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Opioids 17 Days free of Methadone (How long to feel normal?)

BTW, I hate people that take pics at the gym locker!

In no way does that reflect how I'm pulling for you're recovery :D
 
well, i do construction and you have the choice of working or not, so luckily ive been granted the luxury of not having to to work, but still be able to easily get a job when the day comes that I can physically handle it again. HOPEFULLY SOON as i would love to finish my sleeve (tattoo) and get life rolling again.

Even though it's been 36 days, i still feel like shit throughout the day sitting around. I almost think that kicking suboxone cold turkey 2 years ago (with a job) was a lot easier than kicking methadone while sitting around 24/7 for 36 days. Granted i remember the insane depression that came with having to go to work while sick instead of sitting around home, but now that i AM sitting around home on a detox, i think the value that comes with fantasizing about a day off (while having to work) loses its worth when one (me) actually does a detox without having to work. Yeah, it's great that i can sit around 24/7 without responsibilities at 23, but at the same time it's torture that every day is almost exactly the same, with slight variations, day in day out..

I just want what i had 2 years ago, no withdrawals, fun life, and peace. Im beginning to feel like this will never end.

it gets better....

I quit methadone 14 months ago after almost 15 years of use. it took 70 days for me to get back to normal (I had all the same sorts of symptoms that you do)... after the 70 days I was normal healthwise after which all the other things in life started to sort themselves out bit by bit; I basically spent the rest of the year figuring out how I was going to live the rest of my life as a "normal boring person". I make that joke because I would have that discussion with my GF about how we used to see not doing drugs as being normal and boring lol... Anyway now I do all sorts of other things to take the place of drugs: lots of going to the gym, snowboarding, hitting up girls, etc... I go out of my way to keep my life interesting so that I don't turn to drugs out of boredom...
 
So I was hoping to use bupe but its unavailable so will be attempting to get a quick methadone taper going.

Do you think its worth it or should I just kick my dope/dilly/oxy habit with out the aid of a taper?

Meaning will I be facing worse withdrawals threw the taper plan of attack or do we think the last 3/4 month binge ive been on is best left to cold turkey?

This is by far the largest habit ive ever had and im really want I to get clean as I have a life im ruining..
 
Listen to me carefully TRGB, do NOT stay on methadone longer than a couple weeks, because withdrawals may not be as bad, but they sure as fuck are longer. Honestly, i tried the whole short taper in the past, and it very well could've been 10x better, but i failed because i wasnt ready to stop using.

Here's my opinion, if cold turkey is IMPOSSIBLE, start off :

day 1- 20mg first day (NO USING DURING THIS OR IT WILL FUCK UP ALL OF YOUR PROGRESS)
day 2- TRY to not use more methadone unless you HAVE TO. It last a couple days...(IF YOU DO HAVE TO, take between 10-20mg.
day 3- If you DIDNT take methadone day 2, take 20mg. If you did, try to skip this day !
day 4- repeat this, trying to skip days in between dosing.

I would say do this for a week, then see how bad the withdrawals are on the 2nd or 3rd day of no methadone. Don't do this for longer than 2 weeks or you might get methadone withdrawals.

basically, the more days in a row you take methadone, the more fucked you are.

my OPINION, is use as LITTLE as methadone as possible, you're STILL going to have minor symptoms but MUCH more tolerable than cold turkey or even worse, long-term methadone detox.

and try NOT to use more than 30mg of methadone a day because you'll just make it harder for yourself...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

but, an opiate is an opiate in my opinion, and you're trying to diet from ice cream with pizza..so good luck
 
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Day 40! Withdrawals are about 35%+ of what they were the first two weeks.

So on day 38 i woke up with noticeably less symptoms, I would say a %15+ drop. Still had some good cold chills, stomache discomfort, anxiety, waking up 6-7am, unable to sleep in.

Day 39 - same, was hoping the day before wasn't just a good day. On day 37, i was fantasizing about using everytime i got a wave of withdrawals. Day 38, I HAVE HOPE. Day 39, HOPE REMAINS along with the previous improvement.

Day 40 - prob the same as the past 2 days, BUT, BUT, BUT, this morning, i was finally about to wake up between 4-6am, WITHOUT my heart massively pounding and body feeling awkwardly awake. This was one of the worst symptoms because EVERY time i would fall asleep or take a nap, i would be awokened 1-30 minutes later with my heart pounding, body temp fucked, stomache probs, and HAVE to get out of bed and smoke a bowl to calm down. It's like everytime i tried to fall asleep the withdrawals would amp up, even though i would get so tired that i would HAVE to lay down, knowing that it would happen when i wake up.


The end is coming
 
Lol shit! I'm probably gonna be facing the same hellish WD from 70mg Mdone at my clinic. I am on a 60-day contract for all my dirty urines, so during this time mean no positives except for script-allowed Benzo positives and methadone.

Well they can see the exact mg's of THC in your system, which other than yesterday/today/last Sunday, I wasn't smoking at all. The overall THC in my system has to have dramatically dropped therefore the mg in my system now is about where it should be.
 
Lol shit! I'm probably gonna be facing the same hellish WD from 70mg Mdone at my clinic. I am on a 60-day contract for all my dirty urines, so during this time mean no positives except for script-allowed Benzo positives and methadone.

Well they can see the exact mg's of THC in your system, which other than yesterday/today/last Sunday, I wasn't smoking at all. The overall THC in my system has to have dramatically dropped therefore the mg in my system now is about where it should be.

Daaaamn.... Good luck bro haha. I guess i was lucky, my clinic didn't test for weed ;)
 
So I was hoping to use bupe but its unavailable so will be attempting to get a quick methadone taper going.

Do you think its worth it or should I just kick my dope/dilly/oxy habit with out the aid of a taper?

Meaning will I be facing worse withdrawals threw the taper plan of attack or do we think the last 3/4 month binge ive been on is best left to cold turkey?

This is by far the largest habit ive ever had and im really want I to get clean as I have a life im ruining..


IMO, tapering is always a good idea... the only time it isn't, is when you've been on low dose opiates for a very short period of time. But, that's not your situation. So, I mean.. if you'd rather just tough it out and kick cold turkey (easier said than done) to get it over with, be my guest. It'll be pretty brutal. A short taper is the best of both worlds in my opinion.. it doesn't draw out your withdrawals much as if you where doing a long term taper or maint, and it severely cuts the severity of your withdrawal symptoms. You will definitely face a worse kick in terms of how bad the symptoms are, if you just cold turkey.

If you're only looking to do a quick methadone taper, consider checking into an inpatient detox that uses it. Because that's basically just what you're looking for. The standard methadone protocol for a detox is 4 days of medication. 20mgs, 15, 10, 5, done. They'll also give you clonidine and valium to help with the remaining symptoms, which can be a Godsend.
 
day 44, not much to add. Feel like i'm finally gettin there. Still suffer from constant cold chills when i'm not high (weed). Some stomache probs when anxious, sweating, etc. Still waking up around 6-7am. The past couple days i was actually able to take a good hour or two nap and not wake up in a panic though for once! Feel like im feeling better in the mornings after waking, i can lay in bed for a bit before i get too anxious like before. Nights are also getting better. Will update in a few days. Almost back to life
 
I have been on and off methadone for 9 years. I kicked methadone and Xanax on new years again. It usually takes me about 3 months to start feeling normal but I am guessing that my 15 year addiction has something to do with this. The hardest part is finding stuff to do when you start feeling normal. I started chipping with heroin at the beginning of Feb. and I am now trying to put the brakes on that because I have been down this road before. It is hard to deal with the ups and downs in life without wanting to use. Every body sensation is interpreted as withdrawal because I am not used to feeling and experiencing the intense emotions that are now bombarding me. Its difficult but I know it will get better. Hang in there man. I am going through the same thing except I slightly derailed myself.
 
Thanks for posting bro. How long after stopping methadone did you start using again ? How fast did withdrawals come back?
 
I'm surprised tbh that u are not closer to normal...I was pretty much 100% at where u r now. But mine was cold turkey with no help of any kind. Maybe it makes a difference...I mean not even weed...

Still, you're doing great , keep it up! It's hard not to cave on such a long process..

Friend of mine kicked 120 n 180 (separate times) cold turkey n went thru hell for 2 months. Just to add some other experiences...a lot depends on dose when u jump.

For the record I also tapered off once doing a 3 per week regimen til I got under 20 then 1 per week. I had to stop at 4 mg n let my body get straight. Then did 1 per week and off. That was not a hard detox; truthfully I only noticed symptoms around 20 mg and then at 4 and of course from 1 to none was a mild wd week...
 
So you came off methadone with minimal withdrawals ??? Tapering actually made it THAT much less ? Fuck.

I read hours of posts about how methadone, even when tapered to nothing, causes withdrawals for months. So i said fuck it and let them taper me 4mg a day from 75mg.. that must have been why i still feel kinda shitty after 47 days.

I'm also slightly worried, that smoking weed EVERY hour for the past 47 days may slow my progress down somehow, because it masks withdrawals majorly, so im worried it has a similar effect on certain receptors maybe, causing them not to heal as well, or something. IDK. Maybe i'm just unlucky.

Ironically, i was cocky during the first days thinking "mine will only be a month and ill feel great, not going to be 6 months like everyone else", and here i am lol
 
^^

4mg a day is very fast.

You can absolutely taper with methadone and feel minimal to no withdrawals during the dosage drops, but it needs to be a very slow taper. I'm talking a couple mg's a week or two.. that's it. So, a proper methadone taper to come off a higher dose and make it comfortable, takes a long time.. You can speed it up as much as you want, that's everyones choice, but the faster you taper, the more you feel it.
 
^^

4mg a day is very fast.

You can absolutely taper with methadone and feel minimal to no withdrawals during the dosage drops, but it needs to be a very slow taper. I'm talking a couple mg's a week or two.. that's it. So, a proper methadone taper to come off a higher dose and make it comfortable, takes a long time.. You can speed it up as much as you want, that's everyones choice, but the faster you taper, the more you feel it.


Exactly my thought. The only problem i found in slow tapering is that i hear from a lot of people that during the dosage drops they feel withdrawals commonly, though not as bad, then withdrawal after the last drop. Seems like if they added up all the shittiness, it would prob equal near the same as me unfortunately lol, though i would agree they probably found it easier because it was slower and less intense, though longer.

Summing up what i wrote, my opinion is that:

Tapering slow and long causes longer (more total days of discomfort), but..., it stretches it out and minimizes the discomfort/per day, which is probably easier than a fast taper or cold turkey for sure.

What do you think MR S ? Thoughts?
 
^^

Many people don't feel any withdrawals when tapering slow like that on methadone until they get to 0. I've done it where I dropped 2mg's a week, then every 2 weeks, etc. and I didn't feel a single dosage drop as far as withdrawals.
 
Literally over half the people I grew up with ended up on heroin eventually...I've been around opiate addiction a long time...and pretty much everyone who tapers off methadone feels much better in 3-4 weeks....

IME, it's mostly people who are, for lack of a better term:"pessimistic babies", who always think something is wrong who think they're still in withdrawal 3 months later...a huge part of it is mental....

I'm not calling you a baby or saying you're not still feeling the way you feel, but the people I meet on BL honestly have the longest withdrawals I've ever heard of...

My friends dad who was on opiates 40 something years tapered off methadone, and felt much better, and looked much better after a month...he's like 65 years old! I don't understand how people in their early 20s who have only been using a few years can be getting sick for so long...

Of course, you're on day 40 something..so that's not that long...You should be almost out of it....For me, I really do just hit a point where I know it's over...
 
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