Okay. Pharmacology, one of my favourite subjects and the only thing I excelled at in uni.
I apologise for not having read everybody's posts, got to be somewhere in a few minutes and only read first and last pages, so I might be repeating something that's already been put out there. GREAT thread!
Re Methadone and grapefruit - personally, yes, for me this works.
However grapefruit contains a lot of vitamin C, and is very acidic.. so I'm thinking that having a glass will potentiate, but much more than that and the acidic environment in kidney filtration speeds up the metabolising of the opoids, and I'm not sure why the Vit C overload is also a bad thing, but I read it somewhere and personal experience supports this.
SOoooo.. too much grapefruit will give too much vit C and negate the boosting effects of the enzymes from the grapefruit, or even reduce the buzz altogether, depending how much you take. Be moderate and it will be fine.
The other thing I swear by is ural sachets. Alkalising powder that's fizzes when added to water and eases symptoms of cystitis (stinging and burning on passing acidic urine being a symptom). For some reason changing the environment of the kidneys and blood to more alkaline prolongs the effect. This can be done by limiting vit C to normal levels, not overdoing it - probably not so important after you have your opoid snack, as it doesn't hang around in the body for too long and in the case of methadone I only have to go easy in the hours before my once daily dose, not after.
I'd check out alkaline high food and drinks if you don't want to drink an antacid mix, and limit juices before.
Okay.. and here's another observation with no scientific backing: diet pills, such as duramine, for me counter to debilitating sedation of methadone, so the mild euphoria and bliss of methadone is more appreciated (nothing worse than sleeping through it!). Not good for the heart taken all the time and tolerance quickly develops, so be careful. Might also be risky.. I'm too scared to research that one at present or I'll start to freak myself out!
And, being in a good mood to start with is ALWAYS a guarantee of a better time. So eating well, being healthy, having lots of exercise, sex, and naturally produced endorphins increases the high. For me playing dance music is a MUST during my Me time. (The once per day period of time my dose hits me - about 45 mins - to three hours of a lovely bliss, achieved by being on a higher dose of methadone than would probably be recommended, as it's only by your dose being too high that you feel anything much!)
For me, deciding to go on methadone was the only thing that was going to give me some kind of a life back, without the stress and risk associated with chasing prescriptions of oxycontin. Now I still get high, but mildly so, and in a limited, controlled manner, legally, with so far no change to tolerance, no negative consequences of what is daily drug taking, and relatively few side effects. One day I hope to feel ready to stop altogether, but right now I look forward to my downtime each day in the same way 'normal' people look forward to their glass or two of wine after work.
Have gotten a bit off subject. I think my point was, eat well, try to be happy and positive, if you have depression - treat it with exercise, diet, SSRI's as necessary, and some good old l-tryptophan to boost serotonin, plenty of sex for endophins, the right amount of GFJ and an antacid supplement, something to perk you like strong coffee and some euphoric music, and there's the setting for ideal opiate potentiation, IMHO.
I talk too much.
