Methadone: Methadone Facts

Question: Is there an easy way to come off methadone?

(Posted by: on 2012-01-08 08:20:36)

I have been on methadone for over three years now. When I started taking it no one really explained to me that it would be hard to come off of. I started to detox three milegrams a week. I went from 100 to 40 and then stopped coming down because I was starting to crave drugs again. I haven't went down anymore in over two months now. I want to start again but I've been told that it's going to make me really sick for a long time no matter how slow I go. I really want off this stuff. It cost me $435 a month. Plus I'm tired of needing a chemical just to feel like a normal human being. I can't always come up with the money to dose and on the days I miss I feel pretty crappy. Is there anything out there that can help with the physical withdraws? I don't want to be on methadone for the rest of my life and I know I can't just stop taking it. I don't want to be sick.

Posted by: BUNCEY on 2012-01-08, 08:31:56

Sorry to hear this , i know how you feel as i live with someone who is methadone dependant and has been for 4 years they are struggling to get off too and has no job and is living off benifits ( in england ) he was once offered a 14 day detox with an opium implant ct the end , its a implant inserted into tummy and it lasts for 3 months no need to take and meth and even if you take heroin it will have no affects stops all hi's , but as with most things in his they pulled out and said if he wanted it it would be £5000 , is this any thing you have ever looked into ? Or been offered ? Sounded amazing but there is just no way we can afford it , hope you find some help ,

Posted by: J Miller on 2012-01-09, 00:28:29

There is no easy way to come off methadone but if you do go slow you should not feel sick for a long time. Once you get down to single digits it tends to get harder but with a good diet, exercise, supplements and supportive medications it can be done and people do it all the time. You can't rush it though. Slow is the way to go. A proper methadone taper should take at least a year, sometimes two. There is no other good way. The lower you go the less you should reduce your dose and do it less often. Once a week may be too often. You probably have to stop and restabilize again along the way. Please know that you should NOT jump off until you are down to 1mg. Once you get down there you can start taking it every 2 or 3 days and maybe even go to 1/ 2mg. Some people think that once they get down to 3-4mg it's so low that they can just get off. Big mistake. Jumping off 3mg will still put you in bad withdrawals. At the end you will need support. I'd see about finding a doctor that can give you medications, like sleeping pills, clonodine, maybe anti-anxiety meds if needed, etc. Some people don't need it but if you do it's good to have access to it. I know several people who have tapered from high doses and they do have little symptoms at the end but if you go very slow they should be minimal. It's not like full blown withdrawal. Some think it's easier to swith to Suboxone at the end but a negative with Suboxone is that you can't go down to very low doses so you have to jump off fairly high up. You can do it. Just keep in mind that the cravings you got when you got down to 40mg will come back full blast when you have nothing in your system and relapsing is not an option. It's better to remain on methadone than to go back to using.