Doctor said she is tapering me down. Jesus Fuck.

[CfZrx]

Today I went to pick up my paper prescription for methadone from my doctor and she announced that "cross the board" she is reducing patients pills. I wish I would have asked if she means to take me off completely. She said you'll get 89 pills this month instead of 90. Can anyone help me understand what's going on? Are you in the same position? I have 2 options if she means to eventually end my opioid script. Since I have too much spinal pain, I figure I could try to get onto suboxone. It seems like it would work well combined with weed and gabapentin. Or I could shuffle down to the methadone clinic, and even UP my dose, lol. This is the worst option imho. Thanks

 

[Mycophile]

I don't use Methadone, Heroin or Opioids other than Kratom, but I hate doctors and their "war on the opioid epidemic".

"hey guess what, your gonna taper off your meds!! Did you know that??!! Isn't that great?!!"

FUCK. YOU.

Let me make my own decisions.

Rant over lol.

 

[CfZrx]

"hey guess what, your gonna taper off your meds!! Did you know that??!! Isn't that great?!!"

LMAO! That is almost verbatim what she said! The only way I can see to keep my "freedom to choose" alive is to get on suboxone. Of course I would have to wait an ungodly amount of time before my first dose since methadone's half life is so long, so that sounds like a shitty weekend The reviews of Bupe as a painkiller are mixed. It seems like at a very small dose it is in fact a great analgesic, but I've never experimented with sub. It was so nice having low pain levels these last couple years. Where's my "suboxone for pain" warriors?? Holler if you fuck wit' bupe p.s. this is a harm reduction thread because I want to make the safest choice.

 

[Mycophile]

Well, I guess Kratom can probably help with some pain and withdrawal issues.

 

[CfZrx]

Lord knows I got that covered Methadone is the best because no buzz, yet great pain relief. Does anyone think that her tapering me by only one pill this month is a sign that she may only be doing the bare minimum to comply with my insurance or corporate (her boss) demands? Or is this how they do it, one pill less each month until you are at zero?

 

[Chronicpain54]

My pain specialist also lowered all of his patients starting about 2 years ago. I've read stories on here of other pain patients being cut back also. In March they told me that they would not lower it any more so that's a relief, but my methadone was cut almost in half, I lost 100 pills of breakthrough meds (I have 2 breakthrough meds) and he was going to cut out my klonopin because people on opiates aren't supposed to get benzos so that we don't accidentally OD ourselves. *ridiculous bunch of %*^??#*.

He let me keep my klonopin in the end with just a very minor drop but I was freaking over that.

Your doctor doesn't make sense to me unless she intends to take you completely off methadone or she's doing this weird, slow taper hoping the controversy over pain meds will go away and she can return you to your regular dose. I mean, what doctor cuts 1 pill???!

The taper she is starting you on looks like she intends to wean you off completely but because you've been on them for awhile, like I have, she is doing it 1 pill a month. When my doctor cut mine down he cut the methadone first, from 5 pills a day to 3 pills. Six months later he cut my oxyIRs from 150 a month to 100 a month and 3 months after that he cut my norcos from 150 to 100. Yeah, I didn't need that much medicine but I was putting some away every month in case something bad happened. Unfortunately while I was in a coma a family member wiped me out of everything.

. I would be scared if my doctor did the slow taper like your doctor is doing. Ask her straight out if she intends to take you completely off methadone. You have a right to know. It's your life and you need to make decisions.

My doctor let me know he wasn't weaning me off, but cutting back to get closer to the new formula that says we aren't supposed to take more than the equivalent of 200 mgs of morphine a day. 3 pills of methadone is equivalent to 240 mgs of morphine because the chart says methadone is 8 times stronger. I'm way over the recommended 200 morphine equivalent mgs per day but as long as my doctor is good with it then so am I!

I can't think of any instance where 1 pill makes any sense except for a complete wean and no meds. Ask her. You're paying her to take care of you.

 

[MDPV_Psychosis]

CfZrx how much methadone are you on per day?

Suboxone may be an option but after being on methadone especially if at a high dose then you are likely to find suboxone won't be as effective for pain. Plus the switch from methadone to suboxone is difficult and you'll need to taper methadone first if at a high dose.

I agree the doctor is going about the taper wrong. She needs to slowly decrease your daily dose on a set schedule not just decrease the number of pills each month. How are you suppose to manage that, wtf? I think she is either complying from external pressure or is just having a knee jerk reaction to the current climate, either way she doesn't know what she is doing.

Methadone clinic might be your best bet if your happy being on methadone. Sucks that you'd have to go daily for a long while though.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

hey man I remember your handle around. I wish you the best of luck.

Can't you find a new doctor? Cutting your script down one pill at a time for every patient is pretty fucking terrible doctoring.

no buzz, yet great pain relief.

It's sad you're on something that you don't get high off and it works for your pain, and the doctors are trying to "curb the crisis" it's not a crisis, and it's harming legitimate patients. So sad.

Hang in there man. Hopefully you can find a better doctor.

 

[BeachBum4u]

Not to mitigate your situation but I kind of chuckled when I read your doctor was going to cut you back and went from 90 to, wait for it......89. Ouch, is that some kind of inside joke? If sbe were to continue at that rate, it would take over 7 years to get down to next to nothing. Hopefully, everything works out for you!

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

^Actually that might be smart on the doctor's part. Maybe the doctor is being forced to taper patients down to a certain amount but wasn't given a time scale so she is tapering as slow as possible.

Tapering one pill a month on a 90 count script is the most gentle way your doc could do it. If you split your doses right you shouldn't notice any difference at all.

 

[CfZrx]

people on opiates aren't supposed to get benzos so that we don't accidentally OD ourselves. *ridiculous bunch of %*^??#*. ---------------just keep em in a safe if you have kids---------------------
Your doctor doesn't make sense to me unless she intends to take you completely off methadone or she's doing this weird, slow taper hoping the controversy over pain meds will go away and she can return you to your regular dose. I mean, what doctor cuts 1 pill???!-----------------but at this rate like BeachBum4U says below, it would take 7 years to complete, and that last 5 mg is the part where the real fight would start,lol-----------------

The taper she is starting you on looks like she intends to wean you off completely but because you've been on them for awhile, like I have, she is doing it 1 pill a month.
. I would be scared if my doctor did the slow taper like your doctor is doing. Ask her straight out if she intends to take you completely off methadone. You have a right to know. It's your life and you need to make decisions. -----------------Yeah, I plan to ask her next month when I see her. At the time I went into a cool panic and just tried to act like it would be no problem. My heart was still racing at midnight.-------------------

CfZrx how much methadone are you on per day?----------5mg 3Xdaily-------------

Suboxone may be an option but after being on methadone especially if at a high dose then you are likely to find suboxone won't be as effective for pain. Plus the switch from methadone to suboxone is difficult and you'll need to taper methadone first if at a high dose. --------------I know I need to study the threads on the meth to sub induction, but do you have any words of advice? 15mg seems like a smallish dose so I guess it's doable right? I want to be referred to the doctor in the same clinic who specializes in subs for chronic pain among other things. I want to know how he can help the rocky transition.-----------------

I agree the doctor is going about the taper wrong. She needs to slowly decrease your daily dose on a set schedule not just decrease the number of pills each month. How are you suppose to manage that, wtf? I think she is either complying from external pressure or is just having a knee jerk reaction to the current climate, either way she doesn't know what she is doing.---------------I have the same feeling. Especially so because I've NEVER failed a urine test in like 4 years. On a side note,when I went to see the actual pain specialist who approved me for methadone, he said in reference to my healthcare "whoever takes care of you loves you, but not very much". lol-----------------

Methadone clinic might be your best bet if your happy being on methadone. Sucks that you'd have to go daily for a long while though.----------------You go for a year daily right? Except a couple weekend take home doses? I wish it were cheaper to take a smaller dose but I don't think it is.---------------------------

hey man I remember your handle around. I wish you the best of luck.-------Thanks CH I'm the one who found the time you were on national news remember?-----------

Can't you find a new doctor? Cutting your script down one pill at a time for every patient is pretty fucking terrible doctoring. ------Is it shitty? I did see that my new insurance would rather I chose one of their select doctors. Mine is in fact only a Physician's Assistant.--------

Not to mitigate your situation but I kind of chuckled when I read your doctor was going to cut you back and went from 90 to, wait for it......89. Ouch, is that some kind of inside joke? If sbe were to continue at that rate, it would take over 7 years to get down to next to nothing. Hopefully, everything works out for you!

LMAO, thanks man

^Actually that might be smart on the doctor's part. Maybe the doctor is being forced to taper patients down to a certain amount but wasn't given a time scale so she is tapering as slow as possible.

Tapering one pill a month on a 90 count script is the most gentle way your doc could do it. If you split your doses right you shouldn't notice any difference at all.

Wow, so you really think she may be conforming to a clinic-wide mandate?! That's fuckin' scary for us pain persons. At least they think suboxone is great. And gabapentin and weed seem to combine with an opioid for excellent relief IME, so I can see taking .25 mg little strips every 4 hours or so ---------------you're right, it is a gentle transition. It is tempting to just replace the dose each month with black market opioids. I guess that would only work for so long unless you could source methadone, but that's impossible with my lack of connects. Oh well, I guess it's time to try to go back to the pain management place. I am tryin to get approved for an MRI which is needed to return the pain clinic.--------------

 

[Chronicpain54]

Don't worry, my youngest child is in the Marine Corps, plus I've been in pain management for 8 years and it's required to have a lock box so even at home by myself my meds are locked up in a cabinet in my bedroom.

I didn't realize your doctor wasn't a pain specialist. That's the reason you are being weaned. They want you to go to pain management and let them prescribe your meds.

 

[CfZrx]

I didn't realize your doctor wasn't a pain specialist. That's the reason you are being weaned. They want you to go to pain management and let them prescribe your meds.

Really? That's a thing they do, huh? I didn't know the pain moment docs ever prescribed meds long term. He wrote the first methadone script (after she had me on 45mg daily mscontin for a couple horrible years) after seeing me a couple times and trying for BuTrans first, which my insurance said no, and it seemed like it was understood that he wouldn't have the time to monitor my behaviors and do pee tests etc... so she took over.
But you believe that now that I have been trying to get approved for an MRI so that I can see the pain docs again, that my doc would prefer I just transition over there? That offers some hope thanks Cp54

 

[Chronicpain54]

Yes, pain management doctors will prescribe opiates/opioids and other medicine to help you. I was with one clinic for 4 years and I've been with my current pain specialist for 8 years and counting.

My family doctor was prescribing Percocets and Valium to me but after about a year of trying physical therapy and meds he sent me to a pain clinic to take over prescribing my meds. Usually you have to be referred to a pain clinic and have a recent MRI to show them. It looks like you are working on getting an MRI so after that you can ask to be referred. The pain clinics in the northeast where I lived didn't allow patients to call and make an appointment without a doctor's order.

Not all clinics are equal though. Without the best insurance you can get they could cost a fortune because they want to do epidurals, nerve ablations, more X-rays, more MRIs, another epidural, etc. etc. etc. In that 4 year span I had either an epidural or a nerve ablation done every 3 months. I hated that place and felt like a rat that they were doing tests on.

The doctor that I have now knows I won't get better, only worse, and sees no need to send me out for all these treatments. The first clinic did it for money. They prescribed long acting and breakthrough pain meds, plus Lyrica and Ambien, but they tortured me in the process. If your doctor wants you to go to a pain clinic then go ahead of time and talk to people coming out. They will be very blunt about the care they are receiving.

My current doctor takes care of me in all ways. If I'm sick he'll prescribe antibiotics and he takes care of my pain. I'm lucky to have him as I don't believe any other doctor would take care of my pain and anxiety like he does.

Good Luck!

 

[CfZrx]

Yes, pain management doctors will prescribe opiates/opioids and other medicine to help you. I was with one clinic for 4 years and I've been with my current pain specialist for 8 years and counting.

My family doctor was prescribing Percocets and Valium to me but after about a year of trying physical therapy and meds he sent me to a pain clinic to take over prescribing my meds. Usually you have to be referred to a pain clinic and have a recent MRI to show them. It looks like you are working on getting an MRI so after that you can ask to be referred. The pain clinics in the northeast where I lived didn't allow patients to call and make an appointment without a doctor's order.

Not all clinics are equal though. Without the best insurance you can get they could cost a fortune because they want to do epidurals, nerve ablations, more X-rays, more MRIs, another epidural, etc. etc. etc. In that 4 year span I had either an epidural or a nerve ablation done every 3 months. I hated that place and felt like a rat that they were doing tests on.

The doctor that I have now knows I won't get better, only worse, and sees no need to send me out for all these treatments. The first clinic did it for money. They prescribed long acting and breakthrough pain meds, plus Lyrica and Ambien, but they tortured me in the process. If your doctor wants you to go to a pain clinic then go ahead of time and talk to people coming out. They will be very blunt about the care they are receiving.

My current doctor takes care of me in all ways. If I'm sick he'll prescribe antibiotics and he takes care of my pain. I'm lucky to have him as I don't believe any other doctor would take care of my pain and anxiety like he does.

Good Luck!

Thanks! 2 years ago I went with MRI in hand to this pain clinic, and the doc did a cheek swab DNA test which showed that methadone would be a heavy hitter at a small dose. So that's the same place I am trying to go back to, but like you said I need that MRI, so I hope that gets approved by my crooked Blue Shield insurance due to the loss of strength in my left hand. I am mentally preparing to switch to suboxone because my impression doctors think it's very safe, so I could have more control over my dose, and I've read many times that taking little tiny doses throughout the day works like a charm and is in fact a full agonist at sub-milligram doses Thanks again for the support

 

[CfZrx]

Part of this thread was discussing the transition from methadone to suboxone. Here is a nice video discussing how the Way to do it is not by waiting til you are in full-blown WD, but rather to put on a 5 microgram Butrans patch 24 hours (I can't recall exactly how many hours he said tbph) after your last dose, and then very slowly begin eating small amounts of suboxone as time wears on. I would prob try to wait until 48 hours or so to eat a mg. Anyways, this does sound like a bit more painless method than waiting like 72-96 hours after your last methadone dose. He also said to give the patient a take-home clonodine patch or two, and I would hope for a few k-pins or valium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YzCwCK0iyA

 

[PharmerDean]

We have a friend (yes it?s really a friend) that has been with the same pain management doctor for years. Last year they told him he had to basically get off one of the meds he was on or hand over his license. No taper offered. He?s on a few meds so maybe that?s why they didn?t offer the taper. The meds he?s on are all in the opioid family. Morphine was the one they said you need to get off or you?ll surrender your driving privileges. So he?s not happy, he chose to drive over the morphine. Here?s what happened next. His doctor tells him, look it?s the state that?s on my butt, these laws and blah blah blah..ups his prescriptions to oxy and opana(sp) AFTER a couple months of quiting morphine. Lol. I know I can?t be the only one stumped right now. Isn?t opana oxy AND morphine?! Anyways, he doesn?t take all his meds as prescribed, after the morphine WDs he said he felt better and the actual pain wasn?t too bad. He doesn?t refuse the amount monthly, he just doesn?t take all of them. With a law that says ?morphine or driving? wouldn?t you think that opana would be on that list? With the same law, why is it ok to up ones script of something with morphine in it and let him keep his driving privileges? It makes zero sense to me. I don?t understand how the laws work, who makes them has to be fked up on acid or delusional as hell! I can only presume it?s a way to make money off one medication with the fine line tactic, like there?s a little fine line that doesn?t say oxy+morphine is on ?list A? so they are now pushing those to make up for profit loss on actual morphine.

Does that make any sense or did I just ramble on?

 

[CfZrx]

We have a friend (yes it?s really a friend) that has been with the same pain management doctor for years. Last year they told him he had to basically get off one of the meds he was on or hand over his license. No taper offered. He?s on a few meds so maybe that?s why they didn?t offer the taper. The meds he?s on are all in the opioid family. Morphine was the one they said you need to get off or you?ll surrender your driving privileges. So he?s not happy, he chose to drive over the morphine. Here?s what happened next. His doctor tells him, look it?s the state that?s on my butt, these laws and blah blah blah..ups his prescriptions to oxy and opana(sp) AFTER a couple months of quiting morphine. Lol. I know I can?t be the only one stumped right now. Isn?t opana oxy AND morphine?! Anyways, he doesn?t take all his meds as prescribed, after the morphine WDs he said he felt better and the actual pain wasn?t too bad. He doesn?t refuse the amount monthly, he just doesn?t take all of them. With a law that says ?morphine or driving? wouldn?t you think that opana would be on that list? With the same law, why is it ok to up ones script of something with morphine in it and let him keep his driving privileges? It makes zero sense to me. I don?t understand how the laws work, who makes them has to be fked up on acid or delusional as hell! I can only presume it?s a way to make money off one medication with the fine line tactic, like there?s a little fine line that doesn?t say oxy+morphine is on ?list A? so they are now pushing those to make up for profit loss on actual morphine.

Does that make any sense or did I just ramble on?

tell him look into suboxone. I've read it works just as good once you have been on it a couple weeks or less, and the doctors are way less up your butt about it.

 

[T. Calderone]

PharmerDean, what state does your friend live in? They're thinking of new ways to fuck with pain patients!

 

[Barry big tits]

Hi there CfZrx

It does sound like your doc is doing a very slow taper. Probably at that rate every month. I begin my taper for benzos in september. Not looking forward to that to say the least. But at least my psychiatrist told me well in advance. 1mg per month he said and i should be ok.

Im pretty sure though if you have been on a strong opiate or benzo for a significant time. And you start getting bad pain and withdrawal as a result of a taper or discontinuation of said medications. You have the right to ask to be put back up to your original dosage. And your doc has the responsibility to comply with this if it was them that put you on it in the first place.

Kindest Regards
Barry