Bomb319
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2011
- Messages
- 583
Methadone, or maintenance - at least in my case. I have of course heard about various potentiation methods over the years, but after having tried them all (including Cat's Claw, eating baking soda before dosing, diphenhydramine, DXM, totally empty stomach and more) I can safely say that NONE of them ever seemed to work for me beyond placebo. There have been many days where I have tried a new method and was certain of its success, as it certainly seemed to be stronger at the time. However in all cases, the effect didn't last beyond a single day, rendering it ineffective whether placebo or not (with the exception of course that drugs such as diph and DXM still DO cause some degree of potentiation by additive depressant effects, however I wouldn't consider them to be "true" potentiatiors - that is, they don't increase objective plasma concentration of the methadone or other opiate in question. I also can't say for certain whether or not stomach acidity greatly affects other opioids or not.
However, what I certainly DO know now - and after months of careful observation - methadone in the context of daily maintenance is absolutely affected by stomach acidity, in that the less acidic (higher pH) the better, and vice-versa. Furthermore, the effect is surprisingly powerful (again, this holds true for me personally and although we all share the same basic underlying physiology, I can't make the claim that this is the case for everybody without proper tests and controls. I say this not to seem condescending or anything, but so that you DO NOT alter your own doses of methadone or other opiates themselves without consulting a doctor first!) I was taking a relatively large dose of Ranitidine throughout the day but especially a few hours before dosing (300 mg). I also chewed 3-5 Tums chewables in fruit flavors about 10-15 minutes beforehand.
While the nature of the actual effects are for the most part subjective, I'm not going to go on in detail about that by itself. What I CAN tell you is that I felt approximately as if I had taken an extra quarter to third of a full dose, the effects did NOT wear off by the next morning as they nearly always do for me (with normal stomach acid conditions before trying this experiment), and perhaps most revealing - on the few days where I had run out of Zantac, I actually experienced opiate withdrawal symptoms. Nothing like they would be if I hadn't taken the methadone, of course but it was unquestionably withdrawal. In fact, I had objective withdrawal symptoms notices by others including huge pupils and watery eyes. This is the most satisfying part of the test for me, because I didn't even tell others what I was doing (that I had run out of antacids and was therefore subject to a dose that was actually insufficient for me once I had become accustomed to the antacid regimen). Obviously, this to me was the proverbial smoking gun. My subjective feelings of effect each day pale in comparison to this last piece of incredibly compelling evidence.
Bottom line - Lowering stomach acidity by taking Zantac and possibly Tums well before taking your daily methadone dose (and presumably a single dose as well) will dramatically increase the effect of the drug - both in terms of intensity and duration. That said, anybody who is going to go ahead and try this should therefore be warned that what they are doing has the potential to have the very same consequences that actually consuming a greater dose of the drug would have. This has implications of potential overdose, drug interactions, and tolerance, therefore it is important to keep this in mind if you are going to significantly alter any aspect of your daily dosing!
PS - Yes, I know I'm not breaking new ground here and that this effect has been reported for many years - both as personal experiences as well as controlled scientific testing. The reason I'm doing this is because if you guys are anything like me when you look stuff like this up online, you will find that one person found an enormous effect while the very next poster said it did nothing at all. This isn't something new and exciting, nor is it anything that hasn't likely been posted in some form or another right here on Bluelight. What it is, is an attempt to find a relationship between efficacy of methadone and stomach acidity by adhering to the scientific method closely as possible, reporting results in detail relative to typical posts regarding the subject, and as a report of success to the wider community from somebody who has been using opiates in all forms and at a great variety of doses as well as with many reported potentiation methods for almost a decade.
EDIT - I forgot to mention that my dose of methadone is high compared to the average at 220 mg per day. Although this fact should make no difference to the success of the acid reduction effect in general, it's important to note that if it increases efficacy by 25% (an arbitrary figure I'm only using as an example), then I would effectively be taking a greater amount of additional methadone than someone only taking 30 mg daily.
However, what I certainly DO know now - and after months of careful observation - methadone in the context of daily maintenance is absolutely affected by stomach acidity, in that the less acidic (higher pH) the better, and vice-versa. Furthermore, the effect is surprisingly powerful (again, this holds true for me personally and although we all share the same basic underlying physiology, I can't make the claim that this is the case for everybody without proper tests and controls. I say this not to seem condescending or anything, but so that you DO NOT alter your own doses of methadone or other opiates themselves without consulting a doctor first!) I was taking a relatively large dose of Ranitidine throughout the day but especially a few hours before dosing (300 mg). I also chewed 3-5 Tums chewables in fruit flavors about 10-15 minutes beforehand.
While the nature of the actual effects are for the most part subjective, I'm not going to go on in detail about that by itself. What I CAN tell you is that I felt approximately as if I had taken an extra quarter to third of a full dose, the effects did NOT wear off by the next morning as they nearly always do for me (with normal stomach acid conditions before trying this experiment), and perhaps most revealing - on the few days where I had run out of Zantac, I actually experienced opiate withdrawal symptoms. Nothing like they would be if I hadn't taken the methadone, of course but it was unquestionably withdrawal. In fact, I had objective withdrawal symptoms notices by others including huge pupils and watery eyes. This is the most satisfying part of the test for me, because I didn't even tell others what I was doing (that I had run out of antacids and was therefore subject to a dose that was actually insufficient for me once I had become accustomed to the antacid regimen). Obviously, this to me was the proverbial smoking gun. My subjective feelings of effect each day pale in comparison to this last piece of incredibly compelling evidence.
Bottom line - Lowering stomach acidity by taking Zantac and possibly Tums well before taking your daily methadone dose (and presumably a single dose as well) will dramatically increase the effect of the drug - both in terms of intensity and duration. That said, anybody who is going to go ahead and try this should therefore be warned that what they are doing has the potential to have the very same consequences that actually consuming a greater dose of the drug would have. This has implications of potential overdose, drug interactions, and tolerance, therefore it is important to keep this in mind if you are going to significantly alter any aspect of your daily dosing!
PS - Yes, I know I'm not breaking new ground here and that this effect has been reported for many years - both as personal experiences as well as controlled scientific testing. The reason I'm doing this is because if you guys are anything like me when you look stuff like this up online, you will find that one person found an enormous effect while the very next poster said it did nothing at all. This isn't something new and exciting, nor is it anything that hasn't likely been posted in some form or another right here on Bluelight. What it is, is an attempt to find a relationship between efficacy of methadone and stomach acidity by adhering to the scientific method closely as possible, reporting results in detail relative to typical posts regarding the subject, and as a report of success to the wider community from somebody who has been using opiates in all forms and at a great variety of doses as well as with many reported potentiation methods for almost a decade.
EDIT - I forgot to mention that my dose of methadone is high compared to the average at 220 mg per day. Although this fact should make no difference to the success of the acid reduction effect in general, it's important to note that if it increases efficacy by 25% (an arbitrary figure I'm only using as an example), then I would effectively be taking a greater amount of additional methadone than someone only taking 30 mg daily.
