Opioids Another quick methadone question not found in full in megathread

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So here is my idea. I am on Methadone like I said in earlier posts... and I'm doing very well on the program, I have just started recently, about two months ago for my first time in a MMT program. I worked it from 30mg to now being "stabilized" with maintenance status at 110mg.

Anyway I get a "take home" dose for sundays because the clinic is closed until I go for more time then I will get more takehomes as long as I keep pissing clean on my drug tests. I feel like my dose could probably be held at 80mg or so and I would be ok, just crave more. Would it be too bad of me, or dangerous, or whatever you want to call it, if I took a 10 mg swig extra off of my take home and take it right after I dose, therefore making my dose 120mg. The medicine got me "high" kind of when I started and was titrating upward until I was on 110 for a solid period of time.. but yeah, it got me high, just not the BAM high you get with dope.

Would taking 10mg after dosing, my regular dose hurt any... meaning it would do whatever it would do for me. but tomorrow, would taking the estimated 100mg take care of me since its a lower dose... thats what I'm mainly concerned not how it will be today. Like I said I think I could hold my dose with a 80-90mg dose if I ever had to. So would losing that 10mg tomorrow make a big deal? And do you think it would be too much of me to take that extra estimated 10mg give or take 5 due to error..

I know it sounds stupid and defeats the purpose of the program, this is my first opiate screw up since I started the program...


Oh and if you ever do take methadone while on methadone, like a few hours later will its high affinity for the receptor sites from the first dose block the second dose until its wearing off? I figure it won't but wouldn't hurt to ask for the future.

 

[Flabu]

I probably go to the same clinic as you. But I wouldnt go ahead and add 10 mg to your current dose. I just dont see the point, it probably wont make much of a difference and the methadone is so concentrated the chance of adding more than 10 mg is extremely high. You would probably be fine at 100 the next day. I dont know, I just dont see the point. Especially since with methadone it takes a couple days of a consistent dose to feel the effects really.

 

[thelung]

I used to take a little of my Sunday dose on Saturday just like you are talking about doing here. In all honesty, all that is going to do is leave you with less methadone the next day! You won't get noticable "higher" from taking just a little bit more. Basically you are just wasting your dose! So when Sunday rolls around you won't be getting the full amount that you get every other day. So just hold on to your Sunday takehome until ------> Sunday :-D

 

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only reason I would is to get that buzz for a day I got every time I raised it in the past. I should have probably stopped after 90mg but I kept raisin it. I go to JEM now, transferred from a clinic in Glenview.

It was giving me mad all day long of a high feeling, just not the same as dope. Especially after 70mg it started, I fall asleep all day every day when I'm not moving around. like right now at my computer my eyes just close... all the time, ulness I'm doing something besides spacing out. I already did it, but I know it would be hard to dose 10mg, I used a couple of small small tiny tiny amounts that appeared to be around 10 give a take a little mg or so. It did work too a little. And tomorrow I think too that the 100 or so mg will be enough. I look at it like maybe on saturdays it can be my "buzz" day, just add 10-20mg and then take it correctly the rest of the week. You could even add like 20mg then if 10 wont make a huge difference. like I said even 90 would hold me for that next day I would think.. or hold me enough anyways.

Sounds stupid I know... I don't and won't do it every weekend, I don't normally.

Do you go to JEM Flabu???

I used to take a little of my Sunday dose on Saturday just like you are talking about doing here. In all honesty, all that is going to do is leave you with less methadone the next day! You won't get noticable "higher" from taking just a little bit more. Basically you are just wasting your dose! So when Sunday rolls around you won't be getting the full amount that you get every other day. So just hold on to your Sunday takehome until ------> Sunday :-D

You're very right, thats why I took a very tiny amount. I figure 100 will work like it should. I think my dose is a little too high anyways as I fall asleep a shit load almost like a small nod every day. It's not heavy euphoric or like making me super high, just a nice little cozy buzz. especially when I add the ten mg it makes a big difference. Not needed though it is kinda wasteful in a way but its not a big loss at all.

Edit: I did this today and it actually did make a decent difference. Not saying everyone will because like I said I think I'm on a dose thats a little too high to begin with by 10-20mg maybe more already.

 

[Tchort]

There's absolutely nothing unique about your situation- it is so unbelievably common. If you read the packet you got from the clinic when starting MMT, there is generally a paragraph or two about 'The Glow'. The period of transition between heroin/oxycodone/whatever to Methadone where the client/patient feels a 'glow' (a euphemism for opioid high) when they start the program.

Every person is different; some never feel anything resembling a high from Methadone from the time they start the program, some say they feel high everyday after years of being on the program- but for most people, there is some kind of transition period where the time between starting the program and being stabilized, they can feel the dose kick in after 30-90 minutes and feel slightly off base (or depending on circumstances like empty stomach etc) a little high. Once you've been stabilized, generally this stops or drastically weakens. Some people continue to chase that feeling despite its weakness by upping their dose well beyond when the Methadone daily dose is controlling cravings for their opioid of choice, by tampering with their take home doses and/or buying Methadone on the street.

Tampering with your take homes is a habit that is tough to break (unless you voluntarily or involuntarily give up your take homes). Some people refuse to be given take-homes because they either tampered with their dose(s) or just know they will tamper with them given the opportunity. It isn't going to give you qualitatively more 'pleasure' and will increase unpleasant side effects on both the too much and not enough Methadone ends. Once you start tampering odds are you'll continue to do it.

 

[brutus]

I used to do that nearly every time that I got take homes. Soon I was taking a week's worth of medicine to get high and it fucked up my tolerance to methadone, but I couldn't ask for an increase. The best thing to do is for you to look at this as a screw up because it's very easy quickly turn into a habit and continuously chase that methadone feeling and end up overdosing. It's happened to me twice, so I know from experience that taking just a little more can indeed make you overdose.