debpug

What is the deal with METHADON (sorry Don't know if spelled it right)? I have heard it is worse than the drugs they use.Is that true? Does it work?

hillbilly35

I will only tell you my opinion and experience with methadone.
I went to the "clinic" because I was on oxycontin and heard that it was cheap. For me when I first started I loved it. I could get high and not get into trouble every single day. I had no intentions of quitting drugs. But over time it was just like any other drug. I became addicted to it and had to have it. This is how it is supposed to work. You decide to get off of whatever you are on, go to the clinic and see the doctor. If they decide it is for you, then you begin dosing. You see a counselor once a week and are drug tested once a week. It is supposed to help you come off of whatever and over a period of time when your counselor and doctor feel you are ready they will bring you off the methadone. From my experience, it does not work. In my case I didnt want to quit, the counselor knew absolutley nothing about addiction, and the doctor only wanted to get rich. If it worked the way it was designed it would be a great thing. But like most other things the people involed screw it up.

tropikgal2

I've posted this before but I'll save you the trouble of searching for it in the archives.
Methadone is a doctor-prescribed alternative to heroin. Methadone clinics were originally set up in the late 60's and early 70's to deal with all the Vietnam vets that were coming home strung out. The thinking at the time was that the clinics would control the street drug problem. Now most people go to the clinics for the reason that Hillbilly35 posted: to get a legal high.
After an opiate addict is clean for 5 days they can get on Naltrexone which is like Antabuse for junkies: it blocks the receptors and lessens the desire to use.

jeepgirl

My 21 year old daughter is on methadone. It seems to be helping her get her life together. After 3 weeks, she began the weaning down process - her choice. She has gone to a meeting every single day, and will be transferring to a clinic that has therapy as a component. The key is wanting to be sober, as hillbilly said. After 4+ years of trying, rehab, relapse, and yes Naltrexone too, this seems to be working. She doesn't plan to stay on it, and has a reduced dose each week. I have given up trying to plan her sobriety and the method she uses to get to it. So, I am cautiously optimistic.

notsleepingwell

My daughter is also doing the methadone treatment, and believe me, although I originally thought it was as bad as the DOC. I would take methadone any day. She is no longer injecting. Is starting to live as a normal person again, is no longer hooking, is no longer homeless!!!

From the reading I've done, if it's an opiate addiction, they absolutely need some kind of help to get off. Their brains have been altered by the use of their DOC, and methadone offers a bridge until their brain chemicals are returned to normal.

It's true, as I understand it, that some people are on it for life, but for me....I'll take my daughter on methadone any day!!!!

nevergivingup

I have mixed views of methadone, as I've never seen it actually work. I have a family friend who's been on methadone treatments for some 20 plus years and continues to abuse other drugs. But, like every other medication out there, what works for one person may not work for another. JMO!!

Nitelite

Hi;
My son's experience with methadone was not positive. instead, he is taking Suboxone, which has allowed him to continue working, without some of the methadone side effects that he was having trouble tolerating. He also had trouble easing off methadone; hasn;t had that with suboxone. Suboxone can also be prescribed by a physician in his/her office, tho the doctor has to have a special...mhh..license to prescribe it. You can get a list of those doctors in different states by googling up samsa ( a federal agency on drug abuse/prevention) and suboxone.
Whatever the choice, good luck! ~ nitelite

ladyamalthea

my sister took suboxone for a while. Another big problem that most doctor's won't tell you about these drugs is that they have a high street value as well. So, the addict may be filling the prescription, selling the suboxone to friends for heroin/ cocaine/ whatever money, and the cycle continues. And the dr she got the rx from wasn't drug testing her, so there was no accountability whatsoever...

tropikgal2

Ladyamalthea is right, I forgot about that. There has been a fad around here and in Dallas of kids doing methadone and Xanax; the result is sometimes death.

jeepgirl

Suboxone did not work for my daughter. We did go to a doctor for it - one she knew from rehab. I thought it was a cure-all. Truely the desire to change is the most important element. In a few days she will transfer to a clinic with therapy included.

funkzter

Well for me, i got mixed feelings about methadone too but i guess it really depends on why someone is using methadon...
My bf has been using heroin on/off for 10+ years. During those years, he has been using methadon on/off for 3+ years (and in between, some clean times). Methadon helped him have a normal life: he could function normaly, work, be sociable etc etc...But i have seen how hard it is to get off this drug as well. It seems it's just a vicious circle, no matter what.
However, if done properly and for the right reason, i'm sure it helps. My bf is currently on methadon and is decreasing very slowly and is almost at level 0 now. So hopefully, when he reaches the level 0, he'll start working on his real recovery: the sober one.
xx
Carine

rahsue

My opinion of any recovery treatment is and of course I'm quoting you know what,
it works if you work it. regardless of the ROC (recovery of choice) if it takes choosing more than one or two ROC so be it, whatever works for the person,
Methodone works for some and not for others, then again so does everyother ROC