Day 6 of transition from methadone to suboxone
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Victoria BC
Posts: 13
Day 6 of transition from methadone to suboxone
Hi,
My story is complicated, as most are, so I will start by trying to summarize.
I am 36 yrs old female and have been in addiction since the age of 16 (off and on, mostly on). I have been doing ok the last 3 years since I went on Methadone to stop taking the morphine, percocet, dilaudid, ect ect. I started at the usual 30-40 mls and up until a couple weeks ago I was up to 240 mls of methadone.
I blamed my high tolerance and anxiety issues to the high dosage, and was also prescribed diazepam 5 mg/4 day, citalapram 40 mg (antidepressant) and took Trazadone for sleep. Looking back, I slept most of my life away.
Almost 3 weeks ago, my boyfriend and I had finished a movie at home and I stood up and began talking to him when I felt a sudden head-rush as if I had stood up too fast even though I had been standing for a couple minutes. I thought that i said that to him but apparantly I had slumped down to my knees, then to the ground. I seized, stopped breathing and turned purple. He performed CPR on me and I woke up scared and confused with ambulance on the way.
I spent two weeks in hospital due to Long QT syndrome due to the methadone and citalapram interaction. They immediately took me down to 100 mls of methadone while keeping me comfortable on morphine every 4 hrs. Once my QT was at acceptable # they released me. I was down to 65 mls of methadone. No citalopram. I was to start Suboxone the following day. I am on day 6 and feel much better, I went into precipitated withdrawal the first day, but I still feel so weird. How long until I feel normal-ish?
My story is complicated, as most are, so I will start by trying to summarize.
I am 36 yrs old female and have been in addiction since the age of 16 (off and on, mostly on). I have been doing ok the last 3 years since I went on Methadone to stop taking the morphine, percocet, dilaudid, ect ect. I started at the usual 30-40 mls and up until a couple weeks ago I was up to 240 mls of methadone.
I blamed my high tolerance and anxiety issues to the high dosage, and was also prescribed diazepam 5 mg/4 day, citalapram 40 mg (antidepressant) and took Trazadone for sleep. Looking back, I slept most of my life away.
Almost 3 weeks ago, my boyfriend and I had finished a movie at home and I stood up and began talking to him when I felt a sudden head-rush as if I had stood up too fast even though I had been standing for a couple minutes. I thought that i said that to him but apparantly I had slumped down to my knees, then to the ground. I seized, stopped breathing and turned purple. He performed CPR on me and I woke up scared and confused with ambulance on the way.
I spent two weeks in hospital due to Long QT syndrome due to the methadone and citalapram interaction. They immediately took me down to 100 mls of methadone while keeping me comfortable on morphine every 4 hrs. Once my QT was at acceptable # they released me. I was down to 65 mls of methadone. No citalopram. I was to start Suboxone the following day. I am on day 6 and feel much better, I went into precipitated withdrawal the first day, but I still feel so weird. How long until I feel normal-ish?
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 109
Hi, I'm sorry for what you're going through. I don't know myself the answer to your question, but there is a forum specific to suboxone and methadone taper or maintenance. I'm betting you can find very knowledgeable people . Stay strong!
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Ireland
Posts: 25,826
Welcome to the Forum!!
I can only speak from the point of view of alcohol, there should be a few others coming after me with some experience, however the body withdrawing from anything will always take time, it needs to adjust to not having what it has always had!!
Hang in there!!
I can only speak from the point of view of alcohol, there should be a few others coming after me with some experience, however the body withdrawing from anything will always take time, it needs to adjust to not having what it has always had!!
Hang in there!!
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Western NY
Posts: 1,209
Hearweareagain - I was never on methadone maintenance so I don't have personal experience with your exact situation. However, I have gone from short acting opis to suboxone and if the dose was correct I would start feeling better by the third day. On a different occasion when the dose was too low I made it about 9 days and then I gave up on it.
One thing I would say about methadone versus suboxone is that I found them to have quite different effects. I never was on either long-term, but the suboxone just wasn't as effective as the methadone when I took it. My point is that if you are using methadone maintenance as your yardstick for what 'normal' is like that may or may not be the case.
Did your doctor give you any advice on how long it was going to take? If not, I would call him and tell him/her what is going on. With a methadone to suboxone switch it may be a longer timeframe, but he/she would have the best idea on that. Also, he/she may want to adjust the dosing if you should have been feeling better by now.
One thing I would say about methadone versus suboxone is that I found them to have quite different effects. I never was on either long-term, but the suboxone just wasn't as effective as the methadone when I took it. My point is that if you are using methadone maintenance as your yardstick for what 'normal' is like that may or may not be the case.
Did your doctor give you any advice on how long it was going to take? If not, I would call him and tell him/her what is going on. With a methadone to suboxone switch it may be a longer timeframe, but he/she would have the best idea on that. Also, he/she may want to adjust the dosing if you should have been feeling better by now.
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