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Opioids Lortab to methadone help needed

E

EddieOyorks

Greenlighter
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
4
Hi all this is my first post, so bare witmean I have been taking lortabs10/500 for I year. sometimes as directed 1x4 times a day, sometimes saved up and take two days worth at once thats 80 mg doing a CWE.
These pain killers are for constant head pain from 3 concussions and a brain tumor.
Next week docs have my in a rehabilitation setting to take off lortab by using methadone, I understand and realize things need to change as I cannot function with out my lortabs, methadone is scaring the crap out of me.
Does anyone's think this is a good plan or would a lortab taper seem better. What can be expected of methadone? It seems like a big jump from hydro to methadone.
Any help or comments appeiciated
 
Wooooooaaaah. Hydrocodone --> methadone?? Why?!

I sincerely hope that I am not understanding your intentions. You're considering going on methadone to wean yourself off hydrocodone?

If that's what you're proposing, let me stop you there. It's absolutely ludicrous. Methadone is last-line treatment. It's given when all else fails, for severe addictions. 80mg of hydrocodone is by no means severe addiction, and can EASILY be tapered, unlike methadone.

What doctor suggested you go on methadone for a hydrocodone habit? Let me guess. A doctor at a methadone clinic?! They're fishing for you cash, and boy, will they get it. The only thing more insane than going on methadone from hydrocodone would be going on methadone from tramadol or codeine.

I hesitate to even suggest buprenorphine because even that is exponentially more potent than morphine and hydrocodone. Even taking a low dose like 0.25-0.5mg per day seems silly. I bet they would put you on a double digit maintenance dose of buprenorphine, sealing the deal for your addiction and your steady payments to the sub doctor.

TL;DR, you're taking a manageable amount of hydrocodone, have you even tried tapering yet? Do not even think about Opioid Replacement Therapy until you have tried and failed tapering many many times. Last I checked, this criteria was essential before thinking about going on ORT. Having tried and failed time and time again to taper on your own. You will regret going on methadone for the rest of your life if you go through with what you're proposing. I really hope that I misunderstood your post, and I certainly have no understanding for why a doctor would suggest methadone for hydrocodone habit.
 
yeah methadone habits are notoriously hard to break, and i completely agree with TC on this. however, if it's a controlled taper and not open ended maintenance, that's a different story.
 
Thanks so much for the quick response , and I am thinking exactly what you guys are .......it's silly right, I discussed taper ....dr said that methadone was what they used in this program, end of story.... I'm shitting bricks
I can basically get addicted to anything, really quickly. Most hydro I've done is 100 mg, 280mg codeine, 50 mg oxy but never methadone. I love opiates but this has me scared. Program starts Monday and family members are questioning me questioning the docs plans, say I should just go with it but I dout they know anything about methadone and it's crazy half life..I'm scared
 
wtf..
get a new dr.
it's beyond silly..
it's reckless.
if ever there's a time to second guess-
it's when it comes to your health.
 
What about your head pain, how are they going to address that?
Hope you get some good answers.

I used to bang H , I lived in a area and ran with people who did it, had it..
I quit H by drinking shit loads of alcohol, for weeks, it was miserable but I didnt even consider the methadone thing
because I talked ot a lot of people who said it was as addictive as H, replacing one bad thing with
another, and the older I got, I started to geta serious phobia for needles, sick of the tracks and
the long sleeves in the summer time.
I got oxy's for my kidney surgery and was crushing them and snorting them, I knew I was only getting a couple months worth
and I was luckily able to taper of those. Id try a taper , that seems to work pretty well for me and a lot of people Ive ran with.
 
Yes I agree with you all, what are my other options to talk with this quack about.?
And thanks for the advise so far
 
People are giving good advice. I'd run the other direction from your "doctor"... Weaning someone from lortab via methadone is irresponsible bordering on unethical. It's totally crazy, and this is just my opinion- having plenty of experience with both - I would under no circumstances, do this.
 
^Seriously, your "doctor" is obviously trying to make money off you. And boy, would he. It's incredible that we were able to catch this before you went through with this. This was such a close call.

It's really sickening but you gotta question peoples motives, especially doctors, just follow the money trail and you'll find people's real intentions. Taper with hydrocodone = a few prescriptions, dependent on doctors for a short time. Taper with methadone = many if not infinite prescriptions, long-term if not life-long dependence.
 
Just it of curiosity, would it be methadone maintenances, or would it be a methadone taper? Either way, I agree with everyone else that going from hydrocodone is absolutely absurd and on your doctors part unethical. Sadly though, I've seen it happen all too often. Even if it was a short taper, starting with 10mg of methadone (which could in all honesty probably be enough for many heroin addicts to get by with if that's all they had access too, however, in inpatient detoxes they usually hook you up with 20-30mg the first day if your a heroin user with a decent habit), you'd still be starting off with a dose of a drug that is way more potent than your max. Daily consumption of hydrocodone. Acute methadone dosages are about 10x stronger than hydrocodone, so they'd have to start you on about 7-8mg of methadone in order to not raise your tolerance to much, and then taper you down really quickly so that the methadone doesn't build up too much in your system, which would result in a worse habit than the one you've got. I don't know, it just seems that the only way to taper with methadone in your situation while being sure not to raise your tolerance would be to start you off at 5mg, and then go down a mg each day and end with .5mg. It just seems like it would actually be easier to taper with the hydrocodone.

My oppinion is you should get ahold of some loperamide and some gabapentin, and start reducing your daily dosage by 25% every 3-4 days, and when your down to 1 pill/day or so, just jump off and use Small doses of lope if the withdrawals become too intense. Otherwise just use the gabapentin as needed.
 
It would be a methodone taper, I asked the time frame they said everyones different, my husband had got me into this clinic, for my head pain issues, but they want to take me off all my meds and give me IV infusions along with physio therapy and mental health reviews , I've asked of what these IV fusions would be but they said I know Monday when I arrive, it's scarey, they probabley think my pain is all in my head, which it is I get migrains every day but they propbabley think i am imagining it or being to negative or some bullshit.

I really appreciate all your advise guys
 
Please don't do this! Get some advice from our opioid withdrawal thread and try to quit the hydrocodone on your own if that's your only option. Can you not just taper the hydrocodone? Or do you not have any left and no way to get more? An open-ended methadone taper where there is no set time frame is usually not a taper. It's just a way of getting you on the methadone and then they say you aren't ready to taper yet or you procrastinate on tapering out of fear since no one is making you do it.

Also I get migraines too and methadone does not help them at all, in case you're thinking it will kill your pain. Once you become used to it it doesn't really do anything for pain in general unless you keep upping the dose, but for migraines it doesn't seem to work at all in my experience and that of many people I know. In fact, opioids in general can actually even cause headaches or make them worse.

As others said, methadone should be an absolute last resort. You should try tapering the hydrocodone, quitting cold turkey, going to detox, everything else before even considering it. I also would not trust a doctor who encourages you to go on methadone for a hydrocodone habit. And I would not be impressed with them not telling you what your IV infusions are going to be either. I would find a new doctor.

Please please reconsider the methadone, I know many many people (including myself) who greatly regret ever going on methadone.
 
Get the methadone idea in writing from your doctor and take it to another doctor so he knows your not bullshitting him / her and ask the new Dr for other options & what they can do to accomodate your quality of life with this pain after the lortab has been removed from the food chain.
I feel like the Dr recomending the methodone is going to keep plugging that bad idea away at you until you give in.
Stay strong, your paying him!!!
what sux is to get into a new doctor these days can take 90 days or more...
I wish you well!!
 
EddieOyorks said:
Next week docs have my in a rehabilitation setting to take off lortab by using methadone, I understand and realize things need to change as I cannot function with out my lortabs, methadone is scaring the crap out of me.
Click to expand...

You have received excellent advice already from everyone who has insisted that going from hydrocodone to methadone is reckless and absurd. I agree. My question is, why is your doctor insisting that you stop taking the lortabs? If you are in chronic pain and your condition is not expected to improve, how are you going to deal with the pain going forward. Why not just stay on the Lortabs? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sounds like the doctor just wants to claim victory when in fact you may really need to continue treatment. If he won't have the patience to continue you on Lortab until the pain is gone, or indefinitely if it doesn't, then you should replace him. In fact you should replace him anyway for trying to hook you on methadone. Hell you should probably sue him.
 
This...^^^^ The only reason methadone should ever be considered is if you are under the care of an addiction specialist for opiate/oid addiction and buprenorphine is cost prohibitive, even then it should be a last resort.
 
Exactly. Methadone should only be used for serious addictions when professional help has been attempted and failed multiple times.

ONLY when the benefits of methadone maintenance outweigh the risks should it be considered, and the OP does not fall into this category.
 
Yeah like everyone is saying that doc is crazy for thinking of putting you on methadone, dont get me wrong any addiction can have serious side effects on your life dont want to sound like being hooked on hyrdos isnt a big deal, but its certainly not anywhere close to the realm of where methadone should be considered. Im on methadone, have been for almost 3 years now after using for 2 years , when I switched to methadone I was shooting anywhere from 8- 24 mgs a day of dilaudids or eating multiple 80's a day and I cant lie and say it hasnt made life easier than it was temporarily , but even with the habit I had I wish I would of just sucked up a week of hell and not looked for the easy way out. All I did is traded a bad addiction for another, methadone withdrawls even after tapering really low are much worse and last MUCH longer. You dont wanna end up 50 times worse of than you are. I'd look into getting some tramadol and a weeks worth of benzos and or clonidine and you should be able to make it through without to much pain. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
 
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bad Idea. I did a methadone taper to get off a dope habit in detox and a week later I was twice as sick as I was when I went in. the withdrawals were much more mental, severe anxiety and depression, crying for no reason, pupils larger then they get on mdma. it was rough and I don't think methadone makes a good detox med. I suggest suboxone
 
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