This guy isnt trying to not use heroin, he wants to use it he just wants the methadone to hold him as he cant afford all heroin at his tolerance, its also unlikely that a methadone clinic will be okay with you being on for a week then off for a week though its possible I guess. TBH methadone sucks, being on an opiate 24/7 is gonna wreck ur brain more than heroin daily because at least you'll wake up a bit sick with heroin, on methadone you are high 24/7 and it makes eventually detoxing at a minimum twice as hard, not to mention you stop feeling the high when it becomes a 24/7 thing.
Methadone is good if you are stealing shit to support your habit and you want to live normally but as far as tolerance and dependency its a total bitch. One way in which you can still sort of get high is to get on a dose of methadone that does not fully cover you, and then top up with heroin when you really wanna feel something.
I actually remember the first time I tried to taper the doc thought I was doing it just to get high on dope and told me it was a somewhat common thing. Problem is you will likely just fill the gap with heroin as much as you can afford, once tolerance rises again its so easy to just bump up the methadone that if chasing a high itll be in the hundred mg range and beyond in no time. I went to a detox once (cold turkey kind of place) and they refused to take me off methadone because they said everyone they most people who cold turkey of methadone ended up in the emergency room, they didn't have a problem with cold turkeying off fentanyl though...
There are two possible ways to do what the original poster is suggesting on methadone.
If they allow it on his program, and if he adheres to it and shows stability, eventually they'll give him takeaways, and he could take heroin on the days he has takeaways for. I've known people who did that.
Second possibility, which I don't recommend,is what I used to do. Simply skip every other day of methadone.
They won't give you takeaways, even if they otherwise allow them. And they won't likely let you increase your dose much beyond the starting dose of 30-40mg.
I did this for various reasons, mainly because the starting dose didn't hold me, so I went to get heroin. Heroin costs money, and the shit I had to do to make money cost time, which often caused me to miss my dose.
They hated it, but did nothing to stop me.
I can't say I really recommend either of these options, but they are possible ways to keep using heroin while having methadone to avoid withdrawal.
Fair warning though, doing this still left me in withdrawal on many occasions. It was less frequent, but it still happened.
People aren't wrong though when they say that, if you get a serious habit, and get on methadone, you might well find yourself on it for life.
I knew that when I started it, but I didn't feel I had any other option. My tolerance seemed too high for bupes ceiling dose. I was entirely unwilling to go through withdrawal. I knew I'd just keep living how I was living until I was dead or in jail.
Methadone gave me a third option and I've never regretted taking it. But it didn't work until I was committed to getting off heroin, and it didn't work until I found a doctor that let me increase my dose fast enough to not need to score heroin to stay well.
I think you gotta consider what you see your future being. If you're thinking about it at all.
Cause if you're like me, this probably won't work out. You'll probably just wind up doing increasingly worse shit to afford heroin, until you reach a point where it controls every waking moment of your life.
I dunno, I'm not you, you're not me, not every addict is the same and not every heroin addiction is the same. But they are often similar.
