I forget, were you prescribed any of the many appropriate medications for treating methadone withdrawal (buprenorphine, DHC, tramadol, diazepam, clonazepam, gabapentin, ropinirole, ondansetron, loperamide, clonidine, etc) in the months following your jumping off methadone Erik? Doctors are finally pulling theirs heads out of asses, slowly, here and now recommending people transition to buprenorphine following really long periods of time on methadone, following an appropriate taper on the methadone I mean.
And I had forgotten you only used a year to taper off seven years of methadone (I'm assuming the eight years you mentioned included the year taper). I mean, it's a great taper, but from that many years of use I normally hear people suggest an even more protracted taper (at least 20-30% of time spend on maintenance should be devoted to tapering for those on longer term MMT).
Don't you imagine it would have been perhaps nearly as difficult if you'd have been using an equivalent dose of heroin (or X potent opioid) for the same amount of time you used methadone, and then came off that? Of course it would have a different flavor depending on the particular opioid used, and it would be more drawn out with longer acting opioids. But I have seem many a person scoff at methadone withdrawal and just end up trying to deal with the "shorter" withdrawal of heroin instead of dealing with a proper methadone taper, only to end up crashing and burning thanks to the withdrawal from potent shorter acting opioids being more intense than methadone, albeit not as drawn out.
Of course, I have heard from some long term, heavy heroin users that it took well over a month to begin feeling even remotely normal after kicking, but that is the extreme of course, just as your situation was coming off methadone I feel. Anyways, the above paragraph is kinda besides the point (it's more for folks to read who don't already have your breath of understand when it comes to opioid use).
Anyways, I don't even think we disagree, because ultimately there are soooooo many individual factors as work that play a role in determining the character and severity of acute withdrawal that many of us are bound to have different experiences - and we both try to respect that. This is one of the reasons it's so important to hear from a wide range of individuals, and to get an accurate picture of what they went through (from them, in their own words), so as to gain the wisdom of the diversity of our experiences with this. We might have had different personal experiences, but that's part of what makes us who we are as distinct individuals.
Perhaps there is something that makes it more difficult for some people to come off of methadone (or other super potent opioids) after using them for really long term? I mean, that would make sense.
In terms of what I've seen at clinics, with tapering, using appropriate comfort meds, and various other forms of appropriate treatment, the many folks I've met who have successfully come off <5 years of methadone didn't experience anything even remotely like what you describe going through (and it sounded pretty fucking beyond awful). But I wonder if, like I said particularly for some individuals, there is a point where it just gets harder and harder to come off methadone. For sure, this was part of the reason I tried to not get my dose too high and started tapering shortly after beginning MMT and ended up on it for under three years. Certainly the longer methadone is used, the more one will benefit from a longer taper.
I guess I am just trying to point out how it's problematic to highlighting the more extreme case of of opioid withdrawal that some people do unfortunately experience, as it has relatively little to do with what a totally different person, in a totally different set of circumstances, is going to experience. Particularly, as you mention Erik, that your situation coming off methadone (not to mention mine) as well as thegunman's isn't very indicative of what the OP is likely to experience with his present situation.
And frankly Erikman, I kinda love the little dance we do sometimes with this! We're like yin and yang a little bit, good individually but better when you hear from us together
Pls forgive me for this crazy long fuck of a post