Opioids Lethargy and Maintenance

[suessmayr]

Hey guys,

I've taken bupe for about 2 years, 24mg. After each dose, at an interval of perhaps 3-4 hours, I experience about 1-2hrs of sleepiness. This is not pleasant, nod-type sleepiness but seroquel-brick-in-the-face sleepiness. Unless I'm intensely active at this time I almost always feel like lying down. Also I find that any and all sense of wellbeing provided by bupe evaporates after a few hours.

My question - addressed ideally to people who have tried both methadone and bupe or at least one of them - is how methadone would be likely to compare in these respects specifically. Although it has a shorter half-life, does it hold a person well throughout the entire day? Does it induce an unpleasant sleepiness? i.e., sleepiness qualitatively unlike what, say, oxy or heroin would provide, wherein lying down seems logical and acceptable, not an inconvenient necessity, as with, say, largactil.

Peace

 

[suessmayr]

bump - people!

 

[BrokedownPalace]

I am on methadone maintenance, 75mg daily and for the first 3-4 months I would get very very sleepy throughout the day, often times having to take a nap. Now that I have been on it for about a year, this long "nod" during the daytime has practically ceased to exist, and methadone has overall made me a more motivated person. It holds me fine for 24 hours, and I can honestly go about 72 hours before I start to feel withdrawals to the point of being uncomfortable. Many people claim it doesn't even hold them 24 hours, but I don't have that problem luckily.

 

[suessmayr]

Thanks - can I ask whether, during those initial 3/4 months, the sedation you felt was essentially a typical opiate-type sleepiness or, rather, a harsh and unpleasant feeling of over-medicatedness? Or if not OVER-medicatness, just a feeling of being medicated; of being forced to be sleepy and slow and not wanting to, as opposed to say nodding on heroin or oxy's, where there are no objections. I hope the question makes sense. Also, what does the dose do to you now? Absolutely nothing? Do you begin to feel raw as the day wears on?

 

[BrokedownPalace]

I wouldn't call it exactly like nodding on dope, as it didn't have the accompanying euphoria that dope has, and it also felt a bit more 'synthetic' for lack of a better word. Now, when I take my dose every morning, I still get a nice 'glow' for 3 or 4 hours after it starts working. Not a dopey high, but just a nice motivating mood lift and glow. Towards the end of the day I can feel myself mentally wearing down a bit maybe, but physically I can no problem go 48 hours without a dose, and about 72 hours before it starts to get uncomfortable.

 

[suessmayr]

What about all those other side-effects/myths associated with methadone? Could you exercise if you wanted to? Best and worst?

 

[suessmayr]

This I copy (a possibly better-worded question of mine) from another thread:

"I'm on 24mg of bupe (in suboxone) and was great for the first few months, but now I always get really tired about 2-4hrs after dosing, and after that the day is terribly depressing, although not bad in a physiological sense, apart from fatigue. I considered methadone with my doctor, but I can only remember all the literature and peoples' accounts saying how much 'heavier' methadone is than bupe; is this necessarily the case? After being on methadone for a while does the effect dissipate so that you do not get even a mood improvement from the dose? And most importantly, how tired do you get on methadone, as opposed to bupe? Here, I distinguish the beautiful nod-type-fatigue from medication-induced-fatigue proper, which is not enjoyable, but rather like alcohol fatigue, drinking beer in the sun etc... "