jasoncy

Just had a question about tapering off methadone. I was going to try tapering off opiate pills back in july when I had a few weeks off work- but just did'nt have the will-power to do it at the time. Now that it's near vacation time again at work it will probably be the last chance to try again for awhile.

Even though in the past I've tried all kinds of different pills: (morphine, oxycontin, vicodin, percocet, etc...) For most of this year I only have taken methadone pills and codeine since I'm prescribed the methadone pills from one doctor, and have access to tylenol 3 from another doctor if I want, or cross the border from where I live in michigan to ontario, Canada to pick the 8-milligram codeine/aspirin pills to use with the cold water extraction technique to filter out the aspirin to get the codeine.

For most of this year I've taken a 10mg methadone pill along with a large dose of codeine at the same time to get a better high, since the methadone alone did'nt do too much.

For the last 3 days I've just taken one 10mg methadone pill each day, and not any codeine at all, and so far have'nt really felt too many withdrawal symptoms like I usually would if I quit taking opiates altogether, just no high like I normally would if I would have taken the codeine along with it.

On another web-site, (heroin-helper) i think it was it said tapering with methadone you should try to be tapered off completely in 7 days, does anyone know if this is a good timeframe to use? or should it be a little longer than 7 days? Also what dosage of methadone should I go to after this? (I have a pill splitter so can cut it down to however small is needed) Should I taper down to half a pill 5 milligrams for the rest of the time or a little less each day from here on out?

Also one last concern I had with the methadone, I saw on one of those rapid-detox sites that methadone can stay in your body for 22 hours? so they suggested people coming in for rapid detox take a short acting opiate before coming in (like morphine) to avoid problems with the detox. So the worry I have with the methadone for tapering is am I going to have withdrawal symptoms a couple days down the road, after I'm all done taking the pills- because of the length of time methadone stays in the body? or at that point in time, will it not really make much of a difference because of it being such a small amount of methadone being taken at the end of the taper anyway?
Or would I be better off just taking a small dosage of the codeine on the last few days of the tapering, instead of the methadone?

logo

I am not a doctor. I can give you my experience. 10mg. of methadone is a very small dose. I have detoxed off of 45mg. methadone twice. Once cold turkey (just quit). The second time I used suboxone. If I was on 10mg of methadone and codeine (is a by product from making heroin). I would stop taking the codeine and taper down on the methadone a little at the time. When I was down to 2.5 mg I would stop taking it (methadone). At that point I don't think I would have any withdrawals. Methadone has a 48 hour half life. On 45mg of methadone I could go 2 days with out being in total withdrawal. This is just my experience. Hope this helps.

jasoncy

Ok thanks, I'll just stick with the methadone right through the end of the taper and lower it down some each day right to the end.

jasoncy

The only other question I had about the gradual tapering with the methadone was how many days should it be, does a 7 day taper like it said on the other web-site sound reasonable? Or have people had better results with a little longer than that.
I just don't want to do it too suddenly, because I tried that in the past stopping suddenly, and then a few days later went right back to full blown using again.

Arura

Are you Detoxin with a Dr...?

and it can be as easy as you want it ,...
Ive forgotten Just how many times ive tryed n kicked the Methadone ,....The taper is Simple Really ,...Just Start Lowering it by 5mls/mg or 2mgs whatever your comfortable with..Then settle for a day or so and Move Down again ,..!
You would Really Need to speak to your Dr about the timeing and ect...as they can Moiter you Better your Safer in Many ways Just Getting Honest about it with them is a Biggy ,...But Can Help....!

Im No Dr,....eithver ...So Please try and Speck to the Dr aswell and we n Others Will be here for you ......

Hang in there you Sound like you Want out ,....

So DO IT.....YeY....Much Credit to you for Wanting Out ....

LIL_Pebbles

b/F is on Methadone, he has to go to a Methadone clinic, he is on 75mgs a day, when they lower his dose by 1mg he gets sick, but that is him. On what your also abusing which is the other opiates, you are adicted to them too, so since methadone has a opiate in it, as you know you using to get high, but now this is no longer working to get you high??? So you want to get off this and continue to mess with the other opiates to get high? If this is the case you will be able to get more high on what your using now, for the methadone when taken ppl i know have to double if wanting a opaite high for Methadone has a blocker agent in it, so does suboxen, now that stuff? It has Narcan in it...anyway, Ask your Doctor to take you down off the Methadone that is what you can do and this way you will not get as sick if any. As for using that is IF your gonna, be careful and all, with the codeine, I wonder what you want to do about that addiction, just wondering...that is another thing you would have to deal with, I might be wrong and if I am forgive me.

Evanna

Use the time frame that suits you. There is no pressure. You are doing great. You know what you can handle. Take 7 days, 7months or 7 years....it is not about other peoples expectations, it is about what is going to work for you. I trust you to know that.

Evanna

If it is any help to you this is not your last window of opportunity either (i mean regarding having time off work). In my experience a very slow taper does not affect your ability to work at all. Last time i cleaned up i tapered over 18mths cutting my methadone right down to 0.5mm. It was completely painless. That was approx 4 yrs ago not and i am still clean. :-)

Alternaltely you may just feel need to get it over and done with quick in your holiday period which may be right for you.

I am simply highlighting that is is sometimes best to do what is right for ourselves rather than feeling that we 'have' to take a particular course of action.

jasoncy

I don't really want to talk to this doctor I'm getting the methadone from about the taper, because the reason I was getting the methadone was for pain in my hands from work. The problem is the original doctor that worked in this office that said he did'nt have any problem at all putting me on methadone moved out of the state, and now the new woman doctor I have at the same office says she thinks it was inappropriate the other doctor put me on methadone in the first place, and she wanted to start tapering me off the methadone, and only agreed to keep writing the prescriptions for it after I wrote a letter and dropped it off with her receptionist, saying I was going to complain to the people at the hospital that are in charge of the network of doctors she's in, asking them why the original doctor had no problem re-filling the methadone each month- and now it's a problem with the current doctor.

So that's another reason I want to taper down as well, they gave me cortisone shots in each wrist that seem to take the pain away, and I don't want to go in and see a doctor I don't like every month to pick up my methadone prescription, when all I had to do before with the other doctor was call in every month and he'd write out a 30 day prescription for me, and all I had to do was pick it up from the receptionist.

I always could go back to another doctor I had previous to this that gave me tylenol 3 every month, or use the in-expensive codeine pills just across the border in Canada. But I figure now would be the best time to taper with the holidays approaching, and also the tapering seems to be much easier using the methadone, I tried tapering using codeine before but it seems to go much smoother using the methadone to taper.

bhal

i have been on a methedone program for about 4 years and have now been aggressively trying to get off I ended up on methedone for a opiate addiction vicoden etc pretty much i would take anything. I am now at 7 mg,going down only 1 mg a month. problem is even though i am going slow with the decrease i can feel it and i am really scared i will never be done. how does it work as far as stopping once i get down to 1 mg? can a 1/2 mg dose be done.im just scared and any advice would be appreciated.

Shellslove

Well, I think it's awesome that you've noticed the cortisone shots working and decided to come off the opiates...that's a good sign. I mean, I know there's other factors involved, and there seems to be some major addict thinking there...but hey! you gotta start somewhere! My fiance is on MMT but also takes the methadone for pain management (he's got severe degenerative disk disease) - I don't know too much about tapering, but I do know it has a much longer half-life, hence it stays in your body longer so the w/d may or may not be drawn out (I think this honestly depends on the individual person.) Anyways, it sounds like going to a quicker round of short-acting opiates might be a good bet....but I'm no doctor...and I hate to say it...but you really need to talk to yours.

I know you won't like the way it sounds, but it seems since this doctor is already reluctant to rx the methadone for pain management, it would be in your best interest (the recovering you, not the addict you) to 'rat yourself out' to her. That way you know that you have to come off the methadone no matter what, putting a roadblock in your drug abuse. If you reallllllllly don't feel comfortable, try another doctor or addictionologist. Honestly, don't mess with this - you're mixing opiates and dosing yourself and it's a bad idea. Self-medicating and doctor shopping is kinda what got you here in the first place, ya know? If you're serious about recovery, you should really talk to a doctor about treatment options and some type of program for your recovery! keep posting too