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Help with methadone taper

Lucy20

Lucy20

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
978
Hello everyone, I've been on methadone for 15 months and I was at 65 but have dropped down to now taking 38. I wanted to drop 2mg a week but my doctor tells me it's to much and wants me to do 1mg every 2 weeks. I'm not feeling any withdrawal so I'm wondering if I should stick to my plan of reducing 2mg a week until I feel sick then slow it or listen to the doctor . I'm frustrated because they look at me as money and have never offered counseling and even suggested I could stay on it forever.
My addiction to pain pills was 2 years and I had no clue about methadone and how unhelpful the clinic is. I've never given a bad sample and have no desire for opiates at all but it seems I'm met with resistance for getting off of it .
Sorry for venting, I'm just frustrated . But my question is from others who have quit it if they think 2mg a week would be to much and make me sick ?
 
I was on methadone for almost 3 years. The money aspect is perverse but that's medicine in America. Studies have shown a reduced mortality rate for people on maintenance and an increased mortality rate for people who stop maintenance. So as against common thinking as it may seem staying on maintenance forever would br the safest choice. So the doctor is not just making shit up.

That said it's obviously not what you want so we will work from there. Slower is better in my opinion. It allows your brain the most opportunity to adjust itself in a gradual manner. My story doesn't go like that. I switched to 24mg of Suboxone when I was at 50mg of methadone. It was a shit show I experienced extreme cravings and I ended up relapsing and contracting hep c. So understand as you go down on your dose cravings are going to rise. It's like a see saw dose goes down feelings dose was suppressing go up.

So I would go 1mg every two weeks. Taper all the way down to 1mg then jump to 8mg of Suboxone and taper quickly from there. I know that will take a long time but your trying to set up the rest of your life to be opiate free. The reason I say switch to Suboxone is because it's a partial agonist so it will reduce the methadone withdrawal and allow your brain to keep moving toward homeostasis. Then when your done with the sub taper your final withdrawal will be as easy as possible.
 
CJ gives good advice. Slow taper is the way to go.
i went from 90-60mg real fast, then balanced, tapered again from 60-30. It took a year to drop from 30 to 9mg. I played by ear, listening to body. I didn’t not drop every month. Some months I needed to balance, I had 20 take homes for the last 4 yrs, but I did have a goal in mind. I would taper either 5 mg or 2mg until I hit 15 mg. Was harder at 12mg to go more than 1.
Until I hit 10mg I would not drain the bottle of pink liquid, leaving residue. Lol. When I hit 9mg however I was making pretty sure there wasn’t anything left in that bottle.
I left the clinic in a huff. I was tired of it, but if I could do it all again I would have tapered down to 1mg.
Good luck! Let’s us know how you do!
 
Thank you. But I don't feel a half a mg a week is enough. If I'm not feeling sick why go so slow? Everyone is different I guess but going to subs after getting down to 1 mg isnt gonna happen .from what I've read they recommend 10% til you get to 1/3 of your dose then drop it to 5% reductions . I've never done street drugs so I doubt I'll be going back. I am planning on using short acting meds if I get uncomfortable but there's no way I'm taking 2 years to drop down when I wasn't even on my pain meds that long.
Thanks for the advice but I think I'm gonna drop how my body feels , 2mg a week
 
Lucy20 said:
Thank you. But I don't feel a half a mg a week is enough. If I'm not feeling sick why go so slow? Everyone is different I guess but going to subs after getting down to 1 mg isnt gonna happen .from what I've read they recommend 10% til you get to 1/3 of your dose then drop it to 5% reductions . I've never done street drugs so I doubt I'll be going back. I am planning on using short acting meds if I get uncomfortable but there's no way I'm taking 2 years to drop down when I wasn't even on my pain meds that long.
Thanks for the advice but I think I'm gonna drop how my body feels , 2mg a week
Click to expand...

Lucy-

I doubt you will go wrong listening to your body. Best of luck and keep us informed.

- VE
 
I'm back and thank you everyone for the replies.
I'm still tapering and now at 26mg of methadone. I've done alot of reading and even switched doctors because mine seem to look at me as money and every week I've had to argue to keep my taper going. I've never given a bad sample so that was very frustrating.
The new clinic and doctor are great, thank God because the lower I get the less patients I have lol
Anyone hear about induction of subs by micro dosing?
Sorry cj I was to quick to not not even look into subs but from what I read the end taper is a bit earlier
So next week I'll start with .4 of suboxone along with my methadone and the next day. 4 twice a day then .5 and up daily and at the same time decreasing my methadone down to zero.
Its called the Bernese method I believe.
I'd be interested in hearing from someone that tried this
 
To be real the Bernese method scares me. If you take just a lil too much your in for the worst experience of your life. But if you know the risk that's your call. My advice is taper the methodone to zero then switch to 8mg sub and taper off it over 6-8 weeks.
 
Hello, Lucy. I was in a very similar situation, and wanted to share what I went through. I maxed out at 80mg, and like you, I adhered to the program, and always gave clean samples. I actually was on methadone maintenance twice, both times lasting roughly two years. I wanted to go down 5mg a week, even though they suggested going down one or two mg a week. I still went down 5mg, and both times I felt no change until I got around 20mg. Once I noticed the slight change in mood and energy, I slowed down to 2mg a week, then 1mg a week once I was down to 10mg.

The first time, I jumped at 1 or 2mg, and I was fine. The second time, I was at 12mg when a tree fell on my car, so I couldn't get to the clinic that day, so I just decided to stop going altogether. Although I definetly had that change in mood and energy, it was nothing like real opiate withdrawals, and I was still able to function, just had to push myself a little.

Im not sure why you are considering switching to suboxone, but if you do, I hope you have a different experience than I did. I was on maintenance for several months, starting at 8mg, but down to 4mg within a few weeks. Slowly tapered to 1mg, and the clinicians assured me I could jump from there no problem. They were wrong. I felt lousy for weeks, and even though not severe like H withdrawal, I had fairly constant physical and mental reminders that my receptors were missing their "dose". After 21 days, I couldn't take that "icky" feeling or restless nights anymore, and was back on the drug I was trying to stay away from, just to get relief. If I tapered to much lower doses, I don't imagine it would have been nearly as bad, but now suboxone for maintenance just scares me.

I hope you can find a good taper that makes you comfortable, and that you can eventually get off methadone as smoothly as I did, and not get on anything else. We are all different, and in different stages of this process, so what worked for me may be a different experience for you, but I'm hoping that sharing my experience might help you stay on your path.

I wish you the best of luck with this.
 
Im nervous as hell with the subs too. And its .2 not .4 they start , sorry about that.
Ive just heard subs are easier to wd from then methadone, but at the same point if my taper is working why stop.
The pharmicst said she hasnt had anyone getting sick switching, but with my luck i probly would be the first.
Im going to keep tapering down and just see how it goes, may be switch to subs when im down to 10.
I wish there was a 1 fix all for everyone, would make it a bit easier
 
Sub withdrawal sucks but Methadone withdrawal is the worst thing I've ever experienced
 
Lucy, it sounds like you are doing just fine where you are. I personally think you should stick with your slow taper, and focus on that instead of how to transition to sub. Cj had the worst experience, whereas mine was a cake walk, we are all different, and you just might have the same experience that I did. Worst case scenario, you feel lousy on a low dose, then you can reconsider your options, one of them being on methadone just a little bit longer to ease to the transition of being opiate free.

Personally, I was motivated by the thought of not having to go the clinic anymore, and to start living my life without that crutch. It made me taper quicker than most, and jump off early the second time, but I found it fairly easy. This is coming from someone who curls into the fetal position under a blanket for days, every time I go through opiate withdrawal.

I hope you stay on your path, and not let others experiences influence what direction you go too much. I'm sure if I were in your shoes, I would be considering switching to sub too, if I kept reading horror stories about getting off methadone, but I can tell those same stories about when I tried to kick sub.

I like how vastempty said they 'doubt you will go wrong listening to your body', and right now you are on a fairly low dose, and you aren't using, and you feel fine. Until that changes, I think you are on the right track.
 
It seems like tapering off of either methadone or subs is s hope for the best, prepare for the worst type thing.

I've read positive accounts of getting off a both. As I have read nightmare accounts from both.

When getting ready to jump from either, having comfort meds ready is probably a good idea. Gabapentin, Neurontin, Clonidine, Some benzos. Just in case you're feeling a little rough, those meds can make the transition bearable.
 
Thanks everyone
I ran into a problem with my stomach . at first my family physician thought ulcers and put me on a bunch of stomach meds but its getting worse and ive lost 20lbs in 3 weeks(i was only 130 to start with) so i have to go to a specialist where theres a history of stomach cancer so he strongly suggested i switch because methadone is quite caustic to my stomach and after i take a dose im curled on the floor with my insides on fire .
So yesterday i started with the micro dosing, i took .5 yesterday and .5 today with 24mg of methadone and i feel kinda fine, didn't sleep as well and my stomach hurts but with my stomach im not sure whats causing feeling a bit queasy . I don't know if its just my mind overthinking but even so the withdrawal symptoms would be very very mild.
Tomorrow i go to 1mg then by .5 til I'm at 3mg and by 3mg i'll be done methadone(yay!).
Luckily weed is legal in my country and i have clonidine and valium and because of my stomach my doctor took me off work so if i feel a bit yucky i should be fine.
Im more freaked out about my stomach and hope whatever it is stops soon. Then i'll deal with stopping the subs
 
Sorry its been a while but i wanted to check into tell everyone im drug free!!. The switch went well and going off the subs was fairly easy, if done slowly. No cravings at all, although i am smoking more weed.
If i can do it anyone can
 
Thats great news! So you switched to subs at 24mg of methadone? Did the sub immediately hold you?
 
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