withdrawl remadies? sp? for getting off methadone

[Alycia]

Anyways, I think that I am just not gonna go to roch tomorrow and start my detox at home. I know it will be horrible going from 170 mgs to nothing. I need to do this and got inspired from the loads of ppl getting off. If they can get off, how about me???? So my ? is sometimes I heard ppl say well this works alittle bit for the withdrawl and this herb works some too. I know I will mostly feel most of it. But will I be throwing up? Will I not be able to sleep and be up for days?? Will I be able to half way watch my boys. Last time I was on fetenal patches and I ran out way before the date to get the new ones. Well, I got some morphine but that did help with the pain but I was up for soooo long 104 hrs that I started thinking I was a ghost and weird crap!!! Is that what it is going to be like with the pain also. I know that it could be horrible or not so bad for some ppl. I just want to know how other ppl did getting off methadone, did they go from a high dose to cold turkey. At my program they only let you go 10 mgs a wk at that will take me 17 wks, and I just don't have that much money to afford it anymore. Sorry I wrote so long! Thanks for listening!

[Sav]

Woah... I'm tapering right now (down to 15 miligrams) and I don't know what coming off of 170 would be like.

I've done this once before. I made the mistake of listening to the clinic counsler/doctors and did a fast detox from 80 to 0 in three weeks.

I was okay for two days...and then went through two weeks of h*ll followed by four months of lesser h*ll.
For the first two weeks I was so weak I couldn't leave the bed. I had to pay someone to go to the store down the block for me. I slept maybe an hour a night. Not well. My heart was continually racing on and off. Then I started sleeping 2-3 hours a night.
After 2 weeks, the worst of it stopped. But then I was always irritable and weak. I was still so weak it was an effort just to go to the store. I had to go slowly ever where I went and take sit down breaks. This went on for 4 Mo's. I had to take time off from work. (And I still wasn't sleeping well at all).
I went to the hospital numerous times, but they said "deal with it". After 4 months of this I gave up and you can guess what happened.
I've been researching ways of doing it properly this time. I don't know if this helps you at all, but it may give you an idea of what to expect if you do cold turkey.

[Alycia]

it does help me. I didn't know that it would last that long! Thanks sav! I have heard that you'll have diarea sp? for up to 6 months! I was going to find a doc that will give me klonapin. Do you think that is the right way to go, or is it replacing one addiction with another?

[emmer]

About klonopin....well theres an old saying that is recalled often and that is
when detoxing from heroin people think there going to die......when detoxing from benzos people wish they were dead.
I would re-think benzos.

[Sav]

Yes... you can get the runs... lord, I'd forgotten about that, thanks for reminding me.
I do remember that they gave me a sleep aid as an experiment when I went back and complained after the first few days... and it did help. They said it was non-addictive...I'm trying to find out the name. Of course, they stopped using it for some reason and wouldn't give it to anyone later (go figure!)

Is klonopin one of the barbituates? If so, it is just replacing...and you'll still suffer some, it will numb the pain, however. The problem with those is if you use them for a short time, you're okay...but you can't take it for more than like a week, since you'll just get addicted to that.
I know there's a heart pressure medication I tried at one point... called klonodine or something like that. It did help, but there's risks involved with long term use (alot of the problem is your heart races non-stop, and I think that's partly why you're so weak, tired, and unable to sleep all the time).

Hopefully, more to come...

[sleepyhead]

Don't go from 170 to nothing esp. if that is your adorable child in that picture. I took 1/4 of a mg. finally last Friday and I'm still not getting sleep 10 days later.

[Alycia]

I don't have any money for methadone and don't know what to do. I don't know if I will even be able to take care of my 3 boys 7, 5, and 21 months. Someone said to me maybe put them in foster until your well. Idk if the guilty and missing them so much and withdrawl too, will put me over the edge. But then I could maybe go to a rehab or detox or something. what do you guys think????

[sleepyhead]

Have you called NA, Alycia, to ask about rehab and your kids? You are one strong cookie and you're so close to beginning the end of the nightmare. You aren't the first mother to be an addict and won't (sadly) be the last. What an important legacy to give your children that their Mom took care of her problems.

[Alycia]

that seems like a good idea. I was gonna go to a meeting tonight and hopefully talk to someone about it. I think my program doesn't want me to go off.I asked my nurse that gives us the methadone how fast can I go down, 20 mgs a wk? and she said 10 mgs. I said well I want to get off now, cuz of my weight, I gained 49.5lbs in less then 2 months!! She said you have to talk to your counselor, and do paper work, then she talks to Nora the director and has a meeting with you, then they all have a meeting, nora, my counselor kimberley, and the doc, then I see the doc and if he says no, that means no. I was shocked, this is my life! And I want to get off. Another thing is that I am numb 3 on the program in lax but they give waffers in water and it tastes really gritty and I have thrown it up many times, unless I put it with yogurt and eat it slowly. But they want you in and out. I am use to the pink liquid stuff that tastes like cough syrup. Anyways, I am rambling, if I go to the lax one I don't get charged or anything, they go right thru my insurance! That would be awesome. or do I just try to quit cold turkey. so many desisons! Thank you guys for your advice. I think that I should go look in Lbad's methadone thread!

[Sav]

Hey, I'm not sure how my message to you got lost... but this sums up what I said;

There are civil cases happening right now in the federal courts dealing with the following problem. Methedone maint. patients (especially high dose-over 100) have been being arrested, put in jail...and die after a few days to a week from the withdrawal. The families of the victims are suing for obvious reasons, the jails forced the prisoners to go cold turkey...and they're dying.

I point this out for an obvious reason. I saw that your upset over gained weight. This is a common thing for people who stop using drugs. Your appetite returns with a vengeance, and it is, to some degree "subsituting". The drug itself isn'y covering it...I started to gain weight when I started this a year and a half ago...and my wife and I went on a fairly strict diet. We've managed to maintain our weight since then.
If you want help with that, e-mail me and my wife can help you with this (I'm an awful cook!). You can eat healthy, enjoy it, and lose weight/keep your weight down.

I know these places treat you like a kid in pre-school. But there's a way to deal with them that can at least minimize that. You have to also make sure you make it work for you, not the other way around.

[GlassPrisoner]

have been being arrested, put in jail...and die after a few days to a week from the withdrawal.

Happens with alcoholics too. I've heard WD from benzos is just as bad, if not worse, than booze. I can attest booze is a real bi**h to go cold turkey from.....

[northbelle]

With the three little boys you , ONLY MY OPINION, but I would detox slowly girl. I am trying like hell to quit heroin right now and it is just going on and on forever. So I do a tiny little bit of heroin to ease the pain so i don't take my own life..but then I am right back at square one. If you have access to medical detox TAKE IT..you can find a way to come up with the money...I mean it is just pretty important that you are functional right? I just hate to see you plunge yourself into a cold turkey ..things can get really twisted detoxing from such a high dose..I have detoxed methadone also..but a way lower dose and it is just so hard..
Sorry if I am sounding negative, I just don't want you feeling any worse than you have to...and I am feeling so crummy today myself..
You are pretty lucky to have the option of medically detoxing. They have a 6 month waiting list here for te methadone program. A little friend of mine OD'd on heroin waiting to get into it..she was just 20 years old...I have been feeling pretty sad about that..
well there is my 2 cents! I know you can be clean but I just don't want you to be sick..so think it over and ask for some medical opinions from some professionals...
love north

[Alycia]

this is my plan and this is what I already wrote in a different thread but didn't want to rewrite it cuz I have 7 times already but thanks for the advise I am greatful for you, and was looking for someone who tried and/or did get off methadone! thanks!

Well, I have been thinking a lot today about what I am going to do. Since I don't have the money for methadone, I have to make a plan first. I am going to go to the program for atleast this wk or so. I am going to call a doctor, a pain specialist doc, my pastor and church ppl, a new therapist, and a physicallist (the one who prescibes pills) and anyone else that can help me! Oh and I am going to go to the meetings and make friends with as many ppl as I can, women cuz I don't really have any relationships and at na they say that most addicted girls hung out with only guys, and that is why the girls give you their numbers so you can learn to make new relationships. I also am going to call social security and ask what they can help me with, and also human services. I hope to make a plan with all of them, that would be great to have one big meeting but their docs from different towns, so that is out of the ? but atleast I can talk to all of them. We all will deside if it is best for me to go off cold turkey or slowly or if I should go to lax and just stay on cuz there they go thru my insur. and I don't have to pay I don't want to make desicions without thinking them thru! Anyone who has been able to get off their addictions, I would love to hear your stories, cuz they inspire me, so please send me a private message or in this forum here if you feel like you want to share. Thanks for all the advise, and if there is anyone else that I forgot that I should make a plan with, please tell me. So thanks guys!

[Sav]

Wow... I'm in NYC, and you can't go a block without hitting a methadone clinic. They're always willing to take people, and people complain because they have to wait until the next day to get on! Hope I'm not depressing you more...

Did you ever consider bopping over to Canada? It's incredibly available (methadone) and they're fairly easy about giving it out. You'd be able to get by until you could figure out something better.
I guess those of us in NYC and similar places don't realize how much harder it is in the other states. New Jersey is right next door and they've only started offering methadone in the past five or so years!!!

[Alycia]

wow thanks sav, I have always wanted to live in nyc, but I can't leave this stupid town. My prog is an hr away and that sucks really bad but atleast I don't have to go 6 days a wk, cuz then I was paying for gas and methadone, gas alone was over $300 a month. Now I finally got under a different program that covers a cab to take us there! That would be soooo cool to just walk down the street and bam ur there! I don't even know where there is a detox center, or a rehab place around here, it is prob 3 hrs away in the twin cities, or minneapolis. I would love to go to canada, but I know that Bemiji mn, is already 8 hrs away, and that isn't even over the border! Well, maybe if I could get amonth worth, I could do it. and I know of other ppl that would do it with me. Thanks for the advise, I'll check around!

[Sav]

Originally Posted by Alycia

wow thanks sav, I have always wanted to live in nyc, but I can't leave this stupid town. My prog is an hr away and that sucks really bad but atleast I don't have to go 6 days a wk, cuz then I was paying for gas and methadone, gas alone was over $300 a month. Now I finally got under a different program that covers a cab to take us there! That would be soooo cool to just walk down the street and bam ur there! I don't even know where there is a detox center, or a rehab place around here, it is prob 3 hrs away in the twin cities, or minneapolis. I would love to go to canada, but I know that Bemiji mn, is already 8 hrs away, and that isn't even over the border! Well, maybe if I could get amonth worth, I could do it. and I know of other ppl that would do it with me. Thanks for the advise, I'll check around!

Yeah, it's not that great anymore, though. Prices are ridiculous. I’m paying $1,800 for a mid-sized studio, and butter goes for $5.50 for four quarters (half that in Jersey). And they’ve turned it into a theme park for tourists. Everything that made NYC what it was is almost gone.

You do have to be a little inventive and pro-active with your treatment. I’m not saying to do this, mind you (it’s working for me for a number of reasons and due to circumstances thrust on me and those I created, like building an unflagging trust at my clinic for me, and a reputation for being ALWAYS responsible) but I ‘ve been “saving” part of my dose over the last month or two. It gives me the ability to control my intake better, and when I go off, I can take the equivalent of 1 milligram a day myself, then cut that back (etc…)

They cut off at 5 at my place. I got the idea since when my counselor saw I was serious, she suggested before I go off, I request two weeks vacation, get my take-homes, and don’t come back. Then finish my taper on my own at home.
But I found out my place is shutting down in a few months (budget cutbacks). And When I go somewhere new, I KNOW they won’t give me two weeks of take-homes. The timing will work out really badly - coming off right in my second month at a new place. So I had to get inventive and take control of the situation.
So you may need to get a little inventive to get what you want. But just make sure you don’t let it turn around and bite you on the *ss!

[TexasDumb]

Hey ya'll,

I know nothing about Methadone or Heroin.
I was too PO' back in the 70's, ha.

But, it sure sounds bad.

I do agree with emmer's post, Benzos are a bad thing to stop....and you do wonder if you'd be better off dead after about 14 nights of NO sleep.
Your legs cramp so bad you scream if no one can hear you. You can't sit down, but you can't stand up....and it goes on and on. Yuk!

It lasts a really long time too...up to 2-3 years for bad cases and forever for really bad cases that did not taper slowly enough- like my doctor first did to me.

Alcohol tapering/stopping is a b**ch, but it usually only lasts a few days or two weeks at the most, then life is wonderful again. Benzos never go away unless you do it RIGHT!

Be very, very, careful.

Good luck,

[Cloud999]

Have you ever talked to your doctor about Suboxone. If I had insurance or any way to get it I would. There are also clinical trials you can get in. It really is supposed to help opiate addicts. Usually addicts that have relapsed numerous times.
Also look up Thomas Recipe. It is a recipe for Opiate withdrawal. Basically a bunch of vitamins and minerals that will help your body and brain get back to normal.

[Alycia]

Thanks a lot guys!!! And sav. what are u on? metha. or sub.? Also, thanks a lot cloud for that, thomas recipe, that will prob help a lot! Right now, I am focusing myself on it I have cancer and what to do???? I know that I should be thinking about metha., too, I was very pro active on getting off, but since I had that ultrasound and pepsmear, and it should up a big mass of tissue, that is all I can think of for right now!

[Sav]

Originally Posted by Alycia

Thanks a lot guys!!! And sav. what are u on? metha. or sub.? Also, thanks a lot cloud for that, thomas recipe, that will prob help a lot! Right now, I am focusing myself on it I have cancer and what to do???? I know that I should be thinking about metha., too, I was very pro active on getting off, but since I had that ultrasound and pepsmear, and it should up a big mass of tissue, that is all I can think of for right now!

Wow, that's harsh. I hope it isn't serious. Certain cancers are very "emotion driven". A positive attitude goes further towards getting better than all the drugs, I hear.

I'm on methadone (7.5 miligrams). I looked into suboxone, and didn't like what I heard. It seems to be just as bad for coming off as the other drugs. Anyone try it and find that to be different?

It's also very harsh to get on.

You have to be 36 hours off heroin/methadone (full withdrawal). So picture this. You're in that state, and you have to go to the doctor's office. So you travel there and sit in the waiting room for an hour or two, feeling like death, and then the doctor sees you. He gives you a dose.
You sit around for an hour. Don't feel any better. Gives you another dose. This goes on until you seem okay.
Then you wake up the next day feeling awful. So you call the office, hopefully he can see you as an emergency, go in, and repeat the whole process.
I've heard this can go on for up to a week.
Yes, there are some great advantages once your on it. But it seems like a lot of torture to go through unless you plan to stay on it for a good long time.