Doing this taper the "right" way is following your doctor's advice. My situation also involves a mandatory taper as last week I was informed by my doctor that my 150 mg a day dosage keeps getting "flagged" at the pharmacy I go to. Initially, I was told by the Chief Pharmacist that the highest monthly dose I could get filled would be 120 10 mgs tablets or 4 pills a day. I was frantic this whole week, thinking that I would have had to drop my does by 110 mgs.
Fortunately, I do know of a "pharmacy" who can fill my script, although I have to pay him in cash.
Listen, I didn't mean to go on about my silly anxiety over not getting enough medicine, but this stuff controls me.
This is the right move for you, mate. Getting off this drug will eventually free you from the hold that keeps you from living a 100% satisfactory!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: brockton mass
Posts: 57
so is there support available somewhere on this site for someone in my position? i could really benefit from someone who was willing to be a temporary sponser. someone willing to talk on the phone or email just so i feel connected to someone in recovery. I have no access to AA or any program of the like. i know i am still technically detoxing but i feel completly alone. thanks in advance for any advice.
oh and one more thing i contacted central service for massachusetts and they pretty much said there was nothing they could do for me
oh and one more thing i contacted central service for massachusetts and they pretty much said there was nothing they could do for me
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 27
Hey
Hey there. I detoxed cold turkey off of 10 mgs of methadone 7 months ago. I was on it for 4 years straight. Still clean 7 months post methadone detox. Unfortunately, I am all too familiar with the withdrawal process. PM me, and I will give you my email. I would be more than happy to be your sponsor.
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