Methadone Withdrawal; Advice Please!

[Buffy1964]

I was on 25 mg/ day for several months then quit my job and cut it down to 10mg/day for about 3 weeks which really didn't hurt me too bad but ran into a financial bind and thought i could just stop cold turkey! Day 1 wasn't so bad neither was 2 but days 3,4, and finally day 5 have been worse each day and night! Muscles, Joints, bones, and migranes were definitely the things that were killing me! I have come off of opiates before and was expecting the same 3-5 days of pain and i wasn't even on anything but a small dose! I ended up having to take 10mg. Today my 5thday just too make it! I WAS LITERALLY GETTING WORSE AND HAVE HAD NO SLEEP IN DAYS! I don't know what to do and would so appreciate any advice anyone can give to me regarding what to do next!!! I added potassium, magnesium, niacin, apple cider vinegar, honey/ cinnamon to my daily vitamin regimen along with several hot baths for the leg cramps/ day but it just seemed to be getting worse! If i hadn't taken that dose today how many days more would i have expected to hurt so extremely bad??? Should i go cold turkey again or taper down again??? Please help anyone!!!!
THANK YOU & GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

 

[smokemctoke420]

i hear methadone withdraws blow pretty much all other opiate w/ds out of the water. i would advice tapering down 2mgs or so at a time from 15-20 mgs. ive never had to taper and this is just my opinion.

Maybe someone else could chime in and helo you.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Methadone withdrawal lasts WAY longer than other opiate withdrawal. And it comes on more gradually like you experienced. How long exactly it lasts depends on the person (and other factors like how long they've been on it etc), but generally you're looking at about a month for the acute withdrawal phase, with the second week after stopping often being the worst part. Some people do find they're substantially better in 2 weeks though. Impossible to tell if it would have continued getting worse or started to gradually get better soon for you, as everyone's different, but I personally I found it to keep getting worse for around 8 days and then very slowly start to improve. At least you haven't been on it very long (in relative terms - several months is a LOT better than several years).

I think the supplements you are taking are good, except I'm not sure about the apple cider vinegar because I found it made me feel weird while I was in methadone withdrawal.

Are you able to go back to, say 5-10mg for a few days and then taper off the methadone? You could try tapering pretty quickly, I don't think you need to (or should) do an extremely long drawn-out taper. Jumping from 10mg/day to zero may not sound like much but it is.

There are a bunch of threads on stuff you can do or take to help with withdrawals (let me know if you need any help finding them).