Methadone Use (Top voted first)

I am new to the methadone and was wondering why my doctor would put me on methadone when he knew I had been addicted to Oxycontin before and had to go into the hospital for the withdrawals. They put me on the liquid methadone to get me off of the Oxycontin. How bad is it going to be to get off of the methadone if that time ever comes?
Anthony

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i know this in an old post i just wanted to thank anthony for giviing his country his life only to live the rest of it in hell you truluy arre a great man!

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Anthony, I am a registered nurse and also a methadone patient. I am on 75 mg daily for R.A. and Fibro. Because of methadone I am able to care for my two children ages 15 and 3 years old. I am working full time and currentley in school for my masters in nursing. I have had many patients with similar complications as you suffer. There is no reason for you to be in undue pain. Many people misunderstand methadone, including doctors. Raise your dose . There are many people with chronic pain on as high a dose as 120 mg. daily. Why are you worrying about coming off the methadone? I f methadone enables you to live a more normal life, then look only at the beefits. Taking methadone is no different than taking your insulin injections. You may never have a need to detox from methadone. However, a slow detox is tolerable. I researched methadone from every possible avenue prior to making my decision. It is the best thing I could ever have done. Without methadone I was not able to work. Sometimes I couldn't even care for my infant daughter. I was miserable. I am very much a methadone advocate. I have had many patients who after starting methadone have a new lease on life. Again, there is much misunderstanding surrounding methadone. If methadone allows you to live your life in a more positive way, then it is right for you. Your dose is too low for your medical condition and pain level. Methadone clinics are not liscensed to treat pain . You can go to a clinic and they will put you on as an addict as for as there official records. You may have a lot less resistance taking this route rather than your primary care physician prescribing. I chose to go to a clinic. All clinics are under both federal and state laws. The states have varying laws,but all states do allow for take out dosing. The majority follow the protocal of : AFTER DOSING DAILY IN HOUSE FOR 30 DAYS AND REMAINING FREE OF UNPRESCRIBED DRUGS YOU MAY HAVE 1 DOSE WEEKLY AS A TAKE HOME. APPROXIAMATELY EVERY 90 DAYS OF REMAINING DRUG FREE AND FOLLOWING CLINIC POLICIES YOU MAY ACQUIRE AN ADDITIONAL TAKE OUT DOSE. IT TAKES ABOUT A YEAR TO BE ABLE TO PICK UP 6 TAKEOUT DOSES A WEEK. YOU CAN WORK UP TO AS MANY AS 30 TAKEOUT DOSES AT A TIME. AGAIN, EACH STATE HAS DIFFERENT LAWS.As a nurse and a mother of 2 , methadone has given me back my life. You are worrying about the wrong issues. We both know that your medical conditions limit your quality of life and the amount of years that you have remaining on this earth. There are no gaurantees for anyone. Please take advantage of the drug 'methadone' that can give you a better quality of life on a daily basis. NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO LIVE WITH CHRONIC PAIN. ENJOY LIFE,RAISE YOUR DOSE. If you want someone to talk to on those really depressing days feel free to write me through this site. Good Luck!

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Thanks for the response to all. I kind of thought the meth might be trouble after the addiction Oxycontin. At present I am taking two 10 mg meth tabs three times a day and I wear three pain patches for a total of 250 micro grams of Duragesic pain patches. I still have pain that comes through all of this medication and have no idea what it would take to control this pain other that a .38 anyone have suggestions as to what I might do? I do not need input from people who say jest don’t take it or learn to live with it. I can bet that they have no idea what real pain is. I am a diabetic a right leg amputee and have had multiple blood clots in both legs. I have low back pain and constant pain in both legs with swelling and fluid build up. My left leg has changed colors that blend in to my skin color just below the left knee. I have pain in both knees and both shoulders I need surgery on my shoulders but they refuse to operate because of my medical conditions. I am a disabled veteran and have dealt with pain since 1973. I am tired of fighting with all of this any ideas that would help and no sarcastic comments I have heard them all.
Thanks
Anthony

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Anthony, i don't know why they took you off the oxycontin if your still in pain, most pain meds are addictive, and if you could explain your medical condition as to why they won't do any more surgery that you need, the only thing i can think of is if the doctors thought you were abusing the oxy's thats why they put you in the hospital for withdrawls which can happen to anyone taking that medication if you skip a day or two. I have a sister that used to shoot the oxy's up, she went to the methadone clinic and got off the oxy's and yes the methadone was not a thrill for her to get off of but she did it, they weaned her down every month untill she got off the methadone, then the unspeakable happened and she found out she has deteriating disc disorder, she has the back of a 80 yr. old woman but now that everyone knows she used to be a junkie she could not get any pain medicine, she finally went to a pain managment doctor but he could see the track marks on her arms from shooting up,just scars that will never go away, so he gave her three 40mg wafers a day to take for her pain, now what your taking is not a strong enough dose for your pain, your taking the pills, the wafers you put into a liquid and drink it or chew it just like you would do if you were at a methadone clinic, what i would suggest is forget about the.38 and start praying,there is a way for you to get out of this pain, if you were shooting up the oxy's then stay away from them, i don't know why you went through withdrawls unless they were taking you off of them, what i suggest is to find a pain mgnt. doctor and explain your pain and like i said if you have a problem abusing the oxy's stay away from that or you won't need a .38 ask them to raise your dose of methadone to 40mg wafers, just start of on 2 a day, but i promise it will help your pain, you might have a problem finding a doctor to raise it from the 10mg to the 40mg wafers but i would not stop trying,try all your pain managment doctors around or go out of town, just take care of that pain instead of wanting to commit suicide.i hope my advise helps you, and start praying as i will pray for you tonight. marie

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Well Anthony, maybe i gave you the wrong advice reading the methadone disscussions on the next page they are saying that the methadone is harder to kick then heroin, well maybe it's not for you.what i did'nt finish in my story is my sister did eventually get off the methadone after having sugery on her disc that ruptured in her back and she did it by weaning off of the methadone, on some of these comments there saying it's harder for some people to get off of it, well i know she is now taking neurontin for her back pain and it's not suppose to be bad for you to get addicted to why don't you ask your doctor about it. i know she was in a lot of pain and it's not suppose to be addictive or hard to get off of, i heard it was a herbal alternative and it does help her pain which she is doing fine now, i can find out more about it and leave you a message, just leave the methadone and the oxycontins alone for now.

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Anthony, I mysself was on methadone for 4 years as a pain management. I had ruptered my L4/5 disc. Without the Methadone, I couldn't get out of bed. I was able to get a surgery that saved me from a life long time of pain, but It was hard for me to come off the methadone. I was taking 100mg a day. I had to gradually decrease the dose, but I was mind set to come off. I hated being depended on it, even though I was pain free most of the time. My advise to you is stay strong, and have faith.

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Elizabeth,
You comments on 1/12/06 interest me very much...I have been on Methadone for several years now. My son claims my personality has changed and I need to stop the methadone. I bought 9 acres with the understanding he would live on part of it and help me pay for it and it would be his when I die (I'm 69)...now he is threatening to leave because I'm addicted. I have had a knee replacement, 3 surgeries on a hip replacement and suffer from RA in most of my joints. I'm still in constant pain and can only walk about 100 ft. before I hurt so bad I just want to quit. I can't even lay in bed...I sleep in a recliner. I can't make it on this property without him and his family. I take 10mg. twice during the day and 30mg at night. I've tried to go without but I can't...the pain is too much. Does this stuff change your personality? Please answer me....I'm desperate. Anthony, I know how you feel...hang in there.

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Rusty, Sounds to me like your son is causing you more pain than your pain source. Let's see, maybe a baseball bat to the side of the head would afford him some lessons in compassion. I've been where you are. Perhaps chronic pain has something to do with a change in behavior. Pain changes everything. You say you need him for your property and he gets it when you die? Sounds like you are already dying and your son isn't helping. How about some quality of life before you die? Is your property worth it? I wonder what a peaceful little place alone with no one harping at you about your methiod of pain relief would do for you? What is it that others give us the most of without our asking? Advise. Just a little food for thought. Live while you can. What is a plot of dirt worth? God Bless you. I'm still thinking the baseball bat might do the trick! Can I get into legal trouble for a comment like this - do I need a disclaimer? Am I a danger to society? Does humor and laughter help pain? The next time he threatens you offer to help him pack. I'll bet there is someone somewhere who would pay you to help you and live there. Does anyone else agree? Should I become a therapist? Just having some fun.

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How are you addicted if you have so much pain. ADDICTION is drug seeking behavior and nothing else. If you are doing that you don't deserve pain medication! If you are dependant as all of us who suffer chronic are that's differant. Methadone is pure Hell to stop taking! I was taking up to 80mg every 6 hours but was able to drop that to 50mg every 6. I took that for 11 years and just switched to Oxycontin 3 months ago. The withdrawals were bad and the pain was worse even with the Oxycontin. I know people who have suffered after just 10mg a day and stopped. You are taking a boat load of pain medication and are most likely have such a tolerance that good pain relief is a thing of the past? Best thing you could do is go to a detox and go without for 2 weeks. I did that and went from 80mg of Methadone 4 times a day, Dilaudid 8mg 3 times a day and Ativan 2mg 3 times a day to only needing Methadone 40mg 4 times. I cut my meds by over half! I was the longest 2 weeks of my life but the body/mind need reset. I have had 6 seperate spinal fusions with new hardware on each, skin grafts and other procedures. I hurt like crazy but know it can be done. If you're abusing drugs like Addicts do, then you are making life difficult for those of us who need pain killers

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he put you on methadone to get you off the pills,but just like thay say methadone is an addiction of its own,I went off methadone cold turkey after 7 years I lived I will never go on it AGAIN people should know all about it and think hard before thay start

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Dear Pelota... I suggest you do some reading up on addiction as well as the use of methadone for addictts because girl... you absolutely know nothing about drugs or drug addiction and your ignorant comments probably just insulted 90% of the visitors to this site. You obviously have no real experiance with this subject so allthough you have a right to your opinion (educated or not) you certainly have no right to offer people looking for answers about any drug curiosity or real problems they might have any advice what so ever. .......And to everyone else out there try not to pay much mind as this person spews out negativity about something she hasnt a clue on. If anything help her to realize that if she wants to start handing out any type of advice then she needs to start walking some miles but remember to remove her own shoes first! Peace.

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Oh man I am so sorry to hear about your story. Thank you for your service and I pray you will hang in there because there are new drugs coming on the market that may help you. There is no way to understand your pain but I wanted to tell you that I hear ya and am praying for you

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Methadone is a life saver and if u need to detox go slowly and then switch to soboxone. I suggest clinics too because they aren't afraid of the red tape and govt heck they work for them :)

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No because it has no euphoric effects. It may make you sleep better or gain weight but it doesn't change your personality. Don't allow your son to ruin the quality of your life. Tell him to work on his own issues in a loving way and continue with your life .

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Probably a big challenge to get off, Methadone is in itself addictive.

Rob

Check out the other Methadone Discussion on this site some of the other posters provided really good info.

http://www.prescriptiondrug-info.com/Forums/view_drug_forum.asp?methadone%DF%A3%F465105%83%F4%A21

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Anthony, I was once addicted to Oxycontin. There is a new drug out in the market that can be prescribed by a doctor. It also can be given in the privacy of your doctor's office. The new miracle pill is called, Suboxone. It changed my life. It detoxes you, stops the painful withdraws, kills the craving for all Opiates: and if you should take any Opiate, the pill has a blocker that stops you from getting high for up to 36 hours. The pill is placed under your tongue and melts. After 15 minutes, you can feel the difference. No cravings. It is not addictive. Methadone is addictive. It is also inconvenient. You must travel to the treatment center to be medicated everyday. Most doctors are not unaware of this new drug. Ask him or go to a website.

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sorry buddy but meth is harder to come off then oxycodone, esp if above 40mg

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please go to dissccussion,methadone and read what i wrote on it maybe it will help or u me. thanks connie

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well anthony i found out neurontin can be found in a health store but it's not exactley the same as the doctor proscribes it but it's good for back pain and nerve pain, this website it was it dangerous it sells oxycodone over the internet which has to be illegal so be careful and good luck

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Hey thanks for the response all,
As for the neurontin I was taking it for a long time until the VA said that they would no longer get this medications. The VA says it is to expensive and that they would change me to amiltriptaline (I am not sure of the spelling) oh well. As for the reason they wont operate is because of the blood clots and the fact that I have diabetes. I take shots of insulin day and night as well as pills. Even though I take all of this my sugar was at 356 last night. According to my doctor I should go to the emergency room if my sugar is at 345 or above. I am lucky to still be here with all of the blood clots I have had. I had surgery last year for the placement of a two greenfield filters in the major artery just above the point that they branch of into two one in each leg. This was surgery that they did not want to perform but the doc explained it as life threatening surgery. The doc said those blood clots could have killed me. I have been through a lot in my life as I am sure most of you probably have. I am a disable Nam vet that served in the Vietnam war. I came back to the states with hepatitis B and what the docs call sarcoidosis of the lungs any way I was not injured in Nam but about six weeks or so after getting back from Nam an activist took me out in a hit and run while I was on my way home and in uniform from my duty station. I have spent 5 years in hospitals on full bed rest numerous times with the docs trying to save my right leg but after eight years of suffering they finally had to amputate it just below the right knee. I have broken the femur in my amputated leg two times and know due to the pain in both legs I am in a electric wheel chair. I could go on an on but I guess I better stop because it would take a lot of writing to tell everyone what I have been through.
Anthony

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