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methadone as a painkiller ?

SilverFeniks

SilverFeniks

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 2, 2002
Messages
4,541
This is a really weird and awkward question .. but here goes ..

I've work 12-hour shifts in a factory, and lately i've been getting severe back pain .. i really can't afford to take time off or find a new job; I'm leavin the state again in a couple months but need to work until then ..
anyhow, the only painkiller/opiate/etc i have access to is methadone .. i know it's supposed to be used only for treatment for heroin addiciton, but I was wondering ..
Would methadone be useable as a painkiller? Either while I am working (rather intense job, so might not be viable) .. I suppose I could take it when off from work, but this likely would not remedy my problem when I am working

If I shouldn't even be thinking about this, any suggestions as to what I could do? I really need this job, but damn, don't know if I can make another day !

thanks
 
Methadone might not be the first thing a doctor would suggest but it's a very potent painkiller nonetheless. If you have access to it then go for it. It will certainly help.
 
If you do try it, start with as low of an effective dose as possible. Side effects like nausea and vomiting can continue even to the next day, which may affect your work as well.
 
Actually methadone is very often used as a painkiller ... I have had 2 differnt pain management doctors suggest it - for many people it's very effective .. of course you mainly

Here is a link to a nifty .pdf - http://www.cdha.nshealth.ca/patientinformation/nshealthnet/0686.pdf.

To copy the first paragraph - "How can methadone help me?Methadone is a narcotic analgesics. It is often used tomanage chronic cancer and non cancer pain. It is a goodalternative to other narcotic pain medications. High dosesmay not be needed to manage pain and it is lessexpensive."

Personally I found it wasnt that great for chronic pain and the recreational index is rather low ... but if it's all you have, by all means go for it ...

As for dose? I'd start with as little as possible - remember, when you run out of it yer gunna have to either suck up what can be nasty withdrawal, or find something else...
 
personaly i'd say it is as good as morphine. Its usually used in treatment for chronic bronchitis as a cough supressent. The only problem is - its fuckin highly addictive, more so than H, due to its very long half life. You can use it 3 times a week and still get a habit. it took me a year to get off a 6 year addiction to methadone ampoules. The reason it is so addictive is that it binds to protein molecules as opposed to carbohydrates as in the case of most opiates. This makes it by far one of the most hardest of opiates to get off once you have a habit. 28 days is not unheard of, as opposed to 10 days with H. So beware!
 
It certainly has useful pain killing qualities. Its a powerful analgesic used to relieve severe pain for things such as heart attack, trauma, gall or kidney stones and for burns victims. When used for Heroin matienance your obviously unaware that its relieving pain. I was prescribed Methadone for 18 months around the 60mg mark, but a year or so later when I was opiate free I had a dose of 20mg and found the pain relieving qualities extremely benifical. I dont, like most others find it euphoric or recreationally worth-while. Ebenezzer_geeza is right the withdrawal is a long and draining experience, even when detoxing from a dose of 10 mg. I've done Heroin, morphine, codeine and methadone detox's over the years and Methadone is the most fustrating and easily the most lenghty. I've heard through the grape vine that a dose of 50mg for someone without an opiate tolerance is enough to end in a coma or even death.
 
It was first made to be a painkiller in nazi germany by hitlers army of scientists as morphine was hard to come by.
 
i was on it for over 2 years and had to switch back to doing oxys to get off. the shit is hardcore. i dont recommend it as many have already stated. be cautious cause you will like it.
 
Dexter666 said:
It was first made to be a painkiller in nazi germany by hitlers army of scientists as morphine was hard to come by.
Click to expand...
That's because they didn't grow poppies and had their supply cut off.

I think methadone is pretty fun if you have absolutely no opiate tolerance (like me)
Doesn't compare to jamming heroin, but it's got me pretty nicely whacked a couple of times.
 
hey thanks everyone!

i was told these are 10mg pills, so I will take it easy and see how it goes .. really thought I was going to have to quit the job today. thankfully have the next 3 days off, so I might take one and see how it works out.

i was certainly surprised to hear what you all had to say, had never heard of methadone being used outside of heroin treatment. Ya learn somethin new all the time!

thanks again!
 
When my spine doctor finally decided it was time to start using "llong-acting opiate analgesics" on me, his suggestions were methone. MS Contin, and Duragesic. Duragesic was totally unacceptable, because it is insanely expensive. I was reluctant about the Methadone-- theoretically it is supposed to be a 24 hour analgesic, but it's also the hardestone to get off of. So I went with the slow-release morphine. The starting dose was WAAAY too low: 15mgx 2. Now I'm taking taking 15 in the am and 30 at night, but I still wake up with pain. They'd better give me 30x2 this week.

It's horribly frustrating, because I can't tell my doctor, "you know, when MS Contin was still under patent, we used to inject the 60s" or "I can IV over 100mg of OC in one night and not fall out." So I just have to wait and sit here in pain while they raise my dosage 15mg each week until I *finally* get enough to help my pain.
 
In a situation where you've got severe back pain and work long hours, methadone would probably be the most useful painkiller you could take.

As far as horror stories about methadone addiction, unless you're taking a really high dose (at least 50mgs a day or more), it's really not something you're going to have to worry about. Most likely you'll be given 15-20mgs a day to start with, taking 5mgs every few hours. And while lower doses don't really get you "high", they do a really good job of relieving pain and you probably wouldn't need more than 30mgs until you'd been taking it for quite a long time.

Also, I've had my share of back problems, too. And this might sound like something you don't think you can do since your back hurts so much in the first place. But try doing as many curl ups as possible whenever possible and get to doing it on a daily basis. As well as building up your abs, it also strengthens the muscles in your lower back. When I first heard this suggestion I was entirely skeptical that it could help out since the pain I was in was so severe. But after two weeks I really started to notice a significant difference and although my back would still kill me after a day of work, it wouldn't start hurting until later in the day and usually wouldn't hurt quite as bad.
 
I have a friend who was taking methadone for pain for a couple of years (fell at taco bell, needed surgery, had a reaction to something or other and had this god-awful bone rotting thing happening to her) once they found a way to reverse what was happening to her (it was involved....drilling holes in her bones or some such thing) she no longer needed the methadone.
Everyone warned her to come off slowly, but she was going to do it her way.
She dropped like crazy and was off in no time. When I went down to Florida the last time I stopped by her house, her neighbor came over to tell me that they (her, hubby and child) never stop now.
Never a negitive reaction. Not a single thing.
Go figure.
I know your body reacts differently when you are treating pain...
That being said I also have seen an opiate addict try to come off to quickly.
UGLY things happen.
 
Do a search for my name and methadone. I started a thread on this exact same topic a few months ago.
 
^^
Yeah, sorry ... totally never crossed my mind to look, but read it when someone else brought it up.
My questions have been answered anyhow, so thnx for the help everyone :)
 
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