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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Methadone for pain? Why or why not?

I dont care about getting high. I will never drink or use any recreational drug again if I could be pain free.

One thing that worries me is that I have been having heart pains and some kidney pains when using Methadone. Its probably not the methadone by itself, but the cocktail of drugs I am on for my various conditions. These drugs are toxic to my body. I worry because I have lower back pains, sharp needle like around the kidneys, that I wasnt having before. This is new after adding Methadone to my regimen. Obviously this is not everyones experience, but I understand its more toxic than the semi-synthetics like oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone, ect.

I would like to try Opana or long acting hydromorphone. Hydromorphone, though weak in oral form per mg, always did me right in the hospital.
 
Have you possibly considered an implanted delivery system for opiates. One pain doc tried to get me to go this route.
But I was too busy blowing OCs up my nose.

But I have talked to other patients that said this was "da bomb" in pain control. They implant the system to deliver the opiate into the spinal column, I believe.
And they can use other opiates besides Morphine, at least this is my understanding.

Might be something to think on and talk to the doc about.

Best
 
Methadone works GREAT for pain, but I would rather not deal with the WD. I would venture to say that methadone works better than Opana for pain.

So, I say not for me. Also my dr says it cleans the opiate receptors and makes your regular pain meds work better.. so he puts people on a cycle of methadone... but he doesn't keeo you on it forever because the wd is so hellish.

Can anybody justify this doctors claim that methadone cleans your receptors ?
That just doesnt make any sense to me...
 
Methadone withdrawls are the worst experience in the world. I was on 80mgs for 2 years and had it not been for the Suboxone, I would have done something drastic coming off the methadone.
I tell everyone I can DON'T EVER,EVER,EVER GET ON METHADONE.

Man, be real carefull..I ran out of methadone after taking it for 3 weeks because my doctor was prescribing too little to control my pain .I couldnt get in to see him right away on the 3rd day my w/d's were already bad after taking 30 mg.s
for 3 weeks, so I decided to take a leftover 8 mg. Subutex - bad move ! It threw me into precipitated w/d's that were even worse !!
 
Can anybody justify this doctors claim that methadone cleans your receptors ?
That just doesnt make any sense to me...



I dont see how Methadone cleans the receptors & then supposedly makes your other pain meds work better?? :| Just dont see it. From my experience & from what ive read & heard from others, Methadone sky rockets your tolerance so there is no way hydrocodone would get you high or work as good as it had been after being on Methadone for a week or more.
 
I was having a lot of nerve symptoms that would start half-way down my back and from that point down would be torturous. They gave me Methadone 10mg TID which helped at the beginning so I stayed on it for a while. When I D/Ced it, as happens with those types of medications, I felt incredibly hyperalgesic for about a month and a half, but after the detox and withdrawals, I noticed I actually felt a ton better than I had felt when I was on it. From what I've seen it tends to work very well for back and nerve symptoms, but of course there's the problems of addiction and the inevitable detox, plus the risk of respiratory depression on a bad day, I'd hardly say it would be worth the pain relief of taking it. Hydromorphone works as well as anything I've taken for my neck problems (brand Dilaudid), which is just synthetic codeine, but it's not a whole lot better to take than oxycodone as far a the body is concerned. Still not as addictive in as short-term as the oxycodone was.

If I were in the position, I would try any and everything else before attempting Methadone therapy on a patient, but I wouldn't discount it from possibly being best for someone.
 
My dr says low doses of methadone can clear out your receptors.. However I have tried methadone for my pain and I prefer opana and Roxi for bt pain. Mainly because opana is amazing for pain... Roxi works well in right doses for bt pain.. Also you can catch and occasional buzz if desired...

Methadone made me tired and tempermental. I only use it to stave off WD if I go over on my Meds. I also think it's a shitty maintenance drug. Suboxone is way better in my opinion.

Basically dones are good to keep around for a rainy day.
 
In my experience methadone is great for pain and if suboxone was not working so well for me at this point I would ask my Dr. for it.

I am guessing that out of every one here my pain is closest to yours as I also have Crohn’s. I was diagnosed when I was very young and had surgery to remove a portion of my small and large intestine about 8 years ago. The pain was so intense prior to the operation and I was only given Darvocets at the time. Once the opened me up and found that my small intestine had ruptured they realized that I was not making up the extreme pain. I think they truly felt bad that they had not given me something else when they saw how much pain I must have actually been in.

Anyway back to the methadone. I found methadone to be great for pain however it literally turned me into a crazy zombie. Once I switched so short acting full agonists prior to getting on Suboxone it was like a fog had been lifted and I was finally awake for the first time in years.

You also might want to take into consideration the risks associated with the constipation caused by methadone especially with your Crohn’s. Prior to being on methadone I had extreme problems with diarrhea but at only 100mg of done I found myself in the hospital due to an impacted bowel. Crohn’s along with my past surgery on my colon only made this situation more dangerous.
 
I've found that Subutex works well within 18-24 hours for everything EXCEPT
methadone !!! (never IV'd) . First time I took 8mg. subutex 18 hours after
120 mg of (original) O.C - worked wonderfull, in slight w.d.'s
Second time was after a week of about 200mg of Tramadol a day, 16 mg's
put me in a mood elevated slightly euphoric setting...
third time I used Sub' was 36 hours after I tapered down from 40 mg's of Methadone 5 mg's at a time 8 mg's of sub' threw me into worse w.d.'s ! Next day same shit ! was horrible!! I suggest waiting at least a week of w.d.'s with fast acting -
opiates (if possible) with a benzo at night before switching to subs' I'm on day 3
of using 48 mgs of hydromorphone dissolved into an ounce & a half of nose spray
and I'm going to give it another 4 days, coming off 60mg a day methadone -
(tapered 5 mgs a day) before I got the dillys' that taper was a bitch...
 
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Almost regardless of the Methadone dose one is on they should switch to a short acting full agonist for at least a week and I would suggest going two weeks before starting the bupe.

When I switched off of sub I used a combination of oxy, h, oxymorphone and fent for over a week and when I took the first tab in the Dr. office I got thrown into the worst PW I have ever experienced. The Dr. saw how bad it was so he wrote me a script for lorazepam and Subutex and told me to go home and do what ever opiates I could get my hands on for a few more days and then try again with the tex.

NEVER go directly from done to sub unless you have at lest a week off the done completely and even then that may not be enough.
 
Sounds like Methadone does work, so this is the route I would take.
As far as coming off of the 'done, I would do the following. I would switch to a short-term opiate, i.e. OCs, Dillies, etc.
Stay on this a few weeks, until the body adjusts, and then taper off of the short-term drug.
This won't be easy, but will be better than coming off Methadone, directly.

Of course, you could also take the Suboxone route, to accomplish the same end result.
Either way will avoid the direct WDs of Methadone.

Best

once on methadone, sadly the only drug u can use to taper off of methadone, is methadone itself,as its so powerful and skyrockets ur tolerance. im on 75mgs, and the only drug i can use to kill methadone withdrawl is fentanyl or high grade heroin, everything else wont compete or help withdrawl. methadone is a dangerous stomping ground to go on
 
If you don't take withdrawal into consideration, if you plan on making this your permanent pain med, and don't have addiction issues, then methadone is an amazing option. I think it's not prescribed as much because of the stigma. It lasts really long, and it is very effective because of the narcotic effect and beacuse of the NMDA antagonist effect. It was the only thing that worked for me when I had hyperalgesia a month ago.
 
As i see, you've talk about all the opiates, except..the fentanyl. Patches could be great for killing the pain, in the right dose, (i mean a 25mcgr/hr patch could do nothing for your pain, but a 75 or 100mcgr/hr could be great). And in combination with roxies, or maybe (better..;)), some opana IR form, could work great..
But now, as for the W/Ds..fuck it..:\


MartinFn
 
There are some next-gen nsaids coming out that are completely brilliant for pain. I had an ear infection and my 12 mgs of sub did nothing, it was agony. My doc gave me a script, and it totally took away all pain for like six hours. Not all pain solutions have to be opiate, you're right there.
 
There are some next-gen nsaids coming out that are completely brilliant for pain. I had an ear infection and my 12 mgs of sub did nothing, it was agony. My doc gave me a script, and it totally took away all pain for like six hours. Not all pain solutions have to be opiate, you're right there.

Hey bro,
can you tell us the name of the med? Thanx in advance...%)


MartinFn
 
I will say even a 25mcg patch has wonderful pain killing properties! even on my 75mgs of daily methadone, I put a 25mcg patch on, not only did the fentanyl bust pass the methadone blockade, but I felt pain relief from 25mcg, and that me being very opioid tolerant due to 75mgs of methadone. im so used to 75mg of methadone, I don't feel a buzz or get pain relief (or maybe pain relef I don't notice cause im so accustomed to being on it?) but fentanyl does wonders however has powerful side effects (extreme nausea, itching, lethargy) its meant for the opioid tolerant, and even for the tolerant its not for everyone..i myself cant handle fentanyls side effects, the nausea, itching, lethargy, etc..
 
Methadone / ketobemidone are good for nerve pain because of their NMDA antagonist properties. These opioids give me the most pain relief out of all opiates/opioids.
 
^ was it celecoxib (or some other coxib)? Not that it's next generation really, it's just really effective but horribly toxic.
 
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