Methadone for Morphine Addiction?

[PieceByPiece]

If you have an Oramorph addiction (liquid instant release morphine), would the doctor give you Methadone to come off it? Or is that only for heroin addiction?

 

[MrRoot]

Maintance drugs are used according to situation and not to a drug. If it seems like it would help you to reach out for sober lifestyle he might as well put you on maintenance or refer you to a specialist and it can be buprenorphine as well.

You still get your opiate receptors stimulated but at the same time you can improve your life quality and do some tricky changes so in the future you might as well live without opioids. Or then you just continue being on maintenance treatment which is still better than sourcing your drugs from god knows where.

We don't for example have a lot of H available here in Finland and pretty much every opioid addict uses prescription drugs instead and docs still put people on maintenance.

I bet your NHS covers the costs for being on maintenance too.

 

[AnythingEverything]

Without knowing your dose of length of use I would say your first port of call would be to try and taper off or go cold turkey (I know I could NEVER taper unless it was strictly given to me in a hospital, im a hopeless addict but some people can do it successfully with support.). I think that these options plus therapy/meetings/whatever works for you should be exhausted first if possible.

Failing that, a SUBOXONE taper or maintenance dose if you feel you will relapse would probably be suggested over methadone. It's hard to say without knowing your history.

Either way, switching to either methadone or bupe, you're swapping to a stronger opiate but sometimes this is needed to stop abusing your drug of choice. I know more people on maintenance for pills (mainly oxy) than for heroin these days. Im on it for oxy which is only a little stronger than morphine so it's not dependant on the type of opiate as mentioned above, by on the addiction history/severity and if other methods have failed. Good luck.

 

[tightlywound]

how long have you been addicted? how many mg a day do you use?
I would think regardless that suboxone would be a better choice than methadone.
I'm kind of on suboxone for a morphine addiction, but granted I was first addicted to IV heroin (about a gram a day at the end) for 6 months first then IV morphine and dilaudid (hydromorphone) for 6 months after I moved across the country to a location w/ very little H to "try and get clean," about 400mg/35mg respectively, and like I said I had been actively trying and failing to get clean for 6 months at that time including a stint in rehab and an AMA escape from a detox, maintenance was a last resort.
so I think you should try other methods to get clean first before you jump on maintenance, you may in fact be surprised that are able to get clean by tapering or CTing once you get a couple weeks away from it (though the temptation to use will probably be high in the first couple weeks). if this is a scrip talk to your doctor and tell them you don't want it/any opiates at this point in time, they can help you taper off efficiently. maybe consider rehab as well.
I personally consider maintenance for people who have truly tried as hard as they are capable and failed many times to get clean using all conventional methods at their disposal. and especially if you have been using like 60mg morphine or something a day for a few months then there is probably no reason to go on maintenance unless you are just looking for a legitimate high.
you may really need it though, you haven't posted many details and I'm not in control of your life anyway.

ETA: if you do you on long term maintenance and ever decide you want to use opiates again be aware your tolerance will be at least 2-3x what it was when you started it even when you're off your maintenance drug ...it is hard to get high.

 

[paranoid android]

Methadone (or Buprenorphine for that matter) is used to treat addiction to basically any strong Opioid. Morphine is basically in the same category as Heroin anyway and Heroin aka Diacetylmorphine metabolizes into Morphine as soon as it crosses the blood brain barrier anyway so naturally yes Methadone can be used for Morphine withdrawal.

However i would suggest tapering off the Morphine first and see if that works. It's alot easier to taper using the long acting Morphine so try and get some Morphine SR's if you can. That way you can keep a steady dose in your system much easier and gradually drop the dose. I have done this in the past coming off years of heavy Morphine (or Dilaudid or Oxycodone or Fentanyl) use and it's not that bad. In fact in some countries they are using (or thinking about using) Morphine SR pills such as MScontin for Opiate addiction treatment.

 

[Opiatehell85]

Hey,

im on buprenorphine for morphine addiction. I was taking large amounts of codeine (gram a day) dihydrocodeine and morphine sulphate tablets (200mg) a day. I basically took any opiates I could get my hands on. Anyway, my rehab dr put me on 4mg, then 8mg and finally 10mg as that's what kept me comfortable. I could never taper either, always took my months script in a few days. No self control. Started bupe on the 12th Jan. Changed my life. No more worrying bout where my next tabs are coming from, my morning dose lasts me upto 36hrs without any withdrawal. Such a happier person. It hasn't been easy, it was really hard in the beginning, you only have to read my threads on here to see that. I would have to take the bupe supervised daily until my drug tests were showing buprenorphine only, then they put me on three times a week pick up, four months later I'm on weekly unsupervised pick ups and have to go to rehab just once a month it's great. Obviously I have to start reducing soon, but they do it slowly by 0.04mg a month, I'm starting my reduction next week. I'd always say try and taper or go cold turkey before going into maintainence. But I know how hard that can be, I failed so many times. Would get to two weeks cold turkey then the cravings would be so bad I'd give back and get more opiates. Success rate facts here in the uk are greater with substitute prescribing. Keep us updated would love to see how you go. Lots of support on here, I dunno what I'd do without bluelight and the support network it brings. Good luck

 

[AnythingEverything]

Opiatehell, where you are do they only let you stay on it a certain amount of time? I kind of wish that was the case here but my dr being private Obviously wants people on it, and on high doses otherwise he doesn't have a job. I only see him 4 times a year which is good due to the cost but sometimes I wish it was more often so I could talk about other stuff and maybe reduce quicker. Im also on weekly pickup, never had a drug test ever, it's so relaxed. I get given my 42 strips a week at the chemist and im on my way.