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Opioids How long does it take for methadone to stabilize in the blood?

Artificial Emotion

Artificial Emotion

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Jan 19, 2009
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Roughly how long would one have to wait for the level of methadone in the blood to stabilize if the person is on a fixed dose? I've had a dose increase of 10mg and have up until now been double dosing every saturday. I've had enough of this all as I'm getting tired of this shit and just want to stabilize, so I was wondering how long I should expect to have to wait? I'm talking ballpark figures because I know you can't be exact with this type of thing. edit: btw it's increased from 60mg to 70mg.
 
For me it would take about a week, though it can take as little as three days for some people.

I'm kind of confused by the question though, because you said you were doubling your dose (so if you were at 60mg, you mean you were taking 120mg every day, and now are trying to stabalize back at 70mg?)
 
No I would skip Sundays dose and double up on the Saturday. I would try and make up a day by taking the following 5 doses 24/5 = 4.8h later each day. So each 60mg dose, apart from the 120mg one on the Saturday, would have to last more than 24h. This would put me into mild withdrawal from Tue-Fri. I've taken 70mg for two days but so far I've still been in mild withdrawal for a period of time between doses.

I think it was a vicious circle because I'd be in withdrawal the whole week and just think fuck it and get high on the Saturday. If I just were to take the methadone as directed then I wouldn't be in withdrawal and wouldn't have the urge to double dose on the Saturday. Also I would be better able to function and have a life.
 
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I would just stick with the 70mg, and not fuck around. In a week I'm sure you'll feel better, and from my experience on MMT, doubling your dosage doesn't even give any real high (though I was on 90mg).
 
Oh it definitely gave a high for me, but maybe that's because I never really used heroin or other strong opioids. It's not worth it anyway because the price for one day of high energy levels and euphoria is too high to pay during the rest of the week. I hope the levels in my blood will start to increase and that I'll stop experiencing WD between doses, otherwise it'll be really frustrating to say the least.
 
Yea man I'm waiting to stabilize as well and when I was on 60-80mg I was starting to feel sick by the end of the night so I would just get some dope. I'm at 120mg now and at this dose I can finally go 24hrs without being sick but it's not doing anything for the cravings. I still double dose on saturday and 240mg gets me a nice all day long high.
 
After double dosing for a few years I've decided despite what anyone says that it's just not worth it. I would have five 60mg bottles that would have to last six days, so that's more or less an average of 50mg a day. Doing that would put me into withdrawal each day between doses and it's not conducive to a productive lifestyle. The price is just too much to pay for one day's worth of high. The reason I would do it is because I would be able to get a lot done that I was unable to do throughout the week since I would have really high energy levels - as if I were on speed. But if I'm honest with myself if I just took the methadone each day as directed and didn't double dose on the Saturday I would have enough energy to do the things during the week anyway, meaning there would be no need to double dose one day of the week in the first place. I've had my dose increased by 10mg but the effective increase is 20mg since my average daily dose was only 50mg as said above. I'm already starting to feel better and have begun to realize this is better for me despite of the fact that I do miss getting high. I have to let go of the opiate high if I want to get better and just deal with it rather than fool myself.

Nib, even though your dose has increased eventually I think you'll just be back to where you started if you continue doubling each Saturday because your tolerance and level of dependency will be pushed up each time you take 240mg on each Saturday. I really don't think it's worth it. If you are missing getting high then you could compromise and take a much safer drug like cannabis which would mean you could stop doing what you're doing but ideally you would be better doing neither. I just think that if you want to hold down a job and have a life then you're going to have a hard time being in withdrawal throughout the week so it's something you'll have to think about.
 
Well If i double dose on Saturday I can still go all day Sunday and not be sick by the time i get my dose on Monday. I don't think double dosing on Saturday would cause my Monday dose to not be enough that I would actually feel withdrawal if that's what you are saying.
 
Eventually you'll reach a point where it'll be difficult to wait until monday to take your next dose and you'll take Monday's dose early, in which case you'll be in a situation like I was in, but it's your choice. Also even if you could wait until Monday the levels in your blood won't be steady and I suspect that Monday's dose won't last the whole day, putting you in withdrawal. Trust me, I've been through this for years so unless you're different which you could be for all I know,you'll be in the same situation I was.
 
Well it's been a week since the dose was upped by 10mg and I stopped double dosing on weekends. Now that I've 8 doses I'm starting to feel much better. I read that it can take up to 10 days for the methadone to stabilize in the blood but for me it took 7 days I think. I wish I had done this sooner rather than going through withdrawal during the week for so long. I really feel strongly about double dosing on weekends being counterproductive and would urge anyone thinking they can get away with it to reconsider because I just don't think it's worth it in the long run when your tolerance increases.
 
Nib said:
Well If i double dose on Saturday I can still go all day Sunday and not be sick by the time i get my dose on Monday. I don't think double dosing on Saturday would cause my Monday dose to not be enough that I would actually feel withdrawal if that's what you are saying.
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Agreed...The above quote is the same for me...I was on 115mg a day and i started on 20mg...Boy was i sick then....I went up by 5mg every three days... It was hell and i felt every 5mg...It started holding me for 24 hrs when i hit 80 -90mg...I kept going up though cause i was looking to get high..Am glad i stopped at 115mg now that i am tapering...I am saturated in the stuff!!..You might find it will HOLD you when you up round the 80mg mark...
 
Artificial Emotion said:
Eventually you'll reach a point where it'll be difficult to wait until monday to take your next dose and you'll take Monday's dose early, in which case you'll be in a situation like I was in, but it's your choice. Also even if you could wait until Monday the levels in your blood won't be steady and I suspect that Monday's dose won't last the whole day, putting you in withdrawal. Trust me, I've been through this for years so unless you're different which you could be for all I know,you'll be in the same situation I was.
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Artificial Emotion, what do you mean by the first sentence?...Do you me that ALL people on MMT WILL eventually double dose?
 
Artificial Emotion said:
Oh it definitely gave a high for me, but maybe that's because I never really used heroin or other strong opioids. It's not worth it anyway because the price for one day of high energy levels and euphoria is too high to pay during the rest of the week. I hope the levels in my blood will start to increase and that I'll stop experiencing WD between doses, otherwise it'll be really frustrating to say the least.
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If you weren't using strong opioids, why did you start MMT? I find that it takes about five days to really feel the affects of a dose increase. since you are on a relatively low dose, trying to make up for a day of double dosing can be challenging and not worth it
 
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