Please Help Me With Methadone Questions & Withdrawl (Page 3)
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I have been on methadone for 9 months... I was up to 80 mg but have managed to get down to 20 mg over the past 5 months or so. I am wanting to get off it all together but I am so scared because I don't want to feel miserable from the wd. Since I have been on it less than a year, will the wd still be horrible? Should I go from the methadone to suboxone to make it any easier or just keep going down on the methadone? How long will the wd's last once I am off everything? I go to the clinic so I am not doing it on my own, it is medically supervised. Can anyone PLEASE help me with some good advice??

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Yeah I detox ed off of perks/vicoden and that was hell so i was thinking I was headed for some major crap!
Mentally I feel a little foggy, and forgetful. I am more irritable than normal but otherwise ok.
Emotional I am happy, I feel good right now. I walked my daughter's to school, and then took a 1/2 mile walk to make me sweat and stay busy. Thanks for asking! !!

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Hi Niele!! Your post to Gsk was right on! I wasn't on here looking for sympathy but rather other peoples expeirences (and nightmares) with Methadone. You know what I mean... So how are you feeling??

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Hi noexpert....Of course I know you are not bragging!! That is extremely brave of you to just decide to stop like that! Just like you, I have heard so many horror stories about Methadone so I had no idea what to expect. I know what it is like to wd from other opiates and for me Suboxone was the absolute worst! But then again, it is suppose to be used on a short term basis and doctors had me on and off it for 2 years!! Go figure! I don't want to jinx things but I think being on day 5, you are pretty much in the clear as far as any physical sickness. How have you been feeling mentally and emotionally??

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Staycee, your welcome! I hope you don't think I'm bragging because I'm not at all, I have had a 8 year battle with addiction and was clean for 4 years before I got back into taking pills. I know the pain and anxiety of running out and having withdrawal kick my ass. But I saw soooooo many negative posts about methadone that I was literally terrified to quit. I had taken as much as 70mg in a day and as little as 2.5mg and never felt any difference so i jumped off and figured I would take it one day at a time. I know i may not be out of the woods yet but at day 5 already I feel pretty good and I'm trying to just stay positive.

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Hi there no expert! Thank you for your encouraging post and keep up the good work! Sounds like you have your head in the right place! I have not had cravings yet because I am still on 15 mg but I know they will come. Like you said...we want to live, not die. I just keep playing that tape in my head about how opiates have ruined the last 9 years of my life. Like you said, we have to deal with what's in front of us right now. The rest can wait...

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I have been taking Methadone off and on for the past 2 years, various doses and up to 10 days off at a time with little to no withdrawals. So 5 days ago I decided it was enough! I have wasted to much $ and time with this. So I'm on day 5 and again the w/d's are virtually unnoticed except for my hands shake a little and my heart rate is elevated slightly. I haven't taken anything, but I'm drinking tons of water and every time a craving pops up i ask myself to i want the drugs or do I want to live. I don't know what's around the corner but I'm not going to worry about it. Please try to remember this will all be over soon enough, and try to not fill your head up with all the "what if's" or thinking about all the gloom and doom, just deal with what's in front of you right now, everything else can wait.

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I stayed clean for a year until my panic attacks came back with a vengeance. I took a few methadone and started off with a little bit. 10mg made me feel euphoric cause I had no tolerance, but didn't go back to taking it everyday. Got on tramadol and klonopin for 2 yrs and that helped until I lost my dr and had bad wd from klonopin. I couldn't find any doctors to get methadone from so I resorted to opioids n became a junkie for 2 yrs and got tired off the lifestyle n the shame/anxiety. Just got clean 4 months ago on methadone clinic now 180mgs and still wake up sick everyday n don't know what to do about that bs! But u asked what I used for anxiety - it's called clonidine - u need a prescription 4 it. I did get cravings but was head strong about not being on methadone. I gained 80lbs when I was on it. Off of it lost 40lbs in the yr I was clean. Anything else just ask. How r u doing now?

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Hey Gsk,
I've bee communicating with Staycee for some time now, and this is not her "first rodeo." She's detoxed from Suboxone before, which is a very similar process. I am currently coming up on 90 days, and I have detoxed from almost EVERYHING myself from methadone. And it was easier.
So, perhaps, she is very afraid, or very cautious. It is only recently that people withdrawing on methadone have picked up her thread. Unfortunately, all the valid scientific information is not always readily available (CENSOR!)

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I have been on methadone for 9 months... I was up to 80 mg but have managed to get down to 20 mg over the past 5 months or so. I am wanting to get off it all together but I am so scared because I don't want to feel miserable from the wd. Since I have been on it less than a year, will the wd still be horrible? Should I go from the methadone to suboxone to make it any easier or just keep going down on the methadone? How long will the wd's last once I am off everything? I go to the clinic so I am not doing it on my own, it is medically supervised. Can anyone PLEASE help me with some good advice?? Above is your question. You are very sure that you want to get it out that too with the help of doctors in a clinic. Now tell me why the hell you fear? Now I have the doubt that you need not want to get cured but simply want our sympathy for you. Or you don't believe your doctors which can not be accepted at all.
so kindly throw away your fear/sympathy attracting and get the help of good doctor and clinic and get well soon. In my opinion it is too easy to get out of your problem when you can reduce from 80 to 20 by yourself. Please never go for an alternative. all the best gsk

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Hello again and thanks for all your input, replies and words of encouragement, it's nice to know I'm not alone. Emily you should be very proud of how far you've come. I could only imagine tapering from that much. Stacy thanks for reminding me I'm not alone sometimes that's the only thing that helps is being reminded. As far as going down on mg I have tried dropping down 5 at a time even 2 a week and that's what I'm gonna start with next Friday. From my personal experience I hit a wall, or get to a point where I just need to stay at that level for at least a few weeks. It's usually at around 30mg for me. So I'm gonna do 5 one or twice then slow down to 1mg a week maybe even 2 weeks cause then I can adjust more and still be going down. I don't care if it takes years. I'm so done with this monkey on my back if I could I'd stop cold turkey is do it today but I have crohns disease and if I withdrawal too much it flares up and I'm in the ER getting a few dilaudid shots and a few iv bags of that liquid for dehydration. So I have to go slow. I also have a gabapentin prescription to help with anxiety and some back pain. I've missed a weekend at the clinic and took 1200mg each day and barely noticed a difference so I know it will help with tapering. I think it's safe to take even double that but don't quote me on that. Also there are other things to help, kratom (Maeng DA) in powder for teas or capsule form that's helped me. I've heard of a few supplements and other natural things that help too. Also as hard as it may be any exercise, waking house chores any physical activity you can do will help more than you'd think. For you body and brain chemistry to get back to normal pushing through that feeling of sitting or laying around is very important, plus that will also help losing some of those extra pounds the methadone and sweets helped you gain. Thanks again for all your stories, advice and replies. I'm really glad I saw that first post and replied.

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Hi Emily....thank you so much for your post! 240 mg of methadone is some heavy stuff...wow! You should be so proud of yourself for being off it because that was no easy task. I agree with you as far as going down slowly on the taper....I don't want to relapse. What is the name of the medication you suggested for the anxiety? Is it a supplement you can order online or a prescription? I have some other questions for you that maybe you can help me with. Once you got completely clean off the methadone, did you have a lot of urges or obsessive thoughts about going out to use? I am nervous about that. Do you do a 12 step program? And lastly, I have gained so much weight on the methadone and hope to loose it once I am off...did you experience anything like that?? Thank you for your help!

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Hi Niele! Yes, I love that this thread has picked up! It's so great to have support and people sharing their expierences. I hope you are feeling okay today...

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Great for you Staycee! Some people withdrawing from methadone have picked up this thread. I hope ya'll can help each other through this!

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Hi Adam, so good to hear back from you. Sounds like you have had some heavy stuff that has gone on. So sorry to hear about your grandmother, very tragic. It's never easy. Some of the times when I used my very heaviest was when my grandfather was ill and passed and then a few years later with my grandmother. I was extremely close with them. So I feel your pain and you are definitely not alone. As far as the dosage, I just read a post about someone that was taking something like 240mg and it took her 4 years to get down to somewhere in the 100mg range. You may have read her post...so in the big scheme of things, 50 mg sounds much better. So you have been on it 7 years and you want to taper. Like I said, I went down by 5 mg until I got to 20mg. Would you be willing to try that? Please don't feel alone. This is my first time being on a "chat" site and people have been really helpful and kind. So how do you feel about starting to taper by 5??

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Hey there, I was on methadone for eight years started on 240 milligrams and after 4 years got down to a hundred and forty and then the next two years I got detoxed off in 21 days off of 70 milligrams. I was 28 years old and when I finally was off of the methadone. I had withdrawals for 6 months but if you do it the way that I'll tell you how to do it you will be absolutely fine. So the first thing you want to do if you don't want to go through withdrawal and you have 20 milligrams left, you want to take the next, then go down two milligrams every week and you don't have to give it 2 milligrams in one day. do one milligram on Monday and one mg Friday. you got the next 10 weeks. if you start to get sick at all then you can stop here and just hold your dose of what you are taking. you wouldn't go back up a couple milligrams. if you have the key to being successful getting off methadone is to do it the right way. I know you might not like that it will take me another 10 weeks to get off of it. But I think a little over two months is worth it to take the time to taper really slowly will give you a successful chance of little withdraw...You can take Quality Inn 4 anxiety. it's creepy crawlies sleep and withdrawal you possibly didn't even start when you start to feel aqui as you progress through your paper most doctors are happy because it's a very good medication for withdrawal and to get patients off opiates and it works wonders. I was 11 and 10 for 10 years and thought I would never find anything that works and funny but it does have some nasty side effects. if you have any more questions or problems feel free to ask. I'm here to help and happy to do so!

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Hi Brad...I read this again so maybe I could understand it more. And I'm sorry....I was clarifying to you in the last post that I was not bipolar but you understood that already. Sorry...just a lot of info. So you think I should be taking Depakote and only Depakote? The doctor I see now is fairly new. I had been on all that medication prior to seeing him. But I was on Lexapro and he switched that to the Viibryd. I don't know. Addiction is hard enough... but being diagnosed with major depressive disorder on top of it all blows.

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From what I've been told from counsellors and other patients and my own experience most people can make rather drastic drops in Mg's then most seem to hit a wall at a list dose. Anywhere from 5mg to 30 depending on a few things like length of use, dose amount body and brain chemistry. So for me I need to keep myself around positive people a good doctor and some sort of spiritual group or program. Church, na, this site, just something. I personally would love to talk to someone who was on methadone for over a few years and has got off and is still clean. To get advice and just get that confidence that I know someone else has done it. Hope the best for you and just writing these few messages has been therapeutic so thanks

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Okay I've been on methadone for about 7 years now. My highest level was 70 and it was in the first year and way more than I needed. After a couple years at 50mg I tapered down pretty rapidly to 10mg and stopped going I was very uncomfortable I had no motivation for anything and isolated from almost everything. Had I gone down a mg a week or 2 from there and maybe reached out to someone or a site like this for help I very well could have been clean for years now. But instead I started taking 10mg methadone pills and got a physically demanding job, then my grandmother was in a head on collision with semi truck and died. So I went back to the clinic and raised my dose to 50 and have stayed there since, to prevent using opioids or any other drugs. Keeping a job and fear of withdrawal has been my main excuses for not staying to taper sooner. This Friday is when I'm gonna start tapering.

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Hi Brad, I am going to be honest, I am having a really hard time following your posts. But I appreciate you taking the time to write to me. I have grabbed bits and pieces of your posts. But just to clarify, I am not diagnosed as bipolar just depression. As far as effoxor, I had tried that many many years ago and it just made me tired. But that was about 20 years ago and of course my body has changed a lot since then. I am always tired is my problem. I don't suffer from anxiety in general. I know it goes hand in hand with depression but I don't get anxious per say. So I didn't quite understand why you suggested I get off all my antidepressants? I'm about 99% sure that I would put a gun to my head if that were to happen...lol.

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Hi Adam,
So how long have you been on 50mg? Not sure if you have read all the conversations here but basically I was at 85 mg at my highest dose. I have been on methadone for almost 11 months. I went down 5 mg each time until I got to 20 mg. After that, I went down to 18mg and today is my 3rd day of being on 15mg. I have not had any wd symptoms thus far....very strange but I am definitely not complaining! I could understand if I was like 25 and new to the game but I'm far from it. This is the first time I have ever used Methadone though. Maybe this info will help you to taper down. I would like to hear your story if you feel like writing back.

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