There's nothing abnormal about using Methadone as a detox tool; it's a standard usage (either maintanence or a short taper for detox; those are its 2 implications for treating addiction). Being stabilized then coming down on your dose is what the latter option is all about; using Methadone to ease the acute withdrawal of your shorter acting drug of choice. So you've inadvertantly done what the 'book' says when it comes to using Methadone for detoxification rather than maintanence. Finish up the taper over those remaining 6 days down to 0. It should make the Hydrocodone withdrawal noticably different and less acute compared to past experiences with hydrocodone withdrawal.
Be careful, if you are ok with being on opiates for the rest of your life, then stick with the methadone. I was on methadone maintenance for 3 and half years and i got sick of having to take methadone. I was taking 50mg a day liquid methadone at the clinic and paying 300 bucks a month. If you want to be on MM(methadone maintenance) then i suggest you find a doctor that can write you a prescription for it as it will be a lot cheaper. If you have insurance, it's about 12-60 bucks for a month's supply of methadone compared to the 300 bucks+ you will be spending at the clinic. Let me tell you though, if you ever decide to get off methadone, you will go through hell. I was off methadone for a year and STILL didn't feel right. I now go to a pain management doctor and take oxycodone 10mg for breakthrough and 25mcg fentanyl patch and feel so much better. Just keep in mind, opiates seriously damage your central nervous system and especially long term methadone use compared to other long term opiate use can cause permanent damage to your body and completely deplete your endorphins(natural pain killers produced by the body) and even keep maybe even not producing them anymore. Make sure to do as much research as you can and ALWAYS ASK YOUR DOCTOR if you have any doubts about ANYTHING. If you want any info about methadone just PM me. I've done a lot of research on its effects for long term use.
I'm sorry but most of that are myths about MMT. It does not 'damage' anything; it is a CNS depressant, but that does not mean being on it (for even a very long time) harms or alters your CNS. The addiction process itself does produce physiological changes in the brain and body; as does dependancy on opioids in general. Methadone is not particularly unique or special compared to the long, long, long list of opioids that have been extracted or synthesized by humans.
http://www.heroin-detox.org/methadone-effects.htm
One aspect of MMT, in therapeutic (60/80mg-120mg/day) or high dosages (120mg+/day) is that it does, while being taken daily, have the potential for a decrease in male hormones in a sizeable percentage of male MMT patients up to and including hypogonadism:
High-dose methadone is well known to cause testosterone deficiency and sexual dysfunction in opioid-dependent men. Buprenorphine is a new drug for the pharmacotherapy of opioid dependence. Its influence on the gonadal axis has not been investigated to date. We therefore assayed testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol, SHBG, LH, FSH, and prolactin in 17 men treated with buprenorphine. Thirty-seven men treated with high-dose methadone and 51 healthy blood donors served as controls. Sexual function and depression were assessed using a self-rating sexual function questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. Patients treated with buprenorphine had a significantly higher testosterone level [5.1 ± 1.2 ng/ml (17.7 ± 4.2 nmol/liter) vs. 2.8 ± 1.2 ng/ml (9.7 ± 4.2 nmol/liter); P < 0.0001] and a significantly lower frequency of sexual dysfunction (P < 0.0001) compared with patients treated with methadone. The testosterone level of buprenorphine-treated patients did not differ from that of healthy controls. In conclusion, we demonstrated for the first time that buprenorphine, in contrast with high-dose methadone, seems not to suppress plasma testosterone in heroin-addicted men. To this effect, buprenorphine was less frequently related to sexual side effects. Buprenorphine might therefore be favored in the treatment of opioid dependence to prevent patients from the clinical consequences of methadone-induced hypogonadism.
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/90/1/203.full
And it also, like its cousin LAAM, can cause long QT intervals in the heart:
Abstract
Background: There is a concern about cardiac rhythm disorders related to QTc interval prolongation induced by methadone. A cross-sectional
study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of long QTc (LQTc) interval in patients in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and risk factors
for LQTc.
http://public-files.prbb.org/publicacions/7e6cbfd0-c2c3-012b-a7a7-000c293b26d5.pdf
But you have to keep in mind the similar unique side effects of other synthetic opioids; such as Propoxyphene:
"For the first time, we now have data showing that the standard therapeutic dose of propoxyphene can be harmful to the heart," said Gerald Dal Pan, MD, director of the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology.
The FDA is advising healthcare professionals stop prescribing propoxyphene. Patients who are currently taking the drug should not abruptly halt their medication but should contact their physician as soon as possible to discuss switching to another pain-management therapy.
"Long-time users of the drug need to know that these changes to the heart's electrical activity are not cumulative," Dr. Dal Pan added. "Once patients stop taking propoxyphene, the risk will go away."
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/732887
Or Nalbuphine:
Abstract
Nalbuphine, pentazocine, and butorphanol, mixed agonist/antagonist opioids that induce analgesia by acting predominantly at kappa opioid receptors, have recently been shown in single-dose studies to have greater analgesic efficacy in women than in men. In the current experiments, the first placebo controlled dose response study of opioid analgesic efficacy that examines for gender differences, nalbuphine (5, 10, or 20 mg) and placebo were evaluated in 62 men and 69 women for the treatment of moderate to severe postoperative pain following extraction of impacted wisdom teeth. In a randomized, open injection, double blind experimental design, pain intensity was recorded on a 10 cm visual analog scale (VAS) immediately prior to drug administration (baseline) and at 20 min intervals thereafter. Although responses to placebo were similar in men and women, for all doses of nalbuphine women exhibited significantly greater analgesic response than men, compatible with our previous results. Unexpectedly, men receiving the 5 mg dose of nalbuphine experienced significantly greater pain than those receiving placebo; only the 20 mg dose of nalbuphine in men produced significant analgesia compared to placebo. While a similar antianalgesic effect was not observed in women, only the 10 mg dose of nalbuphine produced significant analgesia compared to placebo. These results suggest that the optimal analgesic dose of nalbuphine for women is lower than the highest dose that can be safely administered. In contrast, the antianalgesic effect of nalbuphine suggests avoidance of its routine use for postoperative analgesia in men until further studies clarify this issue. Because gender differences in other mixed kappa agonists/antagonists (i.e. pentazocine and butorphanol) have previously been shown, these results may generally apply to this class of opioid analgesics.
http://www.painjournalonline.com/article/S0304-3959(99)00119-0/abstract
So Methadone can cause lower hormone levels in men, Propoxyphene blocks cardiac sodium channels that can lead to risk of heart damage, Nalbuphine can cause greater pain in men while acting as a normal opioid painkiller in women, LAAM causes worse long QT intervals than Methadone, and the list could go on and on. Don't even need to mention Demerol and all the rest.
Being off of Methadone and not feeling right a year later isn't uncommon; PAWS and related side effects to being abstinent from opioids after active addiction and dependancy affect many maybe most maybe almost all people regardless of their opioid of choice after getting off of it. I was on Methadone for over 5 years. Had side effects; made the switch to Bupe which has its own unique side effect profile and number of negatives against it. But compare life on Methadone to life being actively an addict. I don't think Methadone is perfect or even an ideal first line maintanence drug (the studies done in Johns Hopkins with the subcutaneous Hydromorphone pellet show that the side effect profile of a semi-synthetic narcotic, in extended release form, are much much preferable to the side effect profile of Methadone and was or is being explored for this purpose as an alternative; Morphine XR is used in certain countries like Germany as an alternative to Methadone)- but we got 2 options in the US; Methadone or Buprenorphine, both expensive, both potent, both with side effect profiles that aren't inspiring and regulations which make it a hassle. It is what it is. But Methadone does not damage your CNS, organs, etc. and once it is discontinued, even people suffering its most severe side effects (such as hypogonadism) will revert back to normal. Same goes for the cardiac risk of Propoxyphene, the long QT interval in LAAM and to a lesser extent Methadone, etc.
