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Opioids Is it somewhat normal to feel methadone withdrawal as soon as 12 hours after dosing?

Bomb319

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 26, 2011
Messages
583
I'm on quite a high dose of methadone at 220 mg and have been at or near that dose for months. I usually take it anywhere between 8:30 am and 12:30 pm and it's usually good enough to hold me for at least that day and much of the night - and not give me many problems sleeping at night. However, mornings can become quite brutal relatively speaking, of course. It seems as if the first symptom to appear only 9-12 hours after my dose is yawning and sometimes very mild tearing and congestion. This can happen in the evening, but it's never bad enough by then to seriously concern me or cause significant apathy. Yet it's absolutely undeniable that I do feel it starting to wear off after 13 hours for sure, and always experience at least some very early withdrawal kicking in.

Like I said, the following morning is of the greatest concern to me - particularly on the days where I've taken it 24 hours or slightly more the day before. I can easily be apathetic and have low enough energy to put off walking down to the pharmacy to get my dose, even though it's literally a 5 min walk away. At this stage, I almost always am yawning excessively, tearing noticeably to moderately, and even have the beginning stages of chills and goosebumps/ There's no denying that there is a large psychological component to all this, as I've become almost deathly afraid of experiencing opiate withdrawal after my hellish years of pills and heroin in which I couldn't stand the pain of being alive and constantly sick. Despite this, there's no doubt that it IS physical as well, and I seem to metabolize it more rapidly than most. Other than some relatively minor cold sweats, goosebumps/chills, yawning/tearing and sometimes even sneezing, the low energy is what hits me like a brick wall. In fact, I had to give up a new job I was just hired for, simply because it required me to be at work for 7:30 am and not able to get my dose at the pharmacy until at least 10. After a couple days of this, it was already becoming unbearable.

In the interest of science, I decided to test myself to roughly determine how dominant physical symptoms were and how much my negative mood affected how I feel. After doing this, I have no doubt whatsoever that it IS in fact predominantly a physical issue for me. I get two carries per week, so on 2 occasions, I took my dose late the night before instead of early the next morning. What happened is that after an additional 8-12 hours without my dose, my pupils grew to the size of dinner plates, my sweating and chills increased dramatically in intensity, I even had sneezing fits - usually a late withdrawal symptom for me, I even began to have a stomachache with looser bowel movements (although nowhere near diarrhea), I noticed my sense of smell spiking dramatically - always a highly noticeable effect of moderate to severe withdrawal for me, and worst of all I felt a tremendous lack of energy, depression and the general miserable feeling of malaise that accompanies the onset of withdrawal.

Don't get me wrong - I know these symptoms would be laughably minor compared to what would happen if I stopped taking the methadone entirely or pushed it for another day or two. Still, it's bad enough to cause fairly severe depression and apathy which means I can't hold down any job that blocks me from taking my doses as soon as possible in the morning. It also constantly reminds me that I'm simply maintaining my addiction instead of heading down the path of a true cure. This keeps the negative experience "alive" for me long enough to still more or less constantly dwell on drugs and fixate on my next dose - obviously not a desirable outcome of my therapy. That said, it has changed my life so far for the better. I've manged to not only stop using illegal and Rx drugs entirely, but I stopped using cocaine as well as most tobacco (although to be fair, cocaine never had a strong hold over me because I gravitate much more to depressants and relaxation than stimulants - despite several somewhat positive experience with crack, but mostly agitation and negativity). I know I cannot give up my methadone anytime soon, nor can I increase my dosage. It's high enough as it is and my doctor doesn't like that. But mainly because I always seem to build tolerance to the new dose after only a few weeks. In other words, 50 mg was holding me back when I had that dose about the same as 220 is holding me know. If I could have foreseen that, I never would have increased. I do feel MUCH better and more talkative/social while on methadone and get a burst of energy in which I can actually accomplish most things I set out to do.

Does anyone else have experience with this and/or have rapid metabolism as well? Are there any tricks/tips I can use to weather the worst of the storm? I do suffer from sever insomnia and take Dimenhydrinate every night in high doses (at least 300 mg, but up to 1000 over the course of 8-10 hours if I'm really unable to sleep. I've heard that this drug which is essentially Diphenhydramine, can increase the effective metabolism of methadone, causing it to exit my system earlier. How much earlier is hard to say, but I can't give up my Diph either. Any input is MUCH appreciated, and I'm sorry for the crazy long post; I did not expect to have this much to say about it, so thanks for reading :)
 
yup, methadone does have a long half life but it's not like the blood concentrations don't go down during the day.

By the way, you shouldn't use dimenhydrinate to sleep, use a smaller dose (about 1/2) of its much more effective brother diphenhydramine. Dimenhydrinate is actually a compound of diphenhydramine plus a caffeine-related compound to counteract the sleepiness... if you're taking it at night for sleep it makes the latter compound actively working against you!
 
Unfortunately, for most hardened opiate users, yeah.... Try and get split dosing if you can, it's not easy but worth trying/asking for since you metabolize the methadone too quickly. They may need to increase your dose too, it depends on your history, tolerance, current methadone dosage and how long youve been on it, whether you still use heroin/opiates or any other drugs on top of the methadone still chasing a high, etc....
 
FUCK MAN 220MG I FEEL BAD FOR U. No seriously thats no joke. When it comes time to get off that prepare for hell on earth.

But to answer the question no u shouldnt be kicking 12hrs after... done' last for like 2 days before u withdrawal. However, theres a such thing as placebo withdrawal, where it only exist in your head.
 
FUCK MAN 220MG I FEEL BAD FOR U. No seriously thats no joke. When it comes time to get off that prepare for hell on earth.

But to answer the question no u shouldnt be kicking 12hrs after... done' last for like 2 days before u withdrawal. However, theres a such thing as placebo withdrawal, where it only exist in your head.


Shit dude...I was in literal hell coming off of 50mg when I got pregnant. I cannot even imagine 220mg. Holy shit.

But yes, I found that 50mg was not holding me around 16 hours after dosing. I was one of those people parked outside the clinic a half hour before it opened, RLS and ready to jump out of my skin. It is definitely possible. I think split-dosing is your best bet as someone said above.
 
you're taking 220mg methadone per day and it is not even doing it's job. I can only wonder, WHY. This is why there are so many methadone lifers man. Can you try to like, start lowering that tolerance? At your dose, to avoid agony you'll probably spend frickin months to years just lowering your dose....
 
Shit dude...I was in literal hell coming off of 50mg when I got pregnant. I cannot even imagine 220mg. Holy shit.

But yes, I found that 50mg was not holding me around 16 hours after dosing. I was one of those people parked outside the clinic a half hour before it opened, RLS and ready to jump out of my skin. It is definitely possible. I think split-dosing is your best bet as someone said above.
Hey what does RLS stand for? I keep hearing that when people talk about withdrawal.
 
Ironically, it's also a condition that methadone is used for as a last-line of treatment for people suffering from chronic non-withdrawal related RLS.
 
Ironically, it's also a condition that methadone is used for as a last-line of treatment for people suffering from chronic non-withdrawal related RLS.
You're full of all kinds of interesting stuff today haha.
 
I'd recommend, if possible, to split your dose, half in the morning and half in the evening, at least with your take homes. And as others have stated, 220mg/day is very high, but getting off of it is not impossible w/o going thru hell. You could probably drop to 50m/day and not be terribly uncomfortable, it's the last 50/20/10/5/2.5/1.25 mg taper that should take months. I got down to 20mg a day and then spent 4 months going from 20 to 0.

300mg benadryl is too much for sleep; try 75mg (2 38mg generics, the name brand are far more costly and sometimes only 25mg/pill). I find that anything over 100mg usually gives me worse insomnia and sometimes terrible night sweats as well.

and yes it's possible that you feel w/d after 12 hours even on that dose. W/e you do, dont fuck up, because losing your scrip/doctor/methadone would be disasterous. I'd have a plan B ready, like a supply of pills on hand, or at least the connections and cash to get them.
 
Methadone is an evil drug, worse than heroin because they give it to you KNOWING that you'll be hooked for life. Not everyone goes down that road but most people do. And without some type of hardcore will or divine intervention, it's liquid handcuffs forever. :( I actually used heroin to taper down from methadone as I am ashamed to admit because I was pregnant. I just started IV which is what I was using and then went to snorting it until I was able to get down to bearable withdrawal until I could get to my Subutex treatment.
 
Methadone is an evil drug, worse than heroin because they give it to you KNOWING that you'll be hooked for life. Not everyone goes down that road but most people do. And without some type of hardcore will or divine intervention, it's liquid handcuffs forever. :( I actually used heroin to taper down from methadone as I am ashamed to admit because I was pregnant. I just started IV which is what I was using and then went to snorting it until I was able to get down to bearable withdrawal until I could get to my Subutex treatment.
The Land of Methadonia is hell. You were on methadone when u were pregnant? Jesus christ. Why didnt u hit the red button if u were that strung out when u got pregnant?
 
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I was raped and found out I was pregnant at 20 weeks. I was abusing dope so bad I had no period anyway so I had no idea. I didn't intentionally get pregnant as a dope addict. Dude, maybe you meant no harm by your comment but it really is fucking offensive to me. You have no idea what my story is bro. I fought tooth and nail to keep clean even though I was carrying the baby of a disgusting rapist who nearly killed me in the attack. I don't need anyone judging my choices or my journey.
 
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I was raped and found out I was pregnant at 20 weeks. I was abusing dope so bad I had no period anyway so I had no idea. I didn't intentionally get pregnant as a dope addict. Dude, maybe you meant no harm by your comment but it really is fucking offensive to me. You have no idea what my story is bro. I fought tooth and nail to keep clean even though I was carrying the baby of a disgusting rapist who nearly killed me in the attack. I don't need anyone judging my choices or my journey.
I just don't understand why u would keep it, I cant relate. I would of got an abortion so fast, I wouldnt care how many weeks it was. Not only is it a rape baby, now its gonna be all fucked up on opiates, (probably for life)... Not to mention the defects the baby will have from drugs in the womb.

And wtf? how could u not know you're pregnant for 20 weeks?

I know I may be making a judgment call here but so be it, I'm okay with it. [be nice to each other].
 
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It's not your child, so it's not your place to judge, siq. You don't have to be a prick about it.

Opioid usage in pregnancy is by no means a damning choice, being on methadone while pregnant is way more stable for your pregnancy than street heroin (or something like alcohol/phenytoin). Methadone on its own doesn't induce birth defects.

And it doesn't mean that your baby will have lifetime issues with opioids... they will have to detox your little one when he's born because he or she will have an acquired tolerance out the gate. But after the initial week or so they'll be out of the rough.
 
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