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Opioids Methadone Mega Thread and FAQ v 2.0

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That was me and thanks for your response. It really is a buddy of mine. He's 60 y/o, Hep C, Diabetes, no kidney function, undergoes dialysis 3x/week. So imo there's a number of things which could be causing it. He also lives alone and could easily be drinking/eating something that has fermented, never occurred to me. A friend also said gum disease can cause a pos with mouth swabs due to bacteria causing fermentation. He's got more meds at his place than a pharmacy. So it's like, where to begin? He mouth swabs since he has a hard time with supervised piss tests and is on fluid restriction. The clinic won't do blood tests. They're basically just hanging administrative taper over his head at this point. They've already dropped him to 50 mg, he's in bad withdrawals every morning. He had a stroke last year and really can't advocate for himself at all. At this point his clean date is Nov 1 and he's been on the clinic that long too, and he has no take homes even though he's been clean and compliant the whole time because of these false positives. I've been there since April 2 and about to get take homes. So I will mention some of the possibilities you listed to him and we'll try to figure it out. I know this is long but I figure there's gotta be others out there in this situation and they are probably not so good with computers (he has no clue how to use one at all) but if they do manage to read this thread maybe this can help them. Or if someone they know does that could help too. Thanks for not just dismissing my post as bullshit because this really is happening. I feel so bad for him having to struggle through all this at age 60 and with all his health issues and having had the stroke he has a really hard time communicating. If I hadn't started the clinic I don't know where he'd be at right now. I can tell everyone just wants to write him off as a lost cause. It's fucking sad especially when he's been clean so long. He was on pain management before this but couldnt manage his script without running out 2 weeks early after his girlfriend killed herself (she used to hold it for him). Long before that he was an IV heroin/morphine user though.
 
Hi everyone I have been here before with name blimey Charlie but forgot password and can't now get to that email addy . Anywa back then I was trying to withdraw and got to five weeks realtionship broke up and u got it I reached back for oxy. Yet agin got up to stupid amounts. And well I'm now on week 5 of second time and even my brain seems different this time. After the last wd I was sacred. Thought I was dying. Oh it all started due to back trouble I broke back and next thing u no I'm addicted to Oxys���� and I'm a middle aged woman who has top job kids in uni and my doctor boss is my friend ! So I defo couldn't go to my gp about this. Anyway that's bit of back ground . Anyway I went to docs said I wanted to ease of meds. So he said he heard that lyrica helps also with opiate wd as he said I might suffer from it due to what I'd been on. Little did he know id also been buying it so was on treble amount he thought and he said it was also for my back. Anyway I looked it up seen it was on this forum and seen it might work for wd. Bouns I thought lol Id give it ago. So week before I stooped i weaned down then come the Monday I took first just 75mg if lyrica. 2 parocetomal and 200 mg naproxen. I was like I said scared due to last wd. But I got nothing no wd symptoms at all!!
Took that amount for two days two or three times a day. Then third day I took 150 mg of lyrica and same again with others. No leg pains not sweats or sneezing I always sneeze when wd ?? Or tummy pains. Nothing at all. I was shocked kept thinking it gonna come but it didn't !!! Second week I went up again another 75mg. But still nothing no wd symptoms nothing.
Now I'm not saying it will work for everyone else but along with vit c and food baths etc im now on week 5 and as I said for some reason I'm not even thinking of oxys which for me is crazy as I been on them years.
Or shud anyone take these amounts of lyrica. Always start small of course.
But if this is anyway helpful for anyone else going through wd.
 
To add to this I forgot one bad point is sleep it's all over place. But first wd my legs drove me mad Wundt keep still. I was defo kicking the habit. But this time ive had none of it. I have also heard though if u take this in big amounts to get high and for long time withdrawal from this can be bad for some so also try to use as u need.
 
Methadone FAQ
Thank you very much for this information. I actually just called a methadone treatment center located within my area. I've tried and tried to taper my oxycodone useage but just can't. I was at 100 plus mgs for 2 years or so and I just can't stop. I get so sick. I'm just so very confused and scared as for what to do now.
 
On methadone and still using...tired of living!

I've been on methadone for many years and am currently on 95mgs. I still am using heroin and need at least 7 bags to get high. It's ridiculous, but I feel like my life is just beyond fucked up and I'm just so tired of trying and getting nowhere. I don't even have the motivation to try anymore. To be honest, I wish I could just do enough dope and have it be over, but my tolerance is so high that even that seems impossible. I could shoot a bundle at a time and won't OD. I'm not new to this shit, just fucking tired of living and don't see a way out. I isolate myself and my days just go by in a fog with no purpose. It makes me sick even saying that, because I have a son, who i know needs me to not just be there for him, but also, to be healthy and happy, so that I can help him deal with growing up in this fucked up world. I can't deal with life myself, so I know I'm no help to him. I just feel so much shame, guilt, anger, pain and most of all, self-hatred. I don't even know what the point of this post is, but thanks for listening anyways. I'm so sick of myself and how pathetic my life has been.
 
I strongly suggest you raise your methadone dose until you're no longer craving or your tolerance prevents use. Methadone will at some point definitely create a full blockade, unless you're a very odd outlier. I doubt you are. Please ask for a dose raise. Tell your clinic what's going on, it's their directive from the federal government (SAMHSA) to increase your dose if your still using other opioids, and the federal govt in the US through SAMHSA specifically recommends against "dose caps" so politely fight that if it's presented to you.

I had to go to over 200-mgs to hit my sweet spot, where i didn't crave, couldn't use and was able to resume my life feeling pretty good. Was using about 1-g/day very HQ bth (heroin) when I started on methadone.

Or you could try Suboxone, but I think where you're at now is where you belong, we all hate the clinic system, rules, etc... But if your seriously tired of the game, this is the time and place to tap out.

Best wishes, you can succeed with methadone, your dose is relatively low to your dope habit. You need to have methadone cover all your needs that heroin helps fulfill. Your life will stabilize. You'll be glad you raised your dose when you hit the spot, you'll know when that is... Don't go much above the right dose, you'll just become a zombie...
 
I've been on methadone for many years and am currently on 95mgs. I still am using heroin and need at least 7 bags to get high. It's ridiculous, but I feel like my life is just beyond fucked up and I'm just so tired of trying and getting nowhere. I don't even have the motivation to try anymore. To be honest, I wish I could just do enough dope and have it be over, but my tolerance is so high that even that seems impossible. I could shoot a bundle at a time and won't OD. I'm not new to this shit, just fucking tired of living and don't see a way out. I isolate myself and my days just go by in a fog with no purpose. It makes me sick even saying that, because I have a son, who i know needs me to not just be there for him, but also, to be healthy and happy, so that I can help him deal with growing up in this fucked up world. I can't deal with life myself, so I know I'm no help to him. I just feel so much shame, guilt, anger, pain and most of all, self-hatred. I don't even know what the point of this post is, but thanks for listening anyways. I'm so sick of myself and how pathetic my life has been.
I did same thing; was at 95 and still shooting a G a day or every other day; just could not save me or make me not want it.. suboxone works wonders for me, man. not sure if you've been there before but I've been back and forth on both and suboxone saved me for 9 months w/o a thing before and now its doing so much better than the methadone; I still use but once a week, every other week, if that.. no where near what I did on the methadone.
 
Best wishes, you can succeed with methadone, your dose is relatively low to your dope habit. You need to have methadone cover all your needs that heroin helps fulfill. Your life will stabilize. You'll be glad you raised your dose when you hit the spot, you'll know when that is... Don't go much above the right dose, you'll just become a zombie...

Thanks for this. I'm also currently at 95 (is that like the dose to be at right now?) and I'd hoped I could keep my dose much lower. I felt like 95 was a lot for that level of use. However, I think your highest level of use must play into it too. My tolerance wasn't that high THIS TIME, but I had previously used 3-4 bundles a day for a period of almost a year, culminating in a couple months of suboxone at 20 mg before tapering to ~2 mg. When I started using again, my tolerance was lower than it had been in years. Not only was oxycodone getting me high again, but at doses of less than 200 mg. Even by the time I ended up on methadone, I was not using more than a bundle a day, and I'd been using quite carelessly for a month or so when I spent 10k of 401k money on nothing but 2 months' rent and dope for me and my girl - starting at a whopping dose of 2 bags (and .5 for her).

I highly doubt my clinic will prescribe doses above 200 mg, though. Legality aside, they're the only clinic for at least 1.5 hours one way in any direction, and as far as they're concerned, if you don't like it, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. They have plenty of people waiting who'd be happy with any amount of methadone. They give the slowest and least increases I've ever heard of. I started at 20 and increased 5 mg the first week, then 10 every week after. After you hit 70, you have to show serious wd symptoms to get an increase. They do a COWS sheet before ANY increase and at 85 I got denied the increase to 95 the first time I put in a request because I scored too low. I scored in moderate withdrawal a about 22 hours after last dose. I had to leave my counselor a voicemail at 7:30 pm practically crying because I was trying to work but the withdrawals were too bad before I got my last increase. The doctor will not do an increase due to cravings alone. They will not increase more than once a week, even when starting. And most people I know there are right around 100 mg. The one thing I can say is at least they'll increase if you're still using, although eventually you'll get kicked out...
 
Sorry to hear you've got a rouge, but not unusually tight clinic rules. Definitely goes against the entire clinical development of methadone therapy. Read Dr. Dole and Nyswander's work that established it's effectiveness and how they did their research, if you're interested. You'll understand better why your clinic is failing you, rather than the other way round.

But it is what it is.

Maybe bupe would serve you better. If you can get a script and handle it appropriately, no bupe vacations so you can shoot dope. Otherwise, if your clinic also does daily bupe dosing maybe go that route for regulated treatment to help ensure your needs are met without heroin.

It can be done! It might take a bit of time and effort, but try to get that increase (sounds almost impossible, shouldn't be) or switch to bupe, that's a bit of a hassle and opens a window to use so plan ahead and be smart about how you taper the methadone and make the switch. You might full on relapse, but try to keep it to a week and go straight to Suboxone after that.

Best wishes.
 
Hi! So my love/hate with heroin has been like 5 years now, but this last run's been about seven months, and I'm going strong at about 1/2 g of pretty good shit a day.. But beautiful methadone has finally made way into my life!!! ? unfortunately, it's just my friends script and they can't share too much, so I'm wondering, what's a good minimal amount I should take per day to keep me working and not hatin life and acting like an antisocial weirdolol?!? The plan's to do a quick taper. THANKS!
 
Well, personally I don't think methadone should be used for fast tapering, bupe works way better. But if you are set on methadone, most clinics titrate up from 30mgs. I'm on 70 and was on 120 at one point.

How much are you currently taking? Also meth is really potent. More so than ppl seem to think. Plus once you find the right dose so not to be all tired or panicky sshitty feeling, it builds up in your system and you feel fine.

YMMV.
 
a quick methadone taper in the clinics eyes is 6 months; you usually have 2 options: 1. 6 month taper - 2. be on it for however long you'd like, even life, lol.

if you truly feel you can taper quickly and actually be SOBER after the taper and stay sober, then try it w/ bupe/sub. you can buy probably 10 on the street and use them for a quick taper and then its totally on you.
 
Sorry for delay and thanks so much for your help/replies!! This is pretty cool. Anyway, sorry for being so vague before.. I only have 5 of the ten mg dones.. I MIGHT get more but who knows.. I've tried subs before, and I dont know if my tolerance is just huge or what but I feel like no relief anymore?! Don't like them anyway, everything about subs just makes me like ugh.
Lol ANYWAY I thought maybe you wise peeps could help out with suggestions on the easiest path for detox with those Dones, 5 Flexerol(never done before), and like 1mg xanny haha. (Original post 2 days ago above)
Cheers!
 
Oh yeah and in regards to not using Dones for a quick taper, that's actually the ONLY time I've been able you successfully detox without rehab or anything on my own was with methadones help. (like 20mg day 1. Day 2 15mg, day 3 10mg)And long as you stick to the min you can handle, and DON'T let yourself get carried away..like make sure your ass stops after a week, max!! (it's scary) That way your body has time for heroin to clear out, without getting too hooked on the methadone!! Kinda smart really huh?
Bc as you folks know, the reason they don't tell you that you can do that at the clinics is they gotta make their money somehow right? The longer were coming back.. These more$ we spend andblah blah anyway thanks for the help guys:)
 
You CAN successfully use Methadone for short-term taper. I have tapered off the 'done while I was on 60mL/mg for years, dropping 1mL per day and after the last 1mL used Loperamide for a week and I was fine. Anxiety and depression lasted for a while though.

If you dont have Methadone in your system you can try dropping more than 1mL per day. The clinic I went to recommended tapering 1mL/week which really wasnt an option for me.
 
Hello....I started a methadone program almost three weeks ago. I'm at 65 mg and so far so good. I was wondering if muscle "twitching" or spams is a common side effect or if anyone else experiences this. It's weird and frustrating. I also sweat like a pig! But I was told this is a common side effect.
 
I live up in Pennsylvania but I'm staying with my sister down here in Pensacola FL for a bit and last night I arrived here and this morning I was already able to dose at the methadone clinic, that easy. I was in my third day of being sick so what a relief, man. Up in PA there's a four to six month wait to get in. So I'm curious, where you live how is the wait list for the clinic or the intake protocol? I feel 100x better although I'm sure it won't hold me all day but that's what I expected. What is everyone's sweet spot so to speak? Like the dose when it holds you and gives you a slight morning buzz. I know that buzz doesn't last long cause I've been on mmt before. Thoughts?
 
I live up in Pennsylvania but I'm staying with my sister down here in Pensacola FL for a bit and last night I arrived here and this morning I was already able to dose at the methadone clinic, that easy. I was in my third day of being sick so what a relief, man. Up in PA there's a four to six month wait to get in. So I'm curious, where you live how is the wait list for the clinic or the intake protocol? I feel 100x better although I'm sure it won't hold me all day but that's what I expected. What is everyone's sweet spot so to speak? Like the dose when it holds you and gives you a slight morning buzz. I know that buzz doesn't last long cause I've been on mmt before. Thoughts?

I'm in Georgia and the clinic I go to there is no waiting list to start. You can dose the first day you go but they start you at a small dose, like 20 mg. I'm still in my first 30 days but they up me 5 mg every other day if I want. I'm at 70 mg right now and I think 75 will be a good dose for me. My slight buzz lasts me about five hours or so. Also my first day I had to be there about 3-4 hours...it sucked! But now I'm there 15-20 mins at the most. Sometimes less. Good luck!
 
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