MODERATORS: Please Move This Post To The Appropriate Thread (Methadone (Opiate) Help)) (Thank You In Advance)
I have been on MMT (Methadone Maintenance) for quite some time. I am on a fairly high dosage and I do get a month’s supply of take homes. It seems every Clinic is different, at mine you have to give back your empty bottles otherwise you will lose your bottles. This is to deter people from selling them supposedly. The dose given once per month is straight from the medicine bottle. The take homes however are filled with water and a food coloring is added. Recently I started taking less and saving some each and every day for emergency.
I have a safe that stopped working about three years ago. The solenoid stopped working, so I let it sit for a while and then finally drilled it open. Unfortunately, some mold or bacteria got all over everything. The documents, pill bottles (some pill tablets had a tan/brown/black color to them - however even the pill bottles that weren't affected had this musty smell to it.) Some of the pills lost their potency by up to half but didn't get me sick. I salvaged many of them and had no ill effects. I have a jar about the size of a mayonnaise jar, it is glass with a metal lid, filled with Methadone. I can shake it and no liquid comes out, so it is still sealed. However, on the bottom of the jar, suspended in the liquid is some of this brown stringy mold. It's a shame because its contents is A LOT to say the least.
As stated, the pills that were affected give me no ill effects. In my opinion the mold probably stopped growing a while ago. My best guess is that the outside got hot (safes are cool, dark and sometimes moist areas) and somehow the liquid from the jar leaked out and some mold got in the jar and around everything else. The worst effect I got from taking some of the medicine (of course I scraped off the part of the pill that had the mold on it - but most definitely ingested some spores. The pills did smell and some potency was lost.)
Right now, is an emergency. Is there any way I can salvage some of it; If not all of the Methadone from the jar. Maybe by pouring some out into another container, straining it or just making sure none of the mold gets into the new container and then adding some drinkable alcohol to kill off the remaining mold if it is still alive, which I highly doubt. It still does have that musty smell to it and I have had this happen before, just with a bottle or two. The taste would usually be awful and I would get a stomach ache, sometimes more but nothing serious thankfully. It usually did smell if this was the case.
I can survive without it, but right now is an emergency, which is why I opened the safe in the first place to get to it. Some of my bottles from my current take homes leaked. So again, does anyone know a way I could make this salvageable? Either by adding alcohol, straining out the mold, which only sits at the bottom of the jar. Somewhere I read if ingesting mold by accident, fresh onions and garlic will kill it. Not to mention the acid from your stomach will make it so it doesn’t really have a chance.
I came across this website by searching google and finding no results. I know most would say throw it away. Most medicines I did, however some I did keep. I was reading about one person that had his take homes contaminated with mold and was forced to drink them and did get an upset stomach or nauseous.
Please, all advice appreciated. I know the right thing to do is to just dump it. But if I can somehow salvage it, even if it had half potency left after either boiling it, putting alcohol (small amount - not good to mix alcohol with methadone) or something that maybe one here will come up with, I will not have to go through hell this week. I don't keep it to get high or any other purposes except to keep on hand for emergency situations. My clinic is tough, there is no way they would help me at all.
Thank you all in advance for reading, and thank you in advance if you respond to my question.
-Ron
I have been on MMT (Methadone Maintenance) for quite some time. I am on a fairly high dosage and I do get a month’s supply of take homes. It seems every Clinic is different, at mine you have to give back your empty bottles otherwise you will lose your bottles. This is to deter people from selling them supposedly. The dose given once per month is straight from the medicine bottle. The take homes however are filled with water and a food coloring is added. Recently I started taking less and saving some each and every day for emergency.
I have a safe that stopped working about three years ago. The solenoid stopped working, so I let it sit for a while and then finally drilled it open. Unfortunately, some mold or bacteria got all over everything. The documents, pill bottles (some pill tablets had a tan/brown/black color to them - however even the pill bottles that weren't affected had this musty smell to it.) Some of the pills lost their potency by up to half but didn't get me sick. I salvaged many of them and had no ill effects. I have a jar about the size of a mayonnaise jar, it is glass with a metal lid, filled with Methadone. I can shake it and no liquid comes out, so it is still sealed. However, on the bottom of the jar, suspended in the liquid is some of this brown stringy mold. It's a shame because its contents is A LOT to say the least.
As stated, the pills that were affected give me no ill effects. In my opinion the mold probably stopped growing a while ago. My best guess is that the outside got hot (safes are cool, dark and sometimes moist areas) and somehow the liquid from the jar leaked out and some mold got in the jar and around everything else. The worst effect I got from taking some of the medicine (of course I scraped off the part of the pill that had the mold on it - but most definitely ingested some spores. The pills did smell and some potency was lost.)
Right now, is an emergency. Is there any way I can salvage some of it; If not all of the Methadone from the jar. Maybe by pouring some out into another container, straining it or just making sure none of the mold gets into the new container and then adding some drinkable alcohol to kill off the remaining mold if it is still alive, which I highly doubt. It still does have that musty smell to it and I have had this happen before, just with a bottle or two. The taste would usually be awful and I would get a stomach ache, sometimes more but nothing serious thankfully. It usually did smell if this was the case.
I can survive without it, but right now is an emergency, which is why I opened the safe in the first place to get to it. Some of my bottles from my current take homes leaked. So again, does anyone know a way I could make this salvageable? Either by adding alcohol, straining out the mold, which only sits at the bottom of the jar. Somewhere I read if ingesting mold by accident, fresh onions and garlic will kill it. Not to mention the acid from your stomach will make it so it doesn’t really have a chance.
I came across this website by searching google and finding no results. I know most would say throw it away. Most medicines I did, however some I did keep. I was reading about one person that had his take homes contaminated with mold and was forced to drink them and did get an upset stomach or nauseous.
Please, all advice appreciated. I know the right thing to do is to just dump it. But if I can somehow salvage it, even if it had half potency left after either boiling it, putting alcohol (small amount - not good to mix alcohol with methadone) or something that maybe one here will come up with, I will not have to go through hell this week. I don't keep it to get high or any other purposes except to keep on hand for emergency situations. My clinic is tough, there is no way they would help me at all.
Thank you all in advance for reading, and thank you in advance if you respond to my question.
-Ron
