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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT | paranoid android

methadone withdrawl help

J

jippytheclown

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
55
Hey, I have been addicted to opiates for 25 yrs. I am currently on 30mg daily of methadone. I have been on methadone for 11 or 12 yrs. Last time I stopped after tapering I was useless and depressed for months. First opportunity I had to get back on opiates I chose to do so. Met someone in Day-tox and bought a bottle of hydromorphone from him. I drank cranberry juice and baking soda to pass my daily urine tests. My doctor had me back on methadone shortly thereafter. I want to come off meth., and want advice on the most comfortable way. How to deal with restless leg, etc. Anyone know much about naturopathic ways to build up the neurotransmitters I have been pushing down with opiates.
I also take 12mg of bromazepam daily for last 9 yrs. Am also alcoholic, presently drinking 375ml daily of vodka. I need specific advice. No rush, will taper. Want my brain back again.
 
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If you are addicted to methadone as well as having a long-term benzo and alcohol addiction it would be best for you to go to a doctor and have them help you detox.
 
I have been thru detox 3 times. When you are poly-addicted, it is a very complicated process. They cannot give you methadone while treating alcohol withdrawal with diazipam. So, after treating alcohol withdrawal (2-3 days) you are in opiate withdrawal. They treat that for a day or two, then you are in benzodiazapene withdrawal and almost psychotic. They have their protocols and no matter what you can handle on your own they are limited legally by their protocols. What I just described to you was the worst time of my life. I wouldn't ever volunteer for that again.
 
Hey buddy I haven't logged on in a long time but I saw your post so I thought i'd chime in with my
experience in methadone detox. Methadone is the most powerful opiate I have ever done. It'll flip your world round and round but i'm sure i don't have to tell you that.

I don't suggest trying to detox from a benzo at the same time as methadone. You will end up with some serious medical problems. Do one at a time. If you want off the benzos first, detox off the benzos while maintaining your methadone. if you want off the methadone, go slowly and stay on the benzos to help you coupe. Get a doctor to prescribe you clonidine, loperamine and hydroxazine and flexeril.

Those meds along with a benzo are the best withdrawl meds for methadone withdrawl. Maybe even some minor opiates to deal with the detox once youre off entirely too. I have personal experience with methadone and I was so sensitive to it that I had to decrease 1mg a week until I was completely off. Some weeks I had to wait a week inbetween 1mg drops. That's how slow I did it but you gotta realize that if you can set up your life to be stable that you can work this off in a long ass time with minor problems.

If you want to get off this shit in one weekend, say goodbye to methadone withdrawl and benzo withdrawl for good and never have to deal with this shit again, find yourself a local Ibogaine treatment clinic. one fat dose of ibogaine and you'll be off opiates, benzos, methadone, bupe, alcohol, depression, anxiety, suicial problems, etc... for good. Ibogaine is a fucking miraculous drug that'll never be legal world-wide for all the wrong reasons.

Just my .02 hope that helped
 
I guess alcohol will have to come last? If not I would quit that first, because once you get off that, it opens up the doors to the benefits of a lot of other medications.

Look into seroquel for RLS..or, since you're already on bromazepam, possibly switch to clonazepam, which will kill 2 birds with one stone. Add in some neurontin or pregabalin to that for the neuropathy.

Heavy indica/CB2 strains of cannabis can be of a lot of value in this instance, as well as couch lock you for sleep and calmness.

As you might already know, 30mg is a relatively low dose of 'done, so you're already near a level (or possibly already at) to where switching to buprenorphine would be quite easy. It takes some getting used to over a full mu-agonist like methadone, but it's a lot less sedating, while still remaining very effective. I actually ended up preferring dupe over f
done. Methadone tends to really lose it's effectiveness over time and slow down my metabolism. Bupe didn't do either to me. Tapering down and off hype is a walk in the park compared to the dinosaur which is methadone.
 
Quiting cold turkey isent really an option anymore is it? You really need medical help. You might even wanna go to rehab. Although quiting cold turkey would be very resonable if you dont want to deal with all the long term depreshions while quiting slowly.

I wish I could help more :(
 
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I did detox, got off alcohol, was down to a couple mg methadone. They gave me clonadine and stuff for diarrhea. Never been off the benzo's for 9 yrs. Didn't abuse them for the most part. Ended up with 100's of extras. Got them down to 9mg a day at one time a few years ago. What really hit me was my alcoholism, especially when not working. That was my real moment of recognition. I could not control alcohol. But, when I got off meth, I tell you I was totally useless for 3 months from the meth before I relapsed. My brain thanked me for that. It was like, "where have you been". Was being treated by a naturopath and herbalist as well (and still am, although I am their first patient of this sort). If I held out I would have made it, but that's what you get for going to NA and government day rehab facilities. Your heart begins to reopen and before you know it your socially empty life has got the wrong people back in it again. My former Dr. retired, and now I am with one that requires all methadone patients to make their appts. on the same day- not a good idea. I have been out of the scene for so long the only place I could hook up is now my Drs waiting room or NA meetings (which I haven't gone too since my relapse).
 
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what is couch lock (oh you mean the unwillingness to do anything but lay down with the phone off, the door locked, etc., got ya). I have heard bad and good things about bupe, although it is now available in canada. Don't you have to withdrawl off meth before starting? I do like weed, although I only smoke it once a month or so. I Don't have the luxury of choosing which strains. We don't have medical marihuana sources on the east coast of canada that I know of. Would be nice. I started smoking when I was 10, about 38 yrs. ago. I sorta got bored of it in the last 15, or maybe too overwhelmed by the potency.
 
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I've always been honest with my doctors, and in detox. But, I like to be in control. Loss of such scares me so much. I have frozen methadone in my freezer and extra bottles of bromazepam. I am so scared of natural disasters or such forcing me into massive withdrawl. I work most of the year (can't withdraw or experiment with withdrawl then), and am on EI the rest (which is the only time I can take chances). I cannot afford going to BC for Ibogaine $5500 plus travel etc., and am not allowed in the good old US of A. They don't allow drug addicts within their borders - official policy, even if they have found out by illegaly accessing your pardon record. Rehabs are unbelievably expensive and they only last a month.
 
Thanks slackboxed. I don't like flexeril (did nothing for my back, but fucked my mood - aggression), but take orphenadrine instead ( for herniated disc - L3,L4). I will look into the other meds you mentioned. Whoever had mentioned clonazepam - why that instead of bromazepam, they are just benzo's, pretty much all the same arent they. GABA affectors. You can get GABA naturopathically for sleep with melatonin. Will that help replace benzo's? Anyone know? How does clonazepam kill 2 birds with one stone? Which 2? I don't understand? I appreciate your help, but some of what you say is in a language that is beyond me. I am not a doctor or a chemist. Please be patient, use your words (ie neuropathy, etc.) but simplify. I am quite intelligent, but.....
 
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In response to your PM: oh ya, for RLS too, aside from being a decent muscle relaxant. Clonazepam is probably cheaper and certainly more commons prescribed too. Look into phenibut for all around GABA use, but it is not to be used daily at all. You'll have to read up on it. You don't need a prescription for it and it works very well.
 
Dextermeth,
You mean like AOR.ca's Ortho.Sleep:
GABA 100mg
L-Theanine 200mg
L-5-Hydroxytryptophan 100mg
Melatonin 3mg
Valerian Root 150mg
Passionflower 32mg
lemon balm extract 300mg
 
Dextermeth, I do not pay for my bromazepam, my insurance does. So once again I ask how does it kill 2 birds with one stone better than bromazepam? I need a serious, not experiential answer. I really appreciate this and look forward to your answer - besides it being cheaper and more commonly prescribed?
 
I really do not understand what people are saying here sometimes. I need professional help, but as I said before I am fearful of asking for it/trusting medical folks. Phenibut, from what I have read on this site, prescribed or not, sounds like another pain in the ass/or brain would be more accurate. Fuck, I need some good information, not home-made pharmacists. Next thing you know someone will be telling me to smoke massive amounts of Salvia and then I will be as good as knew. My instinct is starting to tingle and tell me something isn't right here.
 
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Smoothing the detox

Hey Jippy,
I, too felt like a jipped clown trying to kick Methadone. I was on it for about 12 years in total and tried to get off it 3 times. Opium/ Morphine/ H was never even close to as hard or as long to wd from!! Even coming off a low dose like the 2 mg I'd been taking for weeks (after taper from 90 over a year) was pretty tough.
This is the fourth time I've tried because I was so, so sick of being physically, psychologically and emotionally dependent on 'done. I'm at 3 and 1/2 months free of Opiates today and the WD's still come and go sometimes, but much, much milder.

Ive tried all sorts of pharmaceutical sedatives to feel comfortable and sleep at night, but the side effects made it all worse overall as well as making the whole recovery take longer.
Smoking MJ always helped a LOT to relax and sleep at night, although I'd like to quit that again eventually as it makes my memory and thinking a bit dull and slow. However his can be good late at night if you cant get comfortable and thoughts are racing. Stewing in one's own shit, so to speak.... I couldnt sleep without smoking up for a good couple of months after quitting 'done.
I found that before long, using alcohol for relief from Methadone wd turns around and bites ya.
MJ is about the most forgiving drug Ive tried for this - the next day tiredness is also helpful during the day when you feel so strung out.

I found the best way through the worst period was lots of water, eating almost exclusively Bananas which my system can tolerate ok (the diarrhea is so bad - stops you from eating much and goes on for months...) and doing at least an hour of exercise a day. Enough to get the heart rate up and cause a bit of pain.
It is really hard to motivate to exercise when you feel so bad, so I just walked around till I was exhausted. Walking up hills is the best, gentle way to make it happen.
After a while you get a small endorphin hit from the exercise and it made me feel halfway normal for 2-3 hrs. after. Speeds up every aspect of recovery too. Of course Meditation is very helpful, but can be difficult to do when you cant relax!

Im personally hoping to eventually replace all my bad habits with positive ones. Long term.....

Best of Luck with your efforts
 
Thanks Ace,
Yes, I don't like the weed hangover, but it is great for sleeping. I remember like you said "walking uphill" during my first meth. withdrawal. Any movement and I felt like the "walking dead". I went on one long city walk and stopped at a ital restaurant. I couldn't hold my soup spoon still I had such bad tremors, and a group of art student girlies were watching me. I felt like I looked like someone with Parkinson's. And my thirst for salt was so intense. I never had added salt to anything in my life, but for that time it was on everything.
Best of luck to you too! James
 
Does anyone understand why someone would recommend changing my benzo from Bromazepam to Clonazepam? I would really, really appreciate some information about this.
Also, I am going to try and make sure / accomplish this being my last day drinking alcohol. I have recently gone 2 clean days at a time so I know I am not in danger physiologically. I was smoking weed for 2 days during one of them, knowing that I would be unable to go out in public and would happy just laying around and sleeping. Then you/I start feeling better and the cycle starts all over again. What a life - this thing we call the human condition. The mind is willing, yet the human spirit is weak. The games and lies we tell ourselves, let alone others. Urrrrgh!
 
jippytheclown said:
Does anyone understand why someone would recommend changing my benzo from Bromazepam to Clonazepam? I would really, really appreciate some information about this.
Click to expand...

Clonazepam has a much longer half-life, i.e. it will be in your body longer and thus a longer duration of effect as compared to bromazepam
 
Yes, I know that. But, I don't see how that is beneficial. I don't buy benzos on the street. I have a prescription, and at times I have had 100's of extras because I don't use my prescribed dose. I explained that before. So, why Clonazepam as opposed to bromazepam?
 
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