Opioids Just jumped off methadone at 2.5mg. Rapidly reduced myself from 70mg, 5mg per drop.

[b0b546]

Hello I'm new here and was just looking for some info and advice on what to expect. I've done some research using Google on methadone withdrawals but seem to find mixed user experiences. Some people say the methadone withdrawal lasted just two weeks, some say it lasted a few months and some even say their not feeling right after a year!

My story: I started using tramadol around two years ago now and absolutely loved the euphoric, anti-anxiety effect they gave me. I was not feeling the effects at all after about 2 months of usage, even after taking 500mg tramadol, so I then started snorting subutex, tried heroin and got hooked on heroin, smoking daily while also smoking crack. I was on heroin for about 10 months and for around 4 of those months I IV'd it with crack (speedballs). I ended up going to jail in October last year and was released in November on 40mg methadone, which I chose to have increased to 70mg soon after release from jail.

From march this year I started reducing my dose at 5mg every 2 weeks, and although my recovery worker advised against dropping in increments of 5mg when I reached 30mg, I continued to do so I felt the same as when I was on 70mg. Once I got to 10mg I actually slashed the dose to 5mg in one week, and then to 2.5mg the next week by myself, still not feeling any different.

So I went from 10mg to 5mg in one week, and then from 5mg to 2.5mg the week after (sounds stupid I know but I just wanna be off this shit). I have just done 4 days on 2.5mg and have decided enough is enough now and I'm jumping off at 2.5mg, no messing about. I've just thrown my last 3 bottles of 2.5mg in the bin and had my last dose 26 hours ago.

I'm just wondering what can I expect in my circumstances? My overall opiate use lasted 2 years, with 5 months of that being tramadol/subutex, 10 months heroin use and 9 months methadone use.

Thanks for your time!

 

[b0b546]

By the way, I just wanted to say that I have no access to any other kind of tablets or anything like this so I'm doing it completely cold turkey. I am currently living on my own and this forum is the only support I have around me so I'll keep updating on my progress in here so I don't feel so alone lol.

 

[b0b546]

I'm also gonna be doing this with very little food, as I'm running very low and don't get paid for over a week. I'm guessing it's going to make it a whole lot harder, as I may have to go without food for a few days at some point in this upcoming week. I'm also going to end up running out of water, as I can't stand tap water and drink bottled water only, however if I get too thirsty I guess I'll just have to drink some tap water at some point, although my fluid intake will probably end up being lower than ever.

What's the worst that could happen in a withdrawal from not eating or drinking enough fluids?

 

[Nicholai]

You very well could get diarrhea, and, not drinking enough water, end up severely dehydrated, which will make you even weaker, put you at health risk, and make the withdrawal much more miserable. If you have to, go to a fast food restaurant, ask for a cup of water, drink it, and refill it again.

 

[b0b546]

You very well could get diarrhea, and, not drinking enough water, end up severely dehydrated, which will make you even weaker, put you at health risk, and make the withdrawal much more miserable. If you have to, go to a fast food restaurant, ask for a cup of water, drink it, and refill it again.

I live in the UK and there are no fast food restaurants near me, however there is a pub near me but I think they would just give me tap water anyway which I have access to at home. It's just that I've been drinking purified bottled water for over 6 years now and even just the smell of tap water makes me heave, its disgusting. Pretty sure it's full of nasty chemicals that I don't want to be drinking, however if it's a life or death situation then I suppose I'm gonna have to drink some tap water...

Thanks for responding, appreciate any help I can get on here as I'm doing this completely alone, as I have no family or friends.

 

[ovo1024]

I live in the UK and there are no fast food restaurants near me, however there is a pub near me but I think they would just give me tap water anyway which I have access to at home. It's just that I've been drinking purified bottled water for over 6 years now and even just the smell of tap water makes me heave, its disgusting. Pretty sure it's full of nasty chemicals that I don't want to be drinking, however if it's a life or death situation then I suppose I'm gonna have to drink some tap water...

Thanks for responding, appreciate any help I can get on here as I'm doing this completely alone, as I have no family or friends.

Just curious, why do you have no family or friends? Your whole situation sounds very unfortunate..

 

[b0b546]

Just curious, why do you have no family or friends? Your whole situation sounds very unfortunate..

Well, my dad abandoned me when I was 1 year old so I lived with just my mother and siblings up till about 5 years ago, however my mum became an alcoholic and she moved away with her boyfriend, I still speak to her every now and again but don't see much of her at all. The same with my brother and sister, they are very judgmental people whereas I am the opposite, and they have always looked at me as a "bad person" for taking drugs and living the lifestyle I lived, therefore want nothing to do with me. I haven't got time for people like this, as personally I like to be open minded and don't judge people based on their lifestyle, I like to get to know somebody as a person before I can make any judgement as to what that person is like. Unfortunately I've realized that 99% of society are just like my brother and sister who just judge you and look at you like your some little piece of shit cause your not living a life which is somewhat similar to theirs and they would class as "normal".

In regards to my friends, I grew up around people who used to torment and bully me due to being half Indian, ever since I was a little kid, as I live in an area which has a lot of racist people, although not everyone around here is racist but a lot of people are, and the friends I had sure were. Even though I would hang around with my "friends" and used to get physical and mental abuse daily, I would still hang around with them as I felt as if I had no choice and just wanted some friends. After so many years of this I realized that they weren't really my friends, I ended up becoming stronger and more powerful than them and it got to the point where I would lash out and started physically destroying them one by one, up to the point where they no longer tried to bully me, but I realized that they only changed like this because of the way I had turned out, and they weren't my true friends after all.

So around 5 years back I stopped hanging around with them and became pretty much isolated from the whole of society, although I never wanted to be and never wanted to turn out the way I have. I'm generally not a nasty person and like to get on with everybody, however people have turned me into the person I am now, and if I feel as if i'm being mugged of by anybody at all like I used to back in the day, I can get very angry and stand my ground to the point where I would do whatever it takes to bring that person down, even if that means doing something that would effect their life permanently. This is definitely not the person I want to be, and I just want to be nice and get on with everybody, however in this sad society we live in sometimes it's just not that easy.

This has led to me being isolated from society and having extreme trust issues in people. It also led to me suffering from depression and anxiety, and this led to my drug abuse. I've never been one to go to the doctor and always try to ride problems out by myself.

So here I am now, sat here by myself in my home, had my last dose of methadone about 30 hours ago now and still not feeling anything, I'm gonna ride this out whatever it takes and am determined to be away from this shit. Although I currently live quite a sad life and am alone, I'm never gonna give up and I'll do whatever it takes to improve my life so I can at least be content for the rest of my time here. After all, I could always be in a worse situation and I'm sure there are people out there that are a lot worse off than me, I put myself in this situation so the only person to blame is myself.

Sorry for rambling on just wanted to properly explain as to why I've got no family or friends around, thanks for your response anyway!

 

[bluemonkey]

Why not ask your local council about food? Also, my dad is in Devon and I have been told that I can order pizza through dominos uk website and have it delivered to dad... if I can do that for him i could likely do it for you. If you pm me where and what time to have it delivered, I would be willing to ONE time. I am in law school and disabled. I could not afford to do it more than once... if you would rather pick it up at the dominos nearest you i can prepay for a carry out order but I would still need a name and postcode to put in postcode so it directs it to the right store name so they know who is allowed to pick it up.

I would also be willing to give you an Amazon card via e-mail instead. I can only do either not both and only once like i said. Why not invest in a fliter for the sink? I have one that attaches to the faucet you turn it down if you want filter drinking water up for unfilter water say for a fish bowl.

I asked my dad and he said either the local concil or a priest can connect one with a food bank. The bottom of https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Emergency-Assistance/Free-food has a link to a page where you can search for your local concil

 

[b0b546]

Why not ask your local council about food? Also, my dad is in Devon and I have been told that I can order pizza through dominos uk website and have it delivered to dad... if I can do that for him i could likely do it for you. If you pm me where and what time to have it delivered, I would be willing to ONE time. I am in law school and disabled. I could not afford to do it more than once... if you would rather pick it up at the dominos nearest you i can prepay for a carry out order but I would still need a name and postcode to put in postcode so it directs it to the right store name so they know who is allowed to pick it up.

I would also be willing to give you an Amazon card via e-mail instead. I can only do either not both and only once like i said. Why not invest in a fliter for the sink? I have one that attaches to the faucet you turn it down if you want filter drinking water up for unfilter water say for a fish bowl.

I asked my dad and he said either the local concil or a priest can connect one with a food bank. The bottom of https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Emergency-Assistance/Free-food has a link to a page where you can search for your local concil

Hello I really appreciate your kindness, but I'd feel bad accepting anything from such a respectful individual like yourself. Thank you for the link, I am definitely going to look at receiving a food parcel, and hopefully down the line I'll be able to purchase a filter for my sink. Thank you for the help, there needs to be more people like you in this world! much appreciated!

Update on withdrawal: I am now on day 2 and still not feeling a thing, so I'm guessing the methadone has built up heavily in my system and I'm one of those individuals that won't start to feel withdrawals until possibly day 4.

 

[keeping]

hello bob mate, nice to see a fellow UK bluelighter around here
that sucks being so isolated whilst you go through this, although living in Croydon like me has its own unique challenges (aka drug dealers everywhere)
༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽
i agree that you probably won't feel 'done wd's til like day 3 or 4, but that's actually fairly normal.

feel free to drop me a message if you ever just need someone to chat with
best
keeping

 

[b0b546]

hello bob mate, nice to see a fellow UK bluelighter around here
that sucks being so isolated whilst you go through this, although living in Croydon like me has its own unique challenges (aka drug dealers everywhere)
༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽
i agree that you probably won't feel 'done wd's til like day 3 or 4, but that's actually fairly normal.

feel free to drop me a message if you ever just need someone to chat with
best
keeping

Will do, thanks for the response, appreciated!

 

[b0b546]

Day 3 - still not feeling a thing. Bracing myself as the withdrawals just surely have to kick in within the next few days.

 

[George27]

Day 3 - still not feeling a thing. Bracing myself as the withdrawals just surely have to kick in within the next few days.

No it will not. At this point you are at the worst or past the worst of the wd.

 

[shartito]

No it will not. At this point you are at the worst or past the worst of the wd.

Just curious, why do you say that? Do methadone WD's operate on a different timeline than other opiates WDs??

In my experience getting off painkillers, day 4 was where it started getting the worst.

Not trying to disagree or scare OP, just genuinely curious.

 

[b0b546]

Day 4 - Still no withdrawals. In fact I feel great to be off the shit once and for all!

 

[b0b546]

Still getting ready for withdrawals to kick in at any point now, as maybe methadone built up so heavily in my system and is being very slowly released from my body tissue, thus causing an extremely long onset of withdrawals?

 

[keeping]

Still getting ready for withdrawals to kick in at any point now, as maybe methadone built up so heavily in my system and is being very slowly released from my body tissue, thus causing an extremely long onset of withdrawals?

could be mate, everybody's different - perhaps the opi-Gods have looked upon you favorably and granted you a reprieve?
although day 5 is just round the corner... do you have any comfort meds? i know you said you're broke but did you have any lying around before?

 

[George27]

In my experience getting off painkillers, day 4 was where it started getting the worst.

With short acting opiates ( heroin, oxy), the peak is day 2. Tramadol that is longer acting I'd say days 2-3, a bit better from day 4.
That is the norm, then something pretty pretty uncommon can happen, like bOb having no wd after 2 years of addiction. Because that is, he's done

 

[b0b546]

could be mate, everybody's different - perhaps the opi-Gods have looked upon you favorably and granted you a reprieve?
although day 5 is just round the corner... do you have any comfort meds? i know you said you're broke but did you have any lying around before?

Hello, unfortunately I don't have any comfort meds at all and am doing this without anything, I even ran out of bud on the day I jumped off methadone and decided to quit that at the same time. So it's been 4 days without weed or methadone and I'm feeling good so far.

 

[keeping]

well at least you have your health mate (ツ
hopefully it stays this way

do yo have anything to do to take your mind off of it if, heaven forbid, the wd's do rear their ugly head?
videogames are a life saver for me when i'm rattling, keeps me from thinking about it and making it worse