Opioids Coming off last 5mg methadone

Hi everyone.

I've been on methadone about 14 months. The highest I got to was 45mg, which was way too much and had me throwing up all the time.

After more than a year clean, I am now down to 4mg daily. I dropped from 5mg 6 days ago and from 6mg to 5mg 4 weeks before that.

I've had this experience a couple of times in the past few weeks. For the most part, I have a bit of gastric distress and joint pain(mostly knees) in the first week after the drop but the rest of the drop goes ok.

But twice now, about a week after just a small 1mg drop, I've vomited immediately after eating. The first time I didn't even finish dinner. 5 minutes in I ran up and was sick. Then last night literally a minute after I finished my meal I said "I'm gonna be sick" and then I was.

Has anyone else had this experience? This is my first time kicking the habit. I was not a super long time user (2 years, mostly pills then 5 months of the real deal).

I haven't been able to really find a whole lot of info on this particular symptom so would love your feedback.

Thanks.

I really don't see why dropping 1 mg would make you throw up. If you just dropped the 5 mg all together the withdraw would be very mild, if even existent.

Hm yeah. I'm not sure either. I do seem to feel the drops every time. I was typically dropping 2mg every 4 weeks until I got to 6mg and then switched to dropping 1 mg every 4 weeks. But I do seem to always feel them, quite mildly, but they're still there for the first week or so.

But the vommitting thing is more what I'm curious about. Maybe it's totally unrelated.

great job on coming this far! I don't know about the vomiting , it could be unrelated?

Thanks [MENTION=55461]thelung[/MENTION]. I wonder if it is. Perhaps I'll know more if it happens again about a week after my next drop

When I did a slow taper, I had to stop for a few weeks at 20 mg then again at 4 mg. I didn't really feel most drops, but for some reason at those 2 points I needed to stop and let my body reacclimate. I'm not sure why, but it seems like there are certain spots for each individual that require it. Sort of like a boundary.


A lot of people were discouraging--"oh it's only 4 mg" and "why bother coming" ...well after a few years why not drop down as painlessly as possible? I stayed clean a long time after getting off. Unfortunately I had a relapse a few years ago and went back to the clinic , but after 2 years I have tapered from 95 to 45, just doing 5 mg here and there. I never notice the drops, and don't expect to until I get down to around 20

The next tough thing you'll experience is the mental fear of going from 1 to zero. Stay strong, and have good support. It'll help.

thelung said:

great job on coming this far! I don't know about the vomiting , it could be unrelated?

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I believe that even if you jump from 3 mg the withdrawals might persist for quite some time. In normal doses it could take more than 15 days.
I think you should just do it and soon this will be out of your system. Quitting methadone is very very tough and you should be proud of yourself.

Thanks guys. I definitely appreciate all the words of support and encouragement.

It has been a pretty long journey but I've been really quite diligent about doing everything possible to get this monkey off my back and move on with my life.

I think I will continue with the slow taper because as others have said, it really just seems to be different for everyone. I assume it's where the nausea is coming from but it happening right after eating seems weird to me. But maybe that's just me.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the support

electric moon said:

I really don't see why dropping 1 mg would make you throw up. If you just dropped the 5 mg all together the withdraw would be very mild, if even existent.

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I would've said the exact same thing, but it's almost like the last 5mg - 10mg is as substantial as the previous total to detox from. This is obviously not the same circumstance, but I went pretty fast my first time cutting down my MMT dose. I was as high as 120mg per day and had minimal issue with cutting 10mg a week all the way down to 20mg. I ended up jumping off at 20mg. I thought I had it in the bag considering the relative ease of the previous 80%

I was seriously mistaken.

My advice, is go as slow and steady as can be allowed. I trifled with MMT detox and I ended up getting fucked for it... hard.

I would also postulate that your GI system is just getting used to being opioid free (almost...at least substantially less). Methadone has such an effect on the GI system...slows it down, constipates you....that it's not all that weird to think that when you take it away your system is sensitive and sort of hyper-aware. It's probably just been so slowed down for so long, now it's a bit in overdrive


Particularly if you aren't having other unbearable wd symptoms, I would chalk it up to a sort of reawakening of the whole GI system...

Many people find that dropping at any dose from 5-20mg is just as had as any other ...

You've done this well so why not take your time and drop very slowly over the last few mg. No need to rush it. Plus it's not absolutely necessary to go in 1mg drops....sub mg drops may be less painfull at the very end.

A year ago I jumped off from 180mg and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.....I just wanted to die and it went on for months and months.....

As slow a reduction as possible is the way to go for sure ....

englandgz74 said:

Many people find that dropping at any dose from 5-20mg is just as had as any other ...

You've done this well so why not take your time and drop very slowly over the last few mg. No need to rush it. Plus it's not absolutely necessary to go in 1mg drops....sub mg drops may be less painfull at the very end.

A year ago I jumped off from 180mg and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.....I just wanted to die and it went on for months and months.....

As slow a reduction as possible is the way to go for sure ....

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This, back when I was in the Bay Area, I got financially discharged from a methadone clinic that took me down 3mg every day for 2 weeks (at which point I was then cut off) I started at either 45 or 40mg, and I'll tell you I still felt that last 3mg dosage and it was a bitch to come off of. A year later I tried doing a 3 week methadone taper starting at 40mg and ending at 5mg, this didn't work either and when it ended I still had full blown withdrawals. I would try to go as low as possible before discontinuing it.

I would stay at 3mgs for at least a month before jumping off.