Methadone Withdrawl breaking me down!

So.....it is day 6 of no methadone. I was on 70mg for 2 years or so and tapered down 2mg a week for about the past 8 months or so. I thought I would be good and I am now finding I was horribly wrong. I have done opiates(opana and h) for about 15 years and this was my second attempt at methadone and boy did I forget how horrible it was last time! I did everything right and followed the program to a T. I haven't used OP or H in 2+ years. So now I'm in the grip of WD and haven't slept yet. I am shocked on how bad the WD is considering the circumstances. If anyone can offer up a suggestion to cope, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Can you get any buprenorphine or temazepam/diazepam/clonazepam to help you sleep a bit? If the daytime symptoms are too bad for you to handle try getting some tramadol or codeine to take for a week. There is always DXM as well, if you're desperate and otherwise out of options.

I know there is a possible emergency ban coming at the end of the month, but if you can get your hands on some bali kratom, doses around 7 grams may really help get you through. Especially since you were at 2mg for so long. From my experience the kratom won't get you high, but it could stop or decrease physical w/d and make it so you can get some rest.

I am with toothpastedog, if you can get some sub to take for a few days it would really help.

The benzodiazepines he listed would also be helpful though you must be carefull with them, don't stay on them to long.

The meds that helped me the most when I was withdrawing from methadone were clonidine and valium.Wishing you the best mate.

I found the information in this article helpful.

https://drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56011

I was leaning toward benzos. If I could just sleep for more then 5 mins at a time I think I could get through this! I don't want to get on subs, I feel that would just start another dangerous SPIRAL. I have read about a bunch of Chinese herbs and other supplements that people take to cope. Do any of you have any experience with that or is it just bullshit.

So my dad is in to Kratom and every herbal supplement none to man. He gave me a 500mg capsule of something called "Red Vein" Kratom and valerian, wild lettuce leaf and it didn't do much. I have heard by all though that kratom is great. Im sure it was a low dose and I needed more though. Can you still buy Kratom? Where I live it is already illegal but in KY they sell it in head shops, or use to before all this ban stuff.

thats too mcuh man. Do you have to do this? I went down from 90mg to 1mg and was at like 1mg for a month or two before i got off. I was jittery and a space case for a month and thats it. Think about it. If you go down 2 mg every week thats 1 year. NAturally you will want to slow down as you get to lower doses. Its just not right cold turkey off 70mg methadone. Not on your own especially. I recommend taking your time bro if you can.

THen again. Its proabbly only another week of acute and 2 weeks of just blah.

Yes, the slower you can taper the better. Stabilizing at the final dose is also a very important often overlooked part of a proper taper.

My pet monkey always drank and smoked weed but kept off opioids. I am 44. 7 years ago had bad car wreck and got on oxy and morphine which led to heroin. Now on methadone for five years. Probably forever. Even after going through withdrawal your chemistry has changed. Nothing is fun. It is worth it to me to stay on methadone

2 weeks? My experience is the chemicals (not an expert but suspect serotonin or dopamine) are never right again without maintenance. Of course after my car accident they gave me all I wanted for years and when that stopped I graduated to heroin. Methadone gave my life back. If I quit taking it and go through the heavy withdrawals the boredom and depression still never go away

d3athadone said:

thats too mcuh man. Do you have to do this? I went down from 90mg to 1mg and was at like 1mg for a month or two before i got off. I was jittery and a space case for a month and thats it. Think about it. If you go down 2 mg every week thats 1 year. NAturally you will want to slow down as you get to lower doses. Its just not right cold turkey off 70mg methadone. Not on your own especially. I recommend taking your time bro if you can.

THen again. Its proabbly only another week of acute and 2 weeks of just blah.

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So. I am already off the methadone for 8 or 9 days now. I did taper down and when I got to the last 10mg I had to financial detox. I didn't think it would matter but it did. I also have to work still everyday except 2 off days. It is usually a 10 he day and it sucks. That's why I am looking for ways to still be able to function at work.

I very much appreciate all the reply and advice by the way, from all of you. I got my wife by my side but this forum is pretty much it. Thanks for the time you take.

Supportive loves ones are critical in early recovery. Having a sympathetic partner really makes a huge difference. That is awesome to hear!

@toothpastedog. So I know I am kinda whining but do you have info on herbal supplement vs meds. I'm really trying hard to stay away from subs, or any opiate period. I can deal with some benzos or clonidine and have made an appointment with the doc on Oct 4th. That was the earliest I could get. Do u think for the next 2 weeks I could push through while working 10 hrs a day with vitamins and supplements. I tried to go get Xanax today and it fell through. I just want to sleep so bad and I feel like if that would happen I could at least get a grip on life. I have an upcoming panel where I have to make a presentation and it secures or breaks my promotion to an 80k job. I am determined to not use opiates to get through it but am doubting if I can do it on my own. I have the money to go get back in sub or methadone treatment on Friday. Have I just failed with bad timing and bad planning??????? Or can I man up and do this with the help of some dam vitamins?

Methadone is some nasty shit. You're not going to get the intenseness of a heroin withdrawal but it will linger longer, considerably longer, then other short acting opiates. I remember being on day 19 of the methadone withdrawal and wondering what in the hell is going on . Obviously for withdrawal Subutex, Suboxone, benzodiazepine ( valium, Ativan, Klonopin, Xanax), weed is a big one. Don't forget about marijuana because it is your best friend, at least one of them, upon detoxing from opiates. A sleeping medication is also a necessity when I'm detoxing. Trazadone works good. Resteril( i'm not sure if I spelled that right) Ambien is another one, you know, the stuff that makes you pass right out. Oh! Seroquel(quietepine) is a fantastic one. You just have to look at it from the aspect that you're going to need to get rid of the anxiety because that is a big one. You're going to need to satisfy the opiate physical addiction just barely. You're going to need to sleep. And you need to do all of this while not, for one, making a new addiction for yourself, and two, actually detoxing and not just spinning your wheels. Be careful of all those medications with Narcan. Subutex and Suboxone will leave you detoxing just as bad if you're not careful. Also consider the mental part. Stay busy. Idle time is time to think which leads to a relapse almost indefinitely. The way that your mindset is will determine the length of a physical detox. If you can stay nourished and hydrated that is a plus as well. Bottom line is that no matter what you do you're going to feel somewhat shitty and that's all part of it. There's no miracle drug that let you escape your consequences of something that I'm sure 1 million people told you was going to kick your ass later on. You made your bed so lay in it you know that type of thing. I will say that a rehabilitation setting is invaluable. The other stacked against you when I comes to relapse. I'm talking one out of 100 people won't relapse. Those are shitty ass odds. If you don't have the means or financial capabilities to get in a rehab at least go to an NA meeting frequently because I'm telling you that it really really really does help.

I've only been off methadone 270 days don't worry it gets way worse ;

Fuck this bull shit

I'd say the chance of staying clean after long term high dose methadone is like 1 in 1,000 not 100

Shit is FUCKING brutal

At the end of my 10 yr. run w opi's , I was getting done cheap and regularly to fill the dry times ..... I know I took 30-40mg /day for about 2 weeks , and just that lingered BAD even w/ oxy .......kratom has kept me off all for 5 mos. now

CRYPTICTRYPTICS, when I suggested sub I was only suggesting you use it for around 5 days, this is not long enough to become dependant on it and it would give some very good relief.

I understand that you don't want to even flirt with swapping one addiction for another and by now it is probably not a logical strategy anyway.

Have you had a read of the article I posted a link to earlier there is some very good information on nutrition and bringing your bodies natural endorphine system back into balance.

I suggest you also do some reading about high dose vitamin c, I know of a few people who have tried this and got good results from it.
You can find some good information about using high dose vitamin c to help with opiate withdrawl along with heaps of information regarding nutrition and rebalancing your bodies endorphins at this site.

Hope it helps man, wishing you all the best.

www.opiateaddictionsupport.com

dont believe the horror stories of people that never recover. They have underlying shit going on man. Even after 8 years abusing opiates after 2 months Im happy as fuck. But my natural state is light hearted. So for me I recover quickly. FUck I laugh at shit even when Im in withdrawals. Plus I dance so yah I really think its about the individual.

vision conquest said:

I am with toothpastedog, if you can get some sub to take for a few days it would really help.

The benzodiazepines he listed would also be helpful though you must be carefull with them, don't stay on them to long.

The meds that helped me the most when I was withdrawing from methadone were clonidine and valium.Wishing you the best mate.

I found the information in this article helpful.

https://drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56011

Click to expand...

Vision -

thanks for posting this link. I'm not coming of Methadone, but I still got a lot out of it.

Hang in there OP, it does get better.

- VE