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Fast methadone taper help

I have 100mg gabapentin, 3 50mcg patches, and a lil over 100 oxycodone 20mg. I guess I'll continue to drop 10mg until I feel I need to slow down. With all the unused methadone I can slow the taper if needed. Thank you for all your help tpd! I don't really have anyone else to talk to about this. My mother is supportive but doesn't know anything about detoxing and no one else knows I'm on methadone. I just moved to a new town, population 200 I think.
Edit* Oh I also have Restoril to help sleep
 
Only 100mg gabapentin total? Do you have a doctor you can get support from with this, even if to just prescribe the appropriate meds? Luckily you'll be able to make due with what you have, but getting more gabapentin and other comfort meds (if not some buprenorphine too) would make it easier (and pain is not necessarily gain with this; in my experience the gentler approach works more effectively for opioid use disorder).

Let us know how things develop.

I'm always happy to help when I can, and I guarantee you that SL as a community is here for you if you ever want feedback, to venting, peer support, etc. you might find the SLiPP thing simco is organizing to be helpful (just plugging it, no pressure either way :)).

Regardless of how you go about doing it, we all need support in this. The better you can understand the dynamics of what you're going through, the more managible it will become regardless of how challenging it may or may no be(come).
 
That's a lot of oxy. When the methadone is zeroed out I would switch to the patches. Use those up then switch to oxy. Try to keep your oxy dose at a level where you can sleep but your not totally comfortable. Your tolerance should catch up to your new dose in a week or two once it does start rapidly tapering the oxy. If you do it right you should be able to stretch this taper out another full month which will make a huge huge difference. If you didn't have the oxy id say your fucked.
 
I'm now down to 10mg! Yesterday was 15 so I only went down 5 instead of the 10 I've been doing. I'm still ok. I had to make an unexpected trip to the vet with my dog and was there 3 hours so my nerves are shot but I made it without snapping at anyone. I think I'll go down 5 more tomorrow and stay at 5mg for a couple days then drop 1mg every couple days and see how it goes. My biggest complaint is the insomnia. I only sleep about 3-4 hours a night normally and now I'm sleeping about 10-15 minutes at a time for a total of maybe an hour thru the night. I took 4 of the Restoril and it did nothing. I have had to take a few of the short acting to help some. I am scared to put the patches on tho. Is my tolerance too low to put one on right now? They are 50mcg. I don't want to od. I went from 100mg methadone down to 10mg in ten days so wouldn't that be too much for me if I'm currently on 10mg?
 
You should be able to use patches right now, although perhaps doing it while someone else is around in case your breathing gets really shallow or something like that, to get you help. Even though you're only taking a small dose of methadone, keep in mind a lot of it is still built up in your system still given how quickly you've tapered. So just tread carefully.

Insomnia is also one of the biggest struggles for me in detoxing or tapering. I found that finding this to do when I couldn't sleep that weren't too stimulating, more so relaxing activities like reading or watching a movie or going out for a late night/early morning walk to really help me manage.

Actually one of the things that helped me the most when I was detoxing from methadone were late night walks and hikes.
 
Sounds like it is going better then I thought it would. Your fine to put on a patch imo
 
cj said:
Sounds like it is going better then I thought it would. Your fine to put on a patch imo
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Im shocked at how well I'm doing. I keep expecting full blown wd's every day and because I'm doing so well it terrifies me. It's like I'm just waiting for it which makes me wonder what's going on. This can't be normal right?
 
MY patches are the ones that don't have gel. Think they're Mylan. I know you can't cut the gel ones but is it ok to cut the other kind? Maybe I could do that and it would just be half. I could put one on in the morning when my mother comes over that way she can keep an eye on me.
Thanks for the advice on insomnia I will def give it a try. I live in the mountains so a good walk/fresh air may be what I need to help my insomnia and maybe clear my head.
Thanks for all the advice you've really helped me tons during this process and I appreciate it. Hope you have a good holiday!
 
I too have been a little surprised by how well this has been going for you. Just keep in mind you have a lot of methadone still in your system OP, which just means that your acute withdrawal will be more uncomfortable than if you had the time to do a longer taper, which would have allowed your body to adjust more comfortably.

This just reinforces to me how varied our experience with substance use disorder and dependency can be. Then again, I was also very surprised how "easily" (more like manageable) my experience coming off methadone was. Such a misunderstood and misrepresented medication and treatment...

I suggest you ask a doctor if it is okay to cut your patches, although the non-gel formulation is a bit more stable it would be better to check.

I also lived in the foothills of a large mountain range when I was detoxing from methadone. Walking up steep streets is a great way to alleviate RLS :)
 
I was wrong about the patches they do have the gel. They're actavis. I put one on this morning and panicked after 5 minutes and removed it. I'm so scared that my tolerance is too low and I don't want to od. I dropped down to 5mg this morning and actually went grocery shopping at 6am. I have a terrible headache and I'm irritable but other than that I'm still ok.
Do you think i should drop 1mg at a time now that I'm at 5 or should I just stop altogether?
 
badbarbiedolly said:
I was wrong about the patches they do have the gel. They're actavis. I put one on this morning and panicked after 5 minutes and removed it. I'm so scared that my tolerance is too low and I don't want to od. I dropped down to 5mg this morning and actually went grocery shopping at 6am. I have a terrible headache and I'm irritable but other than that I'm still ok.
Do you think i should drop 1mg at a time now that I'm at 5 or should I just stop altogether?
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You should drop 1mg at a time. Your going to feel progressively worse everyday as the built up methadone leaves your system. Your not going to OD from a 25 mcg patch tolerance doesn't go down that fast.
 
You' re not going to OD. Your tolerance is still up there. Now if you hadnt done any opiates for 6mos - a year Yes I'd be concerned. Not at the place you're at.

Btw- great job on tapering!
 
My patches are 50mcg. I guess I will put it on in the morning. As the day went on I started feeling much worse. I was just worried that it was too much due to the taper. But you guys know more about that than I do and I trust this forum.
 
cj said:
You should drop 1mg at a time. Your going to feel progressively worse everyday as the built up methadone leaves your system. Your not going to OD from a 25 mcg patch tolerance doesn't go down that fast.
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This.
 
There can be a delay with feeling withdrawal symptoms. since you have so much methadone stored up in your system, if you cut back on something today, you might not feel it for a couple days til it actually leaves your system. if you think you dont need the patches, maybe she should wait a couple days to see how she feels and then use the patches if needed? maybe she just wont need them, shes been doing better than expected so far... or maybe its just too early - she might not need now cause the methadone didnt leave the system, but will need the patches when it does? with long term methadone use it can take quite a few days to leave the body leaving quite a delay between reductions and the effect.

either way its good to hear of your awesome progress and your taper went surprisingly well so far!
 
I'm def sick today. I'm soaked with sweat one minute and freezing the next. I won't get into the gastrointestinal Armageddon that's happening. I was up all night so at 3am I decided to put the patch on that I had removed after only 5 minutes yesterday. Well guess what? It wouldn't stick and I don't have any medical tape. So, I used what I had on hand..regular old gift wrapping tape. Yeah it was stupid I know. It didn't stick to me but it sure as hell stuck to the patch and I may have damaged the patch pulling all that shit off. Ugh!!! So now I'm waiting for the store to open closest to me and will get the correct tape and hope this pitiful looking patch will work. What a waste of it doesn't. Anyone else ever re-applied a used patch? It was only stuck on the first time 5 minutes or less. This morning maybe like a few seconds.
 
badbarbiedolly said:
I'm def sick today. I'm soaked with sweat one minute and freezing the next. I won't get into the gastrointestinal Armageddon that's happening. I was up all night so at 3am I decided to put the patch on that I had removed after only 5 minutes yesterday. Well guess what? It wouldn't stick and I don't have any medical tape. So, I used what I had on hand..regular old gift wrapping tape. Yeah it was stupid I know. It didn't stick to me but it sure as hell stuck to the patch and I may have damaged the patch pulling all that shit off. Ugh!!! So now I'm waiting for the store to open closest to me and will get the correct tape and hope this pitiful looking patch will work. What a waste of it doesn't. Anyone else ever re-applied a used patch? It was only stuck on the first time 5 minutes or less. This morning maybe like a few seconds.
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It should be ok. The fent is realeased by your body's heat so I don't think tape will like pull the fent off.

Your at the shitty part now. Stay hydrated stay calm clear your calendar and try to zonk your brain with comfort meds. Everytime you get any relief try to eat a little and catch some sleep.

Good luck
 
Thanks cj! I just got to the pharmacy for tape but they don't open til 8 so 10 more minutes. Quick question. Would being on the patches for 9 days cause me to have wd's from fentanyl after I run out? And would it raise my tolerance so much that the oxycodone won't work?
 
badbarbiedolly said:
Thanks cj! I just got to the pharmacy for tape but they don't open til 8 so 10 more minutes. Quick question. Would being on the patches for 9 days cause me to have wd's from fentanyl after I run out? And would it raise my tolerance so much that the oxycodone won't work?
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Your going to have withdrawals either way so no I don't think taking the fent will hurt anything.
 
I also think the fent will help. Might want to pick up some loperamide too for when the fent runs out. The acute withdrawal from your methadone habit should take about two weeks. Do what you can to find comfort meds like clonidine and gabapentin.

What you're going through now OP is pretty much what cj had been thinking would happen earlier. Quick tapers are pretty painful - if not during the actual taper, certainly once it ends. With the right comfort meds it will be far more managible.

Do you have any comfort meds or stuff to see you through other than this patch of fent? The fent will only help a little bit, and then only for a few days (assuming you don't have a lot of it). Generally speaking though, fent is not a replacement for appropriate comfort meds, despite being better than nothing, for a handful of reasons.

If you don't have or can't get any comfort meds, get yourself some kratom or something at least. It probably won't solve your issues with this, but it's better than fent/nothing.
 
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