• H&R Moderators: VerbalTruist | cdin | Lil'LinaptkSix

Fast methadone taper help

To be blunt I don't know if a month will be long enough. This is going to be a big deal for quite awhile. It's going to be about survival I stead of thriving for awhile unfortunately
 
How much methadone did you take today Barbie and do you feel it is holding you all day? You should be able to make the transition to short acting opiods within a months time. Last I heard you were on 15mgs and you said you will be allowed 6x30mgs of oxy a day, which is a fairly substantial amount. I think you will find that those roxies will work much better once you have slowly tapered down to a low dose of methadone and you have already made a ton of progress. I am actually impressed with where you are even though I knew you would be able to stabilize on a dose much lower than 40-60mgs once your body had been inducted and stabilized to the initial methadone but still 15mgs... Awesome girl!! Just think it wasn't but about a week ago that you had to take 50mgs one day just to feel normal enough to eat and sleep. You have made great progress. 300mgs is plenty to get you to that point of comfortable transition to the oxy.
 
Oh no I don't think I have enough methadone for more than a month. Omg now I'm really scared CJ!

Lol... Don't be scared. You absolutely have enough to make this transition. I was simply replying to CJ's comment about needing more than a month. I actually think you can do it quicker than a month. I personally think that you are in a great position.

Don't take the...lol... The wrong way. Just wanted to assure you that I absolutely believe that you have enough methadone to make a seamless transition and that I am right here with ya;)

Did you take 10mgs or 15mgs today?
 
Somni, I took 10mg today. Yes I guess it's holding me. Methadone never held me 24 hours tho. I was feeling not great after 12 hours on 100mg. By 18 hours I was doing the hot/cold stomach hurt thing. I never slept more than 4 hours. I am a rapid metabolizer tho so I guess that's why.

I don't have the 30mg roxi I have 20mg and he said I can take 6 a day. He gave me 90 Of the roxi plus I have around 50 maybe less now of the previous roxi (I put those up when I stared the methadone again) My main issue right now is pain. I haven't wanted to take any roxi because one did nothing for me. Two worked better but I know I'll need those. I could take off as long as needed. I may lose everything I've worked so hard for but to be honest, at this point I'd give it all up just to get off this so I can get the surgeries I need. I've been pushing myself too hard the last 3 years and have been miserable in the process. My mom said "give it all up, get better and you can live with me until whenever" I haven't lived at home since I was 16. We get along great but I'm not sure we would if we lived together.
 
When will you be able to get more roxies? and great job btw.. You will be able to make this transition. No doubt... You are still in a great position. Esp.. if you can take 6X20 a day.

I imagine that you will be going back in to the doc a month from when you last went and it will still take a couple more weeks before you even make the switch to Roxies so you should have plenty.

You rock!!
 
I won't be getting anymore I'm guessing after my dr yelled at me for taking the methadone again. He said there was no way I was still in wd's after 9 days of zero methadone and I needed to buck up. His exact words. He told me to go wait in waiting room. A nurse brought me a script for 90 & told me to come back in a month.
 
I ended up seeing him before I was originally supposed to. They had a cancellation and called me.
 
Then we need to plan out a definite taper and you need to set up an appointment for the surgery or Pain management according to the plan. It would be horrible to taper all the way down on your methadone and make a smooth transition to the oxy only to find that you don't have enough to see you through to an appointment for more oxy. Otherwise you will just be withdrawing from oxy in the near future.

Knowing when you can have the surgery/see Pain management will help determine the schedule and how much oxy you can take without running out and also help determine the taper.
 
A month long schedule could look like this.... 10mg for 5 more days
9mg for 3 days
8mg for 3 days
7mg for 3 days
6mg for 3 days
5mg for 3 days
4mg for 3 days
3mg for 3 days
2mg for 3 days

This would be 29 days at which point you should be able to jump to the oxy no problem. This plan would only use 182mgs of methadone. If you want to spread the taper out even more you could stretch all the drops from 3 days to 5, which I recommend. This would take 270mgs of methadone and last 45days. Then we need to plan your oxy according to when your appointment can be made. You have plenty of methadone. Think long and hard and make your appointment accordingly. I wouldn't wait. Planning is key. The longer 5 day drop plan is far superior and an appointment based around those parameters would be best.

Remember with 140 roxies that if you choose the longer taper and take 6 a day then that will add another 26 days on top of your 45 day taper before you run out so roughly 71 days but I wouldn't want to push it too close and come near running out. You have plenty girl. You're in a good position.

I actually think the hardest part won't be making the transition to the oxy but actually the days of the methadone taper when you are getting to the lower doses as it won't hold you all day and you will have some slight adjustment discomfort between drops. In my opinion you will probably be getting a nice buzz from the oxy at 100mgs a day by the time you start.
 
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If I don't tell him I'm still tapering he would give me 90 more. I was trying to be honest with him and it backfired. My plan was to just tell him what he wants to hear when I go back oct 20th. The only reason he got pissy is because I told him the truth about how I tapered and ended up taking 20mg on the 10th day. He was jut fine until then. He yelled at me for 20 minutes saying wd's don't last that long and the methadone would have been out of my system in 48 hours, he can't help an addict blah blah blah. So next time when he asks how I'm doing I'll just say I'm off of it. He already said he'd prescribe the oxy til I get in with pain managment.

I don't want to schedule the first surgery or an appt with pain managment until im off the methadone for a while because both require it to be completely out of my system. So for now I'm just focusing on coming off the methadone. It's sad that I can't be honest with my dr and him not treat me like crap. He expected me to be off of it and because I wasn't he was pissed.
 
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Lie through your teeth girl... This is all about you. Get those oxys.. Try to follow the 2nd 5 day plan starting now and we can adjust according to how you feel. You got this! No problem. No need to worry because you have even more mdone to work with. We might want to think about jumping slightly sooner if the lower methadone doses don't hold you at all but we will think about that when and if the time comes.

Give yourself 5 more days at 10 to stabilize because you just began the drop and have already been going down quick. With methadone you will think you can drop faster because you don't usually notice discomfort for the first day or 2 after the drop but then it catches up to you if you go too fast. So stay put for at least those 5 for sure.

<3Somni
 
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hey barbie... im really proud of what you've done. I had a bad car fire a few years ago that got me hooked on fentanyl and hydro-morphs. i tansitioned to methadone the past few years and once i read your post i started dropping with you!!! lol. once i read about how fast your withdrawals kicked in i almsot shit my pants!! well, i have a lot of comfort meds but im trying not to overdo it. more like a cushion for the fall then a daily party. it's getting a little harder to focus and stuff on day 10 (nothing near as hard as what you experienced) but i just wanted to tell you how determined i am to quit and that it's all because of you!!!
Keep up the amazing job and as soon as everything seems too much and too hard, remember your #1 fan is cheering you on!!
all the best
tommy




day 10 18mg methadone +225mg morphine and 6 beers (no-one ever mentions booze as a comfort drug but it seems like magic to me)
 
ogtommy I'm so sorry you followed my terrible plan. It was a recipe for disaster. I was being a stubborn fool for not listening to everyone telling me to slow down. I hate that it caused you unnecessary pain. I had never done this before and was taking what my primary dr said for fact. When the truth is he's a bumbling idiot. My plan was working so well until it wasn't. And i do believe I would have ended up in bad shape (or dead) if not for taking the 20mg that day. I couldn't even walk I was passing out every time I tried to get out of bed. I'm not in best health as is. So again, I'm so sorry that my post hurt you,

I don't know much about tapering and detox but if I learned one thing from my expirience it's this...Go slow. My "plan" was to drop every day. That never gave the dose a chance to stabilize. So a 100mg drop hit me all at once I guess. And my comfort meds did nothing for me. The best advice I can give you is listen to what is said in here. TPD, CJ, 10years, Somni & others they know what they're talking about. They all told me what I needed to do in the beginning and I was a stubborn ass and didn't listen. And even so, when shit got bad they still helped me without saying I told you so or judging me. Day 10 of zero methadone was when my body was telling me I can't do this another day. I hadn't had any liquids or food for days and when you don't pee for almost 36 hours somehing bad is going on. So it was either call an ambulance and end up in psych hold or get back on low dose methadone. I did that. Now I'm taking it slow and following advice from expirienced BL'rs.

I do hope everythig works out for you. I feel awful that my post caused someone to do their taper that way. But that doesn't mean I'm not rooting for you. I hope you are able to successfully taper. Without getting all in your business is there any way you could maybe slow down since you tapered down to 18 fairly painlessly. Maybe take it slower from there? I really shouldn't be giving any advice since I screwed myself up so bad. You should post in SL and I know you'll get some solid advice from people who have been thru this and want to see you succeed. I wish I could help you but I'm learning myself the do's and donts. Sounds like you have lots of comfort meds so I'm sure you can do this.

Thank you for cheering me on I def need it. My only support is right here in BL. No one other than my mum knows I'm going thru this. Well dr asshole knows but he doesn't count. Anyway, I'll be rooting for you. And you really should start a post in SL and you'll get tons of solid feedback. Good Luck OGTommy!!

?Barb
 
I love the way the doc said methadone, a drug they give to addicts because of how long it lasts and notorious for being impossible to have any type of set pattern of dosing among patients, should be gone in 48 hours. Smh. You still doing great barbie.
 
Thank you kitty! I wouldn't be doing as well as I am if it wasn't for everyone here sticking with me and helping me. Even after I screwed up so bad. I don't feel very good but it's not anywhere near as bad as I was doing before. If I would have continued the way my dr wanted me too, I don't think I'd be here today. I know my body was shutting down. I was depressed & having dark thoughts. A month of that can put you in a really bad place mentally and physically. After hearing that someone started tapering based on my original post breaks my heart. I wish I could go back to my first post and put some kind of warning. Like, saying this plan failed me and do not try to follow this plan because it did not work! I started posting to receive help & feedback. I never thought about the chance someone else might try it that way.
 
Thanks kitty! I really needed to hear that. I've been up all night crying like a baby trying to make a difficult decision and was feeling very low. Then I saw the post where ogtommy followed my original taper and now I feel just rotten. I wouldn't wish that torment on anyone. I hope he succeeds but what if others see it and do the same...I'm going to go back and see if I can put something at the top letting others know hey, this didn't work it's a bad idea.

?Barb
 
People following this post is not your failure it's mine. As a moderator it's my job to make sure harm reduction advice is suspended correctly and clearly. In this case I failed to do that. I was trying to walk the line of not being discouraging while still saying I thought it was a bad idea. In this case I should of been more blunt because I knew what the ultimate outcome was going to be. So yeah I apologise for that.

That said you have made it way farther then I thought possible. Most would of quit far sooner. Because of that I do think you will achieve your goals eventually. It's just going to take a little longer and be bumpier then you wanted. That's life in a nutshell though right?.

Hang in there I have faith you will make the necessary adjustments.
 
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