I have had experience with Methadone withdrawal. Plenty of it to boot. But rather than fight the anecdotal battle (i.e. my experience with Methadone withdrawal syndrome is less severe than Heroin withdrawal and less psychologically tormenting than Buprenorphine withdrawal syndrome so therefore you are wrong), My point is that despite my personal experience, what should be evaluated are the sound, verifiable facts about Methadone; about it's use for a number of purposes (addiction detoxification, maintenance, as a potent pain medication for a variety of specific conditions, etc) and the volumes of medical literature backing up it's efficacy in certain areas, its side effects in different situations, and potential benefits in different personal medical and psychological situations of different patient populations. So I'd say that's a bullshit cop out on your part to not take what I'd have to say seriously even if its backed up by the myriad of studies done on the uses of Methadone treatment to positively benefit the lives of different patient groups (another example being the use of Methadone maintenance in pregnant heroin addicts- it has been well documented that treatment with MMT is the first line treatment for such women patients because it can lead to a healthy newborn baby with proper neonatal care and post-birth medications; whereas continued heroin use with its ups and downs of blood serum levels of opioids or cold turkey withdrawal may be enough to seriously damage the health of the fetus/child or even lead to spontaneous termination of the pregnancy even in the latter stages). Should a pregnant heroin addict avoid Methadone, even though it will not only increase the health and prospects for the fetus/child, but also the overall health and stability of the mother, because of the stories about Methadone withdrawal?
We could also look up the numerous reports that Heroin withdrawal is the most excrutiating opioid withdrawal syndrome; this does not mean that Diamorphine isn't a very effective severe pain medication, an excellent palliative, and an invaluable resource for the treatment of otherwise treatment resistant, chronic and long-term heroin addicts.
I don't think my personal experience with Methadone withdrawal should color the conversation. Your whole argument is that personal reports are the be all end all when it comes to determining whether Methadone is worth taking in any circumstance, by any person, for any medical reason. I'm far from the only BL member who has reported finding Methadone withdrawal syndrome to be more benign than that of other opioids. Rachamim is a member who wrote about his experiences that Methadone withdrawal was a cake-walk compared to Hydromorphone and Morphine withdrawal if my memory serves. I have years of experience with Methadone, have gone off of it for different lengths of times for different reasons at reasonably high therapeutic dosages. I recall Rach having decades of experience and numerous detox's with Methadone and other potent opioids. It simply is not 100% true that Methadone withdrawal is more severe, more painful, worse, than the withdrawal syndrome of other opioids.
I'd go further and say that even if this were so; even if Methadone withdrawal syndrome was qualitatively more painful and unpleasant in every way than the withdrawal syndrome particular to any other opioid, it simply would not change the fact that it has documented (and well documented at that) impacts on the physiological conditions of addicts and chronic pain patients. A cold turkey, a 21 day reduction (the AMA Gold Standard for treating heroin addiction), or a very long and slow taper from Methadone are simply not the only options open to a person who has become dependant on Methadone for medicinal reasons. And again, even if it were, even if those were the only options, the potential for drastic improvements in the day to day lives of persons suffering from substance abuse disorders and chronic pain leading to a much higher standard of living would still be worth it in my opinion. Thankfully, neither of those 2 scenarios are facts. That being said, there just isn't any compelling evidence that the negatives outweigh the positives.
