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Are there ANY benefits of methadone over suboxone??

AnythingEverything

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Messages
540
So I've been on 28mg of suboxone for over a year now and have really, really felt like using for a long time now. Some days I just want to throw it all in and buy a few good grams of Heroin but I have so much to lose by doing that:(

My dr is pretty easy going, too easy going actually. I only have to see him once every three months, costs me $160 a visit and $20 a week for my subs and I have weekly pickup and no supervised doses. He would change me to methadone if I really wanted to but there is a max of 4 takeaways a week and between work, 5 kids and living in a small town where everyone watches what you are doing, I'm not sure I really want to have to go back to visiting the chemist several times a week.

Can anyone tell me of any benefits of methadone over suboxone that would make it worth the constant pickups? I've never actually had methadone, even recreationally....that I can remember anyway.

Thanks in advance.
 
Methadone side effects, separating fact and fiction.

Low vitamin d status of patients in methadone maintenance treatment.

Methadone

Neuropathic Pain: Causes, Management and Understanding

Hypogonadism and Low Testosterone Levels as a Side Effect of Methadone and Buprenorphine


Chemical mantineces is all good for chemical dependency, but it will always fail against addiction.. you need to combine maintenance with cognitive behavioral therapy for addiction, whether this comes from the fellowships of other avenues its more key then the meds.

If it was so easy as the brain chemistry then we all could just taper off.. its not we need to alter how we think and behave.

You got this.. just going to take a little effort,<3
 
To be completely and candidly honest, I want to feel something. Which I know is not a good reason, but better than Heroin right? I just wonder if it will help my cravings more.
 
Sorry. Just got busy at work and didn't see your second post. Thanks for the links.

Yeah. I'm really struggling right now and want to eventually get off all drugs including maintenance ones. It's very hard where I live,
400 person town, 4 hours from the city. I can and do access one NA meeting a week about an hour and a bit away. When Iived in the city I was part of a big fellowship with several meetings each day, it was great. This one is about ten people an hour away through the bush at night. I have a drug and alcohol counsellor an hour in the other direction and she is lovely and it's good to talk but she can't do the therapy I need. I want and need to do dialtectal behaviour therapy as I have borderline personality disorder which encompasses all my issues, drug addiction, anxiety, depression, mild OCD, bulimia, possible ADHD. I work 60 hours over 6 days a week and have 5 very busy and sporty children plus a house, 3 cars and a husband to maintain lol. So life is busy. I have a page saved on my phone for a place that looks great and does group therapies as well as one on one for dbt. It's 3 hours away but I'm thinking of using my one day off (Tuesdays) to go down there. It's going to be tough because that is when I do things like school reading and canteen, groceries, driving friends around who don't have cars and I take one girl to child safety an hour away to visit the kids she has just lost (due to drugs)....but I think I'm really going to have to just do it and find other times to do these things because I'm never going to further my recovery and my life if I don't. And I don't want to feel this way forever.

Thanks again/
 
I went on methadone for a few years awhile back. I was kicking other opiates but I also wanted to "feel something" if possible. The most obvious benefit of methadone is it will hold some people that suboxone won't. It also gave me a buzz for awhile when using it but this feeling eventually dissipated and it was strictly a maintenance drug, no euphoria at all even when I was gobbling handfuls of valium and klonopin with it.

I'm not anti-methadone but I think it should be used sparingly. My suggestion would be to try suboxone first and if that doesn't work for you then maybe consider methadone as a last ditch effort. The withdrawals are as long and unpleasant as the internet makes them out to be and from my experience many people who jump off methadone end up going to suboxone eventually anyway.
 
Yeah I'm on 32mg of suboxone and have been on it for over a year now . Was on. 28 most of that time but just got increased yesterday as that it all the dr could suggest for my anxiety :(

I was thinking even if I did change to methadone id probably have to go back on the subs to get off it. I really don't want to be having to visit the chemist several times a week so I don't think I'll go there again. Just sick of feeling like shit all the time. :(
 
Wow that's a lot if subs and only seeing a doc once every 3 months is crazy. I see mine every 3 weeks. I hope that you stay off the dope but maybe see a new doc
 
I'm not anti maintenance. I believe it has its place. But is hard for me in good conscience to not share how utterly agonising my withdrawl from methadone has been. 45 days or so in and
I am still still having withrawl symptoms. Not as intense as first month but they are still plaguing me. NOT sure what you want out of methadone.
Like I said it has its place. But I would caution how long you stay on any maintenance drug.
The longer you stay on it the harder it is to come off imo. I'm a two timer now. And this last time I stayed on twice as long and it has been 100 times harder.
Please I hope I dont scare you I just strongly believe need both sides to a story to make an informed decision. The withdrawl part of methadone is not strongly enough emphasized imo. IM afraid your wanting a high may be clouding your judgement. Only you know that.
Good luck
 
Yep, I'm totally scared of the withdrawals but I'm nowhere near ready to be off maintenance. I have psych appts starting next Tuesday and I'm back weekly with my atods counsellor (drug and alcohol) which is good, plus one NA meeting a week and self help tools at home. I would happily go to NA everyday if I could like I did when I was in the city but this is the only one I can access and it's a two hour round trip through the bush at night to get there.

I probably won't change to methadone, actually feeling a lot better now. I just don't want to have to go back to visiting the chemist every couple of days where at the moment I go in once a week, pick up my 224mg of suboxone and my diazepam and I'm on my way, no supervised doses or anything.

I'm not changing drs! I'm happy. I did just get a call saying I had a spot in the public clinic which is closer (1 hour instead of 3-4) but I told them to give it to someone who needed it more. I have it pretty good only travelling down every three months (I can go more if I want but this is the minimum to stay on the program with him), having no supervised doses, weekly takeaways, never had to do UT's except at my first appointment obviously which I don't even remember I was that fucked up. The public clinic is free but I would have to go over more often (it's still a two hour round trip) plus have less takeaways and do UT's. I don't mind doing them but I haven't used since being on the program so it's just another thing I don't have to worry about in my current situation. I pay my dr $160 every three months plus $150 in fuel but that's fine, and it gives me a reason to get back to the city and see civilisation and friends! We only pay $20 a week at our local chemist for the meds no matter the dose so that wouldn't change if I went public. And I seriously don't have time for appts every couple of weeks. I've now got weekly psych appts. I have found someone three hours away that does dialectal behaviour therapy, yay! Plus weekly atods counselling, NA Meeting onxe a week, then a business to run (60 hours a week) and five children who have school and kibdy and everything that goes along with that, two daughters that dance (one over seven hours a week and the other three hours), two boys who do 6 hours of gymnastics a week, five who swim (three competitively), one who sings, two who do horse riding, one who has physio appts after a hip operation, one who needs chiro and also psych appts for add and other things, 3 who play soccer, one that plays rep soccer plus futsal, then school excursions, camps, I help on the canteen plus in class reading and that's not even mentioning the housework and the shopping and the cooking and all the rest of it. I also have a friend who is in great need, she's had her three kids under two taken by child services and doesn't have a car so relies on me for pretty much everything and her situation had escalated with her 16 year old attempting suicide two days ago (we found him) so I have spent the last few days driving her over the countryside to hospitals. None of this I mind, I have a very blessed life , just don't need to add extra sub appointments on top of all that while I'm still doing well, I haven't used and my dr is also a nutritionist so great with that kind of help too, in the way of supplements to help with stress.

Lol, I'm raving on, haven't been on here for a few days and that was a long winded way of saying I'm not going to change drs as I have it pretty good :)

Thanks everyone for the info. My dr said I can change to methadone if I really want to but I've decided against it due to info here and the lack of takeaways etc.

Thanks all.
 
I believe methadone could help you in this case. But as you probably know, it´s stays in your system for a much longer period.
Lots of posts not agreeing with methadone and of course there a full list of side effects.
In certain cases though, it´s the only solution if you want to keep distance from cravings and have all due endorphines accounted for.
 
I'm not anti maintenance. I believe it has its place. But is hard for me in good conscience to not share how utterly agonising my withdrawl from methadone has been. 45 days or so in and
I am still still having withrawl symptoms. Not as intense as first month but they are still plaguing me. NOT sure what you want out of methadone.
Like I said it has its place. But I would caution how long you stay on any maintenance drug.
The longer you stay on it the harder it is to come off imo. I'm a two timer now. And this last time I stayed on twice as long and it has been 100 times harder.
Please I hope I dont scare you I just strongly believe need both sides to a story to make an informed decision. The withdrawl part of methadone is not strongly enough emphasized imo. IM afraid your wanting a high may be clouding your judgement. Only you know that.
Good luck
Suboxone withdrawal is just as hellish. There is no free lunch
 
Sup any,

For my 2 cents, I used methadone to get off opiates and benzodiazepines that I was on for 8 years. I only did a five day methadone detox. It got me off of the meds, but then for about 8 weeks I was dealing with PAWS.

If you're looking to feel something, methadone is NOT for you. If its maintenance then ok, but just to feel that high, no. You honestly might as well stay on opiates, because the methadone Half-Life is far longer than oxy. Also much much harder to kick.

Either way, good luck.

Bob
 
Methadone helps a lot with cravings and blocks other opiates if you take them accordingly.
The only problem is that you may have to live with methadone for a long time before you may be able to quit.
It stays in your system forever, and it´s stronger than morphine. Withdraws are known to be endless.
Besides, a high tolerance is built and you may face few other side effects like sweating, weight gain, etc.
If it is heroin or opiates that you are trying to quit, it´s the most effective drug from where I see it.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. Sorry, I haven't been around for awhile to respond. I'll be staying on the suboxone mainly due to convinience (only have to pick up once a week and no supervised doses and three monthly dr visits) .....still getting big cravings and I just gave in, not to opiates but to the bloody benzos again. I've been tapering off Xanax using Valium for over a year now (did one rapid detox off benzos in detox before and never again....) I was down to 20mg val a day and doing fine (down from about 300mg or equivalent of Xanax/lorazepam). A few weeks ago I got myself 120 2mg xannies and thought ok I'll just have some fun and escape for awhile and then get on with life...Or, I'll just take one or two every so often whe I feel anxious. Lol, yeah right, they lasted less than a week. Got it of that ok and was able to go back to my mere 20mg Valium without too much trouble but I've just done the same thing again:(((. Ordered even more this time and can't stop munching Xanax all day everyday.

I don't think it makes a difference whether I'm on subs or methadone, this addict still wants to get high:((. 32mg of suboxone plus 20mg or more of Xanax plus pristiq,bupropion and the occasional small amount of Valium. It's not good right? I wish I could do rehab again, I rt do. I want to be off all this shite. Everyone is worried again, hubby thinks I'm on smack as I'm nodding from the Xanax by the end of the day prob combined with the sub.

Sorry, that was a nothing post. I just hate being ab addict.
 
I'm not anti maintenance. I believe it has its place. But is hard for me in good conscience to not share how utterly agonising my withdrawl from methadone has been. 45 days or so in and
I am still still having withrawl symptoms. Not as intense as first month but they are still plaguing me. NOT sure what you want out of methadone.
Like I said it has its place. But I would caution how long you stay on any maintenance drug.
The longer you stay on it the harder it is to come off imo. I'm a two timer now. And this last time I stayed on twice as long and it has been 100 times harder.
Please I hope I dont scare you I just strongly believe need both sides to a story to make an informed decision. The withdrawl part of methadone is not strongly enough emphasized imo. IM afraid your wanting a high may be clouding your judgement. Only you know that.
Good luck

yeah when i kicked methadone it was months and months of feeling like shit...surprisingly i didnt get cravings but instead i got insomnia, terrible lethargy, intensified pain, mind crushing depression and anhedonia and anxiety...i stayed off methadone for a year and a half and i still dont feel i recovered 100% and that freaks me out...so i went to other substances..i could never go through another methadone withdrawal..just the length of time was agony..
 
Suboxone withdrawal is the most intense drawn out hell I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. I wouldnt just assume its easier to get off then methadone.
 
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