Opioids Can short term methadone still give you withdrawals?

[pinpoint]

Does your job entail being mentally unstable? unelss you mean you are retarded? can you elaborate? just that in the UK mental job refers to someone being mental/retarded/wanna-be who does a job that suits them..We put 2 and 2 together and say its a mental job for menta people....Thats why its better to get some education, a better well paid job, contributing to society through a job that entails skills, talent, traits and qualities one has.

thanks!

lol'd

OP I wouldn't recommend switching to subs to get off a 3-week methadone habit. You're just going to make things worse than they need to be. People think subs are weak when it's actually quite the contrary.

 

[rhun]

Hey I didnt mean to come across as a jerk! I honestly did not understand when that person said mental job, because here its a slang term used for folks who work in mental wards or institutes, didnt't mean to come across in that way, so my bad...And yes English is my first and only language ( am of Northern Irish heritage sprinkled with English and Cornish-and oh am a Female..Gordon is my surname hehe). I just tend to type a bit too fast hence spelling errors and wording issues, so I do apologise for that too.

Ok so about my opiate history, I meant to state after I got off Subutex I did not have issues with opiates after that, its only recently I've dabbles in some dope, not for long though, just few weeks.

I know Methadone is a long acting opiate but my query was whether I should taper or just stop as I only took methadone for a month in low doses, if I taper I worry I might just be accumalating more Methadone because it hasn't reached plasma levels and what have ya.

I also wanted to know if anybody has experience with short term methadone.

P.S there is a close enough cure to withdrawals, thats called Ibogaine/Iboga...I have actually got a flood dose worth, but need a sitter...If all else fails I will do the Ibogaine with a sitter or practioner...

I'm only going to repeat myself one more time. We cannot tell you whether to taper until you determine whether or not you are physically dependent.

STOP taking the medication for a few days. If you get bad withdrawals, post here and we can suggest whether to continue on a lower dose and taper or whether it's enough mild enough to get through with something like the Thomas Recipe.

You're completely overthinking this. I understand you're afraid of withdrawal but you need to find out. Worst case scenario: You get some withdrawal symptoms and you don't want to deal with it so you take more methadone, you're instantly okay again, and you report back here and we go from there. okay?

This isn't your one shot to get information. We'll still be here. You can even PM me anytime. But I'm not going to tell you to take buprenorphine or any other opioid if we don't know that you need to. And that's not even what I would suggest anyway even if you were to get methadone withdrawal.

So please, don't take your dose starting tomorrow and don't use unless you feel real withdrawal. If you can't so this, you're not ready to quit anyway.

( EDIT: Ibogaine does NOT work for methadone or bupe dependency, do not attempt )

 

[The Doc.]

Yea rhun's right ibogaine does not work to make a pain free detoxification process. Its more for helping you see all the bad the drugs have caused to to do and helps you have a life changing psychedelic experience. Its still very painful physically and your not going to go out and have fun after taking ibogaine your going to throw up and see things that arnt there.

 

[Erikmen]

Methadone is indeed a very hard opiate and one should always consider a doctor´s opinion to see its cost-effectiveness.
I had once tried to decrease my methadone usage 4 weeks after having the doses established.
The process involved taking a 20 mg down every 1-2 weeks. I thought I was doing well and decided to go down twice as much.
That alone made me very sick. It was the same feeling as any withdraw and it took another few days (almost a week) to get them all right again.
The worst side effect of methadone is the detox process, from my perspective. It lasts over 12-14 days and you don´t get well in less than 30-45 days.
Up to this date I need methadone to have a 'normal' life.
I don´t have cravings as much as I used to have, no relapses, and regardless of the smaller dosage I still use I´m still seeing a doctor and somehow feel very much linked to this, probably for the rest of my life, although everything seems to be as normal as it could ever be.

 

[rhun]

Yea rhun's right ibogaine does not work to make a pain free detoxification process. Its more for helping you see all the bad the drugs have caused to to do and helps you have a life changing psychedelic experience. Its still very painful physically and your not going to go out and have fun u taking ibogaine your going to throw up and see things that arnt there.

Ibogaine doesn't work period for long action opioids, it only works for detox off short acting opioids like heroin, oxycodone, etc. The reason being that methadone and bupe withdrawal lasts longer than the ibogaine detox process.

I've heard from people who had great results from ibogaine treatment and I spent a lot of time researching it when my dad was considering it. While this may just be anecdotal evidence, there are thousands of people who can testify that it does in fact work and it does reverse opioid dependence.

But it's illegal in the US, most likely because Big Pharma wouldn't profit off it. Addiction treatment and the drugs that cause it are a very profitable industry. Anyways, just like any detox program you get what you pay for... ibogaine should be used as part of a treatment program, it should be medically supervised, and there needs to be a recovery plan for after you leave treatment.

I know quite a few people personally who spent thousands to do ibogaine only to relapse a few months later because they treated it like a magic cure and didn't change any of the behaviors or issues in their life that caused them to use. And there's some horror stories of people who tried to do it cheap and went to Mexico and were given ibogaine and left alone in some shitty hotel.

And I agree, it's not easy or pain-free. You don't feel physical withdrawal with the right dose but you trip hard for days and have to mentally deal with a lot of intense shit.

 

[Erikmen]

Is there such thing as pain free detox? Not using methadone or subs.
I was told that going through methadone detox can be dangerous.
If it´s not done in the right way you have risks (?)
So how to detox from such a strong opiate and still have to perform your work activities, etc.

 

[rhun]

^ pain free detox? Not realy, no. Ibogaine treatment supposedly reverses opioid dependence and you don't feel physical withdrawal but it's a very intense process mentally and physically, you trip for days. And it doesn't work for long acting opioids. Then there's that rapid detox where they put you under anesthesia and flush you with naltrexone (waismann method) so you go through withdrawal faster and it's "pain free" but it's really not. Not only does it cost thousands of dollars but you wake up feeling like absolute shit and everyone I've talked to that did it relapsed immediately and said it was inhuman and just a dangerous procedure. Unfortunately, taking short cuts seldom work even though as addicts we want a quick fix.

I haven't had any success with detox, medicated or not. And I've seen dozens of people go to detox and relapse immediately or soon after. In my experience, the best way to get off opioids is with a correct taper combined with a recovery program. I generally recommend a buprenorphine taper, but methadone is sometimes more appropriate because there's no PWD or ceiling effect. It all depends on the length of your addiction and the amount and potency of the opioids used. For example, due to my high level of tolerance to all opioids and use of cocaine/benzos, methadone would be the easier and safer method to taper with. But because I was such a wreck this last time I decided to get clean, I knew I needed maintenance for at least a year so I chose bupe... they made me wait too long to induce and I ended up in the ER and went 7 days in withdrawal even with the 32mg max dose of bupe daily. Anyways, whether you use methadone or bupe, a 10 day taper is usually a good plan but it can be longer or shorter depending on the patient's needs.

But even a correct taper is not enough on it's own. Sustained, long-term sobriety from drugs and alcohol is usually a result of active recovery. Opioid addiction especially necessitates this because PAWS generally lasts 1 year, and for many of us getting there seems hopeless. What "active recovery" looks like is up to the addict himself (or herself), as different things work for different people. I've personally tried detox, inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, bupe maintenance, methadone maintenance, group therapy, individual therapy, 12 step meetings, LifeRing, SMART Recovery, sober living environments, psychiatry and medication, diet and exercise, holistic medicine, herbal remedies... I've kept the stuff that worked for me personally, all that matters is I do something every day for my recovery.

What I've generally seen work for a lot if people is medication, individual therapy, and some kind of group process (meetings or group therapy, anything with other addicts). I think correct medication gets overlooked and I know in my case I relapsed many times till I found what worked for me... seroquel so I could sleep and remeron for anxiety plus buprenorphine right now. These 3 have given me a chance to do all the shit I mentioned above, I was such a wreck previously that I would relapse or self-destruct. Unfortunately I'm pregnant plus bupe is the only effective treatment I've found for my depression or I'd be off right now giving 100% off maintenance a shot again. But I've completed both bupe and methadone tapers previously and with minimal discomfort.

Sorry for the tangent. Oh my.

 

[rico montana]

hey, i am an opiate addict for 13 years on and off.the last year i was on a subutex treatment.after moving to another country , i had my monthly supply (8mgs/day) via mail. but , after not presenting myself to the program for 2 months they cut me off , off course. then i went in w/d even though i was kinda ready for this and i was aut-tapering myself down and keeping bupes as a stash for hard days.the hard days came , my stashed finnished with my last dose to be around 2mgs every other day for the last 2 weeks, so i could function normaly and go to work at least. i also have ascript for 10mg of diazepam/day. well , after 3 days from my last dose i i began to wd as expected but not as hard as i thought. the main problem was diarrea and mood shifts .so , i began to search for over the counter products but soon discoverd that it was a waste of money.i didnt want to 'deal' in the street , i hate it . but the weeks passed , with the help of valiums , beers and weed , and my main problem was the awful deppresion .so one day i come across a guy that i immediatly understood that he was on some kind of opiate beacause of his deep blue eyes pin pupils.so i asked him if he could help me , hoping deep inside me not to be heroin .i asked him if he could help me find subs.he said no but he said that he's prescribed methadone and he can sell. so i was buing for 10euros 120mgs every other day , and splitting the dose in half. well , i was ssooo wasted the first week that my girlfriend noticed that i am on something , of course i denied everything.after the first 10 days i was buying 120mg every day for another 3 weeks untill i found a doctor to prescribe me bupe.he said that i have to wait at least 5 days because i was so high on methadone.these were the worts withdraws i EVER had , even when i was shooting 2g of H. suicide thoughts , diarrea , vomiting , i lost 3 killos in 4 days. then back i bube since then and everything back to normal. methadone is the evil , believe me.i find it as hard as heroin. excuse my english .i hope i help you though your dose is much lower

 

[David Wooderson]

Kudos for being able to keep your methadone dose at 20mg. I wouldn't wish methadone withdrawal on my worst enemy. It can be super dangerous and even deadly. I wouldn't reccomend it to anyone unless they were on ridiculous amounts of heroin or fentanyl. Suboxone can handle almost all forms of opiate abuse if done correctly. If the patient is apt to shoot it than it's just another form of abuse. I have withdrawn from 30mg for a week and couldn't handle it. But the reason was I wasn't ready for it. I didn't even consider myself a junkie after my first hospitalization. Just thought I had a crazy habit. I have gone through most recovery options and am glad I at least tried them as allot of knowledge was imparted that paid dividends when I finally got a chance at rehab. I am not in active recovery in the sense of going to meetings on the reg. I don't need to repeat the same mantra everyday to get it, but thats just me. I use bluelight as a place to express my feelings, and cheer lead for people that were in the same circumstance. That has been enough for me this time. But I lost everything multiple times so I am by no means getting off easy.

Best of luck OP!

 

[Newavalon]

Lmao

I'm quite stable, thanks.

I meant that I have a job that requires a clear, non opiate - zoned out mindset, especially in summer. Thus, when I feel I am stoned, nodding, going beyond my usual dose .. It's time to back off, dry out for a period of time, and focus. Methadone helps me do that.

Again, I have been on the opiate train 20+ years and take opana on a daily basis. As the other poster said, the roller coaster ride from taking opiates long term kinda messes with your critical thought process...hence, why I go through dry out periods tapering off with a low dosage of methadone for a short period of time.

And I am not an "it", I am all female.

but are you a hot female?