I just started a Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program...

[closeau]

Thank you SwimmingDancer for your insight into methadone. There is some bad info out there on it. Youre also right about it not being a great painkiller. Its really helping me stand and walk. I have blood clots in my legs/groin so its very painfull round the clock. But, having said that about methadone, Im still a 6 or 7 out of 10 on the pain scale. To be truthful, I thought it would work better at 40mg a day. I take 10mg 4x a day. My pain Dr raised it 3 times pretty quickly so what can I do? He wont prescribe me anything short acting. Have no history of abuse so dont know. Recently, I have been snorting a little but really, to be honest, there is no way round how done works in the body, right? Thanks forr your info and keep it coming. Any tips would be useful. If not, have a good one!

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Thank you SwimmingDancer for your insight into methadone. There is some bad info out there on it. Youre also right about it not being a great painkiller. Its really helping me stand and walk. I have blood clots in my legs/groin so its very painfull round the clock. But, having said that about methadone, Im still a 6 or 7 out of 10 on the pain scale. To be truthful, I thought it would work better at 40mg a day. I take 10mg 4x a day. My pain Dr raised it 3 times pretty quickly so what can I do? He wont prescribe me anything short acting. Have no history of abuse so dont know. Recently, I have been snorting a little but really, to be honest, there is no way round how done works in the body, right? Thanks forr your info and keep it coming. Any tips would be useful. If not, have a good one!

Thanks closeau Feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions at all, I have a lot of experience with methadone and have done a ton of research on it. And (unlike some people unfortunately) I don't assume that something that happens to me is guaranteed to be that way for everyone. It seems to be a common mistake made on online forums, that someone assumes a particular effect or experience with a drug will be exactly the same for all people all of the time. I try to use words like "personally", "some people", "most people" or "people report" etc and explain other factors involved so that someone can guage whether something is likely to apply to them.

Personally I don't get any pain relief from my methadone, other than relief of opiate withdrawal symptoms. It sucks that so many doctors now won't prescribe shorter-acting opiates (or pain meds in general) because of their "potential for abuse", plus I think a lot of it is a moral standpoint that it's "wrong" for people to get a high or euphoria. It's especially hard if you are young, doctors seem unwilling to believe that people who aren't like 80 and dying could be in severe pain. On the other hand, we sometimes hear about people who got addicted to opiates in the first place because some bogus doctor prescribed them Dilaudid for minor back pain and told them it wasn't addictive! So in some ways it's good that they don't prescribe opiates too easily.

Were you taking anything before the methadone? If so, why did your doctor switch you to methadone?

Personally I don't believe that there is a way to take methadone that makes it any stronger, and there is no scientific evidence of that, although a small number of people claim that they prefer taking it by another route, such as rectally, nasally or by injection. Some of these routes might make it take effect slightly faster, but i wouldn't recommend trying them and it is a lot easier and safer to just take your methadone by mouth.

As your doctor raised your dose, did you find the higher dose to help more with the pain?

 

[Tchort]

as far as pain killing effects go it doesnt work for shit after you are stable and I mean that. I just got over this abscessed infected tooth pain sooo unbearable not even methadone could mask it for more than Maybe 3 hours. Some days it just gets you by. I really can only say if you want to get the most out of its painkilling effects eat foods high in saturated fat because methadone just sits in your belly and for me doesnt ever last as long as I need it to anymore

Well, it definitely varies by person. I was on MMT for about 2 years, at my highest stable dose (105mg/day), when I was in a serious car accident (2 broken bones, surgery, metal implants, etc). I certainly noticed a great deal of palliative pain relief 60-180 minutes after taking my daily Methadone dose. Though as the peak plasma levels lowered as the hours past, the pain would gradually become more noticeable until the next mornings dose. As I wrote in an earlier post here, a number of chronic pain patients attend MMT clinics fo a number of reasons (1 being Methadone is a pretty good top-5 chronic pain management opioid, MMT is cheaper than pain management specialists and associated medical professional visit costs, access to clinic counselors, nurse practitioners and doctors, etc).

To answer an earlier question, yes, in some states Methadone maintanence is covered by a branch of Medicaid. Maryland is one such state. They have 2 plans under their PAC program (related to Medicaid, accessed through the Department of Health and Human Services); one which will cover MMT and one which covers BMT (that isn't all they cover; these are health insurance plans for low income or unemployed state residents)- and there are I believe 2 or 3 more plan options to choose from as well, but only the 2 cover ORT programs. It is worth some research to find out if your state offers such a program (though it's best to make an actual visit to your local Department of Health and Human Services; I found the online information of state governments regarding Medicaid-esque programs is sparse, confusing and overall lacking).

EDIT: Regarding cravings etc. For many people, when they first start MMT, even at 30mg a day, and gradually go up in dose by 5mg or 10mg increments, they experience what many clinic FAQ pamphlets call a 'glow' (i.e. you feel euphoric and slightly high) an hour or so after taking your daily dose. However, once your body gets accustomed to the Methadone, and you become stabilized completely, this will go away or diminish for most people (though there are some who say they feel euphoria/slightly high every single day after taking their Methadone).

And yes, the blockade effect due to stronger binding affinity is only true with Buprenorphine. Methadone is probably similar to Morphine in its binding affinity to the mu receptors. If you were taking maintanence doses of oral Morphine at 500mg a day, trying to shoot 2 or 3 bags of heroin in a shot isn't going to get you off; the cross-tolerance to Morphine is too great. This is why at doses of 60mg and above (for most MMT clients), it isn't worth attempting to "shoot through" your daily dose. It increases your opioid tolerance past the point where it is economical to try and get high with traditional opioid drugs of choice (Oxycodone, Heroin, etc). Though certain drugs, such as Dextromoramide (Palfium) are able to "breakthrough" even therapeutic (80mg-120mg+) doses of daily Methadone. A study was done on chronic heroin addicts in I think Sweden that tested giving oral Dextromoramide tablets to treatment resistant addicts (i.e. Methadone maintanence alone did not work for them) and it was found that a subgroup within the study was content with using 5mg-10mg Palfium tablets orally for "breakthrough cravings" rather than just quitting the MMT program or using IV heroin while on MMT. So it can be and is done. There are some links and papers out there that outline Hydromorphone as such as a drug. I can say from personal experience that IV Dilaudid certainly broke through my 105mg/day Methadone dose and provided typical strong IV opioid effects (though I'm unaware of what dosage was given at the time)- while in the hospital, IV Morphine did absolutely nothing, may as well have been saline solution shots.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Well, it definitely varies by person.

Very true

(though there are some who say they feel euphoria/slightly high every single day after taking their Methadone).

Who are these people?!? (I wish I was one, lol)

 

[closeau]

SwimmingDancer, yes I can feel a slight difference in my pain relief from the last hike in my dose. Took awhile but it took my pain down to a 5 or 6. Ill take that over a 8 or 9 anyday!! I was on MS Contin 30mg and Oxycodone %mg every 12 hrs. It worked ok for awhile till tolerance built up and I was in the position of either double dosing, or coming clean with the dr. Gladly, I came clean and went without opiates for 3 months. The pain was enourmas and I got to the point were I could not stand or walk upright. Went to Pain Clinic and my Dr said methadone would be my best bet. I said ok and will take it as prescibed and be a good boy. But, constant round the clock pain will make anyone desperate. I just want more pain relief. I know only a long term surgical solution is best. Ive had one surgery that failed. Looking into other options now. The methadone is all I got, unfortuneatly. I wish I had something more but oh well. In a rush so forgive my spelling. Any ideas for more pain relief?

 

[Swimmingdancer]

SwimmingDancer, yes I can feel a slight difference in my pain relief from the last hike in my dose. Took awhile but it took my pain down to a 5 or 6. Ill take that over a 8 or 9 anyday!! I was on MS Contin 30mg and Oxycodone %mg every 12 hrs. It worked ok for awhile till tolerance built up and I was in the position of either double dosing, or coming clean with the dr. Gladly, I came clean and went without opiates for 3 months. The pain was enourmas and I got to the point were I could not stand or walk upright. Went to Pain Clinic and my Dr said methadone would be my best bet. I said ok and will take it as prescibed and be a good boy. But, constant round the clock pain will make anyone desperate. I just want more pain relief. I know only a long term surgical solution is best. Ive had one surgery that failed. Looking into other options now. The methadone is all I got, unfortuneatly. I wish I had something more but oh well. In a rush so forgive my spelling. Any ideas for more pain relief?

Sort of a similar situation to me, but the sources of my pain are different from your's and I got on methadone because previous to that I was self-medicating with opiates. Then I was in a serious accident after I had already been on methadone a long time. Because I got on methadone for "drug addiction" I am in this awful position where many doctors automatically don't trust me, don't believe me about my pain, and won't prescribe me any decent painkillers. When I was in the hospital they wouldn't give me anything stronger than Tylenol3's for pain as the doctor assumed methadone was an effective painkiller and he constantly interrogated me about my drug use, accused me of currently being on drugs (I haven't used any illegal/illicit drugs in years). He even implied that my drug use had something to do with the accident, which was ridiculous since I wasn't even driving, and threatened to tell my family (I am 30 yrs old and my family already knows). Not fun. My current methadone dose does absolutely nothing for my pain. I suppose I could just continue to raise my dose, but I have come to a point where i really don't want to be on methadone for the rest of my life. I feel miserable and unmotivated and hopeless, but somehow I've been persevering with gradually lowering my dose. I've been getting into "alternative" and traditional treatments, which have been helping somewhat with the pain but haven't been a great help for my lack of energy and the withdrawal symptoms I get from the methadone. Some things I've found helpful include yoga, Chinese physiotherapy massage, Western physiotherapy, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, herbals (including some pretty intense out-there ones), supplements, and changing my diet. I'm not sure how helpful these treatments would be for your condition, but I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of them helped somewhat. If we can get the brain to produce more painkillers naturally then we can manage on less pharmaceutical painkillers. I do know that exercise, healthy eating, support stockings, anti-coagulants and anti-inflammatories are all helpful for blood clots.

I have no personal experience with blood clots. Are you talking about tissue damage from previous blood clots, or current recurring blood clots? Do you have thrombosis and resultant inflammation? Atherosclerosis? Varicose veins? I am assuming you aren't talking about DVT? Are the clots from an injury, an infection, or of unknown cause? Is there no concern about the clots travelling to the heart, lungs or brain? Do you take blood thinners? Sorry about all the questions! I just want to understand so I can provide better advice.

I would also talk to your doctor about the fact you are still experiencing a fair amount of pain. He might raise your dose again, or give you something for "breakthrough" pain. Has he been pretty helpful and understanding so far? There are various legal and semi-legal herbs etc that people say help with pain, but personally I haven't found any of the ones I've tried all that helpful. There are also things you can do to potentiate the methadone (make it stronger and/or last longer).

 

[closeau]

SwimmingDancer. Yes, I have DVT's from below my heart, down my IVC, into both groins, and into thighs. A lot. No diagnosis has ever been made about why I clotted. They are old and scabbed now so risk of PE is low. There is considerable vein damage and scar tissue in my illiac(groin) veins. Im almost completely blocked there on both sides and thats where all my pain is. Sucks! Surgery lat November yeilded no results. He couldnt get the veins open enough to place stents. Im consulting other surgeons now for a second opinion. Pain has plagued me for the last 2 years. He wont give me breakthrough meds yet cause he said thats how addiction starts. Maybe he will in the future if my pain pesists, which it will! Im sorry you get trated like that by professionals. Thats crazy but I understand. I have no history except weed and they look at me funny sometimed. Now , I cant get the meds I need cause these idiots who lie to their Dr's and Dr shop. Pisses me off but what can you do? I dont wanna be on methadone all my life either. The clots will never dissolve on their own according to all my Dr's. What are you gonna do for your pain? Any other routes you can take?

 

[Tchort]

There are a number of adjunctive drugs that can be prescribed (and are often prescribed with opioids or there exist combination products containing both drugs) for pain - Nefopam, Phenyltoloxamine, Orphenadrine, etc). Then non-opioid painkillers for severe pain (Ketorolac i.e. Toradol, in injectable form is often mistaken for an opioid due to its great effects and it bypasses the digestive system, liver, stomach, kidneys, so no NSAID damage- but it is available in oral pill form as well). Then all the odds and ends pain killers and muscle relaxers and nerve drugs (Gabapentin, Pregabalin, Soma, Cyclobenzaprine, etc).

If you are already on Methadone, I'd do what the other MMT patients at my old clinic who were chronic pain patients did; use the resources of the clinic (counselor, nurse practitioners, doctors) to help you coordinate with your or another doctor outsite the clinic, so that everyone is on the same page, the doctor feels at ease because the clinic can make sure you are taking your med regimine correctly via pill counts and urine tests, whereas a doctor doesn't generally have the resources or time or ability to confirm your level of commitment to his/her instructions.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Closeau, I see, so it's mainly all the damage from the DVT that causes the severe pain? Do they have you on blood thinners?

I am doing all the things I mentioned above, looking into more natural, alternative and traditional treatments. So far it has definitely helped and while it is not a quick fix like strong narcotic painkillers, but it is much more helpful and less harmful in the long-term. You can also combine most of these approaches with Western medicine and I would highly recommend them to anyone who has chronic pain. The goal is to reduce your actual pain as opposed to simply masking it with opioids or other pain-killers.

As Tchort mentioned, drugs like ketorolac might help, it's worth a try. Personally I didn't have much luck with ketorolac for really severe acute pain but it does help with inflammation and I found it more effective when combined with an opioid. I'm not sure who would ever confuse it with an opioid though, it has very different effects and mode of action, and no euphoria etc at all.

I would try what Tchort suggested and try to come up with a plan with a GP or pain management specialist. Then, if you can afford it add in a physiotherapist and/or holistic naturopath etc. It would be ideal if they and your MMT doctor/clinic were all willing and able to coordinate on your treatment.

I'm sorry your previous surgery didn't help :-( It's really great that you are taking the responsibility for your own health and pain and putting in the effort to try to work on it, researching different options etc. I've found that either expecting one Western/allopathic doctor to be able to fix everything, or just waiting and hoping the pain will get better on it's own are both really ineffective methods. You have to take your health and well-being into your own hands. It's also really important to frequently communicate to any health-care professionals about the state of your pain and the pain you are still experiencing, otherwise they will just assume that because you aren't complaining you aren't in any pain.

 

[closeau]

Yes, I am on thinners. Have been for 2 years. I go get mt blood checked every 2 weeks to a month depending on my level. Yes, the vein damage and blockage causes the pain. I'm currently talking to another surgeon for a 2nd opinion. Im definatley not sitting on my hands asking for painkillers. I must try to fix this pain at the source, which at my level of condition is very diffucult. There is a surgeon in Arizona who maybe can help but I cant fly and cant afford it. I have applied for S.S. Disability but I think we all know how that goes. I was on Gabapentin for awhile. They started me on 300mg a day and worked up to 900mg a day. It did nothing! I've also been prescribed piroxicam for flammitory issues and not only does it thin my blood more, it doesn't help my pain a bit!! Nothing yet really does. The methadone is saving mr right now cause without it, I would most likely be chair-ridden. At least it helps me walk and drive so I can function. Im still a 6 or 7 out of 10 on the pain scale. I do not go to a MMT clinic. I get it from Pain Clinic. He specializes in all types of pain relief and seems to think methadone is my answer. I would like for him to trust me and give me something else for breakthrough pain but I understand I guess. Freakin people out there screwing it up for the rest of us. UUgh. But, I remain posotive and will investigate you and Tchorts suggestions. Thanks to all!

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I would like for him to trust me and give me something else for breakthrough pain but I understand I guess. Freakin people out there screwing it up for the rest of us. UUgh.

Really IMO it's the system that is to blame, which makes getting self-medicating and/or getting "high" "immoral" and illegal, and punishes drug users instead of helping them. But that is a whole other topic! ;-)

As for getting a Dr to give you more/other meds, the best thing is to complain a lot about your pain (as opposed to asking for a specific medication). That way they're less likely to assume you are just "drug-seeking".

I would really look into any kind of "alternative" therapies if you can at all afford them. Western allopathic medicine is not all there is

Good luck to you and I'm glad to hear that the methadone at least helps with your pain.

 

[issokay]

I went to the methadone clinic today to tell them about my plans, that I've had for a year and a half, to go to Asia to tour about 13 countries- leaving in April. I asked them to go ahead and start reducing me. They were happy to oblige. So, they reduced me from 40mg to 38, saying they can probably reduce the dose a couple times per week. I've had trouble sleeping and have been really dehydrated ever since starting the program. I'm really not a morning person as it is, so being required to show up six days a week, usually very early in the morning, is pretty difficult for me, though it does force me to try to keep a fairly normal sleep schedule. When I am unable to sleep no matter how long I lay in bed trying to be still, only to see that it's getting light outside is very frustrating. It causes my dehydration to become far worse and it aggravates my tinnitus, which has also gotten far worse since I've started the program. I will be very happy when I'm completely off of the methadone, I'm hoping that as my dose is lowered that these problems that seem to be associated with it will also go away, although I've had tinnitus for two years now. That started when I was prescribed 100mg Tramadol 4x's a day, although that was when my pill abuse started, too. Tramadol has a side effect of hearing loss/damage and I didn't know that at the time that I was abusing it. Having a ringing sound (some people call it "crickets") in your head/ears can really drive you crazy. I can totally understand that. It just doesn't stop. It had gotten a lot better until I took the methadone, though. I mentioned it to the Dr. at the methadone clinic and he said that he had never heard of methadone causing these side effects. Oh well, Comme Ci, Comme Ça..

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Unfortunately many doctors don't know about most of the side effects caused by methadone, long-term opiate use, or due to the changes in the brain from long-term use which can become more noticeable when you lower your dose or go off it completely. Of sourse they're not exactly the same in everyone (but that's true for any drug/medication), and add that to the fact that so many doctors are convinced that all drug users are just imagining or making up their symptoms, and the fact that many people don't realize their symptoms could be anything to do with the methadone or don't tell their doctor for other reasons (fear of not being taken seriously, etc) so many doctors continue to live in ignorance about everything except the least complex and most commonly-known/reported side-effects, like constipation.

Personally I have dealt with a lot of sleep problems since going on methadone, and it just gets worse every time I lower my dose. I don't know whether that's actually caused by the methadone directly, I think (for me at least) it is more likely that it is due to quitting heroin and going on a lower dose of methadone, as my body had gotten used to opiates as a way to sleep and because long-term opiate use causes changes in the brain and hormones, which affect sleep. Dehydration/dry mouth etc is a known side effect of opiates, but that should improve as you lower your dose.

I have no idea whether your tinnitus is being affected by the methadone or will improve as you lower your dose. I would recommend you get a white noise generator (you should even be able to download an mp3 or something for this purpose). It can be helpful with both sleep issues and tinnitus. Good luck! Sorry you have to deal with people that can't understand what you're going through :-(

 

[Georgie25]

Methadone should not be able to be prescribed for people with ust hydrocodone habits IMO.. You are just switching additcions to a much much MUCH more addictive drug. Methadone should only be used if you have tried numerous times to uit through rehab, suoxone, etc as alast resort method. Before long you will be addicted to the methadone and good luck tying to get off it! Hydrocodne w/d is a breeze compared to methadone.

BTW- My clinic does accept my state funded insurance through Medicaid. I'm covered for everything they charge for at the clinic. Without it i'd have to pay $120 a week! So def look around for a clinic that accepts insurance.

I'm on my second week of starting MMT myself after been using 10-15 bags of dopea day for over 5 years. Last year was when i actually started to want to get clean and I attended 3 different rehabs within the last 4 months of 2011, and the longest I was completely sober once leaving was 12 days. Shortest was about 5 hours! The methadone is help in me get mylife back together. I've decided to keep my dose relatively low as well (50mgs a day) to avoid more side effects, blocking other opiate effect, and to lessen my withdrawal I will have to face one day when my insurance runs out, as I am temporary disability for mental health and drug addiction,which lasts 1 year.

 

[issokay]

Georgie: I agree with you somewhat on that one. After I started this program, I felt like I wasn't sure it was a great idea since I primarily was doing norco, although I was also getting oxy & every now and then, heroin. My purpose for this program was so that I would get off of the physical cravings, sickness, and mental addiction as well as actual physical addiction and high tolerance problems that I've had. I really hate feeling sick, my health and well-being was highly erratic, and so were my activities. I do NOT need to risk going to jail over oxy or heroin. My supplier was starting to have some serious legal problems, and I didn't want to get caught up in the middle of that if I was at his house when something goes down. The police really have their eye on him. They know what's going on, and I think they're biding their time. Even if the methadone program is a bit of an over-correction, if you will, I really needed to steer clear of my old dealer. My addiction would tell me that I needed to score even though I knew that it wasn't a good idea to be around that guy. I went to high school with him, so it was hard to just cut him off. He was a really good friend back then, but he's been on a downhill spiral since losing his wife and kids to divorce. His mother died a couple years ago, and he knows what's coming: jail or death. He truly doesn't care. So if he doesn't care about himself, I can't imagine that he would care about me. He actually sent my grandmother a message on Facebook telling her that "It's not the vegan diet that is making [my name] sick" when I was talking about how I was on a vegan diet and I almost fainted, having to go to the hospital, which was true, btw. He would throw me under the bus in a heartbeat if it came down to it.
I think I've made my point. Also I've reduced my dose from 40mg down to 38mg and am going to be reducing my dose twice a week until I'm off of it.

 

[Tchort]

We can all debate the merits of whether or not a person on a weaker opioid or lower dose should choose MMT as a first option, but in issokay's case it is already done. Plus, for someone who is either abusing their legitimately prescribed pain medication (Hydrocodone, Dihydrocodeine, Tramadol, etc) their options are limited; even more so for someone who has become addicted and dependant on such opioids without ever being prescribed them legitimately for any length of time. In the former case, coming clean to the doctor can very occassionally result in the doctor weaning you off. In many cases, it results in you being red-flagged in his medical record which if you sign off on it being transferred to a new doctor, comes with the 'drug seeker/addict' notations (Contrary to popular belief, you do not have one single medical record of which everything you ever were prescribed or every doctor you saw is in, but people often sign away their privacy rights unknowingly when seeing a new doctor or medical professional- which means you let yourself get in such a situation of having a single medical file with a red flag in it etc). Anyway, options are slim. A Clonidine detox from a GP or NP at a walk-in/urgent care or regular doctor's office, using Rx drugs bought off the street (benzo's, downers in general, OTC drugs), an in or outpatient detox without medication symptom management (cold turkey), or maintanence programs with one of 2 highly potent, dependancy causing, tolerance raising, addictive opioids- Methadone and Buprenorphine. Given the options, especially for a pain patient, I'd recommend MMT all day long.

Plus it isn't "switching addictions"; even weaker opioids, when abused in an addictive fashion, come with the same physiological changes done to the brain and body as any other opioip including more potent ones. BMT and MMT re-regulate and help your physiology get back to normal and away from the addictive behavior and change the alterations done to your body and brain chemistry by the addiction disease. I'm with Burroughs on this; to paraphrase, it doesn't matter if you eat it, snort it, shoot it, stick it up your ass, it's all junk and you will get addicted just the same. Paregoric, Codeine, Dionine (Ethylmorphine), etc may be weak analgesics but they produce the same changes in physiology when one is addicted to them as Heroin, Morphine, Fentanyl, etc. [/rant]

 

[oooitzalex]

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.

 

[issokay]

In the former case, coming clean to the doctor can very occassionally result in the doctor weaning you off. In many cases, it results in you being red-flagged in his medical record which if you sign off on it being transferred to a new doctor, comes with the 'drug seeker/addict' notations[/rant]

I know this is true, doctors so often over-react because so many don't understand the pain that people have. I know this from experience. It's very demeaning and belittling.

 

[issokay]

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.

Yes, it's really expensive. I've only been on MMT for a week, I've already asked to start reducing my dose. I don't want to be on it for any period of time. My goal wasn't only to be legal, but to be free of needing any such medication so bad. I might not care so greatly if it wasn't for the fact that I can't stand spending the money on it. I have medicare, but they either don't or can't bill medicare. (I don't have medicaid, which I've heard may sometimes pay for MMT, not sure about medicare...) Also, I'm leaving the country to tour 13 countries in Asia. I'll be gone for 12-18 months and I plan to depart in mid-April, so I want to have been off of it for at least two weeks.
I've also cut ALL ties with my supplier. He's in legal trouble and he's the type who when you say "misery loves company" you think of him. He'll drag you down with him to cover his ass, even he seems to not care what happens to him. I do care what happens to me. I wouldn't survive locked up. So if for no other reason, I don't want to be locked up. I'm not capable of keeping my sanity in that situation.

 

[issokay]

Hey folks, so I've been on MMT at 30mg, then 40 mg for a total of one week. I would like to know, if I decide to stop going, will I have withdrawals? If so, how long would you think, and how bad for being on MMT for just a week now? Seven days exactly. I was taking about 10-15 norcos a day for about a week or a week and a half before I started MMT. I decided to try MMT because I didn't want to lapse into something harder as I occasionally tend to do: oxy and heroin. But my question is just about whether I could easily stop MMT without going through real tough withdrawals. I forgot that I'm supposed to go out of town in February to visit family, & I really don't want to be on it longer. I have read that the longer you're on it, the worse the w/d is. I can deal with a normal w/d from hydrocodone. Any clues? Thank you.