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Fast methadone taper help

The patch is probably taking away 50-60 percent of the withdrawal. Your kicking a massive habit with basically no taper so yeah your going through hell. I would expect the withdrawal to peak around day 15 and very gradually reduce in intensity from there. Your going to feel like death for the foreseeable future unfortunately. Dehydration is the biggest threat to your life during this time. You may have to go get iv fluids from the ER if you can't hold down anything. Gatorade will be a necessity.

Go ahead and eat the gabapentin your not doing any favors by saving them. I would start at 400mg every 8 hours. Start eating the comfort meds like they are going out of style because the worst of the withdrawal is happening right now. Also have you tried loperamide? 6 to 8 mg of it at a time will help the girls issues somewhat.
 
That is very sound advice. Loperamide and kratom will also be super helpful if you can source them (they're pretty accessible in the US).

Something cj pointed out I forgot to mention is kinda basic and often overlooked, but so fundamentally important. That is, hydration and nutrition. At this point, you want to do whatever you need to in order to maintain nutrition and hydration. It will make everything far more managible.

Also, look into ondansetron/Zofran. It is an anti-nausea medications that is commonly prescribed for opioid and methadone withdrawal in particular.
 
I wouldn't start the gabapentin yet because you just discontinued the methadone. It is going to be quite the marathon and I think it will be of better service when you feel you can't go on anymore. You will need that break later. I would better utilize my short acting opiods and save the gaba for when they are gone because you will be suffering when all of your receptors are totally clear..... and at the rate of 400mgs every 8hrs that stash will be gone in 2 days.
 
With the gabapentin in particular, it's pretty frustrating. With such a limited supply it will only be so useful.

I forgot to mention earlier that the OP might want to do a little research into how to get the most out o gabapentin. Like not taking more than 400mg staggered doses and taking it with a little protein/fat/sodium, which sounds like it may be a challenge given the nausea.
 
toothpastedog said:
With the gabapentin in particular, it's pretty frustrating. With such a limited supply it will only be so useful.

I forgot to mention earlier that the OP might want to do a little research into how to get the most out o gabapentin. Like not taking more than 400mg staggered doses and taking it with a little protein/fat/sodium, which sounds like it may be a challenge given the nausea.
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Good points. Yeah staggering the doses of gabapentin is vital. Is there any possibility of your doctor calling in more?
 
cj said:
The patch is probably taking away 50-60 percent of the withdrawal. Your kicking a massive habit with basically no taper so yeah your going through hell. I would expect the withdrawal to peak around day 15 and very gradually reduce in intensity from there. Your going to feel like death for the foreseeable future unfortunately. Dehydration is the biggest threat to your life during this time. You may have to go get iv fluids from the ER if you can't hold down anything. Gatorade will be a necessity.

Go ahead and eat the gabapentin your not doing any favors by saving them. I would start at 400mg every 8 hours. Start eating the comfort meds like they are going out of style because the worst of the withdrawal is happening right now. Also have you tried loperamide? 6 to 8 mg of it at a time will help the girls issues somewhat.
Click to expand...

So 15 days from today will be the worse than now? Or do you mean 15 days after I started the taper? OMG I don't think I can make it that much longer. This is horrible! 2 more weeks of this and I'll be dead. And if this patch is taking away 50% of my wd's like what was said I sure can't tell. I have tons of scaring all over my body and I tried to place it in an area with less scars but could that keep it from working? I only have 1 left anyway so I guess it doesn't matter.
Strange thing is I tapered 10mg every day except 2 days I only went down 5 and it wasn't that bad til I got around 15mg. Since then it's been pure hell. Once I hit 5 I went down 1mg til 3 then I stopped completely. If my mom wasn't here I'd prob just lay in here til I croaked. She's making sure I take a sip of Gatorade every hour or so.
I have the loperamide but I'm kinda scared to take it because I have intestinal issues and I don't want to end up in the hospital having surgery from a blockage. I won't get into all the details but I've had issues before.
As for the Kratom I can't get it where I live it's illegal and I won't risk it. I will call my dr and see about getting more gabapentin but I doubt he will do it. He didn't want to give me what I got and when I called last week to see if I could see him sooner than end of the month I was told no the he was double booked til October. The receptionist wouldn't even let me speak to the nurse.
 
Also, look into ondansetron/Zofran. It is an anti-nausea medications that is commonly prescribed for opioid and methadone withdrawal in particular.[/QUOTE]
I actually have 30 zofran left from when I had kidney stone surgery in June. I forgot about those. I get awful headaches when I take them but hopefully it'll help the nausea/vomiting.
Edit* not sure why the quote isn't in a yellow box but it isn't.. I'm new to posting so I think I messed up somehow.
 
I don't really have any good advice as everything that has been said will be of great help but I certainly empathize as I have done a similar thing to what you are doing more times than I can count. I was on methadone for 12yrs and have tapered down slow, fast and just plain pulled the plug many times. At the end of my methadone using days I would run out of my prescription 1 to 2 weeks early every single month(cause I'm an idiot-glutten for pain).. It's hard to say what the time line for your peak will be because the short acting opiods really throw in a variable. If you are already utilizing them and still feel that wretched than I would say that it's pretty pointless to take them, unless you increase the doses to at least somewhat level out because methadone withdrawal truly is a marathon and in my opinion you might just extend some of the peak without any real relief.

I didn't want to really say anything before because I didn't want to scare you but I knew that the oxys and slow release Fent patches weren't going to touch that withdrawal if you tried to make them last until your next doctors appointment. Every time I would run out of my done 2 weeks early I would be scrambling to fill the gap with heroin, only to find that I would have to do ridiculous amounts that would only hold me for a brief period of the day before I was sick again. I believe that the short acting opiates may eventually help as your body slowly adjust to the new dose of Fent and Oxy but with methadone long half life and build up it is really hard to say when that will happen

When I abruptly stopped my acute withdrawals lasted close to a month, with it peaking at about 10 days after discontinuation and taking another 10 days to slowly start to recede. I have stayed up 17 straight days before without one hr of sleep withdrawing from methadone and benzos. It truly is a maddening experience and by that point it becomes a matter of mind over matter, not meaning that you can will the pain away but simply that your will, drive and mental state will reach a breaking point. I would be able to somewhat transcend the pain at some points by simply acknowledging that it was painful and let it flow through me. I would imagine myself as being some super human badass for being able to handle pain that would break most people in moments and this would actually give me some push. Sometimes by doing this I could just let the pain flow and while rocking back and forth in the fetal position I would enter a trance like state. Hard to explain.

If I was you I would get some liquid nutrition... shakes. You're going to eventually need them. I don't really know what else to say except that I am here for you and I will help cheer you on because your psychological mindset will certainly need the encouragement as you start to wear down.

<3Somni
 
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Thank you Somni! I have never been thru this before and it's terrifying! In the beginning I felt very confident but now I am regretting ever doing this. I really didn't have a choice since my neurosurgeon refused to do the surgeries I need while I was on methadone. So I keep telling myself that once I'm thru this I can get the surgeries I need so I can function again.
I'm so glad I have everyone here on BL to answer questions and just offer support in general. Its hard to be this sick knowing I have prob 600mg of methadone left from my quick taper. It would be so easy to just go back on it but I'm trying my hardest to just get thru one day at a time. The thought of being this sick for at least another 2 weeks is awful.
 
badbarbiedolly said:
So 15 days from today will be the worse than now? Or do you mean 15 days after I started the taper? OMG I don't think I can make it that much longer. This is horrible! 2 more weeks of this and I'll be dead. And if this patch is taking away 50% of my wd's like what was said I sure can't tell. I have tons of scaring all over my body and I tried to place it in an area with less scars but could that keep it from working? I only have 1 left anyway so I guess it doesn't matter.
Strange thing is I tapered 10mg every day except 2 days I only went down 5 and it wasn't that bad til I got around 15mg. Since then it's been pure hell. Once I hit 5 I went down 1mg til 3 then I stopped completely. If my mom wasn't here I'd prob just lay in here til I croaked. She's making sure I take a sip of Gatorade every hour or so.
I have the loperamide but I'm kinda scared to take it because I have intestinal issues and I don't want to end up in the hospital having surgery from a blockage. I won't get into all the details but I've had issues before.
As for the Kratom I can't get it where I live it's illegal and I won't risk it. I will call my dr and see about getting more gabapentin but I doubt he will do it. He didn't want to give me what I got and when I called last week to see if I could see him sooner than end of the month I was told no the he was double booked til October. The receptionist wouldn't even let me speak to the nurse.
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The acute withdrawal phase (which truly begins once your taper ends) will last about two weeks. So, yes. I know it's scary, and it won't be easy. When I got off methadone, I tapered my dose from 90mg down to 14mg over the course of two years or so. Most people spent a minimum of six to twelve months tapering.

If you have to, keep in mind that there is no shame in getting back on ORT until you are able to do a more effective taper. But that said, there are things you can do that will make what you're going through currently much easier (such as getting more gabapentin, etc).
 
Man I would use that 600mg of methadone to level this shit out a little. If you start out taking 20mg a day for a week then drop to 10mg for a week then 5mg a week after that then start dropping by 1mg a week you may be able to cushion this a little bit. I am not trying to discourage you but the worst of this probably hasn't even started yet. If the fent and oxy isn't even putting a dent in this then you need to change strategies. Methadone withdrawal can actually be deadly.....
 
cj said:
Man I would use that 600mg of methadone to level this shit out a little. If you start out taking 20mg a day for a week then drop to 10mg for a week then 5mg a week after that then start dropping by 1mg a week you may be able to cushion this a little bit. I am not trying to discourage you but the worst of this probably hasn't even started yet. If the fent and oxy isn't even putting a dent in this then you need to change strategies. Methadone withdrawal can actually be deadly.....
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That is great advice. I was about to ask how much methadone she had left and suggest something similar but just remember that if you are going to be tested BadBarbie to see if the methadone is still in your system that it can stay for weeks. When I went back to the halfway house I was staying at this last time I was blown away to see that I still had methadone in my system from a one time 10mg dose 7 days prior. They almost didn't let me in but I had been there before and they liked me.
 
Indeed!!!! I totally misread that, I thought they had calculated they had 600mg built up in their system or something.

I cannot emphasize you try what cj suggests. Something like going back up to about 10mg and then decreasing by 1mg/week until you run out will be far more manageable. It will also give you time to try and sort out the comfort med situation.

Is codeine OTC where you live OP? That can be really useful given you situation to use as a comfort medication to manage the acute withdrawal.

Acute methadone withdrawal begins to really peak around day five of abstience, so as he wrote you are only getting a taste of what is to come if you follow through with your plans to just stop taking methadone now, full stop.
 
Hello all! Sorry for the delay in replying but I've been too sick to even pick up my phone. Today is the 3rd day without any methadone and I'm still pretty sick but I actually got a shower and manages to eat a little bit. I don't have to tell you what happened after that but it wasn't pretty. This is so hard and sometimes I wanna just say F it and drink some of the methadone I have from the taper. But I know if I do that I'll just have to go thru this hell again soon after. I've scheduled an appointment with my neurosurgeon for the end of October do you think the methadone will be out of my system by then? I did a fast taper so I'm sure I have a lot stored in my body. 100mg to nothing in 13 days I think. Maybe 14. Anyway today is a tiny bit better than yesterday so maybe tomorrow will be better than today.
I was also wondering since I only had 2 patches that means I'll be on them 6 days. Will I have wd's from the patches when I am out? I put my last one on today and before that I had one on for 3 days.
 
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Discussion of drug testing is prohibited on BL, but you'll probably be fine if you don't use any more methadone. Acute withdrawal with methadone tends to get full blown by day five of abstience from it FYI. Hopefully it doesn't become more difficult.
 
Oh I'm so sorry about that. I read the agreement so I should know better. I'll try to go back and edit it out. I'm still pretty new to BL.
 
You'll be fine if your not seeing him until the end of October that still a month and a half away. You want have withdrawals from the patch but the withdrawal will probably intensity once you stop all opiates.
 
I think I have enough of the oxy to last about 2 more weeks. I've been taking as little as possible but I can certainly tell when they wear off. Anyone know what the awful feeling in my head is? I can't really explain it. It's like a horrible migraine but it's like it's my brain. I dunno it sounds crazy when I say it out loud but to me that's the worse part. Thant along with severe anxiety and depression is unbearable. And this is only the 3rd day without methadone.
To make matters worse my former counselor at the clinic called and said I can't just stop coming. There's forms I have to fill out. She wanted me to drive 1.5 hours there just to fill out forms to quit? Anyone heard of that before? She said it was because she knew I'd fail doing it myself and when I wanted to come back I had to have the forms. So now not only do I want off for myself I want to just so she won't be right. Drug counselors should be compassionate and non judgmental but my expirience has been the opposite. Sorry for the rant it's all these emotions I'm feeling during my detox.
On a brighter note today I got up and did more than I have in over a week. I'm hoping every day will get a lil better. I'm looking forward to feeling like myself again.
 
There is no reason for you to visit the clinic if you feel uncomfortable doing so.

If there truly are forms you "must" fill out (which doesn't actually make sense to me if you want out of the treatment, they can't really compel you to fill out forms if you don't want to - all they could do it kick you out of the program, but you already sounds like you want out, so...)...

You can tell them they need to fax or mail you the forms to fill out, because you are unable to get to the clinic (it certainly sounds like a burden considering you sound like you're done with the clinic anyways). It sounds more like they are just trying to manipulate you a little bit into staying on your meds, which given your situation with the taper and detox isn't entire inappropriate, just really disingenuous and less than compassionate as you pointed out.

Even if you owed them money or something, you could always mail it in. The only reason to accommodate their requests with this though would be to avoid burning any bridges if you ever need their services again in the future.

If you know anything more, I'd be curious hearing more about why you have to supposedly fill them out. It's just a little fishy...
 
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