How Can I Get through Methadone Withdrawal?
Methadone withdrawal is one of the hardest conditions to treat when it comes to drug detox. The reason for this is because the drug is so sticky in terms of the half life and how long it stays in the system. It is a very powerful medication that leaves the body very slowly, metabolizing about halfway every 36 hours. This makes for a very slow and agonizing withdrawal if you stop taking the medication cold turkey.
The solution to this is obviously to taper yourself down as slowly as possible. If you are taking a large dose every day then you are going to need to come down very slowly in order to avoid being sick. Going to drug rehab will not really help you much in this case as they will not be able to do anything for you other than let time pass so that the medication can slowly leave your body. Therefore the responsibility is all up to the addict to get themselves tapered down to an acceptable amount.
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If you do want to go to a drug rehab, the best case scenario is to get yourself tapered down to about 10 milligrams per day or so before you go in so that they can properly detox you once you get there. If you are still taking, say, 100 milligrams per day when you go to rehab, they will not be able to treat your withdrawal at all for the first few days, and by then you will be in residential treatment and attending groups and lectures. This just makes for bad timing because they always put you in detox first at a drug rehab, and then transfer you to the groups and the program once you are detoxed and feeling a bit better. Well with methadone you might not even start to detox until the second or third day, and by then your funding for detox has run out and you will be forced to go to residential and attend groups.
So the bottom line is that if you want to go to drug rehab in order to deal with your methadone addiction, realize that most of the responsibility for detoxing from the drugs lies squarely on your shoulders before you even get to rehab. If you wait and keep taking large amounts of methadone right up until you get to rehab, then they will not really be able to help you with your withdrawal because the drug is too powerful.
Finally, recognize that there can be some potential for danger or even death when going through withdrawal from Methadone at high doses. If you have been taking an extremely large dose for a long period of time, then stopping cold turkey could actually be fatal in some rare cases. So it is nothing to mess around with and the ideal scenario is to get into a medical detox of some sort.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been off methadone for 5 days. I was down to 5mg a day. The ony probems I’m still having is the diarreha hard to sleep and my stomach feels as if Im on a roller coaster 24/7. How am I still in with drawls or am I at the point of it being mental? Any help please
Nope it is still physical at this point. Tough it out, you are probably through the worst of it by now.
Most opiate withdrawal seems to peak around day 3 but methadone is usually around day 3 to 5. So you should be feeling better real soon here….
I have been on Methadone since 2006, I had back surgery in 1998 and even though they took the pressure off the nerve, it was damaged. I have perm Nerve Damage in my right leg which is numb from my outer thigh down the calf and foot to the two last toes on my foot. In addition to that scar tissue has formed around the damaged nerve. I have been taking 6o0mg a day and Hydro 10/325 for breakthrough pain. My regular doctor moved in Feb. None of the other doctors in the same clinic will take me on as a patient. I was given enough methadone to las for 60 days, and was referd to a pain managment doctor. I do not have insurance and my medicare will not kick in until June. I ran out of my methadone about 5 days ago, I had tappered down to 40mg then 20mg hoping I would be able to get in to another doctor, NO SUCH LUCK!!! I have high blood pressure on three meds for that, and am on Seroquil 400mg xl, and Buseperion. My blood pressure is sky high, I called the clinic and was told to go to the ER. IfI do go do they usually prescribe methadone even a few till I can get into a regular doctor. I do not want to waste my time and money nor their time. What can I do.
That is a lot of medical advice that you need there, Renee.
I am probably not the right person to be giving it. But, I do know that many people in opiate withdrawal are treated with Catapres, a blood pressure medication. But this happens under doctor supervision. Plus, you would likely still have withdrawal symptoms, even with the catapres. Have you talked with your doctors about Suboxone? That might be good for your pain management problem…..
My best advice is for you to try to get into detox…..
My boyfriend has been on methadone for 1 year and half now, at a 75 mg/day. Since today is a holiday, he was supposed to pick up his carries yesterday. He forgot all about it and its now without his drink for the day until Saturday. He is really worried about the w/d. He hasnt gone a day without missing his drink since he first started taking methadone. Now my question is how long is it before he will start feeling the w/d. Ive read 24 hours and 48 hours but I am very unsure.
@ Sara – the long half life of Methadone means that it might be a day or two or even 3 before the withdrawal fully kicks in.
The withdrawal may start around, say, 48 hours but then peak around 72 hours. Just hard to say.
Remind him to stay hydrated. Very important. Methadone withdrawal can be dangerous in extreme cases….
Backstory: on methadone almost 4yrs, does a 6 month taper to 15 milligrams and quits going due to family emergency. its been 2 weeks since last dose and this person has felt great, better than they have in a long time. Now all of a sudden two weeks later they can’t sleep, but feel 100% fine otherwise. Do you think this could be methadone related or something else (like being on the other side if the country for the first time in 6 yrs) I don’t think it’s mental because methadone never occurred to them as the cause at this point. From everything I know if it is from methadone it should have started at least a week ago if it was the cause (i know sleep disturbances can last a while but when they never had it in the first place?). What do you think? No symptoms for 2 weeks at all, no other symptoms at all now either