Opioids Methadone & switchng to a shorter acting Full Mu-Agonist Opiate/Opioid

[Gaz_hmmmm]

I was wondering how long it take for methadone to full leave the body as I've heard of people withdrawing for a month from the stuff?

I'm currently prescribed corticosteroids and can't go cold turkey (From opioids and the steroids) as it'll cause me to fit and if not helped soon enough, die.

I was wondering if I switched to morphine, codeine and dihydrocodeine how long would I have to use these before I could start doing a reduction program without the methadone being present in my liver/body?

I would honestly like to try switching to morphine or a morphine derivative and then, using certain med's go cold turkey. I'm thinking benzo's, loperamide and ketamine analogues to help the WD's.

I'd have family on standby incase it was too much for me and had to go to A&E and also restart the methadone.

 

[thelastclubkid]

methadone will be effectively completely out of your system after 7 days... but really 4 days is considered when it is low enough to be inactive...

 

[aussie101]

I recently did this. You will need a large amount of morphine/oxy to do it. I was on 80mg methadone and i spent 10 days on short acting full agonists. You will also need a large amount of benzos. Can you get any suboxone for after the methadone is out of your body? Thats what i used - quick taper (only 2 days) followed by a week of benzos, loperamide and others...

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Why not just taper on the methadone..?

 

[Bruce Haze]

I need experienced/people who understand this to enlighten me on this topic as well.

I want to get off methadone. My plan is, taper down to 20-30. Low, but still comfortable. Then switch to a shorter acting opioid for (30 days?). Allowing the methadone to leave your system while staying on a controlled dose of the shorter-acting opioid (NOT GETTING HIGH!). Just enough to feel comfortable. Then optionally taper a little bit and quit. You go through the normal, 7 day withdrawal from a low dose you were just getting by on and not getting high with.

Basically with this method, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, where I do not think I can handle 20+ days. Again, I need feedback on this method! What may I not be thinking about? Besides telling me I won't be able to control myself and stay on a low dose without getting high and nodding out some days.

 

[plague66]

Dude, I came down from 80mL's of Methadone to 17mL's, then cold turkey-d for 72 hours lasting on Lyrica, Clonazepam and then switched on 2mg Suboxone, now I am down to 1mg and soon 0.5mg, anyway. 7 Days like someone said is wrong, even though I took my last Methadone dose maybe 25 days ago now, when I wake up, I can still feel the special kind of blood pressure rise and tremors and unrest which I only associate with Methadone withdrawal. After I take my Suboxone I feel 100% and sometimes even a bit high from as small doses as 1mg... But at night around 4-5am I start getting that very familiar feeling that I only know 'done withdrawal is like.
Usually it takes up to 25-45 days to fully get rid of ALL body W/D symptoms but it should get easier after 2 weeks, that depends on how long you were on Methadone, doses etc... Psychologically the PAWS (post-acute-withdrawal-symptoms) can last up to 6 months to a year...

But there is no way, that after you finish that 7 day short acting opiate regime you won't feel the Methadone withdrawal, it only starts to show its teeth after 5th day or so because It builds up into your system.

EDIT: Sorry, the 7 day talk was directed to the 2th poster who implied that Methadone will be cleared out with 7 days. If you stay on a short acting opioid for 30 days and then switch to Suboxone, that might work but you can just taper your Methadone down to < 30 and then switch to Suboxone.

What is your dose at the moment?

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I did this. If you want to do it I'd recommend getting your methadone dose as low as you can (but don't spend too long doing it, especially if it's causing you a lot of WDs while tapering, I really regret doing a slow excruciating methadone taper) and then switching to the shorter-acting opioid for about a month to cover the methadone withdrawal symptoms, then tapering off the shorter-acting one. The hardest time for me began about a week after I stopped the methadone. I had required a lower dose of the shorter-acting opioid the first few days off the methadone as the remaining methadone in my system had an additive effect at first, so that's something to be aware of. You may have to titrate up the dose of the shorter-acting opioid after stopping the methadone, then you should taper off it as soon as you feel ready. 2-6 weeks from the time you switch off the methadone is recommended before you start substantially lowering your dose of the new opioid. You will still get post-acute withdrawals from the methadone if you've been on it for a long time.

Another option is to switch to a shorter-acting opioid for a couple of weeks and then switch to buprenorphine and quickly taper off that. That is what a lot of doctors recommend. Although it may partly be because they don't want to prescribe people any full agonists other than methadone if they are not just doing it briefly in order to switch to Suboxone.

methadone will be effectively completely out of your system after 7 days... but really 4 days is considered when it is low enough to be inactive...

That is not true. Methadone can stay in the body for a very long time (it varies greatly between individuals, but for some people on chronic high dose methadone it can actually take like 20 days for ~97% of the methadone to be eliminated), and besides that having it not perceptibly affect you anymore has nothing to do with how long the withdrawals last, which was what the OP was asking about.

 

[Gaz_hmmmm]

To the person who asked why I don't just switch to Bup it's because of the Corticosteroids, the opiate wd would kill me. That's why I want to and need to switch to a full agonist.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I am confused, I just realized you said in an earlier post that you said you wanted to switch to morphine (or something similar) and then quit that cold turkey, using non-opioid meds to help with the withdrawals from it? If you're worried that 3 days of methadone withdrawal before switching to buprenorphine could potentially kill you, why do you think that stopping morphine cold-turkey would not be dangerous?

I had assumed you wanted to switch to morphine, then stabilize on that for long enough to cover the acute phase of methadone withdrawal, and then taper off the morphine.