Non tolerant methadone users

[justtakethat]

Whats with all the down talking on methadone i hear all over the place? People say how dangerous it is and stuff when it seems like its just about 2x stronger than oxy. For example if i were to ask how much oxy for first time use people would be normal but if its methadone there like i wouldnt even bother with it and to find something else. I don't even see anyone oding on just 10mgs by itself unless the like a little kid. Seems like it has way to much stigma attached.

 

[szuko000]

Problems arise from the drugs long half life, long peak plasma time, and somewhat lacking euphoria. Those 3 factors cause people to dose high in the first 2 hours get to a point where they are sick from taking too much as they redosed before they peaked or took xanax 8 hours later and drank at a party to never wake up. Its not that its overly dangerous it is the silent killer and probably the cause of your friends finding you dead even though you took 10mg of methadone at 9am and the party was 12 hours later, no one knew you were in danger they just thought you were tired and drank to much.

That is the danger and it is often down played. You save lives by discussing risk/benefit and alerting people to this idea not by saying its safe to do and leaving it at that. Sometimes over awareness is the right kind especially with something that can be as "lacking" as methadone compared to something as beautiful as life. It is not a lie to stress the dangers associated with using this powerful narcotic for fun.

 

[MrRoot]

I would rather leave this drug for replacement therapy instead of recreational use for the above stated reasons as well as the fact that even seasoned professionals have hard time titrating the amount for individual patients.

 

[pillman1224]

i am one who says stay away from methadone JTT only because of the WD horror stories i hear. also the fact that there are sooo many better opi's for recreation. but if it gets ya off then by all means go for just be careful if ya throw in a benzo.

 

[crzydiamond]

Truthfully, the wd horror stories come from people who didnt taper. I got locked up in 2002 and detoxed methadone cold turkey in jail. I was sick for a while--32 days til back to normal. About 2 weeks til I was semi human.

But I also came off it properly by dropping a few mgs here and a few there. Tapered slowly. That was painless. Came off no problem. But you don't hear enough of that part of it because most addicts who quit the methadone and get awful wd either get locked up, get short term detoxed out of clinic for not paying their bill, or relapse continuously and get put out of clinic and are left with killer wd and try to sustain on dope.

It's true as above poster says, it's danger for non-tolerant people lies in the slow onset and long half life. I did about 15 mg methadone when I wasn't opiate experienced and it took a while to hit but I felt it into the next day

It's just not the best opiate to start on

 

[szuko000]

meh i am on 20mg of methadone down from 25mg last week and feel great. My girlfriend went from 90 down to 0 in like 6 months and just made the jump off of it friday from 3mg. Its a long story i would outline somewhere but yeah very little discomfort for here and 0 for me thus far and i went from 90 down to 30 in 10mg drops and did 30 down to 20 in 5mg drops... every 2 weeks.

I think the horror stories need to stop and someday i will type out everything about my g/f struggle from treatment resistant depression with suicidal tendencies to bundle a day dope addict for 3 years then on methadone up to 90 and off in 11 months total. I knew i would have no problem on methadone but the clinic didnt even want to take her because she was suicidal with a benzo addiction and was a high risk patient... now shes clean and off methadone completely and feeling great! /end off topic rant

PS and she was like an 80 pounds was at risk of killing herself when she was without dope or benzos 50mg of valium a day at least and a bundle a day habit with no job and right now she takes 2.5mg of valium twice a day and loves her life a lot more then before... still has depression but thats an actual thing she always struggled with. I just want people to know her story because i thought this was a never ending struggle for us and i was willing to give up everything for her only to now know everything will be ok, this feeling is possible for everyone.

*edit* It also sucks that i want people to read my experience so i debate on where to put it. Small things like this stand a greater chance of being read as searching "methadone success" yields a bunch of failed threads in a sense and somehow we both got up to 90 and down to 0 mine projected in march for a total of 15 months and hers literally 11 months from first day till last. Today marks day 3 on 0mg of methadone... the longest shes been off opiates in 3 years. Sorry for over posting i am just in shock and so proud of her, never could have predicted she would be the "jesus of methadone"

 

[justtakethat]

If ur already addicted why not taper with dope instead for shorter withdrawls. Also u might feel better while tapering if u feel methadone lacks euphoria

 

[szuko000]

I am just going to say one of the real benefits of maintenance programs is they give you a chance to adjust to life without opiates while still on opiates so when you finally come off methadone (at the pace best suited for you do what feels best for you) you have a good deal of positive habits and perhaps even built some strong relationships with sober people who will help you through the most difficult time. My girlfriend tried to taper with dope and did really well with it but when she literally got to 1 bag a day IVed she ended up getting good dope before she could finally jump from it and that kind of ruined a lot of progress and confidence.

A maintenance program was the only way she would have been able to be confident with her sober self enough to make the final jump. We are all different and we all can take different paths but i would strongly consider the benefits of going to a program before removing the idea entirely.

 

[###]

Only reason that shit is still used for maintenance is because it is the cheapest opioid that exists. I have a ppt presentation here, (used in education of physicians who work in maintenence.) with the list of available substitutions and pros&cons of each substance. Only positive thing mentioned for methadone is that is cheap. Most people here prefer morphine. Unfortunately no heroine.

I don't really think methadone doesn't have its use, and no positive sides for particular situations, but it didn't earn its reputation for nothing.

 

[MrRoot]

What I find weird is that we have only Subutex maintenance programs here and every "detox" clinic does their job with only some benzos and hypertension medications.

Detox and maintenance programs with any medication are just for governmental institutes and not a single private clinic can give medical detox.

So each and every detox program is the same in every county of Finland but if you look up what kind of amount of programs are available in the states you just start thinking if there should be more alternatives as there are plenty of different habits along drug users.

Also most of our support groups are financed through church and although they seem to have no influence over the practices they still seem to rely on their idea that addicts can't stop using until they found god.

I started a support group in my area which is for people who are either atheists or those who don't rely on their god the save them from using and it currently has pretty much same amount of people attending it weekly as the NA which is supported financially by church and government.

Of course some attend to both groups but do not have problem at leaving their religion outside our gatherings and we don't promote atheism or such in our meetings as we just try to not use any higly religious phrases or such and believe in finding our inner strength to stop using.

 

[poloblue]

Finished my detox which was only 7 days. Started @ 45 mg methadone n decreased 5mg everyday. Thought for sum fairy tale reason I'd b cured or atleast better when I got out....by the night b4 I was to b sent home I was pukin & in full w/d just as bad as dope if not worse. Deff lasted longer that's for sure . Minimum of 10 days but prob closer to 12-14 tbh. praying I never have to touch that shit again

 

[szuko000]

Methadone works best if you allow yourself 10-14 days between dosage changes for full adjustment. I put my adjustment time for suboxone and methadone around 10ish days peaking in 4 or 5 and baseline by day 10-12. My clinic actually offered the taper at 2mg a week until done and i said "want it to be 5mg every other week and once i get to 20mg (25% reduction) and decide if i want to lower it to 3mg every other week" The drop is scheduled for next Friday and wil probably be delayed till tuesday because of Christmas. I have time to decide still but i didnt feel the drop from 25 to 20 (20% reduction) at all... and i laugh over "5% off sales" because they are nothing yet this additional 5% on the reduction amount is a huge consideration for me, with a full time job.

But so far 90 down to 20 in 5 months maybe., painless completely painless