methadone maintenance

[utahtroyboy]

Hi everyone,

Long time reader, fairly new poster. On Tuesday I decided enough was enough. I decided I was done with heroin and the game that goes with it. Long story short, I decided to start at the methadone clinic.
Surprisingly it was easy. In take took a couple hours. Nothing to awful. And my insurance covered the $60 a week it costs.
Now my questions are as follows:
They started me out at 30 MG day 1. With the option of bumping up 10 MG day by just saying so. So I am now at 50 MG with the plan of going to 60 MG tomorrow. So far this is working. My only down fall is having cravings and some small withdrawal symptoms. With hearing how bad methadone can be to come off of, should I stay at 60 MG if it's handling 90% of my cravings,


ngs, withdrawal, and keeping me from picking up and using heroin

 

[cj]

My advice is to get to a dose where you don't have cravings or withdrawal symptoms. When it comes time to taper off that extra 20 mg isn't going to matter much. Just don't be one of these people who keeps going up and up looking for a non existent high. Your lucky it was only 60 bucks a week that's really cheap!

 

[utahtroyboy]

Thanks CrimsonJunk ! I think the 60 MG is right where I need to be. She told me that most clients are between 68?

 

[OpiateGuy]

That's exactly how my clinic is (except I pay for it myself and its $50/week)... I was started at 30mg and could bump up 5 or10mg, I honestly forgot what it was.. Here I am around 16 months later and I stopped at 100mg/day. (Max I could have gone up to was 240mg) Methadone was my 'cure all' for years of heroin cravings.. I know it doesn't work for everyone, but thankfully, its worked almost flawlessly for myself. I'm about half a year into my first full time 'career'-type job. I go once a week to the clinic to take 1 dose and pick up 6 more... Its just so easy now that I've put in the initial time and stayed on track (which is so incredibly easy on methadone... once you get on the right dose, the cravings are 99% gone, seriously... Though at 60mg I still had cravings and would skip doses to try and break-through to get high, but it really is hard at that dosage.. because of tolerance it gets extremely expensive for a single high/nod.. which was obviously in the initial first couple months)... So, I made the decision I needed to make, which was up my dose to a dosage that really did alleviate all the cravings, while also making it nearly impossible to get high due to tolerance, while also not chasing on a high for the first few months while I was on MMT (Yes, you can chase an initial glow as you're building up, but thats a HORRIBLE decision for the long-term when you have to wean off)

So, I maybe could have stopped at about 85mg... but I did a small bit of insurance as it really makes no difference when I wean off, and just 'drew a line in the sand' so to speak, in order to stay on a stable dose and also be able to wean off when I feel I'm ready.

It's really an individual thing with MMT. Sure, if I was to start injecting heroin I could probably break through, but I always swore that off when I was in my addicted stage, and it never was a real option when I decided I wanted to "grow up" and chose to get on MMT.

So yeah, that's just my story... But it worked for me. (If you read my previous posts in the Chicago Heroin Discussion threads, you'll see I was a LONG-term HIGH* tolerance user.) So I don't see why it wouldn't work for anyone else.

Best of luck. No reason to be tormented with cravings and urges just to say "I don't take methadone".. The life I'm currently living is way better than my life when I was totally hooked on blows and also when I was 100% sober from opiates (Ie. no MMT). But, then again, everyone is different.

***Damn, I really hope I didn't come off as preachy.. that definitely wasn't my intention, each to his own. I'm cool with you shooting heroin for the next 30 years if that's what you want to do. If you want to get clean and think methadone is your best option, then that is my experience with it, and I'm equally 'cool' with it.***

 

[utahtroyboy]

Hey thanks man! No, not preachy at all. But yeah, over the years I've heard lots of people say "you are just swapping one drug for another". Alright, maybe that's somewhat true. But I'd rather use the drug that's legally given to me, I don't have to lie, scam, steal, or borrow to get feeling Better. with methadone maintenance there isn't that fucked up thought in my mind about what potentially illegal or immoral bullshit I may have to do today if I can't come up with money or a way to get well.

So at this point in my life I decided methadone is better than the "process" of
Getting $$$$, tracking down one of the several dealers in your phone since not one is more than 50% dependable, driving to meet him, hope he shows, the goods being what you asked for, oh and hoping no one is watching, and that you don't get pulled over.

I've been at 60 MG a day for almost 2 weeks now. I think I'll go to 65 MG and call it good. Sure beats the hell out of the daily game. When your breaking the law several different ways just to get well, it's only a matter of time before you get caught. Then you won't get the opportunity to even check out the methadone program. You can detox in a jail cell.

 

[Erikmen]

Great decision, soon you'll be able to cope with the cravings much better.
Just keep in mind that methadone should eventually be decreased for your own safe.
Maybe you don't wanna be chained to mmt as you will have to deal with addiction plus all the side effects on a long term.

 

[utahtroyboy]

Clinic isn't a hassle though. It's only a couple miles from my house. Plus my insurance is covering 100% of the cost.

 

[mangles]

Jesus christ where do you people find $50 a week clinics? AND ones that your insurance will pay for? I have to pay $90 out of pocket each week.

I'm tapering off now, 3 mgs a week. I started at 100mg and now I'm at 25mg. I honestly have BARELY noticed any withdrawal. And my taper is considered "fast and reckless" according to the staff at my clinic.

When I got on, I had OD'd for the third time and had spent the week previous in a coma, with the doctors telling my parents I'm gonna be a vegetable the rest of my life. Now I got a real job and shit, it's insane how far I've come. I couldn't have done it without MMT.

Good luck!

 

[utahtroyboy]

Wow congrats man! That's so awesome to hear how well your doing! I know some people have issues with MMT but I can't count how many times I quit cold turkey, or used subs for a week with a taper, etc. The problem with all those is I got clean which is great, but the craving was always there and always led to a relapse. With my 2 weeks on the MMT I haven't had a craving or a want to use. Which I never thought could be the case!

 

[MBRC]

ive been on methadone 8 out of 10 years. im in my late 20's . Ive seen LOTS of people come and go to my clinics and IME there are 2 types of methadone patients. #1 are the people that are just using it to get high and dont pass drug tests, those people r usually kicked out by 6-12 months bc they wont stop taking benzos or failing UAs and #2 the person that wants to function/live a normal life. And thats EXACTLY the type of people that go to MMT either one or the other. youll know the #1 types, constantly talking about drugs in line, selling pills, glorify drug use ect. when i go to my clinic i talk to NO ONE, i dont give a fuck what anyone there has to say. im there for methadone, not friends.

wow $50 ! i paid $180 a WEEK ! for 2 people, so $90 a person ! so almost $900 a month ! what state r u in lol my suboxone is $250 per Dr. visit, the meds r free, i pay to see the dr. x2 bc of my wife = $500 a month, which is half the price as MMT. theres a cheaper sub clinic in my area but they will kick u out asap for pot, and id rather smoke and pay the extra $ lol

ps. i get that comment ALOT esp from other dr.s, you are just switching one drug for another" and then i say well yea your 100% right BUT there are 2 types of methadones patients, like i described above, i then tell them i am the #2 type AND when i was on heroin i COULDNT work, COULDNT funtion, STEAL, have to come up with at least $50-100 a day for heroin , commit crimes NOW i just have to come up with $26 a day and i can live as well as you do, and they really dont have much to say after that..i mean u want me to ROB YOU for your $ or go to a clinic and work, hmmmm touch decision. The reason i get alot of questions and comments like this are the #1 type of patients are r what most people see or hear about concerning methadone clinics