My Last Day On Methadone 04/14/2014 At 1mg

Early monday morning (04/14/2014), I took my last dose of 1mg (.01ml) liquid. I was both scared and excited too. I have been going to the same old methadone clinic since 09/27/2007. That has been a long time. When I first started taking the methadone, the dose was between 15-30mg liquid. I quickly escalated to my highest dose of 120mg in Jan, 2008. I was on the same dose of 120mg for almost 2 years and I was sick and tired of how it made me feel. All I wanted to do was remain in my bed and sleep. I finally decided that I wanted off of this stuff and for good. I did not want to be a lifer on methadone and carrying those little lock boxes back and forth from the clinic. So on 8/7/2009, I dropped down 10mg. I felt fine. I had more energy and I told myself that I could do this, so every month I came down 5mg to 10mg every month. When I reached 10mg, I slowed up because I would start to feel a little uneasy and feeling tired quicker. So every month, I went down to 9mg, 8mg, 7mg, 6mg, 5mg, 4mg, 3mg, 2mg, and finally 1mg. Believe it or not, after 10mg, I only felt a little more fatigued and sweaty (not bad) and a little bit of chills.

I have two other doctors that I see, one is an internist and one is a psychiatrist, both of which knows I was in a methadone treatment center (outpatient). If you are considering methadone maintenance, take only enough that will eliminate your withdrawals from whatever narcotic you were using. Do not keep going up like I did because before you know it, you're up to 120mg and when you decide to wean yourself off of it, it will take a very long time if you take baby steps like I did.

Medications that you should have on hand when you start withdrawing. Withdrawals can even begin when you are not even at 0. I started using some of my stocked up meds when I was around 10mg. Here is a list of what I have from my doctors. Some of these medicines are controlled by the DEA but are very helpful for the withdrawals. These medications are: (Safe dosages can be found on the internet.)

1. Clonidine 0.1mg or the Catapres Patch
2. Phenergan 25mg tablet for nausea and/or vomiting
3. Compazine generic 10mg tablet for nausea and/or vomiting
4. Zofran generic 8mg tablet also for nausea and vomiting
5. Imodium 4mg of Loperamide for diarrhea 2 tablets
6. Bentyl generic 20mg tablets for abdominal spasms/cramping
7. Donnatal for abdominal cramping/spasms and nausea (contains Phenobarbital)
8. Tylenol and Ibuprofen for headaches and body pains
9. Baclofen 20mg tablet for muscle spasms, RLS
10. Flexeril 10mg tablet for muscle spasms, RLS
11. Tramadol 50mg tablet for pain (This medicine is really not recommended but...)
12. Xanax generic 1mg tablet for anxiety, insomnia and nausea (C-IV)
13. Klonopin generic 1mg tablet for anxiety, insomnia and Nausea (C-IV)
14. Ambien generic 10mg tablet for insomnia (C-IV)

Note: I will not be taking all of these at once. I have listed 3 anti-nausea pills. I will rotate and see which one works the best and use it. Sleeping is usually a big problem with withdrawals. At night (as of 4/18/2014), I take 1mg Xanax, 2x 10mg Ambien, baclofen or flexeril and a clonidine for sleep. It helps. If my withdrawals worsen, I will increase my dosage appropriately. Just keep in mind what is too much when you take these medicines. Watch out if you use the benzo's (Clonazepam, and Alprazolam) because withdrawal from these is serious business and can lead to seizures if abruptly stopped.

It is getting close to 5 days for me and I have had minimal symptoms from withdrawing. Since I came down 1mg a month when I reached 10mg, I think that helped me a lot. My internist recommended me to double up on my regular medication of Abilify from 5mg to 10mg for two weeks. I also take Cymbalta and Vyvanse. If you do use clonidine which does help alleviate most of the withdrawal symptoms, just keep in mind that it does lower your blood pressure. If you have the money, go buy yourself a blood pressure monitor or you can even stop by a fire station and they will check it for you for free. I have done a lot of research on the internet about methadone and most people jump at 5, 10, 30, and at even 150mg. I believe in taking baby steps and reducing by 1mg once you have reached 10mg. It gives your body time to adjust and at the end, the withdrawals are easier to handle.

Good Luck to any of you that is weaning off of methadone or is going through withdrawals. If I can do it, anyone of you can do it!

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Hey Pmdc DM,

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to share your wealth of knowledge with Methadone treatment. From what I've heard, the withdrawals for some patients are often times worse than the previous narcotic they were originally taking it for to begin with. Your advice about "only using enough to eliminate your withdrawals from whatever narcotic you were using" is priceless for those who are looking for a way out. I really don't understand how some doctors continue to multiply the dosage for their patients when they know it's only going to make things that much harder in the long run... at a point when they may not even be around to help them come off of it. In situations like that you really have to stay on top of your game when it comes to researching each and every aspect of what you can do to help make the transition easier on yourself.

Good luck as well to anyone else who may be going through this process!

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Thank you for your interest in my statement in coming off of methadone. When I went into the methadone clinic, I was only using hydrocodone and not the hard stuff like H. I initially started at around 15 mg of methadone and they quickly escalated my dose to eventually 140mg. I wish I had stayed at 15 mg but I believe their goal is to get you at a highest level possible to make it almost impossible to come down. It took me almost 2 years to come down from 140 mg to 1 mg but I did. Initially you can drop 10-15 mg every month, like I did but when you get down to 10-20 mg, I only dropped 1 mg per month and I think that is why I had relatively minimal withdrawals to almost none. Other addicts have severe withdrawals because they don't understand methadone and it's chemistry (half-life, etc.). If you are on methadone and have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I know it may be hard to get some of the medications to ease the withdrawal but I started stocking up early in my withdrawal. I am still clean as of 9/24/2014, almost 6 month since I took my last dose and without any cravings. Good luck!

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Methadone is a worse withdrawal than any other opiate or opioid that I have ever experienced. It is just so hard to get that feeling of euphoria out your brain, I quit all other drugs but for some reason, I have only been able to remain totally clean from opiates for periods of 8 to 14 months before a relapse. I chose to get on a high dose of methadone to prevent myself from future relapses but now I am just tired of taking it. I stopped cold turkey 3 days ago. Marijuana helps a lot with the stomach aches, and having a very good A/C unit blasting on you is a must. Your body temp will be out of control but the hardest part is over after 3 days. I finally got some energy back today, and I can eat food again without being nauseated. Pepto or rolaids are a definite necessity if you choose to kick it cold turkey. It is possible though, but I would clear your schedule for at least 7 days because you will need to recover and can not go to work for sure. I could barely move out of my bedroom. I prayed for strength to get me though the next week and feel optimistic!!

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This is my 3rd time going to the methadone clinic, I've been an opiate addict since I was 12 and am now 27, well I'm at 140mg/day and I'm having sezures in my sleep, now take in mind the first time I quit goin cold turkey I was at 120mg/day and had been going for almost a year, and I had sezures so bad that my left eye turned in towards my nose and was stuck and I started having sezures non stop. So my mom called 911, well the hospital I went to just so happened to have an suboxone doctor on call. This was 3 and half weeks after my last dose by the way. Even after being treated with suboxone my eye was still stuck so my doctor put die inside my veins and did a cat scan of my brain. He came back and said I did permanent damage to my pituitary gland inside my brain. That I had put too much stress on my body body.
So now I'm back at the clinic and 140mg/day and am scared to death. I don't have any insurance and my funds are fixing to run out. Any advice?

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