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Opioids A methadone MMT question?

P

Parsalus

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
2
Hello I am a 25 year old male in good shape I take daily multi vitamins, SAM-E, Fish Oil, B-complex, ect.
I try to stay active. I am currently on 170mg of methadone daily I been to the clinic and on methadone for 9 months. I want off this drug
It has helped me clean my act up and I no longer am a IV user of opiates and my arms are healed. I want to drop 10mgs a week
when do you think the withdrawal symptoms will hit me at. I mean can I go down 10mg every week until i reach 50 I mean like at what mg
will I start feeling dope sickness, if i drop 10mg tommorow will I feel the WD symptoms one,two, maybe three or four days into it.
Anyone that has has any tapering experience with methadone please give me your input, thank you.

PS
Methadone does nothing to me but stops my cravings I feel confined and imprisoned to my clinic
I want to change my life I want to be sober. Thanks and much love to all.
 
170mg is a crazy high dose. In my state, it is illegal to be prescribed more than 100mg without permission from the state, and even then the maximum they will let you have is 120mg. I went c/t off 100mg while locked up and can tell you with all honesty you are in for a ride. Taper as slow as you can, you will feel like ass for a good while. I didn't feel right for probably close to 6 months. The w/d symptoms are much milder than kicking H, but last WAAY longer. You can still function, you just won't feel "right" . I remember hating the feeling of HAVING to go to my clinic 6 days a week for years. That really sucked. I couldn't travel anywhere, always connected to the clinic .
 
^Good advice. 170mg is a very high dose. I wouldn't jump down to 10mg if you can avoid it.

I'm going to move this over to Other Drugs, I feel it's closer to their area of expertise.

Good luck!
 
from the wiki :
Methadone tapering works best when done as a slow and gradual reduction in dose, dropping 5 mg every three to 14 days. At this rate there should be very few, if any, physical symptoms during the taper. Once the dose is lowered to around 20 mg, the tapering may be slowed down to an even more gradual reduction, to reduce or eliminate any symptoms. Nowadays, most methadone providers will allow you to choose the rate at which your dose is reduced.
 
nsauce said:
170mg is a crazy high dose. In my state, it is illegal to be prescribed more than 100mg without permission from the state, and even then the maximum they will let you have is 120mg. I went c/t off 100mg while locked up and can tell you with all honesty you are in for a ride. Taper as slow as you can, you will feel like ass for a good while. I didn't feel right for probably close to 6 months. The w/d symptoms are much milder than kicking H, but last WAAY longer. You can still function, you just won't feel "right" . I remember hating the feeling of HAVING to go to my clinic 6 days a week for years. That really sucked. I couldn't travel anywhere, always connected to the clinic .
Click to expand...

Right, except one thing: Methadone withdrawal can be MUCH WORSE than withdrawal from other opiates, for the simple fact that most clinics will start you off at a high dose even if you we're shooting ultra-cut H or just snorting OC's for a few months. Often times, the dose you get of methadone exceeds the dose of the DOC that you we're addicted too. Also, even when I tapered down, methadone withdrawal is much worse for me than any other drug, to the point I had to quit doing it full time, and I know a few people who agree. I think it has a lot to do with genetics, as a couple of people in my family, specifically my own mother, DT worse from MD than from other drugs, in my mom's case Heroin.

As to the original question, 170mg is stupid-high; I wouold suggest 5 mg aa week
 
I've been on 250mg of methadone daily for about 2 years now. My doctor didn't seem to have a problem dosing me so high. Yes, I do think it's a very high dose and I'm planning to taper as well.

Anyways... In my opinion, it's OK to taper 10mg per week if you're taking over 100mg. Between 50-100mg I'd taper 5mg weekly. 25-50 = 2-3mg weekly. 1-25mg = 1-2mg weekly.
 
^This is what I hear most often.

Yeah, this is going to take some time unfortunately. The best thing you can do now is get down to striking distance so you can quit once you get the dose lowered. It's good that you're getting off now though; every little bit of time you stay on methadone makes it harder to quit.
 
My advice: stick with the clinics tapering regimen! Ultimatey it is up to you when/how much you want to drop, if any. I made the mistake of getting antsy with tapering/the clinic and left at 80mg per day. Boy was I in for a ride. Even with the help of benzos, soma, and 12 suboxone, I was sick as a dog for over a month. This is what causad one of my relapses. Tapering may take a long time and be frustrating, but believe me, if I could go back in time I would have stuck with the clinic and done it the right way.

Cold turkey methadone withdrawal (especially at high doses) is insane. Makes kicking IV heroin seem like a walk in the park. I was on MMT for quite a while, PM if you want to talk about it or need help.

Good luck.
 
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