Just Started Methadone Treatment. I Have Questions.

I'm a 38 year old addicted to pain pills for about 20 years. My husband passed away this year Feb 14. That's when my addiction got way out of hand. I was taking lortab 10 about 30 og them a day or I would take percocet 10 or roxicet 30. I started methadone treatment last Tuesday. Started off at 20mg. They have bumped me up to 40 mg yesterday. I'm now sick to my stomach and very sleepy. Is this from the increase? The nutse said to give it a couple days if I'm still not feeling good then I can talk about lowering the dose. The problem with that is I feel the withdraw and I crave pills. Jas anyone else have problems like this when going up on methadone? In the past I have used suboxene onlu to fail at it twice and going back to lortabs. I know methadone is very strong and very hard to come off of. Years ago I was on it for pain control 20mg a day. Help from anyone?

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I've never taken Methadone, but I do know a lot about medications and I can tell you that it is still a narcotic opiate, which is probably why you feel nauseous and tired.

Those are normal side effects of this class of medications, especially when the dosage is raised. The reason the nurse told you to give it a few days is because the severity usually starts to taper off, as your body gets used to the medication.

Learn more Methadone details here.

Unless the effects are so severe that they are preventing someone from living life, or putting their life in danger, I generally advise people to give any medication a fair chance for at least a month. That's about how long it takes for your body to get used to something.

Are there any other questions I can help with?

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30 Lortab in a day is a lot. But it's still a far cry from what even Methadone addiction can do to someone. I'm not sure why they doubled your methadone and even after you made them aware that it was making you sick. Methadone is not a true narcotic. It is a synthetic narcotic. Though there a lot of pain killers that are synthetic, methadone is designed to ease the side effects of withdrawl with the goal of getting you off all of it. I'm speaking as someone with a degree in Health Science and a second degree and a licensed chemical dependency counselor....and I was once breezing thru 240 percocets in 2 weeks for years. I was going to kill myself by ODing or the damage I was doing to my liver with all that Tylenol. I stopped cold turkey. Withdrawals won't kill you, but will make you feel like hell. My doc decided to put me on methadone. I found myself chasing that euphoric high of percs. All I did was make myself sick. But after throwing it all out, and letting my body cleanse, I was fine. While working as a counselor, my most memorable client had been an attorney till he became addicted to pain meds after surgery. He was also put on methadone and the doc continued to increase his dose. He was so miserable. Sometimes he'd be falling asleep in my office. Crying, because he wanted off the methadone. I got told to mind my own business by his physician. I wanted his doc and I to be on the same page with what the game plan was. I don't know what became of him. If your goal is to get clean, then I would question any provider who doubles your methadone even though it's too much, yet they tell you you will get used to it. Sure we become addicts because we build a tolerance to one dose and chase the dragon and become tolerant of higher doses. All that's doing is replacing one addiction for another. I hope you were able to achieve what you were hoping to. Remember that not all health professionals are as intelligent as the next. And you need to make sure that he/she knows what you're ultimate goal is: Replacing one drug for another or being clean and free of it all. You have every right to question whether their methods are in your best interest. You also have the right to seek out a different medical provider. If you don't have a counselor, that's an important part of recovery. And same hold true with your counselor. You need to feel comfortable with him/her. This is your life after all. Listen to your body , soul and mind. Be honest with yourself. And remember it's important to have set of standards for yourself. Dig in your heels and don't be swayed from those standard. Know what kind of person you are or want to become. It's important to know who you are in life. Maybe more important....is to know who you aren't. Best of Luck!

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