Methadone Taper Withdrawal

[miss_mandi]

I've been reading on here for a while and wanted to make a post regarding my experience with my experience from tapering off methadone. I started methadone for a 3g/day IV heroin habit along with anything and everything I could get my hands on like meth, crack, benzos. At my highest dose I was taking 100mg of methadone per day and remained there for 2 years 6 months. Finally I started to taper down. I began reducing my dose by 4mg every 7 days. I kept tapering at this rate until I reached 10mg. I was getting really nervous because I knew the end was near. I was having a lot of anxiety about not knowing what was coming. I was unsure about how the withdrawals would be and started reading a lot of forums on methadone withdrawal. Most of which scared the shit out of me. Aside from the anxiety, I experienced little to no withdrawal the whole way down. At 10mg I slowed my taper down to 2mg every 7 days and kept this rate until I reached 2mg. At this point I planned on tapering from 2mg to 1mg, but the clinic I was at was wanting me to jump through hoops, so at that point I decided to make the jump. Just to add this it takes 72-120 hours after your last dose of methadone to start going into withdrawals. I was absolutely prepared for the worst and was expecting withdrawals similar but longer in time frame from heroin withdrawals. So the countdown began. 24 hours after my last dose I was having ever increasing anxiety, racing thoughts, and sleeplessness. After about 120 I started having diarrhea and stomach cramps along with the anxiety and racing thoughts, and sleeplessness. I was also irritable and unmotivated. BUT the real surprise was the withdrawal that I had been expecting and waiting for never came. No, I wasn't 100 percent, but at least I wasn't at 0 percent.

I am now 22 days methadone and opiate free. I never thought I would see a day that I didn't need an opiate just to function. It is possible to get off methadone you just have to do it the right way. And I wod say I tapered relatively fast compared to others and had very minimal/tolerable withdrawal symptoms.

If you want to know anything further just let me know. I would be glad to help.

 

[w0w0mg]

That's awesome! It seems like you coped pretty well and had only minimal withdrawals.
I cold turkey off of 90 mg methadone which I was on for 2 years - It was the most horrible and longest lasting detox I ever endured.
I'm glad you're doing so well and keep up the GREAT work! You should be feeling 100% in no time!

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah, thats really nice to hear. What you did OP is pretty much what Im doing, i just didnt go quite as high for as long. Im taking my sweet time tapering, but the end is in sight. Boy i just cannot wait to be off this shit. Like for the first time in my life i can genuinely say im tired of and uninterested in using any longer than absolutely necessary. Anywho, keep ip the amazing work! Youre an inspiration buddy

 

[neversickanymore]

Congratulations mandi.. and welcome to BL.

You should see many more improvements over the next eight months to a year. Here is some information on paws and healing quicker.

Way to go!!!!

PAWS LINKS
Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)
Post-acute-withdrawal syndrome Wiki

Exercise and Brain Neurotransmission
Neurobiology of Exercise
Aerobic Exercise
Exercise 4 Health, Mental Health, and Addiction vs. The Endorphin Factory
Exercise 4 Health, Mental Health, and Addiction vs. I worked all that out
exercise and sleep

Chemicals and supplements to recover from opiate addiction
Diet & Neurogenesis


it is a powerful thing to keep our thoughts positive and here are some threads many of us use to help us do this.
Good things about being off drugs/getting sober
Share Something Positive from Your Day vs. It's All Around You
Today I Am Thankful For... Ver. 4 Infinite Chances in an Amazing World
Daily Personal Affirmations Log Vs IM THE SHIT & NOT a piece a.. not playing me. NOPE
Managing depressive thinking

Here is the mindfulness thread.
Anhedonia MEGA Thread

 

[thelung]

awesome to hear! its great to hear a methadone taper SUCCESS story rather than a post about how horrid it is to go through. thank you for that!

 

[miss_mandi]

awesome to hear! its great to hear a methadone taper SUCCESS story rather than a post about how horrid it is to go through. thank you for that!

Yea that's why I decided to post...after researching methadone taper all I found was horror stories, and I told myself that I was going to post my expetience.

Today is 28 days with no methadone and everything seems to be pretty normal...no withdrawal symptoms and me sleeping is pretty normal now. So happy that I was able to make it through

 

[Chadd1]

Congratulations on your achievement miss_mandi!!! You are on top of the world! Run with it!