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OD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic
Opioids Doc Wants to Switch Me to Methadone - Terrible Idea?
- Thread starter Harrisment
- Start date
Mr.Scagnattie
Bluelighter
So how do you feel on the 90mg's? It taking away your cravings and whatnot? Are you tired a lot and shit?
Here's the real shocker. I WAS on 145mg. For about 9 months. I didn't realize it, but I was indeed sleeping a lot, but I held a job for a full year after starting MMT.
I went down 5mg/week until I reached 100mg then finally saw the doc a couple weeks ago, he put me on a 1mg/day decrease order and the night I was on 81mg I had chills, gooseflesh, yawning, typical wd symptoms, and knew shit had gone south. I had a craving but didn't use. I told the dosing nurse on Tuesday (after dosing 80mg monday, thinking sunday night was a fluke) that I was having wd symptoms after 12 hours and cravings again, which blows man because it's been over a year since I have even remembered what it felt like to want to use an opiate (even just to relieve w/d)....
Anyway, she called the doc and when I came in yesterday they bumped me back up to 90mg to save my arse, am gonna sit on it for a week or two, then go down 1mg every other day and see how it goes. I can honestly say that after coming down 70mg from 145 to 85mg (85 would suffice, doc did 90 to make sure a needle doesn't end up in my arm on the off chance 5mg wasn't enough) methadone maintenance is a joke when it comes to how high they let patients get (literally, and on their dosing). There is a patient at our clinic at like 330mg. Several are over 200mg and plenty over 130mg, PLENTY.
I don't want to hijack the thread so I'll end it here but yes, 30 mins after drinking my 90 yesterday I crashed on my couch (after being up all night with the chills) and was guiltily euphoric for an hour. My cravings are gone again, I sleep usually 6 hours at night, 2 during the day. At 145 it was limitless sleep. So yeah I'm trying to get off methadone to get my testosterone production back, energy, kill this lethargy, and become useful again. Don't get me wrong, people at ~80mg can be perfectly functional members of society but it's the addict nature to chase the high when you start on the clinic which is why 90% of the people I see get to 100+ within their first month at the clinic.
Sorry OP :-/ but anyway once again good luck with your methadone, I'd save back a few roxi 30's if I were you, just in case you have w/d's or even worse, BAD w/d's.
Mr.Scagnattie
Bluelighter
^^^
People on 330mg's at your clinic? Bloody hell.
People on 330mg's at your clinic? Bloody hell.
Yeah. Mainly fucking transfers from clinics with negligent foreign doctors with absolutely no background in MMT. My friend transferred from a clinic 2 hours away when ours opened and he was at 250. In colorado I heard of people in Denver clinics around 500mg. That's just straight negligence. Your veins would have to be flowing with like 50% heroin to have that kind of tolerance. But yeah, there are a couple patients over 300mg the nurse told me. I just couldn't imagine that. I was pretty worthless at 145, but 330? yeah fuck
this is true.. i know a truck driver from a clinic in fort collins that is on over 450 mgpd
pain doctor in denver had me at 150 mgpd methadone and 260 mgpd roxie
Shit seriously?! Not "a" clinic in Fort Collins, but THE clinic in Fort Collins. I lived in FC for a year and went to that clinic for a few months it's called NCBH. He had to have transferred into their clinic because they had a super strict policy about getting above 100mg, it was a fucking TASK... I only knew maybe 2
People at 100 or above.
A physician assistant in Fort Collins put me on Tylox, Percocet, Roxi 5's, and 10's in the same month (not at the same time, but in succession....) PA's have C-II prescribing power in CO it's a little crazy
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Mr.Scagnattie
Bluelighter
Wow. That is unbelievable. Any doctor that puts somebody on that kind of dosage should be taken away in fucking hand cuffs. 10x worse than any smack dealer in my opinion.
adder
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2006
- Messages
- 2,851
I just want to note one thing about methadone. It made me feel incredibly dumb compared to other opioids. Sure all opioids are known to decrease attention, but there's a substantial difference between morphine-like opioids and methadone when you take an opioid every day. I believe some NMDA antagonism plays a role here with methadone. Other than that a lot about methadone is just propaganda. Withdrawal is much more severe than from morphine-like opioids, actually it never went away in my case and eventually I was placed on Suboxone. But as someone wrote, I wouldn't worry if I knew I've got a steady lifelong access to opioids. As for its painkilling properties - well, I guess after years of taking morphine-like opioids, they still had stronger painkilling properties for me than methadone, but it could be subjective as I think of morphine like the love of my life I can't be with any more.
Someone mentioned Suboxone. In my opinion this is reasonable, buprenorphine has painkilling effect comparable to that of classic morphine-like opioids for me, and it's a lot less sedating, actually kind of speedy and producing insomnia if taken before sleep hours.
Someone mentioned Suboxone. In my opinion this is reasonable, buprenorphine has painkilling effect comparable to that of classic morphine-like opioids for me, and it's a lot less sedating, actually kind of speedy and producing insomnia if taken before sleep hours.
Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
this is all why I see methadone as such a bad way to get off dope (way off topic here). its why I chose subs. just hearing these stories are scary and to think of the process overall; esp. those hitting the morning clinic. i get chills just thinking about it.
and that was with full knowledge that I was on 6 mgpd xanax and 20 mgpd methylphenidate.. I was in sever nerve pain.. nut he also authorized my pain skripts early a more than a couple of times but I also had sever nausea like twice a month where I would throw up every five minutes for three days, so there was a reason,, though these periods I was just slamming the medication.. it was a autoimune that had some characteristics like irritable bowl syndrome... that and seem to have all the enzymes that allow me to chew through methadone in six hours.. he really wasn't a to much of a drug dealing doctor.. well maybe he was but he was.. he took his payments in only cash.. certainly a nice guy and it was me who pushed for such a high dose and im not blaming him at all.
Harrisment
Bluelighter
I'm not too terribly concerned about W/D's with the methadone, just because he is giving me a months supply (pills...not liquid). If I realize it is not enough in the beginning, then I'll just let the doctor know and hopefully he'll adjust accordingly. At least that sounds reasonable in my mind, but who knows with this guy.
I get what some of you are saying about there being comfort in pain and using it as a reason to continue getting drugs. I fully admit that I'm guilty of that at times. I do have legit pain, and my previous doctor even made a note in my records that says "After reviewing patient's MRI it is clear he has every reason to be in pain." My back is a wreck. But yeah, could I live without the drugs? Definitely. It would be a struggle, but it could be done if I made that decision. I'm just not sure I'm there yet, and I really don't want to make matters worse by getting a methadone habit. If it had greater analgesia then I think it would sound a little more appealing.
Can anyone comment on the impact of having Methadone in your prescription history? As I mentioned, someone told me they had trouble getting life insurance due to having previously been prescribed Methadone. Anyone know if it's considered a negative in those type of situations....any more so than other opiates?
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Mr.Scagnattie
Bluelighter
^^^
I don't see why methadone would be any worse being in your history than any other opiate, especially if prescribed for pain. I could see maybe if it was for maintenance where somebody might look at that and think you were a drug addict which therefore affected their view of you.
I don't see why methadone would be any worse being in your history than any other opiate, especially if prescribed for pain. I could see maybe if it was for maintenance where somebody might look at that and think you were a drug addict which therefore affected their view of you.
Ah. In that case don't worry then. I was under the impression for some reason that he was only giving you like a week's supply or something. So since you'll have 60 methadone tabs if you need a third one you'll just have to tell him that and he'll probably adjust. Methadone has better analgesia at lower doses than maintenance doses if my memory serves me correctly. And also I'm sure your doc won't have an issue with even 30-40mg methadone if that's required because it's better in his eyes than prescribing two forms of oxycodoe at a total of 6 pills a day and 180 a month.
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it is also important to realize that the analgesic effects of methadone or only 6-8 hours so you will need to dose with this in mind.
Nothing that I ever noticed. I was once scripted #30 10mg methadone pills as an adjunct treatment for anxiety and I've never been questioned by any subsequent doctor I've seen.
J3MOd-h3NOW-X3S
Greenlighter
Sounds like it's time to find a new doctor.. if what you're taking is working for your pain, why change things?
Neezer
Bluelighter
I didn't read all of the replies, so forgive me if this has been said. I tried to respond the day the post was made, but my BL was fucking up:
For treating pain, methadone is a godsend to a LOT of people. It works really well at the right dose, and the half life of the drug makes it very suitable for people that need around the clock pain management. Not to mention it's one of the cheapest medicines available, if you don't have insurance. A lot of times a doctor will Rx a breakthrough medication as well. But once people hit a certain dose, it begins to block the affect of other opiates.
So yeah, it's good for maintenance AND pain management.
OwnedByCats
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2014
- Messages
- 8
I used to take dihydrocodeine for chronic headaches and ended up dependent. I tried tapering with them (short acting) but it was hard. I was put on methadone to come off opiates completely. I was reluctant, I'd heard the horror stories but my doctors explained to me that most of it just isn't true. It's just a long acting synthetic opiate.
I was on it for 2.5 years. My starting dose was 30mg which turned out to be the optimal dose for me because I had been downing 30 dihydrocodeine at 30mg's a day. I loved methadone! It kept me feeling stable all day instead of the ups and downs, and it was an awesome pain killer for me. However the lower you taper, the less effective the pain control is but you're going to have that with any opiate. The biggest plus was it was easier to taper than the pills. I had much better control of myself. It's been 7 years since I tapered to 0.
Some say withdrawals are worse and longer with methadone because of it's half life, others say not. Depends on the person I think.
I was on it for 2.5 years. My starting dose was 30mg which turned out to be the optimal dose for me because I had been downing 30 dihydrocodeine at 30mg's a day. I loved methadone! It kept me feeling stable all day instead of the ups and downs, and it was an awesome pain killer for me. However the lower you taper, the less effective the pain control is but you're going to have that with any opiate. The biggest plus was it was easier to taper than the pills. I had much better control of myself. It's been 7 years since I tapered to 0.
Some say withdrawals are worse and longer with methadone because of it's half life, others say not. Depends on the person I think.
Harrisment
Bluelighter
This is very encouraging. What impact did it have on you from an energy standpoint? I've heard some say that is gives them that social opiate feeling of all is right with the world all day, while others say it turns them into a zombie that doesn't want to leave the house.