Opioids Methadone Mega Thread and FAQ v 2.0

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Anyone is craving sweets all day on the done ? Because I always heard of people craving sweets on opiates and I never really got that on my half year of constant HM IV use. But today, I ate 2 cans of sliced pineapples, 2 bowls of frosted flakes, gummy bears and now I have to stop myself because I am not rich and my disability money is coming in 2 days, and now that i'm out of detox, I have people to pay back....even if they caused my addiction by selling to me, i'll pay them back, as I'm just a good guy like that. But craving sweets all day like this is crazy! I enjoy it more than smoking a cig after a shot then....well maybe not, but its comparable.

 

[Cloudy]

I eat a lot more on methadone, and recently have fallen in love with eating clementines. I normally find oranges (and relatives) to be to sweet to eat that often, yet I found myself eating a whole bag in 3 days. I'm not a sweet type of guy, yet I'll eat more sweets than usual, but I'm also eating more than usual/have to watch myself while on methadone.

 

[TaSiPtR]

Yea I know it's hard mate I was started at 15mgs & was coming off a 600mg a day morphine habit my doc told me to keep using the morpphine and reduce that as my methadone dose went up to a point where I wass no longer in WD's it sucked at the time but I'm glad we did it that way as I only ended up on 60mg where as if he'd put me up as quick as I wanted I would have been on at least 100mg I have since gone up & down a bit over the years but the highest was 85mg now at 72.5mg & quite comfortable at that. So hang in there it does get better.

Since I'm out of the hell on earth that was those 6 days of inpatient start of methadone treatment, I gotta say, skimming through this and other threads. Is the doctor I'm seeing a complete retard (too conservative for no reason) ? I was shooting between 16 to 56mg a day of dilaudid (16 was the minimum to feel comfortable). I was started on FIFTEEN mg of methadone and I left the clinic with a script of 30mg for a week, I need to meet the doctor every wednesday where my dose will be upped according to how badly I feel.

I can't say I feel horrible, but right now I'm feeling my dexedrine much more than any opiate, although I have pinhead sized pupils...da fuck. They aim at putting me on 60mg of the 'done for a few months then slowly titrate me down to nothing over a year. Like what the fuck, 80mg of chronically ingested methadone is equal to an IV shot of 15mg of dilaudid...the closest to what I was actually taking, 60 being a big whoppin' 11.25 IV shot of dilaudid a day, if I understand things well.

Sorry for the swearing and the teenager-ish posting style but i'm so irritated by everything right now that I can't really post the way I usually do, here or elsewhere.. pfft, 30mg of methadone, srsly..

 

[Jktm]

Also it should be noted chronic methadone admistration and acute methadone admistration have different conversions. Like I mention earlier, it takes a few days of continual use for the methadone to build up to its peak level that you sustain. When converting doses at that point, a lower methadone dose from chronic use = the same dose of another opioid as a higher acute methadone dose. Methadone really isn't something that can easily be converted into another opioid. They have some sites that help you figure it out with morphine (which you then use to convert to other opioids), which you can easily find by googling. The conversion with morphine isn't linear. Its sort of a slope, so if you are using 10mg of methadone, the conversion should be about 30mg of morphine, but when converting 100mg of methadone to morphine, its not gonna be 300mg of morphine, as like I said, its not linear. (opioid conversion calculators SUCK for finding methadone equivalent doses, so don't bother using them. Also trying to calculate how much you should have is not the right way to go. don't look online to see how much you should be taking, let the methadone itself tell you how much you need. So keep going to the clinic and rise your dose based on actual need, not expectation.)

Another thing. You are not supposed to get high on methadone, so when they give you methadone, they are trying to give you enough to be out of WD and eliminate cravings. Not make you feel like you were taking shots of hydromorphone all day.

https://www.compassionandsupport.org/pdfs/professionals/pain/methadone_dose_conversion_guideline.pdf

note - it looks nicer in the pdf, but if people are to lazy to look at the link, here is the info. This is also just one of many sites talking about dose conversions.

I was asking for pain relief in my earlier post...

 

[Cloudy]

Posts/theards merge man especially in mega threads, I don't think that was pointed at you.

edit: I actually know 100% it wasn't posted at your question. It was posted for someone who was starting out at 30mg of methadone for MMT.

 

[stivsmegg]

me too. if i dont have my methadone taking adderall is hell on my body, and mind for that matter.

 

[stivsmegg]

Anyone is craving sweets all day on the done ? Because I always heard of people craving sweets on opiates and I never really got that on my half year of constant HM IV use. But today, I ate 2 cans of sliced pineapples, 2 bowls of frosted flakes, gummy bears and now I have to stop myself because I am not rich and my disability money is coming in 2 days, and now that i'm out of detox, I have people to pay back....even if they caused my addiction by selling to me, i'll pay them back, as I'm just a good guy like that. But craving sweets all day like this is crazy! I enjoy it more than smoking a cig after a shot then....well maybe not, but its comparable.

burroughs called it the chucks, opiate\opioid induced chocolate craving but i use for all sweets. yes i do crave sweets alot and i think that only started when i started doing heroin many years ago then to methadone, same deal.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

M'kay, well there must be something weird about me because I'm only getting this with methadone.

Another more serious problem I'm getting constipation, I clogged the toilet and luckily was able to use the toilet-pump today. I already caused my previous toilet (which was a quite old defective piece of crap) to break and had to have my landlord change it from my previous dilaudid habit...My methadone doc scripted me some Sessonides, 2 x 8,6mg pills a day, i wasn't taking it at first because during my first 6 days at the inpatient facility in the hospital, I had no problems like that, but i also was at a lower dosage than 30mg. Is there something better to soften my stools ? Because these sessonides are barely helping, i'm taking them everyday since 3 dyas tho and I go take a crap everyday now, still quite hard and painful to get out..heh

Also,I'm visiting the doc on wednesday, I know I'm expecting a dosage raise, especially as I wake up in the beginning of withdrawal with huge pupils and incrased sweating from just getting into the car and driving to get my dose in the morning....How much of a raise can I expect ? I feel like 35 would be suboptimal and 40 will put me at or very close where I need to be.

 

[Znegative]

I depends. Dose increases usually go up by 5-10mg (no more at a time). At my clinic they increase the males by 10mg at a time, and the females 5mg (which makes for a pretty pissed off female population).

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Heh, I understand them though, because I have only had 5mg increases since the beginning, but they closer apart, but now I have been on 30mg a day since thursday.

 

[-Guido-]

M'kay, well there must be something weird about me because I'm only getting this with methadone.

Another more serious problem I'm getting constipation, I clogged the toilet and luckily was able to use the toilet-pump today. I already caused my previous toilet (which was a quite old defective piece of crap) to break and had to have my landlord change it from my previous dilaudid habit...My methadone doc scripted me some Sessonides, 2 x 8,6mg pills a day, i wasn't taking it at first because during my first 6 days at the inpatient facility in the hospital, I had no problems like that, but i also was at a lower dosage than 30mg. Is there something better to soften my stools ? Because these sessonides are barely helping, i'm taking them everyday since 3 dyas tho and I go take a crap everyday now, still quite hard and painful to get out..heh

Also,I'm visiting the doc on wednesday, I know I'm expecting a dosage raise, especially as I wake up in the beginning of withdrawal with huge pupils and incrased sweating from just getting into the car and driving to get my dose in the morning....How much of a raise can I expect ? I feel like 35 would be suboptimal and 40 will put me at or very close where I need to be.

The constipation lessens the longer you are on Methadone but it still requires a healthy diet for proper bowel movements. Stool softeners aren't good in the long run. You are going to need to eat a lot of vegetables and drink lots of water. You might want to look into trying Benifiber or a generic brand from Wal-Mart. I use it myself along with a very healthy diet and exercise and it keeps me regular.

 

[Cloudy]

I've been on methadone for 11 months and the constipation really isn't that bad. I take a shit usually every other day (if I don't add H into the mix some days) rather than every day like I used to when I wasn't on opioids. At the beginning of my use, I used to take a shit every 5-7 days, which wasn't as nice, but it lessened honestly after a month or two to a reasonable point. Diet is really key though.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Yeah, I will look into that, I had made the choice to have Bran Flakes in the morning on the menu you picked your food from while in the inpatient facility.

Other question, I was raised to 40mg today, which I will have tomorrow. I remember a very much worse junkie ex-friend of mine (he just lives very far away now, can't see him, which I bet is good). He once decided to get "his own scripts" that one time...he had tons of every scheduled pills out there in his living room, i remember taking a little of everything but I didn't take those purple 40mg methadone pills. I'm at 40mg, why can't I have those pills ? I'd rather have that syrup mixed with orange juice in the morning makes me a little nauseous. I was told methadone pills are only for pain management patients, but I know she meant the 5mg/10mg ones.

These 40mg pills are for people like us, why can't I have them if they are available here ? Da fuck. Well I'm seeing her next wednesday and i'll tell her about that. Your opinions are welcome tho.

e: Oh also, I told her that my psy doc thought they were pretty iressponsible in tapering my valium script for no reason like that. I didn't go to that clinic cos I had a problem with benzos, and let's be honest here, 20mg of valium a day is a pretty mild habit. I used to take 3mg of Rivotril (clonazepam) years ago and we successfully cut my benzo intake by 66% with valium. That level of rivotril made me feel like a zombie and it was a proof that I got enough willpower to cut into very very addictive habits, benzos are much harder to stop than opiates. I just didnt have the willpower to endure another week of horrible withdrawals, and i had never got this far into shooting dilaudid before either, i just remembered the last time I stopped to shoot dilaudid I was taking maybe 8mg a day, not 56, and just that was out of this world painful and anxiety inducing ( I know I am prone to that tho, hence the benzos).

So she knows my psy doc is going to rescript me my original 10mg bid valium script, and she gave me neurontin to ease their barbaric fast cutting of my valiums, which I do need, fuck, i've been following my benzo script correctly since 2007, the year I started to use them everyday.

Will Neurontin 300mg bid be enough to hold me until I get my script back ? Which could be anything from a week to a month later than now, my psy doc is overworked and forgetful of many things, i can't blame him, in my remote northern canada city, there's a serious lack of any kinds of specialist. Just to give an idea there's 2 goddamn neurologists in a 200 000 people city.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Okay what the fuck is going on here...I'm usually not allowed to leave with the bottle but today I did as no one accompanied me in the little office where i usually drink my methadone. So I put it in my jacket's pocket and nod to the little bitch who felt it was disgusting to be in the same office as some junkie to say I had taken my dose and was leaving the pharmacy.

I get home and notice the bottle says 4 METHADOL...what, i know it means 40mg of...well methadol, which I googled...

Dimepheptanol (INN; Amidol, Pangerin), also known as methadol or racemethadol, is a synthetic opioid analgesic related to methadone. It has similar effects to other opioids, including analgesia, sedation and euphoria, as well as side effects like itching, nausea and respiratory depression.

From wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimepheptanol

Am I given something else than methadone and being told it's methadone ? I could really imagine the establishment here in Quebec to do that...what's up with that ? Anybody from MTL who is on methadone would be really helpful, i'm not from mtl but I imagine naming our largest city would reach more people. Also anybody who might know what the hell is up.

 

[Znegative]

Hmm.. That's weird. Is it possible that it is LAAM instead?? Levo-a-methadol is its active metabolite.
Btw, Gabapentin can help with benzo withdrawals, but it's not ideal IMO. It doesn't actually even hit GABA A (or B) directly.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Hmm.. That's weird.
Btw, Gabapentin can help with benzo withdrawals, but it's not ideal IMO. It doesn't actually even hit GABA A (or B) directly.

Yeah I am aware of the freaky ways gabapentin, gabitril, lyrica etc. work, but they do kinda help, when I was taking rivotril(clonazepam) 3mg a day I had to pick it up every week because of an ER doc deciding i tried to kill myself once when I didn't but that's besides the point. It will most likely be helpful during TAPERING, not full blown w/d. My psy doc is really slow with everything and even if the fax was sent from the pharmacy to the clinic yesterday, I could only get my original 10mg bid valium script in 3 weeks even. He's just an asshole like that.

And yes, this Methadol thing is very strange...apparently it's a metabolite of this LAAM drug that was only used for a very short time...

 

[Znegative]

Yeah, I had just added that to my post above.. It couldn't be LAAM though, as that only needs to be dosed two to three times a week.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

Yeah, let's stop talking about LAAM. I'm mostly concerned that I am being dosed a very rare opioid which is not methadone but just related to it while being told it is methadone.

 

[BananasAndOranges]

Methadol?


I personally am trying to taper off this shit. Im so sick of going to the clinic every week when I have been attending and have been clean for ever 2 years.....But I constantly see people who havent been there a year have weeklys if not more which I really do not get. Is there anyway to get my clinic in trouble for this? Basically I was told my Piss Tests dont mean shit when I should have a code change as I have pissed clean two times now which means hey are wasting my money and conning me. Im a little pissed off. I called the state board after I was refused takehomes for my own fathers fucking funeral and hey said file a grievence and that what happened was totallly unacceptable and this came from the head of the state board. So do I need to call them back now because Im seriously about sick of seeing a certain few people get treated better than others.

 

[Znegative]

Yeah, let's stop talking about LAAM. I'm mostly concerned that I am being dosed a very rare opioid which is not methadone but just related to it while being told it is methadone.

Alright, excuuse me lol. I would be concerned too. The funny thing is that LAAM isn't even approved for use in ORT in Canada. I looked up different brand names for both methadone and LAAM and neither had anything close to methadol so Im fairly certain that you are being given Dimepheptanol . Either that or it was a one time mistake, though it seems like a fucking big one. I would talk to the director possibly about it, and look around for a different clinic. I mean, if the methadol is working for you than that's fine, but I personally would be kind of concerned to be taking a drug that doesn't even have much information available online as a replacement for methadone.