Opioids Is liquid methadone available for pain patients or only for MMT?

[thisisabsurd]

I really did not know where to put this so here it is.

Anyway, I am a chronic pain patient who has been on Rx opiates for about 7 years. I used to take hydrocodone but my Dr. switched me to methadone for better pain coverage and lower cost.

After not taking it for several days, dealing with w/d hell, and learning what I have on BL (thank you!), I am considering a taper to just stop taking them forever. I will have to find something else to control my pain, but that is a topic for another thread.

My Rx is for tablets now. If I want to taper down rather than continue the hell of this week (cold turkey) I don't think tablets will work. I was already taking a low dose (1 x 10 mg tablet daily) and you can only cut tablets so small and the titration would not be precise, would it? I am not a chemist and really have no knowledge of this, so any homemade preps with my pills probably would not be a good option for someone like me. Suggestions?

 

[Kid Amine]

Get yourself a pill grinder, they are like $5 from a pharmacy. In the top is a pill splitter, just a razor blade on a hinge inside a cover. You can cut quarters rather easily, might need a mg scale below that, tho I didnt, just kept breaking the 10s into smaller and smaller pieces.

afaik, liquid methadone is only available from methadone clinics, tho I may be wrong.

 

[tokenname]

Liquid methadone is absolutely rx'd for cpp patients...
You would have to give your dr. a reason for the switch tho..
generally liquid is given for those who have trouble eating/swallowing..

good luck.
been thru this w/d...it is hell..
my thoughts are with you.


~token

 

[thisisabsurd]

Kid Amine and tokenname - thank you so much for your responses and well wishes. It's been really hard on me and I don't think I want to do it again!

 

[Znegative]

I prefer the pills personally but there is not much of a difference other than the syrup can be measured out in very accurate dosages. However, Methadone is water soluble, so you can do the same thing by dissolving the pill and using an oral syringe to titrate your dosage.

Also, while methadone is a strong narcotic, the dose you're on is not high at all. Can you give us an idea of how much hydrocodone you were taking? it's quite possible you'll need to start the taper with a higher dose, if you feel withdrawals on only 10mg.

 

[Tommyboy]

You should be able to make your own liquid methadone out of the pills. Get an oral syringe and draw up a certain amount of water bacteriostatic water, and squirt the known amount into a vial, and dissolve the pill in it, taking note of the mg/mg. Or if the vial is a known amount of solution then dissolve a known amount of pills into it, and draw up the proper dosage as needed. You are going to want to use some bacteriostatic water, and keep it refrigerated if you are going to use the solution over several days.

NSFW:

So as you can see the mL are marked off, so you can make a known concentration of a solution. I'm not sure what the solubility of methadone is in water, but I'm sure that you can dissolve 1 of your 10mg pills in a mL of bacteriostatic water, giving you a 10mg/mL solution. Anything that doesn't dissolve would likely be filler, so don't worry about that. So from there you would store it in a vial in the refrigerator, and then draw up whatever dosage you want using the oral syringe to measure it, and then drop it in your mouth.

When you want to taper more then just make a less potent solution, like 10mg/5mL, so each mL would be a 2mg dose. You could also use less pill, or more water, or an oral syringe with more mL's, so you can make whatever amount you want. I'm sure you got the point, and just make sure to know the amount of mg you dissolve in the known amount of mL.

 

[thisisabsurd]

I prefer the pills personally but there is not much of a difference other than the syrup can be measured out in very accurate dosages. However, Methadone is water soluble, so you can do the same thing by dissolving the pill and using an oral syringe to titrate your dosage.

Also, while methadone is a strong narcotic, the dose you're on is not high at all. Can you give us an idea of how much hydrocodone you were taking? it's quite possible you'll need to start the taper with a higher dose, if you feel withdrawals on only 10mg.

I just started taking 1/2 tab (5 mg) again today so I have already failed at quitting but I still think I need to try a taper to get off them. The 5 mg has taken away the w/d symptoms so far (took it about 10 hrs ago). Last week I wasn't taking them. I was taking 10-20 mg daily (usually only 1 x 10 mg tab though) for almost 2 yrs before last week. Here is what I did last week:

Fri. 10 mg
Sat. 5 mg
Sun. 5 mg
Mon. 0 mg
Tue. 0 mg
Wed. 0 mg
Thu. 0 mg
Fri. 0 mg

It seems strange to me that I just couldn't handle the w/d another day but I keep reading the length of time I was on it plays a huge role and also the fact that the "original pain" returned with a vengeance. I was taking 5 x 10 mg Vicodin daily with no appreciable effect on my pain when my Dr. switched me to methadone almost 2 yrs ago.

 

[tricomb]

ANYTHING prescribed to addicts, is available to chronic pain patients.

As mentioned, your doctor would have to specifically indicate that he's prescribing "Oral methadone solution, DO NOT SUBSTITUTE" on the RX pad.

I also prefer the methadone pills, but i suppose you can get a more precise dose with oral methadone.

 

[tokenname]

Kid Amine and tokenname - thank you so much for your responses and well wishes. It's been really hard on me and I don't think I want to do it again!

anytime....i know how hard it can be...you're tough enough.

token

 

[tricomb]

Just remember, you can do this!

Pill cutters/crushers and those 7-day pill holder things come with all my RX's without even asking and there's no charge.