Opioids Methadone Mega Thread and FAQ v 2.0

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Yeah, I've done it where I tapered fully from methadone down to 0 (nightmare) and then where I switched to bupe at 30... huuggee difference. It was 10x easier getting on bupe in the long run, rather than being sick basically constantly in between doses for months and months and months while you ween down to 0.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Why weening down to 0 ? That's not necessary, right? And luckily, I barely ever feel sick, I didn't from 60 to 47 by 2-3 mg increments anyway...it's most likely related to my psychiatrist intervening and letting me have my benzos...I had been using benzos responsibly since a longer time, way longer time, than I had been shooting up hydromorphone into me multiple times a day, even then I didnt abuse my benzos.

I have abused them yes, but it was like maybe taking 30mg instead of 20mg on refill day...nothing dramatic that made alarm bells ring at the pharmacy.

Also what's amazing is that I will be able to switch pharmacy to the one STRAIGHT IN FRONT OF MY APARTMENT instead of this one that had me need rides to get my methadone at a much farther pharmacy on the horrible days of winter (my mom is an angel, and i'm lucky to be living close to her house heh). Suboxone is available at all pharmacies, while only pharmacies participating in the "methadone program" dispense it in liquid dose (they have the 1-5-10-25mg Metadols but for pain only).

I'm so fucking eager to go take my last dose of methadone before I go inpatient for a day or 2 so I have some support, the doc said I could switch at home, but i'm thinking i'd rather have nurses and docs used to knowning when it is really time to dispense the subs so I don't suffer the dreaded precipitated wd's and tell that pharmacy (which really sucks compared to the one I was always with before), took a long ass time for them to respect me, now they do, since they have realized i'm a good patient (i got my privileges right away and I was allowed to keep benzos which was really bizarre to most of the staff, lol).

The valium and xanax (prn) made it so I never needed to get past 60mg of done. I'm definitely gonna be doing something to influence the policy of my province once I am done with methadone, they really need to not fuck with people with legitimate benzo scripts that they have been using longer than opiates and way longer than they have been using needles without any problems with illegal use of them. It saved me from going to retarded doses (sorry anybody over 80mg, I don't know what you are trying to achieve, don't take this comment personally either...it's just that over about 80mg, the done will cap like codeine does at around 400 and bupe at around 24).

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Why weening down to 0 ? That's not necessary, right? And luckily, I barely ever feel sick, I didn't from 60 to 47 by 2-3 mg increments anyway...it's most likely related to my psychiatrist intervening and letting me have my benzos...I had been using benzos responsibly since a longer time, way longer time, than I had been shooting up hydromorphone into me multiple times a day, even then I didnt abuse my benzos.

I have abused them yes, but it was like maybe taking 30mg instead of 20mg on refill day...nothing dramatic that made alarm bells ring at the pharmacy.

Also what's amazing is that I will be able to switch pharmacy to the one STRAIGHT IN FRONT OF MY APARTMENT instead of this one that had me need rides to get my methadone at a much farther pharmacy on the horrible days of winter (my mom is an angel, and i'm lucky to be living close to her house heh). Suboxone is available at all pharmacies, while only pharmacies participating in the "methadone program" dispense it in liquid dose (they have the 1-5-10-25mg Metadols but for pain only).

I'm so fucking eager to go take my last dose of methadone before I go inpatient for a day or 2 so I have some support, the doc said I could switch at home, but i'm thinking i'd rather have nurses and docs used to knowning when it is really time to dispense the subs so I don't suffer the dreaded precipitated wd's and tell that pharmacy (which really sucks compared to the one I was always with before), took a long ass time for them to respect me, now they do, since they have realized i'm a good patient (i got my privileges right away and I was allowed to keep benzos which was really bizarre to most of the staff, lol).

The valium and xanax (prn) made it so I never needed to get past 60mg of done. I'm definitely gonna be doing something to influence the policy of my province once I am done with methadone, they really need to not fuck with people with legitimate benzo scripts that they have been using longer than opiates and way longer than they have been using needles without any problems with illegal use of them. It saved me from going to retarded doses (sorry anybody over 80mg, I don't know what you are trying to achieve, don't take this comment personally either...it's just that over about 80mg, the done will cap like codeine does at around 400 and bupe at around 24).

I mean't as close to 0 as possible. When it comes to methadone, at lower levels at the end of a taper, every milligram makes a huge difference as to how sick you'll be. For example, jumping off at 5mgs or 2mgs... much different.

 

[Oxy8_8]

Any ideas for potentiating methadone? I take 100mg or so of promethazine for sleep and am also prescribed 15mg diazepam/valium. How could I best time the valium so it hits the same time. I will have access to around 100 1mg Xanax from next week and I know that the Xanax/methadone mix is very popular (yes, I know about the dangers and will start with only 0.5mg Xanax).
Methadone is so unpredictable I don't know how people work it out?
I have grapefruit juice, too. How long before and/or after taking methadone should I drink it? Or just have glasses throughout the day?
I'm on 40mg methadone, btw.

Edit: I am used to both benzos. I chew 30mg of Valium or either 1 or 1.5mg Xanax when I want that lovely warm calm feeling.

 

[Oxy8_8]

Yeah I don't recommend this, shun methadone if already on bupe, I'm making the switch soon because of the really bad side effects it has given me long term, just read my post. Most of my pants and jeans are suddenly unwearable, I was having an alright time with the treatment, it would even get me high a little when i took hydroxyzine and a low dose of valium with it, but fuck this shit, I'm willing to switch to subutex as soon as possible, it does't fuck with testosterone, doesn't cause water retention (which is a big reason I gained that much weight from it) and doesn't fuck with cortisol levels either, which methadone can lower enough to be dangerous, it lowered mine after 9 months of treatment to subclinical adrenal dysfunction....so i'm quickly lowering my dose, am at 44mg now, 41mg in 2 weeks, etc. until I get to 35mg, then the next day I'll have a half dose and do the switch inpatient, because Ihave a feeling it'll be really difficult, already now i'm getting some generic oxycontins at times (which i just chew and eat, which I have always done, fell to the needle because of dat hydromorphone rush) on rough days. It's ok with me, 80-120mg of eaten oxycodone is still weaker than my 44mg daily dose of meth...shows how fucking strong the thing is, only problem is that at that dosage now it is very much gone (feeling wise). So I'm treating myself like they do in more enlightened countries, using regular opiates/opioids in between methadone and suboxone, if i could buy enough oxycodone i'd just dose with it and ignore the methadone, the faster that shit is out of my body the happier i'll be.

Can't wait till the 13th...I can't wait to get back all my energy and liveliness that methadone stole from me ( I sleep 10 hours at night, which is fine with me) but then I nap about half of the afternoon and nap from 8 to midnight, stay up 4-5 hours and go sleep those 10 hours. Probably a big reason why I got so fat....what confuses me is that I gained all that weight in 2 months, before that the methadone didn't fuck with my weight..probably caused by the huge loss of testosterone...at this point I don't care anymore other than I want off the methadone as quick as possible. Too bad I showed up at my scheduled appointment last monday to stay a day or 2 inpatient to switch to bupe...I just couldn't, even if the doc, who was my age and so casual with me it's the kind of girl I can speak with a bunch and she even had a bunch of tatoos one arm, we discussed punk and hardcore punk music for a while and thats probably why she said ok, i understand you dropping half your dose of 47mg yesterday wasn't enough for you to switch, (I took 23,5mg the day before, but I don't think the doc I had discussed the switch with was aware that only a dose that low one day before switching wasn't enough, and that one didn't think I would fall into complete precipitated withdrawal when they would give me the subs, even if I had been sick when they gave it to me...I talked about how I read a lot about it, didn't mention this site, I know a lot of people recommended me to switch when i was at 25 to 35mg since a while, not since only a day to switch, I would have had way too much methadone in my blood then, right?

I kinda speed-read that, but did you say you're on 10mg methadone a day? If so then yes, you are on an extremely low dose. 25mg a day is the lowest I have ever heard of being prescribed unless the person was being tapered off. I'm on 40mg methadone a day and consider that a low dose. I read somewhere that 60-120mg was the norm? I may be misinformed, though.

 

[Nine0Nine]

The only thing I hated about methadone was the sweats. Other than that, I was fine. I stopped using gear, got a job and was ok.

Subutex, on the other hand, was a total fucking nightmare. Horrid stuff. Especially when iv'ing the crap..

 

[Oxy8_8]

I'm on 40mg/ml methadone a day right now. I think MMT is pretty good. I was taking anywhere between 150mg and 600mg a day of Oxy, although 75-80% of the time I took approx. 300mg a day. The days I took 150 I was really just taking the minimum needed to avoid withdrawal. On the occasions - maybe 3 or 4 times a month - I took 350mg+ I either wanted to get really high either because I craved a hardcore rush all day or because I was in for a shitty day and needed to be stoned into bliss with opiates.

Anyway, I was on around 300mg oxy and now I take 40mg methadone a day. The first week sucked and the second week was still a little rough but now I take 40mg methadone a day and feel exactly normal: happy, right amount of energy and WD symptom free. I don't get any opiate high or anything, it just keeps me well which I like. It means I never have to worry about getting sick or feeling bad and if I wanna get high I can take (morphine, oxy, fentanyl) on top of that which I do maybe once a week or so.

Never experienced suboxone/subutex, but I'm pretty happy on methadone. I do intend to ask to be increased to 50mg or so, but for pain management as I have pancreatitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

 

[ganeal]

I started taking methadone about 3 years ago. Before that in 2008 I was in an auto accident almost died and will forever be a PM patient. At first my Dr. started me on Hydocodone 10 mg after I came home from hospital. Since I lost my job after being gone a year from recovering I lost my medical insurance so I had to pay cash for Dr;s and medications and even after 2 years hydro's became too expensive so he started me on methadone witch is dirt cheap. 3 years later I am at 80 mg's a day. I can't say I hate it, but yeah I have gained some weight and it will not come off. I guess I am less motivated but it's also because I am in constant pain anyways.
My dr retired and I was forced to go into a clinic because I could not find another Dr willing to Rx it. After being in a clinic for a year at 100 mg/day of the cheap ass liquid. I was lucky to find a great PM dr that would give me as much as I want. I told him 80mg of the pills a day is fine for now. The only thing I hate about being on it is I am scared to death that my Dr will retire or leave and I will be forced into a withdrawel. I have gone 4 days without before but never past that.. I hear it's bad. One last thing I hate is that it does dull my sences. I mean it's good I guess it dulls the bad feelings but it also dulls the good ones too...The holidays are not the same things like that...but I guess with my financial situation as it is right now it's the only thing I can afford so I have comes to terms with being on it.

 

[Oxy8_8]

^I was on OC40 twice a day with 4 10mg roxi's for breakthrough pain. So 120mg Oxycodone a day.
I got switched to methadone a few months ago and I hate that I have to go to the pharmacy EVERY DAY and drink it in front of the pharmacist.
My doctor insists on methadone because my pain is permanent and he said Methadone Maintenance Treatment is easiest (it fucking isn't, I'd kill to be back on oxy).
I've never touched "street drugs" in my life but I'm being treat like a heroin addict, going to the pharmacy every single day and having to take it in front of the pharmacist. Like they can't even give me a weeks supply.
So I'm constantly stressed about it. What if they close? What if they run out of methadone? What if my script runs out early and I don't realize?
I have anxiety issues as it is. I don't want to be trapped in a methadone addiction. At least with other opiates if you have to WD the worst is over in 4 or 5 days. With methadone it's more like 4 or 5 WEEKS.

 

[ganeal]

^I was on OC40 twice a day with 4 10mg roxi's for breakthrough pain. So 120mg Oxycodone a day.
I got switched to methadone a few months ago and I hate that I have to go to the pharmacy EVERY DAY and drink it in front of the pharmacist.
My doctor insists on methadone because my pain is permanent and he said Methadone Maintenance Treatment is easiest (it fucking isn't, I'd kill to be back on oxy).
I've never touched "street drugs" in my life but I'm being treat like a heroin addict, going to the pharmacy every single day and having to take it in front of the pharmacist. Like they can't even give me a weeks supply.
So I'm constantly stressed about it. What if they close? What if they run out of methadone? What if my script runs out early and I don't realize?
I have anxiety issues as it is. I don't want to be trapped in a methadone addiction. At least with other opiates if you have to WD the worst is over in 4 or 5 days. With methadone it's more like 4 or 5 WEEKS.

I know what you mean. I am a little confused though..I notice you are in the UK so I assume youcan only get methadone for MMT? BUt you still have to go daily to a pharmacy for daily pick up? Now that does suck,except for it is free though right? Over here the Dr can give Methadone for pain and you can pick up the monthly pills and all I pay is like 200 bucks for the Dr visit and 40 for the month supply of methadone. HOnestly though if it was free and the Dr was free I would rather go everyday..except I know it is a hassle..when I was in the clinic setting here it cost me 400 bucks a month so that is why I consider myself lucky to have found the PM dr cause even though I still have to pay him $200...that still is half as much. BUt yeah I do worry about him leaving or going out of business because of the DEA over here cracking down so damn much. ugh I can't go through 4 weeks of withdrawel I would kill myself no doubt about it.

 

[ganeal]

I have heard of Nutri-done but they use to advertise it at my clinic..I always though it was a way for them to make more money off my poor ass. I take regular b vitamins and vitamin c as it is. I just don't have much faith in anything my clinic use to try to shove down my throat...even the liquid methadone seemed so much weaker than the pills I get from the Pharmacy.

 

['medicine cabinet']

That seems to be a common feeling among mmt patients... The 40mg disketts are always said to be the best, the ten mg methadose are the other pill form. So 40mg and 10mg...not much variety, but it most def would beat having to go to some shithole clinic with a bunch of assholes every day.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Any ideas for potentiating methadone? I take 100mg or so of promethazine for sleep and am also prescribed 15mg diazepam/valium. How could I best time the valium so it hits the same time. I will have access to around 100 1mg Xanax from next week and I know that the Xanax/methadone mix is very popular (yes, I know about the dangers and will start with only 0.5mg Xanax).
Methadone is so unpredictable I don't know how people work it out?
I have grapefruit juice, too. How long before and/or after taking methadone should I drink it? Or just have glasses throughout the day?
I'm on 40mg methadone, btw.

Edit: I am used to both benzos. I chew 30mg of Valium or either 1 or 1.5mg Xanax when I want that lovely warm calm feeling.

I manage to still get nods on just 41mg of methadone (well, i take a little more from a takehome when I really want to...like yesterday, I "woke up" earlier sitting in my livingroom with the tv closed in the dark lol) with 100mg of hydroxyzine...you already use prometh....thats the other good one, could always mix both. I managed to get a script for 50mg of hydroxyzine at night for sleep, which is a saviour at times, but I can take 100mg and around 60mg of done to get high and nod...

It's what is making me postpone (well not anymore on the 10th I'll be switching in external medicine, meaning the ER, anyway, not sure, but its not the inpatient facility where I started the methadone, I don't want to go there, then they will give me 4mg of bupe and see what happens on the 11th where i'll have to go back (ugh) to see if my dose needs to be upped (i'm at such a low dose of methadone i'm sure i won't need anything over 12mg...hopefully).

I'll try to minimize the time I am on bupe too...being unable to get high, even if I don't plan on doing it often really annoys me, especially since now I have access to generic oxycontins....their removal for 6 months in canada is what brought me to the needle (i switched to dilaudid)...I'm a legit pain patient before an abuser...I became an abuser due to uncaring docs (neurologist, pain clinic, regular family doc etc.) who after giving me scripts for oxy IR 5mg or codeine contins 200mg for a month only with no refills, forcing me to go back to their office every month until they decided i didn't need them anymore increased my anger and it became probably the only time where I decided to use blackmarket drugs because "it's illegal"..at least part of it, I was fine until I had to shoot up so much dilaudid..no wait, until I was putting all my wallet into buying dilaudids and HM Contins that I couldn't eat anymore, I prefered that to live with the jaw and nerve pain I dealt with constantly.

How is bupe as a painkiller ? I know it's used for that as temgesic and BuTrans patches...but those worth because of the norbupe...which will never get a chance at the dosages I will be...sigh.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

I kinda speed-read that, but did you say you're on 10mg methadone a day?.

"so i'm quickly lowering my dose, am at 44mg now, 41mg in 2 weeks, etc. "...

No.

Sorry for the wall of text, I do those when I decide to toke and and benz and hydroxyzine over my done ¬_¬

^I was on OC40 twice a day with 4 10mg roxi's for breakthrough pain. So 120mg Oxycodone a day.
I got switched to methadone a few months ago and I hate that I have to go to the pharmacy EVERY DAY and drink it in front of the pharmacist.
My doctor insists on methadone because my pain is permanent and he said Methadone Maintenance Treatment is easiest (it fucking isn't, I'd kill to be back on oxy).
I've never touched "street drugs" in my life but I'm being treat like a heroin addict, going to the pharmacy every single day and having to take it in front of the pharmacist. Like they can't even give me a weeks supply.
So I'm constantly stressed about it. What if they close? What if they run out of methadone? What if my script runs out early and I don't realize?
I have anxiety issues as it is. I don't want to be trapped in a methadone addiction. At least with other opiates if you have to WD the worst is over in 4 or 5 days. With methadone it's more like 4 or 5 WEEKS.

I don't get this, they have methadone pills for pain, a female cousin of mine takes the 5mg and 1mg ones (her dose is like 12 mg a day) for fibromyalgia and she doesn't have to be treated like someone who got there because they were shooting up. You can be scripted the Metadol pills (I assume you are canadian since you mentioned going to the pharmacy...)

This is abnormal, I know 2 people who get boatloads of Metadol pills for pain in normal bottles and bring them home....you should mention how this is abnormal..also you should be getting privileges sooner or later...

edit: sorry, noticed you gave your location as England....England being so liberal with MMT even using pharma heroin instead for people whos side effects with methadone are unnacceptable that you guys do not have Methadone pills for pain...hell, even my liquid is named the same as the pills for pain, my bottle of orange juice+metadol liquid here says 4.1 metadol where 1 metadol = 10mg metadol, which comes in pills for pain. Here in Canada they have 1,5,10 and 25mg Metadol (methadone) pills for pain... I got high with a couple 10mg ones in the past when I was using for both fun and pain relief (at one point there is no difference). The 1mg ones are often used on PM patients to help them reduce their dose (honestly I find opiate rotation to be a much better idea here, and methadone doesn't come into play, an uncle of mine is being rotated 4 opiates and he has been at his best since then 130mg Kadians once a day for a month, then 200mg of Demerol a day for a month, then 45mg of oxy a day for a month, then 60mg of hydromorphone for a month and start over). Also the 1mg ones are used for kids with cancer according to my nurse friend...

So confused lol.

 

['medicine cabinet']

To anyone whos tried biodone vitamins, how is it? Do you notice it working or does it give a boost? I feel normal but i do worry about test levels, my sex drive has never decreased tho when i was on high dose bupe and done it was hard to finish, but that was it. Even when i was on 16mgs of bupe, which now i know was insane, my blood tests showed my test levels as higher than normal. So, how are they?

Edit--nutridone, not biodone i meant.

 

['medicine cabinet']

I read the ingredients from the website and its basically an iron free multi vitamin with a proprietary blend of stuff including cinnimon milk thistle and a bunch of other stuff. Its supposed to help sugar cravings, fight constipation, ease hot flashes and improve energy and stimina, physically and sexually....but in very fine print at the bottom it says stuff like sugar cravings will go away after a months worth of pills and is a habit that needs to be broken ect...sounds kind of scammish to me tbh. Maybe someone who knows more about herbal medicine can check the ingredients and give a good breakdown on what does what, i just know the common stuff.

 

[ganeal]

I just finished up at the clinic last week! I went from 90mg liquid methadone to 50 mg/day in the 10mg tablets. So far so good. The best thing is that I don't have to drive down to the clinic and get into a line...ugh. It is so much cheaper to go to the Dr once a month and get a script.I'ts been 5 days and I notice no difference in the way I feel coming down from 90mg's I hope it stays that way!

 

[RedRum OG]

can we get some reports on plugging methadone? i know the basics-- probably 70% BA vs. 80/90% BA orally, but this seems to vary greatly from source to source, and people seem to agree its a better "rush" (please dont get hung up on this word, i know methadone isnt rush-y) and lasts as long as oral

plugging- if youve done it and oral, please share your experience. better than oral? why? worse? why?

also- NMDA antagonism, methadone does this, what effects does this have? slower tolerance build? slight dissociative effects?




man its frustrating going through this thread looking for answers. can people not read the first post? its like the same shit over and over.... "what dose is right?" how can i potentiate?" "heres my story about going from 100mg to 50mg." "can i use methadone and bupe?"

 

[Samanthaj]

Hell yes you can nod from methadone . I'm on MMT 100mgs and I nod all the time.

 

[Samanthaj]

Actually it does make me feel slightly speedy, yet relaxed. I feel inspired and happy. I am one talkative girl, when I'm on methadone.