kicking a three year habit

[trainwrecker]

I will have been on methadone for three years next month, and I'm fucking sick of it. I was dosing at 100 for most of this time but I have got myself down to 56, but have been afraid to restart the detox. I have decided that I will take the entire summer if I need to, to kick since from all accounts it is at least a 6-12 month ordeal, the first few months being the most difficult.

I have been considering switching over to heroin and morphine for a month or two, since it's an easy kick. Or getting on bupe perhaps, but it seems that many of the half-life issues that I'm trying to escape are there.

Can any anyone attest to the effectiveness of switching to a short acting opiate to lessen the intensity and duration of methadone withdrawls?

I know I am going to have to change my lifestyle quite a bit to make this work, and I am totally ready to do that. Me and the wife are going to move to this commune/farm out in the desert where getting dope won't be possible so I won't have the temptation.

I really don't want to leave opiates for good, by no means. I just need to get out from under this methadone, it truely is liquid handcuffs. At least a H habit can be kicked in a week.

[nick]

It's quite common in England to be rxed Codeine,MST or diamorphine for the last part of a 'done detox and it seems to help most people stop=of course,they tend to start again shortly after that.

You might be better off switching to subs.

Good luck.

[Oxy-Ftbllboi]

Hey man, I can relate wahts going on. I was out of my meds one time and i went to kentucky for new years for a whole week. No one had anything on them and i didnt bring any cause everyone including my self was out and my refill wasnt till next week. I had DT;s all through the new years, it was HORRIBLE. But I am in a pre-PA phase and I graduate as a paramedic this year, I am currently a EMT-I (Intermediate). A long lasting opiate like methadone is not so easily kicked. The best way is to just taper it down as much as possible man. Now i realize that the DT's still kick in and it sucks unless u can controll yourself to buy a SMALL amount of anykind of opiate from someone just to kick the DT's then try that for a while, but self control is the key bro. If you cant get ahold of someone to lend you any kind of opiate to kick the Dt's, which include any kind of LOW DOSE Hydrocodone (Lortab-Loret-Vicoden), Oxycodone (Percs, Roxi, oxytussin, etc) But dont get anything strong because that will only build that cravings for somethign stronger. If all else fails, research some poppy-seed tea. If you PM me i can send u the recipe or just type it up on here. And even though u might think that kicking a herion or morphine addiction will be easier, thats false information. All these classifications of medicine are opiates, the strength and compounds do vary and some detox's are a little lighter than other, but they are all basically equal. Methadone beleive it or not is the 'easiest drug' to come off of beleive it or not. H withdrawals sometimes include death in severe cases. Stick with the Methadone and taper down as much as possible, then try to go down to a real low dose or switch to soemthing less potent like hydrocodone, propoxyphene (darvon-darvocets) then when u are towards the end of your withdrawals, take Tramadol. In low doses it kicks the DT's pretty good and its not really considered an opiate, but it helps. I used it for months when i ran out and I never got the DT's. Like I said before, if all else fails man Poppy seed tea does the trick. When you wash the seeds it has Morphine in it (in small traces) which bind to the mu receptors of your brain and feeds the need of the bodies craving. It also has Thebaine which is used to convert codeine to oxycodone and such, but used alone it works as a muscle relaxer. Like i said taper off as much as possuble and then switch to less potent narcotics if possible. If they are not available, then poppy seed tea and tramadol is the best bet. Tramadol is prescribed evertwhere for everyone, its usually the physicians first choice of more potent pain relievers after Ibuprofen 800's. and liek i said all else fails=poppy seed tea, it works, trust me.
I TRUELY HOPE everything works out great for you, if u need any help at all man dont be afraid to ask.
later!
-Garret

[nick]

urr wd is wd,but it's a question of duration.H/M is a LOT shorter wd than 'done.

[Woowoo]

I have been considering switching over to heroin and morphine for a month or two, since it's an easy kick.
On one hand, that sounds very logical. On the other hand, that strategy can go horribly wrong.

Does your clinic give you the exact same amount every day or is there a random variance? My clinic did this thing where my dosages by day might go (for example)

80 85 80 80 80 85 80 80 80 75 80 80 80 75 80 80 80 75 75 80 75 75 75 80 75 75 75 80 75 75 75 70 75 75 70 75 70 70 70 75 70 70 70 75 70 65 70 70 65 etc.

Get it? It sometimes goes down, sometimes up, but mostly down. I found it helps a lot to never know exactly how much I'm getting, and especially by not knowing "today is the day when they cut my dose."

I don't know if they were pulling my leg, but they said some people keep coming back for weeks even though they hit "zero", they find that it's not a smart idea to tell them right away, or they'll convince themselves that they need it, when the placebo effect actually keeps their WD's away.

[sweetdreams]

i am in the same situation as you are!!! I am detoxing right now as we speak. i started out at 115 milligram i will be on the clinic it will be 3 years in August , i am coming down 1 milligram a day, that was MY choice, the dr at the clinic didnt want me to do it that way, she wanted me to go down 1 a week but that would have taken what another year!! TOO LONG!! SO i myself could use some advise also. I am glad toknow someone else is going through the same thing I am. I was thinking ways to kick too. different ways not to feel shitty?? I know i am experiencing just being cold like when its time for me to get my dose. (Like i know its time for me to dose) cause i am freezing . and sometimes during the night i am starting to have leg cramps, but i thought i would be a little too early for that???? I have detoxed before that is why i am saying this and I NEVER HAD this problem before. at least not at this doseage. I am still at a high dose??? that is what i dont seem to understand. BUt i can relate to what you are saying about the" liquid handcuffs" I mean i have several opinions about methadone. Hey it did help me with my addiction, i have been off of heroine for over 2 1/2 years now. SO i can say that. what i dont understand is when i go see the dr at the clinic- they dont check anything- they dont check my blood pressure nothing??? that is what worries me?? i mean when i was in rehab and detoxing they checked your vitals every hour!!! ya know? So i am a bit concerned about that. i know for a fact every time i was detoxing my blood pressure always got very very low. so shouldnt i be concernd? and then my family DR forget her- she wouldnt know what to give me- i would probably have to tell her what to prescibe for my withdrawal. that is how stupid she is. anyway- good luck to you and your detox

[Hammilton]

I gotta say that Oxy-whatever is pretty ignorant. I wouldn't listen to much of anything he says in that post. Maybe he's had intelligent posts before. I dunno- but that one is stellar idiocy.

Methadone is not at all the easiest drug to kick. I'd say it's really fucking difficult, and I've kicked it 3 times in two years. If it weren't for my arm, I'd probably still be on bupe, but methadone is fine as far as I'm concerned.

Oxy, Morphine and Dilaudid are good choices for intermediates between done and sobriety. I've snorted suboxone even after 4 days of no 'done. It helped with the mental and physical cravings like a charm. The only concern about re-using shorter acting drugs is that you're gonna start enjoying them too much.

the most troubling thing about the guys post is the constant referal to DTs. DT in the AODA sense refers to Delerium Tremens- a alcohol withdrawal symptom not at all related or even similar to anything in opiate withdrawal. If this guy's a paramedic and doesn't know the difference between DTs and withdrawals I sure as fuck hope I never get picked up by that ambulance.

sweetdreams- you should ask for clonidine. It'll help with withdrawal in general a bit, and definitely with your blood pressure.

[ProdigalSon]

Fuck that!! Go to your General Practioner and see what he can give you to help. Clonodine, any bezos typr stuff. Try exercising to free up the natural endorphins blah blah blah youve heard it all. Good Luck brother, its gonna be a hard one, dont give up and beat some ass. Youll make it

[tptptp]

If you can make it to 30 mg you can switch to bupe. The half life is like methadone but its not nearly as bad as a done kick. Also theres supposed to be like a 2 week taper where you wont even get hooked on subs and your DOC will have already detoxed....though I dont think thats gonna work since the done WD would still be kicking. I dunno what to say but if you get on bupe and taper its alot easier lifestyle since you only need to go like once a month(then again if youve been on done for 3 yrs you could already be about that), and they overprescribe and all so tapering might be easier. Half life still sucks but im sure most people would rather kick bupe than done.

[Chipper]

Oxy-Ftbllboi says that "H withdrawals sometimes include death in severe cases" I know this happens for unborn babies but that's it. Anyone heard of this before?

[prettypoppy]

Death from opiate w/d's usually occurs in jail settings, where care for most symptoms is nonexistant, or it occurs in conjunction with other diseases such as high blood pressure, cardiac probs, etc. Two women died in an Orlando jail within months of each other from mdone w/d's--in their 30's--mainly from untreated dehydration, electrolyte imbalaces etc. It was a travesty--the nurse--finally "checking" on the woman, who had been dead for 2 hours--reported in her notes that she was "deliberately holding her breath" and "being stubborn" and that "no treatment warranted or given" (!)

So, yes it IS possible to die from opiate w/d's, but unusual if symptoms are treated.

[jacky]

some of the easiest withdrawl that I have gone through was methadone withdrawl.

taking my dose down to 5 milligrams and then easily dropping that a milligram a week.

on the last month I would take 1 milligram alternating every other day. and so on.
till a smooth transition was made.

the other time I detoxed on methadone it was at a clinic, they dropped me from 30 milligrams to nothing in a week, and then gave me clonidine/klonipin. that wasnt so bad either, but definitely was harder than dropping a few milligrams every three days.

I found even kratom withdrawl harder than methadone withdrawl.

if you have been on methadone for three years, you might want to adopt a slow ween program. dropping from 50 milligrams to nothing in three months could be done I would think quite painlessly.

I would much rather kick methadone that bup, bup seems to be more like standard opiates to me when detoxing from it. and billi noticed long running withdrawl from stopping bup.

its a mixed bag for sure, everyone is different.
for me, much of the pain of heroin withdrawl was not eating, not taking vitamins, and not getting enough fluids. I would just sit in a room and rot for days on end. not eat, avoid water etc.

I have used the catuama/4 herb blend products to cut my opiate dosage in half pretty much comfortably within a week to ten days.

good luck, let us know how it goes.

[kyuss]

Hope you
make it TW.
Keep us updated

[Hammilton]

Yeah, that's true jacky- I have had the easiest and the worst withdrawals with methadone. The first time (after about 6 months) was virtually symptom free. Except for my pain coming back heavily.

I made it a month 'clean' but had to get back on it for my arm. The second time, I could barely make it clean three days to get on bupe without taking the oxycodone he gave me.

[ProdigalSon]

Oxy-Ftbllboi says that "H withdrawals sometimes include death in severe cases" I know this happens for unborn babies but that's it. Anyone heard of this before?

I was told I was dead in the water over CTin my oxy habit...Im here, and CT'd ta boot. Fight the system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[trainwrecker]

Thank you everyone for all the advice. Especially Jacky, you are the first person I have every heard say methadone was an easy detox but I very much trust your opinion after admiring your posts on here for months.

I have an appointment with the local university to start free suboxone treatment as a part of some research they are doing. I can always go back to meathadone if I don't like it, hopefully at a much lower dose so it's not a total waste.

I will indeed keep everyone posted, thank you for your concern. I have been on opiates for the better part of a decade and I just want to see how life can be without them...

[nikita70]

It's the 8-th (sic!)year I play this losing game with the methadone!
I feel that if I not overcome I'll be really dead (a living dead I'm already).
My daily dose is 15-25 but it's still too much. Every dose of this shit is too much.
My hubbie was on the 'done six years long,but he said one day: I cant do it anymore.
He reduced with the steel consequence till he drank only 1mg(!) and then he kicked. As the "support" he took tramadol and benzos in this difficult time.
Unfortunely he get back to the 'done, but at least he was outa this shit almost one year long. He says that he didn't felt so alive(but not kicking:) )and easy since he was "clean" the last time.
I understand you very well. I know how this shit works for your body and mind. Total eclipse. The eyes wide shut, hehe...
I think that the worst will be coming on the end. You know, it's easy to kick a little, but the hardest is to kick definitely. Try a little tramadol in this time.
Wish you will defeat this shit. :)

[Chipper]

My personal detox from methadone took 4 months and went quite well. You've heard this many times but it is so true - the HARD PART is STAYING OFF it