Opioids Methadone question-- how soon after taking can u mv ur bowels wo risking losing any?

[ksmethadone]

OK, I've been on and off methadone for 15 yrs (mostly on). I know my opiates/opiods fairly well and have od'ed on H more times than I care to recall. Anyway, have become friendly with a doctor who writes me for 240, 10 mg a month. Which is a god send in my state bc or else I'd have to go to a clinic each day. Anyway, I generally treat myself the day I fill my script with 35 10 mg methadone and 10 2 mg xanax bars. May sound excessive to some, but it gives me a nice, clean nod that can last up to 36 hrs. Just have to be careful not to nod in an awkward position or you can have muscle cramps lasting weeks.
Anyway, as anyone who takes methadone long term knows, taking a dump becomes a serious issue. After 10 yrs, I've started to notice something and I wonder if anyone else notices it: taking a dump within the first hour or two after taking methadone seems to get it out of your system very quickly. Could be psychosomatic of course, but it seems genuine bc I know that when my methadone levels go down, I immediately lose any craving for smoking a cigarette. I know this may sound peculiar, and I've had college level bio classes (though granted, more on genetics than anatomy) and it doesn't seem to make sense in terms of what I recall of how the digestive process works. Yet, I'm SURE this isn't in my head bc I've been doing heavy opiods for far too long not to know when something is psychosomatic. Has anyone had any similar experiences?

 

[thesameoldfears]

I've never noticed a correlation. You are taki your methadone dose orally right? I don't really think having a bowel movement will affect how much of your dose is absorbed, unless maybe it causes it to leave the stomach quicker?

Also you're so lucky to have a doctor write a script for methadone...where I live it's eaither subs or going to the clinic daily. And the clinics are an hour away from me otherwise I'd be on it.

 

[Znegative]

Also you're so lucky to have a doctor write a script for methadone...where I live it's eaither subs or going to the clinic daily. And the clinics are an hour away from me otherwise I'd be on it.

I just read this aloud to my girlfriend and said the same thing..damn, if only I had that prescription! I'm only on 50mg, but I supplement it with high quality heroin once my dose begins to wear off (usually eight or so hours after I take it-(NOTE: Before I began using heroin regularly on top of my Methadone, it held me fine for 24 hours, and back then I was only on 30mg. I don't want to scare people into thinking that methadone is actually a short acting drug, because it isn't, however, if you fuck around with it, one day it's gonna grab you by the ears and fuck you from behind, like you're Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ).

Anyway, I was exclaiming how much I wished I had a months script of methadone (pill form) at a time. It would be so much easier to taper, and since I'm on a low dosage, I'd end up having a lot of extras left over.

Now, from a HR standpoint, I know you know this, it mixing that much alprazolam, and that much methadone is almost suicidal.. Do you even take alprazolam regularly?

Now as for your question revolving around taking a dump after a dose, it just doesn't make sense to me that it would diminish the drugs effects. I know that when I eat a large amount of food right after being medicated it seems to weaken the methadone's effect, but unless I administer the 'done rectally 'plugging', I can't imagine why it would change the effects
.

 

[thesameoldfears]

Anyway, I was exclaiming how much I wished I had a months script of methadone (pill form) at a time. It would be so much easier to taper, and since I'm on a low dosage, I'd end up having a lot of extras left over.

Now, from a HR standpoint, I know you know this, it mixing that much alprazolam, and that much methadone is almost suicidal.. Do you even take alprazolam regularly?.

I know, being able to control my dosage is the best thing about subs but the lack of pain relief has me seriously considering driving to get on done instead but I hate the idea of either being forced to take my full dose if I feel I can go without or being forcibly tapered.

Anyways, off my envious tangent...

I definitely misread the dosages when I first replied. Based on your script you should be on 80mg of methadone a day correct? But when you fill it you're taking 350mg? So that is effectively 5x your daily dose since if you use 35 pills the first day your daily dose for the remainder of the month would be 70mg. And on top of that you're taking 20mg of xanax??? That is just an insane amount for either drug, much less on top of each other! I'm less worried about the methadone, but damn 20mg of xanax is just absurd. Is that a drug you take regularly and have a super high tolerance for?

I hope you'll consider cutting back to less lethal doses, and if you insist on continuing this pattern I hope there's someone around who can help you if you start having negative effects from such a large dose of two CNS depressants.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

I didn't read everything you said but i'm on methadone since october, now at 57mg used to be on 60. And yes the constipation is one major issue. I have to take :

2x8,6 sessonides (ingredient in x-lax)
35ml x 2 of lactulose liquid and
100mg x 2 of docusate sodium.

And I still manage to clog up my toilet with cement rock hard turds. I just let them soften in the water now before flushing, disgusting, i know. It's probably not good to have the opiate receptors in your guts be so agonized everyday for years. That why i will not be on methadone longer than a year I can't wait to be off it, probably by late summer, i am switching to suboxone when i will get to 25-30mg, dropping 3mg every 3 weeks.

edit :I'm not sure he's taking all that once btw, i doubt he is dispensed 35 10mg methadones (those pills only come for pain) so he has to eat em all one day.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

After 10 yrs, I've started to notice something and I wonder if anyone else notices it: taking a dump within the first hour or two after taking methadone seems to get it out of your system very quickly. Could be psychosomatic of course, but it seems genuine bc I know that when my methadone levels go down, I immediately lose any craving for smoking a cigarette. I know this may sound peculiar, and I've had college level bio classes (though granted, more on genetics than anatomy) and it doesn't seem to make sense in terms of what I recall of how the digestive process works.

You are correct in that it makes no sense in terms of how the digestive system works. Normal bowel transit time - the time it takes for something to go from your mouth to your butt - is 18-24 hrs. In methadone users it can be substantially longer than that. Methadone would be completely absorbed within that time frame. Unless you had severe diarrhea - which, judging from your post you don't - or you are taking your methadone rectally instead of orally, there is no possible way that taking a dump after drinking your methadone would cause you to poop out any of the methadone. Bowel movements should definitely not be avoided or delayed when you are on methadone, since methadone is constipating and it's very important to have regular bowel movements.

The only possible conclusions I can come to is that perhaps it could be something to do with your subconscious associating taking a dump with opioid withdrawal, or perhaps if your bowel movements are causing you pain that is detracting from the effects of the methadone. (or you just don't happen to crave cigarettes after taking a shit due to an unrelated reason, if that is the only reason you think it's decreasing your methadone levels).