Mental Health methadone maintenance

[HellsBelleTM]

I'm a 27yr old female from PA. Ive been on methadone at my clinic now for roughly 5yrs. I had 3yrs sober then relapsed during December of 15, got arrested for retail in march, then got sober before court since I knew I'd be receiving probation. I'll have a year coming up in the beginning of April. I'm only at 75mg this time around, honestly I personally never needed a higher dose & was a good blocking dose for me. I hate that I'm still on methadone, but I'm so nervous to get off. Thought about moving since philly is a short 15-20 minute drive. At least not until I'm off probation incase of relapsing. I just hate that I haven't been completely sober on my own without a crutch. Any others who were on matenience program & got off? Just looking for like advice. Thanks

 

[chelle216]

I know a few people who have successfully gotten off methadone from one of the more strict clinics in that area. I also have gotten off of methadone although I never went to a clinic.

So, society always wants to put "sobriety" into a nicely packaged box, but you need to decide for yourself what it means to be sober. For some people that means abstinence, for others that means maintenance, and yet for other's it means something else entirely. Just because society thinks complete abstinence seems more palatable, doesn't always mean it's realistic 90% percent of the time. In more cases than not, people often thrive on medications such as methadone and Suboxone, but just because someone is on one or the other doesn't mean someone who is on neither is more sober or better off.

Basically, you need to make peace with yourself wherever you're at in the process of your individual sobriety. After time, new things get old and seem less appealing and we decide its time to move on. In order to transition from point A to point B with any degree of success, it's really important to not let the monotony of now cloud your judgement. For instance, there are numerous people who have entirely bungled their attempt at getting off methadone solely because they can't be patient with the process. Learning to be ok with where you're at, and that it's not always going to go according to plan will help tremendously with tapering.

In any case, I wish you all the best in getting where you're going!