• HEALTH & RECOVERY
    Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules Thread Directory 1 Thread Directory 2
    Mindfulness Links Addiction & Mind
    Sober Living Partner Program (SLiPP)
  • H&R Moderators: streaM Freak

Methadone withdrawal day 23...

Pushes real hard at the end.. your indeed close to the first miracle.. its not going to be all rainbows and orgasms after this.. but once you make it through this, you kinda figure out that you can make through anything 8o

"anything " referencing the exact meaning of the word applied to the exact meaning of the word.

Have you taken three seconds to give yourself that credit? ;)
 
Thank you SN! I haven't tried any of those things before so I definitely will. I've never experienced this eye sensitivity before so I hope that helps too. I really appreciate it!!

Still not so sure about sleep.. Ugh.
 
I needed that NSA! Thank you so much. I swear it feels like I've been like this forever. It's easy to get pulled into it.

And you're right. I'm kicking ass. LOL
 
Yeah Lynn! You go!

The weed thing helped me too, but only if you are already a smoker.

You're going to want to slap me for saying this, because it sounds so stupid - but have you ever heard of the soap trick for RLS? If you put a bar of Ivory (any brand but Dial, and Ivory works the best) at the foot of your bed, by your feet, while you sleep, and it can help alleviate your RLS. You can additionally take a hot bath with LOTS of soap in it - not bubble bath, soap - it can help the RLS. I let a couple bars of Ivory float around in there. I swear. I know, it sounds so dumb, but it helped me at the tail of my WD. Clonidine can also get your jimmy legs under control. Don't take Benadryl, it makes it worse. Magnesium can work too, it can also help you sleep.

Vitamin D deficiencies can cause RLS, so now would be a good time to get those Vitamin D horse pills that you only need to take like twice a week.

I have never WD'd off methadone, but I do know that my RLS sort of ramps up on the tail end of my withdrawal. I actually used to LOOK FORWARD to it because I knew the end was near.

So maybe try and look at it like that? Either way, you are so close. Don't give up. Sleep, food, all of it will seem so amazing when they go back to normal!
 
dognasher said:
Yeah Lynn! You go!

The weed thing helped me too, but only if you are already a smoker.

You're going to want to slap me for saying this, because it sounds so stupid - but have you ever heard of the soap trick for RLS? If you put a bar of Ivory (any brand but Dial, and Ivory works the best) at the foot of your bed, by your feet, while you sleep, and it can help alleviate your RLS. You can additionally take a hot bath with LOTS of soap in it - not bubble bath, soap - it can help the RLS. I let a couple bars of Ivory float around in there. I swear. I know, it sounds so dumb, but it helped me at the tail of my WD. Clonidine can also get your jimmy legs under control. Don't take Benadryl, it makes it worse. Magnesium can work too, it can also help you sleep.

Vitamin D deficiencies can cause RLS, so now would be a good time to get those Vitamin D horse pills that you only need to take like twice a week.

I have never WD'd off methadone, but I do know that my RLS sort of ramps up on the tail end of my withdrawal. I actually used to LOOK FORWARD to it because I knew the end was near.

So maybe try and look at it like that? Either way, you are so close. Don't give up. Sleep, food, all of it will seem so amazing when they go back to normal!
Click to expand...

Honestly there isn't much I wouldn't try at this point. Everything I take wears off so fast I don't want to overdose on something trying to feel better- I don't think I can overdose on ivory soap. Sounds kinda like a placebo effect but I really don't care if it works. I can't even put into words how much I hate RLS. Right now I'd seriously consider losing my leg if it would stop lol

oh and luckily I do happen to have the horse pills. Maybe they can help revive me back from my current vampire state. Lord knows I can't go outside- my eyes literally feel like they are being set on fire.

Anyway, thanks everyone. Not really upbeat today but.. Minute by minute is what I'll have to do.
 
You can do it lynn. Magnesium and clonidine really helped my RLS.

I didn't sleep but for a few hours here and there (not restful sleep) for my first month of rehab. I know it sucks, I know it is such a pain in the ass to keep looking at the clock and its says 3:34, then 4:15, then 5:50....still without sleeping, but if you can make it through this, your circadian rhythms will came back eventually.

Personally for me, I have had bad insomnia since I was a child. I have OCD and I tend to have horrible nightmares frequently. Temazepam at 30mg a night has been a tremendous help (*DISCLAIMER* these are addictive and will only work if you take them as prescribed. Do not take more if you don't fall asleep, wait it out and hope for the next night. Once you find that magic time that you take it and it effects you, you will be pleased). I went from 1-3 hours of not restful sleep broken up over the course of the night to going to bed at 9:00 pm and waking up at 4:30-5:00 am without having intensely terrible dreams, or anxiety at night that doesn't shut off and let me sleep.

I am cheering for you. I know you can come out on the other side of this as one Bad Ass Mother Effer.
 
Hey lynn how are you?

I would consider just accepting that you are not going to get much sleep. Adding in huge drug cocktails to try and sleep is dangerous, slows or prevents healing, and often ends up making us feel much worse the next day compared to if we had not taken them.

Please update if/when you want.
 
Yea every time I take something and get a few hours I feel worse in the morning. I'm just trying to wait it out. 5 days from 30. Lol
 
One day you will just sleep....better than you have slept in years, and it will be the best fucking thing that has ever happened to you.


I have struggled with insomnia since college, and I have been on or off one thing or another since college as well. That's 13 years, dude. Except now I am on nothing but Suboxone, and I sleep like a baby. And before I was on Subs but was still a month clean from EVERYTHING...I still slept like a baby.

Part of this was being free of chemicals, part of it was acceptance and not trying to dope myself to sleep every night, part of it was giving my bod time to heal, and a huge part of it was dealing with my addiction and dealing with things directly instead of masking them with drugs or avoiding them - sure it is stressful but by trying to face the problems I find that I sleep a lot better at night.

Point is, your body is way smarter than you think it is and it will go back to normal, it just seems like it never will. I had people tell me what I am telling you and I would be like "yeah, fuck you, you don't know what it's like" but what they told me, to just be patient and give it a few months so I could get pure, natural sleep is what ended up working the best. And I have been on EVERY sleep drug known to man. Temazepam, Seroquel, Neurontin, Depakote, Trazadone, Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Lunesta, Ambien... the list goes on. I am not exaggerating.

good luck my friend, you are almost there!
 
Thank you.. I had a severe anxiety attack this morning. I thought I was literally having a stroke- I should've recognized it, I've had them before. Way back before any drugs I had them. Anxiety is no joke- but it's just one big mind game. Add no sleep to that and it's a waking nightmare. I'm not using anything else to get through this. Substituting is only prolonging the issues I need to deal with. I'm almost there, I feel it.
 
Ok, so CJ told me to post in the forum to see if someone who'd been through this could help. I thought about it and that works both ways.. For anyone reading who doesn't know, I believe in God and I believe Jesus died for me.

That being said, I'd like to share a video/song that got ME through today. Maybe it'll help someone else, maybe it won't but this is hard and we need all the help we can get.

If you don't want to watch it, don't- I've been criticized enough by people saying a drug addict Christian is an oxymoron but that's just not the truth. Anyway, here it is and thank you for everyone who's encouraged me. I've appreciated every single response so much.

http://youtu.be/TfiYWaeAcRw
 
If anyone tells you "a drug addict Christian is an oxymoron" inform them that they are full of beans, but that a judgmental Christian is an oxymoron. :)

A big aspect of addiction is never develping, forgetting or failing to believe in ones individual morals and values. By morals I just mean what we know is the correct way for us to act and what we individually believe to be right and wrong. By values I mean what we individually value.

Its not what our parents said or what our education system told us and may not be what our religion taught.. thouh it may contain aspects of all or non of these. Our morals and values are individual and come from a deep place within us. They come from the heart or our souls.

If we forget, never develop, or fail to believe in our own morals and values then we can put more importance on the morals and values of others than our own. This can make what other people say and think about us very powerful as we place more importance on what they think say and believe then what we do.

When we identify, accept as correct, and live by our own morals and values then what other people say and think loses its power over us. Then we are able to see what other people say and think as their opinion. This comes in very handy when dealing with people like judgmental "Christians."

How is the fatigue and have you been getting any exercise?

Keep rolling lynn%)
 
Lol very true! No one is better than anyone else no matter how much they pretend they are.

I was able to take Clonidine finally and slept 8 entire hours straight last night!!! I still have a lot of muscle weakness but I'll take that any day over sleep deprivation lol
 
Yay for SLEEP! The clonidine may be making you have muscle weakness. I remember not being able to even make a fist when I was taking it! Be really careful when you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, or waking up. Clonidine can make your blood pressure fall and I have fallen on my face when I was taking it! It is a godsend though and there isn't any withdrawal for it. I took it for three months straight once and just did a little taper over like four days and was fine.

As far as the Christian Oxymoron thing, don't pay that thought any more mind. And if anybody says anything like that to you, don't pay THEM any mind. Addiction can befall ANYBODY, no matter what your morals are, or your beliefs. Somebody who has never been there will never fully understand. And while I consider myself agnostic, I truly believe that whatever higher power there is out there is empathetic to the human struggle and does not judge.

If anything, you are a better person for going through this. You've been humbled, you have probably realized what you took for granted, and you will be so much more appreciative and grateful for your life as you know it, whatever form that takes. I know I am, and I wouldn't trade my addiction back in for anything. Im sad that I hurt so many people, but it truly made me who I am and I know that in my heart, I am one tough cookie who is a survivor. And that I would never take back.

You're a survivor too, sista. Don't let anybody tell you different!

<3
 
Thanks dognasher! Ill be careful with the Clonidine- I took a low dose anyway to start and it worked.

And you are so right, this experience has taught me a lot. Just showing other people more love and compassion could change so much (I sound like a hippie lol).
 
its day 28. Between yesterday and today and I took 7.5mg of Oxy at 3 different times. Unfortunately, I'm not perfect and it didnt even help much besides the rls. I'm aware I've set myself back but I don't believe I've been set back to day one. I'm not giving up.. It wasn't even enjoyable and only depressed me more. I will kick this- there's no other outcome for me. Sorry to disappoint anyone..
 
I don't think you have set yourself back that much. Quit being so hard on yourself<3 This shit is hard.

If you end up using.. pick yourself up.. dust yourself off, forgive yourself and use it as a lesson.

Replay the event. Consider asking yourself a few questions. What happened? What needs to be changed in your recovery plan to address what happened so it does not happen again and again. What can I do to strengthen my game plan?

The physical part is very unpleasant, but in the end it ends up being the easy part. What are you planning to do to address the addiction once the physical dependency has been beaten? Where is your support going to be found? Whats the best way for you to deal with cravings?

Your doing amazing!! Don't beat yourself up at all. The fact that you slipped does not take anything away from all that you have accomplished or a second away from all that time you have.=D

How do you need to adjust your plan and approach to prevent this from happening in the future?
 
This entire time I've had methadone in my house with me and didn't use it- but I was never addicted to methadone, I was only depend on it. I don't crave it and have never enjoyed taking it.

With heroin, I would never be able to resist it if it was in front of me. Luckily, I don't contact my old friends that did it and wouldn't even know how to- I don't even want to.

This oxy situation will be be in my house due to my husbands chronic neck problems. I don't crave that either though- I just wanted to REALLY sleep. He's locked it up from me as requested.

I tripped, but I didn't fall. I've never dealt with this type of extended withdrawal & paws so I'm learning but I'll get there.

I could use more support but I have a hard time finding people who relate to this particular drug withdrawal and made it out. The hardest part is the vague timeline- and what if I'm not even sick anymore and normal people feel like this all the time? God that's scary.
 
Last edited:
I personally think you are doing as well as to be expected. It blows my mind you clinic tapered all the way down that low but didn't offer comfort meds. Start making a list of your symptoms the time of day you experience them there intensity all that stuff so when/if you do get to see a doctor he can say ok this symptom there we will use this medication. My old GP was big on this and I felt it worked. I am going out on a limb here a little someone catch me if I fall :). Ok I think you should save money up for a doctors appointment to get comfort meds. Then find a NA meeting not to work the steps but to tell your story and at the end say I need a therapist on a sliding scale anyone know anybody? A sliding scale means they will be cheaper the less you make in income. I know here in Birmingham We have some as low as 20 dollars and a college that offers 1 hour for 5 dollars but there is a reason its 5 dollars. The sliding scale will be fully accredited therapists. Once you got those two done you need to talk with your husband about his responsibilities while you kick. You have done it so I feel like you know what you will need to succeed.

I think the main thing is realizing you are in for 12 round fight bring all your best punches to the table you know! As far as the indeterminate length forget about that. The acute symptoms will not last longer than 40 days. The PAWS 6 months is a good round number I think. If you can get through the first stage I like your chances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top