METHADONE Tapering Rapid vs Slow

[KillTheKick]

Hi everyone.. I've searched timelessly on this topic and have read a lot but haven't seen anything on short term rapid methadone tapering. I won't bore u with the stories but fast forward to now, I'm at the MMT clinic and at 120mg.

I started just a couple months ago and they made me start at only 20mg due to having a script of benzos. That benzo withdrawal was a bitch!! Worse than anything else. Anyway, it wasn't up until just a few weeks ago that I finally got off the benzos and they let me increase the juice eventually to 120mg. I want to taper off now and go to suboxone. I've had a lot of success with suboxone in the past but I didn't go to it this last time after my heroin binge cuz I've never done the methadone maintenance and wanted to give it a shot. Well, I don't like it very much nor do I like the dependency of the clinic and all the side effects etc etc etc.

My question is, since I've only been on the juice since July to now, October, and only at the 120 mark for a few weeks, is it gonna suck doing a fast taper down to say 20-30mg in order to make the suboxone transition? Please give me your input and experiences with a fast taper, mostly from a short term use perspective. I realize if you were on the juice for years it would be messed up and you'd need to go super slow. Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

 

[szuko000]

I did 10mg drops about every 2 or 3 weeks from 90mg a day down to 20mg a day with no issues. Once I got to 20 i did 3mg a week down to 4mg and then I jumped. I really did not experience any withdrawal and I mean that, no PAWS no anything. Well I didnt feel comfortable anywhere and didnt get more then 3 hours sleep for about 20 something days it was a breeze compared to dying on the floor in heroin withdrawal. I hadnt been using dope that long however, that was my relapse after being clean for a year. I tried getting back on subs, as i had a very easy recovery on subs but the second time they didnt kill the cravings or anything.

There is so much individuality in recovery there is no one size fits all. It took me 16 months on methadone to get off and my friend only was on for 11 months... up to 90 and down to 0 in 11 months, we are both still clean to this day. If you desire something a lot it will happen with effort and time. You can do whatever you set your mind to

 

[KillTheKick]

Thanks for the response szuko000. I tried responding yesterday but the post suddenly disappeared and never posted. I suppose I am green to this after all. Anyway, I got to the clinic this morning and the dr put in a new order for me but only put it in for me to go down 5mg a week!!!! I told the nurse this was ridiculous as it will take me longer to taper down to 20mg-30mg than I've even been on the juice to begin with. I'm hoping my counselor can hook it up for me and let me see the dr again this Friday to allow me to drop as I feel comfortable doing. I'm hoping that due to how little of time I've been on it, it wont be too terrible dropping in faster increments i.e. 10-20mg a week, then maybe slow it down to just 5mg-10mg once I hit the lower doses like 50mg. I dunno though. I just wanna make it to subs sooner than later since the longer I'm on the juice, the harder it'll be in the end cuz i'll have been on it that much longer. Ugh..

 

[szuko000]

What's important is that you are comfortable. To be honest I did feel my 10mg drops and it would basically last for 10 days after I did it. I would feel normal for 2-3 days then I would get mild discomfort, complete lack of motivation, and no appetite. I started smoking weed at my full time job 3 times a day because I was so demotivated and uncomfortable it made it bearable to be there.

The worst part for me was the lack of motivation, normally I'm a highly driven individual and I strongly desire to achieve goals during the day. I was very upset that I had lost my motivation for passions in life (after I jumped) but suddenly one day about 3 weeks after quitting I just went back at it like suddenly my brain just went back to normal.

But I was able to quit methadone and go to my 9-6 job everyday... I may not have wanted to go but again I didn't want to do anything other then smoke weed literally constantly in an effort to make me feel ok about stuff lol.

You can do this just make sure your ready to experience some discomfort, remember on maintenance drugs we take our hell in small doses yet all addicts experience the hell of withdrawal. I may say I had an easy time but I have terrible memories of being dope sick craving heroin to the point where it was all I could think about... in comparison this was a fancy dinner with free drinks

 

[Keif' Richards]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've gathered, you're not limited in any way in terms of the speed of your taper, right? If this is the case, I recommend dropping slow enough to make the changes either incredibly mild or ideally, inperceptible. This is possible and I've heard of folks making it through with minimal symptoms, but the negative is that this will take a significant period of time, especially from a relatively high dose like 120mg.

The way I think about it and I've been through MMT withdrawal 3 times now, is that there are basically 3 ways of going about a taper. Again, this is my layman's point of view.

Long-Term: Pretty much what I mentioned above. This would be a taper consisting of reductions so low that they are practically inperceptible. This is the ideal situation for a variety of reasons. First, you obviously don't wish to be uncomfortable. We all have lives, jobs and functions that we must be ready and able to complete. Opioid withdrawal fucks that all up. Secondly, a more severe withdrawal inevitably leads to an increased risk of relapse. Your episodic memory tends to take you right back to your days of addiction even though you haven't been using. Withdrawal reactivates that primal urge.

Moderate-Term: This is the most feasible option. It's pretty much what you would expect. A reduced time-frame correlating directly with an increased severity of the withdrawal syndrome. For one reason or another, most of us don't have 1+ years to do the long taper, so this is where we land. One should expect to feel some pain, for sure, but it's all about keeping the symptoms within a manageable level. For instance, if dropping 10mg/week makes you unable to sleep at night (very important), while 7.5mg/week allows you to sleep until say, the early morning, then you start to become restless, there is a major advantage in that 2.5mg difference.

Sleep is a huge issue with Methadone withdrawal. Unlike short-acting Opioids like Heroin in which the acute phase of withdrawal generally resolves within 72-96 hours, Methadone's acute phase easily lasts 10-14 days. 2 days of malnutrition, minor dehydration etc. can be remedied easily when you come out on the other side. 2 weeks of these symptoms, however, is much less sustainable. But, back to the sleep. Insomnia as a chronic symptom came to be the worst part of my Methadone withdrawal. I went about 10 days or so without a legitimate night's sleep. I'd sleep for short bursts of 15 minutes - 1 hour throughout the day and night. It began to make me paranoid, suicidally depressed, anxious, sensitive to light and sound and led to a scary level of depersonalization at its height. In short, it will make you go insane. So, case in point, make sure your symptoms are manageable.

Short-Term: Just like you would think. This entails either an excessively rapid reduction or complete absence of Methadone. There are very few reasons to attempt this on your own accord. I can think of a few reasons, but they're all pretty impractical. Most people end up going this route against their will by, for instance, being incarcerated or administratively banned from your Prescriber/Clinic. Prepare for at least 10 days of withdrawal of significant intensity. Relapse, if possible, is highly likely if the patient has the ability to acquire Opioids.

My advice would be to talk to your prescribing Doctor/APRN at the clinic. Tell them you're ready to reduce/taper and discuss a plan. You could experiment with a relatively large reduction to start, say 10mg - 15mg at once or over the course of a few days, but with a safeguard in place stating that if you experience too intense of a withdrawal, you will be able to up your dose by a certain margin. It's kind of a safety net that allows you to try to push yourself without the potential for disaster. Your prescriber might also accompany your reduction with some comfort medications (non-Opioid/Benzodiazepine) like Clonidine (Catapres) or Gabapentin (Neurontin).

I hope we've helped you a little bit. Be sure to keep us posted though. We'd like to know how it goes for you and I'm sure there are many other MMT patients on BL who are curious about the exact same thing and would like to learn from your experiences.

 

[KillTheKick]

Thank you SOOOO much you guys for taking the time to truly respond like you did. A lot of great points and I will take every single one of them and apply them to my taper process.

Without intending to say the same thing again, sometimes it's therapeutic to re-mention things but I'm wondering if there's any value in how short I've been on methadone? It's only been 2.5 months, coming up on 3 months next week. I started at 20mg (ugh, terrible) and just got to the 100+ range a few weeks ago. This is the main reason why I am considering doing a faster taper. Do you think that I'll have less severe withdrawal because of the short length of methadone use? Or does that not matter much with methadone? I will definitely monitor my symptoms and slow it down so I don't put myself in a bad spot as I have to be extremely on point at work, just as you mentioned Keif' Richards. I guess I'm nervous and seeking extra encouragement ya know? I am repeating myself but my intentions are pure and I'm not trying to be a broken record. I guess I'm just hoping that because of the short term I've been on it, I'm thinking it wont be as bad to go fast. Not fast like 30mg a week, but more so in the 10mg range per week.

I also forgot to note that I'm not allowed to reduce at the amount I personally choose. The clinic Dr set it for me initially at 0-5mg a week and I had just re-submitted a dose reduction/taper sheet a couple days ago and my counselor told me this morning that they will do it. I asked for a range of 5mg-20mg a week, but I think they only do 5-10mg spreads.

Any additional thoughts? I have noted every detail of the posts, but I'm just wondering about how much less severe my symptoms might be due to only being on the methadone for 2-3 months.. Your input is greatly appreciated and I'm nervous as hell but REALLY REALLY REALLY need to get back to suboxone cuz the methadone doesn't do anything for my cravings. Thanks again!!!!!

 

[KillTheKick]

Is there anyone else out there that has experience with tapering methadone at a fast pace? I suppose I am also seeking extra encouragement while I am beginning my taper. I've been on it for 3 months and have just filled out another request to taper faster than 0-5mg a week and find out tomorrow morning how much more they'll let me go down. I'm hoping 5mg-20mg and do 20mg drops at first from 115mg and once I get down to like 75mg or so i'll go down 10mg a week, then by 5mg once I hit 35mg. I hope I'm not repeating myself, I just really like hearing from people and talking about this as it's very therapeutic. I'm crossing my fingers that it's not too terrible due to how short I've been on it but really wanna get to bupe. Ugh.. Anyway if there are any other people that have done a rapid taper that had success PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE say something!! Even if you were on it long term and succeeded with a rapid taper, that's awesome too! Any extra words from you BL'ers will be majorly helpful.

 

[Keif' Richards]

^I'm sure that the length of time that you've been on MMT is going to play an important role in how intense/long-lasting your withdrawal will be, but there's no way to accurately predict or measure this.

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

I was in MMt for 6 years and have been off methadone for 9 months after having gone through a short taper from 100mg. The general rule was about a month of some degree of symptoms for every year of medium/ high dose use and this was actually fairly close to what I experienced (4 1/2 months to nearly normal).
Being on a med-high dose for such a short time as yourself you are dodging a bullet by doing this now. The hardest part most people I knew had was the drop off from 5mg or less to nothing. The suboxone will be a nice transition versus nothing or just non-opiate support meds. I rarely heard any complaints about short timers dropping as quickly as they went up or even a little faster. After a year or so this is not always the case but July till now is not bad at all.
Having the option of stopping the descent and letting yourself "catch up" makes it even easier to take the plunge knowing a reprieve is available at any time. You totally got this. Hang in there.

 

[KillTheKick]

^^Thank you for this feedback too. It really is helpful mentally to hear from others about this. I suppose it provides an extra boost which ultimately helps any detox. It's good to know that it might not be too bad due to my very short term on MMT versus having been on it for over a year plus. I've just seen the look of fear on people's faces at the clinic when talking about starting their taper, and that's been discouraging as it feeds off of everyone. There isn't anyone there either who had been on it as short as I have, 3 months, and decided to transition to suboxone and/or off all together, so it's hard to get any support or feedback. I brought it up in one of the groups they make us do and the counselor got all hostile and instead of answering my question he said it was a horrible idea and I need to keep increasing the methadone until I stop thinking about transitioning or stopping. Anyway, I appreciate the response and I am going down at 10mg increments as of today. I got them to increase it to 0-10mg a week from 0-5mg which they had at first. That was way too slow. I'll just go down 10mg a week until I hit a mg where I start to feel it too much and slow down at that point, BUT my plan is to try and get it done as fast as possible without hurting too much cuz the longer I am on it, the harder it will be.

 

[crzydiamond]

I have experience with methadone and cold turkey (ugh), and methadone and tapering (quick, moderate, and slow)

Slower was much more successful for me in terms of comfort and ease of getting off. Although I did come off cold turkey due to jail--took 32 days to feel human again--but I did stay off that time for years.

The only quick taper I did ended in a fairly quick relapse

What should help you as far as bigger drops is not just the amount of time you have been on it, but more so the fact that you only recently went up to a higher dose. You haven't been at 120 long enough for your body to really become set at it. Which, given your goal, is good

The clinic I went to generally recommended not more than 10% of dose for drops. So 10 mg is fine where you're at now,'but when you're around 50 mg then 5mg drops would be better...

Usually to switch to subs they want you on around 20-30 mg methadone maximum. So you can realistically (and painlessly) be there in a couple months....but seriously --don't rush. It's not a race. Rushing only ever leads to relapse, in my experience and observations

You can do it though. Methadone withdrawal *when done slowly* isn't bad. (Cold turkey on the other hand is where it gets its nasty reputation. And it is nasty)

Any help I can offer let me know

 

[opiatekrzy]

Rather you do a fast detox, or a slow detox, your still going to suffer withdrawl symptoms and PAWS. Neither one of the choices is easy to do

 

[crzydiamond]

Rather you do a fast detox, or a slow detox, your still going to suffer withdrawl symptoms and PAWS. Neither one of the choices is easy to do

Not necessarily true. He is going onto suboxone so in his case shouldn't experience PAWS as he will still be on an opiate, even though it's a partial agonist. Same really for the withdrawal. He isn't going down to zero mg. When you slowly detox methadone it's pretty unnoticeable until you get down really low or go too fast


For example, I'm currently at 36 mg methadone, down from 95 mg. I have done 10 mg drops in beginning then 5 mg drops, when I hit 40 mg started doing 10 % drops. Now I have done this over a period of some months, but I have yet to feel one withdrawal symptom. I did a slow detox like this before, and I only felt some symptoms when I first got below 20 mg (I re stabilized there a while before dropping more); again at 4 mg, and also again from 1mg to 0

I am not really prone much to PAWS, I didn't experience it on that wd, I did somewhat on a cold turkey methadone wd, but also even heroin wd for me I don't get much of the PAWS. It takes a while for regular 8 hr sleep to return, and I experience aches and pains severely until my body regulates its own painkiller system. (Lots of ibuprofen for about 3 weeks). I have over 20 years of experience with both heroin and methadone, so I'm not clueless


Anyway I spoke specifically to OPs situation, but even for others it's very individual. Like I said, I have had very easy methadone detoxes (as long as they were done slowly). I also had a methadone cold turkey detox from hell. Methadone gets its bad withdrawal rep from the cold turkey detoxes. Not from slow tapers.

 

[KillTheKick]

Kick ass feedback you guys, thank you very much! Crzydiamond thanks for all the comments. Honestly whenever I feel like I'm about to get nervous over this, I come here and it motivates me. I'm going to keep going down, as is, 10mg a week until I hit the 50mg level and will contemplate the smaller, 5mg drops IF I'm starting to feel it. It seems though that from all the input, there's hardly noticeable WD until u get down below 50mg, plus or minus. I forgot to mention that I do have a regular script for clonidine too since I have high blood pressure anyway and my doc hooked that up when I had to kick benzos in order to get in the methadone clinic. So glad that parts over,fml big time. That's a whole other story but I'm glad I have the clonidine for added leverage.

I wanted to ask something that's always controversial online when it comes to doing this methadone taper. Please don't harp on me or anything it's honestly a genuine question and I have pure intentions but I've heard that going to a short acting opiate before transitioning to suboxone is a lot better? I can see how it makes sense but if I were to contemplate doing that, I have questions.

If I were to get some oxy 30's for instance to use for maybe a week or two max, would it be more strategic to cold turkey the methadone all together and get to suboxone faster? Would that not matter? Would this route be better once I hit the 20-30mg level on methadone, then jump and use the oxy for the one to two weeks and then get on suboxone? Again, please no ridicule, I'm seriously wagering all options here is all. How much would the oxy even help the WD from methadone at either jump; 95mg (this week mg) OR 20-30mg later? Would I be totally screwed n sick as hell? I wouldn't be interested in trying to get loaded, and I don't wanna have to do oxy after oxy after oxy all day long to be able to work ya know? I'd just want to take enough to manage my days at work until I felt the methadone was clear from my system to make the plunge to suboxone. Also, I'm going to suboxone 100%, I'm full steam ahead to get on the sub so me asking the oxy question isn't a way to try n go back to how things were. It's all a means of figuring the best options here to get off the methadone n get on suboxone.

Thanks so much!

 

[Gone.girl93]

I'm new to this site and i need help but i dont know how to make my own post. It seems I may have to be a bluelighter to do that?

Anyhow, I'm on 65 mgs of methadone. My clinic wont let me drop by 5, only 10s per week. Im just wondering the best way to do this. Another thing is, I'm prescribed 1 or 2 xanax bars & 2 mgs of clonazepam daily. I find if i dont take tje xanax every6ish hours im sick as a dog. But im so confused as to why this is happening as i still have another benzo in my system... This is all too much for me. Can anyone please shed some light on this effed up situation? Please.

 

[yelroclad]

I was 12 years on methadone 80ml/day and am now clean I did a 5ml/week drop . When down to 12ml/day I started to rattle slightly so started to reduce 2ml/week till I got down to 6ml when I stopped taking the juice because I was rattling full blown and the small amounts were doing fuck all. I can't say anything about the withdrawal process that will give you any good vibes except believe in the power of your personality and how strong and confident you have been when having to had overcome problems, contracts you have re-written in your head to make the problem ending favourable and desirable to the fact of being non dependent on the opiate methadone. How long the clucking lasts varies between people but an opiate de-tox is severe , muscle and joint aches, spasms diarrhoea, vomiting,wretching ,hot and cold sweating ,excess saliva production also what I experienced with the restless leg syndrome Which occurs early on in the de-tox and is the symptom that alerts you to the dreaded start as well as sneezing , the restless legs I found very difficult to cope with and the answer of ' walking' will cure the leg aching and unrest is correct but walking about even if it is just in your room is virtually impossible when in a full blown opiate withdrawal. I wish I could give you info that will be positive and helpful in your predicament,my fellow addict friend . Anyway you want the clucking to last as short a time as possible, to be blunt my rattle lasted 14 days whence I awoke one day and felt a lot better. Yes , I got sleep around 8 days in due to taking a ZOPICLONE sleeping pill, they didn't work the first week. If you when you are ' well into the rattle' and start to get overwhelming thoughts of giving up, these have to be dealt with by using your mind in a authoritative way that you will take-in and adhere to. The clucking will STOP but you have to live day to day, don't keep thinking about the end it will come . I know it is easily said "IT WILL STOP" but I am now 7 months methadone free after more than a decade of daily use, I can't say anything that you don't probably know alas but you must be very strong willed so think of scenarios in your 'rich tapestry of your life' that you have had to control and make decisions that are favourable and beneficial to only you, it's gonna be hard pal but you must believe in your own mind and that it is strong and commanding that you will adhere to in ways that you have more than likely used in your life's past. IT WILL STOP, I hope this rhetoric goes a little way to help you, I wish you all the strength and goodwill to help you on your quest, it is down to your strength in mind and ability to conform to these thoughts . DONT GIVE UP.️????

 

[crzydiamond]

Kick ass feedback you guys, thank you very much! Crzydiamond thanks for all the comments. Honestly whenever I feel like I'm about to get nervous over this, I come here and it motivates me. I'm going to keep going down, as is, 10mg a week until I hit the 50mg level and will contemplate the smaller, 5mg drops IF I'm starting to feel it. It seems though that from all the input, there's hardly noticeable WD until u get down below 50mg, plus or minus. I forgot to mention that I do have a regular script for clonidine too since I have high blood pressure anyway and my doc hooked that up when I had to kick benzos in order to get in the methadone clinic. So glad that parts over,fml big time. That's a whole other story but I'm glad I have the clonidine for added leverage.

I wanted to ask something that's always controversial online when it comes to doing this methadone taper. Please don't harp on me or anything it's honestly a genuine question and I have pure intentions but I've heard that going to a short acting opiate before transitioning to suboxone is a lot better? I can see how it makes sense but if I were to contemplate doing that, I have questions.

If I were to get some oxy 30's for instance to use for maybe a week or two max, would it be more strategic to cold turkey the methadone all together and get to suboxone faster? Would that not matter? Would this route be better once I hit the 20-30mg level on methadone, then jump and use the oxy for the one to two weeks and then get on suboxone? Again, please no ridicule, I'm seriously wagering all options here is all. How much would the oxy even help the WD from methadone at either jump; 95mg (this week mg) OR 20-30mg later? Would I be totally screwed n sick as hell? I wouldn't be interested in trying to get loaded, and I don't wanna have to do oxy after oxy after oxy all day long to be able to work ya know? I'd just want to take enough to manage my days at work until I felt the methadone was clear from my system to make the plunge to suboxone. Also, I'm going to suboxone 100%, I'm full steam ahead to get on the sub so me asking the oxy question isn't a way to try n go back to how things were. It's all a means of figuring the best options here to get off the methadone n get on suboxone.

Thanks so much!

Some people have had success using a short acting opiate for the transition. This really would only work if you were to do it when you got into the acceptable range for switching from methadone to subs...around 20-30 mg methadone. It's not recommended for you to be on a higher dose of methadone because the sub won't hold you.

For much the same reason I would not attempt to use something like oxy at you current dose in an effort to switch. Here's why not: first, you would need way more oxy than you think to hold you out of wd at a methadone dose of 120. Or 100 or 80. Second--you need to be on an equivalent methadone dose of no more than 30 mg. You would have to basically suffer a week or two until you were down low enough for sub to help. It's just too fast too far of a drop. (And yes if you tried this from 95 mg you would indeed be "totally screwed and sick as hell"--cause at that dose you'd need lots and lots of 30 mg oxy to sort of feel normal...if you could even achieve it...and then you'd have a bad time trying to induct because sub only offers relief from a methadone habit 30 mg or less....so it'd take time for subs to even help (but they'd block you from taking other opioids..) all in all, I highly recommend if you plan to enlist the aid of a short half life full agonist, wait until you are at a switchable methadone dose...


Basically the purpose of the short acting opiate is because methadone has a long half life. So instead of the 24 (or so, ymmv)hours recommended abstinence prior to induction, when you're on methadone they recommend 3-4 days abstinence. For most of us addicts that's a scary thought and one that often keeps us from switching. So what some recommend is to use a short acting opiate for about a week--until your body has the majority of methadone out of system and has the short acting opiate on the receptors instead. Then you are able to only have to be abstinent for the "normal" amount of time before sub induction


As I said, I've heard of ppl inducting 6 hours after shooting up. I've heard of ppl getting sick inducting 40 hours after shooting up. Everyone's timeline is different. But across the board it will always take longer to be able to induct sub going straight from methadone. Some of that time depends on how long methadone holds you. For instance it usually only holds me about 22 hours before I start mild wd. (That's at 95 mg, 40 mg, 10 mg, whatever )


So no I wouldn't ridicule you, as it is a method that works for some. You just want to be carful you don't go off to the races and never show at the sub doctor lol....and you have to have to ability to not dose crazy, just enough to stay well. Enlist someone's help if needed


Which ever way you go, it's good you're doing the research. Talk to your prospective sub doctors as well. I've heard of some who will prescribe you a week of short half life opioids for the week of switch.:..

 

[KillTheKick]

Thanks again crzydiamond. I appreciate you! You are right, we are very nervous about the abstinence part from methadone to suboxone. I wish they came up with something just like subs but that didn't cause precipitated withdrawal!! Like how methadone is, but NOT methadone! A suboxone without the whole waiting period. Anyway, I have decided to go the short acting opiate route, FOR SURE.. After researching a ton about that, it definitely sounds like the best option. Also you suggesting it directly helped me get to this conclusion.

So you suggest waiting until I'm at 30mg of methadone before going to the short acting, oxy, for the 1-2 week period to fully clean out the methadone? I've heard that quitting methadone at, say 20mg is no different than 80mg. Is this really true? The counselors were also saying this in one of the groups and I don't see that making much sense, otherwise why go to higher doses if it all feels the same, ya know? I totally get that meth WD's are HELL no matter what happens, but if the WD would suck major ass whether I'm at 20mg or 80mg's, why wait and just jump this week when I get to 85mg (tomorrow) and go straight to oxy for a week or two MAX?

Is there anything to be said about this reasoning: Would it be better to jump now at 85mg considering one full month LESS of dosing? OR, would it be better to stay on it for another month to end up at 30mg? See what I mean? There's that entire month of it still going into my body regardless of tapering, so would that almost make it the same as jumping EARLIER with less time on it, but at a higher dose?

I realize none of this would make a difference if I was on the methadone for YEARS n YEARS, but I've only been on it for 3 months now, so I feel like the time frame holds some weight. Maybe lol??

 

[crzydiamond]

By far it will be better to taper from where you are at down to 20 or 25 or 30.

I do not at all recommend trying to go from 95 mg to oxy to subs. I know you want to switch, but that's just asking for misery. I tried to explain why in my previous post. Short answer is you're just going to be on too much methadone to be able to do oxy for a few days and switch. You'd need a LOT of oxy to not be sick, and with that kind of tolerance the sub wouldn't help for days at minimum...


Being on methadone an extra month or two or three or whatever isn't going to hurt in the long run. You're still going to an opiate replacement therapy, I'd do it the least painful/traumatic way....


You're probably going to be able to taper faster than someone who's been on methadone for years. But you still have enough half lives built up after months that if you were to try and switch directly you would be one sick human.

You want to get down to max 30 mg methadone to switch, whether you are going to do oxy or h or dilaudid or whatever for a few days or not. And truthfully--you don't want to be on 30 mg for a week and switch. You want your body stable at 30 mg or less. And if it were me, I'd go for 20 mg. The lower you can go on the methadone, the better. Remember, they say 30 is the max dose at which sub can help switching from methadone...