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⫸STICKY⫷ Australian Opiate Withdrawal Maintainance Medication Prescribers

The pharmacists make not much money from this, and I thank them for it. I figure its the least I can do to be polite :) [also, a cute one at my new pharmacy has a crush on me; I assume that it'd be bad ethically to go there, such a shame][/QUOTE]


lol I dunno about that, 100 clients x $$$ remember it's given free by gubment the methadone supply. I think it should be like the UK supplied free, A normal script is $5.50, $60 is a fair whack out ones benefits year after year.. In NSW i hear as much as $90
 
Hi, i have a question. I am currently on methadone maintenance (private prescriber but dose at chemist) and i have a back injury that has got worse just lately. I have been on oxys before for my back. The methadone has always been maintenance and not prescribed for pain. I'm looking to get some kind of pain relief for my current back pain. It's kind of breakthrough pain i guess, i mean the methadone doesnt cover the pain, just keeps me from getting sick so its not providing any pain relief. That said i am in pain constantly from my back but it goes from bearable to unbearable throughout the day.

Considering im on maintenance where would i go to obtain pain meds. I am reluctant to go to my methadone prescriber for fear that he a) wont treat me, or b) will just suggest an increase of methadone, which i dont want cause the pain is not constant. I literally want some pain meds i can take, when i need to. I am thinking of going to another dr. but then do i tell him i am on methadone? Or do i keep quiet about being on methadone. But then the doc will think im opiate naieve and prob wont prescribe me enough meds to get an analgesic effect. I'm also worried that if i go to a different dr. other than my methadone on then my methadone dr will think that im dr. shopping. Any ideas as to what doctor i should go to, and what i should reveal to them?
 
cyborgeous said:
Hi, i have a question. I am currently on methadone maintenance (private prescriber but dose at chemist) and i have a back injury that has got worse just lately. I have been on oxys before for my back. The methadone has always been maintenance and not prescribed for pain. I'm looking to get some kind of pain relief for my current back pain. It's kind of breakthrough pain i guess, i mean the methadone doesnt cover the pain, just keeps me from getting sick so its not providing any pain relief. That said i am in pain constantly from my back but it goes from bearable to unbearable throughout the day.

Considering im on maintenance where would i go to obtain pain meds. I am reluctant to go to my methadone prescriber for fear that he a) wont treat me, or b) will just suggest an increase of methadone, which i dont want cause the pain is not constant. I literally want some pain meds i can take, when i need to. I am thinking of going to another dr. but then do i tell him i am on methadone? Or do i keep quiet about being on methadone. But then the doc will think im opiate naieve and prob wont prescribe me enough meds to get an analgesic effect. I'm also worried that if i go to a different dr. other than my methadone on then my methadone dr will think that im dr. shopping. Any ideas as to what doctor i should go to, and what i should reveal to them?
Click to expand...

If you go to another doctor, I think you will have to tell him you're prescribed methadone for pain. If you don't, he'll probably find out. Even if he doesn't straight away, when he does he'll think that you're a typical drug seeker and kick you out as fast as he can, leaving a big black mark on your file saying "drug seeker" - permanently. Making it even harder than it already will be for you since you've got liquid handcuffs in your drug resume. I think you're best bet would be talk to your methadone doctor - is he the one who prescribed it for pain? Or did you get a referral to him from your GP? Maybe try your GP if that happened. To be honest, I think you'd be lucky to get anything on top of methadone for pain.

One of the problems with methadone, depending on your dose, is that it pretty much fucks your tolerance to other opioid pain medicines. If you're over about 50mg, then there isn't much available, at normally prescribed doses, that would help you with your breakthrough pain. That's just one of a whole range of things that makes methadone an evil drug.

Another important thing to note is the fact that it's a really shitty pain killer compared to almost every other opioid, for some it may work for the pain for a few hours, others barely at all - but it certainly doesn't last 24 hours due to peak plasma levels or something. The highs and lows are different for everybody due to metabolism, fitness and everyone's unique chemical makeup, but IMO it should never be prescribed for pain at all. I think the only reason it is is because doctors are often ignorant of how it works and how shit it is for treating pain, they don't take the very real consequences into consideration. Having methadone on your file makes it almost impossible to get real pain relief unless you go to the black market. You will be stereotyped by all medical professionals, even if you have been prescribed it for pain. This makes it even harder to get anything that you may need in the future.
 
Repping QLD
Sub/Bupe saved my life
Was on/off Mdone for 10yrs ... still used/phucked up. Life was shit/bleak. flash forward 6 yrs
NOW, finishing 2nd degree yo... still hate everybody, lol. But liking the man in the mirror, for once.
Pax
PtP
 
Hmmm. Tough one. I got bad news, in my case anyway. I got legit pain too, that's (one of the reasons) why I was a hammer-head in the past; but I hate to say it - yr stigmatised for life. No doc is gonna help, ever, ever, ever again, once yr on a program - from my experience. It's like a fucking APB alert flashing DOPE FIEND is tattoed on yr forehead. ALL that I get is an updated dose, hence, I'm pretty much on max dose subutex, which IMO does jack for pain... zip... zilch... nada - u get the drift. I just learn to deal with it: and wake up screaming, on occasion. Please correct me if i'm wrong (which i'm not)
Good luck but
Pax
PtP
 
Methadonia2010 said:
The pharmacists make not much money from this, and I thank them for it. I figure its the least I can do to be polite :) [also, a cute one at my new pharmacy has a crush on me; I assume that it'd be bad ethically to go there, such a shame

lol I dunno about that, 100 clients x $$$ remember it's given free by gubment the methadone supply. I think it should be like the UK supplied free, A normal script is $5.50, $60 is a fair whack out ones benefits year after year.. In NSW i hear as much as $90
Click to expand...

I agree that it is fair the pharmacist charge a dispensing fee for the medication. I'm in NSW and pay $5/day or $70 fortnight, which is still a fair whack out of my pension, but it is cheaper than buying it (Suboxone) on the street and it is cheaper than the good stuff. For my five bucks, I get the privacy of going to a chemist, avoiding all of the street urchins at the public clinics and a cute pharmacist to chat to as well! :)

Although, having to pay the $5 for the TA I pickup on Saturday for Sunday ain't right, but meh.

A. <3
 
Forget Methadone - only bcos u can still use & it's worse than h to get off, by far IMO - I've said before Bupe is subtle, but it's legs are the best of any opiate...
IMO
PtP
 
(South Australia)
There was a really "liberal" doctor on lower NE rd, campbelltown but he retired eventually. Liberal = when I told him I was injecting my done, he referred me to a drug counsellor, prescribed me saline ampoules and left my TAs at 4/wk!

These days I go to a guy in willunga (not sure if I can mention the name b/c the last guy who referred to this doctor had his post edited). Anyway, he is a pain/addiction specialist and has methods open to him that other doctors don't. E.g - he can put you in hospital and swap you from methadone to bupe in 6 or 7 days, regardless of your dose of methadone, even over 100mg/day. It works like so:

You take carbamazepine and vitamin c to assist rapid excretion of the methadone and take liquid morphine to cover the withdrawals (calculated by converting daily methadone dose to equivalent daily morphine dose) which is then divided into hourly doses and rounded up. Each hour you can request a liquid morphine dose from the nurses. Once enough time has gone by that the methadone is likely out of your system enough, (and keeping in mind you probably didn't take the morphine around the clock so you are probably on a lower dose now), now all you need to do is withdraw from the morphine which is much quicker than withdrawing from the methadone.

You have to wait until you are at the point where bupe will not precipitate withdrawal (which is presumably worse than the withdrawal you are required to get through to get to that point.) Once you get to a certain point of hanging out (approx 2 days), you are given a test dose of bupe. If it doesn't send you into worse withdrawals then you get the next bupe dose and YAY! You have swapped to bupe! This process is all free, btw.

Even if you cave in, as I did, you end up on a much lower dose of methadone. I came down to a third of my previous dose. The whole time I was in hospital he would answer calls throughout the night from nurses and pretty much do anything he could to ease the pain. He also does hypnosis and is overall a reasonable guy. And he can give 6 TA/wk if you've been on the program >10 years.

I'm not sure how much it currently costs to see this doctor but he said his prices will go down in July after Medicare adds on suitable specialty billing codes.
 
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In NSW, any doctor ie GP, can prescribe up to 5 patients on methadone or buprenorphine without doing a special course or being registered as a prescriber. So you could ask your GP if you have one if they would prescribe for you. They can get support from any specialist at a hospital that has a drug specialist (Fellow of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians).
 
methodone never ending thou,i would suggest and stand by subbies but u will have a hard 2 days to start with truth
 
can u not get df's where u are,dihydrocodiene they pretty good but not too strong,it turns to morphine in ya body,i can help if u need to get any
 
There is an okay doctor on the sunshine coast if anyone needs her contact details feel free to PM. Gotta say I'm glad to be off methadone, first 6 months were pleasant enough except for the pharmacy visits. But after 6 months I was on and off going into withdrawals still, but the lack of energy was horrible also no libido at all my dick was useless.

Does anyone still get RLS say 6months after quitting methadone?
Its fucking torture.
 
Hi all lately I been getting the shittiest Anxiety/dep i don't know what to do?, low doser 20mg, but i have to stop taking benzo's with it....but Anxiety comes up so the need for benzo's oh its crap that real disabling gut Anxiety....pit of the stomach.. :( any advice?.
 
You could try Atarax, its an antihistamine with anti-anxiety effects, u should be able to get it scsripted easily no abuse potential. Anti anxiety effects last fairly long.
 
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