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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

few questions about going to a methadone clinic, please help...

C

CheGuevara

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Messages
37
I'm doing anywhere from 40 mg - 120 mg of oxycodone a day...

today I've done about 50 mg...

I'm really trying to taper myself off, but the mental aspect SUCKS...

I was thinking about going to a methadone clinic...and was curious how

exactly does it work?

how much does it cost about? do they give you pills to take there? does it last al day?

will they test me for anything? how long would I have to go for?

I called my local clinic, but they were closed, and they are only open during the morning hours, which seems really weird...

thanks in advance

Che
 
Don't know much about methadone clinics but wanted to wish you luck with your tapering!
 
Yeah, hope things work out for you. I know next to nothing about methadone clinics, but I'm also interested. Out of curiousity, no opiate habit to speak of. Did just score 9 morphine 15's and about 30 xanax bars (hard to be exact, alot of them were broken in pieces) for 50-100 mgs jwh-018 and maybe a gram of poppy seeds. I love people who don't know about RC's, if he knew the 018 costs less than 5 bucks and I stole the seeds from the grocery store he'd shit.
 
There is tons more info if you do a search here on BL...

You usually won't be accepted (dosed) on the first day, it might be several day before you get your first dose of methadone.

The cost depends whether you are private or state. For state its 5-10$ per week and it depends on need. I am pregnant and unemployed so I qualified fast. Dunno how else you can qualify but they will tell you there. Most often there is a waiting list for the state anyways. So you'll have to be private for at least a few weeks even if u qualify for state. Private costs around 50-60$ per week. The waiting list works in a way that takes their private patients first. So you can be on the waiting list outside, not on private, but it will take longer as they will take their private clients first. So its best to just go in, sign up, pay private and wait for a state slot to open up which might be from a couple weeks to a couple months.

You will start out at 30mg and then you will have the first 3 months to stabilize. Everyday you will tell the nurse how you feel and whether you need to go up. It's important to feel well and not have cravings, don't worry about the number of mgs you are on. For some it might be 20 and for some 300. Don't be afraid to go up and tell them about your need to go up.

My clinic is closed on Sundays and Holidays so for the 4th I get two take homes, cuz of the holiday. Normally I get one take home a week, on Sunday. After 3 months you get 2 take homes a week and then you keep progressing towards more take homes as time passes. In order to get take homes you need to pay your balance on time, pass drug tests, have a stable home environment, have school or work or baby, make it to your counselor appointments and maybe more things depending on your clinic.

I was personally very against getting on methadone at first. I never thought I would be on it in a million years. But I couldn't deal with it on my own anymore and gave up. Went to rehab and there they put me on meth due to pregnancy. Best decision I have ever made. I feel so much better on it than on suboxone. I am a functional human being again. I feel motivated. I feel like my old self, before drugs. Like I am not on anything at all. I have no depression and no anxiety.

I was at that point that I was willing to do anything to get and stay clean. To me, methadone means being clean. There is no difference in my functioning between when I was a non user and now. I might be doing even better regarding my mood and mental health.

You might hear some horror stories from people regarding methadone clinics. Take into consideration the fact that people usually only write about negative experiences as they are more pumped up to write than if they are just simply content with something. For every unsatisfied person there are thousands of satisfied methadone patients that just aren't speaking out at the moment. My clinic is run very well. I have personally had no problems whatsoever with my clinic, my dose or anything. It has been a positive experience, one that has changed my life into a better one.

Anything else you want to know?
 
How do they verify the degree of your opiate dependence? I mean what keeps people from exagerating to get more methadone?
 
They drug test you on the spot...im on methadone. Had my intake last week. The test strip showed which pills were in my urine sample. Oxycodone,hydrocodone,oxycontin and some other ones.
 
fryingsquirrel said:
How do they verify the degree of your opiate dependence? I mean what keeps people from exagerating to get more methadone?
Click to expand...

There are diagnostics they use to verify the severity of your use, or more specifically, how severe your withdrawal is. Being in "visible" withdrawal is generally a requirement for being inducted onto either Buprenorphine or Methadone maintenance. Symptoms such as teary eyes, runny nose, goosebumps, tremor, dilated pupils are observed by a clinician, whereas other symptoms like vomiting, gastrointestinal issues, anxiety are self-reported. These symptoms together are tabulated into a score, the score will indicate how much you are started on and later, by how much and at what frequency your dose is increased. The starting dose ranges from 10mg - 30mg based upon your score. Where I'm from, inducting at higher than 30mg is pretty unheard of.

While inducting after your initial dose, every few days you will be raised by either 5mg or 10mg, yet again, based upon how you score. You will get 4-5 of these increases before you are at a "stable" dose. From this point on, you will only be able to raise your dose every week or so, generally after speaking to a clinician/counselor. To answer your question about people bullshitting the system for a higher dose, yes, it happens all the time. You will encounter individuals who take 200mg+ daily. A very small sub-section of patients may require such high dosages, but most don't. It's both a fault of the patient for chasing the buzz and the fault of the clinicians for letting it happen.

Clinics only dose during the morning hours. The latest I've seen a clinic open for dosing, is 12:00 noon. There are counseling appointments and groups throughout the day though. Don't count on getting take-homes or carries. Methadone Maintenance is notoriously strict. Generally, 3 months of clean UA's, no absences and kept appointments will net you 2 days weekly of take-home medication. 3 more months, will get you more and so on. Medication is generally not given in pill form, but as a liquid, in sealed bottles.

Your Oxycodone habit is not prolifically high, so I wouldn't expect the induction process to be very uncomfortable. Only go the route of maintenance if other means have failed you completely in the past. It is a major commitment, not to be taken lightly. The clinic will take up large chunks of your life.

I forgot to add, this is speaking only for how things work in the USA. As I understand, things are a lot different in Canada, Europe and etc.
 
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