Opioids Kicking opioids, keeping benzos: Thinking of starting Methadone in 2 days. Advice?

[Pilotonfly]

Hi guys! I've been in pain management for over 12yrs. Have been on Fentanyl & Roxis 'till recently switching from Fent to Oxycontin. My previous doc & I got too close before he got shut down, he started making "house calls" w/dilaudid. Long story short, more & more meds were needed & I'm running out early. I have ligit pain w/3rd degree burns because I can't sleep w/o my heating pad but w/the docs being too scared to write scripts here, it's hard to get what would probably help me. I'm tired of suffering when I run out early so I'm thinking of starting Methadone after taking 40mg from a friend when I was sick the other day. I actually felt normal but I'm worried about this transition. Idk what to expect. I also don't wanna be judged when I go to the clinic. This is all new to me. If anyone has a similar story and/or advice I'd appreciate it. Thanks for reading...sry so long.

 

[tacodude]

Trust me the clinic won't judge a lot of pain management doctors are forcing patients into methadone for opioid pain management because of fears due to pressure, but expressed in bullshit blaming cdc policies that really aren't that strict even at times lying about office policies not to discuss it as you watch someone else walk out thanking them for the hydrocodone and oxycodone script because using both of them is totally different from using a high dose of one.

Edit : I forgot to add you'll only dose once a day, during clinic hours, and when you're not in too much pain you can't get there. If your pain management doctor provides something for breakthrough, but at that point your Dr should just script you 40 mg methadone 2x a day and the roxi for breakthrough pain.

 

[Pilotonfly]

Thanks so much! I wasn't sure that the pm Dr could write methadone. I'm going to ask at my next appointment. Thx again for your reply. I feel much better about it! Have a great evening!

 

[gmlifer]

House calls? You got game girl. The methadone game isn't fun but if you feel that's your best option I guess go for it. I'm not sure how it works but if you start the methadone can you switch back to pain management if you wanted to later?

 

[Keif' Richards]

Methadone is really a very useful and in my opinion, underrated drug. People tend to segregate it into a different class as the other Opioids, when really, it's a straight-up Mu agonist like Heroin or Morphine. What are some of the benefits of Methadone? Well, it (typically) lasts all day, at least in terms of keeping one stable. To actually produce solid analgesia, it's often necessary to dose multiple times per day, but the benefit is that you have a long-acting Opioid and can worry less about your next dose.

What is your Benzodiazepine usage like and is it licit? Benzodiazepines are a major no-no if you're intending to go to the clinic. They will withold or reduce your dose if you test positive without a doctor's approval.

 

[barada]

I was a caretaker for my grandfather before he passed away. He was on a rather heavy pain management from flipping a semi rig in '77.
His final regimen for managment was 4x100mcg Fentanyl patches + 40mg Dilaudid (for breakthrough) and various sleep meds. At one point he was on 256mg Dilaudid + 3x Fentanyl 100mcg.
The pharmacy had a meltdown as a result. They tried switching him to methadone. Unfortunately his pain doctor retired so the methadone did not take. He was then prescribed what I first mentioned. They took away the majority of Dilaudid and added that extra 100mcg Fent patch. It seemed to work, albeit he was suffering Dementia and would just bitch relentlessly and hallucinated all sorts of interesting things. Seroquel eventually helped the hallucinations, but he still loved to bitch.

You did not state how large of a dose of the Fentanyl you are prescribed. Has your doctor considered a larger dose? Can you get Dilaudid for breakthrough pain? Is there an option for better sleep? I would imagine the benzos help that, but you might have a large tolerance by now. I was on Xanax for 4 years and eventually they just stopped working. I went through detox on those, and you are wise to not kick your benzos... those just might be the worst withdrawals known to human-kind.

Just some thoughts... your regimen reminded me of his, so perhaps whatever he used might be up your alley.

Did I mention what a good time it was when he "discovered" the mark of the beast, and decided to write a book to send to every Pastor on the west coast?
Or when the house was "trans-migrating" and he had to call everyone in the family to tell them?
Good times.

 

[Pilotonfly]

Methadone is really a very useful and in my opinion, underrated drug. People tend to segregate it into a different class as the other Opioids, when really, it's a straight-up Mu agonist like Heroin or Morphine. What are some of the benefits of Methadone? Well, it (typically) lasts all day, at least in terms of keeping one stable. To actually produce solid analgesia, it's often necessary to dose multiple times per day, but the benefit is that you have a long-acting Opioid and can worry less about your next dose.

What is your Benzodiazepine usage like and is it licit? Benzodiazepines are a major no-no if you're intending to go to the clinic. They will withold or reduce your dose if you test positive without a doctor's approval.

Thx for the info.. as for the benzos, my script is old & from a doc who's lost his license so no... they're illicit. Will methadone help with getting off benzos? I have severe panic attacks but my current pm doc wouldn't see me at all if I had a doc writing xanax so I told them I was tapering off of the ones I had leftover from another doc.

 

[Pilotonfly]

I was a caretaker for my grandfather before he passed away. He was on a rather heavy pain management from flipping a semi rig in '77.
His final regimen for managment was 4x100mcg Fentanyl patches + 40mg Dilaudid (for breakthrough) and various sleep meds. At one point he was on 256mg Dilaudid + 3x Fentanyl 100mcg.
The pharmacy had a meltdown as a result. They tried switching him to methadone. Unfortunately his pain doctor retired so the methadone did not take. He was then prescribed what I first mentioned. They took away the majority of Dilaudid and added that extra 100mcg Fent patch. It seemed to work, albeit he was suffering Dementia and would just bitch relentlessly and hallucinated all sorts of interesting things. Seroquel eventually helped the hallucinations, but he still loved to bitch.

You did not state how large of a dose of the Fentanyl you are prescribed. Has your doctor considered a larger dose? Can you get Dilaudid for breakthrough pain? Is there an option for better sleep? I would imagine the benzos help that, but you might have a large tolerance by now. I was on Xanax for 4 years and eventually they just stopped working. I went through detox on those, and you are wise to not kick your benzos... those just might be the worst withdrawals known to human-kind.

Just some thoughts... your regimen reminded me of his, so perhaps whatever he used might be up your alley.

Did I mention what a good time it was when he "discovered" the mark of the beast, and decided to write a book to send to every Pastor on the west coast?
Or when the house was "trans-migrating" and he had to call everyone in the family to tell them?
Good times.

Wow! He was on a lot of the good stuff! I was on Fentanyl 75mcg for yrs. Idk what I'd do w/o benzos.. there were quite a few docs busted here and no one will write much of anything anymore :-/

 

[Pilotonfly]

From what I understand, the pain management docs here are all for methadone and will even write something for breakthrough as long as it works with the methadone appointment is Thursday!

 

[barada]

You are getting methadone from your doc I assume. A clinic will turn you away from subs or methadone if you test positive for benzos. I was turned away from a clinic 2x for testing for benzos. There is a high rate of fatalities with that combo. You are taking both and seem to be fine, as I was too. Eventually a rehab had me on Klonopin and Subs.. go figure.

Thx for the info.. as for the benzos, my script is old & from a doc who's lost his license so no... they're illicit. Will methadone help with getting off benzos? I have severe panic attacks but my current pm doc wouldn't see me at all if I had a doc writing xanax so I told them I was tapering off of the ones I had leftover from another doc.

Methadone WILL NOT help a benzo detox. Clonodine and high amounts of Gabapentin help. And one simply MUST taper over an extended period of time.
Coincidentally, I relapsed first attempt to kick benzos, and during those ten days I used a rather high amount of Fentanyl and some Ambien... even then I only got about 2-3 hours of sleep. That was not a wise idea... Ambien triggers the same receptors as benzos, and Fentanyl... well Fentanyl just sucks. Benzos are NOT to be cold kicked.

 

[keeping]

sucks that methadone has gotten itself such a bad rap - round here people associate 'done with old, smelly tramps, smackheads are viewed in a better light tbh.
but who cares what people in the PM clinc thinks? cause they're on junk, just like you, only difference is theirs doesn't taste as good