Need some advice on how to taper off Methadone & Xanax!

[blndegrl]

Hi all, I am a newbie here! Thank God I came across this forum today. I am so desperate at this point. Let me tell you a little bit about myself first. My hubby and I both got hooked on Oxycotin nearly 7 yrs ago, after 3 yrs of Oxy addiction we seeked help and went to a local Methadone clinic. Well....4 yrs later, almost 5 yrs we are still there. So, this "miracle drug" that we were told about that was supposed to get us off of drugs surely did get us off drugs but now we are addicted to another drug called, "Methadone". And from what I hear worse than Oxy to come off of, well i pretty well know it is worse. And along the way on my road to "recovery" in MMT, i picked up another addiction......Xanax. I started taking them occasionally because they gave me an energetic high while taking the Methadone and occasionally lead to everyday eventually. Now i have a habit of taking 3 1mg Xanax a day, sometimes more. And feel like mortal s***t all day long because i am not only taking 3 1mg Xanax a day but also 95mg of Methadone a day on top of that. I sometimes don't bathe for 2-3 days at a time, i know that sounds gross but its the cold hard facts. And the sad thing is, is that is not me. I am a very clean person, have always taken care of myself, dont go out of the house unless I have my make-up on, jewlery, and nice clothes. The methadone is also started to rot my teeth out, slowly but surely, now i have like 5-6 teeth on top in the main front that are chipped and chipping more and more. And thats just the beginning of what it has done to my teeth. So bad that i dont even smile anymore, and i had beautiful teeth. I have a 4 yr old child and a husband, i don't feel like doing anything for, not cooking, not cleaning, not having sex, all i want to do is sleep. It is taking over my life, I have NO LIFE, point blank. And am also playing rush & relet with taking Xanax and Methadone together and it truley scares the hell out of me mixing the 2, but i have such bad panic/anxiety attacks that if i don't take my Xanax I end up in the ER. I feel worthless anymore, i want so bad to taper from both the Methadone and the Xanax and feel like a kid again(normal). I want to have a normal sleep schedule, along with a normal family life, NORMAL everything. I don't want to be an ADDICT anymore, can someone PLEASE give me some advise on how to begin to taper.

[Madalaina]

Hi Blndgrl!!

I was also addicted to xanax and methadone. I was taking 240 mgs of methadone and 4 mgs of xanax a day! So I truly know how you feel.

I went into a medical detox, where they detoxed me from both, the methadone and the xanax. I think you said that you go to a clinic, right? If so, can you start tapering down there? Methadone is not an easy detox, and neither is the xanax... That is why I chose to go into a medical detox, and do it all at once. I just wanted to be done with it. I was miserable. There is a great site for methadone. It supports methadone... however, they have a detox forum, where they have lots of support at. Let me know if you want to check it out, and I will give you the address! I hope you get through this, my friend! I know how it is. Well, let me rephrase that, I KNOW you can get through this, because I DID. And if I can do it, anyone can!

Hugs,
Alissa

[vtlady]

I too had to detox from methadone after 4years and I as well went into a medical detox. It was the only way I could do it. most of us that deal with chronic pain and addictions feel there's no way out. Although I'm not on methadone anymore Iam now seeing a phsychiatrist who has me on Suboxone therapy it helps the chronic pain although not completely but enough- I have no cravings to "overuse" still go to groups and aftercare, some may disagree with this method but it's alot better than the hell I was in.

[Arura]

Hello Bd....

I was another of those Addicted to a High does of Methadone and a Benzo Habit.!
A Methadone taper can be really quite Easy if you with a Good Dr,...But Dont lose Hope as there is Always hope Darlin.....
Slow Taper at 5mg/mls a week,..and it works,...Address your Other issues of the Methadone before Going at the Whole lot ,...as it takes it time to leave your body,...as it get Deep into your system,...!
So my Advice would be taper the Methadone as Its mid range high,..slowly and then when you get a Feel for it you can Keep rolling that stone...!

Getting Methadone out of my life was Major as i had been on it so long i never thought Id Clean up ..!
But i am...!

Luckely im 2 years Methadone free,..and it took me 7 yrs to shake that Habit,..off,..!
I Detoxed with my Dr and the Help of NA,..and everything under the Sun really,..from excersice to flying a Kite to get me away from the Chemist ...Addicted to the Damn chemist,...?
Just Becasue of going there so long...?

Just really want you to Know that there are Many here Who can relate to your Words Darlin and we can be here for you with our ES&H,...to give to you..Openly ...!
and Bad spellin...?

So Hang in there Girl You got a Figting Chance can you see That ,..there is a Way out ,....It just take's Leg work n head work fro me...and Many Other's...!

Glad to Have you Here Darlin......Keep posting as we are reading Sweetie ,..and Some Hugs from Over the Pond to you ,....xXx

I Look forward to hearing more from you Darlin...xXx..

Dont lose Hope ...xXx...!

[Lbad]

I was on methadone as well and did a successful home detox with my clinics help. I didn't relapse. I survived.... it can be done........ you just have to be willing and ready.
Talk to your Dr about the xanax. I don't know any Dr's here and xanax can be dangerous stuff.......
Good luck and God Bless.

[blndegrl]

1st of all, thanks to all who have took the time out to post to me, it truley means alot. I have been thinking about Rapid Detox, but I have heard both good and bad about it with Methadone patients. How long were you in medical detox? If a hospital would accept me for 30 days or more and detox me i would go tommorrow, but i know that most are only 5-7 days and that really just starts the WD of Methadone, because of its half-life. I know alot of people that can go 3 days without and be fine, myslef i used to could when i first started now its a mental thing as well, I wake up @5 a.m. on the dot every morning to take my meds, if I don't my body wakes me up with the jitters in my stomach(the can't sit still feeling). Because I guess since i have been going all these yrs i have went at 5 a.m. to get my dose and thats what time i am used to taking it. Grrrr, the mental part!!!!!!!! But, i know that i can taper a little bit,because before the summer came i had 2 weeks takehomes and i was taking 80mg one day and 60 the other and rotating the dose, never took the 100 mg then, just on the day i went. But i lost my takehomes for a Benzo dirty and have just now gotten a week back, so now that i have been going for almost 3-4 months every day taking 95mg i feel like i need 95mg, except the day after i take it i feel like i can do 80mg at least and be fine. So...i have done this before, not completely but a little. I am just so scared of the last dose, i am scared of trying this and not succeeding and going back to my OLD lifestyle. But. i go to the clinic tommorrow to pick up my weekly takehome so i will be trying to start my slow taper on Sat. I am going to try to go from 95mg to 80mg, if i can't do 80mg then 85mg. The Xanax i guess i will try to deal with along the way also, can anyone recommend any kind of tapering for the Xanax. I have read the Ashton Manual and it seems to work very well, but i just don't want to go from Xanax to Valium and then be hooked on them too, if ya know what i mean. I am so serious about this though that I truley believe that i can do it, i just know that it will take some time.

[mikiglen]

i suggest you talk to your prescribing doc about a xanax taper. me personally, i went from 5 mgs/day to 3 for a week, then 2 for a week...was supposed to go down then to 1, then 1/2, but i quit after the two.
now i'm in benzo wds, but they're very manageable
good luck

[xjunkie4u]

I also have much experience in detoxing from benzos (xanax) and methadone. That's one of my biggest gripes about methadone clinics. You meet ali babba and the 40 thieves (i was one) and learn new junkie scams and pick up more bad habits. I never got hooked on pills till I started making the rounds at clinics and I was on 12 different ones in 5 states over 25 years. It wasn't as long of a process for me getting off the benzos and it depends how long you are taking them and if it is EVERY day. I wasn't quit a every day user but close enough to warrant inpatient detox. Sometimes it helps if they up your dose while in detox, methadone that is. I would handle the benzo problem first then do a methadone taper outpatient. I haven't heard good things about rapid detox or UROD and especially not with a methadone addiction. Most everyone is so sick when they get released it may be better to not do it. I know how you feel, wanting to lay around and sleep all the time and no gusto. I hope you take into account what I'm saying and I wish you all the best.

[blndegrl]

Hi all, sorry i haven't informed everyone of my methadone/xanax taper yet. I just now got back from Christmas vacation with my family in KY. On the way there our car broke down, the motor locked up an hr away from where we were supposed to be doing X-Mas eve, so needless to say we didn't make it on time. So....anyway, shot motor in a car that we just bought maybe 3 months ago. We only pd. 1300$ for a 2000 Dodge Intrepid tho(thats what the car was) so that should have given us a clue that something wasn't right. But anyway, we had to buy another car, had to pay 2500$ down. We were stranded in Ky for a whole week & a half with NO car, small town that had ONLY 1 rental car co. with NO cars to rent. Then we get back, my baby had been sick for about a week before we left for X-Mas(coughing,fever,vomiting,diarreha,etc.), i had to take him to the ER because he wasn't getting any better after already visiting his Pediatrician and taking precription meds and being sick for 2 1/2 weeks and they diagnosed him with walking pnemonia/bronchitis/asthmatic. So then 2 days after i get sick had to go to the ER and was sick with a viral infection myself. So basically with so much stress i haven't had the chance to start my taper yet. But i will inform you of how it goes when i do.