Hey, longtime reader, first time poster. So I'm using methadone to taper off a small H binge, lasted for about a month...I was going through maybe a half-gram every five days (for what it's worth, this is supposedly the best dope any of my junkie pals have ever used), using Subs when I couldn't get it, but still felt worse w/d symptoms than any other time I've stopped using opiates (this is the first time I've done mainly H, though), even though all of the other times I was quitting Oxys after months and months of steady use. Anyways, I was having a real rough time, called one of my friends, he's been on H for about fifteen years, he brings me some methadone. Three ten mg pills, which I'm pretty sure is the lowest dose? Anyways, I took half of one and went to work, still shitty but not nearly as bad. My plan is to taper down through Sunday, as I have Monday and Tuesday off. The real question here is, is this even a good idea? I've read and heard that methadone w/ds can be worse than H w/ds, and while some of you more seasoned vets might scoff at the low mgs, the H w/ds were in no part imaginary. Does tapering like this work? I realize I can't escape withdrawals entirely, I'm just hoping to lessen the impact by doing this. Anyways, thanks!
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BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards
Methadone Question
- Thread starter Brice
- Start date
BrokedownPalace
Bluelight Crew
Methadone is indeed used succesfully to taper off of heroin/other opioids. I was on methadone maintenence at 75mg per day for about a year and a half; when they say that methadone withdrawals are worse than heroin withdrawals, this is indeed true, but they mean from large, long habits. I detoxed cold turkey from 75mg per day for 1.5 years and it was the most intense detox I have ever gone thru, including from a 2 year IV heroin habit. Th eproblem is, the half life is soo long that the withdrawals last forever, sometimes more than a month..
BUT..
The good news is, you don't have to worry about that. Using 3 10mg pills won't be enough to cause you to experience any withdrawals from the methadone. Your habit wasn't very big luckily, and 1 month is not a very long time. Certainly I believe you about your withdrawal symptoms, but in the grand scheme it shouldn't be ridiculously bad.
You can certainly use the 30mg of methadone you have to succesfully detox from heroin. You want to do a short taper, ideally around 5 days. Methadone is quite potent, you shouldn't need much to hold a moderate heroin habit. The 10mg pills you have are the strongest ones, as the pills only come in 10 and 5mg. If I were you I would do the following:
Day 1: 10mg
Day 2: 7.5mg
Day 3: 5mg
Day 4: 5mg
Day 5: 2.5mg
Day 6: Stop
This way you are decreasing your dose as you go, and won't be taking enough to get dependent on the methadone. 5 days should be enough to get the heroin detox overwith, and while you may not feel like a million bucks, using th emethadone in this fashion should certainly make you feel okay enough to move around, possibly go to work, whatever. Once you stop after the five days, you may still feel some minor residual withdrawal symptoms, but nothing you can't handle. Probably soem minor restlessness, anxiety/depression, etc.
The hardest thing about getting clean usually isn't th einitial acute detox. It is the post acute withdrawal syndrome, that comes into play after the physical symptoms dissipate. This means the cravings, anxiety, depression, insomnia, etc. It is important to have a solid plan in order on how you are staying clean. Whether it be some kind of rehab, going to meetings, seeing a therapist, etc. Because if you just get sober and dont' change anything in your life, you are bound to relapse.
Coming off of a 1 month heroin binge should not be too bad though, so I am confident you will make it, just stay strong and don't get discouraged. I wish you luck, and if you need any help with opiate withdrawal feel free to private message me as I've been dealing with it for quite some time and am pretty experienced when it comes to that.
Mike
BUT..
The good news is, you don't have to worry about that. Using 3 10mg pills won't be enough to cause you to experience any withdrawals from the methadone. Your habit wasn't very big luckily, and 1 month is not a very long time. Certainly I believe you about your withdrawal symptoms, but in the grand scheme it shouldn't be ridiculously bad.
You can certainly use the 30mg of methadone you have to succesfully detox from heroin. You want to do a short taper, ideally around 5 days. Methadone is quite potent, you shouldn't need much to hold a moderate heroin habit. The 10mg pills you have are the strongest ones, as the pills only come in 10 and 5mg. If I were you I would do the following:
Day 1: 10mg
Day 2: 7.5mg
Day 3: 5mg
Day 4: 5mg
Day 5: 2.5mg
Day 6: Stop
This way you are decreasing your dose as you go, and won't be taking enough to get dependent on the methadone. 5 days should be enough to get the heroin detox overwith, and while you may not feel like a million bucks, using th emethadone in this fashion should certainly make you feel okay enough to move around, possibly go to work, whatever. Once you stop after the five days, you may still feel some minor residual withdrawal symptoms, but nothing you can't handle. Probably soem minor restlessness, anxiety/depression, etc.
The hardest thing about getting clean usually isn't th einitial acute detox. It is the post acute withdrawal syndrome, that comes into play after the physical symptoms dissipate. This means the cravings, anxiety, depression, insomnia, etc. It is important to have a solid plan in order on how you are staying clean. Whether it be some kind of rehab, going to meetings, seeing a therapist, etc. Because if you just get sober and dont' change anything in your life, you are bound to relapse.
Coming off of a 1 month heroin binge should not be too bad though, so I am confident you will make it, just stay strong and don't get discouraged. I wish you luck, and if you need any help with opiate withdrawal feel free to private message me as I've been dealing with it for quite some time and am pretty experienced when it comes to that.
Mike
Since when is 30mg of methadone note enough to WD from??? I took in the range of 30-40mg(occasionaly more, but sometimes less) day at age 17 I believe(moms friend was a cancer patient, she got the methadone wafers, and mom did do, which was a beautiful experience). Now obviously I ended up taking way more than that, but I dt'ed my ass of after a couple of months of messing with methadone, and that started the cycle for me that has lasted a decade.
Anyway, my point is, 30mg isn't much to us seasoned junkies, but it's certainly a good start! Remember, 25mg of methadone is equipotent to 80mg of oxycodone, and 80mg of oxycodone is certainly enough to start a habit.
Anyway, my point is, 30mg isn't much to us seasoned junkies, but it's certainly a good start! Remember, 25mg of methadone is equipotent to 80mg of oxycodone, and 80mg of oxycodone is certainly enough to start a habit.
BrokedownPalace
Bluelight Crew
Taking 30mg per day for a few months is certainly enough to withdraw from.. I said using 30mg total over the course of a few days, to get thru heroin detox isn't enough to get dependent and withdraw from the methadone.. Same thing as using suboxone over the course of a few days.. Completely different than if you were to use it daily as maintenence..
Oh sorry, I misread it. He said he was doing it for a month, I didn't realize you we're saying to use 30mg for a few days to taper. Yeah, I am just sensitive, becuase before I tried MD's as a kid, I loved my opies, but never woulda thought about being addicted. You see, I am different from most; the idea of being addicted to a drug I have to take 4 or 5 times a day was ridiculous to me. But the methadone blew my fucking mind; it was way stronger than hydro and oxy, and lasted all fucking day. So yeah, the "detox pill" actually drove me to trying heroin. Or maybe I'm just ass backwards...
Hey, thanks for the post, Brokedownpalace. I took around 3.5 mgs this morning (maybe a little more or less, hard to be exact), felt decent but not good (which I didn't really expect to, anyways), started to feel shitty around 6 P.M. and took another 2.5. The tapering seems like it should work, tonight is the first night I'm gonna go without smoking a shit ton of weed and taking klonopin, two drugs I don't particularly like in the first place. Anyways, very very thankful for your input/advice!