Opioids Switching from 20mgs Methadone to Loperamide taper. Help!

[sick sybil]

Here is the situation, and it's ugly. Over 86 hours ago someone stopped taking the 20mgs of methadone that she had been only daily for almost a month. Now she has utterly ran out of options on getting anymore. She very much does not want to be on a clinic even if she could afford it. She recently made a move so she has no money, and no connects to get anything else. Not to mention she wants to be free of this, but has no choice but to work. So she is taking loperamide. I have no clue how much to suggest that she take. So far it's been pretty irratic. Today she took 12mgs in the morning, but started to feel sick, so she took another 8mgs. Does anyone have any clue what the conversion rate is for methadone/loperamide? Does it matter that she hadn't been on the dones for too very long? So far she's able to get up and do whatever she needs to. She also has access to xanax, lyrica, and a bit of clonidine.
Terrified and needing some advise. Cold turkey is not an option, because of work.
Please help if you can. This girl is mortified and just wants to know what taper you would suggest. Would especially like to hear from someone that has successfully detoxed using lopes, even better if its from a lower dose. Absolutely not trying to get high, just desperate to get through. Thanks for any help you have. It's needed badly. I know that there are many threads on this subject, but I couldn't find one for a dose this low. Most I can find are with people that have been on dones longer, and at a much higher rate.

 

[cire113]

Um, I think you will seriously be fine if you were only on methadone for 1 month at 20mgs; that really IS NOT that bad at all;

yes you will have some withdrawals but what did you expect after taking methadone for a month straight?

It shouldn't be THAT bad.... especially if you have xanax and clonidine;

Ultimately quitting shouldn't be hard but staying stopped is gonna be a bitch...

also no point in talking in 3rd person lol

 

[tacodude]

lope will cause heart rythem issues and kill you. You're better off going cold turkey

 

[cj]

lope will cause heart rythem issues and kill you. You're better off going cold turkey

Only in super high doses. I wouldn't go over 20mg a day op.

 

[plague66]

Uhh, you got Lyrica man. Give her that, it's the best thing coming off Methadone but if she has no tolerance don't give it to her in the morning because it will really make her wobbly and she might seem wierd at work. That will disappear with 3-4 dosing times though because Lyrica builds tolerance really fast, you may find her doubling her dose every 3 days. I'd say take Lyrica every day like 5pm (if she has work at 9am), Xanax when she wakes up, then at 1pm and then at 7pm (1mg doses, 3mg total) and take Clonidine when needed and she should be golden. Throw like 8mg of Lope for the stomach issues into the mix and its perfect, although I have found Lyrica helps me with these too.

 

[manboychef]

supplements like tyrosine and l-theanine work wonders too. Magnesium is good too. They will also help get your body back to homeostasis quickly.

 

[tacodude]

Only in super high doses. I wouldn't go over 20mg a day op.

Not true the cause is unknown.... Chronic use could be the culprit making sustained low dose use dangerous. Never disregard the risks.... It's why I don't care to be on this board after looking at one more thread as checking bl can be an addiction.

 

[sick sybil]

Is Lyrica opiate/opiod based?

 

[sick sybil]

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like parts of the Thomas Recipe.

 

[Stargazer]

Lyrica will help...a lot. What mg? How many do you have? Maybe, you have enough to bridge over to either tapering off of methadone, using loperamide? Or getting a legal Rx of your own for Lyrica or Neurotin (which is also helpful for withdrawal). I'm not sure exactly why Lyrica (pregablin) helps-it in some way touches the receptors in your brain it needs to. But it is, as well as Neurotin, the best meds available to help w withdrawal. Handle with caution, it has abuse potential. There is a Lyrica megathread. Do a search for it here on BlueLight.

In fact, I found this website, when I googled something regarding Lyrica, a few years ago.

Today is the first I've heard of the Thomas method/recipe, and googled it. You've already heard of it obviously, I've unknowingly done it. You don't feel the best, but able to tough it out at/for work.

Check out "Sober Living" and do a search on "neversickanymore"'s posts. I'm sure he'd be happy offer some guidance. If you need or want to PM me, please don't hesitate. All the Best to you

 

[sick sybil]

Well just an update. A very fast taper was done off of the lopes. Started with 32mgs a day, but stopped it four days ago when tapered it down to 8mgs. And had the blessing of 75mgs Lyrica, in copious amounts. Also, took Folic acid, plenty of 2mgs xanax, 100mgs hyd-OXYzine, Melatonin, Clonidine. For one day only, the second day, 4 400mgs of Seroquel. Also, a bit of weed. Only stayed in bed for about two days. Never felt horrid like any previous detox. The only real detox was tons of sweat, and that goosepimple skin, most of which was able to sleep through. This was by far the cushiest detox yet experienced, and that's coming from someone that has even undergone Ultra Rapid Detox back in 2005. It was costly, and largely ineffective. But that's another story for a whole different thread.
This was a heavily medicated detox, as I am certain you can see by what I listed.
No idea why! Just one thing worries me now, well two actually. First and foremost it was almost too easy. May not get so lucky next time. Also, PAWS is real, and previous experience was almost as bad as previous detox. And it seems to last forever.
I don't know if this recipe would work for others as it did in this case. Keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, it may yet. However, no lopes since Friday, and it is Wednesday morning and feeling better every day, even dare I say happy.
Please be careful if you follow this "recipe", which was essentially was a modified version of the Thomas Recipe. Just used what was on hand, and for once it was more than adequate. Don't know that it would work for anyone else, and likely was a bit dangerous.
Thanks so much to everyone that left their words of wisdom, and support with helpful ideas like doing the "neversickanymore", ect. So very much appreciated. And yes, I'll come clean since someone brought it up. Of course I am talking about myself. I have pretty much been a lifer-slave to heroin, then later methadone, and back and forth since I was 13yrs old. I am now 46yrs old. So when I said the detox was almost too easy, It really was, and I've had plenty to compare it to. I'm off most of it now except the Xanax, one Lyrica (which I plan to quit tomorrow), and Melatonin. The Xanax I have no honest intentions of stopping any time soon, though I have done a drastic taper. One month's script lasts a minimum of three months, though I do take it every day.
I wish and hope for any addict that they are able to have as comfy of a detox as I did. Basically, I spent a drowsy three day weekend in bed, mostly waiting for it to come on, fearing it, dreading the moment that it raised its ugly head. But I was back to work on Monday, and my job is anything but sedentary.
I'm still keeping the lopes on hand, always with me, in case detox is just a little late to the party. I know that it has a very long half life so I keep the lopes on me at all times.
I believe that obviously the lopes were the most helpful thing, but also I do believe that the folic acid, and Lyrica really did a lot of good. Seroquel, I despise. Not a fan of cotton mouth, but it did knock me out for about a day and a half. I only got out of bed to get food, driink, and go to the bathroom.
Has anyone ever experienced this before? Because thus far, from where I am sitting I found it to be miraculous, nothing short of if I don't go through withdrawal eventually. Thus far I am optimistic, and that is somewhat against my nature. I'll let you know if I wind up in detox, or not, so we shall see. Just don't want to be counting my proverbial chickens before they hatch.

Peace, yummy food, and a clear head to all that want one!