First time methadone use

[Delusional1]

Okay, so I was a 2 year iv heroin user. I have been clean for about 6 months from everything. And i mean EVERYTHING. I was using about a .3 of a gram of heroin daily. I'm getting 40mg of methadone on the weekend and have never done methadone but have tried suboxone in the past. Curious as to what mg i should take starting off and what to expect. I understand i shouldn't since I've been clean for a while but I'm just looking for an opinion. The reason I'm choosing methadone is because it isn't detectable in the drug tests that i am required to take. Thanks in advance.

 

[theGirlWithBlueHair]

10mg. It's incredibly potent and has a narrow therapeutic index and high mg risk. Don't go jumping right into. Start safe.

 

[vision conquest]

The problem with methadone is that it comes on slowly, it will take about half an hour before you feel it at all and about 4 hours to reach it's peak.

So whatever dose you decide to take make sure you wait that 4 hours before having any more.

I was on methadone for a long time and a few times I gave 10mg to a mate who had a bad toothache.

He was totally opioid niave and he was fine so I think you could take more than 10mg safely.

I don't think you would feel much from 10mg.
I think 20mg would be safe but you def want to be cautious.

Whatever you decide wait at least 4 hours before having any more and remember if you do have more it will have a cumulative effect.


Probably the safest way to go would be to have 10mg and just see how you handle it, don't take more on that day even if you hardly feel it.

Then the next time you take it you will know if 10mg did hardly anything you could take 20mg.

Make sure though that you wait a couple of days to be sure there is nothing left in your system from the last dose.

Methadone is really not designed for recreational use and if you had a problem with h in the past you are playing with fire so please be carefull.

 

[SS373dOH]

Remember you don't have a tolerance now, so don't dose like you used to. 10mg will be fine to start out with, you probably can get away with 20mg, but be careful it has a long half life, which makes overdosing, more dangerous, and dont ride themethadone train, it's a brutal ride, don't let youself do it everyday. WD's are terrible!


- Hopeless 7nos

 

[vision conquest]

Was just thinking about this and realized a way you could probably be a bit more confident about how much to take.

When you swap from methadone to sub you have to get down to a dose of 30mg of methadone before they will swap you onto the sub.

So I got down to a dose of 17.5mg of methadone, I had to wait until almost 72 hours after my last dose of methadone before they gave me the sub.

My first dose of suboxone was 2mg and I would say this was equal to 20mg of methadone.

As the above poster mentioned remember your tolerance will be low and I don't know how long it has been since you had the sub but I think you would be pretty confident in saying 2mg of suboxone is equal to 20mg of methadone.

Obviously this isn't exact science but it does sound about right according to my experience.

Also keep in mind the ceiling effect of buprenorphine.

This would mean that whil 2mg of sub would be roughly equal to 20mg of methadone, 4mg of sub most likely would not be quite equal to 40mg of methadone and 8mg of sub would most definitely not be equal to 80mg of methadone.

Be safe.

 

[Relapz]

I would definitely say start with 20 mg no more, that should do you good for like 6-8 hours. Sounds like your mind is made up man but one suggestion is remember what dope sickness is like my man, is it worth it?

 

[sweetzoe]

.I'm on MMT (methadone maintenance), a few months into my 5th year on it, and a 15 year IV dope habit proceeds that...as for the MMT:- My peak dose was 140 mgs/day, and over the last 2 years I've tapered down to my current level of 40 mgs/day....
I have to second the post above me, remember the dopesickness? Well, let me further expound on that. Take the worst wd's you've felt from your not too bad (IMO anyways) IV habit...k, got that feeling pictured? Now, multiply it by 10 and you will be just beginning to scratch the surface of the HELL that is methadone wds....full onset begins around day 4 or 5, and relief doesn't begin to start until after youve endured a couple weeks of intense suffering. Methadone isn't something that I would say should be taken recreationally, mainly because it's not meant to get you high anyway...and you're really playing with fire- especially given your propensity to become addicted to and dependent on opiates. I strongly suggest the wise decision would be to just stay the hell away from it entirely.

 

[FallingFromWillows]

This is my first time ever posting here. So forgive any newbie ignorance on my part.
I've been battling heroin addiction for ten plus years and I've dabbled with Methadone for the past 6 years on and off. Currently I'm on maintenance and clean of any recreational drug use 2+ years.
As much as I want to be happy and proud of myself, my dependency on methadone is impossible to ignore and the looming fact that one day I'm going to have to deal with tapering off and suffer weeks to months of horrible withdrawals ruins any ambition or hope towards accomplishing goals and building a successful life for myself.
My point is I would give anything to have your current position drug wise. 6 months clean of everything. 6 months without waking up in agony and needing to take something to survive the day. 6 months free of any binding chains holding you hostage.
If I were you I'd stay the hell away from ruining what you accomplished so far.
If you have to do it then easy does it. Like everyone has mentioned methadone is potent and can be dangerous especially for a recovering addict with a completely new tolerance and response system as compared to 6 months prior.
And all the dangerous threats aside, you're just going to delay your recovery process. It can take a long time to feel normal again after 2 years of heroin use. It takes a while for the brain to function as it did before you started using, and every day you finish without turning to any narcotics to get by is another day your closer to being 100% all on your own. For me 6 months clean of everything still has me feeling incredibly tired and without energy at times, it's a big part of why I always relapsed. The physical would be over but I'd have days of feeling lifeless and depressed and lethargic. But what I wouldn't give to have 6 months clean of everything even with those shitty days. Because it'll pass eventually. And in another 6 months you'll brand new.
I'm sorry. I wrote a book here and selfishly persued discouraging you from the methadone verses sharing my thoughts and personal advice on how you should go about using the methadone, what you asked for.
I would start off low and like others mentioned wait for the peak to start kicking in. I'm on 90 and it takes about 2 hours for me to feel complete. I'm not educated on how it metabolizes etc but wait at least an hour or two to see how you feel. And I would avoid messing around with it beyond 2 consecutive days every week. I find for me anything past 2 days in a row leaves me feeling the wd's no matter how slight. And I always counteract the 2 days with at least 3 days off.
Good luck either way.
And try and hold on to those 6 months. That's a huge deal, no small victory there.

 

[Delusional1]

This is my first time ever posting here. So forgive any newbie ignorance on my part.
I've been battling heroin addiction for ten plus years and I've dabbled with Methadone for the past 6 years on and off. Currently I'm on maintenance and clean of any recreational drug use 2+ years.
As much as I want to be happy and proud of myself, my dependency on methadone is impossible to ignore and the looming fact that one day I'm going to have to deal with tapering off and suffer weeks to months of horrible withdrawals ruins any ambition or hope towards accomplishing goals and building a successful life for myself.
My point is I would give anything to have your current position drug wise. 6 months clean of everything. 6 months without waking up in agony and needing to take something to survive the day. 6 months free of any binding chains holding you hostage.
If I were you I'd stay the hell away from ruining what you accomplished so far.
If you have to do it then easy does it. Like everyone has mentioned methadone is potent and can be dangerous especially for a recovering addict with a completely new tolerance and response system as compared to 6 months prior.
And all the dangerous threats aside, you're just going to delay your recovery process. It can take a long time to feel normal again after 2 years of heroin use. It takes a while for the brain to function as it did before you started using, and every day you finish without turning to any narcotics to get by is another day your closer to being 100% all on your own. For me 6 months clean of everything still has me feeling incredibly tired and without energy at times, it's a big part of why I always relapsed. The physical would be over but I'd have days of feeling lifeless and depressed and lethargic. But what I wouldn't give to have 6 months clean of everything even with those shitty days. Because it'll pass eventually. And in another 6 months you'll brand new.
I'm sorry. I wrote a book here and selfishly persued discouraging you from the methadone verses sharing my thoughts and personal advice on how you should go about using the methadone, what you asked for.
I would start off low and like others mentioned wait for the peak to start kicking in. I'm on 90 and it takes about 2 hours for me to feel complete. I'm not educated on how it metabolizes etc but wait at least an hour or two to see how you feel. And I would avoid messing around with it beyond 2 consecutive days every week. I find for me anything past 2 days in a row leaves me feeling the wd's no matter how slight. And I always counteract the 2 days with at least 3 days off.
Good luck either way.
And try and hold on to those 6 months. That's a huge deal, no small victory there.

I really enjoyed your words of encouragement. Needless to say, I didn't go the methadone route. And honestly, it's only because my drug tests in fact DO test for it. I'm on a 14 panel. 6 months is a a great deal to me but the mental obsession is so hard to overcome. AND I'm working a 12 step program but fuck man, it's so hard to break. I've been looking into things I KNOW won't test positive such as a RC called U-47700. I'm trying super hard to hold on to the pure clean time that I have but I feel myself slipping.

 

[JamesB1985]

The problem with methadone is that it comes on slowly, it will take about half an hour before you feel it at all and about 4 hours to reach it's peak.

So whatever dose you decide to take make sure you wait that 4 hours before having any more.

I was on methadone for a long time and a few times I gave 10mg to a mate who had a bad toothache.

He was totally opioid niave and he was fine so I think you could take more than 10mg safely.

I don't think you would feel much from 10mg.
I think 20mg would be safe but you def want to be cautious.

Whatever you decide wait at least 4 hours before having any more and remember if you do have more it will have a cumulative effect.


Probably the safest way to go would be to have 10mg and just see how you handle it, don't take more on that day even if you hardly feel it.

Then the next time you take it you will know if 10mg did hardly anything you could take 20mg.

Make sure though that you wait a couple of days to be sure there is nothing left in your system from the last dose.

Methadone is really not designed for recreational use and if you had a problem with h in the past you are playing with fire so please be carefull.

Oxycodone is not really designed for recreational use either, nor heroin or hydromorphone. They were designed for pain relief and medical use. But people still use those recreationally.
And the ceiling effect of buprenorphine doesn't come into effect until 24 to 32 mg depending on the source your looking at.

 

[thelung]

it takes a long time to feel the full effects of a dose, so don't redose after an hour thinking you aren't feeling anything. give it time and stick with 10mg for a first time dose