Hey Sadie: No question you're in for a rough road, but it is one that many others have travelled before you, so it is doable. Like Stomper said, you'll get a lot of different opinions, but I pretty much second everything she said. My advice would be to do cold turkey, which you're not going to be able to do with a gram's worth of methadone sitting around, so dispose of that first one way or the other. (A taper really just draws out the agony, in my experience.) And it does take a longish time to detox from methadone, so you should count on 10-14 days of no and then little sleep and lots of body aches and the whole cold turkey enchillada. If you can lay our hands on some clonidine, that really does help. So do periodic hot soaks in the tub. Plus just a stone cold determination not to pick up again, no matter how grim it all seems. After detoxing, of course, comes the hard part, which is staying off. Check out NA or whatever aftercare programs might be around, find and make some friends in recovery and don't hang out in places or with people you used with. My last kick was off of methadone and I've been clean now for almost seven years, so it can be done--and is more than worth doing. But no one does it without help, so I hope you can find some. And please, keep us posted. Hugs, David

sadie, are ya out there?

my thoughts and prayers are directed out there to you wherever you may be..........

there IS  a better way of life.  others HAVE found answers for learning to live life on life's terms WITHOUT abuse of drugs.....surely you are not so uniquely hardheaded that this can't work for you? LOL

 just trying to get you to smile....

you can't do this by yourself sweetie...your brain is NOT  your friend.  find some real live realtime recovering dopefiends in your area and hang out with winners, folks who've got the kind of freedom in their recovery that you want...clonidine does help though, BTW...

let us know how you're doing.  there is excellent support available at this site.  check out that Stomper who posted above and offered to be of support cause it sounds like they know the deal.  you can also email me if you want to talk at a more personal level..i am rooting for ya!!!          freeespiritt

Wow. A lot of different advise. I love the diversity here!

Well, I'll tell you what I think. I had take-homes, and I left the clinic because of "disagreements" with the staff.  I had some methadone stashed back (had been skipping days here and there, just to see how addicted to it I really was...other days, I just plain forgot to take it). 

Anyway, I did it like this.  I didn't take it until I just couldn't stand it anymore (And when I say I waited 'till I couldn't stand it anymore, I really mean it.  Don't take it just because you're feeling uncomfortable...wait 'till you're starting to feel restless and jumping in your skin....but don't wait too long).  I then realized that I didn't have enough methadone to do this for long, and I needed to cut back on the dose (55).  But I had no way of measuring how much methadone to take.  So I went out and got the biggest oral syringe I could find (from baby's section).  I knew how many mg were in each bottle, but the syringe is mL.  And the clinic adds water to the doses, and it's never the same amount.  So for each bottle, I used the syringe and found out how many mL there were, and wrote it on the bottle. Then I used simple math to find out how many miligrams there were per mililiter. (Actually, sometimes I just guessed)  I know, it all sounds a little complicated and even silly, but it worked.  Anyway, I ended up having to do a little experimenting with myself.  At first, I would half my dose, and if I needed more, then I'd take 5 or 10 more.  I won't tell you it was easy, but I will tell you that it was easier than I thought it would be.  We've all heard the horror stories of methadone withdrawal, and everyone's experience is different.

I wasn't working at the time, but I had classes all day.  I took a bottle with me and the syringe, and there were times in class when I litterally had to just get up, go to the bathroom, and take some methadone - regardless of what my prof would say.  We all talk about detox as if whoever's doing it doesn't work or isn't in school, which is often the case, but detoxing when you have responsibilities and commitments is even harder.  It does help that you keep yourself busy, but it can be very inconvenient if you're sitting in a meeting and experiencing withdrawal symptoms. 

Anyway, sadie, as you can see, everyone's experiences are different, and you'll just have to figure out what's the best way to do it, for you.  No matter if you do it cold, or not, just keep in your mind that you can do this.  I've done it both ways, and I guess all I can really tell you is that detoxing is hard, regardless.  I just found that tapering off yourself, without the clinic, was the easier for me. But I'm only 20...what do I know?

jewel

 

Most of the folks I know that came off MMT, had one piece of advice.  One word... S-L-O-W!  Another important thing is to be sure you've gotten "stabilized" at your dose.  Meaning that alot of things in your life have changed from the using lifestyle and you are stable mentally.  I wouldn't really know what mental stability is... but that's what I've been told.  Anyway, go very slow, stopping the taper at the first sign of discomfort or craving and no matter how long it takes, don't be in a rush to get off the juice.  It could end up at square one real quick.  Now that I know about.  ;-)

 

 

So you have 1000mgs and your dose at the moment is only 25 a day why not just reduce 1 mg a day i have done this before from 45 to 0 in a short space of time -but then i have stopped and picked up umpteen times (using now) to stop dead now will just guarantee pain and discomfort and for what reason ?

I am on methadone, 110mgs currently. I have been on since 2000. I have a aunt that detoxed off about 3-4 years ago, and has remained opiate free. Methadone is a long acting opiod, that's why taking it once a day works. It also builds up in the system and take a long time to withdrawal from. I would NOT recommend walking off at 25mgs, even if you walk at 5mgs you still feel like shit. The number of milagrams is irrelavent. I have numerous friends that have walked at 25, 50, 75, and even 130mgs. All reported being in severe withdrawal for 60-90 days. Methadone is a wonderful form of treatment for hard core addicts, people that have tried other treatment options many times to no avail. I am 23, and I tried everything before I made the decision to get on methadone. Inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, trips to the local detox center, medical assisted detox (detoxing with a kick kit prescribed by a addiction medicine specialist), willpower, NA/AA, moving, changing friends, everything! To get on methadone requires a big commitment. So far it is the number one form of treatment for opiate addicts, it has the best results. It is a pain in the ass if you just get sick of driving to dose all the time, and what not. I regularly save about 20mgs every week out of my carry, I have alot of methadone saved. Something like 300mgs or so. But even with 300mgs I would not walk off and try to wean myself down. I have gotten of methadone before, I got kicked off and I tried to just kick with the help of a kick kit. I have never been so fucking sick in all of my life! Non-stop puking up bile, no sleep, SEVERE anxiety, chills, sweats, 1000x worse than  a heroin kick. According to current statistics and personal experiance, 99% of the people that walk off will use an illect opiate within a week. Seriously, I am not trying to scare you but instead educate you on the reality of walking off or detoxing too fast. Everyone I know including my aunt that have detoxed off and remained opiate free detoxed off slowly. I know that's not what you want to hear, but if you really don't want to go back to using I would stick it out and detox off slowly. Driving is a pain in the arse, I used to commute and it took up so much time. Now I live close to a clinic here in Seattle,WA. But when it comes to staying clean and doing what's best in the long run, coming off slow is the better bet. Methadone is meant to be used as a crutch, it takes care of physical and mental cravings so that you can get away from the drug scene and get your shit together. Once you have broken ties to the drug world, and are emotional stable, and have a good support group and you are doing something with yourself like working or going to school then getting off is a good option. There are people that will be on methadone for life, these people that used opiates for decades and many have other health problems and staying on methadone is what will work to keep them off illect opiates and maintain a better quality of life. Again it's meant to be used as a last resort type of thing. I wouldn't recommend it for someone that hasn't tried other forms of treatment.  If you still want to walk off, I would save up some more methadone, you have to freeze it or else it will go bad in the refridgerator. Get down to 10mgs and then walk and reduce your dose just like you would if you were still on the clinic. Also if you can get a doctor to prescribe a kick kit comtaining stuff like promethazine-a antinausea pill, dicycliamine- a anti stomach cramp pill, clonadine- blood pressure med that helps with chills and sweats, a benzodiazepine like lorazapam for anxiety, soma for muscle aches, and flurazepam another benzo for sleep you will be pretty much good to go. If you can't get a kick kit then at least ask for a couple meds like the clonadaine and a benzo. Good luck.

~Thunderkiss~

Hi.  I'm losing my mind here and I didn't know what to do with myself...Does this twitching ever stop????! I haven't bought smack in 9 days...been doing the 7 day detox with methadone..it's been 2 days without methadone and i NEED to know if this frozen sweat and twitching will ever stop. I could feel so much better sooo quickly...i want to feel peace again so badly. Listening to Primus helps but goddamnit i hate myself so much right now. It's like Trainspotting says, it's when you've just gotten clean again, the depression kicks in. What the fuck am I going to do with myself now? What self desructive activity can I substitute with? My mind is thinking so fast, I feel like i'm speeding, but without the euphoria...just burned down alert. can anyone suggest a way to finally feel drowsy or maybe even fall asleep? I would be soo appreciative of any advice anyone can offer.     -Robyn, poppiepixie

Poppie..Get some lofexidine pills (I'm in the UK but surely they have something similir in the US(It stops noradreniline production and really does help)).Stick to it.