Sleepy

[Badly Drawn Girl]

Since going over 100 mgs of 'done I've noticed a new side effect. Following an initial burst of energy, and extreme productivity, I get extremely sleepy 4-5 hours after my dose. I literally have to take a short nap or I'll just fall over wherever I'm sitting. My dose still lasts a max of 12 hours.

I know someone on this board said they were told that that can be a sign that the methadone is leaving your system. That a higher dose would help basically. But I've also heard this can be a symptom of being on too high of a dose. One other thought is that the pain relief is so fantastic that I'm actually overworking my body. The methadone is blocking the pain but it doesn't fix my physical issues. I do a lot between 9 and 2 every day so maybe it's too much?

As with most things methadone related, I'm sure everyone will have a different experience. But I want to know people's opinion. I'm supposed to be upping my dose regularly (every 5 days) until I get it to last longer than 12 hours. But I am scared to go up because I cannot be falling asleep every afternoon.

Thoughts?

[Narkotikon]

Have you asked your clinic about split dosing? That would be my recommendation. That, and to get a trough done, to see exactly what your blood serum methadone level is. Just make sure you don't skip a day before the test. It won't be accurate. The trough should help you determine if you need a higher dose. I'd really think about the split-dosing too though.

[roxi*stardust]

Drowsiness is most often a sign of being over-medicated. Like Narkotikon said you may benefit from split dosing, you may be one of the few people that are extremely fast metabolizers of Methadone. If I recall though, you were not able to get a split dose. Sometimes people on Methadone are prescribed Concerta, Ritalin, or Adderall to counter the extreme drowsiness. Is that apossibilty? Have you gotten a trough to check your levels, that will determine if you are a fast metabolizer.

[Badly Drawn Girl]

I cannot split dose. They won't give me a trough yet because the doctor says my dose isn't high enough to justify a trough. :rolleyes: I guess I'm going to have to keep upping my dose until the doctor takes notice.

[prettypoppy]

Here's the deal:

This can be caused by either too much or, ironically, too little methadone. Sometimes, if the dose is too low to last a full 24 hours, the pt. will go into mild withdrawals in the mid afternoon, and by the time night rolls around, they are feeling bad and do not sleep well. Then, when they dose, they feel so much relief that their body, deprived of sleep every night, just naturally drops off into sleep. People often misinterpret this as meaning they are on too high of a dose, and worsen the problem by reducing their dose before they have even reached a stable dose. If that IS the problem, you would be amazed how much a stable adequate dose can improve the nods.

However, if you ARE sleeping fine at night, then it may be too high of a dose. But the fact that you are only lasting 12 hours on it makes that kinda unlikely. It's a shame you can't get a split dose, as that would help you out. Docs don't like to give splits because it means they have to either stay open longer or give takehomes to patients in early treatment who have not "earned" them yet (this CAN be done with a simple exemption for medical necessity, but they don't want to be bothered).