Withdrawal Question, seems to be popular topic here

[Jefferson]

Hi, another soldier wounded by withdrawal.
After 6 years on different meds, they placed me on methadone for reasons of wanting to back me off of meds altogether to see what my back and physiological body would do: A neuro would not work me any longer 'on' the meds....

So, I would like to request your knowledge if anyone has ever been where I am at this day. (Thank you) I have read a lot of your past posts and they are helpful but here goes.

They started me at 50mg because it was equal to the 40mg oxycont 2x day...So, I began on 50mg Methdone only 3 months ago - then backing down 5mg every 2 weeks for about a month. When I got down to 35 mgs, that was the breaking point.

I stayed there for possibly 5 weeks and then started down again, 5 mg a week until I was at 20 mg and stayed there for 3 weeks. If the math works, I started down again anyhow and then got down 5 mg at a time until I was down to 10 mg a day, 5 in the a.m. amd 5 just after dinner...I only did that for one week......and then started feeling like a major drugie because I was at the 'next' step which would have been cutting them in halves, 1/4ing them up.

I dropped them after a week (7 days) of taking 10 mg a day and That was 6 days ago.

I am going flat nuts in my home. I have not slept but possibly 2 hours a night and have extreme withdrawals that come on at night much much worse at about 9 O'clock. I do not have a PM because of the insurance scams that they have pulled and my family physician does not beleieve that I have been as strong and just jumped off and desires me to go back on them and come down off of them slower....Nope, Won't do it.

Anyone know how long this lasts? Do I have to shave my head so I do not have to pull the hair out or is there something or some sort of other meds that an emergency room can help me with possibly? The regular doc that wants me back on them is just wrong, I will not take these drugs ever again, ever. I am done with that, But apparantly based on what I am being told, one cannot jump off of methadone anything lower than 5 mg?

Any experience that you all can share iwth me, will uh, give me something to read while I crawl to my pc next time I am over here, Thanks.
Me

[Mariaa]

Jefferson,
I take 5mg of Methadone Bid since 2001 and when I've tried to cut that dosage in half, boy did I ever have terrible withdrawl symptoms... nausea, gas, bloating, diarrhea, feeling emotionally very off balance.. and difficulty breathing. Also last but not least.. my pain levels were so terrible! The pain would seem to increase exponetially without the extra dose of Methadone so I rushed back to my regular dosage. My PM says if going off this medication it will have to be very slow and titrate down over 3 months at least he thinks...

Our very own Poncho has undertaken weaning off
Methadone..or should I say successfully weaned off Methadone since ADR surgery...

Best wishes with this edeavor. I hope things work out for you and that you will post here whatever you find out and/or what works for you!

[Alastair]

Hi Jefferson,
there is a web site that I have left in the FAQs that will help you with drug withdrawal.
Best,
Alastair

[Jefferson]

Thanks Maria / Alastair: It sounds like the w/d from MD is much worse than anything else. Taking 5mg once daily Maria, is that in the morning or miday or eve, just curoius. I could never get by body to agree to getting the 10 split to a portion of 5's quite that way, I suppose that was why I gave it up and so strong said no more.
I could not see myself with a razor over s silly 5 g tablet that was falling to pieces? no.

So far today, the reslut has been that the emerg room gave me 7 days adavan to deal with anxiety, a 5 day clondine patch and vicadin (smalls) to replace the brains urgency but not with methadone at all) and it decreases over this one week period.

They told me that after the one weeks period that the crziness of watching the wallpaper drip and such should be gone. I got my very first nights sleep in 6 nights. I cannot argue with it just yet. But I will not go back and take it again. Althout sticking the one opiate in for the other was crushing my entire first weeks work, but they convinced me that it was definitley on the lower level heirarchy and Methadone was the jing of the hill, that The vicadin was near the bottom, and I have never had a problem with it, so I bought off on his efforts, I trust this, Thanks for being kind...

[Alastair]

Jefferson , be kind to yourself in this matter.

I was deep into all sorts, but then I was walking with 2 sticks and using a wheelchair prior to my ADR.

Good luck
Alastair

[chuxk79]

The last mgs of opiates are the very hardest.
I'm down from around 165 to 170 mgs of ms contin and dilaudid to 1 4mg dilaudid 3 times a day and I've tried cutting down to 4mgs but it was driving me nuts so I'm back taking 3 4mg dilaudids
a day. I guess I will try cutting them in half
slowly and try this soon. I also have some clonodine patches which helped until the last 3
pills but the very end of opiates is the hardest.
CD

[Jefferson]

Thank you all. They placed this matrix kit (Lasts 5 days) into my wife's hands. It had the adavn which I can take every 6-8 hours for frak out anxiety, a clonadine patch that lasts 5 days- I hope it does something because I was chewing Clonadince like sweet tarts before...And then they gave her the vicodin in does that begin higher at frist this week, but taper every day back until next Sunday and I must obey or I am dust.
The catch is that the adavan should out ride the clonadince and vicadin both ans we will see what my pupil s say, Steak or bones for dinner grrr. (Wink) I love you guys for your help. You kow, This stuff can take a fairly gentle person and make them not nice. My wife, might, move back in when this is all done.

[Mariaa]

Jefferson,
My 5mg pills come scored (Methadose)and I can easily split them in half for 2.5mg if I want..
Tho I take a 5mg in a.m. and p.m.~ sometimes 2.5mg in between doses..

I've heard the detox from Methadone takes a long time is far worse than from Heroin and that's even why many addicts go back to Heroin...

As for me, I would love to get off the stuff too, tho am not going to try until I've had surgery and see if that provides me relief from low back pain~

Congrats on your tenacity in getting off and good luck with continued efforts, Maria

[Laura C]

To all of you above, have you tried going to a pain management dr. to help wean you off of the meds? They should be able to help you. I am so looking forward to getting my surgery and then getting off of the meds, but I know that I have a long road ahead because of insurance.

Hang in there - there are so many of us here to help.

[Poncho]

Jefferson,

Your post just happened to catch my eye. I was once jacked up to 75mg a day right before ADR surgery and I weigh about 130lbs - so that was quite a hefty dose to come down from.

Okay, drawing from personal experience weaning from the first 80% was pretty much a "cake walk" - but the last 20% started to get a bit rough.

I was also on clonidine (pills) this will help out with the hot/cold flashes and sweats. I never took ativan - but this is how I weaned off the last 10mg.

I took a 10 mg tablet (or you can take 2 5 mg tablets) and crushed them. Then, I mixed the 10 mg of the crushed methadone with 10 milliliters of tap water. Mixed mixed it up well in a bottle that had an eyedropper that also measured in milliliters.
Doing this made the concentration of methadone and water a 1:0 ratio ---- Meaning that one milliliter = 1 mg methadone. (when shook up well)

You can also do this with just a 5mg tablet to 5 milliliters of water. You will get the same concentration.

Okay, once that is done - I could dose throughout the day in smaller increments - say 2mg (or 2 milliliters) every 6 hours or so.

However, once I got down to 3mg a day - I decided to just go off of the Methadone totally.
When I did this, the hardest days were days 3-7. Restlessness, upper back pain, chills, general body aches & etc. No nausea or vomiting, but quite a bit of diarrhea. This is common. The symptoms eased up after day 7 a little each day. After day 14, I could notice a marked difference in the way I was feeling - getting more sleep each night & etc. However, I honestly didn't feel totally "normal" for like 2 months after stopping cold turkey.

I was also offered to stay on methadone at 5mg for the rest of my life - but I refused. I didn't feel the need to take it any longer than I needed to.

Hope this information helps you. It will be rocky at first, but does get better.

Sincerely,
Poncho